Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Stunning Emergence of the Nine-Headed Dragon

Outside the realm within a realm, the upper echelons and mighty experts of the Lujia Mountain Star Domain were all wrapped in an atmosphere of tension and suppression. The young cultivators and ordinary folk, however, carried on as always: eating when it was time to eat, drinking when it was time to drink, taking nothing to heart. One and all, they still lived that same easy, carefree life, as though a bath, a look at the clock, and one comfortable second after another were all that mattered.

After all, there were many things beyond their reach. In order to prevent turmoil, the upper echelons of the star domain had kept today’s developments strictly secret. They were also guarding against the possibility of internal strife should the star domain be left without a strong presence to hold it down.

When Li Hao and the other six emerged from the cave, Lu Zhengtian and his sister Lu Xuemei also came out. Lin Huashu did as well. Yet for all of them, the question of what path to take next, and where to go, remained utterly unclear.

At the same time, all nine of Li Hao’s avatars appeared in nine different places.

The space of this realm within a realm was constantly shifting, changing direction and position at random from moment to moment, and moving with the passage of time.

Li Hao and the others stood at the mouth of the cave, their presence lending the realm within a realm an air of proud supremacy.

Li Hao swept his gaze across the surroundings, then raised a hand and pointed to a mountain peak three hundred miles away, the highest of them all.

“We’ll go there.”

They were about to meet the legendary artifact spirit, and each of them was stirred with excitement. Qin Zhen and Lu Yao were the most obvious.

Qin Zhen said, “Young Master, then let’s hurry.”

Lu Yao tugged at Li Hao’s arm and urged sweetly, “Brother Li Hao, let’s go. Yao’er can hardly wait.”

Hearing their urging, Li Hao did not hesitate or dawdle. He simply said, “Let’s go.”

Then, taking Lu Yao with him, he rose first into the air, heading straight for the mountain peak that pierced the clouds three hundred miles away. The other five hurriedly took to the air as well, following behind Li Hao and Lu Yao.

When Li Hao and the others reached the summit, wisps of white cloud drifted past the mountainside beneath their feet, leaving them with the sensation that they were standing upon the clouds themselves.

With a thought, Li Hao summoned the overbearing Nine-Dragon War Halberd into his hand. Then he loosened his grip, and from his mouth came a single word:

“Go!”

The Nine-Dragon War Halberd shot toward the cloud bank ahead.

Once it had flown more than a thousand zhang, Li Hao swiftly gathered the laws of heaven and earth in his left hand and formed a hand seal. His thumb pressed against his middle finger, and he flicked it toward the halberd’s direction. Another word left his lips:

“Transform!”

As his voice fell, the Nine-Dragon War Halberd began to blaze with multicolored radiance born of the laws. Within that brilliant expanse, nine enormous dragon heads emerged from the light.

After breaking free of the light, Little Nine soared once around the skies above the realm within a realm, spanning ten thousand li in a single sweep. Its nine colossal dragon heads, each a hundred zhang tall, and its nine dragon bodies stretching a thousand zhang long, left Lu Yao, Zhen Ba, Kui Hu, Li Zhan, and Qin Zhen staring in dumbfounded shock.

What shocked them was not the sight of a divine dragon, sovereign of all beasts. What shocked them was a divine dragon with nine heads and nine bodies. These heirs of noble clans had certainly seen many sacred beasts before, but never anything so bizarre.

Wherever Little Nine passed, its powerful aura spread across thousands of li. The young cultivators of the realm within a realm who witnessed this scene were all beside themselves with excitement. Especially the ordinary cultivators, for divine dragons were not things one could hope to see whenever one wished. Even a common mortal, if he lived his entire life to the end, would never see what a true divine dragon looked like.

One young cultivator cried out in excitement, “Wow! Look, there are nine dragons in the sky!”

Another answered, “It seems like one dragon with nine heads and nine bodies.”

“Hahaha.”

“Does your divine dragon have nine heads and nine bodies?”

“No, but this divine dragon here really seems to.”

“Nonsense. Don’t you think what he said is hilarious? How could there possibly be such a bizarre divine dragon?”

“Exactly, exactly...”

Such an absurd thing was simply beyond belief. Little Nine rolled and glided through the clouds, carrying the white sea of heaven with it as the clouds churned and surged for thousands of li. Its thousand-zhang dragon form flickered in and out of view. For cultivators whose realms were not especially high, failing to see the truth was only natural.

A divine dragon appearing in the mortal world was a marvel that came once in ten thousand years. Even if it did descend among men, it would conceal its shape or transform into human form. Those with insufficient cultivation could stand right beside a divine dragon and still sense nothing unusual.

“Brother Li Hao, does it really have nine bodies and nine heads?”

Hearing Lu Yao’s question, Li Hao explained for her, “Yes.”

Confirming that she had not been mistaken, Lu Yao said again, “It really is so strange.”

Only then did Zhen Ba and the others recover from their shock.

Kui Hu said, “The world truly has all manner of wonders. Today, I actually got to see a strange dragon with nine bodies and nine heads.”

“Yes, there truly is nothing the world lacks.”

Qin Zhen, Li Zhan, and Zhen Ba all nodded in agreement.

Little Nine soared around the clouds once more, and in that same instant, all nine dragon heads released nine different kinds of laws of heaven and earth. This time, not only were Kui Hu and the others shocked along with Lu Yao, even Lin Xueyou was deeply shaken by the different attributes Little Nine possessed.

The last time Lin Xueyou had seen Little Nine, she had only been stunned by its mutation. She had not noticed that it possessed nine distinct attributes of the laws of heaven and earth.

This time, upon seeing those nine attributes, Lin Xueyou thought to herself, “This brat Li Hao is not merely a monster. Even the mount by his side, even the artifact spirit of his battle weapon, are monsters too. Could this be the supernatural response of that legendary heaven-defying fortune?”

After showing off for a while, Little Nine let the light of laws flicker across its body once, then instantly transformed into human form.

In human form, Little Nine appeared to be in its teens, clad in a multicolored robe of bright hues. From afar, it flew toward Li Hao and the others. As it drew nearer, its figure became ever clearer in everyone’s eyes. Little Nine had long black hair that flowed in the wind, a handsome face, and an elegant, gallant bearing.

Seeing this, even Lin Xueyou could not help thinking admiringly to herself, “Very good-looking.”

Little Nine came before Li Hao and bowed respectfully, cupping its fists. “Little Nine pays respects to Young Master.”

Li Hao had told Little Nine several times not to be so formal. Yet every time they met, Little Nine would dutifully perform the proper lord-and-servant salute, always courteous and proper. After saying it a few times, Li Hao no longer insisted, and seeing Little Nine’s conduct, he smiled politely and said, “Brother Little Nine, rise quickly.”

As soon as Li Hao finished speaking, Little Nine glanced at everyone else and then took its place at Li Hao’s left side.

Li Hao pointed at it and said, “He is the artifact spirit of my Nine-Dragon War Halberd, the Nine-Headed Dragon. I call him Brother Little Nine.”

Zhen Ba, Kui Hu, Li Zhan, and Qin Zhen all greeted him in unison. “Greetings, Young Master Little Nine.”

Lin Xueyou merely nodded with a faint smile. Little Nine returned the courtesy with a nod of its own.

Little Nine also greeted them. “Little Nine greets everyone.”

Kui Hu and the others had not expected such a noble divine beast to have such a gentle temperament.

Lu Yao, curious as a child, circled Little Nine once. Seeing her inquisitive behavior, the others were all puzzled.

Noticing the curiosity in Lu Yao’s eyes, Little Nine asked, “Princess Lu Yao, have you noticed something amiss?”

Li Hao asked in curiosity, “Brother Little Nine, you can just call me Yao’er. I’m rather curious—where did your other heads go?”

Though Lu Yao’s words sounded somewhat amusing, not a single person laughed at her. Instead, they too were curious about the question.

Hearing her doubt, Little Nine explained, “The other heads were hidden away when I took human form. If I didn’t hide them, I might scare some timid people silly, and if Young Master were to roast me and eat me, then even dying would leave me full of resentment.”

Little Nine’s playful explanation instantly brightened the atmosphere.

When Li Hao heard this, he could not help feeling both amused and exasperated. He thought to himself, Brother Little Nine is still taking what I said yesterday about roasting a wicked dragon to eat as if it were true! But then again, dragon meat should be delicious. If I get the chance, trying it would not be bad.

Seeing Li Hao smacking his lips, everyone stared at him wide-eyed. Qin Zhen asked in shock, “Young Master! You don’t really want to roast Brother Little Nine’s flesh and eat it, do you?”

Realizing he had lost his composure, Li Hao hurriedly waved his hand and said, “You’ve misunderstood. I was just thinking about whether dragon meat tastes good. If I get the chance, I’d like to try it too.”

“Oh, oh! Me too!” Lu Yao was the most excited of all at the mention of delicious food.

The others were also stirred by Li Hao’s words, and the fire of appetite was lit in their hearts. Each of them began to imagine what dragon meat would taste like.

Their reactions made Little Nine’s hair stand on end, and its heart shivered again and again.

It did not dare say a word, as though afraid Li Hao might discover something about it.

Li Hao said, “We must not bully the kind and virtuous. But if we encounter truly evil beings, then if you don’t eat them, they’ll eat you. So there’s no harm in tasting whether their flesh is good or not.”

To Little Nine, Li Hao and the others’ conversation sounded exactly like they were speaking of its former self.

Hearing their exchange, Lin Xueyou asked curiously, “Li Hao, why would you roast the flesh of the wicked to eat?”

“Because they often eat the flesh of other living beings too, hunting all manner of weak creatures for food. In this cruel world, only by becoming strong yourself do you gain the right to decide your own survival.”

Hearing Li Hao’s words, everyone except Lu Yao and Lin Xueyou felt they were profoundly insightful.

Zhen Ba had always been wandering from place to place, never getting the chance to study much, and he deeply admired Li Hao’s talent.

As for Kui Hu, Li Zhan, and Qin Zhen, they were the sort of people who, the moment they heard the word study, felt their backs ache and could not sit still. Besides admiring Li Hao’s brilliance, they had no intention of learning more themselves.

Li Hao noticed Zhen Ba’s hunger for knowledge and said to him, “Brother Zhen Ba, once the selection competition is over, I’ll give you a few books. What do you think?”

Zhen Ba was deeply moved by Li Hao’s words and said respectfully, “Then Zhen Ba thanks Young Master in advance for your kindness.”

Li Hao helped him up from the bow and said, “Brother Zhen Ba, we’re good brothers. Why be so formal?”

After chatting for a while longer, Li Hao returned to the main matter and said to everyone, “Shall we invite Sister Youxue out to meet us?”