After investing a considerable amount of energy, Yang Chen finally managed to shift Long Qinglan, allowing him to lean against the tree trunk.
“This old man was faking his death all along!”
After observing for a while, Yang Chen discovered that Long Qinglan had no issues at all, he was exasperated to the point that he wanted to deliver a few punches to his father.
Long Qinglan stared at him and said, “Don’t think that I survived. Right now I have resurrected, the main reason is to entrust you with a few things. You better listen to me carefully, if you miss a thing, I will turn into a ghost and make you unable to produce any heirs.”
Yang Chen rolled his eyes, in the past he had never heard this guy speak, but he didn’t think that their manner of speech would be so alike, it must have been hereditary.
“Alright, I know there’s nothing wrong with you father, look you are turning back to normal, just shoot what you have to say.”
Long Qinglan laughed heartily and said, “I have seen you a few times in the past, you little bastard, no doubt you have my style from when I was younger, so I will cut this short, after I die, the first thing you have to do is take the dragon shaped jade pendant out from my dantian.”
After hearing about the Dragon Jade again, Yang Chen stared blankly, and said, “Father, do you think that I’m an idiot? If your dantian had a piece of jade pendant squeezed in it, how is it that you are still living so well right now?”
“Bullshit! How can you call this perfectly fine? When I was eighteen and came to Poplar Town, only your mother was my match in her generation, if not for that reason, then how could I get a beauty like your mother in my bed? However, ever since I acquired this jade, the Qi in the eighth level of my Dragon Pulse Realm, was absorbed entirely in half a year, hence leading to this state of uselessness!”
So there was actually such a story, Yang Chen honestly did not know. Seeing from his old man’s emotional speech, the story shouldn’t be a lie, however what kind of a Dragon Jade could this be, to be able to make Qi disappear?
And more importantly, this old guy used to be an eighth level super expert of the Dragon Pulse Realm? If his father had such achievements during those younger days, what would his future look like?
According to legend, the human race inherited the bloodline of the ancient divine dragon, causing the nine major blood vessels that flowed inside the human body to be labeled as dragon veins, when the physical body was tempered to the maximum, feeling both heaven and earth, absorbing the surrounding essence, then one can accumulate it into Qi, when Qi rushes through the nine dragon veins, then one can become a top level expert, hence the Dragon Pulse Realm had a total of nine levels.
[TL: Dragon Pulse Realm is only the first realm, and has a total of nine levels.]
To Yang Chen’s knowledge, amongst Poplar Town’s strongest people, his cheap old grandfather, self-proclaimed a peerless master, but he was actually no more than an expert at the ninth level of the Dragon Pulse Realm.
Ignoring Yang Chen’s skeptical expression, Long Qinglan continued seriously, “This first thing, I have already clearly explained to you, the second thing is… to change your name. From this day onwards, your name will be changed to Long Chen. Our Long family is the world’s greatest overlord, as their descendants, we definitely cannot use another family’s surname!”
(TL note – 龙 = Long = Dragon)
“Greatest overlord? Bluffing little kids is okay, but don’t use it to coax me……oh well, if I only need to change my surname to Long then so be it.”
Yang Chen blanked out for a second, he never would have thought this old devil would play this kind of joke on him, however, he had since a long time ago not wanted to have the surname Yang anymore. Although his father was not so accomplished, but he could still make do with having the surname Long.
Long Chen, this is his new name.
He chanted his name several times, and the feeling was pretty good. Looking at the old devil showing a genuine smile, Long Chen suddenly felt that he was quite happy today.
He sat down next to Long Qinglan, his shoulder leaning against his.
“You are my son, calling you Chen Er should not be too excessive, I have been stirring up trouble my entire life, traveled unhindered throughout the entire Long Ji Continent, but I did not expect to die in Poplar Town, this hell of a dog place, fate is hard to predict, it really makes one feel like sobbing.”
“Did your brain spoil today or something, your entire life’s misdeeds I know at the back of my hand, quit bragging in front of me! Oh right, let’s not return to the Yang family, with my abilities, even in another place, supporting a drunkard like you shouldn’t be that much of a problem, how about it?”
As Long Chen spoke, he looked at the distant scenery, waiting for his father to reply, but after a long while there was no reaction. He suddenly felt cold, and immediately turned around, only to see Long Qinglan’s eyes filling up with tears, but not moving one bit.
“Old devil, what happened to you……”
Being looked at in such a manner by a man, Long Chen did not feel one bit awkward. Even though he has always had a vulgar mouth, but the man in front of him is undeniably his father.”
“Chen Er……”
“……Yes?”
Long Qinglan raised his head, and said: “I am not a good father, and I did not bear any responsibilities that a father should have, hence allowing you to walk down the wrong path. There are many things that you will have to face. Right now I do not want to tell you, but once you reach that level, you will be able to experience it yourself.”
“And the last thing I want to tell you in this life, you had better clean your ears and listen closely, that is: In this cruel world, your strength is everything; a man without strength is the equivalent to a dog!”
“After my death, I wish for you to become strong, to set that as your life’s goal, because that too, ultimately was my aim, but fate played such a joke on me……”
After being entrusted with such a task so solemnly, Long Chen was left in a daze.
Long Qinglan vigorously patted him on the head, and put his hand onto Long Chen’s shoulders and said smilingly: “I have already said what I intended to, lastly I wish to entrust to you one more request. Soon, there will be a Yang family competition; the younger generation of disciples will have a competition. The champion in the end will receive the Yang family’s most advanced tome of martial techniques, the [Seal of the Dragons]. This [Seal of the Dragons] is the key for you to become the Dragon Warrior, so no matter what you do, you must get your hands on it, never forget that, never forget that…….”
This family competition, Long Chen had heard some of it, but it had nothing to do with him.
“With my ability, I can beat up a few local thugs without a problem, but to enter into this competition, I will only manage to lose face for you. And also old man, what is this Dragon Warrior you speak of?
“Dragon Warrior……that is a long-lost legend of the Long Ji Continent……”
After finishing this sentence, Long Qinglan’s face was graced with a smile, his eyes filled with yearning. However, the hand that he rested on Long Chen’s shoulder, had just slowly slumped off, and ceased all breathing.
Long Chen was about ask more about the Long Ji Continent, but upon seeing Long Qinglan’s hand limply fall, his heart entered a state of panic, and quickly held onto Long Qinglan.
Although his eyes were still open, and his face was graced with a smile, Long Chen discovered that his father had already lost all signs of life. This time around, he was truly dead.
Long Chen was having a mental breakdown.
Just a day ago, if Long Qinglan died, he could have accepted it, but now when he had longed to travel with the old devil to a far away place, and live a happy, unrestrained life, he was suddenly left behind alone……
Long Chen bowed his head in sorrow.
“You better listen to me carefully, if you miss a thing, I will turn into a ghost and make you unable to produce any heirs.”
“I am not a good father, and I did not bear any responsibilities that a father should have.”
“In this cruel world, your strength is everything; a man without strength is the equivalent to a dog!”
“After my death, I wish for you to become strong, to set that as your life’s goal.”
His words, echoed repeatedly in Long Chen’s ears.
Long Chen would have never expected that he will one day be able to experience such a painful parting. He formerly thought that he had long lost his conscience, but this painful feeling right now, from where does it come from?
After waiting until deep into the night, and confirming that he will not wake again, only then did Long Chen lower him into the grave.
Looking down upon the gaunt face in the grave, Long Chen silently clenched his fists.
“……”
“Old man, of all the things you have said to me, I will remember everything clearly, and will act accordingly. The few things you have entrusted to me, even if I become crippled, I will carry them out. As for the changing of my surname, I have already done so, the task of the [Seal of the Dragons], I will slowly accomplish, the matter of becoming strong, cannot be done in a day either. And……”
He recalled the request that Long Qinglan asked of him, to remove the jade shaped pendant from his dantian.
He is already dead, if I desecrate his corpse; this would be a grave sin……”
Upon thinking of this, he wanted to give up, but then he immediately changed his mind.
“No, that’s not right, this old devil said that the Dragon Jade was tormenting him, and he also told me this repeatedly. This jade may have some profound mysteries.”
Long Chen is not a sentimental person, and upon thinking of this, he took out a dagger, glanced at Long Qinglan once more, took a deep breath, and broke through his dantian.
Sure enough, there appeared a piece of black jade pendant.
Long Chen placed the jade pendant onto the ground, then covered Long Qinglan’s body with mud and dirt, erected a gravestone, and after paying his respects, sat off to the side, looking at the strange jade piece that lie on his hand.
This was the Dragon Jade that Long Qinglan mentioned.
“So it was you that sucked him dry of all his essential Qi and ruined his life?”
The Mysterious Dragon Jade was a dragon shaped piece of jade, with numerous strange lines forming a pattern on it. The entire piece of jade was black; the material seemed ordinary, if a bit old. Long Chen could not imagine how this thing could torment Long Qinglan his entire life.
At this time it was already dark, the moonlight gently illuminated the scene, and mist gradually permeated through the woods. The Dragon Jade in Long Chen’s hands began to emit a hazy light, and then suddenly disappeared, much to the surprise and shock of Long Chen.
“What just happened?”
Still not fully recovered, Long Chen felt a roaring sound inside his head, and found that his consciousness appeared in the midst of an expanse of grey fog. The mist unceasingly rolled forward, moving along with the billowing wind. Long Chen lost all sense of orientation, and could only look around in all directions in bewilderment.
“This was exactly as described in the book, the sea of consciousness houses and hides the soul, but only once one becomes a martial warrior, and opens up his mind, can he see this sea, so what exactly is going on?”
He was secretly shocked, Long Chen continuously traveled within this sea of consciousness, but he felt that even if he ran forever, it would be impossible to escape from this endless sea of fog. At this moment, Long Chen saw that ancient black piece of dragon shaped jade appear, suspended before his eyes and exuding an obscure light.
Long Chen’s eyes were filled with surprise and disbelief.
“For this Dragon Jade to appear in my consciousness, would it be to suck away my vital Qi?”
Long Chen was shocked.
“No, that couldn’t be it. Fundamentally, I do not possess any vital Qi, it wouldn’t be here to absorb my fart, would it?”
Just at this moment, a potent force surged out from the Dragon Jade, and crossing between the boundaries of flesh and soul, appeared inside of Long Chen’s dantian.
This vigorous reserve of heat made Long Chen’s body feel entirely refreshed.
“Qi?”