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None of them were at all surprised by this result.

Colluding with demons naturally warranted the death penalty. It just seemed a little strange; the former head of the punishment division wasn't the primary offender. He was an accomplice at most.

They weren't executing the one who'd truly initiated contact with the demons, Xia Dong. He'd only been assigned to sweep the clan's blood pools for three thousand years.

Yet his accomplice was to be put to death.

Was it because the former head of the punishment division hadn't contributed much to the clan?

Not necessarily.

Regardless, this was the Dragon God's decision. Even if the elders were inwardly confused, they couldn't say it out loud. Besides, given the choice, they would have chosen to execute him as well.

The kneeling former head of the punishment division made no attempt to beg for mercy. Looking into his eyes, he seemed almost relieved.

He got on all fours and repeatedly kowtowed to the ancient Dragon God. He didn't stop, not even when his forehead started bleeding.

"Rest in peace."

The Dragon God sighed, then pointed at the former head of the punishment division.

He instantly stopped kowtowing. When the crowd examined him, he had already lost all signs of life.

"This matter is now settled. From now on, no one is to bring it up. Our greatest enemies, the demons, stand before us. Everyone should focus on figuring out how best to eliminate our enemies. Alright, that's it for now. Everyone can leave."

All the elders got up and left the main hall. On their way out, they took the deceased elder's corpse with them.

The elder wasn't qualified to be buried in the clan's ancestral hall. Even so, they still had to give him a lavish funeral.

Now that the commotion was over, the great hall grew instantly silent. Even so, the ancient dragon god continued to sit, unmoving, on his chair. He made no effort to leave. After about an hour, Xia Yingda, returned.

"Senior Dragon God."

After reaching the main hall, Xia Yingda bowed in greeting, then looked at the venerable Dragon God in confusion.

Earlier, just as he'd been about to leave, Xia Yingda received a sudden transmission from the Dragon God telling him to return to the main hall in an hour.

Although he was inwardly baffled, he nevertheless arrived right on schedule.

"Yingda, there's something I need you to do for me."

Half a month.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye. The matter of Xia Dong and his son's punishment was a strictly internal affair. No one on the outside heard even a single word of it.

At this very moment, Ye Zichen stood in the Dragon Race's main hall. It was completely empty; there was no one else around.

"Why on earth did the Dragon God have me come here?"

Expression hesitant, he couldn't help but look outside the palace. He'd already been here for an hour or so, yet hadn't seen the Dragon God, or anyone else for that matter, take even a single step in front of the hall.

If the Dragon God hadn't told him it was important, he might very well have left by now.

"This old man is really freaking punctual."

He sat down and grumbled, then fished out his phone and skimmed his chat logs.

These message logs were of a conversation between the God of Thunder, Nezha, Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li, and the other commanders of Heavenly Court.

From them, he'd learned that the North Pole Emperor actually sent reinforcements to their aid as soon as the Struggle for the Three Realms ended.

It was just that, on their way to the battlefield, the reinforcements had gotten lost.

It sounded absurd. They were all top-notch generals. How could they possibly have gotten lost? Especially since they were delivering reinforcements to Maple City. They'd all been there countless times; there was absolutely no way they'd get lost.

And yet, they truly had gotten lost.

It wasn't just them. The Underworld and Immortal Region had sent troops as well, yet all of them had gotten lost on the way.

As for why exactly this had happened, they still had no way of knowing.

Ye Zichen didn't even have to use his brain; he could see that the demons, or perhaps Gu Li, were responsible for this.

It was just, to make troops from all three major powers get lost at the same time, unable to find their way back…...

This represented a simply astonishing level of skill.

Ye Zichen sighed, then glanced at Yang Jian's chat record.

The former War God Yang Jian's avatar was still a photo of him showing off his biceps. The only difference was it no longer displayed that eye-catching "#1" rank. Their chat log…...

Ended abruptly the day of the Struggle for the Three Realms.

Shortly before disappearing, Yang Jian wrote….

Bro, I'll start building up territory up here. I'll be waiting for you to come and take command!

At the end, he'd included a row of sunglasses emojis. It was extremely arrogant, yet completely in character.

"I've got to go to the God Realm sooner or later," sighed Ye Zichen. No matter what, he had to find a way to ascend.

Whether it was for the sake of seeing the fruit of Yang Jian's efforts or to save Xiao Yumei, or… for Liu Qing.

Either way, he had to go. Even if the God Realm rejected him, he still had to ascend.

As he thought this, Ye Zichen instinctively clenched his fists. His gaze grew cold.

At that very moment, the Dragon God laughed and walked out of the main hall. "Little friend Ye, what are you thinking about? You've got a terrifying look in your eyes!"

Ye Zichen noticed that, since his first meeting the Dragon God, the old man's fashion choices were in constant flux. Today he was wearing a long black robe. His hair was tied back. He looked extremely hearty and hale.

As for his face…. Well, the former clan head of the Dragon Race already looked as if he had one foot into the grave, but the Dragon God still seemed middle-aged.

It was hard to say if he'd died and become a soul body at a young age or if he just liked pretending to be younger than he was.

"Hah?" Ye Zichen rolled his eyes at him and snorted irritably. "Senior Dragon God, it's said that you dragons are the most trustworthy race out there. Don't you think punctuality is part of being trustworthy?"

"Naturally," said the Dragon God with a smile.

"But you had me wait here for almost two hours. Aren't you the Dragon God? Shouldn't you set a good example for your clansmen?"

"Ordinary dragons naturally have to be punctual. If anyone dares arrive late, I'll naturally punish them."

"But you aren't an ordinary dragon, you're the Dragon God!"

"That's right, I'm the Dragon God," replied the old man.

Ye Zichen was just about to repeat himself when he came to his senses. He froze, dumbfounded, then said, "you're incorrigible."

"There's nothing I can do about it; no one dares criticize me." With that, the Dragon God sat in the Main Hall's highest seat and stretched. "When you get old, you love taking naps. I planned on arriving on time, but as I said, the elderly just love napping. I fell asleep on my way here."

"....."

This was obviously just a perfunctory excuse. He fell asleep on his way over? Who would believe something like that?

But Ye Zichen had no time to waste arguing with him. Instead, he got right to the point. "Why did you call me here? You ought to know how busy I've been lately."

"LIttle friend Ye, do you remember what you were so angry about last time you were here?" said the Dragon God with a smile.

"What, are you planning to explain yourselves? That's great, I'm all ears," said Ye Zichen with a tight smile. In truth, he was no longer overly concerned with that matter. Even so, if the Dragon God wanted to explain himself, he had to give him the chance, right?

"Be patient. Wait a little longer."

"I still have to wait?"

"That's right, you have to wait a little longer!"