The Dragonkin: The Most Loyal Vassals of the Human Emperor Hall

When the Lord of the Dragonfolk Realm spoke these words, his eyes revealed something unexpected: reverence and worship for the Human Emperor.

Back then, when the various planes of the Void Realm saw the mightiest human and demon races go to war—and fight so thoroughly that even their inheritances were severed—the idea that victory in a realm war could lead to immortality had practically become an established fact.

If it were false, why would the Human Emperor have fought the demons to the death? Was he an idiot?

Little did they know that the entire Void Realm had become a chess piece in the game between the Human Emperor and the Real Realm.

And this game only truly took its first step after his death.

“Why do you know all this?”

“Because my Dragonfolk are the Human Emperor’s contingency plan.”

The Human Emperor was willing to answer the calamity, but he could not guarantee that the realm wars would truly begin across the various realms after his death.

So he revealed these deepest secrets to the Human Emperor’s most loyal vassals at the time—the Dragonfolk Hall.

Back then, the Dragonfolk could not be considered one of the powerful races among the myriad races of the Void Realm. It was only through their absolute, generation-after-generation loyalty to the Human Emperor’s Hall that they secured a place for themselves.

The Dragonfolk Hall had been entrusted with two tasks by the Human Emperor.

First, they were to guard the demons’ homeland, eliminate the demons’ remaining forces, and completely destroy the demon race. This would prevent the demons from taking the lead after humanity fell and bringing the realm war to an abrupt end.

Second, immediately after the Human Emperor’s death, they were to begin the realm wars. They had to launch long-term, large-scale invasions of the various planes, ignite and spread the flames of war across as many planes as possible, and loudly promote the idea that victory in a realm war could lead to immortality.

Chen Yi was utterly dumbfounded.

“Wait, your Dragonfolk were once humanity’s most loyal vassals?”

The Lord of the Dragonfolk Realm corrected him with utmost seriousness.

“Vassals of the Human Emperor’s Hall, not vassals of your human race! Now that the Human Emperor’s Hall is gone, my Dragonfolk have no need to be loyal to anyone!”

“Fine, fine, do whatever you want… Didn’t you just say that victory in a realm war might really lead to immortality? Haven’t you gotten to that part yet?”

“At first, we launched the realm wars to continue the Human Emperor’s plans.

“But later, we discovered that once the worldly aura accumulated to a certain level within a plane, it seemed capable of altering the rules of that plane.

“My guess is that even the Human Emperor never anticipated this.”

“Alter the rules? For example?”

“For example…”

As he spoke, the Lord of the Dragonfolk Realm circulated his power.

The true qi within his body suddenly transformed into primordial energy!

“Core Formation Realm!”

In an instant, the Lord of the Dragonfolk Realm restored the primordial energy back into the true qi of the Qi Transformation Realm.

“Here in the Dragonfolk Realm, cultivators can now break through to the Core Formation Realm!

“However, they cannot actually use that power. The surrounding world still cannot withstand it once it is unleashed.

“But I estimate that as the worldly aura continues to accumulate, the Dragonfolk Realm will sooner or later be able to bear even higher cultivation realms. That day should not be far off.

“After all, we have worked at it for thirty thousand years. I can feel that we are only one step away. Perhaps I will live to see it in my generation!”

As he spoke of this, the Lord of the Dragonfolk Realm’s face shone with the radiance of grand ambition.

But after he glanced at Chen Yi, that radiance dimmed considerably.

He was probably depressed again.

“Remarkable…”

Chen Yi was genuinely shaken to the core.

Since the two sides were currently on relatively friendly terms and their conversation was proceeding smoothly, Chen Yi decided to clear up all the questions he had once harbored about the Dragonfolk in one go, so nothing would continue to bother him.

“Doesn’t your realm have a High Priest who can divine the past and future, and who is extremely skilled at it?”

During his fourth simulation, when Chen Yi was participating in the final round of the Carefree Sacred Land’s Saint Heir selection, the Dragonfolk had paid an enormous price to break through the spatial barrier and launch a direct attack against him.

The explanation he later received was that the Dragonfolk had a High Priest who had foreseen Chen Yi as a massive variable—one that would have a profoundly negative impact on their realm war.

That was why they had spared no expense to kill him before he could fully develop.

That kind of threat absolutely could not be allowed to survive. Chen Yi had to figure out who this High Priest was and take him out!

The Lord of the Dragonfolk Realm frowned and thought for a moment.

“Our realm does indeed have a position called ‘High Priest,’ but his role is to preside over the grand ceremonies when our people worship their ancestors and offer sacrifices. He has no ability to divine the past or future.”

“None? Are you sure?”

“I don’t think I have any reason to lie to you.”

Chen Yi secretly listened to his thoughts and questioned him repeatedly, confirming that the Lord of the Dragonfolk Realm was not lying.

“How strange…”

Thinking about it carefully, the Saint Heir finals had begun when he was fifty years old.

That was still more than twenty years away.

It was possible that the High Priest currently serving was not the same High Priest who would appear later.

“There’s one more thing I’m curious about. Doesn’t your realm have something called ‘longevity essence’ that can extend the lifespan of your people? I’ve even heard that the military pay your soldiers receive consists directly of additional years of life. How does that work?”

There was nothing for the Lord of the Dragonfolk Realm to hide here.

Even if he told others, they would not be able to replicate it.

Although the Dragonfolk appeared to possess physical bodies, their souls were actually more important than their bodies.

Especially in the Void Realm, death did not subject them to the power of the Netherworld. They could continue to exist as spiritual beings.

Thus, the lifespan of the Dragonfolk had nothing to do with their physical bodies. Their lifespan referred to the length of time their souls could remain stable.

What was known as increasing one’s lifespan was actually extending the period for which one’s soul could be maintained. Their bodies would still decay and die after too much time had passed—raising one’s cultivation merely extended their shelf life.

The Dragonfolk, however, did not care whether their bodies decayed. The strong could simply take over the bodies of the weak and use them as their own.

To other races, such wanton seizure of other people’s bodies was cruel.

But among the Dragonfolk, it was described differently.

Their entire realm had to serve the war effort. If the strong failed to use up their lifespans, that was simply a waste. If the weak could not go to the battlefield and make achievements, then they had to contribute their bodies instead.

Their entire race had lived this way for tens of thousands of years and had long since accepted this value system.

They did not fear the cruelty brought about by war’s side effects. They felt shame only in being unable to provide value to the war.

And the Dragonfolk’s method of increasing the longevity of their souls was to make use of the earth spirits obtained after conquering other planes.

“We have a complete production line that can extract ‘longevity essence’ from earth spirits, then divide and seal it into individual Dragonfolk coins.

“These Dragonfolk coins can be used at any time. One can absorb the longevity essence within them and slowly refine it to extend one’s lifespan. They can also be traded with others.”

“So that’s useless to me…”

“Humans cannot survive apart from their physical bodies, so extending the period for which your souls can remain stable has no meaning. What’s more, the moment you leave your physical body, your soul will be drawn away by the Netherworld.”

Through his sixth simulation, Chen Yi already knew that even if he became a ghost cultivator and continued to exist as a ghost, the simulation would not continue.

Although he possessed the Dragonfolk’s innate talent, once the system determined that he had died, all his traits would become ineffective. He could not exploit a loophole like that.

He was no longer very interested in Dragonfolk coins.

Still, it was worth keeping in mind. They might prove useful in the future.

With that thought, Chen Yi looked around once more at the Dragonfolk Realm, where productivity was highly developed and cultivation had been thoroughly industrialized.

He suddenly felt that destroying this plane would be a real shame.

A militarized world like that of the Dragonfolk, where everyone from the highest to the lowest is united in the pursuit of war, would be difficult to replicate anywhere else.