A Pawn's Passage

The flood dragon did not attack Hun Ahau immediately. Instead, it opened its enormous maw and drew in the defeated Longevous elders that Hun Ahau had beaten, along with the surrounding seawater and the Dragonman.

In the traditional beliefs of the Central Plains, dragons were not always symbols of good fortune. More often than not, they were regarded as monstrous beasts. This old flood dragon had razor-sharp fangs in its maw as it chewed on the Longevous elders. Severed limbs and mangled flesh protruded between its teeth like scraps of food. There was not the slightest trace of auspicious majesty about it, only savage brutality.

The old flood dragon was not doing this to intimidate Hun Ahau. Rather, it was feeding like a creature that had just awakened from hibernation, replenishing the energy it had expended.

The Longevous were essentially livestock that the old flood dragon had raised for itself, sparing it the trouble of hunting for food.

The old flood dragon possessed intelligence no less than that of a human. Even while feeding, its pair of golden eyes never left Hun Ahau. Around it, the water vapor grew denser, as though a tremendous storm were brewing.

This was precisely the type of tempest most dreaded along the coast. Though it might not cover an expansive area like the largest storms, the destructive force at its core was no less terrifying.

The flood dragon quickly swallowed its meal. After man and dragon faced each other in silence for a brief moment, the dragon made the first move. It threw back its head and unleashed a resounding roar. The deafening cry caused Hun Ahau’s body to stiffen, and an overwhelming sense of dread welled up within him.

Demon Immortals each possessed their own innate divine abilities. Foxes were born with powers of enchantment. Phoenixes could be reborn. Tigers could transform those they killed into servants bound to them. Meanwhile, dragons were born with an innate aura that overwhelmed any creature weaker than themselves, reducing them to obedient puppets.

As a Pseudo-Immortal Martial Arts Practitioner, Hun Ahau was far too powerful to become the flood dragon’s servant or lose his will entirely, the dragon’s might contained within that roar still threw his mind into complete turmoil.

A cruel gleam flashed through the flood dragon’s golden eyes. It opened its enormous maw, intending to swallow Hun Ahau whole.

For Demon Immortals, the simplest way to sustain their immense bodies was through feeding. They merely ate infrequently, but when they did, the amount was enormous. They could go three years without eating, then consume enough food in a single feast to last another three years.

The Pseudo-Immortal in front of it was naturally a nourishing delicacy.

Despite its colossal size, the flood dragon was astonishingly swift. In the blink of an eye, its head had closed to within less than 3 meters of Hun Ahau.

Fortunately, as a Pseudo-Immortal Martial Arts Practitioner, Hun Ahau’s body spirits activated automatically when his central consciousness was incapacitated, allowing his body to react with rapid instincts.

Though Hun Ahau’s mind was shaken by the dragon’s overwhelming aura, his body remained completely under control. Without hesitation, he threw a full-powered punch straight into the flood dragon’s nose.

The old flood dragon had underestimated its opponent. It lacked a proper understanding of the Manly Immortal lineage.

The nose of the dragon was a vulnerable spot. Struck by the blow, the flood dragon cried out in pain, and its massive body faltered for an instant.

Seizing the opportunity, Utu maneuvered the Shadow Tide toward the flood dragon.

Enraged, the flood dragon exhaled a blast of dragon’s breath that was like a torrent of molten golden sand. Even the shadows that had withstood the Divine Thunder melted away like snow under the sun the instant they touched the dragon’s breath.

Taking advantage of the opening, Hun Ahau immediately retreated.

By the time the flood dragon had fully awakened, the Horned Dragon flying ship had already set sail and was heading toward the battlefield.

Qi Xuansu and Utu stood at the bow of the ship. Through Utu’s vision, the old flood dragon resembled a blazing sun. This was not the effect of some mystical technique, but the pure manifestation of its overwhelmingly concentrated blood qi.

This was an innate gift, something no amount of cultivation could replicate. Though the flood dragon was old and grievously wounded, far from its peak strength, its blood qi still surpassed Hun Ahau. Under such circumstances, ordinary yin spirits would melt away, just like Utu’s shadows.

However, since Utu was a Pseudo-Immortal and had inherited a divine artifact from the Death Apostle Samuel, he was unaffected by the dragon’s blood qi.

The flood dragon had no intention of letting Hun Ahau escape. It soared between heaven and earth, churning the clouds wherever it passed. Lightning flickered within the storm clouds, and torrential rain soon poured across the sea.

Hun Ahau was following the original plan to lure the flood dragon away. If it returned to the sea, Qi Xuansu and the others would have no way to deal with it. They could hardly fight a decisive battle underwater, where the flood dragon would enjoy an overwhelming advantage while those accustomed to fighting on land would be severely restricted. The old flood dragon had to be drawn ashore.

Martial Arts Practitioners were not adept at flight. It was the only lineage whose cultivators could not fly upon reaching the Xiaoyao stage. As a result, the distance between hunter and prey steadily closed. Nevertheless, in the course of their pursuit and retreat, they had already crossed into land.

Just as the flood dragon was about to catch Hun Ahau, a streak of sword light tore through the sky and met it head-on.

The flood dragon recoiled in pain and let out a furious roar. Its cry carried an immense wave of draconic might that spread in every direction. Yet, to its astonishment, the person who had struck it was completely unaffected by its overwhelming aura.

The newcomer was none other than Qi Xuansu. By this point, he had already used a page from the Scripture of Zuriel, temporarily ascending to the Pseudo-Immortal stage.

This time, it was his Qi Refiner lineage that had advanced into the Fusion Realm.

As long as three of Qi Xuansu’s lineages, excluding his fundamental Rogue Cultivator lineage, advanced to the Zaohua stage, his Banished Immortal lineage would likewise ascend to the Zaohua stage, thereby elevating his fundamental Rogue Cultivator lineage into the Pseudo-Immortal stage.

Qi Xuansu’s Martial Arts Practitioner lineage and Shaman lineage were already at the Zaohua stage. With his Qi Refiner lineage now advancing to that same level, the required conditions were fulfilled. His Banished Immortal lineage consequently broke through into the Zaohua stage, which in turn propelled his fundamental Rogue Cultivator lineage into the Pseudo-Immortal stage.

The sword Qi Xuansu wielded at this moment was the Daozi Sword.

Qi Xuansu remained unaffected by the dragon’s overwhelming aura thanks to the Scripture of Zuriel. The Scripture of Zuriel inflated one’s pride to the point of madness, making one feel that even the heavens were too small to contain them. On the other hand, a dragon’s might existed to cow opponents into submission, filling them with fear and reducing them to groveling in the dust. When these two opposing forces met, they perfectly canceled each other out, allowing Qi Xuansu to remain grounded.

Qi Xuansu’s mind was incomparably clear at this moment, but his body was in far worse condition.

After exchanging a direct clash with the flood dragon, Qi Xuansu was hurled backward. When he finally steadied himself, his sword-gripping arm trembled faintly. The sheer force of the flood dragon was evident. Although dragons were renowned more for their mastery of mystical arts than brute force, the immense size of their bodies granted them strength that rivaled, or even slightly surpassed, that of the greatest Martial Arts Practitioners.

Qi Xuansu could feel hairline fractures running through the bones of his sword arm, while his muscles, flesh, and meridians had all suffered varying degrees of damage.

Fortunately, Qi Xuansu had the physique of a Martial Arts Practitioner as well, so the injuries had little impact on his combat ability.

The flood dragon’s next move was equally straightforward. Seeing Qi Xuansu retreat, it swept its enormous tail, which tore through the sea of clouds with overwhelming force. Compared to this, the Manly Immortal Hundred Forms’ Dragon Tail was utterly insignificant.

Qi Xuansu manifested his Celestial Phenomena Spiritual Statue, raising the Bright Moon in his palm and using it as a massive shield. He barely managed to block the devastating tail sweep. His Spiritual Statue shuddered violently, and cracks actually appeared across the surface of the Bright Moon.

The next moment, the flood dragon opened its jaws and exhaled a vast torrent of dragon’s breath condensed from water vapor, forcing Hun Ahau back once again. Yet instead of pressing the attack, it whipped its tail around, turned, and disappeared into the sea of clouds.

Strange as it seemed, despite the flood dragon’s immense body, once it entered the sea of clouds, only the occasional scale or claw remained visible at first. Moments later, it had vanished completely without a trace.

The old flood dragon was indeed cunning. After its initial burst of aggression, it sensed that something was amiss. Rather than continuing the pursuit, it chose to retreat toward the sea. It was no wonder this flood dragon had managed to escape alive from the Daoist Order in the past. Its instinct for self-preservation was constantly at its peak.

But Qi Xuansu did not allow it to escape so easily.

Without the slightest hesitation, Qi Xuansu charged straight into the sea of clouds, confronting the flood dragon alone and cutting off its escape.

The old flood dragon chose to retreat because its grievous injuries had yet to heal, leaving it without confidence. It was much like Chen Shuhua when she had only just attained immortality. Though she was certainly stronger than a Pseudo-Immortal, she was still far from possessing the true strength of an Immortal because she was undergoing a rebirth. If Madam Qi had been able to exchange a few moves with Chen Shuhua, there was no reason Qi Xuansu could not do the same.

Qi Xuansu could not hope to defeat the flood dragon in direct combat, but merely holding it back for a time was well within his capabilities.

After breaking free from the dragon’s breath, Hun Ahau quickly arrived to help Qi Xuansu.

Together, the two men relentlessly clung to the flood dragon. This only strengthened the old flood dragon’s suspicion that a trap had been laid, making it even less willing to commit to a decisive battle. As such, it fought while steadily retreating.

Throughout the chase, peals of dragon roars echoed across the heavens. Massive ripples spread through the sky, each wave greater than the last, giving rise to a terrifying spectacle of flashing lightning and black clouds that blotted out the sun.

Torrential rain poured from the heavens as violent winds battered across the land. There were even hailstorms and flashes of lightning.

The flood dragon continuously gathered the storm’s power, while Qi Xuansu struggled with all his might for control over the elemental energy around them. The opposing forces tore the surrounding elemental energy into utter chaos.

The tempest hovered on the verge of fully taking shape, leaving the heavens suspended between light and darkness. Towering tornadoes stretched from earth to sky, ripping boulders and trees into the air with enough force to level mountains.

At that very moment, a warship even larger than the flood dragon itself burst through the sea of clouds and appeared before them. Most striking of all was its main cannon, which was not even considered small when compared to the dragon’s colossal frame, similar to the size ratio of a human and a pistol.

The instant the old flood dragon sensed the arrival of the Horned Dragon flying ship, terrifying memories of the past surged back into its mind all at once.

It could never forget the Daoist Order’s fleet.

The Horned Dragon was the Western Daoist Order’s unsuccessful attempt to replicate the Yinglong Warship. Although it fell short of the original, its outward appearance was remarkably similar. Unaware of the differences, the old flood dragon mistook the Horned Dragon for an actual Yinglong Warship.

Since it believed that a Yinglong Warship had already arrived, the old flood dragon thought that the Daoist Immortals could not be far behind. How could it not be terrified?

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