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Bai Yu is the essence of all jade in the world; only the finest jade stones, after tens of thousands of years of sedimentation and nurturing into jade slurries, can form such tiny, crystal-like and translucent jade stones.

Ancient people called it Jade Essence, and tens of thousands of years later, some islanders who had seen Jade Essence called it Bai Yu.

Looking at the puzzled faces of Murong and Weichi, Chen Qing patiently explained, "The Dragon Clan’s unique Runes Technique can store the Art Energy of the world, but the carrier it requires is Jade Stone.

To divert attention, the Dragon Clan amassed wealth everywhere, giving the impression that they coveted gold, silver, and jewelry.

In reality, what the Dragon Clan adored was solely Jade Stone. "

"The refinement technique for Jade Essence is a specialty of the Dragon Clan. Using top-quality jade stones and cultivating them with the warmth of mother-of-pearl snails, it takes tens of thousands of years for the jade slurry to form what you see now. Back then, the Dragon Clan controlled tens of thousands of island nations, forcing them to tribute jade stones, and only a few priests from within those nations received secret tasks from the Dragon Clan—Bai Yu’s native land was among them. "

Could there really be such a thing?

Hearing these secrets, both Weichi Feihong and Murong Yunji’s eyes widened in astonishment.

So that’s how it was; the rumors claimed that dragons were lascivious and greedy for wealth, but now it seemed that there were reasons behind those traits—lasciviousness was due to the difficulty of procreating, and greed for wealth.

.. was to conceal the secret of the Jade Stone!

"During the peak of the Dragon Clan, thousands of island nations provided tribute, and countless water creatures revered them. The role of the human race at sea was to collect jade stones and to research the ways of the art formation for the Dragon Clan."

"But... why is there no record of this?" Weichi Feihong couldn’t help but ask, "I’ve also traveled to many islands, and I’ve never heard of these Dragon Clan secrets. Nor are they recorded in the major families’ archives."

"Of course, they couldn’t be recorded...

" Chen Qing said with a smile, "When the secret realm was closing, the Dragon Clan was already weakened, the ancient world was in decline, and everyone sealed their own records. No one knew who would awaken first, and no one could be sure if they’d still be asleep when found by other ancients.

Naturally, it was better for fewer people to know the secrets of the Dragon Clan. "

"Before the closure of the Dragon Palace, the Dragon Clan carried out a bloody massacre of countless islanders and destroyed all historical documents. To be on the safe side, they also slaughtered ninety-nine percent of the literate population!"

This statement left Murong and Weichi with shocked expressions, particularly Murong who felt a chill in her heart more intense than the cold enveloping her body.

In the past, it was only said that ancient creatures were brutal, but there was no specific description of their barbarity, nor of how the ancient human race lived through such hardship—it all seemed very abstract. And Chen Qing’s statement was quite explicit.

To ensure no one would document the secret history of the Dragon Clan, they simply killed all the literate—how brutal was that?

The saying "human life is as worthless as grass" was best exemplified by this revelation.

"That’s why you would feel that the people on the island seem to lack their own culture..." Chen Qing said with a smile, "Compared to the Central Plains, which was once ruled by the Celestial Clan..."

"Celestial Clan?"

"We’ll talk about that later..." Chen Qing continued, "The Dragon Palace was about to close, but the secret preparation of jade stones and mother-of-pearl had to continue, so the Dragon Palace still needed a group of extremely loyal individuals—these were the hidden High Priests of the island nations! "

"These High Priests wielded some of the Dragon Palace’s powers, were utterly loyal and yearning towards the Dragon Clan, and had been inscribed with Dragon Blood oaths, forbidding betrayal.

For tens of thousands of years, they have been secretly preparing for the reopening of the Dragon Palace, with their main tasks being to covertly seek out jade stones and secretly breed the Dragon Clan’s mother-of-pearl. "

"Is this mother-of-pearl this?" Murong asked, looking at the huge shell.

"This is an existence that can’t be sought after.

.." Chen Qing smiled and said, "The Dragon Clan’s Conch Mother requires the sacrifice of a pure Human Race girl, who must merge with the Conch Mother to become the Conch Maiden, only then can she reach the ultimate form. Girls suitable to become the Conch Maiden are incredibly rare, and those who can nurture the Blood Jade Conch Mother are one in a hundred million. Throughout the millions of years of the Dragon Clan’s history, there have been only a few from the Human Race who were capable of nurturing the Blood Jade Conch Mother.

Therefore, when Bai Yu was confirmed to possess this talent, the entire nation’s priests were extremely excited. "

"They knew that once the Dragon Palace was reopened, as long as they offered this girl, their nation would receive considerable rewards, and those High Priests would also very likely gain the favor of the Dragon Clan, receiving the highest reward—that is, the Dragon Transformation legacy."

"Bai Yu was given a title at the age of twelve, and many people did not know what the name Bai Yu represented, but those High Priests who knew the ancient history understood.

Bai Yu... is the finest among jades, and she, who could control the Blood Jade Conch Mother, was to become the treasure that would produce top-quality Bai Yu in the future. "

"So that’s how it is....." After listening to the process, Murong finally understood why Chen Qing was so insistent on having the Conch Mother from the other party—it turned out to be such a treasure.

"This Blood Jade Conch Mother can not only create top-tier Bai Yu, but the Blood Jade nurtured by Bai Yu is also a treasure coveted by even the top members of the Dragon Clan," Chen Qing said, looking at the shell.

"The essence within the Blood Jade is the essence of heaven and earth, even the Dragon King Breed. Soaking in this blood essence for a while can fortify muscles and bones, improving one’s vitality by a whole level, let alone for you warriors who have not yet broken through to become Transcendent. "

"The strength that Weichi has attained in just two years is because he soaked in that blood essence."

"That’s how it is..." Murong swallowed, now understanding the words Chen Qing had just said. The Conch Mother’s blood essence that could make even the Dragon Clan’s beasts drool—no wonder warriors would fight tooth and nail to get it.....

"If that’s the case, why didn’t you just keep all of Bai Yu’s Conch Mother just now?"

"You are more greedy than I am..." Chen Qing looked at Murong with an amused expression, who was only left with half a body. "If I had the capability, I certainly would have done so, but she truly has the means to fight to the death. In those other two shells, if I’m not mistaken, should be the Blood Corpses that she has selected and nurtured over many years. Of course... compared to Murong, who still retains the Human Race’s rationality and is of superior quality, it’s naturally not as good.

But after being nurtured for so many years, their bodies and bones must have been strengthened to a very high level.

If released, they could indeed kill us!"

"Then why didn’t she release them?"

"Releasing them would leak energy..." Chen Qing smirked.

"If my guess is correct, she should know the Dragon Transformation Technique. By using these two absolutely loyal Blood Corpses to successfully undergo Dragon Transformation, she will obtain two incredibly loyal Corpse Dragons. In the upcoming battle for the Dragon Palace, she would gain a crucial advantage. Now, being nurtured within the Blood Conch, those two Blood Corpses’ bodies and skeletons are preserved most intact, and the probability of successful Dragon Transformation is also highest. If I were to draw them out, not only would much of the essence blood be lost, but their bodies might also suffer damage. "

"In that case, it wouldn’t be worth it. Losing the essence blood would greatly reduce the strength after Dragon Transformation, and if the bodies were also damaged, the probability of a successful Dragon Transformation would decrease. It would truly be a loss not worth the gain!"

"I see..." Weichi Feihong looked at Chen Qing with a strange expression. Bai Yu was a person from ten thousand years ago, yet this man understood everything about Bai Yu so thoroughly and calculated so carefully. This guy... is he really just a twenty-year-old scholar?

"What shall we do next?"

"Going forward..."

Chen Qing closed his eyes. The Heavenly Ghost Octopus would come storming back in at most half a day, the grand formation would collapse, and countless terrifying creatures would become its nourishment. The formation of this thing was now inevitable!

If Bai Yu were to succeed in another Dragon Transformation, with two Corpse Dragons, plus Murong and Weichi’s exposure of the location of the Dragon Kraken, well... things would indeed get quite lively then.