Checking in for 100,000 Years

Chapter 1383: Chapter 1383: Time Celestial Dragon Has Gone Mad

Crack, crack...

Fish after fish was stuffed into the mouth of the white‑robed child, chewed messily, then swallowed. Only after he’d gulped down over a hundred fish did the white‑robed child wipe his mouth and suddenly leap up onto the bank.

”I’m full.”

The white‑robed child burped, a look of satisfaction appearing on his face.

”Hehe.” Ye Yun calmly gazed at the white‑robed child and asked, ”Is there anything you want to say to me?”

The white child shook his head, his expression slightly deranged, chuckling gurglingly.

”Twinkle, twinkle, little stars up high...”

He sang the nursery rhyme as he rose into the air, turning into a white cloud, and flew off into the distance.

”Interesting...”

Ye Yun wasn’t annoyed and followed again.

The white‑robed child’s mind truly wasn’t normal. Perhaps, deep in his subconscious, there was some obscure obsession, wanting to tell himself something.

But the madness in his spirit kept disrupting that obsession.

Ye Yun was in no hurry.

After the white‑robed child flew for a while longer, he dropped from midair again, landing beneath a lush, verdant tree.

He suddenly crouched down, picked up a little twig, and started pointing at the ground over and over.

Ye Yun landed beside him, and when he saw what the white‑robed child was doing, he couldn’t help laughing.

The white‑robed child was counting ants.

At his feet was an anthill, with ants crawling out of it without end.

The little ants bustled about, going in and out. The white‑robed child kept miscounting, but he never realized it, and was having the time of his life.

”Sigh, what a madman...”

Ye Yun let out a soft sigh.

With hands clasped behind his back, he stood in the shade of the tree, quietly waiting.

A gentle breeze brushed past.

Looking at the white‑robed child’s profile, so focused, for some reason a hint of desolation rose in Ye Yun’s heart.

If this was the Ancestor Dragon, then just what had he gone through to become so insane?

”Let’s hope he isn’t the Ancestor Dragon...”

Ye Yun gently shook his head, his gaze turning deep and distant.

He truly did not want the white‑robed child to be the Ancestor Dragon who had vanished for tens of millions of years.

He counted for a full two hours.

Only then did the white‑robed child stand up, toss away the twig in his hand, clap his hands, and say with a cheerful smile, ”Altogether there were eighteen thousand nine hundred and twenty‑nine, a bit more than before...”

At this point, the white‑robed child looked toward Ye Yun, wanting to speak but holding back.

Ye Yun smiled gently and said, ”Is there something you want to say?”

”I...”

The white‑robed child had just opened his mouth to say something when his expression suddenly changed drastically. In the blink of an eye he turned back into a crazed state.

He raised both hands over his head, set off running, and dashed laughing and giggling into the distance.

He ran incredibly fast, disappearing in the blink of an eye. In the eyes of an ordinary Cultivator, such speed was godlike—one couldn’t even catch a glimpse of his shadow.

”Still not saying it?”

Ye Yun gave a self‑mocking smile and chased after him once more.

Crossing ridge after ridge, the white‑robed child ran joyously, as if he’d long since forgotten about Ye Yun following behind him.

At this moment, the distance between Ye Yun and the white‑robed child was no more than a hundred zhang.

Crossing yet another towering mountain, during the descent a silver waterfall spanned the sky and plunged down. The white‑robed child’s figure flickered, and he actually flew into the waterfall.

Ye Yun followed him in.

Within the waterfall was a world of its own, where a medium‑sized cave‑abode existed.

Upon entering the cave‑abode, the white‑robed child slowed his steps, his crazed expression growing somewhat calmer.

He walked to the deepest part of the cave entrance and suddenly stopped, raising a hand to point at the cave‑abode’s rock wall.

”Look.”

The white‑robed child uttered a single word, then fell silent.

Ye Yun came to his side and looked toward the rock wall.

There were several carvings on the rock wall.

On the first carving, seven Star Tombs were etched, with seven rivers winding around them.

Seven‑Star Mound?

River of Years?

Seeing this carving, Ye Yun’s expression quivered, and his heart jolted.

He hurriedly looked to the second carving.

On the second carving, a Divine Dragon flowed along a river, and beside it were a few tiny purple specks.

Hiss!

Ye Yun drew in a sharp breath.

Without a doubt, the river in the second carving was a segment of the River of Years depicted in the first.

And though that dragon’s form wasn’t detailed, those purple specks immediately made Ye Yun recall certain past events.

Back then, in the Divine Land, when chasing the Sun God King, Ye Yun had once entered a Fire‑attribute Realm.

Within that Realm—

Ye Yun had discovered a stretch of River of Years, and at its core he had found some purple motes of dust.

At the time, a silver Stele left behind by the Time Celestial Dragon had also been there.

On it was written a single line.

”This River of Years contains an unknown factor; abandon it!”

Looking at the second carving, Ye Yun’s emotions began to surge.

The Divine Dragon in that River of Years was most likely the Time Celestial Dragon, one of the Ten Super Divine Dragons.

With that thought, Ye Yun hastily turned to the third carving.

In the third carving, that Divine Dragon coiled its body, agony showing in its draconic eyes, while one purple grain after another floated around it.

Beneath the Divine Dragon was a Stele.

But the Stele bore no words.

”So it really is the Time Celestial Dragon!

This carving seems to say that the Time Celestial Dragon refined the River of Years, inadvertently absorbed the purple motes of dust, and when it realized something was wrong, it expelled them again...”

Ye Yun thought to himself.

Those purple motes of dust were extremely bizarre and sinister, as if they contained some mysterious, deadly poison. Back then, the Burning Heaven Ancient Phoenix had absorbed a bit of them, and its body had turned purplish‑black; even its mind went insane.

It didn’t even recognize its own master.

Ye Yun was also somewhat worried whether, after the Time Celestial Dragon expelled the purple motes, they had still harmed its body.

Next, Ye Yun looked to the fourth image.

In the fourth image, there was no pattern at all, only a single character.

—Emperor.

Seeing this character, Ye Yun furrowed his brows.

For the moment, he had no idea what it signified.

If it meant the Time Celestial Dragon had thoughts of proclaiming itself emperor, that didn’t seem quite reasonable.

”Could it be... the God‑Emperor Realm?”

A thought suddenly surfaced in Ye Yun’s heart.

That day, after the Burning Heaven Ancient Phoenix absorbed a small bit of the purple motes, it broke through from the Divine Sovereign Realm to the Divine King Realm.

And the Time Celestial Dragon had absorbed so many purple motes; even if it later expelled them, its cultivation base had likely still broken through.

From half‑step Divine Emperor Realm to the Divine Emperor Realm, and then—

Breaking through again to the God‑Emperor Realm...

This was highly possible.

The ”Emperor” character in the fourth image might well be telling him that the Time Celestial Dragon had broken through to the God‑Emperor Realm.

And the reason for the breakthrough naturally followed from the explanations in the first three carvings.

Thinking this far, Ye Yun’s heart suddenly cleared.

The Time Celestial Dragon had obtained a great fortuitous chance, accidentally swallowed the purple motes of dust, and instead became the first to break through to the God‑Emperor Realm.

Ye Yun turned to the fifth carving.

In this carving, the Divine Dragon motif appeared once more, only this time the Divine Dragon twisted its body, with streaks of shadow appearing all around it.

It was apparent.

The dragon’s behavior gave off an extremely irrational, utterly deranged feeling.

”It went mad!”

Two words popped into Ye Yun’s mind.

Having personally witnessed the Burning Heaven Ancient Phoenix’s descent into madness, the moment he saw these carvings, Ye Yun could immediately deduce that the Time Celestial Dragon had gone mad as well.