"The Jade Dragon Emperor!" John exclaimed, completely shocked to hear the man's true identity. According to history, the Jade Dragon Emperor died long ago in the ancient calamity. Not only that, but that calamity was so long ago that even if he survived, he should still have died from old age.
John stared at the man who slowly approached him, gauging the veracity of his words.
‘Its almost impossible to believe him, but there is no reason for him to lie to me. Not only is his power so high that it even eclipses Thunderzen, he gains nothing from lying to me. The Jade Dragon Emperor is still alive!'
The Jade Dragon Emperor walked over to John and stood directly before him, towering over John. He was a head taller than John, and far bulkier and more muscular. He was by far the most imposing man John had ever seen, as just his presence alone was enough to inspire awe, or fear, in almost anyone.
The Jade Dragon Emperor stared at John for a moment before speaking up once more.
"You obtained the true inheritance of the Jade Dragons. An inheritance that even I was unable to obtain," the Jade Dragon Emperor said, revealing that he had been there the whole time, watching it take place. "I had always wanted the inheritance for myself, but now that I have learned of the burden that comes with it, I can only pity you."
Based on the Jade Dragon Emperors words, the burden he now carried was a task so difficult that even he pitied John, revealing a small bit of just how hard it would be to accomplish. John's gaze shifted from the man's face to his body, which contained countless wounds, each more gruesome than the last.
He could tell the Jade Dragon Emperors body was beyond incredible, and was at a level far beyond even his own. In fact comparing his body to the Jade Dragon Emperors was like comparing an infant to an adult, and yet the Jade Dragon Emperor was wounded to such an extent.
John gazed at the wounds, which all contained a sinister and malevolent aura within which refused to vanish. The aura was clearly affecting the healing factor of the Jade Dragon Emperor, making it so that he was unable to heal the wounds at all. The aura was familiar to John, as he had felt it once in his life before, during the prophetic vision.
"This aura…did you fight that four-armed creature?" John asked, his words causing slight surprise to appear on the Jade Dragon Emperors exhausted face.
"You know of the Asura? How?" the Jade Dragon Emperor asked.
"I saw him in a vision once," John replied, telling a half-truth as he didn't want to reveal too much, not even to the Jade Dragon Emperor, who he knew nothing about. "And I just fought his disciple as well several days ago, so I know a bit about him," John replied.
The Jade Dragon Emperor stared at John for a moment but said nothing, and after a short silence, he walked by John as if he was no longer of interest to him.
"Wait," John called out as he turned around, and the Jade Dragon Emperor paused his steps to listen to what John had to say.
"This realm…was it truly created by that Jade Dragon?" John asked curiously.
"It was," the Jade Dragon Emperor replied. "I was the first to discover the Jade Dragon long ago, and with its help was able to become the Jade Dragon Emperor. But this realm was not created by me, only repurposed."
After answering the question, the Jade Dragon Emperor began to walk once more, causing John to call out again to him.
"The four-armed creature, the Asura…is it dead?" John asked. While he most likely already knew the answer, he still had to ask.
"No," the Jade Dragon Emperor growled coldly, his footsteps unpausing.
"One last thing," John called out, as he could tell he was beginning to annoy the Jade Dragon Emperor, who most likely was on the verge of collapse.
"How strong is that Asura?" John asked, as this was his best opportunity to gauge its strength.
The Jade Dragon Emperor remained silent as he walked to the opposite end of the temple and touched a part of the wall. The wall lit up with runes, and a door appeared, leading to places unseen. The Jade Dragon Emperor stepped within, and the door began to close, but his voice drifted out one last time.
"Stronger than me," his voice drifted out as the door closed, leaving John alone in the temple once more.
John stood there in stunned silence for quite some time, as everything that had happened since he entered this temple was almost too much to digest. First, he had spoken to a true dragon, received an amazing inheritance and impossible burden, and then met the Jade Dragon Emperor himself.
After standing in silence for quite some time, John shook his head in disbelief at everything that had happened, and headed for the temple exit. He wanted to follow the Jade Dragon Emperor and ask hundreds of more questions, but it was easy to tell that the Jade Dragon Emperor was on the verge of collapse.
His wounds were beyond gruesome, and the malevolent aura made things much, much worse. It was unsure if he would even survive those wounds, and so John decided to leave instead.
He walked over towards the entrance of the temple, which parted open for him as he approached. After walking through the parted doors, John reached out towards the front of the door and yanked his battle axe out of the indent, retrieving his weapon.
As soon as he left the temple, the temple began to retreat into the earth like the others had, and disappeared quickly after. John's eyes widened slightly as he gazed behind him, and the ancient Jade Dragon that he had spoken to was no more, as if its body had completely disappeared.
The final trial of the Jade Dragon Empire realm had been successfully completed, and even the ancient dragon corpse was no more. As if triggered by the temples disappearance, or perhaps the dragons, a bizarre energy washed through the entire Jade Dragon Empire realm, as if it was trying to flush everyone out.
John's face twitched for an instant as he took out the spatial talisman that had been given to him by the Honorable Alliance at the start, which began to vibrate and hum with power, resonating with the energy washing through the realm at the moment.
Although it was two weeks earlier than expected, the closing of the realm had finally arrived.
"It's finally over," John sighed deeply, as the journey through the Jade Dragon Empire realm was finally complete.
