Over there, those two aren't even the same word.

Over there, slaying a dragon makes you a hero, but here in the Divine Land, dragon-slaying itself is an ominous affair.

Last time, during the Gauss descent incident, when they got in touch with the Old Celestial Master, Wen Yan passed on a message for him, but clearly, the Old Celestial Master never replied.

Only other people responded with something more definite, basically saying that, as things stand, there's no reason to slay a dragon.

The Old Celestial Master would absolutely never strike against a dragon possessing a Water God's status just because the West River Dragon God was unruly, defiant, disrespectful to the Scorching Sun Department, or simply wouldn't cooperate.

Strictly speaking, that West River Dragon God, ever since his awakening, truly hasn't done anything outrageous or heinous.

It's exactly because of that, along with this incident, that Cai Qidong sees a sliver of hope. This particular Dragon God—though unruly and untamable, completely dismissive of the Scorching Sun Department, and showing not a shred of respect for Cai Qidong as the Minister—

Might just be open to some real negotiation.

If things could be resolved peacefully, all the better. Then maybe they could try to solve the issue with that other so-called Mountain Lord, the Big Cat, by peaceful means as well.

From what they can tell at the moment, the Mountain Lord might actually be more dangerous than the Dragon God.

No matter what, the Dragon God at least hasn't crossed the line, nor has he gone so far as to collaborate with outsiders to reach his ends by any means.

That Mountain Lord, though—the remains dug up under Crouching Tiger Mountain alone are enough to show that he's not someone to deal with lightly.

He still hasn't revealed himself to date; speculation is that he may be connected to that newly discovered Nether Soul Realm.

Also, apart from that Ghost Servant whose tether broke before, there's been absolutely no trace of any other Ghost Servant since then.

Such hidden patience, leaving the Scorching Sun Department not even the tiniest clue—Cai Qidong already feels he's much more dangerous than the Dragon God.

The bones dug up so far have undergone multiple rounds of examination. Some clearly show, from marks on the bones, that the victims struggled violently before death.

It's obvious at a glance—they may have appeared directly inside the Stone Mountain, fixed in place, suffocating or being crushed to death. Many injuries have been found on the bones, especially on the hands.

But, for a few of them, there are no marks whatsoever—no struggle, no wounds left on the bone.

Conservative estimates say there are still several hundred more skeletons in that Stone Mountain yet to be unearthed, but the Scorching Sun Department doesn't dare move rashly now.

They're still waiting for outside help from the Three Mountains and Five Ridges—specialists to assist with detection.

Other related records are also still being searched for.

The Three Mountains and Five Ridges might contain more ancient records, but they may not be preserved anymore. For all kinds of reasons, countless records have been lost over time.

Back in Brother Zheng's day, books had to be hauled by the cartful, and after paper became common, even then preservation was a hassle.

Even now, it looks like a single hard drive could store more books than a person could read in a lifetime, but there's still the risk of data loss.

Given enough time, anything, no matter how unlikely, becomes nearly inevitable.

Finding records isn't that simple either.

Cai Qidong was mulling this over when a call came in from headquarters.

A quick video meeting—the General Director asked Cai Qidong about what he'd been up to these past few days. Didn't say much else; everyone's cooperating with Cai Qidong.

What Cai Qidong's doing fits the Scorching Sun Department's philosophy: when the right excuse presents itself, eliminate potential risks in passing. Of course, no one thinks Cai Qidong's being shady.

When the Dragon God matter came up, the General Director and two Executive Deputy Ministers all agreed with Cai Qidong's approach.

It's rare for Cai Qidong to hold himself back, so naturally they didn't want to escalate things and kill the West River Dragon God.

They also agreed with Cai Qidong putting the focus on the more murderous-seeming Mountain Lord.

"Take things one at a time. But if you want to approach the West River Dragon God, I'd advise you not to have Scorching Sun Department personnel make contact.

That one, who knows what he's been through, but he's got a huge bias against the government... or the Imperial Court's people."

"Didn't we have a young guy named Wen last time?"

"Wen Yan."

"Right, him. Let him give it a try."

"Sending him into danger isn't right, is it? He's a young guy, only just started martial training a few days ago, basically flashy moves, doesn't even know how to handle a gun.

Having him make contact—that's as good as sending him to his death. Sure, young people need to be tempered, but not like this.

Besides, he's from Fuyu Mountain, and I hear his martial arts talent is exceptional.

The Fuyu Mountain elders practically treat him like a treasure.

If something happened to him, just imagine.

Fuyu Mountain finally finds a promising seedling, those elders are all hoping to see him amount to something in their lifetime.

If something happened, Fuyu Mountain wouldn't care about dragonslaying one bit..."

Cai Qidong ranted on for a while—he was adamant about not letting Wen Yan do this kind of thing.

When he can use Wen Yan's ability, he uses him to the limit.

If it comes to a fight and Wen Yan calls in the Fuyu Mountain folk, of course he makes full use.

But this kind of thing, clearly not suitable for Fuyu Mountain's involvement, is all about making contact, with pretty high risks—he definitely doesn't want Wen Yan taking that gamble.

No matter what, Wen Yan still counts as someone under his wing.

Cai Qidong rejected it for solid reasons, but before he even finished, the General Director started laughing.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.