# Chapter 172: The Horn of the Azure Dragon
This wretched, ugly child had been played for a fool by every single person who died before him. Used by this one, then by that one. The psychological scars ran deep.
In his view, Jiang Wang—who had laughed last—was undoubtedly the most cunning and sinister of them all, practically oozing with malice. He was probably scheming something terrible right now, perhaps planning to use Lian Que as a living sacrifice to bargain with some dark god for power.
Hearing Jiang Wang's answer only confirmed his judgment.
Even with his iron will, a chill crept up the crown of his head.
"If you have the guts, come over here! I'll fight you with everything I've got!" Lian Que shouted.
A momentary lapse in focus, and the death aura surged back upward, racing beneath his eyelids.
Jiang Wang heard the shout and merely smiled. "A true hero. I won't kill you."
"However..." He glanced back, assessing the pallor of Lian Que's face and roughly judging the death aura's progress. "Every twenty breaths, you must speak one sentence. Keep the death aura below the midpoint of your face. Please remember—this is the warning line. Once it crosses that boundary, I will assume you intend to do something to me. To seize my divine power opportunity. In that case, I will kill you."
Lian Que blinked. He could tell from Jiang Wang's tone that the second half was dead serious—no jest at all.
Master Lian Que might consider himself unafraid of death, but staying alive was obviously preferable if possible. He obediently began suppressing the death aura while silently counting the breaths.
The moment twenty breaths passed, he couldn't help asking: "Wouldn't it be simpler to just kill me? Why go to all this trouble?"
Jiang Wang was crouched on the ground, tapping floor tiles. He suspected there might be an underground chamber or hidden vault somewhere in the Dragon Palace. There was no way the entire Dragon Palace had been searched without finding a single clue about the opportunity.
He answered casually: "Killing is easy. The hard part is convincing yourself."
Only when you could convince yourself could you live without guilt.
He said it as naturally as breathing—just as plainly as "You weren't trying to kill me, so why should I kill you?"
Such a simple principle. Such a normal thing to say. Why was it that, so often, people no longer believed it?
As though between human beings there always lurked conspiracy and malice.
Lian Que was momentarily stunned.
He suddenly remembered something his grandfather had told him, long ago, back when the old man was still alive.
Grandfather had said: "In the transcendent world, killing someone is an extremely simple matter. The hard part is having a clear conscience. Having a clear conscience isn't actually that hard either. The hard part is this: as a transcendent cultivator, can you still keep a human heart?"
Back then, Lian Que hadn't understood. The older he grew, the less he understood.
But now, he thought he dimly grasped something.
If transcendent cultivators saw themselves as immortals and gods, and ordinary people as ants and grass—then killing as many as they pleased, they could naturally remain guilt-free.
But that wasn't difficult. That truly wasn't difficult.
Never mind transcendent cultivators who could uproot mountains and fill seas—even those ordinary people with a little power often treated their fellow humans as pigs, dogs, cattle, and horses.
What was rare—what was truly difficult—was keeping a child's heart that saw yourself as human, and saw others as human too.
Twenty more breaths passed.
Lian Que couldn't help asking again: "No one knows what happens in here. Whether you're good or evil, righteous or wicked—no one can see. Is there any meaning in what you do?"
"The way I conduct myself isn't for anyone's benefit. If someone kills me, I kill them—that's simple. But killing without cause? I'm not willing. However, I should warn you: my unwillingness doesn't mean I won't do it. This opportunity means everything to me. I have reasons I must grow stronger. So you'd better protect yourself. Don't give me a reason to kill you."
Jiang Wang spoke lightly, as though making idle conversation. But his meaning was resolute. The divine power Inner Prefecture was something he intended to claim, no matter what.
By now he had tapped through most of the hall's floor tiles. He was genuinely weary. But for the sake of the divine power opportunity, he gritted his teeth and pressed on.
If he could obtain the divine power opportunity, it would be worth searching through this Dragon Palace inch by inch!
Twenty more breaths passed before Lian Que said earnestly: "I, Lian Que, am not someone who fails to appreciate kindness. Even if I recover, I won't compete with you for the opportunity."
"Forget it—just lie still and don't move. I don't know you well enough to talk about trust—"
Jiang Wang stopped mid-sentence.
Points of white light had suddenly bloomed before him, coalescing into a single Horn of the Azure Dragon.
He reached out and seized it. Understanding arrived naturally, without effort.
This Horn of the Azure Dragon was the key to obtaining the divine power opportunity.
And at the moment his fingers closed around it, a Full Moon Gate appeared at the center of the hall—ethereal and shimmering, yet leading somewhere else entirely.
Only someone who held the Horn of the Azure Dragon could pass through.
So that was how the competition within the Heavenly Treasury Dragon Palaces worked. Simple. Brutal.
All you had to do was eliminate every competitor, or have every competitor withdraw—and the divine power opportunity would appear.
And here he had been diligently tapping every tile, searching every wall... When all along, if Lian Que had only surrendered a little sooner, it would all have been over already.
The thought made Jiang Wang glare at Lian Que with sudden ferocity.
The glare left the other man baffled.
Was this the part where Jiang Wang decided to silence him? But there was no need—once they left the Heavenly Treasury Secret Realm, everyone forgot everything that happened inside.
Lian Que couldn't help spiraling into wild speculation.
Jiang Wang tucked the Horn of the Azure Dragon into his robes and said: "Now. Drive out the death aura with everything you have. No need to hold back anymore."
Now that he had the Horn of the Azure Dragon, even if Lian Que recovered and tried to seize it, Jiang Wang was confident he could defend it.
To his surprise, Lian Que flew into a rage: "What's that supposed to mean? You're looking down on me? You think I'm no threat to you?"
Jiang Wang: ...
If you called this man stupid, he was perceptive enough to catch the unspoken confidence in Jiang Wang's words. But calling him smart didn't seem right either. Could a smart person talk like this?
At this moment, Jiang Wang could finish him with a casual flick of Dao arts. Yet here he was, fussing over whether someone looked down on him.
Jiang Wang was in high spirits now that he had obtained the Horn of the Azure Dragon. He couldn't be bothered to argue, so he humored the man: "No, no—I respect you. I believe you're a man of your word."
That was more like it.
Lian Que closed his mouth with satisfaction and began driving out the death aura with renewed focus.
Jiang Wang paid him no further attention and prepared to step through the Full Moon Gate.
"Wait!" Lian Que suddenly called out.
"What now?" Jiang Wang asked impatiently.
"I almost forgot. Once we leave the Heavenly Treasury Secret Realm, none of this will be remembered. But you spared my life. That debt—I must repay."
"There's no need. I didn't spare you to get anything in return."
"No. A debt unpaid—I, Lian Que, can't live comfortably with a debt unpaid!"
Lian Que gathered himself, then spat out a square, black metal token.
It clinked as it landed on the floor tiles.
Then he continued: "After we leave, bring this token to me. I will forge a sword for you with my own hands. Even if you don't remember, I'll be able to sense it."
"I've already felt your sincerity. That itself is recognition enough for what I did. There's no need for anything else." Jiang Wang lifted the artifact sword in his hand. "Besides—I already have a blade."
"What kind of scrap metal is that? You call that a sword?" Lian Que suddenly roared.
Jiang Wang had no idea what had set him off, but the sheer force of the outburst startled him.
He reluctantly tore a strip of cloth from the corpse of Ji Xiu nearby and wrapped the metal token in it.
"Fine, fine. I understand."
Lian Que roared again: "Even though I spat it out from my mouth—there's no saliva on it!"
The outburst was so violent that the death aura nearly surged past his eyebrows.
To prevent him from dying on the spot, Jiang Wang had to coax him with a few more gentle words.
Only when Lian Que finally calmed down and devoted himself entirely to battling the death aura did Jiang Wang breathe a sigh of relief.
He immediately stepped through the Full Moon Gate to begin the final leg of his journey through the Heavenly Treasury Secret Realm.