Chapter 775: Mountain Storm Approaching

After his initial surprise, the old beggar became angry, so furious that he burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha, excellent! Truly excellent!"

The old beggar felt that the opponent, despite acknowledging his profound cultivation, was still looking down on him. A surge of anger rose within him.

"If I let this corpse dragon burst into the human realm, how could I, this old beggar, ever show my face again?"

The old beggar stopped his palm strike, immediately unleashing his escape technique. In an instant, he caught up to the corpse earth dragon again, landing with extraordinary agility on its head, positioning himself between its two horns.

"Roar—"

The corpse dragon furiously thrashed its head, but the old beggar's feet remained utterly motionless, as if rooted to the dragon's skull. The surrounding foul aura and surging waves were completely repelled by his immortal light, unable to tarnish him in the slightest.

"Hmph!"

With a cold snort, the old beggar, who never cared about his appearance, pulled out his belt. He then whipped it heavily onto the dragon's head. The belt elongated in the wind, swinging in an arc to pass directly under the dragon's head, then returning from the other side to be grasped by his left hand.

The next moment, the old beggar's hands erupted with immense strength as he pulled upwards.

"Roar..."

Amidst its roars, the dragon's head was directly yanked skyward by this force. Immediately after, its entire body ascended into the high sky, moving even faster and more forcefully than before. The entire earth dragon was pulled taut and straight, as if the old beggar had simply lifted it into the air.

"My apprentices, watch closely. Today, this old beggar will show you what it means to lift heavy things as if they were light."

As he spoke, the belt in the old beggar's hand loosened slightly, allowing him to slide down the dragon's neck along with his body. It reached the upper-middle part of the dragon's body before tightening once more.

This time, however, the tightening was far more intense than before. The earth dragon's body in that section was cinched to an exaggerated thinness. White light emanated from the old beggar's hand, transforming the entire belt into a glowing ring that tightly bound the dragon's body.

"Rise!"

The sky boomed. The "white halo" in the old beggar's hand suddenly pulled upwards, even peeling off many dragon scales. In that same instant, the halo returned to the dragon's neck.

"Thump..."

A gush of foul water, like a geyser, surged up the straightened dragon's body towards its mouth, finally erupting from its maw. Accompanying it was a large bead shimmering with a faint yellow light—the earth dragon's dragon pearl.

The old beggar was expressionless. The belt in his hand had transformed into a whip, and at that moment, he flicked it towards the sky again, catching the dragon pearl and bringing it into his hand.

"Roar..."

All of this transpired in a mere two breaths, truly instantaneous. The corpse dragon's roar remained loud, but the strength of its body had diminished by more than several tenths. With the dragon pearl in one hand, the old beggar struck the dragon's head with renewed force.

"Thump..."

With this strike, the corpse dragon was directly knocked from the sky, falling to the ground in an instant.

"Boom..."

The ground erupted with a gush of foul water and turbid air, naturally accompanied by a shockwave and rolling dust. Weak dragon roars continuously echoed within the smoke.

The old beggar reached out and pressed down on the smoke below. Immense pressure descended from the sky, instantly pressing all the smoke and filth to the ground. The dust completely vanished, clearly revealing the transformed earth dragon that had created a deep pit.

Even now, many of the earth dragon's scales, carrying foul and turbid qi, were still raining down around them, scattering in twos and threes across the surrounding land.

Rumble, rumble, rumble...

Depressions gradually appeared around the transformed earth dragon's body. Seen from high above, it was a massive palm print, still emitting a faint glow.

The old beggar raised his left hand, looking at the dragon pearl. When it first emerged from the dragon's mouth, it was about the size of a washbasin, but in his hand, he had already used his magic to control it, reducing it to the size of a duck egg.

The dragon pearl was crystal clear, like high-grade amber, with wisps of earthy yellow aura flowing within it like smoke, proving that it had not been completely tainted by the filth.

Generally, after a dragon dies, if its dragon pearl hasn't been destroyed beforehand, most of its vital energy flows into the pearl, making it even more extraordinary. However, the power contained within the dragon pearl in the old beggar's hand clearly no longer matched the dragon corpse's physique, as a significant portion had been released earlier.

"Moan... Moan..."

The corpse dragon below continued to writhe, attempting to break free from its restraints, but it was already at the end of its tether. With the old beggar still lightly pressing it with one hand, it was impossible for the transformed earth dragon to escape.

The old beggar appeared to be focusing on the dragon pearl and the transformed earth dragon, but in fact, his peripheral vision was constantly scanning the surroundings. Simultaneously, he was using the dragon pearl for divination, secretly casting spells to determine if the culprit who harmed this earth dragon was nearby. Moreover, his two disciples were following in the high-altitude clouds, having already made preparations as instructed by the old beggar's telepathic message.

A quarter of an hour later, the old beggar looked up at the sky, then slowly descended. Lu Xiaoyou and Yang Zong quickly followed on their clouds, and the three almost simultaneously landed beside the earth dragon, which was still slightly trembling.

"Master, you didn't find them?"

"Hmm, they probably ran away, escaping directly once they saw it was a lost cause. However, the filth on this earth dragon, which seemed like living matter, reminded me of something..."

The old beggar recalled hearing Ji Yuan and the old dragon Ying Hong mention something when they were together: the death of the Ink Jiao of Guangdong Lake. At that time, Ji Yuan had also expelled similar substances from the Ink Jiao's body.

'But now I'm far away in Tianyu Continent, and it's extremely distant from Yun Continent...'

The old beggar seemed a little flustered. Holding the dragon pearl, he walked to the front of the struggling earth dragon. He lightly blew from his mouth, and a stream of flames erupted, rapidly growing stronger after passing the dragon pearl. Without any resistance, the flames seeped into the corpse dragon's body through its eyes, ears, mouth, nose, other orifices, and the wounded areas where it had lost scales.

"Moan... Moan... Roar..."

The earth dragon's body, originally earthy yellow as if it had rolled in foul water, gradually began to glow with a faint red hue. The surrounding temperature continuously rose, and then its entire body turned fiery red. The transformed earth dragon's struggles intensified, and it howled incessantly.

Another quarter of an hour later, the old beggar released his suppression technique. The earth dragon had long since stopped struggling, with fire light continuously emanating from its body, which glowed bright red from the burning.

Soon, the fire light began to flow out from the dragon corpse, spreading to the surroundings and burning away all the filth around the old beggar and his two disciples.

The old beggar weighed the dragon pearl in his hand, roughly sealed it, and then put it into his bosom. Since he was now considered a friend of a Dragon Lord, he wasn't worried about being unable to explain himself to the dragon clan.

"Dust to dust, earth to earth."

Amidst the old beggar's sigh, the earth dragon's gradually recovering earthy yellow body slowly seeped into the ground beneath the large pit. The soil continuously rolled like quicksand, gradually swallowing the dragon corpse. Although the dragon's body still maintained its shape, after being burned by the flames assimilated with the dragon pearl, it was actually extremely fragile, barely maintaining its form underground. It would immediately crumble if anyone were to disturb it again.

Afterwards, the three once again ascended on their clouds, flying towards the direction the transformed earth dragon had originally intended to go—a direction where human vitality was more abundant.

Even though the three were not flying very fast, in less than half an hour, they could already see various villages and towns in the distance.

These places had just experienced a sudden disaster: the earthquake triggered by the earth dragon's manipulation of earth power. Some houses had collapsed, and some people were trapped or crushed.

However, because it was daytime, and the earthquake wasn't very severe due to the old beggar's timely intervention and short duration, the scale of the disaster wasn't too exaggerated. People everywhere were working together to help the injured or clear debris. In places invisible to ordinary people, local deities like earth gods and ghost gods were also lending aid.

But even so, in the old beggar's eyes, there seemed to be pervasive sorrow and restless malevolent energy. The 'yang fire' was not abundant either, and people's hearts seemed to be in a state of panic.

"Not many young people are here."

Yang Zong suddenly said this, drawing the attention of both the old beggar and Lu Xiaoyou.

"Junior brother, what do you mean?"

Yang Zong looked seriously at his master and senior brother.

"The 'yang fire' is weak. On one hand, it's due to unstable morale. On the other hand, it's because there are far fewer strong young people—they must have been conscripted by the imperial court for war. The panic among the people isn't just because of natural disaster, but also because of war."

Having been an emperor, he now saw things more clearly from an observer's perspective.

The old beggar merely shook his head. Even though he knew someone had instigated this conflict, things had come to this point, and humanity in the mortal world would have to face a trial.

The old beggar's gaze swept in all directions, especially towards the southwest. Even though it was noon, he felt a sense of dimness, even in broad daylight. This was not a visual error but a natural premonition on the spiritual platform of someone of his profound immortal cultivation, foretelling that a storm was brewing in Tianyu Continent.

The old beggar's expression was indifferent. At this moment, his eyes seemed to reflect a hazy gloom, similar to the weary eyes of Ji Yuan in a small temple in the distant Southern Wilderness Continent.

However, at this moment, Ji Yuan's eyes were fixed on the chessboard on the small table in front of the house he was staying in. There weren't many pieces on it, just a few dozen, and their placement didn't look like black and white pieces battling. Often, one was in the east and another in the west, appearing disorganized and with little connection.

At the arched gate outside the small courtyard, a monk hurried over.

"Mr. Ji, that old patron from last time has come to see you again. This time he brought four people. Would you like to see them?"

Ji Yuan simply nodded without taking his eyes off the chessboard.

"Please, young master, bring them in."

"Yes."

The monk turned and left. Not long after, he returned with Lian Baiping and Xuanjizi, along with three cultivators from the Qianyuan Sect, and they all entered the small courtyard together.

Upon entering the small courtyard, the three Qianyuan Sect cultivators cautiously observed the man in green robes who was looking at the chessboard without raising his head. They exchanged glances, realizing that none of them could detect even a trace of cultivation aura from this person; he seemed completely like a mortal.

Ji Yuan's reputation was quite prominent among some high-level immortal cultivators, but those at the mid to lower levels might not have heard of him, let alone seen him. Furthermore, before their arrival, the two long-bearded elders hadn't mentioned who was there.

The three all had similar thoughts: 'Is this the peerless master Senior Xuanjizi spoke of? Who is he?'

Before the group reached Ji Yuan, Xuanjizi and Lian Baiping exchanged glances with the other three. Then, taking the lead, they meticulously bowed towards Ji Yuan.

"This junior is Lian Baiping." "This junior is Xuanjizi."

"Greetings, Master!"

Both the senior and junior disciples simultaneously addressed themselves as juniors, while the three Qianyuan Sect cultivators merely bowed.

Ji Yuan held a chess piece made of grey stone, placing it at a certain position on the chessboard. What his eyes perceived was not merely the chess squares, but as if he was observing all things in heaven and earth. After a long while, he slowly raised his head and looked at the newcomers. Yet, at that moment, those ancient eyes, seemingly encompassing heaven and earth, also contained the vastness of the universe, making those who saw them feel as if they were facing the cosmos, realizing their own insignificance.

Fortunately, this feeling came and went quickly, disappearing from Ji Yuan's eyes in less than a breath, which allowed the five people opposite him to recover from their somewhat stiff state.

"Come and sit."