Chapter One: "The Sleeping Dragon" Emerges

It was deep autumn and the maple leaves had fallen off. In a small wooden house deep in the Transmountain Range of the Atari continent, a clear cry echoed through the mountains.

"In short, time travelers are awesome!" A fox-eared redhead woman exclaimed excitedly while shaking her tail at the dining table.

Helplessly, Xia Yi looked at his dearest sister who borned by different parents. She was extremely beautiful, charming yet dignified, tall and plump, and could definitely be described as a peerless beauty who "captivates a city with a glance, and a country with another" - if not for the two dark circles under her eyes.

"Sister Hu Xuan, so you came to the conclusion that time travelers are awesome just to commemorate Master Jiang Shang? I seriously doubt that you used that as an excuse and spent the whole night reading the sci-fi novels Master brought back from outer space."

"It's all because your brother won't let me stay up late..." Hu Xuan was a little embarrassed when her mischief was exposed. However, she immediately became fierce and said, "But that doesn't change the fact that Master is awesome!"

"Right, the problem is that Master is not an ordinary time traveler. Other time travelers are based on irresistible forces. He, on the other hand, actively used the Dao to divide his soul into countless fragments and entangle them with the heavens through quantum entanglement." Xia Yi weakly argued, "If every fragment of his soul is counted as a time travel, then Master has time-traveled billions of times. Master is invincible because he was originally invincible, what does time travel have to do with it?"

As Xia Yi began to get into an argument, Hu Xuan couldn't help but smile. She looked at her younger brother and remembered what he looked like when he was in a cradle. Twenty years had passed, and time had turned the little baby into a handsome young man, taking away their Master's physical body.

Yes, although Jiang Shang was an unparalleled powerhouse, his master was just a soul fragment and had to follow the rules of human lifespan on this planet. So, yesterday, his master finally passed away. Xia Yi, who had experienced the pain of losing loved ones, could not fall asleep due to his sorrow. He would only be even more saddened by the departure that he had not experienced.

[But my melancholic little brother is so cute! Hissss~ Hissss...I need to find an excuse to tease him.]

Thinking of this, Hu Xuan poked Xia Yi's cheek with her tail and said, "You seem to have recovered well, little alien. Even though you cried so much yesterday that your black hair and black eyes turned blue, revealing your true form."

"That wasn't my true form, it was just the automatic burst of bloodline power under intense emotions." Xia Yi pushed away Hu Xuan's mischievous tail, but then eight other tails reached out towards him. "Besides, you're an alien too! Where did a nine-tailed fox come from on the Atari planet?!"

"As children grow up, they will argue with their elder sisters. Elder sister is heartbroken, so I can only RUB-RUB Xia Yi to vent." Hu Xuan intensified her actions, trying to tease Xia Yi further.

"I warn you, I am no longer the kid you used to control. Don't come any closer! Help, Brother Hu Qi, take care of your wife!"

It was unclear whether it was due to Xia Yi's call or simply because he had finished his work. A white-haired man in his thirties quickly appeared, wearing an apron. He gently put down the food in his hands and used his large hand as a knife to gently tap Hu Xuan's forehead.

"Time to eat."

"Mmm."

Hu Xuan blushed under the loving gaze, and her troublesome nine tails obediently curled up.

"When we were kids, you feeded me your love, and now, ten years later, you're still feeding me the same thing. Can't we have something new? I'm tired of it," Xia Yi complained.

Hu Xuan joked, "If you don't want to get that, go find love for yourself. Don't forget about Keli and Kemeng, you two getting along well?"

"What do you mean? We're just ordinary friends who grew up together," Xia Yi said while eating.

"You can't even stop talking while eating. Anyway, let's talk about something serious," Hu Qi said, knowing that the siblings would go on and on if he didn't steer the conversation.

"Since our master passed away, all the founding fathers of the Ruo Yue Republic have also died. There is no longer a dominant figure in politics, and soon the reformists and the Rongke faction will engage in a fight to the death."

Hearing this, Xia Yi couldn't help but express his hatred, "Those rats must be impatient!"

Hu Xuan responded calmly, "They have been impatient for a long time. The Rongke faction has been accumulating power in secret during our master's illness, and their military and financial strength has grown rapidly in the past six months. They have been waiting for a time of crisis and plan to invade the parliament."

"What about the neutral financial capital and petite bourgeoisie?" Xia Yi asked anxiously.

"You care so much about your childhood sweetheart. Are you really just ordinary friends?" Hu Xuan teased.

"On the subject of that, do you remember the underwater ruins we discovered three months ago with the Bourbon Empire?" Hu Qi did not directly answer Xia Yi's question or respond to Hu Xuan's banter, but instead brought up another matter.

"Yes, I remember. You said at the time that the ruins might have been a research facility for the previous civilization."

"That's right. The latest excavation results not only revealed a connection between the ancient ruins and a race of intelligent beings on another continent, but also the possible reason why the previous civilization rapidly declined. Therefore, the importance of these ruins has greatly increased. Moreover, during the excavation, many mechanisms capable of killing diamond-ranked fighters were discovered. With the current scientific and military capabilities of the two countries' research teams, they are not sufficient to deal with the situation."

"Wait a minute! Brother, did you say something strange? I never knew that there were intelligent races on another continent," Xia Yi exclaimed.

"Right, if we calculate based on the level of cultivation, Yi'er's level is only at the peak of the Diamond level, which is just a mere Divine Transformation stage cultivator in the cultivation world. Although she has the strength to compete with Earth Immortals, her actual cultivation level has not yet reached the Ascension stage.

According to the algorithm of the Atari Star's extraordinary cultivation system, Bronze level corresponds to Qi Refining stage, Silver level corresponds to Foundation Establishment stage, Gold level corresponds to Core Formation stage, Platinum level corresponds to Nascent Soul stage, and Diamond level corresponds to Divine Transformation stage. Only when one reaches the Ascension stage at the corresponding Master level, can they have the ability to leave the planet for a long time and engage in space battles.

So, Yi, you haven't even done space combat training yet, nor have you observed our planet from near-Earth orbit. At the same time, you don't care much about geographic information, so you really don't know what's happening on the other continent."

Hu Xuan teased, "No way, Xia Yi, when you and your brother were at our age, you were just one step away from breaking through the Immortal realm. Shame shame..."

"Huh? Let's compare computing power. Your self-regulating computing core has been condensed for so many years, but its current computing power is not as good as mine. You're the one who should be ashamed," Xia Yi retorted.

"Let's compare then. The last homework our teacher assigned was to derive the formula for fusion technology. Let's see who finishes first. The loser has to split their 'poo-nee-poo-nee' inventory in half."

Seeing the sudden change in atmosphere, Hu Qi shook his head and quickly brought the conversation back on track, "You two are in a good mood. Okay, let's continue with the main topic."

"At the meeting a week ago, the Bourbon Empire suddenly sent a message, hoping that we would set aside our disputes and jointly develop that ruin with other city-states on the continent. At the same time, they also proposed to hold the continental youth cultural and martial exchange conference together.

Otto von Runkel from the Runkel faction, the multinational capital group, and the neutral Rothschild faction unanimously agreed to this resolution at the meeting, and gave us a list of opinions for the Republic of Hot Moon to participate in this exchange. Yi, can you guess who is on this list?"

"Most of the key officials of the reform faction, new talents, and the age-appropriate children of reform leaders must be on the list. If we calculate it like this, won't it be without my brother, sister, and me?

I can understand if it's just me, after all, they don't know my strength. And my series of papers criticizing the chronic problems have already caused enough reaction in the country, so they view me as a thorn in their side and it's not surprising that they want to get rid of me."

"But, the ruins are not in Bourbon territory, and the Heaven's Prison sub-control device controlled by the Bourbon royal family cannot affect that place. Without that thing suppressing my brother and sister's Immortal cultivation level, how dare they? There is a big conspiracy behind this!"

"Exactly, there is indeed a conspiracy, but they are not stupid enough to make all three of us leave the capital. That would only raise our suspicion and the bill would not be able to pass. So, the list only includes the two of us, your sister is not on it," Hu Qi paused, "and, to further relax our vigilance, Keli and Kemeng are also on the list."

"What?!" Xia Yi exclaimed, "Is Rothschild crazy? Using his own two daughters as collateral for Otto von Jiao's investment!"

"It's not entirely like that," Hu Xuan leaned over to comfort Xia Yi with her big tail, "According to the information from Wanhuajing, the national security organization of the Remei Kingdom, Rothschild has just had a son. He is hedging his bets on both sides."

"If we reformists win, tying the safety of his two daughters to ours will undoubtedly increase the reformists' favorability. If the Rongke faction wins, he will not let his bloodline die out, but rather will gain sympathy and a huge political bargaining chip because of the deaths of his two daughters."

Xia Yi sneered, "Hmph, risk hedging. Indeed, capitalists everywhere are adept at this trick."

"But they have underestimated the power of the reformists and underestimated your combat effectiveness! This time, we will use their own strategy against them and strive to capture these evil spirits in one fell swoop!" Under the comfort of Hu Xuan, Xia Yi sat down, but his mood was still stirred up, "Good, it's about time. In the 50 years since the establishment of the Remei Kingdom, except for the Basidi and the farmers near Lyon who still have some protection, the living space of farmers in other places has been continuously squeezed by these guys. In some places, people have even reached the point where they can't survive without selling their land. I never thought there could be such strange things in the Superworld!"

"The big factory owners and landowners of the Rongke faction are wolves in sheep's clothing," Hu Xuan agreed, "My finance department allocates so much budget every year for the welfare of workers, debt-ridden, and landless farmers. However, in recent years, we have only been able to barely maintain a situation where no one dies of starvation or freezing to death in the whole country. Meanwhile, these guys are eating and drinking their fill. After we eliminate the Rongke faction, we can redistribute land ownership and further move towards the ideal of an equal, harmonious, and happy country."

"Not only that..." Xia Yi added, "The forced urbanization brought about by the sheep-eating-people phenomenon has also led to high housing and commodity prices in the cities. Many of the lands in the major cities are also owned by the Rongke faction, and they can suck the marrow out of the people by charging them 'super rents'! But conversely, once we get rid of them, productivity can be further liberated, and many social problems will be easily solved."

"Ha ha, my younger brother deserves to be compared to the name 'the sleeping Dragon'. It's very clear to see," Hu Xuan teased, "Speaking of this topic, Yi'er, there's a young teacher named Karl Yang from the University of Jixia, who is a sociological researcher like you and a rising star of the reformist faction, just like you.

The last time I went to Jixia University, I saw him reading your paper 'On the Ideology of the Hot Moon' with great interest. Although he has limited accomplishments, he has made significant contributions to academic research. You can get to know him if you have the chance."

"Indeed, there is a chance, and he is also on the list of exchange participants," Hu Qi added, "During your mission to Bourbon, Yi, you will not depart from the capital of the Hot Moon. I want you to detour through the middle of the longitudinal mountain range and head straight to the border between the Hot Moon and Bourbon, and join the exchange team halfway to continue expanding the information gap between us and them."

"No problem, I have inherited the name 'Prism', the leader of the 'Ten Thousand Mirrors' organization, from my master. You can leave the intelligence work to me."

"In order to stabilize the situation and deal with the possible ace up the sleeve of the Rongke faction, I will not go to Bourbon in person this time. Instead, your sister and I will sit in Busidi, one visible and one invisible.

As for the 'me' in the exchange team, I am a high-level member of the reformist faction and also a member of your 'Ten Thousand Mirrors' organization. However, my strength is only that of a grandmaster, and I will be exposed once I take action. The other members of the team are at most diamond-level. Therefore, the safety of the entire team basically depends on you alone. At the same time, you hold the highest command power for this exploration."

"Yes, Lord Hu Qi, leave it to me..."

"In addition, after we meet, when passing through the Albert Mountains in the middle of Bourbon, I want you to go and explore. I can't see the geological structure there clearly due to the interference of the Sky Prison Control Device, and I cannot go deep into it. But I am sure that the terrain there has significant strategic value," Hu Qi instructed finally, "That's all for the current plan. We will try our best to solve the internal problems of the Hot Moon once and for all, and then we will send troops to Bourbon next spring! After completing the final trial left by our master, we will set off to the Star Sea!"

"Great! To the Star Sea!"

"To the Star Sea!"

The three of them raised their glasses and drank them all.

"Oh, one more thing, Yi, don't forget to turn off the lights and lock the door when you leave."

"I know, I know."

...

Anglak hates humanoid creatures!

As the most powerful dragon on the Atari continent for a thousand years, its slumber has always been disturbed by these small and arrogant intruders! If they just hacked and slashed with swords, it would be like getting a few mosquito bites while sleeping, at most a bit itchy. However, these guys are also incredibly loud!

While hacking and slashing, they shout things like, "For the glory of our clan!", "Evil dragon! Return my father's life!", "I'll kill you and reclaim the human treasure!"

[So annoying!]

And over time, these humanoid creatures have become stronger and stronger. According to their own shouting, at first only silver and gold level warriors and mages came to bother him. Then came the platinum level, which finally woke him up from his slumber with just their hacking.

Later on, diamond-level humanoid creatures had to be dealt with first before he could sleep peacefully, or he would get injured. Finally, about a hundred years ago, a sinister middle-aged man came, said to be the strongest master-level humanoid creature that existed.

Wow, that was indeed a big battle, one that almost caused Anglak to fall. Fortunately, that master was also seriously injured, which allowed it to escape, but also caused it to fall into decades of slumber.

However, more than ten years ago, it finally healed its injuries and woke up. At that time, a crazy fox-eared girl came to him, tied him up with something invisible in the blink of an eye, and then bounced away, saying, "I just beat the dragon! I can ask my master to help me cross the tribulation!"

Being tied up wasn't a big deal, as it would always break free, but after the crazy girl, a seemingly harmless white-haired youth also came.

Immediately afterward, it felt the fear of being preyed upon that it had never felt in a thousand years! In the moment before it passed out, it saw that man looking at it with eyes that seemed to be examining food on the chopping board, and then drew out a forty-meter-long knife and slashed at its loin.

After that, it passed out again and has been asleep until now. Thinking of this, it couldn't help but feel its back - fortunately, its waist was still there, and the missing loin had long since grown back.

Huh?! It just woke up and encountered another human, who had no magical fluctuations around him, looked completely harmless except for being a bit fast when running.

"Good timing! This dragon will use you to vent its frustration from the past 100 years!" Anglak thought to himself.

...

Xia Yi is running between the mountains of Zongduan, and it is only a day's journey away from the border of the Bourbon Empire. Although it is only an ordinary speed of 120 km/h, after running for two days, he is still a bit tired mentally and a little hungry.

Speaking of hunger, Xia Yi couldn't help but think back to the last time he went on a trip to "ChaoShanXing" with his older brother and sister, especially the charcoal-grilled dragon wings sold by a roadside vendor on the way back, absolutely delicious! Unfortunately, in recent years, their master's physical condition has not been good, so they haven't gone on an interstellar tour again.

By the way, it seems that Xia Yi's older brother also made a dragon dish once when they were young? The iron plate dragon tenderloin was delicious! At that time, his older brother could only move around on the Atari star, right? That means there should be at least one giant dragon in the Zongduan Mountains.

"Roar!" That was the dragon roaring.

"...A giant dragon! It's really here!" Xia Yi exclaimed.

"But still, I need to test whether this creature has fully developed self-awareness..." Xia Yi looked at the giant dragon, which was coming towards him and blocking out the sun, with a contemptuous look on his face. At the same time, he slowly raised his middle finger and beckoned to the dragon.

"Come on!" (︶︿︶)╭∩╮

In just an instant, the dragon let out an even more violent roar!

"Tsk, it does have the ability of full self-awareness, it's an intelligent creature, and I can't eat the whole dragon now." Xia Yi was a little unhappy, "But this giant dragon is obviously attacking me, cutting off a piece of its tenderloin is also a legitimate defense."

"Boold the all-knowing! "

Xia Yi's pupils turned deep blue in an instant.

In his field of vision, the giant dragon was surrounded by dense lines and traces, and the aura of magic in its body was mostly active indigo, occasionally mixed with a hint of light purple.

"A masterful peak life, not far from achieving the immortal realm, and its recovery ability seems to be pretty good, even the waist doesn't seem to be a problem, great!"

As time was running out, under the blessing of the self-regulating computational core, Xia Yi's thinking speed was actually extremely fast. The many thoughts just now took less than a second. However, it was in this short period of time that the dragon's breath had already arrived.

Ang Rak was angry!

Originally, he just intended to hang this human up and play with him, waiting for him to realize the great power of this great lord and then let him go. But this human is so despicable! What are those expressions, what is that gesture? Is it an insult?!

Not even the three powerful opponents he faced before insulted him. What kind of thing are you! I will make you regret being born in this world.

"Whoo!" The hot breath rushed forward, and wherever it went, the rocks were melted into drops of lava, instantly engulfing the small human. He's dead! On this planet, no creature can resist this dragon's breath head-on!

However, before the breath arrived, did that human's aura seem to have changed?

It doesn't matter!

How could he just casually encounter a human like the white-haired young man who disguised himself as a sheep and ate a giant dragon? How could his luck be so bad?

In the flames, a cold light flashed and a sword struck through, easily dispersing Anglak's breath. A small figure stepped on the void and came face to face, and a mist flower that crossed the sound barrier bloomed behind them.

One step without sound, two steps without interval, three steps to cut off the breath! The three-stage Seek-Ease Slash!

"Chang!" Xia Yi sheathed his sword, and behind him, the central nervous system of the dragon, which had suffered a strong blow, slowly fell.

"The Sleeping Dragon" Anglak, who had just woken up for less than a day, fell asleep again.

"The Sleeping Dragon" Xia Yi, one day away from leaving the mountain, was using his all-knowing vision to study how to remove the loin and ribs.