Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)

“Miss, do you need something?” asked Long Chen as he turned back to look at the white-robed woman.

When the white-robed woman’s eyes met Long Chen’s, a trace of astonishment appeared in her eyes. Long Chen’s heart shook because he realized that his dragon blood was reacting to something.

It was evident that she had noticed something. She seemed to be in disbelief, but she suppressed that feeling and asked, “Mister, you called yourself Long Chen just now, correct? Then can I be so bold as to call you Brother Long?”

“Of course you can,” said Long Chen.

“Junior sister is Bai Yingxue. Greetings, Brother Long.” The white-robed woman cupped her fists toward Long Chen, and Long Chen hastily cupped his fists back. This could count as a proper greeting.

Oddly enough, despite belonging to the dragon race, this woman’s conduct and demeanor exuded qualities more commonly associated with the human race. Long Chen found this somewhat strange.

“Brother Long, do you really know Netherdragon Tianzhao?” asked Bai Yingxue.

“Yes. If their Netherdragon Tianzhao is the same one I am familiar with, then we really do have some grudges between us,” replied Long Chen.

Long Chen felt that they were definitely the same person, but it wouldn’t be bad to not say it so confidently.

“If Brother Long doesn’t mind, why not travel with us for a while?” proposed Bai Yingxue.

“That would be convenient,” said Long Chen, a smile gracing his lips. He naturally wouldn’t refuse. It just so happened that he wanted to know more about this area.

He had originally planned on doing a soulsearch to get more information. However, if he were to use it on someone strong, then their soul could have restrictions on them that prevented him from obtaining anything useful. On the other hand, if he were to find someone weak, they wouldn’t even know the information that he needed. Hence, Bai Yingxue’s invitation was a good thing for him.

Long Chen walked shoulder to shoulder with Bai Yingxue. She was moving quite fast and seemed very familiar with the surroundings. Without hesitation, she took seemingly random twists and turns.

“Brother Long, I have a question. Your aura feels very strange to me. You are from the human race, but why do you possess such a pure sacred aura filled with Sovereign qi?” asked Bai Yingxue. “Of course, if this relates to one of your secrets, please don’t feel the need to answer. Just pretend I didn’t say anything.”

Bai Yingxue was extremely gentle and polite, to the point that it would be hard for someone to refuse to answer her question. It would feel like being rude to a nice person.

“It’s not much of a secret. I had a fortuitous encounter and obtained an inheritance from a senior of the dragon race,” answered Long Chen with a smile.

Long Chen already knew the characteristics of the white dragon race. Since they were generally kind, he didn’t need to be too wary of them. However, when it came to the dragon expert, he didn’t want to disclose too much information.

“Brother Long, have you heard of our dragon race’s Sovereign clan?” asked Bai Yingxue as she looked at Long Chen.

“Sovereign clan? What’s that?” Long Chen was startled. He had never heard of such a thing.

“It’s nothing important. I won’t say too much to not bore you, but our white dragon race always acts according to our gut feeling. Our senses toward good and evil are very sharp, and that’s how I knew Brother Long wasn’t a bad person from the moment I saw you. Sensing the Sovereign qi from you, I believe that someone who can obtain such a heaven-defying opportunity can’t be a bad person, so I want us to stick together,” replied Bai Yingxue.

Sovereign clan? Sovereign qi? Is it the mysterious senior of the dragon race…

“Oh, that’s right. Brother Long, whether or not that Netherdragon Tianzhao you spoke of is really the Netherdragon Tianzhao I know, you should still be careful. He is extremely frightening. You can’t even describe him with words,” warned Bai Yingxue suddenly, her expression becoming serious.

“Why? Is he really so powerful?” asked Long Chen.

“Yes, extremely so. I have never seen him before, but his notoriety precedes him—a violent genius who soared to the peak almost overnight. Just a month ago, no one had ever heard of him. But in recent weeks, he has consecutively slain geniuses from various races, and amongst those at my level, none of them could withstand three blows from him. He is insufferably arrogant and tyrannical, seemingly intent on uniting the dragon race under his banner. With the opening of the dragon domain gate, he declared his intention to seize the Sovereign scale located within the dragon cemetery altar. He even said that he would kill anyone who dared to get in his way,” said Bai Yingxue.

Bai Yingxue and the others all came from the dragon domain, a mysterious and ancient place not within the nine heavens. It seemed that they got here half a day before Long Chen’s side, so even though Long Chen was the first to come out of his side, he was still one step too late.

“He’s that arrogant? Oh, and what’s a Sovereign scale?” asked Long Chen.

“The Sovereign scale is a reverse scale from the Sovereign clan that I mentioned. The dragon race has millions and millions of branches, but all those branches stemmed from the true dragon race—the main root of the dragon race. However, even within the true dragon race, they have many clans, possessing the same bloodline but different divine abilities. There is one exception to that rule though. Within the true dragon race, some dragons can control all the divine abilities of the dragon race, and they are from the Sovereign clan.

“By obtaining the Sovereign clan’s essence blood, one gains the ability to command all the divine abilities and mystical arts of the dragon race. This transcends the constraints imposed by one’s bloodline. For instance, Netherdragon Tianzhao hails from the Netherdragon race, and thus, his divine abilities are limited to those of his own race. However, should he acquire the Sovereign scale and its Sovereign blood, he would transcend these limitations and wield the divine abilities of the entire dragon race, including the unique abilities of our white dragon race,” explained Bai Yingxue.

Long Chen jumped in shock. “It’s that amazing?”

Before this, Long Chen had started to think that his dragon blood was this so-called Sovereign clan’s essence blood. However, when Bai Yingxue explained further, he grew doubtful. The mysterious dragon expert had never said anything about Long Chen being capable of cultivating the dragon race’s other divine abilities.

The practical divine abilities that Long Chen knew were Dragon Roars at the Nine Heavens, Divine Dragon Tail Pendulum, and Cloud Dragon Immolation Claw. He hadn’t learned anything else.

Moreover, Long Chen couldn’t discern any particular attribute in his dragon blood. Due to being near Bai Yingxue, Long Chen could sense a powerful ice element energy from her, which meant that the white dragon race was predominantly of the ice element.

However, there wasn’t any trace of ice element in Long Chen’s dragon blood, leaving him feeling skeptical about it.

“That’s not the most remarkable aspect. Their strongest point lies in the fact that when the innate divine abilities of the Sovereign clan are cultivated to their peak, it is rumored that they can attain immortality—the undying realm. In the past, every opening of the dragon domain’s gate imposed restrictions based on a cultivator’s bone age, soul age, and blood age. As a result, many cultivators were barred from entering, including those monsters who had sealed themselves for many years, which led to a mismatch between their bone age, soul age, and blood age. But now, as long as one’s realm is within the requisite level, anyone can enter. This is why we are witnessing an unprecedented influx of monsters this time around, with nearly all of them vying for the Sovereign scale. Yet, even in the face of such circumstances, Netherdragon Tianzhao dares to make such bold claims. You can tell just how confident he is,” sighed Bai Yingxue.

“If that’s the case, it’ll be interesting. Are you interested in the Sovereign scale?” probed Long Chen.

Bai Yingxue shook her head and smiled bitterly. “We might not even be able to claim our own ancestral scale. We won’t be participating in that fight.”

“Hehe, then that will make things easier. I’ve decided. After beating Netherdragon Tianzhao, I’ll take the Sovereign scale right in front of his eyes.”

Long Chen laughed, his mouth curling in a sinister arc.