The moment to break the seal had finally arrived.
In the desolate heart of Black Water Lake, the water grew still and heavy. Here, a colossal canyon scarred the lakebed—a submarine rift so vast and profoundly deep that light itself seemed afraid to touch its bottom. This was the resting place of the legend, the tomb where the Silver Flood Dragon had been sealed away for an age.
Luo Zhen descended into the gloom, leading a cavalcade of monstrous entities.
The retinue behind him was no ragtag group; these were the apex predators of the lake, the young prodigies and ancient terrors of the major aquatic factions. Every single beast following in Luo Zhen's wake had cultivated their power to the Heavenly Profound Realm. They represented the absolute zenith of Black Water Lake's military might. Only the strong possessed the qualifications—and the literal keys—to enter this sacred abyss.
Luo Zhen, flanked by his trusted lieutenant Green Frog, reached the canyon floor. Looming before them was a sheer stone face, smooth and unnatural against the jagged geology of the rift. Three distinct indentations marred its surface.
Green Frog swam forward, his voice trembling slightly with reverence. "This wall is the physical manifestation of the sealing array," he explained, gesturing with a webbed hand. "Behind this stone lies a hollow pocket of space. The Silver Flood Dragon waits within."
He pointed to the three depressions. "The tumblers. Once the keys are inserted, the ancient array will dissolve."
Without wasting another second, Green Frog reached into his robes and produced a heavy, dull-brass key. Luo Zhen brushed his thumb over his Dark Gold Ring. A spectral gloom flickered, and two matching keys materialized in his palm.
Together, they stepped up to the monolith. The metal slid into the stone with a satisfying, heavy clunk.
The reaction was instantaneous. Veins of light erupted across the stone face, converging into a vertical fissure that split the wall from crown to base. The crack groaned open, widening until it formed a massive gateway.
Through the aperture, the murky water gave way to a pocket of dry, preserved air. There, coiled in the silence of centuries, lay a creature of breathtaking majesty. It was a silver flood dragon, nearly two hundred meters in length. Though it had been dead for years, death had not diminished it. Its scales still shimmered with moonlight, and a terrifying, oppressive aura—the lingering Wei of a true monster—radiated from its corpse, pressing down on the souls of the living.
"The Silver Flood Dragon..." Green Frog whispered.
"Indeed," Luo Zhen murmured, his eyes narrowing as he assessed the prize.
He was about to issue a command when a harsh, ecstatic voice tore through the solemnity from behind them.
" The Pupil King! The Silver Pupil King is actually here! We found him!"
Luo Zhen whipped around, his serpentine eyes cold. Emerging from the gloom of the canyon were eight bizarre creatures. They were snakes, yet fundamentally wrong. Their bodies were long and sinuous, but two pairs of vestigial, clawed limbs sprouted from their abdomens, twitching with nervous energy.
Despite their grotesque appearance, their power was undeniable. Five were in the late stages of the Heavenly Profound Realm. The remaining three were full-fledged Demon Generals—one in the late stage, two in the mid-stage.
The sudden spike in hostile spiritual pressure caused the beasts of Black Water Lake to recoil in terror. Only Luo Zhen remained unmoved.
The intruders closed the distance in a heartbeat.
"Who... who are you?" Green Frog stammered, trying to muster the dignity of a local lord. "Why have you trespassed in Black Water Lake?"
"We are here for the Silver Flood Dragon Pupil King," the leader of the intruders, a Late-stage Demon General, sneered. He pointed a claw at the magnificent corpse behind the gate. "That dragon belongs to us. We have been hunting for his remains for a very long time."
"You came for the Dragon?" Green Frog's shock turned into defensive indignation. "Absolutely not. The Silver Flood Dragon is the heritage of Black Water Lake. Its bloodline belongs to us. We cannot simply hand it over to outsiders."
The leader of the strange snakes didn't bother to argue. He merely looked at Green Frog with the indifference one might show an insect. Then, he clenched his fist.
BOOM.
A projection of pale crimson energy, shaped like a massive fist the size of a washbasin, materialized from thin air. It moved with the speed of a thunderclap.
Green Frog didn't even have time to scream. The impact was sickeningly wet. The force of the blow obliterated the lower half of his body instantly, turning flesh and bone into a cloud of red mist. The remaining upper half of the frog demon was sent spinning through the water, unconscious, before he hit the ground.
He wasn't dead, but heavily maimed. It was a casual, almost bored display of violence that resulted in a near-instant kill.
"Hmph. Weak as a chicken," the leader scoffed, slowly retracting his fist. "And you dare compete with me for the Silver Dragon?"
The gathered beasts of Black Water Lake were paralyzed by fear. Luo Zhen, however, was analyzing. His gaze locked onto the leader's claw. It was encased in a crimson gauntlet that pulsed with a sinister, rhythmic light.
"That gauntlet is a Top-grade Dharma Artifact," the System's voice echoed coolly in Luo Zhen's mind. "It amplifies kinetic force. That is the only reason he could decimate the frog so easily."
"A Top-grade Dharma Artifact? That explains the anomaly," Luo Zhen thought, exhaling a stream of bubbles. "System, are these things a threat?"
"Hardly. Even if these eight Jiao-Snakes attacked in unison, they are beneath you."
"Jiao-Snakes?"
"Hybrid abominations. The diluted offspring of a Silver Flood Dragon and a common demon snake," the System explained lazily. "But ignore the biology lesson for now. The leader has marked you as his next target."
Indeed, having swatted the frog aside, the Jiao-Snake leader turned his predatory gaze toward Luo Zhen. In his eyes, Luo Zhen was the only other entity here worth killing—the only remaining Demon General.
"I'll handle this Green Snake General," the leader barked to his subordinates. "You lot clean up the trash. Make it quick. We need to absorb the Pupil King's power before the water gets cold."
"You got it, Boss!"
"Consider them dead!"
The seven subordinate Jiao-Snakes grinned, exposing rows of needle-like teeth, and surged into the crowd of Black Water Lake elites. It was a massacre. The native beasts, terrified and outmatched, were slaughtered in a one-sided wash of blood.
Simultaneously, the leader smirked at Luo Zhen and threw another punch.
The air warped. The pale red fist projection returned, screaming through the water toward Luo Zhen's head.
Luo Zhen did not dodge. He stepped forward.
With a thought, the Dark Gold Ring on his finger flashed. The Thunder Cloud Blade materialized in his grip. He didn't just swing the weapon; he unleashed it.
SHING!
A blinding arc of lightning, over twenty meters long, erupted from the blade. The water boiled instantly around the strike. The thunder blade-qi collided with the red fist projection, and for a microsecond, time seemed to freeze.
Then, the red light shattered.
The thunder-qi was unstoppable. It tore through the projection and continued its trajectory, roaring toward the Jiao-Snake leader.
"What?!" The leader's eyes bulged. "He shattered my attack?"
Panic overrode arrogance. Unable to evade, the leader crossed his arms, relying on his gauntlet to tank the hit.
CRACK.
The explosion threw the leader dozens of meters back. He tumbled through the silt, vomiting mouthfuls of thick, dark blood. A sickening crunch echoed through the canyon—his Top-grade Dharma Artifact, the source of his confidence, had shattered into useless fragments.
"My Artifact!" he shrieked, staring at his naked, trembling hand.
"You have good luck," Luo Zhen said, his voice devoid of emotion as he floated closer. "If that toy hadn't eaten the damage for you, you'd be a pile of minced meat right now."
Luo Zhen raised his blade again, the metal humming with lethal intent. "But you're out of toys. Let's see you catch the second one."
He flicked his wrist. A second wave of thunder-qi slashed through the dark water.
There was no resistance this time. The blade-qi passed through the Jiao-Snake leader, and his body simply came apart, exploding in a gruesome display.
"Boss!!"
"You killed the Boss! I'll kill you!"
The remaining Jiao-Snakes, seeing their leader eviscerated, abandoned their slaughter of the weaklings and charged Luo Zhen in a blind, grieving rage.
Luo Zhen didn't even blink. He swung the Thunder Cloud Blade in two lazy, precise arcs. Lightning danced, and the seven attackers were sliced into ribbons before they could come within ten feet of him.
Silence returned to the canyon.
Luo Zhen looked around. It was a graveyard. The Jiao-Snakes were dead, but so was his entire entourage. Even Green Frog had succumbed to his injuries in the chaos.
He was the sole survivor.
Luo Zhen sighed, sheathed his blade, and turned his back on the carnage. He swam through the great stone gate. It was time to claim his reward.
Inside the hidden chamber, the air was dry and still.
If Luo Zhen were a sentimental creature, he might have spared the corpses outside to harvest their bloodlines. They were, after all, distant kin to dragons. But looking at the two-hundred-meter majesty of the Silver Flood Dragon King before him, the Jiao-Snakes seemed like mere worms.
He approached the massive head of the dragon. He unhinged his jaw, and the air began to vibrate.
"Devour."
A vortex of spectral green light erupted from Luo Zhen's mouth. It expanded rapidly, forming a shimmering containment field that wrapped around the colossal corpse.
The process was both horrifying and beautiful. Under the green light, the dragon's flesh began to liquefy, breaking down into pure, concentrated energy. The mountain of meat withered, shrinking rapidly until only a husk of dry skin remained.
The energy flooded into Luo Zhen.
His green skin began to shimmer with a metallic silver sheen. His aura spiked, violent and uncontrolled. Inside his vertical pupils, vortexes of demonic energy spun like galaxies.
"Host has successfully devoured the Silver Flood Dragon Pupil King," the System announced.
"Bloodline Power acquired."
"Alert: Demonic energy critical mass reached. Forcing advancement... Advancement successful. Host has reached Demon Core Realm: Mid-Stage."
"Ability Acquired: Phantom Light Eye (Ocular Divine Ability)."
The rush was intoxicating. Luo Zhen felt his senses expand, his vision sharpening until he could see the dust motes dancing in the dark.
"An ocular ability?" Luo Zhen mused, feeling the new power thrumming behind his retinas. "The Pupil King... indeed, his eyes were his greatest weapon."
He pulled up the data stream in his mind.
[Phantom Light Eye]
Active: Manipulate light to cast high-level hallucinations, rendering enemies catatonic or confused.
Passive: High immunity to enemy illusion arts.
"A trump card," Luo Zhen whispered, grinning. "But I'm not done."
"System Alert," the voice interrupted. "Detected compatibility between Host's Thunder Tribulation Bloodline and the newly acquired Silver Flood Dragon Bloodline. Both are categorized as 'Holy Spirit' lineages. Initiate Synthesis?"
"Synthesize," Luo Zhen commanded. "Immediately."
"Synthesizing... Synthesis Complete."
"Evolution Triggered."
Pain.
It wasn't the dull ache of injury, but the searing, transformative agony of biology being rewritten. A blinding green radiance exploded from his body, filling the cavern with the brilliance of a small sun.
For ten minutes, Luo Zhen burned. His bones snapped and lengthened. His scales fell away and grew back harder, crystalline, like armor plating.
When the light finally faded, a new creature floated in the silent tomb.
Luo Zhen felt... holy. His skin was now the texture of green jade, glowing with an internal luminescence. But the most striking change was on his forehead. A single, crystalline horn, half a foot long, spiraled outward.
He was no longer just a snake demon. He was something ancient.
He exhaled a breath of white frost, freezing the moisture in the air into a mirror. He looked at himself, then shifted into his true form.
With a flash, he expanded. He was now a Green Flood Dragon, over a hundred meters long. His body was a masterpiece of emerald scales. He possessed a true dragon's head, majestic and terrifying, with long whiskers drifting in the ether. Beneath his belly, two powerful arms had sprouted, ending in razor-sharp claws.
He counted the fingers. Three.
"A Three-Clawed Green Flood Dragon," Luo Zhen rumbled, his voice deepening into a growl that shook the cavern walls. "Finally. A Holy Beast."
In the hierarchy of dragon-kind, claws mattered. Three fingers meant a Flood Dragon. Four meant a True Dragon. Five was the mark of a Celestial God. He was at the bottom of the divine ladder, but he was on the ladder.
He shifted back to his humanoid form, feeling the raw power coursing through his meridians. He summoned his status window.
[Host: Luo Zhen]
[Race: Green-Scaled Flood Dragon (Tier 1 Holy Beast)]
[Realm: Demon Core Realm (Mid-Stage)]
[Bloodline: Green Scale (Holy Tier 1)]
[New Innate Abilities: Elemental Mastery (Water/Fire/Ice/Lightning), Flight]
[Beast Fire: Green Scale Fire (Tier 9)]
[Divine Ability: Phantom Light Eye]
Luo Zhen dismissed the window with a wave of his hand.
The harvest had been astronomical. He had jumped a minor realm, evolved his species, upgraded his flame to Tier 9, and gained a Divine Ability that usually belonged to Demon Kings.
He gripped the hilt of his Thunder Cloud Blade. The weapon felt lighter now, more distinct.
With his current arsenal—the blade, the upgraded fire, the phantom eyes, and the physique of a Holy Beast—he was a catastrophic anomaly in the cultivation world. He was technically a Mid-Stage Demon General, but he knew the truth.
If a Half-Step Demon King stood before him now, Luo Zhen wouldn't just fight him.
He would hunt him.