Chapter 951 — The Dragon's God

"Is this a dressing-down?" Gaoyang laughed. Though he too had been wound tight with nerves upon entering the hall, it did not affect his outwardly calm manner—the Dragon God Enya had not triggered any warning from his instincts, which was probably a good sign.

"No. You may take it as praise—to me, the unexpected is rarer than having all things within my grasp." The Dragon God showed a faint smile. Then, under Helagor's astonished gaze, He began to walk, unhurried, down from the platform where the throne stood, and the throne vanished inch by inch into thin air as He departed. By the time He reached Gaoyang, the entire dais and the throne upon it had wholly disappeared.

"I think a face-to-face conversation will make for a better atmosphere—and put your nerves somewhat at ease," the Dragon God said, and at the same time made a gesture that struck everyone as utterly unexpected—He actually extended a hand, smiling as He looked at Gaoyang. "A handshake—this should be the latest courtesy of the mortal world?"

The atmosphere around them turned strange for an instant. Probably no one had expected this god lingering in the mortal world to be so amiable. Gaoyang looked at the hand extended toward him and fell into hesitation, but the hesitation was brief. Two seconds later he steadied himself and reached out his own hand.

He touched the fingertips of the Dragon God Enya—softer and warmer than he had imagined, almost human.

And in the next instant, a strange sensation suddenly surged through his heart. Gaoyang instinctively raised his head, and there he saw the dome of the circular hall turn transparent and illusory in an instant, while a layer of foul, chaotic, twisted clouds rapidly gathered and blotted out the starry sky. Within those foul, chaotic clouds, he once again saw the indescribable things he had seen above Tarrande before:

Countless mad, chaotic limbs combined in nightmare postures, writhing flesh and blood, crystals emitting unnatural light, pale bones interwoven across the sky. Countless pairs of eyes were embedded among that disordered flesh, gazing upon the land of Tarrande with indifferent stares. Starlight that seemed tainted wandered among those disordered limbs, and illusory flames spread ceaselessly across the sky!

At this sight, Gaoyang felt his heartbeat skip half a beat. And the next second, he abruptly discovered, within that vast, terrifying structure in the sky that was the very shape of nightmare, a detail he had not noticed when he had gazed from above the outer sea of Tarrande—

He saw those disordered, twisted limbs interwoven in confusion, yet faintly piecing together a certain outline. His gaze swept from one end of the Tarrande sky to the other, and across such an immense span, from directly below, he finally saw... those things vaguely "stitched" into the form of a colossal dragon.

A dragon larger than the continent of Tarrande itself—hideous, twisted, brimming with terror yet seemingly steeped in agony. It crouched upon this ancient and prosperous continent, its wings blotting out the sky and covering the whole land, like a cage and like a barrier. Countless black chains, like hairs, extended from within its body, dense as a forest, hanging to the ground and reaching toward the sky.

A sight like this—if an ordinary person saw it, they would fall into madness at once.

Even Gaoyang, witnessing it from this angle and distance, immediately felt his mental world thrown into turmoil—it was not even some "indescribable mental contamination," not some "contaminating knowledge of the gods"; it was merely the sheer visual impact and mental pressure that gave him a sensation of suffocation.

But fortunately it was only visual impact and mental pressure. A wandering soul from another realm, once suspended alone in the high heavens for a million years, whose mind had long since mutated, could still withstand all this.

Gaoyang struggled against the pressure on the psychological level, and at last succeeded in drawing his gaze back from that dreadful sight. He looked at the Dragon God standing before him.

The Dragon God still stood there, His face calm and gentle. He held Gaoyang's hand, and from behind Him spread countless pitch-black chains. Those chains coiled and tangled in the air, spreading ever upward, and at last became one link in the body of that "dragon of disorder and madness."

These chains bind the Dragon God, yet the Dragon God also binds the chains. The chains are a part of Her, and She is a part of the chains.

Every last piece of it all is one single whole.

As though the realization had suddenly flooded into his mind, Gaoyang felt he understood everything—and in the next second, he felt that warm, soft hand release him.

And with that, every strange vision dissolved into nothing.

"Hey, are you all right? Why did you suddenly freeze up?" Amber's voice came abruptly from beside him, and for some reason, the moment Gao You heard her, he felt his heart loosen at once—the last trace of pressure and suffocation weighing on him had finally receded. He could not help drawing a deep breath before his wildly pounding heart finally steadied.

"I'm fine," Gaoyang answered in a low voice, a hint of weariness in his tone.

"You saw it," came the voice of Enya, the Dragon God. She regarded Gaoyang, Her tone still gentle, yet Her gaze was terribly deep—those pale golden eyes seemed to hold countless truths within them, and yet when Gaoyang looked closely, he saw only an expanse of emptiness.

He nodded, and Pingxi said, "I saw it."

"I am surprised you could resist all of it so easily—a few breaths was all it took," the Dragon God said mildly. "I had already prepared a great many contingencies."

"Fortunately, my mind is still fairly tough, and my heart is sound enough that seeing a few frightening things didn't cost anyone their life," Gao Cen said, marveling that he still had the spirit to joke. "So then... what exactly was it that I saw?"

"Me—obviously, isn't it?" The Dragon God Enya suddenly smiled, and the faintly oppressive tension filling the hall vanished in an instant. Then She turned slightly, raising an arm and waving it lightly.

A round table of silvery white, adorned with countless openwork ornaments, appeared out of thin air, along with several magnificent chairs inlaid with gems; upon the table were set exquisite tea and refreshments.

"Now we can sit down and talk, and everyone can relax," this "deity" invited. "Today, it is merely a casual chat."