Then Yang Kai realized another question — if the Dragon Clan's Second Elder was comparable to a Great Emperor, what about the Grand Elder?
The Grand Elder was surely no weaker than the Second Elder!
In other words, Dragon Island had two Great Emperor-level powerhouses standing guard. That was nothing short of terrifying.
Before, Yang Kai had only heard others say how incredible Dragon Island was, but he'd never had a concrete sense of it. Now he did. Two Great Emperors — and that wasn't even counting the rest of the Dragon Clan. Who in all the world could compare with such a foundation?
"What's the Grand Elder's stance on this?" Yang Kai asked with a frown. Zhu Qing was being held on the Second Elder's island and certainly wouldn't be allowed to leave. If Yang Kai wanted to extract her, his only option was to try to sway the Grand Elder.
Zhu Lie said, "The Grand Elder is named Zhu Yan, and the Second Elder is named Fu Zhun. Does that tell you anything?"
Yang Kai raised an eyebrow. "The Second Elder is from the Fu lineage."
"Though the Zhu and Fu lineages share the same origin and are both part of the Dragon Clan, we haven't exactly gotten along all that well."
Yang Kai grew irritated. "If the Grand Elder is from your Zhu lineage, why won't he protect Zhu Qing?"
He had never met Zhu Yan, but he couldn't help feeling resentful toward the Grand Elder. The old man was practically useless — if he couldn't even protect his own people, what was the point of being Grand Elder? He might as well retire and go find some remote island to spend his remaining years.
Zhu Lie said, "Zhu Qing violated the clan rules and disgraced our Dragon Clan bloodline. Even the Grand Elder couldn't protect her even if he wanted to." He glared at Yang Kai with barely contained fury, thinking that all of this was this man's fault. If not for him, how would Zhu Qing have been imprisoned? How would she have ended up in such a wretched state?
After all, there had been precedent. The incident from over a decade ago was strikingly similar to what was happening now — except that back then, it wasn't a member of the Zhu lineage who had caused trouble, but a member of the Fu lineage.
That dragon had also fallen in love with a human and even bore a child. When the news reached Dragon Island, Second Elder Fu Zhun flew into a rage. He personally captured the Fu-lineage dragon and brought her back to Dragon Island, ignoring the pleas and entreaties of the other clan members, and threw her directly into the Dragon Tomb for house arrest.
The Dragon Tomb was a place where only dragons on the verge of death would enter. It was a forbidden ground of the Dragon Clan — entering it was tantamount to a death sentence. Once inside, there was no hope of ever coming out again.
That offending dragon had been the clan member Fu Zhun treasured most. She had practically been raised by the Second Elder himself, like a daughter. Yet when faced with the clan rules, so-called familial affection meant nothing. The Second Elder had coldly and ruthlessly banished her into the Dragon Tomb, leaving her to fend for herself.
Zhu Lie still remembered that even the Grand Elder had stepped forward to plead for leniency back then, arguing that a minor punishment would suffice. But the incorruptible Second Elder hadn't budged, insisting on her own course of action.
Though over a decade had passed, the memory remained vivid in Zhu Lie's mind.
With that precedent, Zhu Qing was already lucky not to have been thrown directly into the Dragon Tomb. How could she hope for anything more? It was precisely because of what had happened over a decade ago that the Grand Elder couldn't well plead on Zhu Qing's behalf. The Second Elder had banished someone she considered a daughter into the Dragon Tomb — what chance did a mere Zhu-lineage dragon have? Insisting on protecting her would only backfire.
It seemed that the only reason Zhu Qing hadn't been banished into the Dragon Tomb was that she hadn't borne any children. Otherwise, her fate would surely have been the same as that Fu-lineage dragon's.
While the Dragon Clan was notoriously promiscuous — even outrageously so, with many male dragons taking mates from the human and demon races and fathering children — such behavior in a female dragon was an entirely different matter. Among the Dragon Clan, it was an absolute taboo.
The main reason was the skewed gender ratio within the Dragon Clan. Female dragons were inherently rare, each one a precious treasure and a hope for continuing the Dragon Clan bloodline. How could they be allowed to consort with humans?
Yang Kai's expression darkened as he mused for a moment. Then, barely containing his eagerness, he asked, "In your opinion, could I suppress the Second Elder's bloodline?"
Zhu Lie curled his lip. "Don't even think about it."
"I can suppress an eighth-rank bloodline. I haven't tried ninth-rank, but the Second Elder's bloodline is at most tenth-rank. That's not too much of a jump!"
Zhu Lie shook his head. "I know what you're thinking, but I'd advise you to extinguish that notion as soon as possible. The Second Elder's Cultivation reaches the heavens. With your current abilities, you couldn't dream of suppressing his bloodline. Forget the Second Elder — on Dragon Island, if I'm properly prepared, you couldn't even suppress mine."
"What do you mean?" Yang Kai frowned.
Zhu Lie explained, "The Dragon Temple houses the accumulated power of all the Dragon Clan's ancestors across the generations. If one obtains the protection of the Dragon Temple's secret arts, it can offset bloodline suppression to a certain degree. You should have experienced it last time."
Yang Kai froze, suddenly recalling his first encounter with Zhu Lie. Back then, he hadn't been able to suppress Zhu Lie's bloodline at all. In the end, he had only managed to fully subdue him after achieving a breakthrough mid-battle, refining the Dragon Transformation Art, and ripping a dragon scale from his body.
That torn-off dragon scale had borne the mark of a Dragon Clan secret art.
Only now did Yang Kai realize that must have been the Dragon Temple's protection Zhu Lie had obtained. No wonder he hadn't been able to suppress him at first — there had been this additional factor at play.
"To suppress a powerhouse like the Second Elder, you would need to fully fuse all the Dragon Clan origin within your body. Even then, there'd only be the slimmest of chances. And don't forget — aside from being a dragon, the Second Elder is himself a being comparable to a Great Emperor."
"Fully fuse... that's impossible!" Yang Kai shook his head vigorously. He had been practicing the Dragon Transformation Art for quite some time now, and while he had managed to fuse a fair amount of the Golden Saint Dragon's origin power, it was still only a fraction of the whole. Achieving complete fusion would take at least a hundred years of bitter Cultivation.
"Then forget about making a move on the Second Elder."
"Is there truly nothing the Grand Elder can do?" Yang Kai's eyes gleamed. On Dragon Island, the only person who could stand against the Second Elder was the Grand Elder. If he could be persuaded to act, there might still be hope of rescuing Zhu Qing.
"The Grand Elder is out of the question. He's the head of the Dragon Clan — he won't break the clan rules."