With the original national destiny of the Yang Kingdom, nurturing a True Dragon would have been more than sufficient.
But because Chen Kuang had intervened midway, the national destiny was nearly cut in half, directly affecting dragon veins across the land. Now, even this embryonic form of the True Dragon was beginning to show signs of collapse.
Incidentally, it was precisely because the spirit of the Mountains and Rivers could give birth to a True Dragon that the meridians formed by high concentrations of Spiritual Energy in the land were called dragon veins.
However, even if an ordinary person managed to locate a dragon vein through various means, they would only be able to determine a vague position.
Only through the Mountains and Rivers Diagram could Chen Kuang witness such a clearly defined process of the True Dragon's formation. This was also the most pleasant surprise he discovered while using the Mountains and Rivers Diagram.
Most importantly, he saw the "eye" of the dragon.
The place where all dragon veins ultimately converge is the very core where a True Dragon is nurtured.
Only at that location can a True Dragon truly take form.
No matter how grand and imposing the other dragon veins may be, they are nothing more than distractions meant to mislead.
And the location Chen Kuang asked Zhang Zhizhou to take him to was precisely the site of this dragon's eye.
He currently lacked sufficient cultivation, and without an enemy to keep his inner Spiritual Energy flowing through combat, standing midair and flying using Spiritual Energy was still somewhat difficult for him.
Not impossible, but completely unnecessary to waste the effort.
Since Senior Brother Zhang was present, it was easy enough to ask for a small favor.
Zhang Zhizhou brought Chen Kuang down to where the "eye" of the Spiritual Energy dragon form was located.
It turned out to be the midstream section of a river.
However, this river wasn't particularly wide, only about ten zhang across. It was far smaller than the Yong'an River that had flooded multiple provinces, but it was notably wider and deeper than the Rouge River.
At the very least, it was navigable by boat.
Indeed, the riverbanks were lined with many fishing villages, and faint glimmers of lantern light still shone from anchored boats.
Seeing this tranquil sight, Chen Kuang suddenly felt dazed, reminded of his days at the Chen Residence in Jishao Prefecture of the Liang Kingdom.
Though he had only stayed a few days, the period when he returned unexpectedly as the eldest son of the Chen family was, oddly enough, one of the most peaceful and stable times in his life.
He had his own clean and tidy courtyard, a younger sister of immense talent, a somewhat proud but decent younger brother, imperfect but present parents, and he could even cook for them to show off his skills.
"I hope that one day, I can return to those times," Chen Kuang sighed silently in his heart.
He shifted his gaze from the flickering fishing lights to the center of the river.
The exact center of the "eye" was located within this river.
In other words, barring any unexpected circumstances, the True Dragon would be born here.
Chen Kuang turned to Zhang Zhizhou and said, "Thank you, Senior Brother Zhang."
Zhang Zhizhou glanced around, narrowed his eyes as a thought crossed his mind, but said nothing further. He only nodded and replied:
"Then my part here should be done? Don't forget, you don't have much time. Don't delay."
With that, he turned into a streak of light and returned to find Su Huaiying.
Chen Kuang watched him leave, then took a deep breath and leapt straight into the river.
Splash!
Blub blub blub...
As Chen Kuang sank into the water, he immediately assumed his full demonic form.
He narrowed his eyes. A flash of brilliance passed through his glazed-glass-colored pupils as he followed the flow of Spiritual Energy to locate the true "eye."
The current here, unlike the calm surface of the river, was turbulent. It rushed past submerged rocks and water plants, even over the wreckage of a broken ship.
Within the ship's tilted hull, fragments of porcelain and scattered golden objects lay in piles, along with many skeletons long turned to white bone. Judging by the scene, the ship had likely encountered water bandits, fought back fiercely but ultimately lost.
Tangled around the ship's mast was a bamboo rope fifty or sixty zhang long.
The rope was covered in layers upon layers of shells and aquatic plants, so much so that it looked, at first glance, as thick as a person's embrace!
This bamboo rope must once have been used by trackers to haul ships. Whether it fell into the river by accident or was originally part of the wreck, who could say?
In any case, it had floated unseen in this dark river for who knows how long.
Judging by the degree of decay on the sunken ship, Chen Kuang estimated that it had been here for at least several hundred years.
And over those hundreds of years, the bamboo rope had drifted with the current, shaped by the waves, coated in shells for scales and water plants for mane, vaguely forming the rough outline of a dragon.
Because it sat precisely at the dragon's "eye," it had absorbed the essence of the sun and moon, been nourished by Spiritual Energy, and now swayed like bones and sinews twisting, almost like a living thing.
In the water plants clinging to the rope lived many small fish and shrimp. From time to time, larger, more aggressive fish would come to prey on them, but in such moments, the rope would "happen" to sway, driving the predators away.
But this was clearly no coincidence.
Chen Kuang could tell: this bamboo rope, once just a lifeless object, had begun to develop rudimentary consciousness!
"This rope might very well be the embryonic form of the True Dragon... Given time, it could transform and be born as a dragon."
Chen Kuang couldn't help but marvel.
The marvels of creation, truly beyond the reach of man.
Heaven and Earth are heartless, treating all things as straw dogs; Heaven and Earth are without sentiment, yet all things may become dragons.
This was equality in its truest form, where nothing was inherently noble or base.
"It's just a pity," Chen Kuang thought, "with the Yang Kingdom falling apart, and national destiny and dragon veins in turmoil, if this continues, the True Dragon will never take form and will scatter completely back into the world."
He swam to the rope and reached out to touch the dense water plants covering it.
The rope trembled, seemingly startled, thinking it was a large fish, and swayed aside in retreat.
But after a moment, it cautiously drifted back. The aquatic plants brushed gently against Chen Kuang, as if rubbing him affectionately.
Its every motion walked a fine line between being carried by the current and being deliberate.
If one didn't know it was an awakening intelligence, one would simply dismiss it all as coincidence.
Chen Kuang raised an eyebrow, finding this both amusing and fascinating.
If it were any other time, he would've definitely wanted to experiment further, to see how it might respond.
But right now, he truly didn't have the time.
He'd best begin at once.
Chen Kuang brought his right hand into a sword-finger seal and sliced his left palm.
Skin and flesh parted instantly, but no blood spilled.
Focusing intently, he pointed the sword-fingers into the air, pulling out a single round, glistening droplet of blood from the wound.
His complexion turned pale in an instant.
This was Jiao-human essence blood.
One of the two core components of the cultivation visualization technique Illustrated Canon of the Dragon's Harmonious Offspring.
To water it with essence blood, and to shape it with meritorious karmic deeds.
The first was the blood of the Jiao-human clan, descendants of the Dragon Mother.
The second was "Good Karma, "accumulated virtue.
And the more Good Karma, the better the effect.
Chen Kuang now bore over five million portions of "merit" . The effectiveness of this cultivation technique could very well be described as off the charts.
This was also the source of his confidence in his bold idea to nurture a false dragon using the true dragon embryo.
Yes.
Chen Kuang was going to use this dragon embryo, one that had failed to fully form, as the vessel, and with the visualization method of the Jiaoren people's"Illustrated Canon of the Dragon's Harmonious Offspring", raise a false dragon that belonged solely to himself!
Even he felt his idea bordered on madness, bold enough to be without precedent and likely never to be repeated.
Originally, Chen Kuang had never found a suitable vessel for his false dragon, which was why he had never taken action.
But in the instant he activated the Mountain and River Diagram, and noticed the doomed-to-collapse Mountain and River spirit, Chen Kuang knew, there would never be a form more suitable than this.
Since he was going to nurture one anyway, why not raise a real one from the start...
Chen Kuang curved his lips into a faint smile and gently pushed that droplet of essence blood forward, sending it into the drifting bamboo fiber rope (篾绳).
The moment the essence blood made contact, it immediately merged with the rope, beginning to spread out from that single point in both directions.
"Swoosh!"
The bamboo rope seemed to sense something amiss. It instantly began to thrash from side to side, stirring up torrents of water in all directions, alarming countless fish and shrimp hidden among the aquatic plants, sending them fleeing in panic.
This rope, fifty zhang long and as thick as an armful, nourished by centuries of the sun, moon, and stars, was no ordinary object, it thrashed with a might almost rivaling that of a Tower Ascension Realm physical cultivator.
Chen Kuang immediately pressed his injured left hand onto the rope, seizing it tightly as it writhed like twisting sinew and bone.
A phantom white lotus appeared on his forehead. The veins on his arm bulged as he focused his mind and muttered under his breath:
"Still!"
Rumble!
The surrounding water exploded outward in an instant!
In a flash, the entire bamboo rope was forcibly yanked taut, like a wild horse suddenly reined in by its bridle.
This was the moment!
Chen Kuang immediately closed his eyes and began visualizing the "Illustrated Canon of the Dragon's Harmonious Offspring".
In that instant, it was as if he had entered a painting.
He became the Dragon Mother herself, enduring centuries of wind, sun, and rain. She saved countless people in the pool where she resided, yet not a single one was willing to turn back and save her.
The child in her womb grew day by day. Her belly gradually became round and taut. The child was a bit mischievous, unknowing, and often kicked at her from within, making her feel a little sad.
But in her heart, there was no resentment, only endless love and guilt.
After all, it was she who had caused her child to suffer alongside her. Yet she still loved her child deeply and wished to give it all that she had.
She wanted to teach it kindness and gratitude, to teach it how to love the mortal world.
The Dragon Mother gently caressed her swollen belly with her frail hand.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
A powerful heartbeat resounded.
Chen Kuang, as if in a trance, reached out to calm the agitated bamboo rope, which gradually returned to its drifting state. Where he touched it, the sensation no longer resembled aquatic plants, but rather the feel of fur...
Chen Kuang opened his eyes, what lay before him was no longer a bamboo rope.
The layers of shells had been pushed away by true scales, one after another falling gently into the water.
From between the thick aquatic plants, massive ivory-colored bones arched forth, forming the structure of a real dragon.
At the core, the bamboo rope had been fully dyed in blood. Half of it had already turned into soft spinal marrow, extending outward and connecting to a suspended heart, surrounded by bone and pulsing with life.
This half-living, half-dead object before him was the false dragon in the midst of formation.
Throughout this process, Chen Kuang could feel that his "merit" was being consumed at a terrifying speed. In the blink of an eye, more than half of it was gone. The rate was truly alarming.
It also made Chen Kuang all the more grateful for his own foresight.
If not for the over five million portions of merit he had accumulated, he wouldn't have dared to attempt such a feat.
To transform the true into the false, the cost of such an act was unquestionably immense and beyond imagination.
But for Chen Kuang, this price was merely a by-product of his battle with a Sage, not even truly a cost at all.
He stroked the back of the newly born false dragon. From within, he could sense a rhythm of life, and even a trace of joy and reverent affection. His gaze flickered.
"From now on, this dragon shall regard me as its own father, raised under my hand."
After a moment of thought, Chen Kuang looked at the dragon's silvery-white scales, radiant and immaculate, and smiled:
"I once used the title of 'White Dragon True Lord' as an alias, but looking at you now, that name suits you better."
"Very well."
He patted the bamboo rope dragon gently and said with warmth:
"I'll name you Yuxue Dragon. Still, I don't yet know whether your future form will be male or female. If you identify as female, then I'll add a jade radical to the character for 'dragon' and call you Long."
"What do you think?"
The bamboo rope stirred and affectionately nuzzled up to Chen Kuang.
The rope's foremost segment, the embryonic dragon head, suddenly flipped in direction, seemingly overjoyed. It nodded rapidly while letting out a strange cry toward Chen Kuang.
That call rippled through the water, forming concentric circles.
Soon, it spread to the river's surface, and even into the air above!
From above, where one could glimpse the Spiritual Energy dragon shape formed by Mountain and River, the previously indistinct region of its eye, in that instant, the Spiritual Energy dragon suddenly opened its eyes.
A golden ray of light shot straight into the sky!
However, the golden light lasted only a moment before the entire Spiritual Energy dragon came alive as if awakened, then abruptly contracted and disappeared into the "eye".
That scene was unmistakably the final touch that brings the dragon to life!
But unfortunately, no one witnessed this astonishing phenomenon.
Chen Kuang felt a resonance in his heart and knew instinctively, his plan had succeeded!
This bamboo rope was now both true dragon and false dragon.
He stroked the fuzzy back of Yuxue Dragon a few more times. Before long, the handkerchief tied around his wrist suddenly came undone on its own.
Time was up.
Chen Kuang willed it with his thoughts, letting go. As Yuxue Dragon reluctantly rubbed up against him in farewell, he quietly parted from it.
"I hope the next time we meet, you'll have a fully formed mind of your own."
Chen Kuang gently pushed Yuxue Dragon away and let his body drift backward.
The handkerchief rapidly grew larger, larger still, wrapping around Chen Kuang entirely, then shrank back to its normal size. Finally, along with Chen Kuang, it vanished into the water without a trace.
Chen Kuang felt as though he had been tossed into a washing machine, spinning endlessly, round after dizzying round.
Luckily, he wasn't the type to get motion sick anymore, or he definitely would've vomited.
And in that very moment, atop Mount Tai, on the head of the towering 'Martial Saint' statue that gazed down upon all beings:
A silhouette suddenly appeared, one foot placed directly on the statue's crown.
The members of the Martial Saint Pavilion who were stationed by the Stele of the Dao were first shocked, then, upon clearly seeing the face of the newcomer, realized he looked identical to the statue!
The Martial Saint Pavilion members immediately knelt and bowed deeply, shouting:
"We welcome Lord Martial Saint back from seclusion!"
Mu Zhao stepped down from the statue, walking upon the air. From afar, a streak of light rapidly approached, it was none other than the Martial Saint Pavilion's Pavilion Master, Wen Hongsheng.
Trailing behind him, a white handkerchief fluttered in the wind, gradually shrinking, then vanishing.
Mu Zhao asked: "Yao'er has already entered?"
Wen Hongsheng nodded: "He has. If all goes smoothly, he should be able to advance to Grandmaster."
At the same time, in the Mysterious Divine Path Sect, Three Calamities Sect, Zhou Imperial Palace, Wugou Pure Land, Glazed Lapis Tantric Sect, Sword Furnace Pavilion, Heavenly Sound Pavilion, and numerous major sects and clans across the Central Domain:
White handkerchiefs soared into the air one after another.
In a hidden location, several figures, all at least of the Master Realm, sat in a circle. The ground between them was filled with planted swords, and in the center stood a stone gate.
"Wong, Wong-"
The swords began to hum.
The interior of the stone gate suddenly lit up, transforming into a teleportation array.
Everyone opened their eyes in unison.
The Ancient Battlefield of Meditation had opened!