The Inverted Dragon's Scale

The inner canyon was a mixture of craggy and pointy rocks, and the chambers were packed with other columns of rock.

Overhead was a giant disc of light. At first glance, it looked like a bright moon rising in the dark sky of the night. But upon closer look, it was just a round man-made moon, in the shape of a full moon. It was like a legendary luminous pearl – although no one had ever seen such a large luminous pearl.

The rays emitted from the pearl were not bright enough; it was unable to fully illuminate the endless stretch of canyon. Many places remained dark, gloomy, like hell itself.

Surrounding the canyon were more than ten giant statues of deities.

Each statue was carved from a small cliff. These deity statues stacked into a ring like formation, surrounding and protecting a raised platform at the base of the canyon.

Each deity statue’s hand was gripping onto a dark, thick chain that flashed with gloomy rays of light. Although the materials that created the tremendous chain were not obvious, but it looked as if it had been through tens of thousands of years without showing any signs of decay whatsoever.

The metal chains hanged down, with the end supporting a giant skull the height of a small mountain.

The giant skull had neither flesh nor blood, and even its facial features were unclear. The bones, dense and solid, exuded a majestic yet frightening demeanour of a king. The pressure it exhibited seemed like it would force a person to sink to their knees at the mere sight of it.

It’s not the head of a tiger, bear or an unknown monster.

Anyone who saw it would subconsciously call out its name: dragon.

Traveling through clouds and summoning rain, sending dragon breath through the imperial water, they can overturn rivers and sea, set cities ablaze.

The strongest race in the world: the dragon race.

The giant black chain in the hands of deities tightly secured the skull, preventing the dragon skull from dropping or escaping. It was easy to imagine just how much the dragon had struggled and the pain it had suffered when it was alive.

Right under the skull, was a huge platform.

Above the high platform was a huge rock. On top of the rock was a brass-coloured axe.

The axe was shining, the edge of the blade stained with splashes of dark-red blood. It seemed it has not been used for a while.d

Raging and rumbling blood-like red waves were beneath the high platform.

It seemed like it was a tributary of Nujiang, although looked more like a giant pool of dragon’s blood. The stench of fish that Li Muyang and Lu Qiji smelled along the way orginated from here.

“Dragon beheading platform.” Lu Qiji muttered. She looked at the giant skull, then down at the pool of blood bubbling like flames beneath her feet, her eyes widening in disbelief. “They beheaded the dragon race here?”

Thinking of this, her eyes darted to Li Muyang’s face, wanting to watch his attitude toward this scene.

Li Muyang’s mind flooded with emotions, grief and indignation.

He was devastated, as if his family was massacred. What he could see was only the remains of a battlefield and the rotting corpses that resulted from the massacre.

He originally thought it was something irrelevant to him. He thought it was only a skull——a skull that did not belong to his friend or relatives from tens of thousand years ago.

He did not want to be upset, did not want to be stricken with grief. He did not want to show any abnormality to Lu Qiji.

But he could not control himself.

Why did it affect his mood and emotions so much?

He wanted to say something, only to find that his throat was blocked.

He felt a boundless hostility to vent, but did not know what he could do.

He gazed at the giant skull; he saw the giant skull looking straight at himself.

The head was crying, he could see its glistening tear-filled eyes.

It shed blood-red tears while crying to him in a miserable tone: “My King, please be sure to avenge our clan——

Beside that dragon’s head were other dragon skulls.

The dragonheads, large and small, were piled up in the valleys or had fallen into the river and drowned, like piles of bones.

They were also crying.

Shedding red tears.

Li Muyang also cried.

Tears welled in his eyes and silently rolled down his cheeks.

He clenched his fist tightly as he said in a low voice: “I promise you, I definitely promise you——I promise you all——”

“Li Muyang——” Lu Qiji shouted. “Li Muyang, what’s wrong with you?”

“Lu Qiji, where is this place?” Li Muyang reached out his hand, grabbing Lu Qiji’s shoulder and yelled like a crazy man. “You must know what this place is. Tell me. Tell me. Please tell me, why did they kill these dragons? Why did they kill those dragons?”

“Let me go.” The pain from Li Muyang tight grip made her furrow her brows and yell. “Hurry and let go of me.”

“Tell me where am I. Tell me why did they kill them——What did they do wrong? Why did they chop off their heads?”

“——”

“Lu Qiji, you’re not with them, right? You must be with them, so you deliberately brought me here——So you tried to kill me several times. Is that right? Is that right?” Blood-red tears burst forth from Li Muyang’s eyes, spilling down his face.

His voice hoarse with sorrow, his eyes blood-red and a look of heart wrenching sadness swept across his face.

“This is the dragon beheading platform.” As Lu Qiji clenched her teeth, she said in a low voice. “This is the place where humans massacred the dragon race.”

“Why did humans massacre the dragon clan?”

“The dragon race and human race cannot live under the same skies; the dragon race threatens the existence of humans and can ultimately destroy them——-”

“Impossible.” Li Muyang desperately shook his head, saying: “The dragon race is not like that, they would not do something like that——”

“Li Muyang, you’re not part of the dragon race, how do you know they would not do such a thing?” Lu Qiji asked sharply.

“I——” Li Muyang said, slightly hesitant, red tears gushing endlessly from his eyes, making red wet tracks down his face before it dripped from his chin. He resembled an asura demon crawling up the ground. His blood-red eyes seriously looked at Lu Qiji before he said: “Lu Qiji, I am. I am part of the dragon race——”

“——”

Li Muyang raised his finger, pointing at the huge skull locked by a chain as thick as a man, as he stated: “They are my fellow citizen, my clan——Killing dragons, is the same as killing my relatives and friends. My heart hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts——”

“Li Muyang——”

“They killed my people, my race. I will also kill them all. I’m going to avenge them, I have to let my people rest in peace, I have to make all those humans who killed them pay the price——”

“Li Muyang——” Lu Qiji snapped, a purple light flashing in her eyes. “Do you know what you’re saying?”

“I know what I’m saying. I know what I need to do——” Li Muyang’s voice was cold, vicious and filled with resentfulness when he said: “I’m going to kill them, kill all those strong humans——”