Chapter 418

Chapter 418: Your Life (4000 words)

Within the Dragon Palace.

Just as Long Wang Teng’s succession began, Ao Jin had quietly stepped back.

Ao Jin arrived at one of the pools in the Dragon Palace.

He glanced around and deliberately confirmed that no one was present.

Chanting a spell, Ao Jin summoned a flying sword, which dove into the water.

After the sword entered the water, Ao Jin’s spiritual awareness followed it.

The vision from the flying sword became Ao Jin’s own eyes.

Using the unique residual sensation left on the sword, Ao Jin searched for the fish.

In the end, Ao Jin only found the remains of a black-golden fish whose belly had been split open, already devoured by others.

Beyond this, he could sense no other presence.

“What is going on?”

Ao Jin furrowed his brow, sensing something amiss.

That fish had been enchanted by him; logically, it should have remained within his perception.

But factually, the fish had vanished without a trace.

“Did not know what you’re doing here, your highness?”

As Ao Jin was searching desperately in the pool,

A woman’s voice suddenly sounded beside him.

Ao Jin turned to see a maid from the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace dressed in palace attire walking toward him.

Seeing this smiling palace maid, Ao Jin tensed up, realizing he might be in trouble.

“Greetings, Lady Xia Zhu.” Ao Jin bowed respectfully.

The Dragon Empress had ten maidservants. Among these ten, five were at the Xiānrén Jìng stage, while the other five were at the Jade Pudding Realm.

And the Xia Zhu standing before him—Ao Jin recognized her from her portrait.

This Xia Zhu was one of the five cultivators at the Xiānrén Jìng stage.

“Is your highness interested in a particular fish in this pond?” Xia Zhu smiled.

Ao Jin responded elegantly: “I noticed a fish swimming in the lake, but it disappeared shortly after. I got so absorbed in looking for it.”

“Hmm.” Xia Zhu nodded, then pulled out a fish from her storage pouch.

Upon seeing this fish, Ao Jin’s expression immediately turned serious, his hand tightening involuntarily!

“Could this be the fish you’re looking for, your highness?” As Xia Zhu spoke, the fish continued to thrash in her hand.

Ao Jin steeled himself: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Never mind, soon enough you’ll understand.”

With that, Xia Zhu conjured an eerie blue flame in her hand.

The flames surged, burning the fish to ashes.

Ao Jin narrowed his gaze, glaring fiercely at the woman.

But deep down, Ao Jin knew he couldn’t act rashly—he didn’t have the right to.

Her cultivation level was far too high, not to mention the ten maidservants of the Dragon Empress had the authority to act first and report later.

She could crush him like an ant.

Atop the tallest coral mountain in the North Sea Dragon Palace,

When Long Hai heard the Dragon Empress mention “two fish,” his heart clenched.

The key to this plan rested on those two fish.

And most importantly, the number “two.”

The North Sea was powerful, being the leader among the four seas.

This strength came from the eternal reign of the ancient Dragon Empress of the North Sea, who never acted recklessly. The North Sea remained stable, continuously progressing.

This power stemmed from the Dragon Empress, a ten-thousand-year Ascension Realm cultivator who improved daily. All resources of the North Sea served her, and all risks were borne by the North Sea.

Not to mention, the Dragon Empress and the common people were united as one. In the hearts of all the citizens of the North Sea, their ruler was the Dragon Empress, and no one else.

When a dynasty becomes so strong that no one dares to challenge it, it will grow even stronger. And the stronger it gets, the less likely anyone will dare to touch it.

But nothing in this world is truly unbreakable.

All the seas shared a fatal flaw, and solving this issue required Long Wang Teng.

Thus, Zhongyan Mountain and the East Sea prepared numerous contingency plans, running simulations again and again, until they formulated this strategy.

If Long Wang Teng could be controlled, how strong could the Dragon Empress possibly be?

For the four seas, unless the sea kings wanted to lose their territories and plunge the seas into chaos, they must rely on Long Wang Teng.

The key to controlling Long Wang Teng lay with the two fish! If there was just one fish, Long Hai wouldn’t have thought much of it. If the Dragon Empress realized just one fish, she wouldn’t grasp the entire plan.

But the Dragon Empress mentioned two fish.

And the core plan of Zhongyan Mountain and the East Sea revolved around those two fish.

Looking calm on the surface but panicking inside, the Dragon Empress’s voice echoed across the dragon capital, audible to everyone: “Little Blue, let him die understanding clearly, and let all guests from the five lakes and four seas hear how the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace colluded with Zhongyan Mountain.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Little Blue bowed and approached, saying, “This matter owes much to Master Xu from Wu Kingdom.”

These words weren’t just directed at the opponent but also to the millions of citizens and all guests in the dragon capital.

After Little Blue finished speaking, many gazes turned to the youngest official of Wu Kingdom.

Among the crowd, everyone turned their heads, listening to the distant voice.

Little Blue continued: “Master Xu discovered that Prince Ao Jin of the Eastern Sea was fishing for a peculiar fish in the Ten Thousand Fish Lake. Our Listening Sea Tower investigated.

Prince Ao Jin said it was a black-golden fish, secretly using the literary resonance of scholars from White Deer Academy to lure it.

Initially, our investigation confirmed this.

We indeed found the black-golden fish in the Ten Thousand Fish Lake.

That fish did show a strong appetite for literary resonance.

But Prince Ao Jin underestimated us.

After reporting back to the Empress, she sent me and the head of Listening Sea Tower to investigate further, where we discovered another fish.

This fish resembled the black-golden fish but was smaller with sharp teeth. Its most distinctive feature was the yin-yang dual-fish inscription on its belly.

This fish is called the Heaven-Earth Fish.”

Hearing “Heaven-Earth Fish,” some people were still confused, while others sucked in a sharp breath.

“The Heaven-Earth Fish exists only in the Heavenly-Earth Lake of Zhongyan Mountain and the Western God-Demon Pool, extremely rare. Its primary function is for inscriptions. Though we don’t know your exact plan,

Most likely, your general plan was to use one Heaven-Earth Fish to cast a spell on Long Wang Teng in the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace, imprinting his mark on the fish to initially corrode him.

To achieve this, you needed some affinity with Long Wang Teng.

The Four Sea Kings are pure-blooded dragons, blessed with the dynasty’s fortune, and have undergone countless ceremonies over the years, giving them such affinity.

Then, you set up an array on Coral Mountain. This array needed to intercept midway, something only your Three Thunder Array from Zhongyan Mountain could accomplish.

At this point, combined with the玄Dragon Dagger, you would inscribe Long Wang Teng.

Meanwhile, you had Prince Ao Jin of the East Sea kill a Heaven-Earth Fish. The blood of the fish would flow through the palace’s water system to all areas.

Under the influence of another fish’s blood, the illusion of Long Wang Teng in the Dragon Palace would shatter.

Once this happened, the North Sea’s connection to Long Wang Teng would completely vanish.

Finally, achieving the goal of seizing Long Wang Teng.

Respected sir, does my analysis align with the truth?”

Long Hai glared intensely at the speaker. A moment later, instead of responding, he transformed into his true form and lunged directly at the玄Dragon Dagger.

“Hmph!”

The Dragon Empress coldly snorted and took a step forward.

Long Hai’s spirit shook violently. In that instant, he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Losing balance, he crashed into Coral Mountain.

The summit of Coral Mountain shattered, but the array and dagger detached from the mountain, floating mid-air.

When Long Hai attempted to rise again, the Dragon Empress stomped her foot onto his head.

Long Hai felt as if a massive mountain pressed down on him.

Even though Long Hai was a Jade Pudding Realm cultivator, facing this ten-thousand-year-old Dragon Empress, he had no resistance.

“Ho ho ho, truly worthy of a ten-thousand-year-old Dragon Empress. Aside from having poor taste in choosing Dao partners, you are flawless.”

“Boom!”

As Long Hai finished speaking, the Dragon Empress’s black-gold embroidered shoe stomped down forcefully, driving Long Hai’s head into the ground with a crisp crackling sound of broken skull.

Even Xu Ming felt excruciating pain.

Clearly, knowing he had no hope of survival, Long Hai indulged in verbal satisfaction, directly provoking the Dragon Empress’s taboo.

“Ho ho ho, since the plot has been exposed, whether you kill or punish me, it’s entirely up to you.”

Long Hai hadn’t expected his scheme to be uncovered so easily.

Logically, the opponent shouldn’t have been so vigilant.

But since it was exposed, it was exposed. There was nothing more to say.

“Then you shall die.” The Dragon Empress stomped down hard.

The ferocious dragon’s head exploded into a bloody mist instantly.

The Dragon Empress had no intention of leaving any survivors.

She understood Zhongyan Mountain well. Those from Zhongyan Mountain shared a common trait—they were the hardest-mouthed.

The Dragon Empress didn’t even glance at the thoroughly dead ferocious dragon.

Turning around, she walked towards the dagger.

Everyone assumed the matter was settled, even Xu Ming believed so.

Approaching the dagger, the Dragon Empress cut her finger, letting a drop of essence blood fall onto it.

After absorbing the Dragon Empress’s essence blood, the玄Dragon Dagger expelled Long Hai’s essence blood and began refining itself.

Waves of spiritual energy dispersed, the golden threads surrounding Long Wang Teng gradually broke, and the thunder grew weaker.

At this moment, Xu Ming understood why the Dragon Empress waited until now to act.

Since the opponent wasn’t righteous, the Dragon Empress naturally wouldn’t be either.

Long Wang Teng’s inscription was halfway done.

Now, the Dragon Empress could directly seize Long Wang Teng. Controlling the玄Dragon Dagger meant controlling Long Wang Teng.

However, Xu Ming noticed that the Dragon Empress seemed to want more than just controlling Long Wang Teng via the dagger.

She appeared to want to refine Long Wang Teng into her personal dharma instrument?!

The Dragon Empress extended her hand to grip the玄Dragon Dagger.

Initially, the dagger resisted persistently, but the Dragon Empress’s overwhelming dragon aura quickly subdued its wild nature.

Holding the dagger, the Dragon Empress ascended above Long Wang Teng and thrust it down forcefully! In the Eastern Sea Palace, spiritual energy scattered, causing the Eastern Sea Dragon King to stagger backward, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

“We’ve failed!” The Eastern Sea Dragon King looked at the red-dressed woman beside him.

Mei Hongyu nodded, smiling: “The Dragon Empress of the North Sea is indeed formidable. Who would have thought she’d discover this? It’s only reasonable she’s lived so long.”

“Hmph!” The Eastern Sea Dragon King waved his sleeve angrily, “What now? What do you suggest? What should we do?!”

“What can you possibly do?” The Eastern Sea Dragon King was furious.

Previously, Zhongyan Mountain approached him confidently, guaranteeing the success of their plan. He trusted them, but in the end, it failed!

Just as the Eastern Sea Dragon King was about to berate the woman, the central illusion of Long Wang Teng gradually faded, and the palace started collapsing.

“How is this possible!”

Ao Zhi’s eyes widened, astonished at the scene before him.

Ao Zhi slapped a palm toward the central illusion of Long Wang Teng, but his spiritual energy was instantly repelled.

“She dared! She actually wants to refine Long Wang Teng!”

Ao Zhi understood what was happening, turning to glare fiercely at Mei Hongyu.

“Now what do you suggest? Once Long Wang Teng falls into Longette’s hands, we’re doomed!” Ao Zhi was anxious.

Failure wasn’t the worst-case scenario yet.

The Eastern Sea Dragon Palace wasn’t powerless and could resist.

Not to mention his alliance with Zhongyan Mountain! But if the opponent controls Long Wang Teng, even with Zhongyan Mountain’s protection, the Eastern Sea would face inevitable doom.

“Your Majesty, there’s no need to panic. We still have a way out,” Mei Hongyu smiled, “Though this method requires borrowing something from you.”

“Borrow what?”

“Your life.”