Chapter 565: Grievances of a Thousand Years

Chapter 565: A Millennium of Grudges

Li Wei and Saint Xi searched the endless seas for traces of the Sacred Dragon King.

Far away in Mapleleaf City, Torresta's avatar was also not idle.

He scoured every corner for the information Li Wei needed.

After a month of searching, he actually uncovered some astonishing news.

The Dragon Hunter had once participated in the operation to hunt the Venomous Wind Dragon within the Poison Dragon Caverns.

The leader of that hunting mission was none other than the Empire’s most ancient prince—the Jade Prince.

It was further revealed that after becoming a legendary class warrior, the Dragon Hunter had continuously served under the Jade Prince.

The reason was simple: the Jade Prince was the noble most obsessed with dragon hunting in the entire empire.

Only by slaying dragons could the Dragon Hunter grow stronger.

Thus, it was no surprise he served the Jade Prince.

Each benefited from the arrangement.

The Jade Prince had long been collecting dragon hearts.

But not for brewing dragon blood potions—

Rather, to concoct a secret elixir capable of granting longevity.

This elixir required the heart of a mighty dragon brimming with vitality to be crafted.

It was precisely because he had used such an elixir that the Jade Prince survived a thousand years,

Becoming the oldest prince in the empire.

Yet this was still not the most shocking revelation.

What truly surprised and astounded Li Wei was something his avatar unearthed—a top-secret event from a millennium ago.

That very incident marked the beginning of how the Jade Prince obtained the secret of immortality.

A thousand years ago, civil war raged among the dragon race.

The Demon Dragon King incited conflict to seize the throne of the dragon clan.

Behind him stood the aid of a demon god.

Moreover, the Demon Dragon King actively approached humanity.

He formed alliances with certain humans, using their imperial strength to weaken the Sacred Dragon King’s power.

One might even say the rise of dragon-blood warriors owed partly to the Demon Dragon King.

Among those deceived by the Demon Dragon King was the Jade Prince himself.

The Demon Dragon King killed the daughter of the Sacred Dragon King,

Extracting her soul and heart.

He handed the heart over to the Jade Prince, teaching him a method to extract the immense life force contained within dragon hearts.

With this knowledge, the Jade Prince brewed his longevity elixir.

In return, the Jade Prince secretly aided the Demon Dragon King in suppressing the Sacred Dragon King’s forces through his own influence.

The Demon Dragon King leaked intelligence about the dragon clan’s movements.

Under the Jade Prince’s command, the dragon-hunting legions achieved repeated victories, growing ever more powerful.

Eventually, these accomplishments solidified his unshakable position today.

As the empire’s eldest prince, his age was matched only by his formidable authority.

Unfortunately, despite having consumed the longevity potion, the Jade Prince now sensed his lifespan nearing its end after a thousand years.

That was why he urgently sought out dragons again—

Hoping to brew new longevity elixirs and extend his life.

All this information came into Torresta’s possession via a family of alchemists.

This alchemical lineage traced back to descendants of the very alchemist who had helped the Jade Prince create the original longevity elixir centuries ago.

To prevent word of the elixir from spreading,

The Jade Prince ordered the elimination of the alchemist immediately after the potion was completed.

Sensing danger, the alchemist made preparations ahead of time and escaped the prince’s pursuit.

Fleeing to remote lands, he lived in hiding under assumed names, barely surviving.

So great was his fear of retribution that he never brewed another secret medicine for the rest of his life,

Living instead as an ordinary man.

Generations later, when his descendants discovered the legacy left behind, they resumed practicing alchemy, continuing the tradition until today.

The alchemist who first created the longevity elixir had recorded everything he experienced,

Compiling it into a hidden manual embedded within the family inheritance.

Not until a prodigy emerged generations later—who deciphered the formula from the ancient text—was the full story of that dramatic past finally known.

Seeking materials to verify the authenticity of the recipe, the prodigy began gathering ingredients to recreate the elixir.

This drew the attention of Torresta’s avatar,

And ultimately led Li Wei to learn the complete truth.

At first, he merely wished to uncover the mastermind behind the Dragon Hunter.

Never did he expect that, in doing so, he would uncover the dark secrets between the Demon Dragon King and the Jade Prince.

Knowing that the legendary lich harbored a burning desire to breach Stormwall Fortress,

Li Wei deduced that he intended revenge against the Jade Prince.

After all, it was the Jade Prince who used his wife’s heart to brew the elixir that kept him alive.

There was no way the lich could forgive him.

As for how the legendary lich learned of the connection between the Jade Prince and the Demon Dragon King—

Li Wei found nothing strange in it.

For the lich was himself a participant in events from a thousand years past.

It would have been stranger if he didn’t know.

Back then, before his very eyes, the Demon Dragon King tore out the heart of the Sacred Dragon Philis.

Later, while still a mage, the future lich searched tirelessly across realms seeking news of his beloved’s heart.

Being of the dragon race, the Demon Dragon King had no need for a dragon’s heart.

What he desired was the dragon soul.

In that era, the greatest use of a dragon's heart was to concoct potions from dragon’s blood.

Guided by this clue, the legendary lich easily traced back to the Jade Prince, who at the time commanded both the Dragon-Slaying Legion and the Bloodborne Warriors.

By then, the Jade Prince had already consumed an elixir of longevity.

From him, the lich sensed a familiar aura.

Later, upon connecting it with the Jade Prince’s unnaturally long life,

the lich realized where that familiar presence came from—

It was none other than the vital essence of the Sacred Dragon Philis.

He wished to uncover what exactly had transpired.

To confront the Jade Prince face-to-face.

When the Jade Prince saw that he had guessed his connection to the Dragon Tyrant,

he immediately resolved to kill him.

Fortunately, before transforming into a lich, he too had been a legendary mage of formidable power.

Thus, he escaped the Jade Prince’s pursuit.

Yet revenge seemed impossible for now;

too many powerful allies surrounded the Jade Prince.

Countless Bloodborne Warriors stood by his side.

Therefore, the lich could only bide his time in silence, amassing strength while waiting for the right moment to strike.

A thousand years passed in patient endurance.

The moment the name fell from Levi’s lips, the flame of vengeance smoldering within the lich for centuries burst uncontrollably into roaring fire.

Faced with the lich’s question—"What do you know?"—

Levi replied solemnly: “I know everything.”

“The secret liaison between the Jade Prince and the Dragon Tyrant, as well as how he has lived so long.”

Beneath the calm gaze of the lich stirred turbulent undercurrents.

His composure belied inner turmoil.

Levi continued, “I want him dead just as much as you do.”

“I won’t go on about it. On my way to the Endless Sea with Saint Xi, we encountered a formidable enemy.”

“That man is a Dragon Hunter—a legendary one—and serves directly under the Jade Prince.”

“I nearly died at his hands. I seek vengeance too.”

“And besides… I don’t like being hunted.”

After the Dragon Hunter’s death,

it was likely the Jade Prince would not abandon tracking Levi down. After all, the dragon currently beside him was the sole living dragon across the entire continent.

One the Jade Prince coveted beyond measure.

This meant that as long as the Jade Prince still drew breath, trouble would never cease to find its way to Levi.

And nothing irked Levi more than trouble.

If you can't solve the problem, eliminate the source.

Ever since learning the truth behind the Jade Prince’s machinations, Levi marked him with a silent cross in his mind—

Designated as a target that must be eliminated.

The lich said, “There are too many strong individuals around the Jade Prince. Even I cannot approach him.”

Levi chuckled lightly and replied, “No worries—I have a plan.”

As he spoke, he cast Astral Traverse.

Within the Dream Realm, he had refined this spell to mastery level.

Once activated, it allowed travel to virtually any corner of the Sky Continent,

provided he possessed precise spatial coordinates.

Should he refine it further to perfection, he could even open portals leading to the Astral Plane itself, embarking on journeys among the stars.

Buzz!

Ripples of space unfolded, and a dimensional portal materialized before them.

Beyond lay a forest filled with birdsong and blossoms.

It remained open briefly before Levi closed it again.

Elvenwood. Upon the throne, the Elven King opened his eyes and looked toward the edge of the sacred grove.

A trace of confusion crossed his features—he had felt a sudden surge of spatial energy outside Elvenwood.

At first, he assumed someone had used teleportation magic to enter undetected.

But no intruder was found.

Shaking his head, he dismissed the thought.

Here, within Elvenwood, he reigned supreme.

Even a Beast Sovereign at the peak of demi-godhood would stand little chance against him.

Closing the portal, Levi demonstrated his capabilities to the lich.

He declared, “Next, I’ll find a way to get close to the Jade Prince. Then I’ll open a portal for you. You bring your forces through and strike straight at the heart of his domain.”

Hearing this, the lich paused in contemplation before nodding slowly. “Agreed.”

Levi’s method was indeed superior.

Far better than relying solely on undead hordes to breach the Human Empire’s defenses and push forward toward the Jade Prince’s territory.

It would also take far less time.

Levi added, “Then let us discuss our next steps.”

“I will open a spatial gate first, allowing you to evacuate your people from here. Once Death’s Veil lifts, the Elemental Tower will surely unleash area-of-effect spells to cleanse the land.”

The lich responded, “That matters not. Common undead may perish, but I need only ensure the survival of my elite troops.”

“You needn’t worry—their extraction will be handled by Morpheus.”

“If every last undead vanishes without explanation, suspicion might arise within the Elemental Tower.”

Already, the lich considered ways for Levi to gain their trust and elevate his standing there.

Only thus could Levi draw closer to the Jade Prince.

Only then could he finally exact his revenge.

Levi couldn’t help but admire the lich’s decisiveness in abandoning the vast undead army he had painstakingly built over decades.

Yet this brought him an unexpected boon, sparing him the chore of swaying the lich lord.

The pair quietly settled upon their immediate course of action.

The sanguine sea of dead souls ceased its grim production of skeletal dragons.

Gurgle, gurgle.

The earth rolled and surged like a colossal ooze, swallowing the elite undead legions into its maw.

The unliving made no struggle, waiting in absolute stillness to be consumed by the soil.

One after another, over a hundred skeletal dragons sank into the earth and vanished from sight.

Li Wei knew well that this was the work of Morpheus.

As a rock behemoth, Morpheus commanded stone and soil; once merged, the very ground became his flesh.

Though the departure of these few elites depleted the army's vanguard,

it did nothing to weaken the canopy of the death shroud.

For the death shroud was sustained by the collective malice of countless lesser undead.

The absence of a mere handful would never cause it to falter.

Once the departing legions had vanished, only Li Wei and the legendary lich remained.

The crimson sea of dead souls was gone without a trace.

Li Wei then soared out of the dark canopy to send word to the Master of the Elemental Tower.

"Master, I can dispel the death shroud for ten breaths at most. I can manage no longer."

Thus did Li Wei report his false limits to the master of the tower.

"Very well, I understand," the Master replied coldly.

He offered no hint of what the Elemental Tower would strike with once the veil lifted.

The Master still harbored deep suspicions that Li Wei was colluding with the lich.

He feared that Li Wei might betray their upcoming maneuvers to the undead lord.

Li Wei slipped back beneath the heavy grey canopy.

Looking toward the legendary lich, he said, "It is time. You may lift the shroud."

The legendary lich offered a silent nod.

He cast his spell, forcing the vast miasma of the shroud back into the bones of the dead.

Yet this suppression could only be maintained for a fleeting moment.

The moment his iron will wavered, the deathly mist would naturally bleed outward once more.

Those watching from the Elemental Tower saw the great grey fog begin to wither and fade.

A sudden shock rippled through the hearts of the gathered mages.

Though they had anticipated it, the