Chapter 317: Right, or Wrong?

Coldness. Extreme coldness.

It was the first time that Hao Ren felt like death was so close to him.

A few inches closer and his forehead could get pierced open by the sharp sword.

This black sword was made from a piece of strange stone that came from the foot of the Kunlun Mountain. It repelled water, fire, and heavenly lightning. Its quality was even better than Su Han's white jade sword.

Shoo... Wang Xi put his black sword back into his body.

"So, you are an assisting inspector." He glimpsed at Hao Ren's forehead and waved toward the direction of the hill. The coat was then sucked into his hand, and he slightly twirled in the air as the coat slid itself onto his body.

Earth-elemental dragons were talented in traveling underground. Wang Xi camouflaged himself with a split technique during the battle. He went stealth underneath Hao Ren and defeated him by surprise.

Hao Ren placed his sword energies all around him except for the ground directly below him.

Woo!

Wang Xi's provoking expression set Little White off. It was ready to throw itself at Wang Xi after waving its paws, but Hao Ren stopped it by holding onto its fur.

Hao Ren was reluctant to admit defeat, but that didn't change anything. He would have been a dead man if this was a real life-and-death battle. It was the brutal reality that he was not as experienced in.

"It would be really boring if all the inspectors in the system are on your level." Wang Xi glimpsed at Hao Ren coldly again as he slowly put the aura of Dui-level away.

The few Zhen-level cultivators nearby felt slightly relieved. The pressure Wang Xi created during the battle was enough to suffocate them.

The higher the level a dragon cultivator got, the harder it was to progress. It was easy to reach Zhen-level, but only a few cultivators could get to Dui-level, which equaled low-tier Nascent Soul Realm. Specifically, in the Water-Elemental Dragon Clan, a Dui-level cultivator could easily become an elder in any smaller river, steam, or lake dragon clans.

Hao Ren kept quiet on Little White's back.

"I will be attending the general examination at the Dragon God Shrine this year, and I won't go easy on you if I see you there." After saying that, Wang Xi turned to Wang Hui and said, "Let's go!"

Wang Hui ran over to Wang Xi and followed him into the teleportation array. The other four Zhen-level cultivators realized the change of situation and followed them as well.

Howl!

Little White spat out another fireball, turning a tree not far from them into ashes immediately. Little White wanted to bite off Wang Xi's neck. However, it wasn't strong enough to defeat him yet.

Hao Ren turned around slowly to look at Wang Xi as he left. He was still silent.

Theoretically, all the dragon cultivators were qualified to become an inspector of the Dragon God Shrine. There was a series of exams one had to take in order to become an inspector, and those exams were held annually. Some of the cultivators would enroll themselves in the exams; some were recommended by the local forces; others, such as Hao Ren, became assisting inspectors first before the official inspectors referred them.

There were two parts to the exams; one written exam and one combat exam. The written exam wasn't difficult, and one could pass if they were familiar with the fundamental information of the Dragon Tribe as well as all the regulations of the tribe.

It was the combat exam that was more competitive. All kinds of masters from Zhen-level to Qian-level would gather in the Dragon God Shrine, and only the top ten participants would become official inspectors after rounds of fierce battle. The next 40 of them would become assisting inspectors.

A while back, Su Han went through the exams and became an official inspector as a Kun-level master.

Since the status of the four ocean dragon clans was similar to that of the Dragon God Shrine, their core members weren't interested in these exams. However, for other dragon clans, the more inspectors they had in the Dragon God Shrine, the higher they were regarded.

Although the inspectors claimed to be impartial when they dealt with issues for the Dragon God Shrine, they always had their biases. For example, since Su Han was brought up in the East Ocean Dragon Palace, she had always been easy on all East Ocean Dragon Palace's matters.

Wang Xi was an elite trained by the Earth-Elemental Dragon Clan of the Wuyi Mountain. They expected him to fight all the way through the inspector exams this year and become an official inspector.

"Dui level..."

Hao Ren murmured to himself as he let out a sword energy, chopping down a line of trees smoothly.

Although they were only one realm apart, Hao Ren and Little White weren't even able to damage Wang Xi's hair with all their strength combined. It sure wasn't a nice feeling when someone pointed his sword that close to your forehead.

Strength! It all came down to strength!

Boom!

The teleportation array lit up again.

Elder Sun in his Tang suit was standing on the array, and he quickly walked toward the valley. As short as he was, he appeared to be very capable.

"Elder Sun." Hao Ren smiled in embarrassment as he walked over.

He smiled at Hao Ren. "Well done, Gongzi Hao."

Hao Ren looked around and got even more embarrassed.

"I'm not talking about this," Elder Sun put his hands behind him and said, "I am talking about the damage on the West Ocean Dragon Palace."

"Oh?" Hao Ren was surprised at the sudden change of topic.

"The news of you and Little Daoist Zhen destroying half of the West Ocean Dragon Palace is out. All the parties are astonished by the news." Elder Sun slightly sighed.

Hao Ren sensed the importance of this topic, so he focused on what Elder Sun was saying.

Sure enough, Elder Sun kept talking, "The entire Dragon Tribe has been talking about this today, especially our Water-Elemental Dragon Clan. A few river and lake dragon clans have started to communicate, discussing how to cope with the situation."

"Cope with the situation?" Hao Ren was confused.

"You and Little Daoist Zhen even destroy the West Ocean Dragon Palace; no one feels safe at home anymore. If Little Daoist Zhen had enough interest in it, he could rob South Ocean after West Ocean. Then, he could go ahead and set a fire on the Dongting Lake Dragon Palace..." Elder Sun continued.

Hao Ren started to understand. Zhen Congming destroyed half of the West Ocean Dragon Palace in rage, so the other dragon clans were deterred by the potential danger.

If some group took this opportunity to promote the idea that East Ocean wanted to conquer every other dragon clan, many forces would take precaution against East Ocean. That would put East Ocean in an isolated situation.

It had never occurred to Hao Ren that the damage he and Zhen Congming caused for the West Ocean Dragon Palace would put East Ocean in so much trouble.

Instead of utilizing this opportunity to take the West Ocean Dragon Clan's territories and resources, the South and North Dragon Clans formed an alliance with the West Ocean Dragon Clan against the East Ocean Dragon Palace.

Other small powers also grouped up with each other. They each formed alliances before the East Ocean Dragon Clan could expand rapidly.

Fighting with the West Ocean Dragon Palace at this time would go to prove East Ocean's 'wild ambition and conspiracy'.

However, if the East Ocean stood back and let them team up, the clan would lose the relationship with many small powers and damage the relationship with other few major powers, putting them into a dead corner.

Elder Sun thought for a bit when he noticed Hao Ren's frowning face. He comforted, "Gongzi Hao, you don't need to worry too much about it. The West Ocean Dragon Palace won't be able to recover within 30 to 50 years, and that is a good thing for us. However, instead of being buried with it, we need to keep our status. There are only two ways to solving the situation. First, we can call for an early Dragon Tribe Conference and state our stance. Second, if we can get a Heavenly Dragon Realm grandmaster within a year and truly surpass the strength of the other three ocean dragon clans, then this won't be an issue. However, it is already an open secret that the Third Lord failed the lightning tribulation."

"State our stance? What do you mean by that?" Hao Ren asked.

Elder Sun hesitated for a few seconds before he answered at last, "To state that we didn't mean to cause the damage. And if we had to... sigh... please treat Ms. Zi nicely."