Try His Depth

"Ugh! What am I even thinking about!" She shook her head vigorously, her pair of fox ears swaying back and forth with the motion.

"Ji Ruxue! You carry the hopes of the entire Ten Thousand Demon Kingdom on your shoulders. How... how could you be swayed by a few words from this human brat? No, no, absolutely not."

Ji Ruxue curled up in the corner, finally managing to let the heat in her cheeks subside. Just then, the commotion caused by Qin Hao caught her attention.

She saw Qin Hao sitting cross-legged on the soft couch, his eyes tightly shut as he began to cultivate.

As Qin Hao circulated his cultivation method, the spiritual energy fluctuations in the room suddenly became extremely violent. It was as if an invisible giant hand had grabbed all the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within a hundred-zhang radius, frantically dragging it toward his direction.

The speed at which the spiritual energy surged into Qin Hao's body grew faster and faster, and the vortex expanded. Ji Ruxue could even hear the sharp, buzzing sound of the spiritual energy causing friction with the air.

She stood frozen in place, the fur on her tail puffing up. Her beautiful eyes widened perfectly round, filled with disbelief as she looked at Qin Hao.

"Is... is this really a Body Integration Realm cultivator cultivating? With this kind of momentum, even Mahayana or Tribulation Transcendence Realm cultivators wouldn't be this exaggerated!"

Ji Ruxue steadied her mind and carefully observed Qin Hao. Very quickly, she discovered that while Qin Hao appeared to be at the Body Integration Realm on the surface, the power contained within his body and his unfathomable foundation far exceeded the scope of this realm.

The feeling Qin Hao gave her was like a lake. On the surface, it looked identical to any other lake, but absolutely no one knew just how deep the water underneath truly was.

"Just what kind of monster is this guy?"

Ji Ruxue bit her lower lip, an indescribable feeling suddenly welling up in her heart.

"Can I really beat him tomorrow?"

Standing in the corner, Ji Ruxue looked at the figure enveloped in the spiritual energy vortex. A ridiculous thought suddenly sprang up in her mind—perhaps she really should carefully consider that foolproof plan he had mentioned earlier.

......

At the same time, on the other side of the royal court, Ao Yu was striding across a long ice corridor, his face so gloomy it looked like it could drip water.

He tried his hardest not to think about it, but the scene of Qin Hao leading Ji Ruxue by the hand into the room, talking about a two-person world and how it would be inconvenient, kept replaying in his mind.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

Ao Yu smashed his fist against a nearby pillar. "Qin, you humiliated me like this! I am absolutely irreconcilable with you!"

Soon, Ao Yu arrived at his destination—a massive doorway made of dragon bones, guarded by two sentries clad in dragon armor.

"Your Highness Ao Yu!" The guards saluted in unison.

"Where is my brother?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, His Highness Ao Lie is currently cultivating inside."

Ao Yu nodded, then pushed the door open with his palm and strode inside.

The person Ao Yu had come to find was named Ao Lie, universally recognized as the strongest among the Northern Wasteland Dragon Clan under the age of three thousand, and also Ao Yu's cousin.

Ao Lie was a very extreme person. In his eyes, the Dragon Clan reigned supreme among all races, and all other species were nothing but lowly ants. Ao Yu figured that if Ao Lie found out their father intended to give the Immemorial Dragon Emperor's essence blood to a human, he would definitely throw a massive fit.

"Ao Yu? Do you need something from me?" Sensing Ao Yu's approach, Ao Lie stopped his cultivation.

"Brother! Something terrible has happened. Father... Father is going to give the Immemorial Dragon Emperor's essence blood to a human!" Ao Yu said with an anxious face.

Upon hearing this, Ao Lie sprang to his feet, his brows tightly knitted together, a flash of displeasure in his eyes. "What did you say! How is that possible? Uncle wants to give the Immemorial Dragon Emperor's essence blood to a human? That's impossible!"

Ao Yu gritted his teeth. "Brother, it's absolutely true. Would I lie to you about my own father? I tried to persuade him, but Father simply ignored me. That person is named Qin Hao, the son of Father's human friend."

"Father has already brought him to our Northern Wasteland Dragon Clan!"

"Absurd! What is Uncle trying to do?" Ao Lie roared, the fury in his eyes almost materializing into substance, his fists cracking as he clenched them tightly.

"The Immemorial Dragon Emperor's essence blood is a sacred relic of our Northern Wasteland Dragon Clan. How can it fall into the hands of a human? What on earth is Uncle thinking?"

Seeing Ao Lie's rage, Ao Yu nodded repeatedly. "Exactly, that's what I said too, but Father's mind is made up."

Pausing for a moment, Ao Yu added, "Brother, you don't know just how arrogant that brat is. Relying on the Desolate Ancient Qin Family behind him, he completely disregards us. He even beat me up."

"You got beat up by him?"

Ao Yu nodded vigorously. "Brother, you have to avenge me."

Hearing this, Ao Lie slapped Ao Yu across the face. "Trash! You can't even defeat a human! You really smear mud on the face of our Northern Wasteland Dragon Clan! However, if this kid could beat you, he must have some real skills."

Holding his cheek, Ao Yu looked at Ao Lie with utter helplessness. Look, it's one thing for an outsider to hit me, but you're hitting me too? Forget it, forget it. Big brother has always had this violent temper; I came mentally prepared for this.

After slapping Ao Yu, Ao Lie stormed out the door, heading to seek an audience with Ao Bing, hoping to make Ao Bing retract his order.

Ao Bing was an Immortal Emperor, after all. Could he possibly be unaware of what was happening within his own clan's territory? Faced with Ao Lie's request, Ao Bing's stance was very clear:

"You want me to take back my order? Fine, beat him in a fight."

Hearing this, Ao Lie was stunned.

"Patriarch, you aren't joking, are you? Little Yu said he is only at the Body Integration Realm, while I am an Immortal. If I accidentally slip up and kill him, don't blame me."

Ao Bing chuckled softly. "It's fine if you slip up. If the sky falls, I'll hold it up."

"Alright, then I'm going!"

Not long after Ao Lie left, a figure appeared beside Ao Bing. If Qin Hao were here, he would naturally recognize this as his own deadbeat father.

When he decided to let Qin Hao inherit the Immemorial Dragon Emperor's essence blood, Ao Bing had informed Qin Wuya of this news. Qin Wuya naturally knew how precious the Immemorial Dragon Emperor's essence blood was, so he immediately came to the Northern Wasteland Dragon Clan. He had actually arrived here even earlier than Qin Hao.

"Hey, even though little Hao is your son, your methods are a bit too extreme. Letting an Immortal go all out to beat him? If something happens, I won't be responsible."

Qin Wuya looked into the distance expressionlessly.

"What could possibly happen? To be honest, even I don't know the true depths of that little rascal. Among his peers, he basically crushes everyone. When facing someone stronger, he doesn't fight but directly calls for backup. It just so happens you have an Immortal here who has a bone to pick with him, and a dragon at that. We can use him to test my little Hao's depths."

At this point, Qin Wuya turned his head to look at Ao Bing, a sly smile appearing on his face.

"Brother, I came all this way. Stop hiding that Nine-Bends Dragon Pearl Wine of yours. I've been craving a taste for years."

"I don't have any! Get lost! It only produces one drop every hundred years, and you, you bastard, drank it all three years ago!"