Red Packet Server (Web Novel)

The sign had swallowed up the tri-elemental flames and all their explosive power.

Watching this play out on screen, Gu Xuande couldn’t help but smile to himself. Why had he been so composed and self-confident? It was entirely due to the “unexpected delight” he’d left within the sign.

The grey dragon roared. Watching from the tower’s platform, Ye Rong’s countenance grew solemn.

Just now, Ye Zichen had unleashed blazing flames fused with two other elements. Not even she dared say she could take such a fusion head-on. Although she was gratified by Ye Zichen’s growth, she couldn’t help but wonder how the grey dragon within the signboard managed to devour his tri-elemental attack.

“Is that the soul a holy dragon?” Not long after, Ye Rong shot to her feet.

Most dragons were either azure dragons or red dragons. Gold and black dragons existed, but were rare. However, there was one type of dragon which was even rarer, and that was the holy dragon.

From birth, holy dragons had a holy elemental affinity, and the five elements of heaven and earth served as their nourishment.

Such dragons had only existed during the ancient era, the time of the Dragon God, and even then, only a few had been born. It was fair to call that time the dragons’ golden age, and for a time, their clan’s power suppressed the nine-tailed foxes of that era.

But in the Great War of Demons and Gods, the dragons’ suffered devastating losses.

Their members had fallen, and holy dragons’ souls had been dispersed. Perhaps they were just too heaven-defying; in the millions of years following the war, not one holy-type dragon had been born to the remnants of the dragon clan.

Few in the Upper Three Realms knew anything of the holy dragons.

If not for the fact that Ye Rong had succeeded the Lord of Seven Stars’ Mantle and received his inheritance, she couldn’t possibly have recognized that the sign contained a holy dragon’s soul.

Holy dragons’ attacks weren’t the strongest. They couldn’t compete with golden and black dragons.

However, against someone who wielded the five elements, they were the most effective weapons around.

When he saw Ye Rong’s shocked expression, Gu Xuande chuckled and nodded. “Indeed, that’s a holy dragon soul.”

His pride was clearly written on his face. He was focused on the city gate displayed on screen, but he glanced at Ye Rong out of the corner of his eye. “I found that holy dragon soul on the battlefield by chance during the Great War of Demons and Gods. Unfortunately, it no longer has any self-awareness; it’s just a remnant. I had no choice but to install it within our signboard.

“Your son really does have some skills. Fusing three elements represents shocking, peerless talent for the Grand Dao of the Five Elements. However, he’s now up against a holy dragon’s soul. If he wants to break our sign, I’m afraid he’s out of luck.”

……

……

……

The dragon roared.

The Gu clansmen gathered by the gates had, a second ago, been worried about their sign. Now, mere moments later, something had extinguished that turbulent power and forceful collision. Before they knew what was happening, the roar of a grey dragon emerged from the signboard.

The grey dragon was less than a hundred meters long. Among dragons, this was considered pretty small.

It was pale grey throughout, and it seemed real, but not quite. It hovered around the signboard, its eyes flashing with intimidating light as it stared at the floating Ye Zichen and roared.

A dragon’s soul.

The gathered experts could all tell that the gray dragon was just a dragon’s soul, but from the surprise written on their faces, it was clear that they hadn’t known it was hiding in their sign either.

“What style!” As he stood in the air, a hint of smile tugged at Ye Zichen’s lips. He looked at the dragon’s soul, and his tone carried a hint of admiration.

He could tell that the being within the sign was a dragon’s soul, not the dragon itself.

To dragons, their souls were an extremely important inheritance.

The souls of deceased dragons were all set to rest in the dragon’s hidden land. Here, the dead could rest in peace.

A dragon’s authority was not to be provoked!

Anyone who even considered using a dragon’s soul, regardless of their purpose, was committing blasphemy against the dead.

If the dragons found out about it, they wouldn’t let it go as long as there was breath in their bodies.

The Gu Family!

They’d actually put a dragon’s soul into their sign, using it as a guardian. Or, to put it frankly, they were using the dragon’s soul as a watchdog.

If any other clan dared do something like this, the dragons would attack in full force.

That the Gu Family did this was perhaps because the dragons were to afraid of the Gu Family to dare touch them. It might also have been just because the Gu Family kept this hidden well. After all, they never showed themselves outside. When clansmen left, they dared not mention the Gu Family at all. This was why the dragons still had no idea about any of this.

In any event, whether the dragons knew about this or not, the Gu Family had done it.

And regardless of the explanation, it was clear that the Gu Family really was the strongest family clan in history.

Looking at the dragon’s soul in the sign once more…

That the sign would have such a guardian was beyond Ye Zichen’s expectations.

However, what surprised him more than the soul itself was the way it devoured his tri-elemental attack.

There was no way to understand the soul’s powers right away, so Ye Zichen waved his hand and summoned a fireball, followed by a wind blade and boom of thunder. Then, he fused and hurled all three at the dragon soul.

Compared to the one he’d used earlier, which seemed capable of destroying heaven and earth, this fireball was much smaller. The onlookers were surprised he’d unleash something like this; even a supreme ought to have been able to block a fireball so small. Could it be that fusing three elements earlier had exhausted his spiritual power?

Of course not!

Ye Zichen was doing this as an experiment to see if the dragon soul could really swallow the five elements he unleashed.

However, Ye Zichen was increasingly getting the sense that the soul had no will of its own, that it only existed to defend the sign. Even when Ye Zichen attacked, after swallowing up his attacks’ energy, it just curled up within the sign and roared. It made no attempts to counter-attack at all.

It was entirely possible that the dragon soul’s range of activity was the narrow space within the signboard.

The dragon soul couldn’t take the initiative to attack, which increased Ye Zichen’s confidence. It didn’t matter how strong it was; it was effectively just here for target practice.

A living target? How grand!

Ye Zichen loved this sort of unmoving sandbag. Without much hesitation, he condensed a pillar of water and a sphere of lightning.

Without a single exception.

When attacks of all five elements struck the dragon’s soul, not one of them managed to do any real damage. The dragon’s soul simply absorbed them all.

To Ye Zichen, a wielder of the five elements, this was absolutely terrible news.

“Heh, I’d actually like to see what the kid does this time,” Gu Xuande thought to himself as he watched events unfold on screen.

From beginning to end, Ye Zichen had focused on the Grand Dao of the Five Elements. None of the five elements could damage the dragon’s soul, which meant Ye Zichen and his attacks were worthless here.

But at that moment, Ye Zichen, who ought to have been in a pinch, burst into laughter.

And delighted laughter at that!

He wasn’t faking his delight, either. It came straight from the heart.

Gu Xuande frowned instinctively. That Ye Zichen could laugh like that even now made him sense something was amiss.

Before long, the water screen displayed Ye Zichen’s grin.

This smile contained hints of contempt, playfulness, and mockery. “It seems the head of the Gu Family has seen fit to give this junior a greeting gift. The soul of a holy dragon! What a precious gift! How generous! The head of the Gu Family sure lives up to his reputation. In that case, I’d like to thank him for the generous gift of a holy dragon’s soul. It would be disrespectful to refuse!”