Chapter 430: Hatred
"Greetings, Dragon King!"
A dozen purple-robed elders and a dozen East Ocean's Generals were already waiting there when Zhao Guang and the others reached the front gate.
Zhao Guo's face had already recovered from its paleness, and he walked behind Zhao Guang quietly.
The elders were surprised to see Zhao Kuo, and the generals were thrilled to see him.
"Third Lord is back! Third Lord is back!"
The soldiers cried out from above the defense wall in excitement when they saw Zhao Kuo.
They didn't dare shout out too loud since Zhao Guang and the elders were around, but Hao Ren still heard them.
Zhao Kuo passed through the gate after Zhao Guang with a stern look, and the Elders followed them in as well.
The generals bowed toward Zhao Kuo before they returned to their positions.
"Anything new these days?" Zhao Guang asked as he walked.
"Dragon King, everything is normal around the East Ocean City," one of the purple-robed elders who stayed in the dragon palace answered.
Zhao Guang nodded. "You may leave now. Arrange a few places to stay for Ms. Xie, Ms. Lu, and Little Daoist Zhen."
"Yes, sir!" The elder who was leading the way slowed down immediately.
"You must all tired. Have some rest in the dragon palace today," Zhao Guang said to Xie Yujia and the twins.
"Ok." Xie Yujia smiled lightly.
Lu Linlin and Lu Lili looked at Hao Ren, and they followed the elder to the palace that was assigned to them after Hao Ren nodded.
Zhen Congming followed them, and Little White hopped out of Zhao Yanzi's arm and followed Xie Yujia.
Then, Zhao Guang dismissed the dozen purple-robed elders and entered his palace with Elder Lu, Elder Sun, Zhao Kuo, Zhao Hongyu, Zhao Yanzi, Hao Ren, and Premier Xia.
The eight of them entered the palace, and Zhao Guang asked Premier Xia, who came last, to close the door. Then, he walked to the chair in the center of the palace and sat down, facing Hao Ren.
Premier Xie walked ahead hastily to stand beside him, and Zhao Kuo and Zhao Hongyu sat on each side of Zhao Guang.
This was Zhao Guang's resting palace, so the conference lobby wasn't large. It appeared to be very intimate after the door closed.
"Please go ahead with what you wanted to say, Ren," Zhao Guang said to Hao Ren.
Hao Ren nodded and said, "First of all, I resign from my Commanding General position, and I am returning the token to Third Uncle."
He took the token out of his storage space and walked a few steps ahead, handing it to Zhao Kuo.
"Not necessary!" Zhao Kuo waved him off, "Skip this."
Hao Ren didn't push it and put the token back in his necklace. Then, he went on with what was more important. "The second thing is that I need to give this to Third Uncle."
Hao Ren took the Black Dragon Spike from his storage space and laid it in front of Zhao Kuo with both hands.
The Black Dragon Spike looked very sharp and heavy even without any nature essence inside.
"The old dragon king asked me to hand it over to you," Hao Ren added.
Hearing that, Zhao Kuo reached out and took the Black Dragon Spike.
"The third thing is," Hao Ren backed up beside Zhao Yanzi before he looked at Zhao Guang, Zhao Kuo, and Zhao Hongyu and said, "The old dragon king had passed away."
Elder Lu and Elder Sun looked utterly surprised when they heard what Hao Ren had said.
Zhao Guang was stupefied while Zhao Hongyu slightly opened her mouth.
"Ah!" Zhao Yanzi gasped, and Premier Xie looked down with sadness in his eyes. His hunchbacked body bent even lower than before.
Zhao Kuo had no facial expressions with the Black Dragon Spike in his hand.
There was a silence of three seconds.
Hao Ren gritted his teeth and stood quietly.
Zhao Kuo suddenly stood up.
He laid the Black Dragon Spike on the handles of the chair. Then, he took three steps back and kneeled to the Black Dragon Spike.
Dong...Dong...Dong... Zhao Kuo made three hard kowtows with his hands on the ground.
The marble tile was smashed into pieces, and there was blood on Zhao Kuo's forehead. He didn't use any nature essence when he kowtowed, so the pain went straight through his body.
"Dad!"
Zhao Kuo growled as tears rushed down his cheeks.
Zhao Haoran was most fond of his youngest son, Zhao Kuo. One reason was that Zhao Kuo's brave and fierce personality was similar to Zhao Haoran. Another reason was that Zhao Kuo was incredibly talented, and he cultivated a lot harder than his two elder brothers.
Being a tough guy, Zhao Kuo never shed a single tear no matter how strong his enemies were nor how painful his wounds were; he didn't even surrender at the life-and-death moment when he went through the Heavenly Tribulation.
But now, he kept knocking the floor with his fists as tears dropped onto the cracked tiles.
He remembered every single thing Zhao Haoran taught him about cultivation. Zhao Haoran kept an eye on Zhao Kuo's growth from a Zhen-level teenager to a peak Qian-level master.
Although Zhao Haoran didn't laugh much, he always had a smile on in front of Zhao Kuo.
But since Zhao Kuo chased after the Heavenly Dragon Realm later, he concentrated heavily on cultivating and battling. The times he went to see Zhao Haoran got fewer and fewer.
He was too ashamed of himself to see his father after failing to break through to the Heavenly Dragon Realm. Who would've thought that he never would be able to see his father again!
"Dad!" Zhao Kuo growled again as he smacked the floor with his fists.
Tear covered his face.
As a matter of fact, Zhao Kuo already sensed that something was wrong when Hao Ren took out the Black Dragon Spike. But now that Hao Ren told him the truth, there was no way that he could lie to himself anymore.
Zhao Guang and Zhao Hongyu kneeled behind Zhao Kuo and kowtowed to the Black Dragon Spike on the chair.
Zhao Yanzi looked at the Black Dragon Spike, stupefied. Then, she stepped ahead and kowtowed to it as well.
Zhao Haoran was almost 1,000 years older than her, and Zhao Yanzi wasn't close to this grandpa of hers. In fact, she was a bit scared of him when Zhao Guang took her to the States to visit him during summer vacations.
But now, the backbone of the East Ocean Dragon Palace was gone, and so was her one and only grandpa. Zhao Yanzi felt the emptiness in her heart.
Now that she thought about it, Zhao Haoran actually cared a lot about her. Although he seemed stern, he never blamed or scolded Zhao Yanzi when she made mistakes.
Premier Xia, Elder Lu, and Elder Sun kowtowed to the Black Dragon Spike as well.
Hao Ren also stepped forward politely to kowtow to the Black Dragon Spike.
Although Hao Ren had only met Zhao Haoran a few times, he knew that Zhao Haoran was a real hero and overlord!
Zhao Kuo soon picked himself up; his face was covered with tears.
He took three steps forward and picked up the Black Dragon Spike with one hand. Then, he stared at Hao Ren and asked, "What else did my dad say?"
His hard look showed that he might kill Hao Ren if he said something wrong!
Instead of calling Zhao Haoran the old dragon king, he always addressed Zhao Haoran in a mortal way by calling him, dad. It was obvious how close he was to his father!
"The old dragon king told me to hand this sword to you in person when you come back," Hao Ren answered.
"Hand it to me in person..." Zhao Kuo murmured.
This Black Dragon Spike was the weapon that Zhao Haoran always brought with him. During the war in the cultivation world, Zhao Haoran defeated countless human cultivators as the leader of the East Ocean Dragon Palace with this Black Dragon Spike, forcing the human cultivators to leave the land and move all the cultivation sects to and above Fifth Heaven.
Young dragon cultivators weren't aware of this. In fact, to avoid young dragon cultivators from causing trouble, a lot of them weren't even informed about the existence of Fifth Heaven.
This was also why when Hao Ren took out this Black Dragon Spike during the general exam, most cultivators didn't know about the history of this weapon.
Even some elders in the Dragon Tribe didn't know the legend behind the Black Dragon Spike because they weren't born during the war!
Zhao Haoran put his Black Dragon Spike away after the war and never used it again!
At the last moment of Zhao Haoran's life, he asked Hao Ren to hand his favorite Black Dragon Spike to Zhao Kuo. This clearly explained his intention!
He wanted Zhao Kuo to take over his tremendous murderous spirit and never lose his will!
Zhao Haoran never broke through the Heavenly Dragon Realm his entire life, and he handed this dream over to Zhao Kuo.
"Ahhhh..."
Zhao Kuo lifted his head, and he had bloodshot eyes.
He hated himself for not being able to break through to the Heavenly Dragon Realm and not being able to see his father before he passed away. He also hated himself for running away from reality and leaving the East Ocean behind!
As the Commanding General of the East Ocean, he wasn't in the East Ocean Dragon Palace during its most critical time; they had to get his father, who didn't have many years left and already retired, to save the situation.
Hatred!
The Black Dragon Spike let out a ray of black light, and it shot straight through the ceiling of the palace!
Boom!
The black light dashed out of the dragon palace's array formation, out of the ocean surface, and into the clouds!
The ocean waves leaped high into the sky as the clouds twirled around!
Zhao Yanzi looked at Zhao Kuo, scared; she had never seen her third uncle this horrifying before.
Hasty footsteps sounded outside the palace. The patrolling soldiers saw the Dragon King's Palace being damaged, so they all circled it.
"No need to panic; we are fine!" Zhao Guang shouted.
The soldiers quickly moved away after hearing the dragon king's voice.
Zhao Kuo looked at Hao Ren with his red eyes and asked, "What else did my dad say?"
"Nothing else," Hao Ren shook his head. He continued after thinking for a bit, "The old dragon king passed his 1,000-year cultivation strength to me. I think he meant to pass it on to you. Now that Third Uncle you are back... this 1,000-year cultivation strength..."
"Fool!" Zhao Kuo suddenly interrupted Hao Ren with his cussing.