The old man's ink-black robe flapped noisily in the residual gusts stirred up by the formation's activation.
"This..."
He stared at the massive pit slowly being refilled by the surrounding seawater, then glanced up at the still-humming floating castle overhead, and finally let out a sigh.
"Although Sea-Strangler is an evil serpent, I originally thought Mountain-Crusher and Sea-Overturner might still walk the right path. I never imagined those two brothers had long harbored thoughts of bringing disaster to this world..."
"If not for the young reverend being here today, this old bones of mine would likely have been buried at the bottom of this sea."
He turned around and made a deep bow to Chen Yu.
"But who would have thought that the young reverend could refine the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Killing Extermination Formation—capable of shielding an entire major sect—into a magic treasure?"
"With such means, looking across the Southern Frontier, aside from those righteous leaders, I doubt anyone else could match it. Mountain-Crusher and Sea-Overturner lost without any injustice."
The light of the formation gradually faded, and the churning seawater reemerged. Bubbles mixed with remnants of dark green fiendish energy, staining the entire sea area into a murky, filthy dark green.
Right in the middle of this turbid mess, dozens of scarred, dark-red tentacles silently extended out from beneath the water's surface, dragging their half-crippled fiendish bodies as they tried to converge behind Chen Yu.
Chen Yu didn't even turn his head.
The Primordial Chaos Unity True Art circulated automatically within his Golden Core, and dozens of transparent Water Arrows materialized on the sea surface around him.
Every single Water Arrow pierced through a tentacle with pinpoint accuracy. Dark green fiendish blood sprayed out, only to be scattered into mist by the sea breeze.
"Never learns his lesson." Chen Yu shook his head.
He simply raised his hand.
Sixteen clones split out from a burst of golden light, then expanded rapidly in mere seconds, transforming into sixteen hundred-foot-tall golden divine spirits. They formed a ring, surrounding the two massive, still-bleeding giant squid fiend bodies of Mountain-Crusher and Sea-Overturner in the center.
All sixteen golden divine spirits opened their mouths simultaneously, their voices layering and pressing down like sixteen golden bells struck at the exact same moment.
"Slay! No mercy!"
The golden spirits turned into towering swords that shot into the sky.
Sixteen sword beams fell at once, slicing into the sea, carving into the two fiend kings' fiendish bodies.
The moment the sword light entered the sea, the entire sea region trembled. The seawater was pushed outward by the sword intent, wave after wave crashing into the distant reefs.
Massive amounts of dark red blood and pitch-black fiendish juice churned up from the seabed. The two fiend kings' enormous bodies, which had been half-sunk and half-floating, completely lost all life under this barrage of consecutive strikes. They slowly floated up from the seafloor, drifting on the surface as patches of dark red dead flesh.
Chen Yu flew over on his sword, peeled back the thick fiendish skin and layers of fat, retrieved two fist-sized, perfectly round fiendish cores, and casually stored them in the Royal Treasury.
Only then did he turn and pursue the direction where Guanshan Dao Master and the Sea-Strangling Fiend King had clashed.
The old man transformed back into his original form and plunged into the seawater. His massive whale body tumbled through the waves, barely managing to catch up to Chen Yu's sword light.
"Young reverend, be careful. This Sea-Strangling Fiend King already bears the signs of a dragon. He's only one step away from shedding his serpent skin to become a true dragon. That's precisely why you must not push him too hard."
"Why?" Olivia, lying on Chen Yu's shoulder, her vertical pupils filled with curiosity.
The old man's tone was grave: "Your dragon majesty may not know this. That Sea-Strangling Fiend King could have swallowed the dragon pearl long ago and forcefully transformed into a dragon. But his nature is cautious—he insists on waiting until everything is absolutely certain before making his move."
"However, if we truly corner him with no way out, that evil serpent will not just sit idly by and wait for death. Once the Divine Cauldron enters his belly and merges with his thousand years of cultivation, his fiendish core will transform before it has time to digest the Cauldron properly. You will lose your precious sea-suppressing treasure, and the tidal surges from the Abyss will have no other means to be suppressed."
Ning Jiao seemed lost in thought: "Let's go take a look."
"Follow me."
He unfurled his sword light, and the golden sword rainbow swept the old man's massive whale body along with it.
Before the old man could react, the scene before him had already transformed from the churning sea surface into a golden light path that spanned the horizon. The seawater beneath his feet had been pulled into a blurry dashed line by the sword rainbow.
He quickly transformed back into the image of the ink-robed old man, standing within the sword light.
"Young reverend, save some energy, save some energy. This old man can swim on his own."
Chen Yu didn't respond. Instead, the sword light sped up another notch.
A moment later, this golden rainbow light arrived at that stretch of sea, which had been churned into chaos by the storm.
Guanshan Dao Master's Sea-Suppressing Divine Cauldron hung suspended in midair. All nine dragon patterns on the cauldron's body had been fully activated. Nine bronze-colored dragon-shaped phantoms shuttled back and forth through the storm, each pass pressing a wave back down to the sea surface.
Opposite him, the Sea-Strangling Fiend King had fully unleashed his fiendish body. A hundred-foot-long black-scaled giant serpent coiled atop the surging waves. Every sweep of its massive tail raised new peaks of waves. When its snake mouth gaped wide, the fiendish wind it spat out carried a stench-ridden, dark green poisonous mist, darkening even the sky by several shades.
One man and one fiend—one suppressing the sea, one stirring up wind and waves—were locked in a deadlock. The surrounding seawater had been stirred up and slapped back down multiple times. A layer of sea fiends, killed by the shockwaves, floated on the surface.
The Sea-Strangling Fiend King's Divine Sense suddenly caught something.
He violently shook off a wave to force Guanshan Dao Master back, turning his massive snake head toward the north. His vertical pupils reflected that golden rainbow light on the horizon, and his entire snake face changed color.
His voice roared from his snake mouth, carrying fiendish power that vibrated the sea surface: "So, you old whale, you betrayed Mountain-Crusher and Sea-Overturner! I always knew you old bastard couldn't be trusted!"
"Don't you know the great calamity is about to descend? Without me, this sea will sooner or later be turned completely upside down!"
"The great calamity?" Guanshan Dao Master's momentary distraction allowed the Sea-Strangling Fiend King to escape several miles away, facing off against them.
The old man descended from Chen Yu's sword light, landing on the water's surface. His voice was heavy:
"Sea-Strangler, the theft of the pearl was all my planning. The crime lies with me, no one else. But I came here today to persuade you to turn back. Hand over the dragon pearl, and you might still save your life."
He turned sideways, raised his arm, and pointed at the silver-white dragon soul quietly lying on Chen Yu's shoulder.
"Take a look. What is this?"
The Sea-Strangling Fiend King followed his arm and looked.
A gray-white ray of sky light filtered through the gaps in the Abyss mist, shining precisely onto Chen Yu's shoulder.
Olivia raised her dragon head. Her palm-sized dragon wings spread slightly, and her scales gleamed with a warm, pure silver-white radiance under that ray of light.
The Sea-Strangling Fiend King's vertical pupils contracted violently.
"How is that possible?!"
"All the true dragons under heaven died out a hundred years ago! Where did you find this one?"
Guanshan Dao Master, standing to the side, had learned the full story through Chen Yu's Divine Sense transmission. He couldn't help but laugh heartily: "Sea-Strangler! There's always a mountain beyond a mountain, a sky beyond a sky. There are far more things you don't know!"
"This dragon majesty is right here! You half-baked evil serpent, surrender immediately!"
The Sea-Strangling Fiend King's expression gradually twisted. His massive tail slammed fiercely into the sea surface, raising a wall of waves hundreds of feet high. The entire serpent launched itself from the surging waves, and the fleshy lump on its head actually began to emit light.
"You forced my hand!"
His roar was so powerful that it simultaneously shattered the shells on the distant reefs. "No one will stop me from transforming into a dragon today!"
A pearl, its surface flowing with a warm golden light, was forced up from the deep sea. Faint dragon roars echoed around the pearl's body. Just its floating presence alone caused the surrounding storm to momentarily pause.
He opened his snake mouth, and the dragon pearl floated upward under his Divine Sense's guidance, about to fall into his mouth.
Then the dragon pearl stopped in midair, trembling slightly.
The Sea-Strangling Fiend King's snake eyes bulged.
He followed the direction of the trembling pearl's movement and saw that the faint golden true dragon energy emanating from the pearl had somehow already connected to the scaled wings of the silver-white dragon soul on Chen Yu's shoulder.
That true dragon energy no longer heeded his Divine Sense's guidance. Instead, as if it had found a more rightful home, it drifted toward the silver dragon soul.
"I am the true dragon!"
The Sea-Strangling Fiend King roared in fury. A pillar of faint golden energy burst from the fleshy lump on his forehead, wrapped in a thick, stench-ridden fiendish aura, forcibly halting the dragon pearl in midair once more.
The dragon pearl, pulled by two opposing forces, hung suspended between them. The golden light on the pearl's surface flickered, and the dragon roars came and went intermittently.
Guanshan Dao Master reached out and pressed his hand on the Divine Cauldron, about to activate it and interrupt Sea-Strangler's dragon transformation signs. But then he suddenly sensed a surge of an even deeper, more profound aura behind him.
He spun his head sharply, looking at Chen Yu.
[Dragon Bloodline]
[Primordial Chaos Unity True Art]
Under the blessing of the Great Dao, his magic power and the energy of heaven and earth actually condensed into a massive true dragon phantom behind Chen Yu.
The dragon pearl hesitated no longer.
It let out a light, cheerful whisper, then flew straight toward Chen Yu.
The moment the pearl's body made contact with him, it withdrew all its outward-releasing golden light. It lay quietly in his palm, like a bird's egg that had finally found its nest to return to.
"No!!"
The Sea-Strangling Fiend King's faith crumbled. His heart turned to ash. His dragon transformation failed. The hundred-foot serpent body crashed into the sea with a mournful howl, sending up a spray.
The storm was thus settled.
The gray-white Abyss mist gathered back together, enshrouding this sea area in its usual gloom and stillness.
Guanshan Dao Master retrieved the Divine Cauldron and descended from midair. His gaze fell upon the dragon pearl lying quietly in Chen Yu's palm.
After a long silence, he still couldn't help but ask, "Dao friend, that dragon majesty just now..."
"Ahem." Chen Yu let out a light cough, interrupting Guanshan Dao Master before he could finish his question with a random excuse, "Didn't I tell you before? I've been practicing true dragon techniques since I was young. It's only reasonable that I know this pearl-summoning art."
Guanshan Dao Master froze for a moment, then swallowed back the entire pile of questions that had been on the tip of his tongue. He could only utter two words: "Reasonable."
But his internal doubts did not diminish by even half because of that "reasonable."
He even began to suspect that this Ning Jiao friend before him might actually be a true dragon incarnated in human form.
The old man, on the other hand, stepped forward directly. He swept aside his ink robe, dropped to one knee on the water's surface, and made a deep bow to Chen Yu: "This old man had eyes but failed to recognize a dragon majesty. My previous offenses were numerous. I beg the dragon majesty's forgiveness."
"Alright, let's go see if that Sea-Strangling Fiend King is completely dead." Chen Yu flew over.
The group arrived at the place where Sea-Strangler had fallen.
A serpent body, from which all black scales had already fallen off, floated on the sea surface. The flesh exposed after the scales had shed was rapidly losing moisture. Soon, the entire serpent body had completely turned into stone.
Only a small snake crawled out from within. It was palm-sized, a grayish-green all over. Its eyes were round and black. It timidly coiled on top of the stone, its forked tongue hesitantly flicking out twice before retreating and curling up into a ball.
Guanshan Dao Master reached out and drew the small snake over. He opened his palm, looking at the little snake in his hand. His tone carried no hatred, but rather a hint of regret.
"Has it lost all its cultivation, reverting to a wild beast?"
The small snake shrank in his palm, burying its head beneath its coiled body, its tail tip trembling slightly in unease.
Guanshan Dao Master let out a light sigh: "What a pity. If he had been willing to walk the righteous path, with this talent for dragon transformation, he might not have been denied the help of the Eighteen Islands of Zhan County. He could have revived the true dragon bloodline of the South Sea. A thousand years of cultivation destroyed by a single misstep. In the end, he's worse off than a newborn wild snake."
He turned to Chen Yu and bowed with cupped hands: "Ning Jiao, Dao friend, I wish to take this snake back to Guanshan Dojo to raise and properly educate it."
"Its spiritual wisdom has dissipated, its memories are all lost. It is no different from a newborn snake. The dojo is rich in spiritual energy. Perhaps in the future, it can help it reawaken its wisdom, resume the righteous path, and become a benevolent snake."
"The true dragon bloodline of the South Sea should not end like this."
Chen Yu glanced at the small snake, still trembling in the Dao Master's palm. He recalled that when he himself had just awakened from the swamp, he had probably been just this small.
He nodded. "That's fine. But this dragon pearl concerns the great calamity of the Abyss. I cannot leave it with you."
Guanshan Dao Master bowed solemnly with cupped hands.
"Dao friend, there's no need to stand on ceremony. This Legacy Pearl of the South Sea was originally an item left behind by the true dragon race. My Eighteen Islands of Zhan County have merely kept it safe for a hundred years, borrowing its power to suppress the sea."
"Now that the true dragon has returned, this pearl rightfully belongs under the dragon majesty's control. If it can be used to quell the Abyss's tidal surges, it will be a great act of merit for the entire South Sea. Dao friend, take it away."
"Thank you." Chen Yu returned the bow.
Guanshan Dao Master still needed to report what had happened here back to the Eighteen Islands of Zhan County. Unable to stay long, he hastily bid farewell to Chen Yu and transformed into a streak of cyan light heading north.
Only Chen Yu and the old man remained, heading toward the far end of the Abyss to investigate the situation there.
Halfway there, he raised his hand and lifted the dragon pearl out of his palm, holding it up before Olivia for her to examine carefully.
Olivia extended her two front claws to hug the pearl, which was now bigger than her entire body. She brought it close, sniffed it, and muttered with a tone of novelty: "How strange. This thing gives me a feeling like it's something giant dragons should naturally have."
"But I've lived on this continent for so long. I've never seen a pearl like this on any of my kin."
"I think this dragon pearl suits you quite well. Maybe it can help you restore your body," Chen Yu said.
To be honest, if he swallowed this thing, it would at most add a bit more to his cultivation. But if he gave it to Olivia to rebuild her true dragon path, the Slime United Empire might very well gain another Legendary silver dragon in the near future.
He asked the old man in detail about the steps of dragon transformation and the key points to pay attention to.
The old man's tone was respectful and firm: "Dragon majesty, there is no need to worry. This dragon pearl is originally the condensation of a true dragon's entire cultivation and the Great Dao. It already contains a small world of its own."
"If the dragon soul uses the dragon pearl as its nest and dwells within it, in as little as a few months or as long as several decades, it will surely be able to completely digest and absorb the pearl for its own use. By then, the dragon soul will naturally recondense its dragon body with the pearl as its core. Once the dragon body is complete, the Golden Core cultivation will be nothing more than a natural progression."
Olivia lay on Chen Yu's shoulder, the silver-white tip of her tail flicking happily a few times.
She had originally thought that waiting to grow back that beautiful silver-white body of hers would take who knew how many more years.
Who would have thought that by following her His Majesty out for a spin, she would already have hope.
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