The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

[I am Ying Zheng]: This luster is unlike that of an ordinary stone.

【Yaoyao's Little Red Riding Hood】: It looks like a gemstone! And it's huge!

[Old Wu from Suzhou]: You're picking up gems in the dragon's lair? Aren't you afraid the dragon will come back and settle accounts with you?

[No one is perfect]: Dragon: My treasures, which I've kept for hundreds of years, have been picked up by you little girls.

Chen Siyao didn't care and picked out a few of the prettiest ones and stuffed them into her pocket.

Yang Wanqing also picked out a few pieces, and Cai Jingwen and Li Li each took a few as well. The girls exchanged smiles, like children who had secretly eaten candy.

Chen Hao stood before the dragon skin, ignoring the stones. His gaze fell upon the patterns on the scales of the skin, and his brow furrowed slightly.

This dragon is rapidly evolving into a true dragon. It's even developing the habit of collecting treasures—something no ordinary dragon would do.

Ordinary dragons don't collect shiny things; only true dragons do.

True dragons love to collect treasures; it's an instinct ingrained in their blood.

But is it possible? The spiritual energy of heaven and earth has long been depleted, and there is simply not enough spiritual energy to support the evolution of demonic beasts, let alone such a heaven-defying act as transforming into a dragon.

It can evolve to such an extent that it is about to become a true dragon, which is completely contrary to common sense, unless... it has a special opportunity?

In ancient times, when the interdimensional passage opened, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was much more abundant than it is now, but the dragon race could no longer advance further.

Most of the true dragons and demons chose to follow the passage to another dimension in search of a wider world.

Although some dragons that did not transform may have survived—monsters have long lifespans, so it's not surprising that they've lived to this day.

But this dragon was not any of those he remembered. Moreover, it had actually managed to reach this point in an era where spiritual energy was scarce, and its aura seemed to be on the verge of transforming into a true dragon.

Chen Hao closed his eyes, and his divine sense spread out like water, passing through rock walls, underground rivers, and deeper strata.

Deeper underground, a force pulsates, like a heart beating, one beat after another, deep and steady.

That aura was like spiritual energy, yet it wasn't. It was denser, more ancient, like the beating of a heart, carrying an indescribable sense of oppression. It emanated from a deeper part of the earth.

Is that why? This mysterious power allowed the dragon to break through the limitations of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and reach this point?

He opened his eyes and withdrew his consciousness.

"Brother?" Chen Siyao walked over, clutching a few shiny stones in her hand. "What are you thinking about?"

Chen Hao shook his head: "Let's go, it's waiting for us inside."

The girls followed Chen Hao, continuing along the underground river. The cave grew wider and deeper, and the river water slowly moved past them to their feet.

They walked on a natural stone bridge, with a rushing underground river flowing below. The sound of the water echoed in the cave, making their ears ring.

Yuehen nestled in Yang Wanqing's arms, her ears perked up, staring into the darkness ahead.

Chen Hao stopped. The girls also stopped and held their breath.

Ahead, a rumbling sound came from the darkness, not the sound of water, but the sound of breathing. It was deep and heavy, like a giant blower in operation. The air vibrated, and the rocks beneath our feet trembled slightly.

Then, two lamps lit up in the darkness. They were golden and enormous, like two full moons rising from the earth.

"Th-what is that?" Yang Wanqing's voice trembled.

The two lamps rose higher and higher—higher and higher—they weren't lamps, they were eyes.

A pair of huge, golden eyes, with vertical pupils, glowed in the darkness. The owner of the eyes slowly peeked out from the darkness.

It was a dragon. Its head was many times larger than the previous giant python, like a large truck, no, like several large trucks lined up side by side.

It has two straight horns on its head, like two sharp swords pointing to the sky. Several rows of sharp teeth are visible in its mouth, each as long as an adult's arm.

Its body slowly emerged from the darkness—it resembled a snake but was not a snake, with four legs, whereas the Master Zhuoting had previously described it as having four legs and two claws.

But now each foot has four toes, with hooked claws at the tips. The scales are bluish-black, gleaming with a metallic sheen under the light of the fluorite.

How long is its body? The part above the water is already over a hundred meters long, and its length underwater is unknown.

Chen Siyao's mind went blank. She had seen the Gu Diao, the Three Blue Birds, the Ghost Realm, and the Giant Python, but none of these things combined were as awe-inspiring as the dragon before her.

It's not because of its size, but because of the sense of oppression—that ancient fear etched into human genes, a fear of apex predators.

In the live stream chat, the comments section went completely crazy:

[I am Qin Shi Huang]: This is a dragon?! My God!

[Xiao Ke]: My legs went weak, they really went weak.

[Dongmen Chuixue]: If you replace the horn on its head with deer antlers, wouldn't it be a real dragon? Is it about to evolve?

[Professor Wang, Department of Biology, National Chiao Tung University]: I don't know what to say anymore. Everything that happened today is overturning the biology I've studied for forty years.

[Old Wu from Suzhou]: This is a legendary creature! It actually exists!

[Ju Youyou]: I dare not watch, I only dare to listen to the sounds. This scene makes me panic.

[Leading the Way] Biologists: Myth Comes True! This is the most groundbreaking discovery in human history!

[Snowflakes are falling everywhere] God Chen Hao, be careful! Can you defeat such a huge dragon?

【9527】Oh no, oh no, this monster is so big, one slap is definitely not enough to deal with it!

The girls stood there dumbfounded, their eyes wide as they looked up at the enormous creature. Their bodies were stiff, and they even forgot to breathe. Their faces were filled with shock and terror.

Chen Siyao's hands were trembling violently, but she didn't put down her phone. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

The dragon looked at them; its golden vertical pupils held no aggression, but it seemed rather unhappy.

Its gaze fell on the glittering stones clutched in the women's hands—treasures it had collected in its lair. A low, muffled growl escaped its throat, as if expressing its displeasure.

"Is it angry?" Yang Wanqing whispered. "Because we took its stone?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, the dragon lunged forward, its blood-red maw wide open. The instant its mouth opened, the women felt as if the entire cave had been filled by that mouth, a dark, bottomless abyss.

The girls screamed and backed away.

This scene seems familiar. That's how that giant python pounced earlier.

Chen Hao extended his hand.

The girls and the viewers in the live stream were stunned. The chat exploded with comments:

【9527】: The Supreme God wouldn't still want to slap the dragon away, would he?

[I don't eat beef]: I think so.

[Practice Makes Perfect]: Impossible! This dragon is dozens of times bigger than that giant snake! How could you possibly move it with a single slap?