Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 229: Flowing Away Into the Water After Death

After the Old Dragon left, Ji Yuan also pondered the so-called “chaos brewing in the two barren continents” that he had mentioned. The two continents most likely referred to the Southern Desolate Continent and the Nightmare Spirit Continent.¹

The Southern Desolate Continent spanned hundreds of thousands of li of the mysterious Southern Desolate Mountains. He had heard about the stolen elixir uprising from Bai Ruo way back then, but in truth, it had been a chaotic place well before then. It was no exaggeration to say that it was a land of monsters.

Although the Nightmare Spirit Continent had the word “Spirit Continent” in its name, in truth it was even worse than the state of the Southern Desolate Continent. It covered an extremely large area, the largest of all of the continents in the world. On the surface, it appeared to be a vast and untouched natural landscape with beautiful mountains and rivers, but the inner workings were extremely chaotic.

There were countless places to hide under the chaos of its flow of Qi, and not only were there very few orthodox immortals, but powerful demons raged and reigned. The power of humans was extremely weak. It was even rumored that demons kept mortals in some hidden caves and controlled and fed upon them like livestock.

These two continents were known as the “Southern Desolation” and “Sinister Desolation” in the orthodox cultivation world, collectively referred to as the “Two Desolations.” However, it was obvious that the former was merely a location in a “Desolate” continent, while the latter was completely chaotic.

When the matter of the Southern Desolate Continent came to Ji Yuan’s attention, he couldn’t help but think of another past matter. In the past, the City God of Chunhui Prefecture had asked Yin Zhaoxian to give him a Yin wood plaque, which recorded the content of the spirit’s interrogation through the technique of conveying spiritual knowledge through objects.

It had been uncovered that Madam Hong had been the concubine of a powerful demon for a period of time. This powerful demon had once visited a “breeding” cave in the Sinister Desolation, where there had been a “country of livestock” kept within. He ahd been obsessed with that place ever since he returned. Many years later, he attempted to create a similar phenomenon in Yun Province on the Eastern Continent. He united with many demons and proclaimed himself the Demon Lord. However, he had been discovered by various gods and monks from Xianxia Island,² and was hunted down. The powerful demon had been killed, and some lesser demons fled in all directions. Madam Hong and her entourage were lucky enough to escape into Dazhen.

The information recorded in the Yin wood plaque was originally the confession of the serpent demon; the City God probably gave him this plaque primarily to inform Ji Yuan of its contents, but he might also have wondered whether Ji Yuan might be able to save this “livestock country.”

Ji Yuan could only say that he was powerless to do so for the time being. His lack of information was secondary; currently, his primary concern was a lack of ability.

Putting aside these past events that he had drawn together, Ji Yuan had always held the same ideal as the Old Dragon: he believed that the chaos in the Two Desolations was very far away from Yun Province and Dazhen on the Eastern Continent. However, from what the Old Dragon said tonight, either this matter with Flood Dragon Mo was in some way related to those places, or it was directly an extension of those matters.

‘It seems that City God Li also said something that confused me before! ’

Ji Yuan suddenly remembered the words that had been interrupted by the falling dragon. So, Ji Yuan asked again for him to explain what he had meant by “Dazhen is now facing a troubled time.”

Originally, Ji Yuan wanted to ask how he recognized his appearance so clearly, but since he could speculate on this point, it wasn’t that important.

In truth, Ji Yuan already knew the general story. With the current state of Emperor Yuan De, the kingdom of Dazhen was in a delicate state. There were fierce struggles between the royal family and the court officials in the capital; problems had also arisen in local government affairs all over the country. On the level beyond the mortal world, there was also the matter of Tianji Pavilion, which had gained the attention of various parties. Many high-ranking and well-informed gods gradually learned about the rumors and grew worried.

As for Ji Yuan’s name, these same circumstances made him well known to these same high-ranking gods, along with his extraordinary spiritual power of “Heaven-Rending Sword.”

. . .

Black Flood Dragon Mo Rong’s original residence was right in the Eastern Sea, but if the a flood dragon wished to transform into a True Dragon, the oldest and most well-established method was to travel by water. The key for this method was not only about traveling by water and passing through the rivers, but also about how to select the starting point — the various terrains of mountains, rivers, and swamps passed along the way would influence the journey in particular ways. Guangdong Lake was one of the four major lakes in Dazhen: it gathered the power of all the surrounding areas, and connected the eastern and western swamplands. It was clearly an excellent place to practice.

However, the black flood dragon liked to move around. Every once in a while, it would swim across the sea to hunt for giant sea beasts. This time, it had been ambushed on its way back from the Eastern Sea.

The demons who had attacked the flood dragon had no intention of letting it escape back to Dazhen. They wanted to control Flood Dragon Mo with the evil nightmare technique in the hopes of making some moves within the territory of Dazhen. Unfortunately, they underestimated Flood Dragon Mo’s ferocity. He exploded his dragon pearl and bit an evil cultivator in pieces, then endured the pain and escaped back to Dazhen.

It had flown back to Wan Province relying purely on its perseverance, but it no longer had the strength to go further west to the Tongtian River, leading to this falling dragon incident that Ji Yuan and the City God of Lishun Prefecture witnessed.

The Old Dragon of the Tongtian River flew beyond the borders of Dazhen in a rage, and all the demons and monsters around Dazhen deeply recalled one single thing: Dazhen not only had a hidden immortal who could “overturn the heavens with a single sword strike,” but also a thousand year old True Dragon. Everyone around the borders once again understood what it meant for a True Dragon to be so furious that the whole world trembled.

He spat out his dragon pearl, moving it from the east to the south along the shore of the Eastern Sea, looking for all the demons, ghosts, and evil cultivators that he despised. Regardless of whether one participated in the attack on the black flood dragon, if one had a demonic aura or some evil aura was revealed, one would be killed without any hesitation or explanation.

Wherever the True Dragon passed, dark clouds, lightning, and thunder followed. Even the monsters who had been diligently cultivating would inevitably be killed by mistake, especially those who happened to be mixed in among more evil beings.

According to what the Old Dragon told Ji Yuan afterwards, those who mingled with evil beings would themselves not be righteous either; sooner or later, they would become the same as those they were with. If they were truly pure and innocent, then they could only count it as having bad luck.

However, there was one thing that the Old Dragon and Ji Yuan gained a new understanding of.

It wasn’t until the Old Dragon had flown into a rage and started devouring and killing individuals around Dazhen that he discovered just how many evil monsters and strange creatures were in Yun Province, the Eastern Cloud Continent, and at least some of the countries and regions around Dazhen — far more than what was they had previously assumed.

. . .

Ten days after the dragon fell, in a sandy clearing at the bottom of Guangdong Lake.

The Old Dragon Ying Hong, wearing a double-breasted long robe, and Ji Yuan, wearing a long white robe, stood side by side. The City God had already returned back to his temple. At the center of the pool of sand lay an enormous black flood dragon, several dozen zhang long.

This black flood dragon had lived here for decades, always with a casual attitude; he hadn’t even built himself an underwater palace.

Mo Rong was already dying at this moment. He had reached his limit after persevering for ten days.

If the Old Dragon had not returned by the time the black flood dragon was about to die, he would probably have gone on a murderous rampage for much longer. Even at this moment, his murderous intent was unabated, and a thick and terrifying dragon aura swirled endlessly around him,

If there were no complications or accidents, after the death of a dragon, the dragon’s soul would slip into the water and flow into the sea along the currents of the waterway. In the process, the spiritual power of the soul in the body would gradually dissipate, before finally the body dissolved into the sea, leaving only a wisp of the true spirit in the water.

At that point, this true spirit would essentially have no thoughts or emotions, more like a wisp of pure spiritual energy, that would travel along the vast oceans or waterways of the world until it encountered some blessed aquatic creature. It would then merge into its body, develop spiritual intelligence, and become a new individual. One day, this individual would be able to transform into a dragon again.

Once able to transform into a dragon and return to their dragon family, the memories of their previous life would return, along with the gradual accumulation of their cultivation practice.

This is a miraculous process, also named “flowing away into the water,” but it had the complete opposite result from the dragon transformation.³

In Ji Yuan’s perspective, not only was this a unique spiritual power, but it was also a kind of romance that belonged solely to the dragons of the waters. After all, the success rate of this technique was really slim, so if it succeeded, it could only be called quite romantic.

However, dragons also had their own pride: most would rather take a chance on this elusive opportunity than become a dragon ghost.

“Mo Rong, I don’t know if all the villains who attacked you have been eliminated, but there quite a few will be buried with you. Go in peace!”

The Old Dragon gradually restrained himself and calmed himself down, then spoke in a sigh. Ji Yuan stood beside him in silence.

The amber eyes of the black flood dragon still held a luster, resembling two large glowing lanterns in the dark water.

“Hooh…hoooh…”

The last of the dragon energy left the flood dragon’s mouth in a wave, and a string of underwater bubbles rise toward the surface of the lake above.

In the time it would take to drink another cup of tea, all the dragon energy and its remaining vitality had dissipated, ensuring that there would be no abnormalities in the dragon’s body during its transformation. The amber color in the dragon’s eyes grew dim.

“Take care, Dragon Lord.”

A hoarse voice sounded from Flood Dragon Mo’s mouth, and his dragon eyes slowly closed.

At this moment, a large burst of bubbles suddenly rose from the flood dragon’s body, and a stream of water gushed out. Even with Ji Yuan’s supernatural eyes wide open, eh could only observe the shadow of a dragon slipping away in the span of a few breaths, and then he saw nothing more.

This was the first time Ji Yuan had seen this kind of “flowing away into the water” after death, and it was also the first time he had seen a monster die naturally. The moment the dragon’s soul turned into a shadow and disappeared, he seemed to have gleaned some new level of vague understanding of the spiritual practice of living beings and the meaning of life.

Ji Yuan looked at the huge flood dragon corpse that remained at the bottom of the lake. All the dragon energy and spiritual power had dissipated. Aside from being rather heavy and solid, there was nothing supernatural about it. Even small fish and shrimp could play around on the flood dragon’s corpse, but it would not rot for quite a long time.

Perhaps, one day in the future, a severe drought would dry up the water in Guangdong Lake; or perhaps, one day in the future, there would be an unusual flood, which would expose or wash out the corpse of the dragon or its bones at the bottom of the lake.

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T/n: rest in peace, Mo Rong. May you reincarnate in peace, and may future archaeologists be absolutely flabbergasted by their wild discoveries.

1. 南 (nán): south, 荒 (huāng): desolate/uncultivated –> Southern Desolate. 黑 (hēi): black/dark/sinister, 梦 (mèng): dream, 灵 (líng): spirit/departed soul/effective –> Nightmare Spirit. How cheery.
2. T/n: LOL how on the nose can you get here, 仙霞 (xiān xiá): “Rose-Dawn Island” is a homophone for 仙侠 (xiān xiá), the term for the Chinese fantasy genre focused on cultivators, i.e. the genre of this novel
3. Because with the dragon transformation you’re accumulating energy to become the next evolution stage, the True Dragon, while in this you are dissipating to return to a more primitive lifeform