Chapter 686: The Eight Sounds of the Heavenly Dragon

Although Zhang Xuan's dragon speech was most effective against dragons, the spirit beasts and savage beasts in the courtyard were too low in level, and it also had a powerful intimidating effect on them.

Suddenly hearing it, it was good that they didn't faint on the spot.

He could understand the spirit beasts and savage beasts behaving like this, but...

Zhang Xuan looked over with a puzzled expression: "Esteemed elder, are you... all right?"

The spirit beasts lay down because they were suppressed by the power of the dragon race and dared not resist. You're a human, why are you lying on the ground?

Moreover, such ecstatic twitching, non-stop drooling...

Could it be that my dragon speech also disgusted you?

"Master..." Han Chong was also startled. He quickly pressed the elder's philtrum and transferred true qi to help him recover.

"What you just spoke was... the sound of a true dragon?"

Once he regained clarity, the old man quickly stood up, looked at Zhang Xuan, and was filled with excitement and disbelief.

"I don't know either. I just casually learned a few syllables..."

Zhang Xuan said.

He really didn't know what he had learned. At first, he thought it was ancient beast language. After learning three syllables, this one was the most useful, so every time he encountered a spirit beast, he would use it.

As a result, as soon as he roared, any creature with dragon blood would instantly stiffen, scared half to death.

"Just casually learned? The true dragon's voice... humans can learn it too?" The old man was full of disbelief. He stopped mid-sentence and suddenly said, "Wait for me!"

With that, he hurried into the room. After a moment, he came out with an ancient book, casually opened it, and said, "Look!"

Zhang Xuan looked down. The syllable he had just spoken indeed appeared in the book.

"This is the true dragon's voice?"

He took the book, flipped through a few pages, glanced at the cover, and couldn't help asking.

"Yes, this was compiled by an ancient beast tamer, also known as the 'Eight Sounds of the Heavenly Dragon'!"

"Eight Sounds of the Heavenly Dragon?" Zhang Xuan was startled.

The old man nodded: "Legend has it that the dragon race, being too powerful, was constrained by the laws of heaven and earth and could not produce many sounds. Only eight syllables exist, used to express their joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, longing, and worry! But don't underestimate these eight syllables; they can express the entire language of the dragon race, even richer than human speech."

Zhang Xuan nodded.

He was a beast tamer and had read records about beasts. Some beasts were too powerful, and for the sake of balance, they were made deficient in some aspects; sound was one of them.

However, although the dragon language has only eight syllables, it has far more than eight meanings. Combined together, they yield over ten million combinations, fully capable of expressing any thought one wishes to convey, and even richer than human language. (Eight syllables, with all possible combinations and variations, equal eight to the eighth power, 16,777,216 types.)

The so-called 'great sound is silent, great form is formless' is exactly this principle.

"The dragon language has too many variations; each combination represents a meaning. Without a true dragon to communicate with, no one knows what it signifies! More importantly..."

The old man's eyes widened as he spoke, filled with disbelief as he looked over: "The Eight Dragon Notes require true dragon blood to be uttered; an ordinary person's body simply cannot withstand it. You... how did you do it? Could it be... you possess a true dragon body?"

"True dragon body?"

Zhang Xuan looked over in confusion.

"Yes, a true dragon body is one of the special constitutions, even more powerful than Pure Yang or Pure Yin. Once activated, the blood within will approach that of a true dragon, and both cultivation and strength will greatly improve... Especially cultivation bottlenecks, they almost cease to exist..."

The more he spoke, the more excited he became, and the old man's face gradually flushed red.

A true dragon body ranks among the top special constitutions. Could this person, who could utter dragon speech that humans cannot, possess such a constitution?

If so, that would be terrifying!

"Teacher, could you really be one?"

Hearing the old man's words, Luo Qiqi and Yu Fei'er exchanged glances, then both looked at him with great curiosity.

Judging by this Master Zhang's legendary experiences, his cultivation speed was indeed too fast.

They had thought it was because of a good teacher, but could it really be due to a true dragon body?

If so, many things would be explained.

"I..."

Zhang Xuan scratched his head.

He was far from having a true dragon body; the reason he could utter dragon speech was due to his Heaven's Path true qi and Heaven's Path golden body.

Of course, he couldn't say that, so he changed the subject: "Does this book record all eight syllables?"

"Eight syllables? Of course not!"

Seeing that the other party was unwilling to dwell on the matter, the old man did not press further and shook his head: "The Eight Dragon Notes are the language of the dragon race; humans are not qualified to steal them. This book merely records these matters, speculates on the methods of pronunciation, but is vague on the specific meanings and how to pronounce them!"

"Oh!" Zhang Xuan casually flipped through the book, but his mind entered the library.

Placing the book in the library not only allowed for faster reading but also enabled him to discern authenticity and find flaws.

Whoosh!

In the blink of an eye, he scanned the book and immediately understood.

This book, as the other person had said, only recorded the origin of the Eight Sounds of Heaven and its relationship with the dragon clan; as for other matters, it was not detailed.

It listed these eight syllables, among which was the 'Hōng' he often said, but there were over thirty entries on how to pronounce it, none of which were correct.

As for the other two syllables he had learned before, they were not among these eight, so it seemed they were not dragon language.

No wonder those two were useless; he had been using them to tame spirit beasts all along, but they were never dragon language.

The book detailed the difficulty of dragon language, just as the old man had said; due to differences in life structure, even if humans knew the pronunciation, they could not imitate or produce it.

Thus, the over thirty entries were mere conjectures, without factual basis.

"Hmm? There's actually one syllable with the correct pronunciation method?"

After finishing the book, his eyes suddenly fell on the end.

At the very end of the book, among the eight sounds, there was actually one pronunciation method that was correct.

It was the second sound of the Eight Sounds of Heaven: 'Mōu!'

He memorized the pronunciation method, planning to try it when free, then suddenly thought of something and couldn't help but look at the old man before him.

"This says that the Eight Sounds of Heaven only have a suppressive effect on beings with dragon bloodline, a true dragon suppression. You... why did you also lie down just now?"

Actually, it wasn't just him who was puzzled; Luo Qiqi, Han Chong, and the others were also full of doubt.

Although the sound Teacher Zhang had made was loud, to them it was just a bit noisy and didn't affect them. How could the elder, who was at the peak of the Mortal Transformation Eighth Layer, have fallen straight to the ground, twitching incessantly, foaming at the mouth, looking so unsightly?

"This..."

Hearing the question, the old man lost his earlier astonishment, his face alternating between pale and red. After a long sigh, he said, "Come with me!"

With that, he walked toward the back of the thatched cottage.

"Teacher..."

Seeing that the teacher was actually taking them along, Han Chong was full of confusion.

He had been studying under the teacher for some time, but the teacher had never allowed him to go behind the thatched cottage. Once, out of curiosity, he had wanted to go there and was even scolded, warned not to come unless necessary.

All these days he had been wondering what was behind the cottage, never expecting the teacher would take them there voluntarily.

Zhang Xuan and the others, unaware of these anecdotes, followed the old man around the small thatched cottage and headed toward the back.

Behind the cottage was a small slope, in front of which stood a huge stone tablet.

Looking up at the stone tablet, it bore five large characters: "Tomb of the Dragon Rock Beast!"

"A Dragon Rock Beast at the Land Overlord level of the Mortal Transformation Eighth Layer?"

Frowning, Zhang Xuan couldn't help but look over.

"That's right!" The old man nodded, looking at the slope before him with reluctance in his eyes: "It... was my spirit beast."

"Yours?" Han Chong was stunned, his eyes wide: "Teacher's spirit beast... is dead?"

He knew his teacher was a five-star peak beast tamer, but he had never seen the teacher's spirit beast. He had thought it was away on some business, never dreaming it was already dead.

Although a beast tamer could have many beast pets, gaining their trust inevitably required giving much in return.

Most beast tamers treated their tamed beast pets as their best friends, even family.

The death of a beast was an immense blow to a beast tamer, and many would never recover from it.

Could it be that the teacher never interacted with other elders and lived alone in such a remote place because his beast pet had died?

"Yes, my beast pet died. To be precise, it died because of me."

The old man shook his head.

"Because of you?"

"This Dragon Rock Beast was the spirit beast I tamed when I became a five-star beast tamer..." The old man sighed and recounted his story.

After taming the Dragon Rock Beast and successfully becoming a five-star beast tamer, he was full of ambition and fearless. But then, in a battle... he encountered danger.

In that incident, he was severely injured and on the verge of death. It was this Dragon Rock Beast that saved him with its own essence blood, and then died from the effort.

Because of this, he had always felt guilty. He buried it here, erected a tombstone, and vowed to accompany it for the rest of his life.

"Because my body is fused with the essence blood of the Dragon Rock Beast, I am sensitive to the true dragon sound and can be suppressed..."

The old man said.

Zhang Xuan nodded.

No wonder.

Although the Dragon Rock Beast was large, its essence blood was limited. Using it to save a person required even greater purity. Once the blood was integrated into his veins, even if he wasn't a true dragon constitution, he would be involuntarily suppressed by dragon speech.

"Your diligent study of ancient beast language, even learning the Eight Sounds of Heaven... must also be related to this, right?"

Zhang Xuan looked at him.

The other party's relentless research into ancient beast language, ignoring everything else, was likely also connected to this experience.

"Yes... At that time, I was severely injured and unconscious. The Dragon Rock Beast saved me, and there was another spirit beast present... the one I mentioned earlier that could reach Hongyuan Empire in ten days—the Purple-Winged Heavenly Male Beast!"

The old man clenched his fists: "Before the Dragon Rock Beast died, it said a lot to me, but I was unconscious then and didn't know what. All these years, I've been diligently studying ancient beast language, hoping to learn from it... what it said, and what last wishes it had for me to fulfill..."

Saying this, the old man's eyes reddened.