1803 Declaration

The Beast Paradise had a teleportation formation that linked directly to another teleportation formation in the backyard of the Dragon Palace.

Created during the reign of the first Emperor, the two formations were created to maintain a deep connection between the beasts and the humans and remember where the leaders of the beasts had come from.

Over time, the connection had become more and more shallow until it was nothing but a piece of formality that one had to maintain.

And even that formality the current Dragon Emperor broke by forcing upon the beast's rules and orders that they had to follow.

The teleportation formation itself was left alone and the beasts had used that very formation to quickly come here from the Beast's Paradise.

Pearl flew with the group of beasts and arrived next to the battlefield, slowly stopping only some distance away as he stared at the man that he had come to this war for.

Despite staying in the Eastern Continent for nearly 18 years with Alex, Pearl had never seen the Dragon Emperor with his own eyes. Forever it was just through recordings in talismans. They knew he could not appear before the Emperor at the time and for that reason never came face to face with him.

As such, this was the first time Pearl was laying an eye on the Dragon Emperor.

He watched the tall, middle-aged man with a silky-thick blue beard and flowing blue hair. His face held a level of calmness but his eyes betrayed the anger and frustration he felt at Pearl's appearance.

"You…" the Dragon Emperor growled softly.

Pearl took a few steps, separating himself from the swarm of beasts to stand out amongst them. He looked at the plethora of humans, some who knew who he was, most of whom didn't.

He took a deep breath, calmed the hatred in his heart that seemed to want to consume him, and spoke with a voice loud enough to be heard by not just the people on the battlefield, but also the people far away who were either hiding or watching.

"Long Tiankong!" Pearl spoke.

The man did not deserve a title in his opinion. Nor did he deserve any sort of deference.

"I will assume that you know who I am. After all, you tried to kill me when I was only a newborn child."

Pearl's words caused many of the people on either side to look around in confusion. They couldn't understand this new element at all.

However, a few of them remembered information that was already provided to them and were starting to slowly piece together answers.

"For those who do not know me, let me introduce myself. I am Pearl. I am a brother to King Alex of the Southern Continent, his bonded beast," Pearl said.

The words caused a layer of surprised murmur to pass through the group of people whose fighting had come to somewhat of a stop.

The Emperor's eyes shot toward Alex, finally gaining a level of understanding where he had learned all that he had. He knew not what thing Alex did to get the memories out of a child, but that made more sense than Alex finding out the information out of nowhere.

"I am also the Great Grandson of Bai Jingshen, ruler of the Western Continent, the White Tiger," Pearl said.

His words sent another wave of gasps and whispers, but this one wasn't as big as the last one. After all, everyone could see what exactly Pearl most likely was.

"However, most important of all, I have yet another identity," Pearl said. "Yet another connection that I only came to learn about just the last year. Perhaps, the most important identity I have."

"To the people of the Eastern Continent, I am Qing Shouchuang, Son of Qing Tianchui, the one you know as the Azure Dragon," Pearl said.

Pearl let the information linger.

The Dragon Emperor frowned as soon as the information was out, and the people who had guessed it already were more than shocked to find their guesses confirmed.

As for the people who had expected nothing at all, this piece of information hit them like a hammer. Numerous shouts rang around them, some claiming what Pearl was saying as false, some praising him for it, while some simply wanted proof before they believed anything."

"If you want an oath from me, then you shall have it," Pearl said. "I am named Qing Shouchuang at birth and am the son of the late ruler of the Eastern Continent, Qing Tianchui, I swear this upon the heavens."

The world stirred but nothing fell from the sky to strike Pearl. The world remained still, proving to everyone that what Pearl said was the truth.

"That is correct," Pearl spoke. His words cut through the deep silence that hung in the air. "I am the son of the Azure Dragon, the late ruler of the Eastern Continent. In his death and the lack of another Azure Dragon, I become the sole heir to that throne and am thus the new ruler of your kind."

"To those who still fight on behalf of this man, you must know of his crime by now. If you do not, know that he was responsible for the deaths of my father and mother. As your rightful ruler, I command you all to fight against him and his men immediately."

Pearl's eyes then turned toward the Emperor and his voice grew vicious. "For you, Long Tiankong, I have no words to speak but this. You tried to kill me when I was a child, but the sacrifice of my father and mother helped me survive."

"Today, I have come to pay you back for that sacrifice. Today, I bring you vengeance, and I bring you death."

His words thundered throughout the world with a tiger's roar. A flicker of something appeared on his forehead for a fraction of a second before disappearing, and his words were heard by every person that was in the air and all around.

Whisker recorded what was happening once more as it would be something useful for Alex later on. Or maybe they could even use it right away to send more messages throughout the empire.

With Pearl's arrival and declaration, there may be more hands willing to help them in this war.

Soldiers that were on the sideline slowly stood up and looked toward Pearl and then the war. The war was no longer between the Southern Continent and their Emperor whom they no longer wanted to follow.

It was now between the heir of the Azure Dragon and the one that killed the Azure Dragon. There was more reason to the battle now, more meaning to what they were doing.

As for the soldiers that were fighting on the side of the Emperor started having second thoughts. They were unsure what exactly it was that they should do here.

Quite a few of them started leaving the army, defecting right in front of them. As for the rest, they were still on the side of the Emperor as the Azure Dragon meant little to them.

They turned to their Emperor, hoping to find an answer in their time of doubt. When they saw him, they were disheartened to see that their Emperor as well was filled with questions himself.