I'm here in the martial arts world just to find love.

When Jiang Chao and his companions arrived at the open plain where the martial arts practitioners had set up camp the day before, the expected scene of a huge crowd did not materialize.

What came into view was a scene of utter devastation, as if a great upheaval had taken place.

Some of the tents that hadn't been packed up were torn to pieces, as if swept away by some strange force, with debris scattered everywhere on the ground.

Several newly built wooden houses had their roofs torn off and their beams broken, looking utterly wretched.

Fortunately, no bodies were found on the ground, and there wasn't much blood, so the casualties were probably minor; only the encampment was destroyed.

Jiang Chao stared in astonishment for a long time before turning to Su E and the others, "What do you think happened here last night?"

Su E didn't speak. The woman twitched her nose a few times and then walked quickly in one direction.

A moment later, she stood before a pile of ruins, turned around, and spoke loudly to Jiang Chao and the others in the distance:

"Come and see this."

Jiang Chao strode over, looked down, and found a large, bottomless pit on the ground.

  

The sound of gurgling water came from below.

"this……"

Jiang Chao frowned and said, "Could it be that the earth dragon turned over last night?"

After saying that, he shook his head again.

If the earth were to turn over, the commotion would be enormous.

They shouldn't be completely oblivious.

Suddenly, Jiang Chao stared at a spot, his pupils shrinking sharply.

Before the others could speak, Jiang Chao leaped into the air and sped off toward that spot.

He reached out and grabbed something, then leaped back.

Only after he opened the object in his palm could everyone see what it was.

It was a scale the size of two palms!

This scale must have fallen from a living creature. It was as black as ink, gleaming with an eerie light, with clear patterns and a cool touch. Jiang Chao pinched the edge and applied slight force, only to find that even with his strength, he couldn't easily crush it!

Thus, a bold and unbelievable idea arose in the boy's mind.

"Dragon Scales!"

Almost simultaneously, Jiang Chao and Su E said in unison.

The two exchanged a glance, both seeing horror in each other's eyes.

The Jiao is a creature from the legends of the strange and supernatural. It thrives when it encounters water and rises when it encounters wind. It can go up to the sky and down to the earth, swallowing clouds and spitting out mist.

As the saying goes, "Accumulated water forms a deep pool, from which dragons are born." Once a dragon leaves its habitat of marshland, travels to rivers and seas, and passes through the nine tribulations of dragon transformation, it can usher in the day of its metamorphosis, transforming into a true dragon and soaring above the nine heavens!

However, since ancient times, there have been countless myths and legends about dragons, but no one has ever actually seen one. Therefore, they only exist in legends and cannot be verified.

For example, if a large fish appears on a lake and bumps into a fishing boat, the terrified fishermen will say it is the work of a dragon and offer sacrifices to the water to pray that the dragon will calm down.

For example, during the rainy season, floods would occur in the mountains, causing rivers to swell and destroy houses and farmland. The ignorant people would then believe that this was caused by a dragon moving through the water, and would burn incense and pray for peace.

In some places, under the guidance of a wise person, a sharp sword called a dragon-slaying sword is hung beneath the bridge, intended to slay a dragon. More precisely, it is to attract the attention of the dragon that is transforming into a river dragon, so as not to cause it to collide with the bridge and harm innocent people.

The list goes on and on.

Such records abound in county gazetteers and unofficial histories from various dynasties.

However, most of the time, what people encounter are natural disasters, which are natural dangers, rather than the work of dragons.

Today's discovery, however, has shattered this understanding.

Looking down at the scale in his hand, Jiang Chao's heart was filled with turbulent emotions, and he could not calm down for a long time.

The conversation at Zixu Temple last night resurfaced in the young man's mind.

A catastrophe is about to befall humanity...

Even mythical creatures like the dragon have appeared, making the calamity that the Xuanmen people spoke of seem undeniable.

At this moment, Lady Chu stepped forward, stared at the scale in Jiang Chao's hand, and remained silent for a long time before finally speaking:

"When I was a child, my father told me about a creature in the world called a dragon. It can summon clouds and rain, ascend to the sky and descend into the sea, and is infinitely transformative. It is the chief of all scaled creatures, and this creature can only appear when there is a great upheaval in the world... Jiang Qilin, what they said is true. This world is probably really going to be in chaos..."

As the girl spoke, her voice trembled slightly, and her long, clear eyes revealed a look of bewilderment.

Hearsay is just hearsay, but when it actually happens before your eyes, a person's heart will be shrouded in a huge fear.

That is reverence for nature, fear of heaven and earth, and fear of the unknown.

It is the instinct of living beings.

Jiang Chao lowered his head and remained silent. After a moment, the young man finally spoke, a smile on his face.

"That's interesting, isn't it?"

He glanced around, his tone inexplicably excited to Su E and the others:

"Since we've happened to be caught up in such a momentous event concerning the entire world, we certainly can't let it slip by. Isn't this an opportunity? If we can seize it and survive this catastrophe, we will surely be recorded in history and remembered for eternity!"

Jiang Chao wasn't interested in being recorded in history or becoming famous for all time; what truly interested him was that the secret about his Qilin bloodline had finally been revealed.

The martial arts world is no longer just about people interacting with each other; it also includes elements of humans and demons, ghosts and gods, immortals and monsters, making it even more exciting and thrilling!

To put it in a word that only someone born with innate knowledge like him could understand, it was—a dimensional ascension!

They've ascended from a low-level martial arts world to a high-level martial arts world!

"Let's go find the others. Given how much has happened here, surely someone knows what happened last night!"

Jiang Chao put away the scales in his hand and then looked around.

The vast area was deserted after the appearance of the mysterious creature, which resembled a dragon. However, since no corpses were left behind, it meant that the people here had received the news long before the creature appeared and had collectively evacuated the area.

For some reason, a figure flashed through Jiang Chao's mind.

The Taoist priest who told his fortune yesterday was so mysterious; he probably knows something about what's happening here!

……

Jiang Chao's guess was correct. The one who tipped off the group of martial arts practitioners and saved them from disaster was the very same young Taoist priest who had told the boy's fortune yesterday.

The Taoist's surname was Zhao, and his given name was Wuji. Before he could even take a Taoist name, his master sent him down the mountain.

The peach wood sword on Zhao Wuji's back was a magical artifact given to him by his master when he went down the mountain. It was called the Evil-Suppressing Sword. The huge gourd at his waist was also no ordinary item. It was the Nine Dragons Gourd, a treasure passed down from generation to generation by the patriarch of his lineage.

Legend has it that the patriarch used this treasure to subdue several evil dragons that were causing havoc and calamities in the human world. Only after achieving perfect merit was he able to ascend to the outer heavens.

Zhao Changsheng was naturally skeptical about this, and he decided to leave aside the question of whether people from the Xuanmen sect could actually ascend to immortality.

Speaking of the dragons, they are known by name but never seen in reality. In the three years that Zhao Changsheng has been traveling the world, he has traveled all over most of the land, even to remote places outside the Great Liang Dynasty, but he has never encountered a single dragon.

I did encounter quite a few swindlers, and learned a lot of unorthodox skills from them.

Zhao Wuji's trip to Yunzhou was prompted by a letter from his master at the temple, who urged him to come. The master said that the large gathering of martial artists and the convergence of martial arts resources in the world might disturb the sleeping dragon and cause it to awaken prematurely and reappear in the world.

Zhao Wuji originally didn't take it seriously and didn't plan to come here to join in the fun. Although he knew some Xuanmen techniques, such Xuanmen methods were quite difficult to use against some Jianghu martial artists who often risked their lives and were always fighting to the death.

The reason why Zhao Wuji was unwilling to join in the fun was that in the years since he came down from the mountain, he had suffered many setbacks at the hands of those seemingly heroic but actually crude and uncouth martial arts brutes.

On one occasion, when two martial arts masters were dueling, he went to watch from afar out of boredom and was almost caught in the aftershocks of the martial arts wind generated by their fight, losing his life on the spot.

If it weren't for the Demon-Suppressing Sword protecting its master and saving him once, Zhao Wuji would probably have been buried in the wilderness long ago.

However, after receiving the letter, the Nine Dragon Gourd at his waist, which was originally only used to hold wine and seemed to have no other special features except for its large size, suddenly began to move.

This is a treasure passed down from our ancestor. This treasure has a spirit and sensed the fluctuations coming from the direction of Yunmeng Mountain.

Only then did he reluctantly set off from a thousand miles away.

As they passed through Qingzhou, the Nine Dragon Gourd stirred again, albeit very subtly. By the time Zhao Wuji went to investigate the source of the disturbance, the sensation had vanished.

He had no choice but to return empty-handed and continue his journey towards Yunzhou.

When he arrived at Yunmeng Mountain, he found a large crowd of martial artists gathered there. Zhao Wuji, however, did not sense any martial prowess. Instead, he felt that the place was filled with hostility and danger, and he wanted to slip away as soon as possible.

However, he could not disobey his master's orders, so he had no choice but to stay here and wait for the martial arts tournament to be held and for the so-called dragon to appear in the world.

While wandering around, they encountered a young man whose aura was soaring to the sky with purple energy, accompanied by a strange creature that was half human and half ghost.

This unusual combination caught Zhao Wuji's attention.

During his travels through the martial world, he encountered many people with purple aura. These people were either descendants of emperors and generals or geniuses, and were all extraordinary individuals.

For example, when I was in the capital, I saw a master and his servant. The master had an extremely strong purple aura, and the servant also benefited from it.

However, what puzzled Zhao Wuji was that both the mistress and the servant were women, and they were quite young. Such good fortune was truly rare.

After some inquiries, I learned that there had been a change in the Liang court, the royal family was in turmoil, the old emperor was seriously ill, the crown prince was missing, and only one princess was acting as regent, whom everyone privately called the future empress.

It seems that with a woman in charge of the government, the trend of her ruling the world is irreversible.

Considering the master and servant pair I saw, the truth is not hard to guess.

It must be the future empress traveling incognito, along with her female officials and attendants.

Therefore, Zhao Wuji did not flee the capital city of Dort, a place of power transition and intrigue, after earning a large sum of travel expenses by telling fortunes and palmistry.

Returning to the present, the purple aura emanating from that young man was even more dazzling and extremely pure than that of the future empress he had seen in the capital of Liang.

This greatly surprised Zhao Wuji, and he also felt a strong urge to test his skills.

To tell someone's fate.

His lineage, the Xuanmen sect, not only subdues ancient creatures like dragons, but also specializes in divination.

Since he mastered his skills, he has never devoted himself to divination.

Therefore, it's hard not to be tempted when encountering a young man with an aura of purple.

This calculation, though seemingly insignificant, nearly cost Zhao Wuji his life.

The feeling of that overwhelming, unyielding pressure from heaven above, with no way to escape, was something Zhao Wuji would never forget.

Zhao Wuji chickened out and hurriedly interrupted his deduction, fleeing from the boy who was clearly of extraordinary origin.

He went to a secluded lakeside to calm the internal injuries caused by the backlash from the heavenly secrets.

However, one unexpected event after another occurred. Just as he was about to heal his wounds, the Nine Dragon Gourd at his waist began to vibrate.

A foul stench, the kind only someone like him could detect, wafted over him.

Zhao Wuji was greatly shocked. This foul stench was recorded in the ancient books of the Taoist temple where he lived, and it came from a dragon!

Although it was the first time Zhao Wuji had smelled it, he immediately confirmed the identity of the dragon.

The dragon that was located in the Yunmeng Mountain area had already awakened before the martial arts tournament officially began!

Without giving it much thought, Zhao Wuji immediately ran back to the place where the martial arts practitioners had gathered earlier.

He then used a trick that nearly drained all the spiritual energy from his body, scaring the group of martial artists who hadn't noticed anything amiss into fleeing the open space.

Then, a giant black dragon, tens of meters long, burst out of the water, heading straight for the campsite with a clear goal.

According to ancestral secrets, if a dragon is born and harms people, it will be punished by heaven and will never be able to successfully transform into a dragon again.

This is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that once this dragon cannot transform into a dragon, it will generate malevolent energy. Nourished by this malevolent energy, the dragon beast, which has no hope of transforming into a dragon, will completely turn into a demon, greatly increasing its combat power, and thus wreaking havoc on the human world.

Zhao Wuji didn't really care about the lives of those fame-seeking martial artists. He was mainly worried that it would be troublesome to deal with the evil dragon after it became a demon. After all, it was his first time subduing a dragon, and he didn't have much experience. He wanted to avoid trouble as much as possible.

Despite his initial intentions, Zhao Wuji did save people, sparing many martial arts practitioners from harm and preventing them from dying unjustly.

Therefore, they gained a great deal of merit. This merit was intangible and intangible, and could not be touched or felt. However, the Demon-Suppressing Sword and the Nine Dragon Gourd, which were magic weapons, could sense it.

Based on the feedback from both, Zhao Wuji knew that although this was his first time subduing a dragon, the process was difficult, but failure was not necessarily an option.

It is highly likely to succeed.

But the prerequisite is to avoid getting entangled with these江湖人 (jianghu people).

Thinking of this, the rather down-on-his-luck young Taoist looked helplessly at the group of old martial arts masters and their disciples, whose blood and qi were boiling and whose eyes were full of questions as they looked at him.

"Gentlemen, this matter truly cannot be delayed. If I do not deal with it promptly, and that monstrous beast devours too much of the Yin energy gathered underground, the consequences will be unimaginable!"