"Didn't you just say you would use the life of Taishi Xingzhong's son to save your friend?"
"After all, Taishi Xingzhong is my subordinate. If I show myself, he naturally won't dare refuse me and will protect you. He wouldn't dare not give me that face."
"But his son — I can't very well not protect him, can I?" Dragon Scale said.
What Dragon Scale said was perfectly reasonable, but Chu Feng couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more behind it.
He couldn't press too hard, though, so he simply said, "Senior's words are wise. This junior was foolish."
With that, Chu Feng looked toward Long Chengyu and the others, who were imprisoned within the small world. "Senior, how do you plan to deal with them?"
"Don't worry, young friend Chu Feng."
"Once I finish what I need to do, I'll naturally release them and return everything belonging to the Totem Dragon Clan," Dragon Scale said.
"You'll return the Totem Dragon Clan?" Chu Feng was startled.
After going through all that scheming and seizing power by force...
How could he return it so easily?
"Hard to believe? The truth is, I never had any ambition to dominate the Totem Dragon Clan."
"It's just that the thing I want to do — I can only accomplish it with this identity," Dragon Scale said.
"Senior, what is it you want to do?" Chu Feng asked.
Dragon Scale didn't answer directly. Instead, he asked Chu Feng, "Young friend Chu Feng, why did you come here? Was it to save your friend?"
"It was." Chu Feng nodded.
"If it weren't a friend, but the woman you loved — you would still do the same, wouldn't you?" Dragon Scale asked again.
"Of course." Chu Feng nodded once more.
"I knew you would. After all, back then you were willing to take risks for Yao'er."
"As for me — what I want to do is save the woman I love," Dragon Scale said.
"Save someone?" This was a reason Chu Feng hadn't expected.
"Would you like to hear my story?" Dragon Scale smiled as he looked at Chu Feng.
Gone was all the imposing aura of a Heavenly River overlord.
That gaze held not just friendliness — it was more like the look of an old friend.
"If senior is willing to tell it, this junior is willing to listen," Chu Feng said.
"Good."
And so, Dragon Scale began to tell his story.
Dragon Scale, in truth, was a contemporary of the current Totem Dragon Clan leader.
But their lives had been entirely different.
Though Dragon Scale was a member of the Totem Dragon Clan, neither his background nor his talent was on the same level as the clan leader's.
From childhood to adulthood, the Totem Dragon Clan leader had been draped in glory, a figure who shone across the entire Totem Dragon Clan.
Dragon Scale, on the other hand, was an obscure nobody — the kind of person no one ever noticed.
However, there was another person who shone alongside the Totem Dragon Clan leader at that time.
Her name was Long Xue.
This Long Xue was not only beautiful but also came from a prestigious background. Naturally, she was pursued by countless young members of the Totem Dragon Clan.
And those who dared to pursue her were themselves extraordinarily talented and well-born.
Yet through a twist of fate, Long Xue had come to know Dragon Scale, and she had developed feelings for him.
But because of the vast gap in their statuses, had their relationship become public, it would have drawn fierce opposition from Long Xue's family.
Dragon Scale might even have lost his life.
And Long Xue couldn't bring herself to turn against her family, so the two kept their relationship secret.
But later, things changed.
Long Xue fell ill — struck by an incurable disease.
Not only did her cultivation stall, but she also became terribly disfigured. Once it was confirmed that Long Xue could not be cured, gradually not only did her suitors stop pursuing her, but even her own family began to despise her.
There was only one person who did not abandon Long Xue, and that was Dragon Scale.