Standing at the top of the Nether Dragon Ravine, the entire shape of the terrain looked like a surging, winding dragon. From time to time, faint dragon roars echoed from the depths below.
The howling wind cut through the air like blades. Looking down, black and golden mist intertwined, roaring and churning wildly in midair.
Spiritforce surged around Xu Zimo’s body. He walked through the air, heading down toward the bottom of the Nether Dragon Ravine.
As he descended halfway, a gray mist wrapped around him.
Then, his meridian gates opened, and the roar of chaos resounded through the heavens and earth.
Xu Zimo sat atop Chaos, like a swift arrow cutting through the sky, trailing a mighty wave of energy as he shot downward.
Sensing an intruder, the black-gold mist at the bottom of the Nether Dragon Ravine condensed into several golden dragons and charged at Xu Zimo.
Majestic draconic might swept across the heavens, causing the surrounding space to tremble.
At that moment, Chaos let out an angry roar. The sound was piercing and shrill, yet harsh to the ear.
Hearing Chaos' roar, the golden dragons hesitated. They looked at Chaos with fear, then dispersed and dissolved into countless mist strands, drifting away.
“Master, did you see that?” Chaos said smugly. “Back in the day, they were all under my command. They wouldn’t dare act out in front of me.”
Xu Zimo chuckled. He looked around. The bottom of the Nether Dragon Ravine was so deep it was impossible to see the end. Aside from the drifting black-gold mist, nothing else was visible.
In his previous life, he had lost consciousness after falling here and had no clear memory of the surroundings.
Chaos carried him for about half an hour before they finally saw the ground.
The land was golden, unlike the usual earthy brown, this soil contained powerful energy.
It had been dyed gold by the blood of the Dragon Race. After so many years, the blood hadn’t faded; instead, it had merged into the land.
Several withered trees stood nearby, their leaves fallen, branches dried and brittle. The breeze made the scene feel desolate.
After walking a few steps, Xu Zimo came across a massive skeleton ahead.
Although it had been dead for a long time, the dragon’s presence still lingered strongly on the bones.
The skeleton stretched over thirty meters long. Its flesh had long since rotted away, but the white bones remained incredibly tough.
Half an hour later, Xu Zimo finally saw a scene familiar from his past life.
It was a mountain stream, with faint droplets seeping from the rock walls.
Nearby, a crystal-clear river flowed, the sound of water “whooshing” like pleasant music.
At the center of the river stood a lone tree.
This was the first living thing Xu Zimo had seen since arriving.
The water wasn’t deep, so Xu Zimo walked through the cool stream step by step toward the tree in the center.
The tree stood five meters tall, completely golden, branches, leaves, and all.
Because of the dense mist above, sunlight rarely pierced through.
Strangely, though, while the rest of the area lacked sunlight, this tree was bathed in it.
Under the golden light, the tree sparkled brilliantly.
The most unusual part of the tree was its fruit, which looked a bit like ginseng fruit, resembling translucent amber.
On the outside, the fruit was golden, and inside was the silhouette of a small dragon.
There were at least a hundred such fruits on the tree.
“The Dragon Race is trying to revive its bloodline,” Chaos muttered.
“These golden fruits strengthen the physical body significantly when eaten,” Xu Zimo said. “They even imbue spiritforce with dragon aura. Definitely a rare treasure.
“It may not be on the Rare Treasures List, but with so many wonders in the world, it’s certainly on par with those that are.”
Chaos stared at the fruit for a while before speaking slowly, “These aren’t fruits at all. They’re lives. Each fruit is a living being.”
Hearing this, Xu Zimo frowned and studied the fruits closely. He didn’t sense any signs of life.
“These baby dragons haven’t fully developed yet. Aside from primordial beast races like ours, others can’t sense the life within them,” Chaos explained. “The Dragon Race has been gone from this world for a long time. Are they really planning to return now?”
“Then let’s just eat them and see how they come back,” Xu Zimo laughed.
He hadn’t expected that, by pure accident in his past life, he had eaten all these baby dragon fruits, ruining the Dragon Race’s long-laid plans.
“The birth of the Dragon Race is blessed by the Heavenly Dao and the Dragon Gods. Killing these younglings might not provoke the Dao itself, but the Dragon Gods definitely won’t let you off,” Chaos warned.
Though the Dragon Race had been wiped out in this world, the race itself hadn’t vanished from the annals of fate.
“What’s there to fear? Our True Martial Sacred Ground isn’t lacking in powerful backers,” Xu Zimo said with a grin.
Chaos paused at his words. True, the Dragon Gods were mighty, but the True Martial Sacred Ground had its own terrifying strength, four Grand Emperors in one lineage.
An Imperial Lineage’s power wasn’t just in its deep foundations or the divine artifacts left behind by past Grand Emperors, nor merely in their imperial generals, but in the Gran Emperors themselves.
Though Grand Emperors rarely intervened directly in worldly matters, their mere existence provided a safeguard.
If the Dragon Gods broke the rules to kill someone from True Martial Sacred Ground, a Grand Emperor could descend into the Primordial Heartlands from the higher worlds and step in to fight them.
Lesser sects weren’t so fortunate. This was why many top-tier sects desperately sought to rise to Imperial Lineage status, because with a high-level power on your side, you at least had a voice at the table.
“Master, although you’re not afraid of the Dragon Gods, but I think that just eating these dragon fruits would be such a waste,” Chaos tried to advise.
As a fellow primordial beast, there was only so much it could say. If Xu Zimo insisted on eating them, it couldn't stop him.
“I was just saying,” Xu Zimo shrugged. “These dragon fruits are valuable to me, I wouldn’t waste them by eating them. Besides, with my current strength, their benefits wouldn’t be that significant.”
“Master, you’re not thinking of raising these baby dragons, are you?” Chaos asked, surprised.
“Not now,” Xu Zimo said. “I don’t have the spiritforce or blood energy resources to nurture them yet. But I can take them with me. Once my plan succeeds, I think the time will be right.”