'Holy shit.'
Damien finally realized how important the dragon before him was, but his questions only became greater with this discovery.
After all, if he truly was the great Azure Dragon, the first Azure Dragon to ever exist at that, then…
How did he die?
Damien hoped to find the answer as the story continued.
Obtaining "Azure" was the first step in Qi Long's grueling journey to power.
"Azure" wasn't necessarily a direct boost in power, but rather a "key" that would only become useful in time.
After defeating the Seas of Heaven, Qi Long went along to conquer the 3,000 worlds. With his power and dominion over water, finding someone who could match him was almost impossible.
The era and location of Qi Long's story were both a mystery, but as the story continued, it became clear that Qi Long's homeland was far separated from any sort of true universe.
It took 1000 years to conquer the 3,000 worlds in their entirety.
Another 4000 years passed after that with Qi Long training to his utmost and trying to find a way to further improve.
Until one day, he finally broke the bounds of his small universe and arrived somewhere greater.
'The Heavenly World.' Damien thought to himself.
The scenery around him wasn't much different from what he'd witnessed in his many years of life, but something just felt different.
The mana in the air was different, purer and far more dense. This mana carried stronger power in its ambient form than most lower universe existences could output with all their strength.
The lush grasses and greenery and the resident fauna were new and interesting, piquing Damien's interest even though he had no knowledge whatsoever of herbology and other related fields.
There was simply something mystical about the place that Damien couldn't place his finger on.
And Qi Long felt the same.
His adventure in the Heavenly World began when he had yet to reach the extreme peak and continued until the very end of his life.
For the most part, there wasn't anything strange about his story. It was a tale of hard work and effort combined with talent that could support it creating a genius of untold proportion.
"Azure" aided Qi Long until the very end, eventually allowing him to break free of the shackles of existence and become a true spiritual god.
It was an inspiring and wonderous chain of events that would make any common practitioner worship the genius who overcame it, but Damien wasn't too interested in Qi Long's origin story.
After all, wasn't his life already something similar?
What interested Damien was the concept Qi Long began researching after he plateaued in his Godbeast path.
'Universal Flow.'
As someone who controlled a power of heaven, Qi Long was far more in tune with the universe than the average practitioner, and when he underwent Cosmic Rebirth, he felt the subtle force that guided all existence on its proper path.
He became infatuated with the concept rapidly. He felt as if he'd discovered a hint at the answer to everything. He researched and researched, spending thousands of years trying to come in contact with the concept again…
…only to fail completely.
He theorized that he just wasn't "destined" to comprehend Universal Flow. While destiny wasn't a tangible force and would usually be left out of any sort of research, Universal Flow was a concept heavily tied to the ethereal and intangible.
By Qi Long's hypotheses, the concept known as "Universal Flow" was…everything.
It didn't influence the universe, it was the universe. It didn't influence events, it carried them out as they were supposed to be carried out.
In some sense, the best way to describe Universal Flow was as the "plot" of a novel.
Only, this novel had no writer.
No being controlled the plot, but the plot was created nonetheless.
Universal Flow was the tail of this "plot" that peeked out of the clouds. Its body and head were too profound for even the universe itself to understand, let alone mere existences within it.
Unfortunately, Qi Long couldn't get further than this point in his research without actually coming in contact with the force again. It was especially frustrating since the memory he had of the force was blurred as if it had been tampered with.
Qi Long eventually gave up on his unattainable dream and returned to increasing his power as he'd always done, but little did he know that the small progress he'd made at this time would eventually be received by a junior untold years in the future.
And that junior…
That junior carried the "destiny" that he lacked.
Damien's eyes were wide in shock, but also glazed over like a corpse.
He stood frozen like a statue as Qi Long's story played out around him.
Yet, he wasn't seeing it at all.
In his eyes was reflected a certain "something."
He couldn't describe it in words.
How could he, a mortal, ever dare?
However, it was beautiful and incomprehensible, almost directly shattering his ego with its presence alone.
He suddenly understood.
This wasn't a force he should interfere with.
This wasn't something he should have ever touched.
It was best if he followed Qi Long's example and gave up.
'It's impossible for a human to touch something like this. It's impossible for a human to—'
Gasp!
Damien's eyes abruptly focused. He gasped for air and immediately used the Mind Prison to separate any and all unneeded emotions from his mind.
'Dangerous. That was too dangerous.' He thought to himself.
'But…I finally came in contact with it.'
He saw it with his own eyes.
He didn't just mildly feel it like he'd been doing thus far, he truly witnessed it in all its glory.
It was terrifying.
A force that was ever present and constantly guiding all things on their proper paths.
It wasn't just god-like, it was God.
[Have you understood?]
The Azure Dragon's voice rang out.
Damien nodded slightly.
Qi Long never made progress in his research on Universal Flow, he was still someone who'd made contact with it, something that only happened a single-digit number of times in the universe's lifetime.
What Qi Long sensed from Damien when they first met wasn't the Void, but Universal Flow.
The reason he was called to this place was exactly this.
"But if you only summoned me because of Universal Flow, why did you show me the rest?" Damien suddenly asked as curiosity overcame him.
[There is much you can learn from observing this Emperor's experiences.]
The Azure Dragon's answer was simple and perfunctory.
"That's true," Damien said in response, "but what's the use? These memories will only be useful to the dragon you—"
Damien halted his words, his eyes shakily returning to the Azure Dragon.
"You aren't thinking of…"
[This Emperor has rested long enough. It is time to appoint a successor.]
"Shouldn't you be appointing a dragon to be your successor?! I won't even be able to use most of your techniques!"
The Azure Dragon's massive eyes rolled downward, his gaze meeting Damien's.
[An existence chosen by the Universal Flow is more valuable than the entire Dragon species combined. This Emperor would much rather entrust you with my legacy than any other being.]
Damien stared up at the Godbeast at a loss for words. He was dumbfounded by this series of events that was taking a completely different direction than expected.
And the worst part was, that direction was also the most obvious one!
Honestly, there wasn't much to consider. No matter how incompatible he and Qi Long were, the other party was a true Godbeast.
Damien was prepared to take anything he possibly could from the Azure Dragon without leaving a single scrap behind.
Qi Long closed his eyes.
His shadow started to fade into the atmosphere.
And ever-so-gently, a wisp of blue entered Damien's spiritual world.
Little did he know, however, that this little blue wisp would make him suffer more than anything he'd faced since he arrived in the greater universe.
