Word Count: 2,793 Words
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Huang Tian was fleeing, yet Cai Lin seemed not to notice at all. She continued to frantically gather every last shred of power within her body. A terrifying force of lightning began to envelop her entirely. If that strike landed, even a 5-star Dou Saint like Huang Tian would suffer a fatal wound.
"Jade-Green Snake Demon Realm!"
After completely purging the negative energy from her Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils, Qing Lin had gained new powers as well.
Green light flooded the sky in an instant. A gigantic demonic pupil materialized in midair and sealed off the entire surrounding space.
The Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils were far more than a tool for controlling serpent-kind. They possessed many other formidable abilities.
Thud!
The fleeing Huang Tian slammed headfirst into the sealed space. That single moment of delay was all Cai Lin needed to lock onto him.
"Nine-Colored Heaven Swallowing Lightning."
Still fully in her true form, Cai Lin opened her serpent pupils wide. In that instant, it was as though stars were collapsing and the void itself was shattering within those eyes. One could almost glimpse an apocalyptic world where a boundless, infinite serpent roamed the cosmos, feeding on planets themselves!
The Heaven Swallowing Python!
An endless sea of lightning drowned out everything. Terrifying thunder tore through all in its path, the world itself seeming to crack apart as though some force were ripping everything caught within it to dust.
"Demon Phoenix Bell!!"
The lightning moved at impossible speed. It flashed once, and only after the Dou Technique had already completed did the sound arrive.
BOOM!
Before anyone could comprehend what had happened, thunder exploded overhead as though a celestial lightning pool had burst apart.
A bolt of lightning like a thunder arrow punched straight through the Demon Phoenix Bell. Against Cai Lin's bloodline Dou Technique, the bell was as fragile as paper. Huang Tian's body was pierced clean through.
But unleashing that strike with the Serpent Mother's borrowed power had consumed an enormous amount of Cai Lin's Dou Qi. She could no longer sustain her true form and reverted to human shape, while the soul bodies of the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Pythons sank into slumber to recover their strength.
After all, that power was borrowed, not truly her own.
"Ahhh!! Damn you all! Yan Alliance! Snake-People Tribe! Remember this! I, Huang Tian, will avenge today's humiliation!" A gaping hole had been blasted through Huang Tian's body, but the Demon Phoenix Bell had deflected the strike just enough to weaken its force, preventing an outright kill. He clung stubbornly to life. A wisp of black beast flame ignited across his body, fighting to keep the invading thunder at bay.
Such tenacious vitality truly lived up to his status as the Tribe Leader of the Heaven Demon Phoenix Tribe, like an undying phoenix given flesh.
Yet even after Cai Lin had exhausted herself to this degree, Huang Tian still lost his nerve. He hurriedly tore open the void and prepared to flee, unwilling to stake his life on a desperate fight. Regret had already begun to stir in his heart. His talk of revenge was nothing more than empty bluster.
Cai Lin paid his grand threats no attention whatsoever. In her eyes, he was already a dead man.
Just then, a wisp of black flame suddenly ignited behind Huang Tian. A black-robed figure stepped out from a passage forged of dark fire. That flame was unmistakably the black fire of the Nihility Devouring Flame's Seed Flame!
"Jie Jie Jie, Huang Tian, oh Huang Tian. You won't be getting that chance for revenge." Eerie laughter spilled from beneath the black robe as the figure moved directly into Huang Tian's escape path, cutting off his retreat.
Huang Tian's face went deathly pale in an instant. He snapped his head around in alarm. The black-robed man had made no effort to conceal his face behind his hood or with Spiritual Strength, allowing Huang Tian to see his true appearance clearly.
"Hun Mie Sheng! Hall Chief of the Hall of Souls!!" Huang Tian looked as though he had seen a ghost. Then his expression abruptly shifted, and wild delight surged across his face. "Hun Mie Sheng, if your Hall of Souls is willing to help me exterminate the Snake-People Tribe, name any condition you want!"
The Hall of Souls was an organization of the Hun Clan, and wasn't the Hun Clan the mortal enemy of the Xiao Clan? A savior had arrived!
Even Hun Mie Sheng froze for a brief moment at those words, then burst into loud laughter. "Jie Jie Jie, Huang Tian, have you lived so long that you've gone senile? I came here today under orders to take your life."
"And I am not the Hall Chief of the Hall of Souls. I am only the former Hall Chief."
Huang Tian's eyes went blank. Former Hall Chief? If he was the previous one... then who was the current Hall Chief of the Hall of Souls?!!
For reasons he could not explain, a figure suddenly flashed through his mind in that fleeting instant, someone he had never met in the flesh, someone whose face he knew only from portraits.
Xiao Yan.
"Be on your way."
"NOO!!!"
…
As for the 'current Hall Chief of the Hall of Souls,' he was at that very moment on Northern Dragon Island.
Ever since the three Dragon Kings' failed surprise attack on Eastern Dragon Island, which Xiao Yan had thwarted, the three Dragon Islands had been deliberately hidden away somewhere within the void. In the stretch of void space where Northern Dragon Island now resided, blood-colored light surged endlessly. The stench of gore carried clearly even from thousands of miles away.
The source of that crimson radiance was a massive island floating in the emptiness. The entire landmass was drenched in scarlet, as though soaked in fresh blood, lending it an indescribably sinister appearance.
Far out in the sky beyond the island, countless figures filled the air. They had surrounded it from every direction so tightly that not even water could slip through the blockade. Their expressions were dark with fear, and their gazes toward the blood-soaked island blazed with fury.
Every last one of them was a warrior of Eastern Dragon Island.
"Dragon Transforming Demon Formation! Dragon Transforming Demon Formation! That bastard Northern Dragon King actually committed an atrocity this insane! This is a forbidden art of the Ancient Void Dragon Tribe! It was destroyed thousands of years ago. How could he possibly use it?!" The Second Elder roared furiously from the sky above the island. He had only just emerged from seclusion after receiving the Dragon Emperor's summons.
The other Eastern Dragon Island elders nearby fell silent. They too had only ever heard of such a forbidden art.
None of them had even been born before the old Dragon Emperor had ordered the formation destroyed.
Many of those who had marched out under Dragon Emperor Zi Yan's command still had no idea what had happened. But the moment they arrived at Northern Dragon Island, every last one of them felt their scalps go numb.
Was this still the beautiful dragon haven where so many members of the Ancient Void Dragon Tribe had once lived? This was clearly a living hell!
What chilled them most was that the madman had activated the grand formation directly on Northern Dragon Island itself. After the three Dragon Kings' failed sneak attack and the subsequent alliance between their three islands, many powerful experts from all three factions had gathered here. Under those circumstances, aside from a very small number who had escaped, the vast majority of experts on the island had likely already been dissolved by the Dragon Transforming Demon Formation into blood essence and devoured by the Northern Dragon King at the formation's core.
And after consuming so many of his own tribesmen, the Northern Dragon King's strength had risen to an extremely terrifying level.
"Xiao... Xiao Yan, what do we do…?" Zi Yan's pretty face had gone white as paper, utterly bloodless. She turned to Xiao Yan beside her, helplessness written across her expression.
The sight was too devastating. She had only recently taken the throne, and her temperament had not yet fully matured. A tragedy of this magnitude was a crushing blow.
She had wanted to unify the Dragon Islands so her people could live in peace and prosper together. But looking at the scene before her now, hadn't nearly three-quarters of the Ancient Void Dragon Tribe's people perished?!
Three-quarters!!
That number represented the greatest casualty toll in the entire history of the Ancient Void Dragon Tribe!
To say the tribe had already been half-destroyed would not be an exaggeration.
Yun Yun and Nalan Yanran, who had accompanied them, were both pale as well. Though they were not especially close to Zi Yan, this tragedy left them feeling powerless and sorrowful all the same.
They had still arrived too late.
"We save the living first," Xiao Yan said. "Everyone who can be saved, we save."
"Zi Yan, do your best to hold the Northern Dragon King's attention. The Dragon Transforming Demon Formation has a special sensitivity toward the Ancient Void Dragon Tribe. Ordinary members won't be able to resist it, and it will devour their flesh and blood."
"Yun Yun, Nalan Yanran, the two of you come with me to rescue survivors. The Northern Dragon King still doesn't know I've returned. He shouldn't be expecting this."
"Send part of the remaining force to search for Southern Dragon Island and Western Dragon Island. Those two islands should be somewhere nearby. First Elder and Second Elder, stay here to receive Zi Yan and the people we bring out, just in case."
The situation was clear. The Northern Dragon King had already brought this demonic art to completion. Xiao Yan understood something else now as well: Feng Qing Er had been used from the very beginning. Huang Tian had never trusted her. Every piece of intelligence she received had been deliberately planted.
The only fortunate thing was that Xiao Yan himself was now very powerful. As long as the Northern Dragon King had not reached 7-star Dou Saint or above, he had nothing to fear.
A 7-star Dou Saint marked the threshold of a high-level Dou Saint. Even among the Dou God Clans, only a handful of experts had ever reached that level. It was a true dividing line.
The moment Xiao Yan finished speaking, a measure of calm settled over the assembled forces. His presence alone was enough to steady morale, and a strategy quickly took shape.
Zi Yan nodded heavily. There was no time to hesitate. She summoned the Dragon Slaying Sword directly and, with a single slash, cleaved apart Northern Dragon Island's barrier defenses and tore through the blood mist. The Dragon Slaying Sword's terrifying divine might was so overwhelming that even the Dragon Transforming Demon Formation did not dare approach it.
Xiao Yan spread his Spiritual Strength across the island to locate survivors while using the Nihility Space to quietly transport Yun Yun and Nalan Yanran to other sections of Northern Dragon Island.
"Northern Dragon King!! You bastard, get your ass out here and face this Emperor!" Zi Yan's eyes had turned blood-red. Her voice carried not only fury but an endless, bone-deep grief as she roared at the island below.
In the end, she had still failed to prevent this tragedy.
Her anguished cry had barely faded when a chilling, sinister laugh echoed from the imperial palace on Northern Dragon Island.
"Kekekekeke! So the little girl still wet behind the ears has finally come! This King was just thinking the sacrifices were insufficient. If this King devours you, this King's bloodline will surely surpass every predecessor of the Ancient Void Dragon Tribe! Hahaha! When that day comes, this King shall be the greatest in all of the tribe's history!"
"I am the Dragon Emperor!!"
"The Dragon Emperor can only be me!!"
Dense blood light, reeking of gore, shrouded the entire island. Zhu Li and the others did not dare advance. Then another burst of crazed laughter rang out from within that crimson veil, followed by a terrifying energy fluctuation that swept outward in all directions.
A figure emerged from the imperial palace, something that was human and yet not human. Its body was massive and grotesquely muscular, the flesh beneath its skin writhing like living creatures. As those muscles squirmed, streams of blood oozed from every pore, making the thing look like a man molded from raw gore, hideous and ghastly beyond description. Atop that blood-soaked body sat an abnormally enormous head.
And on that head were three faces.
The Western Dragon King, the Southern Dragon King, and the Northern Dragon King!
Three faces on a single skull. The sight alone was enough to make one's stomach churn violently.
Even the other two Dragon Kings had already fallen victim to this madman!
Clack! Clack!
All three faces were grinning. Blood dripped continuously from the corners of their mouths, and those six scarlet eyes burned with the same savage frenzy as a wild beast's.
"Bastard!!" Zi Yan bit down hard at the sight. Her bloodline surged to a boil. She was far stronger now than she had been in the past, so she needed only a tiny sliver of life force to unleash a Dragon Slaying Slash.
A wave of purple-gold energy swept out and cut straight toward the Northern Dragon King.
"Heh heh heh, a Dragon Slaying Sword? I have one too!"
The Northern Dragon King let out a bizarre laugh. In the next instant, a gigantic sword that seemed formed from liquid gold materialized in his hand and blocked Zi Yan's slash.
Though its golden surface was shot through with an intense blood-red hue, it unmistakably emitted the same energy fluctuations as the Dragon Slaying Sword!
"6-star Dou Saint! Just how many of our tribe's people has this Northern Dragon King devoured?" Half-Saint Zhu Li's face had turned deathly pale. He had still clung to the hope that the people of Southern and Western Dragon Island might be safe. Looking at the three-faced abomination before them now, that hope was almost certainly gone.
"Our tribe... faces a great calamity."
Zi Yan let out a furious cry and charged forward with the Dragon Slaying Sword in hand. The Northern Dragon King merely sneered at the sight of her late 4-star Dou Saint cultivation. His own blade met hers head-on.
The two swords collided again and again, metallic clangs ringing through the sky. Not only did the Northern Dragon King hold his ground without the slightest disadvantage, but foul winds thick with the stench of blood surged from him every so often, forcing Zi Yan into peril.
"Northern Dragon King, you beast! The Western Dragon King and Southern Dragon King were your allies, and you still wouldn't spare even them! You devoured their bodies and souls just to turn yourself into this... this monster!" Zi Yan's eyes blazed as she glared at the gore-covered abomination.
"Ke ke haha! True, this King ate their flesh, but this King also promised to avenge them!" The Northern Dragon King's face on that monstrous head cackled madly. The giant sword in his hand hacked toward Zi Yan with lightning-like speed, one vicious strike after another. The terrifying force behind each blow drove her back step by step.
After swallowing the Western Dragon King and Southern Dragon King whole, then using the Dragon Transforming Demon Formation to devour countless experts on the island, the Northern Dragon King's strength had already far surpassed Zi Yan's. Were it not for his lingering wariness toward the authentic Dragon Slaying Sword in her hand, Zi Yan would likely have perished under his blade long ago.
Zi Yan gritted her teeth and endured with all her strength in the face of his frenzied attacks. The Dragon Transforming Demon Formation had severely weakened her Dragon Emperor bloodline pressure. She could no longer rely on that innate suppression to keep the Northern Dragon King in check.
"Northern Dragon King, you used the Dragon Transforming Demon Formation! Sooner or later, the slaughter will cloud your mind and reduce you to nothing but a mindless beast that knows only how to kill!"
"Ke ke, then a beast it shall be! The Ancient Void Dragon Tribe can only be unified by this King, and only this King can be the Dragon Emperor!" The Northern Dragon King cackled, then stopped abruptly. His hand shot downward and seized at the air. Three members of the Ancient Void Dragon Tribe were wrenched from the void below, their faces twisted in agony. He gripped them as though they were mere projectiles and hurled them viciously at Zi Yan.