The four Generals stopped at the last floor to notice the broken statue of the Dragon, the pieces of which were lying on the ground.
"Whatâs this?" The Southern General asked, frowning. "Thereâs nothing but this broken thing here. I thought there would be a treasure here?"
While the Southern General was seemingly annoyed that there was nothing special, the Northern General was frowning.
"This is problematic," the Northern General said, frowning.
"Why?" The Southern General asked, frowning.
"This statue isnât normal," The Eastern General also said as his frown deepened. He was as old as the Northern General and knew more things. He understood a lot.
"What about this statue?â the Western General asked. Even he didnât know what it was.
The Northern General stepped closer to the broken statue and picked it up before he looked inside.
"I guess I was right. The formation is broken. He is free..." He said, frowning.
"Who is free?" Western General asked, frowning.
"The Dragon Emperor..." The Northern General said, shaking his head.
"What? What do you mean?" The Southern General inquired, not understanding. "What Dragon Emperor?"
"The soul of the Dragon Emperor who was entrapped by the First Immortal Emperor. He was trapped inside this statue in the formation. Not only has the statue broken, but even the formation is broken. The soul of the Dragon Emperor is free, I think," The Northern General said, frowning.
"This can be really bad. If his soul got to his body, itâd be problematic. He would come for revenge against the humans and the Blood Dragons," The Eastern General chimed in. This shocking revelation had stunned them.
"Wasnât the First Immortal Emperor a friend of the Dragons? Why would he trap the soul of the Dragon Emperor? And the Dragons, why did they not stop him?" The Southern General inquired.
"I think you should have studied more. Iâm surprised to see that a person in such a high position doesnât know about that. But the history thatâs available to the public is a little different," The Northern General said, shaking his head.
"It wasnât that the Dragons and Humans were friends from the moment they came to know of each other. The Dragon Emperor was ruthless, and he tried to annihilate anyone who wasnât a Blood Dragon."
"Moreover, he even acted against his own species. Even the Blood Dragons didnât like the Blood Dragons like this Tyrant."
"Thatâs why the First Immortal Emperor and the Blood Dragons joined hands against the Dragon Emperor of Blood Dragons. Since the Dragon Emperorâs physical defense was almost impossible to break through, they almost had no choice but to use other methods."
"Thatâs why they schemed against the Blood Dragon Emperor. The greatest human artificer made this ordinary looking status that wouldnât make anyone suspicious."
"The First Immortal Emperor acted as an Envoy to give this to the Blood Dragon Emperor while also accepting to become the eternal slave of the Blood Dragon Emperor and to help him wipe humans. And as the Dragons kept their Emperor distracted, he didnât become suspicious as he accepted this gift."
"Fortunately, all things happened just as the Immortal Emperor had planned, and this worked. The statue dragged the soul of Blood Dragon Emperor out of his body which they trapped in this statue itself."
"As for the body of the Blood Dragon Emperor, the First Emperor took it and hid it somewhere no one knows about," the Northern General said as he finished explaining.
"Yeah. The body was kept by humans while the soul was protected by Dragons. It was done to make sure that the two things never meet again. But it seems like Dragons failed," the Eastern General said, shaking his head.
"And thatâs how the friendship of Dragons and Humans became what we know in history," the Northern General said.
"This... You mean the Blood Dragon Emperor soul is now free? What the heck? Is that why Dragons left this place? They went into hiding because theyâre scared of retribution from the Blood Dragon Emperor?" The Western General said, looking concerned.
"Itâs possible. But I just donât understand how the Dragons can let it break. From what I know, a Dragon should always have stayed here to protect this statue and make sure it never breaks. How could this happen?" The Northern General wondered, frowning.
"Maybe that Dragon himself accidentally broke the statue?" the Southern General suggested.
"It doesnât matter how it happened. The problem is that it has happened. And that Blood Dragon soul is pretty powerful. Finding it in itself would be a chore in itself for weak people like us," he further said.
"We should leave as well. Itâs confirmed that Blood Dragons have run away. Itâs also known why they did that now. I donât think we should delay anymore. Letâs leave and inform the Emperors. We need to be prepared for the return of the Blood Dragon Emperor if he reaches his body," The Northern General said as he started flying down.
"We can make sure it doesnât happen if any of the four Emperors know where the body is kept. I sure do hope they do. Or weâll be like the sitting ducks, just waiting," the Eastern General muttered as he also flew down with the others.
All four Generals left the treasure temple. They were so concerned about the Blood Dragon Emperor that they didnât even bother checking other places. None of them knew about Long Chen, who was still plucking the herbs.
As the four Generals left the Dragon Temple, it again returned to its silence.
There was only one group inside the Dragon Temple, and it was of Long Chen that had still been collecting the herbs, taking everything from the Herb Garden. After four months, Long Chen actually finished up as he noticed that all the herbs were collected in a single place.
With a single wave of his arms, he kept everything inside his storage ring.
"Finally done. This place is so big," Long Jun said, sitting on the ground. The others also sat down as they started resting.
"Thank you for everything," Long Chen told everyone as he also sat down.
"Do you even need to thank us?" Sima Ziyi asked in return, squinting her eyes.
"Weâre your family. Thatâs the least we should do," Long Jun also chimed in. "Anyway, you can send us back when youâre ready. Youâll be busy too."
"Itâs fine. You can rest here. We donât have to leave so soon either," Long Chen let out as he also laid on the soft grass as if it was his bed.