Chapter 645: Strange Beast Attacks Dragon

Ji Yuan said nothing, but his right hand in his sleeve already clutched the special golden-red feather. Given Ji Yuan's current cultivation level, illusions are almost impossible. Either he was affected by someone else's magic or divine abilities, or his intuition was true. Ji Yuan couldn't claim he was completely immune to illusions, but there was no precedent for it, and the sensation came from an external object, so the feeling just now must have been real.

The dragons continued to advance through the Wild Sea according to their original plan. Beneath the Wild Sea, life still teemed. Aside from some fish and demonic creatures consumed by the dragons along the way, Ji Yuan could still sense numerous schools of fish, either sprawling on the seabed or fleeing in panic.

Five days later, Ji Yuan again felt a change in the feather he held. It began to emit a persistent, slight warmth. However, after ten more days, this change gradually diminished until the feather returned to its cold, inert state.

Ji Yuan didn't say anything immediately but continued exploring with the dragon procession. He followed the massive formation as it surveyed suspicious areas that the dragons had repeatedly deliberated over. This continued into the fourth, fifth, and sixth months.

By the end of that year, the dragons had thoroughly searched all the suspicious areas within the designated significant range. In terms of sheer area, it far exceeded the entire Eastern Land Cloud Continent.

Every few days, the dragons would gather in suitable locations for discussion. During this time, Ji Yuan witnessed many strange sights and events in the Wild Sea: black sea islands that seemed untouched by the world and were utterly calm, eerie ocean currents as dark as ink, and even an instance where a lone Jiao-dragon in the Wild Sea encountered another, assuming it was an intruder vying for territory and preparing for a fight, only to suddenly see a hundred dragons appear, scaring it into burrowing into the seabed mud.

At this moment, Ji Yuan sat cross-legged on the neck of Ying Ruoli's dragon body, his eyes closed in a state of spiritual wandering. Sensing Ying Ruoli's speed slowing, and knowing the dragons were about to converge, Ji Yuan slowly opened his eyes.

"Ruoli, let's go to your father. I have something to tell him."

"Okay."

Ying Ruoli responded, flicked her dragon tail, and pushed aside the water as she swam towards the front right. Moments later, a faint dragon silhouette appeared in the distance: Ying Feng, carrying the old dragon Ying Hong.

"Father, elder brother, Uncle Ji has something to say."

Ying Ruoli's words caused Ying Feng, who was ahead, to slow down as well. The brother and sister dragons then swam closer, while the old dragon, standing on Ying Feng's head, cupped his hands towards Ji Yuan in greeting.

"Mr. Ji, have you made any discoveries?"

Ji Yuan took out the golden-red feather from his sleeve and spoke to the old dragon.

"This item is special; it must be the feather of an ancient, extraordinary demon. Several months ago, it showed some reaction. Now that the survey is nearing its end, I haven't been of much use. Although this item should be unrelated to the Dragon Corpse Worms, I wish to leave the team first to investigate."

As he spoke, Ji Yuan thought for a moment and quickly added:

"It would be best if Ruoli or Ying Feng accompanied me. The Wild Sea is vast, and I am not as familiar with the routes as the dragons are."

In the Wild Sea, Ji Yuan felt that even if he wouldn't truly get lost and not know how to return to the Cloud Continent, he could easily wander aimlessly. The old dragon, given his status, needed to remain with the other three true dragons and couldn't easily leave. The dragon children were perfectly suitable.

As soon as Ji Yuan finished speaking, Ying Ruoli and Ying Feng responded almost simultaneously.

"Your niece is willing to go with Uncle Ji!" "Your nephew is willing to go with Uncle Ji!"

The old dragon looked at the feather in Ji Yuan's hand, his thoughts racing. He could, of course, see the feather's unusual nature, and Ji Yuan would certainly not joke about such matters. After a moment's consideration, the old dragon smiled.

"Mr. Ji, is this matter very private, not to be known by the other dragons?"

As soon as the old dragon asked this, Ji Yuan understood his meaning. He frowned, pondered for a moment, then looked up at the old dragon and shook his head.

"It is indeed a private matter, but it's not so secret that it cannot be known by the other dragons. It's similar to the earlier matter of the Xiezhi portrait and the remnant blood of the fierce beast Hou — few know about it, but it's not strictly forbidden knowledge."

Few know about it? Indeed, the old dragon thought to himself that despite living for over a thousand years, he had never heard of the astonishing things Ji Yuan spoke of. After these thoughts passed through his mind, the old dragon offered a suggestion.

"If that's the case, perhaps the entire dragon procession could alter its course and accompany you, Mr. Ji? What do you think?"

After a slight hesitation, Ji Yuan nodded, agreeing to the old dragon's suggestion. His relationship with the dragon race was decent, so there was no need to refuse.

"That works too. Then let's all go together."

"Very well, I shall inform the other dragons now. Aooooo—"

The old dragon slightly opened his mouth, and his roar echoed far through the sea. Distant dragon roars responded, relaying the call, and within half a day, the dragons, originally spread out over thousands of miles, gradually converged.

Upon hearing about Ji Yuan's matter, at least four true dragons were all willing to accompany him. So, after understanding the feather's unique properties, the entire dragon procession, led by the four Dragon Sovereigns, returned with Ji Yuan to the places where the feather had reacted previously.

This time, Ying Ruoli and Ying Feng led the way, carrying Ji Yuan and Ying Hong respectively. The other three true dragons, either in human or dragon form, also remained close by. The three hundred dragons no longer spread out but traveled together in a condensed formation, just as they had at the very beginning of their journey.

Ji Yuan held the demonic feather, constantly sensing its changes. Whenever the feather's warmth became less active, Ji Yuan would lead the dragons back to their previous position to reorient themselves.

This resulted in a peculiar travel path for the three hundred dragons. Often, their route would spread out like a flower, then proceed in a straight line, only to form another "flower" pattern. This phenomenon was strange and frequent, and the journey was far longer than Ji Yuan had imagined. As time passed, if Ji Yuan's reputation hadn't already been firmly established in the minds of the four Dragon Sovereigns, even they would likely have harbored complaints.

"Turn back, return to the original spot, Aooo..."

At the rear of the dragon procession, Gong Xiu and several other Jiao-dragons followed from a distance, looking ahead. From the front came Ying Hong's voice, accompanied by a dragon roar, and the dragon group began to change direction again.

Gong Xiu let out a sinister sneer.

"Hmph, I don't know what that immortal is playing at, leading us around in the remote Wild Sea for almost half a year now. It's like he's toying with us dragons! And the Dragon Sovereigns actually let that fellow drag us around blindly!"

"Shh... Your Highness, mind your words. We're too close. With his cultivation, if we speak of him at such a short distance, he might sense it through his connection with heaven and man."

A Jiao-dragon beside him whispered a reminder, making the surrounding dragons realize the risk of discussing a true immortal.

"Hmph, so what? Even if that Mr. Ji's cultivation is peerless, my father is a true dragon, and besides, there are many of us dragons here. Are we afraid of him?"

"Yes, yes!" "Uh, Your Highness is absolutely right, absolutely right!"

"Right, right. Oh, Your Highness, the dragons ahead are changing course. We should quickly follow."

The dragons had originally been moving with a massive ocean current. As they now turned and left the current's area, the already murky waters of the Wild Sea became even more turbid as they pushed into extremely opaque regions.

After this turn, Ji Yuan noticed a faint glow emanating from the feather in his hand—something that hadn't happened in half a year. Moreover, any keen-minded dragon could easily discern that living creatures in the surrounding sea were becoming increasingly scarce.

What Ji Yuan found even stranger was that the surroundings appeared to grow progressively darker. The deep sea naturally has little light, but this darkness wasn't visual; it was a perceived darkness, causing Ji Yuan and many of the dragons a slight unease.

The demonic energy emanating from the red feather in his hand was between tangible and intangible. In Ji Yuan's grasp, to the perceptually acute Ji Yuan and the four true dragons, it was as if he was holding a golden-red torch made of terrifying demonic energy. Even Jiao-dragons like Ying Ruoli, with their profound cultivation and keen spiritual senses, could feel that the feather in Ji Yuan's hand was extremely "dangerous."

"Mr. Ji, I don't know what lies ahead, but this old one feels we are getting closer!"

Not far from Ying Ruoli, the hundred-zhang-long old yellow dragon's mouth didn't open or close, yet Huang Yuzhong's deep, ancient voice was clearly audible.

"Indeed, I feel the same way. There must be something ahead related to this demonic feather. We must prepare ourselves!"

"Mmm!"

Besides the old dragon Ying Hong, the other true dragons all spoke. Ji Yuan, looking at the feather in his hand, was about to speak but suddenly frowned and turned his head to look downwards.

While snakes and dragons are often grouped together among reptiles, there's a significant difference between snake movement and dragon movement. Snakes sway their bodies side to side, whereas dragons twist their bodies up and down. Thus, when Ji Yuan looked down, his vision wasn't obstructed by the dragon's body twisting.

At this moment, the dragons were not flying close to the seabed; they had done so previously for searching for Dragon Corpse Worms. Now, they were naturally moving in the fastest way possible. So, in Ji Yuan's eyes, there was only profound darkness, but within this "pitch-black expanse," Ji Yuan suddenly noticed faint red dots appearing, growing larger and larger.

"Not good, something's happening below, everyone pay attention!"

Ji Yuan's words were already too late as they left his mouth. Although the four true dragons noticed the situation below almost simultaneously, the red streaks of light were incredibly fast. The moment they were seen, they had already pushed aside the water and darted into the dragon procession.

"What in the world is that?" "Seeking death!"

Several clusters of red light approached directly below Ji Yuan. The old yellow dragon casually swiped with a claw. The dragon's claw seemed to strike something incredibly hard, bursting into a dazzling spray of sparks in the water.

With a "boom," due to the true dragon's claw creating an extremely powerful explosive water pressure, the two red clusters were directly knocked down.

"Woooo..."

A strange wailing sound also followed the red lights back down to the seabed.

"Ah..." "Watch out!"

"Tail whip!"

"Bang..." "Boom..."

"Splash-splash-splash..."

"Sizzle-sizzle-sizzle..."

A large number of bubbles appeared around them; clearly, Jiao-dragons were fighting something. Some Jiao-dragon scales, stained with blood, even scattered through the murky water.

"Roar..." "Aoo..."

Dragon cries were chaotic, and roars surged. Dragon silhouettes darted everywhere, and those red lights moved even faster, almost outstripping the Jiao-dragons' speed. Being much smaller than average Jiao-dragons, they appeared very agile. Although the Jiao-dragons were initially caught off guard, they were, after all, Jiao-dragons who had followed the Dragon Sovereigns, and thus feared nothing.

Ji Yuan and the four Dragon Sovereigns were in no hurry to strike. Ji Yuan narrowed his eyes, observing the fast-moving objects within the dragon procession. The initial two clusters were clearly aimed at Ying Ruoli, or rather, Ji Yuan glanced at the feather in his hand, they were aimed at it.

"Father, Uncle Ji, what are those? I can't see them clearly!"

Ying Ruoli asked urgently. The red lights somewhat obscured her vision, and in the chaos of the battle, she found it hard to discern details. Ji Yuan looked at a cluster of red light being pursued by three Jiao-dragons in the distance and spoke calmly.

"They resemble beasts with bodies of lions or tigers, necks and tails like long snakes, heads with large, crocodile-like mouths, and gnarled scales forming armor."