Despite the middle-aged man’s friendly approach, Yuan remained alert, keeping the Empyrean Overlord in his grasp.
"Captain Cheng, get out of our sight!" The middle-aged man turned to look at him.
"B-But I cannot leave these two here without any supervision—"
"Do you really think we need supervision for them?" The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes.
"T-This subordinate has asked a stupid question! Please excuse me!" Captain Cheng said before leaving the room with a reddened face.
Once Captain Cheng left the scene, the middle-aged man returned his attention to Yuan and said, "I’m Xi Shengmo, also known as the Dragon Emperor, ruler of the Ancient Dragon City. Behind me is my royal family."
The middle-aged woman nodded her head and said, "I’m Xi Mingze, also known as the Dragon Empress."
"Dragon Prince, Xi Murong," said the handsome young man in a prideful tone.
"Hello! I am Xi Meili, the youngest child! I have always wanted to meet humans!" The graceful young lady spoke with a bright smile on her face, complimenting her bright eyes.
"..."
Yuan felt oddly at ease after Xi Meili’s introduction, and he lowered his sword.
He then turned to look at Wang Xiuying and asked her, "Are you okay?"
"Y-Yes... I am fine. I have experienced worse pain when I practiced my own medicine on myself..." She nodded her head after wiping the blood from her lips.
"Here, let me help you get these cuffs off." The Dragon Emperor snapped his fingers, causing the cuffs to open and fall onto the ground.
Once the situation calmed down, the Dragon Emperor returned to his seat and said to them, "I have heard the situation from Captain Cheng. You two arrived here by accident after encountering a formation in the Mystic Realm, correct?"
"That’s right." Yuan nodded.
"Hmmm..."
After sitting there in silence with a pondering face, the Dragon Emperor spoke, "Come with me. I want to confirm something— whether it’s all just a big coincidence or you’re really the one."
"Confirm what?" Yuan raised his eyebrows.
The Dragon Emperor stood up and said, "Our ancestors had a prophecy— that one day, a human will arrive at our Ancient Dragon City and complete the ritual."
"Ritual?" Wang Xiuying and Yuan looked at each other. This sounded dangerous in its own ways.
"Come with me, I’ll show you." The Dragon Emperor said as he walked out of the room.
Yuan and Wang Xiuying followed him. Not that they really had a choice in the first place.
"Hey, why are you wearing a mask?"
The Dragon Princess, Xi Meili, suddenly appeared beside Yuan and asked him with a curious gaze on her pretty face.
"Oh, I have my reasons. But if you want me to take it off, I don’t mind, since that reason doesn’t apply in this place." Yuan said.
"I want to see your face if you don’t mind." Xi Meili said.
Yuan nodded and removed the mask on his face, revealing to them his handsome and young face.
"Good enough?"
"Yes, you look much better than I’d imagined." Xi Meili chuckled.
"I’ll take that as a compliment." Yuan smiled.
"What’s the outside world like? Are there a lot of humans?" Xi Meili then asked.
"Yes, there are. The only thing different outside is that we’re not surrounded by clouds like we’re here. This reminds me, are we somewhere in the sky or something?" Yuan then asked.
"Nope. That’s just how this world is. The ground is made of clouds, and the sky also has clouds."
"I see... What a mythical place." Yuan nodded.
Sometime later, they arrived at the ritual site, which was a couple of miles behind the Dragon Palace.
The ritual site itself wasn’t anything too special. There were nine dragon statues placed in a circle formation, and in the middle of this formation was a crystal ball shaped like a dragon’s head.
"What are we supposed to do here?" Yuan asked them.
"Do you see that crystal ball in the middle?" The Dragon Emperor asked him, and he continued without waiting for a response, "That is the Crystal of Fate. If you drop your blood onto it, the Crystal of Fate will evaluate your talents, and the dragon statues will release a pillar of light that corresponds to your talents."
"If you can somehow make all nine dragon statues release a pillar of light, a treasure will reveal itself. This treasure was left behind by our ancestors, and we have been trying to obtain it for millions of years now. However, we’ve never been able to release all nine pillars of light— only seven at most."
"Now this is where their prophecy comes into play. They said that one day, someone— a human will arrive in our world and release all nine pillars of light."
"Hmph! As if a mere human could possibly have more talents than us dragons!" The Dragon Prince suddenly snorted.
He then looked at Yuan and said, "Just so you know, I have managed to release 7 pillars of light! And I am recognized as one of the most talented dragons since our ancestors’ era!"
"If you can release more pillars of light than I did, I will lower my head and call you boss!"
"Ehhh..." Yuan was at loss for words.
"By the way, I also managed to release seven pillars of light." Xi Meili said a moment later.
"Now which one of you would like to go first? The prophecy only mentioned a single human, so I wasn’t expecting two." The Dragon Emperor said to them.
Yuan then said, "If we help you in this ritual, will you help us return to our own place?"
"As in return to the Mystic Realm? That’s going to be a little tricky since it’s been a long time since anyone has left this world, but we’ll try to assist you to the best of our abilities."
"I understand." Yuan nodded, then he turned to look at Wang Xiuying and asked her, "Do you want to go first?"
"I do!" Wang Xiuying immediately nodded her head.