Chapter 274
Chapter 274
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 274
Chapter Title: Heaven's Will is Hard to Defy
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Four Seas Gate, East Island Dragon Palace.
Misty clouds flowed across the steps before the hall, while rumbling, thunderous breathing echoed inside the hall itself. It was as if some colossal beast slumbered within.
It was only upon entering the hall that one realized this was no giant creature.
A handsome young man in white robes, with refined and scholarly features, leaned against the window. In his hands, he cradled a book of pill scriptures, reading it with evident fascination.
At that moment, a woman stepped into the grand hall.
She had a voluptuous figure, a vermilion cinnabar mark between her brows, and an appearance both refined and elegant. Every gesture carried an air of nobility, laced with a hint of spoiled wildness.
She entered the hall and, upon spotting the young man by the window, immediately cried out in a loud voice:
"Big Brother! It's come to this, and you're still reading here? If this keeps up, I'm afraid our Four Seas Gate and the Dragon Clan's reputation will be utterly ruined!"
The young man looked up helplessly at her words and glanced at the woman.
"Little Sister, have you forgotten Father's decree? He commanded us to seclude ourselves without emerging, to quietly recite Dao scriptures. This tribulation has arrived—if we stay put, Father can shelter us, but venturing out... who knows?"
"But Sui Ying is dead!"
The woman shook her head, her lips parting to reveal sharp fangs as she spat hatefully:
"Sui Ying was a Dragon King, slain by humans. How can we just stand by?"
Sui Ying had been a notable figure in the Dragon Palace during his life.
He was especially close to this woman, for they were siblings born of the same mother. The woman was named Sui Ling—Sui Ying's own sister, in the strictest sense.
With her brother slain, how could she not seethe with rage?
Yet compared to her, the young man remained utterly composed.
"So what? Sui Ying died inland. Do you intend to chase the killer there yourself?"
"Give it up, Little Sister."
The young man was Tian Qiu, second son of the Dragon Lord. He had reached peak Foundation Establishment as a great Perfected Being years ago and served as one of his father's key aides.
Thus, far calmer than the young and hot-headed Sui Ling, he shook his head at once.
"This tribulation... I fear it's another inland sweep of the overseas realms. Resistance is futile—we can only hide. The Dragon Palace keeps us safe. Step outside, and there's a ninety-nine percent chance of death and Dao's end."
"How can we..."
Sui Ling gnashed her teeth at his words. But moments later, as if struck by an idea, she declared loudly:
"What if I lure that person right into the Dragon Palace?"
Tian Qiu's brows shot up.
"Lure him into the Dragon Palace... If you can truly manage that, no issue at all. Even the Lords above couldn't object."
True Lords laid the groundwork; Perfected Beings handled the details.
The former concerned themselves only with the grand design—the rest was for the latter to maneuver. Victory or defeat came down to skill alone. Such was the unspoken accord among True Lords.
"Then it's settled!"
Sui Ling clenched her fists eagerly.
"I had a friend from the Black Turtle clan divine it for me earlier. That man is headed overseas this very trip!"
"Karma reveals his target is the Primordial Magnetism Divine Mountain you valued before, Big Brother. Have Little Sister request your aid in shifting that divine mountain into our Dragon Palace domain. Then he must either storm the palace or abandon his cultivation breakthrough. Either way, it sates my hatred!"
"Primordial Magnetism Divine Mountain..."
Tian Qiu's brows furrowed at her words, a wry smile in his heart.
'Worthy of True Lords—striking the vital point, leaving no room to evade!'
Why had he prized that divine mountain?
Just like Suo Huan, he had seen it for the cave-heaven fragment of a fallen True Lord it truly was—tremendous aid to his Golden Core bid!
An ordinary treasure? He could yield it.
But not this mountain!
Yield it not, and karma with the foe would bind him. Tribulation would descend in turn, a crisis of life and death looming close!
"Father..."
Tian Qiu lifted his gaze to the Dragon Palace depths, sensing a pair of golden eyes vast as mountains fixed upon him. Crushing pressure descended.
'Of course. Father divined the karma—how could he miss the sequence of events? Knowing full well, he still ordered seclusion and scripture recitation. He means for me to relinquish it. But a cave-heaven fragment... With it, my Golden Core odds soar. How to simply abandon that?'
Tian Qiu's face twisted in conflict.
Long moments passed before he steadied his heart and turned to Sui Ling.
"The divine mountain is immature yet—shifting it to the Dragon Palace now would only waste it."
"Go yourself first, Little Sister."
"Rally more hands to guard the mountain in my stead. Should that inland cultivator who slew Sui Ying truly scheme for it... I'll act then."
"Little Sister obeys!"
Sui Ling beamed with joy and departed with light steps, leaving Tian Qiu alone in the hall. His expression flickered uncertainly; the Dao scripture lay closed in his hand.
"Heaven's will is hard to defy... Heaven's will is hard to defy!"
Boom!
Thunder crashed alongside searing white lightning in the skies, baring the wrath of the hidden orchestrator—only for thick dark clouds to smother it.
"You... bully me too far!"
The stifled voice whipped heaven and earth into frenzy. Overseas waves surged wildly, birthing countless disasters poised to swell into cataclysmic tides.
Yet in the next instant, three vast powers bloomed forth, bearing down steadily. Like an invisible titan hand, they flattened the myriad waves. All nascent calamities fizzled unseen, dulling that heaven-raging voice to a murmur.
"Amitabha. Why the haste, Dragon Lord?"
"Pawns are pawns below. Chess has wins and losses—grace in loss brings dignity. Rage ill suits your stature!"
"I..."
The Dragon Lord gnashed his teeth. Chess allowed wins and losses, aye—but you lot played without honor! Three against one; my single move met by your trio!
Nor was this the first such outrage. Once heaven's nobility, dragons needed no cultivation—adulthood brought Foundation Establishment. Four Dragon Lords divvied rivers, lakes, seas—what majesty! Yet exiled overseas, reduced to human vassals, all changed.
That exile left the Dragon Clan with but one Dragon Lord: himself.
Countless years on, still only him!
'Periodic purges overseas, harvesting us—like livestock to the demon clans! I'm naught but their appointed hound!'
Whenever a demon crested peak Foundation Establishment, nearing the Golden Core bid, came a "purge."
The ploy unchanged: dangle a "Golden Core chance," hook the mark. Success? By each clan's merit.
—Pretty words.
Truth? Demons never won once across the ages. Four powers allied crushed all variables—resistance a fool's dream?
Unless...
The Dragon Lord withdrew his divine sense at once, ceasing confrontation with those three ethereal mights. He withdrew into the palace-body and opened his golden eyes.
His gaze pierced illusions, unveiling barriers.
In a flash, a tall, poised figure with leisurely poise entered his sight, smiling faintly.
"Dragon Lord has decided, then?"
"...Agreed."
The Dragon Lord intoned gravely:
"So long as Angxiao you aid my Dragon Clan to birth another Dragon Lord, attaining Heaven River Water... I'll yield it to your冥府!"
(End of chapter)