Dragon Punishment was the most powerful method for destroying a dragon clan member's origin — a forbidden art throughout the entire dragon race.
If Yang Kai's earlier threat to perish together with Fu Chi was something the Second Elder could grudgingly tolerate in her fury, then this situation was one she absolutely refused to watch unfold. A dragon could die, but their origin must never be destroyed!
"Stop!" Zhu Yan bellowed, his expression dark as storm clouds.
Yang Kai did indeed stop. The syllables that had been pouring ceaselessly from his mouth fell silent, and the Thunder Dragon being stripped from above Fu Chi's head ceased its agonized writhing.
"What further instruction does the Grand Elder have?" Yang Kai asked in a deep voice, privately experiencing a jolt of lingering fear. Despite putting on a fearless front, who would willingly court death if they had any other choice? Fortunately, the Grand Elder had given him face and stepped in at the critical moment — otherwise, Yang Kai truly had no idea how to keep going.
Things had reached a point where there was no turning back. Either he negotiated terms with the dragon clan, paid whatever price was required to take Zhu Qing away, or he shattered all pretense and fought a devastating battle. The latter was not what he hoped for, but as for the former, he had already steeled himself to pay whatever it cost.
Only after seeing Yang Kai cease the Dragon Punishment secret art did Zhu Yan allow himself to relax. This young man before him had already obtained the dragon clan's inheritance, received the acknowledgment and fusion of the Progenitor Dragon's origin — he could no longer be treated as an ordinary human. Maintaining the dragon clan's arrogance toward him would accomplish nothing.
Zhu Yan pondered for a moment, and was just about to speak when something entirely unexpected occurred.
A tremendous humming sound suddenly echoed from the distant horizon, and the entire world seemed to tremble. Immediately after, a towering pillar of brilliant light erupted far in the distance. The spiritual energy between heaven and earth churned violently, sending waves of unease rippling outward.
The three Grand Elders of the dragon clan whipped their heads around, gazing toward the source of the disturbance.
In the next instant, all three dragons changed color.
The Second Elder, Fu Zhun, let out a sharp cry: "This is bad!"
Even as the words left her mouth, her figure blurred and she shot toward that direction like a bolt of lightning, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye — abandoning everything happening here without a second glance.
This sudden turn of events left the several hundred humans dumbstruck, and even Yang Kai's eyes widened with surprise, his gaze darting about with keen interest.
No one knew what the Second Elder was rushing off to handle.
By all logic, what was happening here concerned the honor and dignity of the entire dragon clan — after all, disrupting a dragon clan wedding to steal away a bride was an act of supreme provocation. The Second Elder had previously displayed an attitude of absolute dominance, even declaring that the dragon clan and Yang Kai would be irreconcilable enemies until one side was annihilated.
This was practically a feud beyond reconciliation.
What could possibly make a powerhouse like Fu Zhun lose her composure so completely that she couldn't even be bothered with Yang Kai's bride-snatching and had to deal with it immediately?
Something had happened on Dragon Island — and something massive.
An incredible thought surged through everyone's hearts, and upon closer observation of the expressions on display, they could indeed see that Grand Elder Zhu Yan and Fourth Elder Zhu Kong both wore grave looks, as though facing a formidable enemy.
When Yang Kai had torn off both of Fu Chi's arms earlier, they hadn't shown anything like this.
As for the other dragons, their expressions were equally unsettled and suspicious, as though they had their own guesses.
"Qing'er, what's over there? What happened?" Yang Kai quietly sent a message to Zhu Qing via spiritual transmission, his heart stirring with excitement as his sharp instincts told him this might be an opportunity.
Among the three Grand Elders of the dragon clan, the Second Elder Fu Zhun had always been the most difficult to deal with. Had she not been so relentlessly unreasonable before, Yang Kai wouldn't have been pushed to such extremes earlier. Now that she had simply left of her own accord, he could only be pleased.
Without the Second Elder as a massive obstacle, he might actually be able to sit down and have a civil conversation with the remaining Grand Elder Zhu Yan and Fourth Elder Zhu Kong — if he tried hard enough. After all, both of these elders belonged to Zhu's branch of the dragon race and held some degree of sympathy toward Zhu Qing. Their earlier attitudes had made that abundantly clear.
Hearing Yang Kai's inquiry, Zhu Qing replied: "The Dragon Tomb. That direction is the Dragon Tomb. Something seems to have happened at the Dragon Tomb."
"The Dragon Tomb?" Yang Kai raised an eyebrow.
He knew perfectly well what the Dragon Tomb was — the place every dragon was certain to enter before death, a forbidden ground for the entire dragon race. Zhu Qing's previous journey to the Frozen Wasteland to seek the lost dragon clan origin had been primarily to bring it back to the Dragon Tomb.
The Dragon Tomb was the burial ground of the dragon clan — what could possibly happen there? For the Second Elder to dash off without so much as a word… this matter was truly peculiar.
Zhu Qing couldn't explain it either; she only knew that something must have gone wrong at the Dragon Tomb.
While Yang Kai was exchanging words with Zhu Qing, the Grand Elder and Fourth Elder were also communicating privately. Whatever the Grand Elder told the Fourth Elder, Zhu Kong's expression suddenly shifted, growing infinitely more solemn.
Yang Kai's eyes darted about, and he suddenly raised his head: "Grand Elder, Fourth Elder, this junior was in the wrong today, but he was left with no choice. I acted ruthlessly out of nothing more than a desire for Qing'er's happiness. I humbly ask both Elders to forgive me."
His conflict with the dragon clan had essentially been concentrated in the Second Elder, Fu Zhun. Now that she was gone, if he could manage to persuade the Grand Elder and Fourth Elder, he might be able to leave peacefully.
He simply didn't know whether the dragon clan would be willing to let him off the hook, and his mind wavered between hope and doubt.
Zhu Yan and Zhu Kong both looked at Yang Kai with expressions caught between exasperation and amusement.
Just moments ago, when facing the Second Elder, this young man had put on an iron-willed display of defiance, practically itching to fight Fu Zhun to the death right then and there to prove his love for Zhu Qing. Who could have imagined that in the blink of an eye, he would switch to such a conciliatory tone? He certainly knew when to be tough and when to bend.