Ming Dynasty: pacifying the rebellion and defending the border, dominating the world

Chapter 406 Surging Malice, Terrifying Speculation
what?
Thinking of the earth-shattering dragon roar just now, an unbelievable guess came to everyone's mind.

Dragon?

Everyone was shocked and, disregarding their impropriety before the emperor, looked up in the direction of the dragon's roar.

But then, from the sky above, nine five-clawed golden dragons, each over a thousand feet long and blotting out the sun, swooped down from the thin clouds, their massive bodies radiating a golden light.

The enormous dragon scales gleamed coldly in the sunlight, as if they were meticulously polished and sculpted from indestructible divine metal.

"Yan!"

A resounding dragon roar exploded like thunder, and nine enormous dragon heads descended from the clouds. Their eyes alone were as large as golden rocks tens of feet in size. Their shattered golden eyes swept over the living beings below, and all who saw them trembled with fear and turned pale, quickly lowering their heads and daring not to look any further.

People were utterly horrified, and some even collapsed to the ground in shock.

Even Li Chungang was horrified, his eyes filled with terror.

"This is... a dragon?"

"With antlers like a deer, a head like a camel, eyes like a rabbit, and a neck like a snake, does a real dragon actually exist in this world?!"

For the first time in his life, Li Chungang felt his hand trembling as he held the sword. It was a fear that arose uncontrollably in his mind when faced with an overwhelming terror, a fear that was driven by biological instinct and was beyond his control.

What terrified him even more was...

He looked up at the sky, and before his gaze even fell on the nine-headed dragon, he felt as if he were an ant looking up at the heavens, or a tiny firefly facing the brilliance of the sun. He felt infinitely insignificant.

"It really is a dragon... there really are dragons in the world?"

"With a dragon's head and a snake's body, four limbs growing from its belly, tiger's paws and eagle's claws, surrounded by clouds and mist, is it a five-clawed golden dragon? And there is more than one...!" Those who made the evaluation did not even dare to use the word "only" or "first-class" to describe it, but instead addressed it with respect.

"A true dragon has appeared in the world, and all nine of them have emerged? Could there be another unexpected event?"

"What change? This must be Heaven's blessing, a special gift to celebrate the new emperor of our Great Ming Dynasty, which is why it has sent this true dragon to assist His Majesty in ending this chaotic situation!"

Gradually, everyone was able to see the full appearance of the nine true dragons.

With a dragon's head, a snake's body, four limbs growing from its belly, tiger's paws, and eagle's claws, surrounded by clouds and mist, and with a dorsal fin and fish tail, its enormous body, a thousand feet long, inspires awe and resembles two giant mountain ranges that stand eternally in the sky.

The aura emanating from him was even more despair-inducing.

When the True Dragon appeared, Zhang Fuyao, who was at the Celestial Realm on the land, almost had his Celestial Realm explode. It wasn't that he couldn't withstand it, but that someone secretly helped him at the critical moment, preserving his Celestial Realm.

Emperor Tianwu, Xiao Yi, looked up at the sky, his heart filled with boundless awe.

His swordsmanship, capable of destroying a city with a single strike, was something he knew he could only hope to defeat. Yet, he doubted that even if he were to face any true dragon in the heavens with the Heaven-Slaying Sword, no matter how hard he tried, he would likely be swatted like a fly.

"Is this... the Ming Emperor's trump card?" Xiao Yi trembled inwardly, regretting for the first time agreeing to help that scoundrel Ji Hu Bian investigate the mystery of the Heavenly Sword and the matter of the celestial beings falling from the sky in the Ming Dynasty.

He could live a carefree life in Beili, practicing his swordsmanship and seeking immortality. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
Why bother getting involved in the mess that is the Ming Dynasty?

Among the envoys of the Sui Dynasty, a Taoist priest dressed in the official robes of the Grand Historian of the Sui Dynasty felt as if his soul had been frozen in time. He had a premonition that if he made any move, the gaze that made his heart tremble would be cast down on him.

He will surely... be reduced to ashes.

There is no room for complacency.

"What exactly is going on with the Ming Dynasty?"

"Could it be that the matter of the Heavenly Sword is true? Is it also true that the rumors of Zhu Jinzhen stealing the power from the First Emperor's Mausoleum? Are these true dragons, which are thousands of times stronger than the celestial beings on land, also brought out from the First Emperor's Mausoleum by him?" Once such thoughts came to mind, the yellow-robed Taoist could no longer control himself.

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. He didn't want to believe it, because he believed that no one knew the inside story of the First Emperor's Mausoleum better than him.

But how can we explain what's happening right now?

The nine-headed dragon, any one of which could easily overwhelm all celestial beings on land.

If such a thing exists inside the First Emperor's mausoleum, surely he couldn't have been completely oblivious to it?

When those real dragons appeared just now, their roars were deafening.

"Although Ying Zheng is known as the First Emperor, and the twelve bronze statues in the First Emperor's Mausoleum can indeed kill celestial beings as easily as ants, I have never heard of any real dragons in the First Emperor's Mausoleum."

He could never have imagined that there was a kind of person or thing in this world that could obtain the power to negate everything from outside the world.

That kind of person is called a "wall hanger".

That kind of thing is called cheating.

But in the Taoist's eyes, after eliminating all the impossibilities, the remaining answer, no matter how outrageous, must be the truth!
For a moment, he looked in the direction of Zhu Jinzhen, his eyes filled with deep greed and regret.

He didn't know where Zhu Jinzhen got the Heavenly Sword from; he had never heard of it. But what he saw in front of him couldn't possibly be fake, could it?

The land was filled with the aura of celestial grandmasters, and surrounded by the presence of thousands of terrestrial immortals.

And hundreds of celestial beings from the land patrolling overhead.

And there are the nine true dragons above the sky.

If Zhu Jinzhen hadn't obtained it from the First Emperor's Mausoleum, even with the full power of the Ming Dynasty, it would have been impossible to achieve even the slightest bit of this. Even Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di didn't have such a magnificent scene back then. What gave Zhu Jinzhen the right to do this?
Could the Ming Dynasty have raised such a formidable army in a remote border region like Shaanxi?
Envy, jealousy, greed.

His eyes and mind uncontrollably radiated intense malice.

"Hmph, stupid."

Zhu Jinzhen let out a cold snort; the malice was so obvious, surging like a tidal wave, that he could naturally sense it. Without him giving any orders or making any unnecessary movements, Yan Yimei's secret guards, consisting of fifteen Land Celestial Realm experts, had already silently surrounded the Sui Dynasty's envoy delegation.

"Wait, look, what's that?"

Before everyone could recover from the shock of the dragon's descent, some sharp-eyed people noticed something amiss and couldn't help but exclaim.

In an instant, everyone instinctively turned to look in the direction of the sound.

But then they saw that on the massive, mountain-like dragon's body, there seemed to be enormous, almost invisible chains hanging down from the clouds, clinging to the enormous body of the nine-headed dragon.

Ordinary people can't see it clearly.

Those beings at the terrestrial immortal realm and above were now gasping in astonishment.

chain!

The dragon was actually bound by chains?

Those thoughts they dared not even entertain were now uncontrollable and surged forth wildly.

This true dragon, capable of shattering the spirits of terrestrial immortals and celestial beings at a glance, is actually being raised and bound like livestock? What's on the other side of the chains?
What kind of being could subdue such a true dragon that they could hardly resist, let alone look up to?

Almost everyone subconsciously wanted to turn their gaze to the imposing figure in the dragon robe.

(End of this chapter)