Chapter 29: The Dragon's Corpse

This breathtakingly massive dragon hung silently in the sea, resembling a shipwreck that had rested on the ocean floor for untold ages.

Ji Huo covered his mouth, terrified of making the slightest sound.

The place was bizarrely quiet, devoid of even a single fish, as if completely plunged into a deathly stillness. All around was pitch black, save for this colossal dragon corpse that blotted out the sky.

He waited for a moment, but the anticipated attack did not come. Only then did Ji Huo muster the courage to approach the dragon corpse for a closer look.

Yet the corpse was simply too vast. Upon drawing near, he found that the width of the torso was like a towering wall, utterly impossible to measure. By a conservative estimate, this dragon corpse was ten thousand zhang long, with a diameter of over a thousand zhang...

What kind of monster could this possibly be?

Shock gripped Ji Huo's heart. He dared not get too close, even though this was merely a corpse and he could no longer sense any fluctuation of energy from it; the power within had likely dissipated entirely over the erosion of countless years.

However, the mere sight of it induced waves of terror—an instinctual fear and trembling of the flesh. He even suspected that if he kept staring at the dragon corpse, his sanity value would plummet and he would directly explode.

Ji Huo cautiously touched the surface of the dragon corpse. It was hard beyond compare; he figured there was no way he could ever damage it.

On a certain patch of skin, he discovered numerous marks: tooth marks, scorch marks, and remnants of blade wounds. Yet they were all superficial, leaving at best a shallow indentation on the hide, utterly failing to break the defense.

Ji Huo gestured with his hand—the tooth marks were more than ten meters in diameter. He had no idea what kind of creature had made them, though the saliva showed traces of corrosion, it still hadn't managed to breach the skin.

He guessed that the sea tribes had known about this dragon corpse all along, and for all these years, they had likely tried every possible method to scrape a meal from it—biting, slashing, gnawing, they had tried it all.

From the looks of it, the results were less than ideal.

The difficulty of chewing through this dragon corpse exceeded the sea tribes' imagination. After countless years, they had probably worn through several sets of dentures, yet they hadn't even managed to break the skin.

What a tragic story.

As Ji Huo stroked the dragon corpse's surface, he could feel that the surrounding energy had grown somewhat purer, making this area of the sea feel much more comfortable and crystal-clear than before.

A whale fall!

The term flashed into his mind, and he understood instantly.

The master of this dragon corpse had likely treated itself like a whale, leaving its corpse suspended in the ocean so that it would continuously decompose into microscopic particles, subtly enhancing the aptitude of all marine life and the quality of the seawater.

Even when the seawater evaporated into vapor and fell from the sky once more, forming the cycle of moisture, it would nourish the entire realm and the mortal world.

All living creatures in the world would reap the benefits: animals would grow stronger in physique, enjoy better health, and be rid of illnesses; vegetation would flourish and become more resilient...

The benefits were myriad.

Truly a benevolent god... Ji Huo sighed inwardly.

He quickly flew away, intending to search for the dragon's head from a distance. Even though he hadn't yet seen its head, he had already roughly confirmed in his heart that this corpse must belong to the true Dragon God.

A Dragon God who had been dead for untold ages.

As for the one in the Dragon Palace, it was merely a great demon attempting to usurp the Dragon God's name to gather the power of faith and break through to a higher realm.

Sure enough, when he stood far enough away and the coiled dragon corpse appeared small enough, he found the head.

A majestic, primordial, and ferocious dragon head, complete with a fractured right horn on its forehead and two extremely long barbels swaying in the ocean currents. Even though the dragon head was pale and devoid of blood, one could still feel the oppression and majesty emanated by this behemoth.

Throughout these countless years, this dragon corpse had simply drifted in this patch of the sea. Perhaps due to the overwhelming sense of oppression it exuded, not a single marine creature dared to approach it.

Consequently, this sea had also become the Sea of Silence.

Ji Huo stared blankly at the Dragon God's head, the scene before him profoundly shaking his soul and leaving him unsettled for a long time.

Then he lowered his gaze and looked toward the distant head.

To see the full appearance of the dragon head, he had swum a terribly long way, yet even from this distance, he could see it with absolute clarity.

And then, he saw that the dragon corpse's head was facing directly toward him, its huge, ash-colored, lifeless eyes staring straight at him.

Thump!

Ji Huo's heart skipped a beat. Had he not preemptively used his protective qi barrier to push the seawater away, he probably would have swallowed several mouthfuls of ocean water in fright.

Recalling the prompt given by the system, he muttered defensively to himself:
"It must be my imagination. A corpse dead for countless untold years—how could it possibly still have consciousness?"
"No, this is not your imagination."

A gentle and calm voice echoed in Ji Huo's mind.

What the hell!

Ji Huo's pupils dilated instantly, every hair on his body standing on end. No, was this what you meant by "grab and run"?

The sea tribes couldn't bite off a single piece of skin after chewing on it for all these years; how on earth am I supposed to snatch what I want from this thing?

Above the East Sea, a small mass of pitch-black dark thunderclouds silently appeared, with lightning continuously flickering within. The terror and destructive power contained within the thunderbolts caused even the space around them to tremble faintly.

The threat was unmistakable.

The massive dragon corpse slowly raised its head, its bloodless, lifeless eyes staring at the seawater overhead.

Under the illumination of the lightning, the seawater refracted countless shattered rays of light.

After a moment, the dragon corpse slowly lowered its lofty head, as if prostrating itself.

It swept its lifeless eyes toward the fiercely vigilant little human in the distance, and its voice resounded in Ji Huo's mind:
"Mortal, you carry the Mandate of Heaven?"

Ji Huo struggled to calm his pounding heart. In truth, he had suffered no attack; merely by locking gazes with the dragon corpse, he had been unable to resist the instinctual fear and had frozen in place.

"Indeed."

Ji Huo cupped his fists, unsure of how to respond, and finally deliberated: "This junior, Ji Huo, pays respects to the Dragon God."

The dragon corpse stared at him for a good while—long enough to leave Ji Huo feeling utterly baffled—before its voice sounded in his mind once more:
"I am not the Dragon God. The true Dragon God perished long ago; only this empty shell remains."

Is it residual consciousness, or corpse-transformation?

The thought popped into Ji Huo's mind, and whichever it was, it made his scalp tingle. Especially corpse-transformation—he dared not imagine how terrifying it would be if a dragon corpse this massive transformed and went on a rampage.

At least Phase Two!

This has got to be Phase Two!

"Have you existed here ever since the dragon corpse appeared?" Ji Huo asked again.
"Mn." The dragon corpse remained motionless, like a true corpse, save for those eyes that continued to watch him.
"Do the sea tribes know about this?" Ji Huo regained his composure, probing further into the dragon corpse's condition.
"They do not."
"They bite and scratch at you, yet you do not resist?" Ji Huo asked again.
"Why... should I resist?" The dragon corpse's gaze remained unchanged, a hint of confusion creeping into its tone.

It has gained sentience, but having interacted with few living beings, it is rather naive... Ji Huo regained a measure of confidence and asked in puzzlement:
"They harass you like this; aren't you annoyed?"
"Annoyed."
"Then why not resist?" Ji Huo asked once more.

The dragon corpse lowered its towering head a fraction further, and after a moment, slowly replied:
"Because of... the rules."