Chapter 3: Identity Exposed, the Immortal Emperor Alarmed

"Give me the bead!"

Niu Er reached out his hand and spoke to Qiu Yeqing. His tone was crude and carried an unmistakable command. Such a tone was certainly not one a country bumpkin should use toward a government official from the city.

Xu Ji frowned at Niu Er's attitude. In all the villages he and Qiu Yeqing had visited, the villagers had always treated them like venerated deities, their every word filled with respect and submission. He had never encountered someone so arrogant. Even if the lad before him was a fool, Xu Ji found it hard to stomach. Had Qiu Yeqing not been standing beside him, he would have likely drawn his blade and executed this ignorant boy.

"Hmph, these country folk are truly rude. Sister Qiu, shall I teach him a lesson?"

Qiu Yeqing did not answer him; instead, she obediently placed the bead into Niu Er's hand. For some reason, when Niu Er spoke to her just now, she had felt an inexplicable tremor in her heart. In all her memories, she had only experienced this feeling once before—when the person speaking to her was Chen Daogang, the formidable General Wuwei, a man of great influence in the current Great Rui Dynasty.

As Niu Er gripped the glass bead, Qiu Yeqing’s heart rose to her throat. If this youth could truly crush the Dragon-Testing Bead with his grip, it would mean that the village they were currently in was far from simple.

Three breaths later, a guileless laugh reached her ears:

"Hehehe, Brother Wang, I won! The bead didn't break!"

Wang Chu patted Niu Er on the shoulder. "Well done. You can have an extra piece of candy tonight."

Niu Er cheered instantly, "Hahaha, great! Thank you, Brother Wang!"

Wang Chu shook his head with a wry smile and reached out his hand. "Give the bead to me."

Niu Er nodded. "Oh." He opened his hand and passed the bead to Wang Chu.

After taking the bead, Wang Chu addressed the slightly stunned Qiu Yeqing. "My lord, our Niu Er is not very bright. Please forgive any offense he may have caused."

Qiu Yeqing let out a long sigh, feeling a sense of relief. The precious bead had not shattered. It seemed the handsome youth’s earlier conversation with Niu Er had merely been a jest. She suddenly felt she had been overthinking things.

How could such a remote and desolate village possibly hide any crouching tigers or hidden dragons?

She spoke, "It is no matter."

Wang Chu squinted with a smile. "Then Niu Er can go now?"

Qiu Yeqing nodded slightly. "Yes, he may go."

If Niu Er were the First Prince, the bead would have emitted a purple glow. When he held it, the bead had shown no reaction. Therefore, he was not the one.

Hearing this, Wang Chu turned to the happy Niu Er. "All right, Niu Er, that’s enough for you. Go off and play."

Niu Er responded obediently, "Oh." With that, he trotted away and disappeared from their sight.

During this time, no one noticed that the bead in Wang Chu's hand had faintly shimmered with a purple luster, only to vanish as quickly as it appeared. The only person to sense something unusual was Wang Chu, who was watching Niu Er leave. Just a moment ago, he had felt a trace of warmth on his hand, but it had vanished instantly, replaced by a refreshing coolness in his dantian.

When the surprised Wang Chu looked at the bead and saw it had undergone no change, he dismissed the wonder in his heart, assuming that everyone experienced similar sensations when holding the bead.

Wang Chu held out the bead to Qiu Yeqing. "My lord, may I leave now as well?"

Qiu Yeqing looked at the unresponsive bead in Wang Chu's hand and nodded with a hint of disappointment. "Thank you for your trouble."

After Wang Chu, everyone else stepped forward to hold the bead, but none caused it to react. About an hour later, everyone had been tested, and the bead remained silent. Having found no leads, Qiu Yeqing spoke briefly with the village head and left with Xu Ji. As she departed, she felt a sense of lightness, as if she were escaping a deep abyss.

...

In the Great Rui Imperial Capital, Qianyuan City, within the private gardens of the current Emperor of Great Rui:

A man dressed in golden robes, adorned with eight lifelike divine dragons that seemed to shift and dance across the fabric, was feeding his pet in a pavilion. To be precise, he was feeding a precious divine beast that was nearly extinct on the continent: a Five-Clawed Purple-Gold Divine Dragon.

The dragon was immense, its appearance exuding a powerful aura of oppression. Yet, before this man, the dragon was docile and well-behaved, lying on the ground with its tail wagging like a dog’s. The Five-Clawed Purple-Gold Divine Dragon was named for its purple-gold scales, which were rumored to bring auspiciousness and health. Any single scale taken from it could become a priceless medicine, capable of bringing the dead back to life. Using its scales as an ingredient in alchemy could allow an ordinary person to instantly condense a Golden Core and become a practitioner of that stage.

Such a divine object, if possessed by a top-tier sect, would be hidden and worshipped as their most prized treasure. Yet, to Emperor Jiang Cheng of Great Rui, the creature before him was nothing more than a handsome pet. The only value a pet could provide him was amusement.

After feeding the divine dragon an incredibly rare Spring-Autumn Cicada, a middle-aged man suddenly appeared behind Jiang Cheng. Unlike others, this man in white robes did not kneel or offer greetings, but simply stood silently behind him.

Sensing his arrival, Jiang Cheng stroked the dragon’s head. The dragon let out a roar that shook the heavens before lunging toward Jiang Cheng and vanishing into his imperial robes. The eight dragons on the robe instantly increased to nine.

"Has the North moved? Or are there movements from the Demon or Spirit tribes?" Jiang Cheng asked softly, looking up at the sky, where a pale, brilliant sun shone on the left and a dim moon rested on the right.

The middle-aged man shook his head. "No, something far more important."

The Emperor’s face rarely showed emotion, but now it fluctuated. "He has been found!?"

The middle-aged man nodded. "Yes. However, due to his methods, I could not obtain his exact location, only the general vicinity."

"Where!?" the Emperor pressed with uncharacteristic excitement.

The middle-aged man replied with a smile, "Great Rui, Songwu Prefecture, within the borders of Ling City."