Exploring Immortality Cultivation-Chapter 1089 - 172: The Dragon Clan of Tianhe

This is an "ocean" composed of clouds and mist. Dust permeates this environment of weak gravity, neither falling nor drifting away.

This "sea" formed by dust and gases is not deep, merely tens of thousands of feet. However, it is too vast—vast enough for the entire Shenzhou Hou Tu to roll about on it. From the surface of the sea, the eyesight of ordinary life beings cannot even reach the edge of this great ocean. There is no horizon here, the end of the "ocean" is just starlight.

This is Jupiter—known to the Dragon Clan as "Tianhe".

Sunlight slants over the "sea surface", revealing shadowy "wave crests". The distance to the Sun here is originally farther than Shenzhou is from the Sun. Besides, at this distance, the luminous atmosphere of the Sun is barely visible to the naked eye, making the Sun appear more like a shooting star, much brighter than a first-magnitude star.

Still, this faint sunlight can support life beings' activities.

Within "Tianhe", dragons swim leisurely.

They are many times larger than their young kin on Shenzhou. Here, they don't need to worry about encroaching on the survival space of other species, so they can indulge in devouring matter. Those dragons joyfully consume cosmic dust, filtering out useful energies from it. Some dragons with proper Transformation Technique can even assimilate vegetation, acquiring the essence of plant life [chloroplast], and gain the ability of plant life to draw energy directly from sunlight.

This is quite an extraordinary ability.

Explained in Earth's terminology, chloroplasts, like mitochondria, have hereditary information independent from the parts in the cell nucleus that govern biological traits—mitochondria and chloroplasts can even be regarded as symbiotic organisms within other higher life forms.

The Transformation Technique alters the expression of Bloodline Spirit Sense, yet the dragon's body itself doesn't have the potential to produce "chloroplasts". They make their cells receptive to chloroplasts, defying the natural order. Dragons who achieve this essentially hold the Longevity Fruit Position.

Hence, within the Tianhe Dragon Army, those with green scale armor hold considerable status. They lazily stretch their pairs of green wings, freely swimming in Tianhe, occasionally consuming star ring dust. All dragons who see them must give way.

In this Tianhe, there is one particularly strange dragon.

His upper half has transformed into a shape very similar to the Human Clan, while his lower half remains in dragon form, with a pair of wings attached to his back.

For High Order dragons who have mastered the Transformation Technique, shaping their bodies in any desired form is unremarkable, but the Human Clan is merely an emergent species over eighty thousand years old. Except for dragons who remain on their homeland to experience their growing young civilization, other dragons generally don't reveal a human likeness.

For dragons, their original dragon shape is the most comfortable.

A green dragon flew over, then rapidly shrank its body. This too is a utilization of time-space. Powerful dragons achieve size alteration by relying on this method, acting as they please.

She lightly embraced that peculiar human-figured dragon tribe with the middle part of her body: "Child, what are you thinking?"

"Mother." The young giant dragon used Spiritual Sense Transmission: "I'm looking at my homeland."

"You can't see much with your current eyes, haven't I taught you? The method to construct powerful vision?"

The young dragon shook his head and smiled, "Sometimes, I just like using the eyes of my father's tribe to gaze at the starry sky—even though these eyes are fragile and easily harmed."

He unexpectedly has half Human Clan bloodline.

But this is not surprising. The dragons' Transformation Divine Power itself can alter the expression of bloodlines, eliminating reproductive isolation.

Even if a dragon female bears a fetus with a mammalian body, she can adjust the bloodline expression of the fetus, reconstituting it into a dragon egg and letting it come into the world with a pure dragon appearance.

Of course, it's also feasible to nurture offspring in a viviparous manner.

At the level of the Dragon Clan, there's no need to emphasize so-called "bloodline purity".

The young dragon said, "Eighty thousand years ago, we used to gaze at the starry sky with Father… I really miss that time. It's a pity that my father's tribe lacks their own Longevity Dao Fruit, and the Demon Emperor led the entire tribe's cultivation astray, causing Father to die due to his lifespan running out. I really wonder when my father's tribe can share in this 'Great Sun Territory' just like us."

"Very soon." The green dragon affectionately patted her child with her tail: "Very soon, very soon... Your father's tribe is an Innate Spiritual Awakening species, and the Holy Emperor won't forsake such a tribe. When Shenzhou wanes once and the Cultivation that the Demon Emperor brought is entirely forgotten, the Holy Emperor will step in to remake Shenzhou and guide them onto their own path."

The Renewal Demon Clan, Primordial Demon Clan, and Cold War Demon Clan before the Dragon Clan were not Innate Spiritual Awakening species, they belong to the "Demon Clan Civilization". Shenzhou, when confirming Innate Spiritual Awakening species, solely recognized the Dragon Clan and Human Clan.

"Innate Spiritual Awakening species progress quickly. Perhaps in another hundred thousand years, or five hundred thousand years, your father's tribe can join us." The green dragon said in a tone used to comfort children.

A star suddenly brightened at the horizon.

The young dragon exclaimed in surprise, "Ah, it's Star Flash! The end of the Great Sun? It's not often seen, I should make a wish..."

"No, I'm afraid not." The mother dragon's voice turned serious, "In that direction..."

——That direction is the homeland!

She changed her form. Her body gradually enlarged, with parts becoming transparent. A gigantic crystalline entity took shape within her, then continuously adjusted. In just a few breaths, the green dragon transformed into a giant eyeball—when placed in Shenzhou, it could rival mountains. The enormous eyeball collected light from a broader scope, observing events happening in distant places.

Then, the eyeball trembled.

——That's... Heaven and Earth Dragon Ascension!

The mother dragon transformed into a beam of green light and soared into the sky, only having time to instruct her son, "You stay well in Taisui Tianhe!"

With those words, she had already escaped a distance of ten thousand li. In the void, special essence fluctuations faintly echoed—a dragon chant that could spread in the cosmic void without atmosphere. Soon, twelve dragons gathered together. These were the current leaders of the Tianhe Dragon Army, outstanding among those yet to sleep.

"Heaven and Earth Dragon Ascension, dragons must eradicate it! Who knows what rebellious ones they come from, but that traitor must die!"

"But, that's the homeland. The Holy Emperor decreed, the homeland now belongs to the Human Clan, we shall not trespass!"

"That is the Moon's Shadow, a place the homeland cannot illuminate. Only Mahayana Humans can possibly reach it, no need to fear!"

Then, the mother dragon roared fiercely, "Why do you still argue? We are currently five astronomical units from the homeland, what we are seeing now is the scene from 'Five Shines' ago." (Note: 'Five Shine' is a dragon time unit, referring to the time it takes for light to travel one astronomical unit, approximately eight minutes and sixteen seconds, thus five shines is forty-one minutes).

"But, now the Human Clan occupies the exit of the Dragon Dao, we cannot launch an attack on the Human Clan, this does not conform with the Holy Emperor's principles!"

"The Holy Emperor is still asleep. Would you disturb the Emperor's slumber for a traitor?" The mother dragon retorted fiercely, "The Holy Emperor has toiled for our clan for hundreds of millions of years, would you trouble the Emperor for this?"

"Without passing through the Dragon Dao, how do you enter Shenzhou?"

The mother dragon proudly replied, "Fly across!"

"Only five astronomical units away, I can reverse Deep Space Dao to reach extreme escape speed close to 'Flowing Light Realm' ten percent (Note: ten percent of light speed), and combined with leaping through the current, arrive at that homeland's satellite within four hours!"

"Too reckless! By then, how much strength will you have left to face the Undying Beast?"

"That Undying Beast won't be too strong. Though it's unclear how he obtained the Heaven and Earth Dragon Ascension, abandoning the Holy Emperor's Unshackled Path to reclaim the old ways surely won't be strong!"

Speaking, the mother dragon was already growing her body. She formed seven lumps. Rapid bone generation, scales turning into feathers. Quickly, she spread seven wings. The wings were not symmetrically distributed, but scattered across her body. The mother dragon merely needed to twist her body in a special way, allowing the seven wings to revolve around an axis in central symmetry.

This is the dragon clan's movement technique.

For dragons, their bodies can grow into any shape desired. And in the near vacuum of space, aerodynamics need not be considered. These seven wings serve as instruments to cast spells and as protectors for the body's core; each feather inscribed with tiny magic seals. Around these seals, the space subtly distorted, the light shifted.

During flying escape, the movement trajectory of these wings would shield the mother dragon's heart, dantian, and other vital areas, preventing enemies from directly attacking those parts.

During the transformation process, the green beneath the mother dragon's scales gradually faded, revealing a noble purple—signifying her noble lineage. The chloroplast is merely a cultivation technique used during peaceful times to keep her mind and body comfortable, a tool to showcase her power, but unnecessary in combat.

She spoke, "However it may be, I will send back news. Meanwhile, use this time to adjust yourselves slowly, simultaneously moving toward the homeland with conventional escape skill."

The leading dark green dragon gently nodded, "Victory in battle."

The mother dragon lightly bowed back, "Victory in battle."

A white spiral escape light departed from Tianhe. In just an instant, it had eluded the range of the dragon's vision. Sub-light speed escape skill made the Doppler effect visible to the naked eye, shifting the entire spectrum toward red light.

After the salute, the leading giant dragon said, "Alright, we should prepare too. After all, this is the first Undying Beast to appear in our clan in 700,000 years, no one knows how strong it is. Even Lan Xi could fail, prepare for battle."

"Hopefully...he is just another prisoner beyond the Forbidden God."