[The Dignitary Bull Demon turned to the Night Escort Dog beside him. His enormous palm patted its shoulder in praise, saying that discovering the Old God’s descendant was an achievement of monumental importance. He would report immediately to the Temple Master, now that they had the descendant’s help, restoring the divine dragon’s might would surely not take long!]

[With that, he hurried off toward the temple’s main hall…]

“Tch… even the little yokai could tell the Hermit’s appearance wasn’t quite right, but this big yokai can’t? Could there be some hidden reason for this?”

Lin Xun wondered whether the giant dragon and the divine dragon might share some common bloodline traits…

[Once again the yokai crowded around. The bear-faced youth asked in confusion, “Big Brother, this fellow seems like he’s the descendant of the dragon god, not some serpent-lizard hybrid. Could you have made a mistake?”]

[The bear-faced young man declared confidently, “How could Big Brother be mistaken? Obviously it was the Dignitary who got it wrong. Just wait, when the Temple Master comes out, he’ll be able to see this mongrel’s true nature at a glance…”]

[Unsurprisingly, the two of them each earned another smack from the Night Escort Dog, finally shutting their mouths.]

[Not long after, the Dignitary Bull Demon returned carrying a huge wooden basin.]

[Sitting cross-legged inside the basin was a stooped, white-haired elder. As he drew closer, you could see that the hem of his long robe hung empty, clearly a man with crippled legs.]

[You have discovered the Origin-Tracing Temple Master – Calamity Mage!]

[The Calamity Mage quickly had the Bull Demon set the basin down, then prostrated himself on the ground, old tears streaming as he banged his forehead three times in turn.]

[Choking with emotion, the Calamity Mage invited you to come speak in the temple’s main hall. Will you accept?]

[The Dignitary Bull Demon hoisted up the wooden basin once more and led you toward the main hall in the courtyard’s depths.]

[From behind, you could faintly hear the bear-faced youth’s anxious muttering, “Big Brother, there’s no way the Temple Master could be wrong. It must have been you who got it wrong… We’re doomed, offending the dragon god’s descendant… Are we going to be eating the discipline rod every day from now on?…”]

[After you stepped into the main hall, the Dignitary Bull Demon set down the basin again, then gently closed the door and withdrew.]

[In the main hall, only you and the Temple Master, Calamity Mage, remained.]

[Looking around, you noticed that the divine platform held no statue, nor were there any ritual tools for incense offerings. The entire hall was empty.]

[Once the doors were closed, the light dimmed. Only a single candle’s faint glow remained, illuminating just you and him.]

[Under that feeble candlelight, the Origin-Tracing Temple Master – Calamity Mage, began to speak to you…]

[The situation of the yokai still loyal to the Old God was just like this flickering candle flame, with its dim light, it could not illuminate the image of the Chaotic Origin Dragon.]

[Ever since the dragon god was defeated, it had vanished without a trace. The deity no longer manifested, no miracles appeared, and not even the calls of its children had received any reply.]

[Only when offering incense to the dragon god could they feel that it had not perished completely.]

[The yokai had sunk into despair. Under the relentless persecution of the new god’s believers, their already pitiful existence had grown even harder.]

[Fortunately, the new god, for some unknown reason, had willingly fallen into depravity, no longer granting its followers the Glazed Pure Fire but instead teaching them the Calamitous Fallen Karmic Fire, which embodied all the world’s evil.]

[The yokai understood that the time had come to restore the dragon god’s might!]

[They held grand rituals and offered endless incense, hoping for the deity’s response… but to their dismay, the god still gave them no sign.]

[The yokai tried countless methods, yet every attempt ended in failure…]

[At last, someone proposed a theory: the god did not answer its children because the voices calling it were too few, and the incense was too feeble.]

[But by now, only the last surviving yokai still worshipped the Chaotic Origin Dragon. All humanity had long become followers of the Ancient Heavenly Enma.]

[To summon greater voices and stronger incense, how could that be easy?]

[Then, the yokai remembered the dragon god’s descendant who had vanished along with the deity.]

[The descendant was the dragon god’s beloved. Whenever the descendant offered incense, no matter how crude the burning or how faint the smoke, it would always receive a response.]

[If they were to restore the dragon god’s might, they had to first find the dragon god’s descendant!]

[This conjecture rekindled hope in the yokai who had already tried every method and fallen into despair.]

[From then on, the yokai no longer remained together but scattered to every corner of the world, tirelessly searching for the dragon god’s bloodline heirs…]

[…]

[When he finished speaking, the Origin-Tracing Temple Master – Calamity Mage, waved his hand, and brilliant firelight erupted in the main hall!]

[The bright candlelight flooded every corner of the hall, leaving not even a speck of dust hidden. On the divine platform, rippling like water, a massive and imposing divine statue emerged!]

[The majestic divine statue, formed from the rabbit’s eyes, deer’s antlers, ox’s mouth, camel’s head, clam’s belly, tiger’s paws, eagle’s talons, fish scales, and serpent’s body, was clad in golden scales from head to toe. It soared amidst clouds and mist, its roars exuding boundless might.]

[You have discovered the statue of the Chaotic Origin Dragon!]

[In the hands of the Origin-Tracing Temple Master – Calamity Mage, three slender sticks of burning incense appeared out of thin air. In a clear voice, he proclaimed…]

[Descendant of the dragon god, newly awakened from centuries of slumber; favored child of the deity whose own incense has faded to nothing; the true god’s last surviving scion, upon whom all the yokai’s final hope now rests.]

[Are you willing to return once more to the embrace of the Chaotic Origin Dragon?]

[O steadfast apostle, will you offer your own incense power and swear the Oath of the Chaotic Origin Dragon?]

Lin Xun felt his heart surge uncontrollably.

Without the slightest hesitation, he pressed ‘No.’

[You slapped aside the three sticks of incense the Calamity Mage offered, shaking your head firmly.]

What a joke, trying to make him join the Oath faction for free without offering a single benefit.

He was always the one taking advantage of others, and never once had he been taken advantage of himself.

One blacksmith had tried it before, and paid a very painful price.

[The Origin-Tracing Temple Master – Calamity Mage, stood frozen in disbelief. He had never imagined you would refuse him, and for a long moment he could not recover his senses.]

[Calm and unruffled, you spoke in a quiet voice of how, since your awakening, you had suffered endless trials and been hunted by countless new god believers.]

[Did the mage know what torment you had endured before coming to Dragon Marsh Temple? That when you were once captured by new god believers, you had ceased to even wish to remember those hellish days?]

[By sheer fortune, the new god’s followers did not know your identity, assuming you were just an ugly little monster. So after their sport and torture, they hadn’t killed you outright.]

[At last you had escaped alive and found your way to the yokai, believing you had returned to a safe haven, only to be thrust into the open, made to shoulder the hope of all yokai, to become a hated target in the eyes of every new god believer…]

[Even if you sacrificed yourself to offer incense, there was no guarantee you would receive Father God’s reply, but there was every certainty you would become the quarry every believer longed to slay.]

[Did the mage truly wish, for the sake of that uncertain hope, to doom the god’s sole surviving heir?]

[Your impassioned words were spoken with such sincerity that tears welled in the Calamity Mage’s eyes.]

[With sorrow in his voice, he admitted he had never known the true god’s descendant had suffered such dreadful ordeals. This was the yokai’s failing, that they had not protected you.]

[The Origin-Tracing Temple Master – Calamity Mage, wept for a long time, then turned to the statue and swore an oath, vowing that the dragon god’s heir would never again come to harm…]

[As he spoke, he took out a radiant, golden item.]

[Oceanic Flood Dragon Reverse Scale (Epic+ Grade Item): The reverse scale of a dragon, whoever touches it will be slain. A reverse scale left behind by an ancient flood dragon, containing traces of divine dragon blood. However, because of its great age and poor preservation, most of the bloodline power within has already faded.]

[When used, the soul of the flood dragon will temporarily attach to a designated shell, greatly boosting all of that shell’s attributes. The ‘Dragon Soul Possession’ effect will only last briefly and will vanish if the shell dies.]

[The Origin-Tracing Temple Master – Calamity Mage, pressed the dragon scale into your hand, tears brimming, and again asked whether you would return to the embrace of the Chaotic Origin Dragon.]

“Hiss… This dragon scale contains dragon bloodline?!”

Lin Xun’s eyes widened, wasn’t this exactly what the Primordial Hermit shell needed?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep