Yang Jing raised an eyebrow. The Clam Girl’s expression gave him a rough idea of this Dong Xixian’s personality.

’Even a great tree has dead branches.’ The Dong Family was the Royal Family of the Dong Kingdom and the most prominent Noble Family on the Western Continent; it was inevitable they’d produce a few spoiled scions. If every one of them was a prodigy like Dong Xiji, the Elders and Sect Leaders of the Six Great Sects would never be at ease.

"Who is this Dong Xixian?"

He asked, somewhat curious.

The Clam Girl hesitated for a moment. But then she remembered that Yang Jing was an honored guest of Elder Dong Yiming and had arrived with a figure as preeminent as the Northern Army Governor, one of the most powerful men on the Western Continent. So, she told him the truth.

"Seventh Young Master Dong is the direct descendant of Elder Dong Yican."

Seeing Zuoqiu Feng’s confusion, Yang Jing sent a message with his Divine Sense to explain.

"The Dong Family is currently divided into two main branches: the Pure Cultivation Lineage and the True Spirit Lineage. Dong Yican is the head of the True Spirit Lineage."

The Dong Family had three Nascent Soul cultivators in total. Aside from the Sovereign, the remaining two were Dong Yiming of the Pure Cultivation Lineage and Dong Yican of the True Spirit Sect. The Pure Cultivation Lineage practiced a Cultivation Technique from the Dharma Image Sect, and its members could be considered True Cultivators of the Taoist Sects.

When the Dong Family split from the Dharma Image Sect, they took a Sect’s Foundation Method with them that had been created by the Ancestor Master Dong.

The Cultivation Technique practiced by the True Spirit Lineage, on the other hand, was called the Great Cave Spirit Scripture. Also created by the Ancestor Master, this technique was modeled after the renowned Artifact Refining Skill, the Canon of the Same, but it replaced the life-bonded Magical Treasure with a Dragon Beast.

The Ancestor Master was struck by a moment of inspiration and created this technique after obtaining the Secret Technique of the Dragon Transformation Pool.

After all, the more Top-Tier a Cultivation Technique, the higher the aptitude it demanded from a Cultivator. The Ancestor Master Dong feared that his descendants would grow weaker with each generation, causing the family to fall into ruin and their ancestral line to be broken.

This Great Cave Spirit Scripture was modeled after the Canon of the Same. If a cultivator had a pure-blooded Dragon Beast with a profound Cultivation as their partner, their initial progress could advance by leaps and bounds.

The speed of their progress would only begin to slow once their Cultivation level matched that of the Dragon Beast.

Demons have long lifespans, and Dragon Beasts even longer. After tens of thousands of years of careful breeding by the Dong Family, while there were not many Demon Saints at the Nascent Soul Realm, there was certainly no shortage of Demon Kings at the Golden Core Realm.

Thus, disciples from the True Spirit Lineage of the Dong Family had a much higher chance of reaching the Golden Core than disciples from the Pure Cultivation Lineage. Their rapid progress in Cultivation afforded them at least three attempts to break through to the Golden Core Realm before their lifespan ended.

Furthermore, during Magical Combat, the True Spirit Lineage could also borrow the power of their Dragon Beasts, giving them extraordinary combat strength.

If the Pure Cultivation Lineage hadn’t produced a talent like Dong Xiji, they would have been completely overwhelmed by the True Spirit Lineage by now.

Of course, within a family as vast as the Dong, there were other members besides those two lineages. Some practiced other Cultivation Techniques, and some had even joined the Six Sects.

After all, despite their large number of Dragon Beasts, the Dong Family couldn’t possibly provide one for every disciple to practice the Great Cave Spirit Scripture. And without a pure-blooded Dragon Beast, the Great Cave Spirit Scripture was far inferior to a common technique.

Yang Jing had only looked up the Northern Army Governor’s Mansion’s files on the Dong Family after receiving the Dragon Transformation Order. Combining that information with his memories from the game *Nine Heavens World*, he wasn’t completely in the dark about them.

"Show this Young Master Dong Xixian in."

Yang Jing said.

The next moment, his eyebrow twitched. Before the words had even left his mouth, Dong Xixian had already stormed in.

He was a tall, powerfully built young man wearing a Dragon Patterned Brocade Robe. He bore a strong resemblance to Dong Xiji, but where Dong Xiji had the air of a nobleman, this man was far more wild and defiant. His teeth even looked like a dragon’s fangs.

The Clam Girls scurried in after him, flustered and terrified. One of them had a livid, purple handprint swelling on her cheek, and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

"You’re that Yang Jing who defeated Dong Xiji?!"

Dong Xixian demanded loudly, jabbing a finger at Yang Jing.

Yang Jing’s expression darkened. His current status represented not just himself, but the Five Elements True Spirit Sect and the Northern Army Governor’s Mansion as well.

Every Cultivation Technique had its strengths and weaknesses. Even supreme techniques at the Sect’s Foundation tier were not without their flaws.

The greatest flaw of the Great Cave Spirit Scripture was that the Dragon Beast would, in turn, influence the Cultivator’s temperament.

Both involved dual cultivation, but the Spiritual Essence of a Magical Treasure was typically simple and naive. Except for a few special cases, they had almost no effect on a cultivator’s temperament. Dragon Beasts were a different story. Their minds were far more complex, and the influence of their bloodline made most of them arrogant and unruly. Some were even bloodthirsty by nature, reveling in chaos and misfortune.

The Ancestor Master Dong had, of course, foreseen this. In his annotations on the Great Cave Spirit Scripture, he repeatedly and emphatically urged his descendants to pay close attention to their Divine Soul cultivation while practicing the technique, so they could purge the interference from the Dragon Beast.

What he hadn’t accounted for, however, was the complexity of human nature. Most of the Dong Family members who abandoned the pure cultivation methods for the Great Cave Spirit Scripture were impatient, seeking quick and easy success. They prioritized advancing their Cultivation above all else. Cultivating one’s Divine Soul was an arduous process with little immediate reward.

Even when disciples did try to follow his annotations, they would eventually give up after being left far behind by their peers.

"I am Yang Jing. What is it you want?"

Yang Jing said, his eyes narrowing. His Qi Mechanism flared, sharp and piercing, meeting Dong Xixian’s head-on.

After cultivating the Sword Qi Canon, his every action carried an incomparably sharp intent. Ordinarily, however, he kept it perfectly restrained, like a blade hidden in its sheath.

Now, unleashing it without restraint, a web of fine, intersecting cracks instantly spiderwebbed across the ground at Yang Jing’s feet.