In the distance was a dragon. It had a pair of wings, and its entire body bore a mix of pale blue and white. Its body was enormous, stretching a full thousand meters in length.

A powerful aura continuously radiated from it, causing the vast sea below to churn without cease.

Yes. This dragon was none other than the Yinglong, Ao Ze, that had once emerged from Mount Kunlun.

At this very moment, it was sweeping in from afar. Lightning arcs coiled around its body.

A faint smile appeared in Lu Yuan's eyes at the sight, and he immediately prepared to go forward. But very soon, he frowned.

Within the range of his perception, the aura emanating from Ao Ze was actually somewhat unstable. Especially after opening his Martial Dao Heavenly Eyes and observing carefully, he discovered several wounds across its body, all still bleeding. It looked rather miserable.

Ao Ze's talent and strength were both inherently powerful. And now, it had even reached the Sage Realm. By all rights, within this world, it should absolutely count among the higher rungs of the power ladder.

Those capable of inflicting such injuries upon it were likely only the beings from the Outer Cosmos. Moreover, its opponent could not have been weak because Ao Ze's combat strength was formidable.

Back then, only Lu Yuan had been able to suppress it with certainty. So if the opponent was in the same realm, there were not many Outer Cosmos beings capable of making it fearful.

Without thinking further, Lu Yuan went straight forward.

"Who is it?!" Ao Ze roared as it sensed the approaching dangerous aura before Lu Yuan could even get close.

Suffering from serious injuries, it could be said to be especially sensitive in this regard. So as it shouted, the lightning around its body flared even more brightly. Anger also surfaced within its eyes.

"It's me. Don't get tense," Lu Yuan answered. He found it rather strange. He could not understand why Ao Ze was reacting this way, so he tried to reassure it.

"You're... Lu Yuan?" Ao Ze found the voice rather familiar. After looking carefully, it realized that the aura was coming from Lu Yuan who had once fought it in the Dragon Palace.

It let out a sigh of relief. It knew this human's strength. Though he was much stronger than itself, he was not an enemy, and his conduct in all respects was very good.

Even though they had only met once back then, Ao Ze had formed a very favorable impression of Lu Yuan.

Now that they had met again, it could not help but relax inwardly.

"Brother Ao Ze, your injuries..." Lu Yuan asked, wanting to know what had happened. In truth, he also had a very good impression of Ao Ze.

Though the yinglong appeared arrogant, it did not bully others with its strength, and back then it had even yielded many of the treasures in the Dragon Palace. To put it simply, it suited his temperament very well. Now that Ao Ze was injured, he naturally wanted to understand the situation.

At the same time, he wanted to know what exactly had happened.

"It was the Celestials." Ao Ze did not hide anything and continued, "I was ambushed by the Celestials."

At once, it recounted everything it had experienced over this recent period.

In ancient times, the Yinglong had a certain connection to the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan. Its innate divine ability was to control mountains, rivers, wind, and rain. To a certain extent, that made it somewhat similar to the Celestials.

As Earth continued to change, more and more invading races from the Outer Cosmos descended, the Celestials included.

After their descent, they discovered Yinglong and wanted to bring it under their command. After all, in every respect, if they could subdue Yinglong, the benefits to the Celestials would be immense.

As the Yinglong, Ao Ze naturally became their target. However, the latter had no interest in that whatsoever. So it rejected them outright. After all, it was of the dragon race. It had its own pride.

As long as it continued growing, it would certainly become a powerhouse in its own right.

It had thought the matter would end there. But who could have guessed that the Celestials would refuse to give up?

In order to force Ao Ze to submit, they directly employed powerful methods, even dispatching three Sages and one Ranker.

At the crucial moment, they even chose to launch an ambush.

It was only because Ao Ze itself was powerful enough and its combat strength was far beyond that of ordinary beings that even under ambush and encirclement, it still managed to break free in the end.

But the Celestials were not weak, either. They continued the pursuit relentlessly.

This continued for several months. Those Celestials never gave up, while Ao Ze kept fleeing, and its injuries only worsened.

In order to find a way to deal with the situation, it had come to the Dragon Palace in the East Sea once more, hoping to see whether this place held some method that might allow it to completely shake off the Celestials.

"The Celestials again? They really do linger like ghosts."

After hearing everything, Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes. Starting from that Winged Celestial God, he had already killed quite a few Celestials.

He and the Celestials could be said to be mortal enemies.

However, because Lu Yuan himself was too powerful, the Celestials knew that they could not provoke him at this point in time, and so they had endured in silence.

But it was a different case for Yinglong. They believed they still had the means to force it into submission.

At that moment, Yinglong Ao Ze spoke, "The Celestials are determined to have me. They'll probably arrive soon. Come with me to the Dragon Palace first, and then we can think of a solution."

It knew Lu Yuan was very strong and might even be able to deal with those few Celestial Sages. But in its heart, it had never thought of asking the human to act on its behalf. Its skin simply was not that thick.

Yet Lu Yuan held different thoughts.

Looking at Ao Ze, he said calmly, "With me here, the Celestials can do nothing to you."

"This matter has nothing to do with you. You really don't need to get involved." There was hesitation in Ao Ze's eyes as it continued, "I know you mean well, but there's no need for this."

As a dragon, it was proud. Even though it knew Lu Yuan was trying to help, it still found it difficult to accept.

"When did I ever say this was out of goodwill?" Lu Yuan smiled instead and continued, "I simply dislike the Celestials, that's all."

"They've offended me more than once, and I've yet to go looking for trouble. Now, it's time to collect a little interest." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

After saying that, Lu Yuan paid no further attention to Ao Ze's reaction and simply stepped forward, looking toward the western horizon.

Because at this very moment, he could already sense one powerful and familiar aura after another. They truly did come from the Celestials. And all of them belonged to the Sage Realm.

"You..." Ao Ze was left rather helpless at the sight. But it also knew very well that it could not persuade him.

The reason was simple: it could not beat him.

So in the end, with no other choice, it remained where it was and spoke again, "My own affairs are mine to bear. I do not wish to accept favors from others. If you refuse to leave, then I will remain here as well."

There was no helping it; at this point, this was its only choice.

If it left now, what if the Celestials found Lu Yuan and a battle broke out?

No matter the outcome, Ao Ze was deeply concerned. So driven by the conscience in its heart, it chose to stay.

Of course, it also believed that if it joined forces with Lu Yuan, there would be nothing to fear from those Celestial Sages.

Lu Yuan naturally saw through the thoughts in Ao Ze's heart.

He could not help shaking his head before murmuring to himself, "I'm afraid there's no chance for you to act at all."

That single sentence was filled with absolute confidence and without the slightest hesitation.

"What did you say?" Ao Ze could not help turning its head to ask.

"Nothing." Lu Yuan looked into the distance and continued, "The Celestials are here."