Twisted, incomplete patterns symbolizing spiritual essence… Upon seeing the patterns on the dragonfolk’s body, the three transcendent experts at bow and stern were visibly stunned.
If the flood dragon’s mutation had been an accident, some “chance encounter” while roaming the vast ocean, then seeing similar changes in the dragonfolk shattered Xu Qi An, Nine-tails, and Pearl’s hopes. They realized the situation was dire—something major might be brewing.
The Nine-tailed Celestial Fox drew the dragonfolk closer with her tail, narrowing her bright, beautiful eyes to examine those dizzying patterns.
“Xu Ning Yan!”
Her alluring voice carried a note of gravity.
Xu Qi An naturally understood her meaning, raising his drooping hand as a “black snake” the thickness of a thumb shot from his sleeve.
The black snake gracefully flew toward the silver-haired beauty, its body swelling into a black-scaled flood dragon as thick as a water barrel and six zhang long. Two-thirds of its body lay on the ship while one-third was dragged in the seawater.
The Nine-tailed Fox took a deep breath, fighting off her dizziness as she concentrated on comparing the patterns on both creatures.
After comparison, she found that while both sets of patterns were similarly chaotic and twisted in nature, the spiritual essence they symbolized differed.
“The patterns on his chest are earth-attributed, those on his legs represent strength, and the ones on his tail seem to be… spatial?”
The silver-haired beauty decoded the powers symbolized by the patterns one by one, drawing on her extensive knowledge of divine beasts.
“They’re different from the ones on the flood dragon, but share the same twisted, chaotic nature. They might have undergone mutation in the same place.”
Xu Qi An pieced together the clues to reach this conclusion.
Then, looking between the Merfolk Queen and Nine-tailed Fox, he smiled:
“It seems something remarkable has indeed appeared overseas.”
Earlier when Xu Qi An had asked what place could grant divine beast descendants spiritual essence not of their own bloodline, both the Nine-tailed Fox and Merfolk Queen had answered—it was unheard of, impossible.
“And it appeared recently.”
The silver-haired beauty still couldn’t accept that spiritual essence could be acquired after birth, but the evidence was before her eyes.
“This isn’t good.”
Pearl shook her head, her delicate brows furrowing as she transmitted thoughts into Xu Qi An’s mind:
“Whether it’s Mo Yu or this patrol guard, they both went mad. There’s a price to pay.”
Mo Yu was the flood dragon Xu Qi An had turned into his puppet.
Her worried expression was particularly fragile, inevitably stirring protective instincts in men.
Indeed, once beauty reaches a certain level, what truly determines superiority is figure and temperament, except for that cheat Flower Goddess… Xu Qi An mused internally before returning his thoughts to the matter at hand.
“How long has it been since you last visited the Alsur Archipelago?” he asked Pearl.
The Merfolk Queen tilted her small head slightly, saying uncertainly:
“Perhaps three or four seasons.”
Divine beast descendants didn’t share humans’ strong sense of time; Pearl wouldn’t deliberately keep track.
“Mo Yu’s territory is in the Western Sea, far from the Alsur Archipelago. If this situation appeared recently, theoretically Mo Yu couldn’t have undergone mutation simultaneously with the Alsur Archipelago’s patrol guards.”
Xu Qi An analyzed.
Pearl said softly:
“The Alsur Archipelago’s leader is a Dragon descendant, as is Mo Yu. They likely maintain contact.”
This connected the dots—Mo Yu and the Alsur Archipelago’s ruler had gone exploring somewhere together, encountered something unusual, and become infected with chaotic, twisted divine beast spiritual essence—the patterns being the external manifestation of that essence.
It made sense for that “island lord” to bring guards on an expedition, which explained why the little dragonfolk showed the same mutations as the Third Rank flood dragon.
The silver-haired beauty recalled the dragonfolk corpse they’d first encountered and pondered:
“So, like Mo Yu, that one also went mad and returned to massacre the inhabitants of the Alsur Archipelago?”
“That one” referred to the island lord.
As Xu Qi An recalled his flood dragon, he said:
“Let’s head to the Alsur Archipelago immediately to investigate.”
The Merfolk Queen and silver-haired beauty looked eager.
This concerned the inheritance of divine beast spiritual essence—it was deeply relevant to them.
Xu Qi’an sensed hints of something “major.” Divine beast power, also called spiritual essence, was innately present in bloodlines from birth.
Yet first Mo Yu the flood dragon, and now the dragonfolk, had been tainted with spiritual essence not their own.
This was far from ordinary.
…
In the endless black ocean, several figures wielding steel tridents swam nimbly through the deep sea, their long tails swaying.
Their limbs were like oars, their tails and spines forming a curved “line” that cut through the water, their movement accompanied by dense bubbles.
Besides bodies built for swimming, they possessed innate water control abilities, from using currents to boost speed to raising massive waves and tsunamis to drown enemies.
“Reef” was captain of the dragon guard, commanding twelve Dragon tribe warriors. As he swam, he said:
“Be alert. According to Luan tribe intelligence, the Fallen One is nearby. One of our brothers died horribly at his hands. The Fallen One can briefly teleport—guard against sneak attacks.”
His voice traveled clearly through the water medium to the twelve Dragon tribe warriors behind him.
Making sound travel faithfully through water was another aspect of dragonfolk water control abilities.
The twelve dragonfolk gripped their tridents tighter at his words.
This mission was to hunt down a Fallen One of their kind who had been killing indiscriminately across the Alsur Archipelago, terrorizing its inhabitants.
And there were many more Fallen Ones like him.
The six major tribes had suffered heavy casualties trying to eliminate these Fallen Ones.
Though “Reef” was powerfully built, larger than his subordinates by a full size, even he wasn’t confident of evading a Fallen One’s attacks.
“Brothers, we are Dragon’s descendants, brave warriors of our tribe. Protecting the Alsur Archipelago, protecting our home, is our mission—the mission passed down through generations by our ancestors.
“Our ancestors protected these islands, giving us a home to dwell and multiply. Today, it’s our turn to protect this home for future generations.”
“Reef’s” dragon face wore an expression of martyrdom.
Unlike divine beast descendants elsewhere, those of the Alsur Archipelago revered not just the strong, but the nobly strong.
Thus every captain had to be not only the strongest in their unit but also the most virtuous.
When civilization develops to a certain point, individuals shift from obeying power to obeying virtue.
This is why rule by force is temporary, while rule by virtue endures.
The divine beast descendants of the Alsur Archipelago had developed a “moral perspective.”
After patrolling vigilantly for a long while, the unit still hadn’t encountered any Fallen Ones.
Had they left this area? “Reef” wondered, feeling relieved.
Not encountering Fallen Ones was naturally preferable.
Just then, a dragonfolk behind him called out:
“Captain, look above!”
“Reef’s” heart jumped, startled. Before he could rebuke his subordinate, he followed the gesture upward. Sunlight pierced the water, waves dancing, as a shadow moved swiftly across the surface.
A ship?
Dragonfolk weren’t strangers to ships, as some weaker divine beast descendants who weren’t water-adapted also built vessels for sea travel.
Like the Earth King Pimu’s descendants among the archipelago’s six major tribes—their common folk rarely ventured to sea, as they would drown without sufficiently large vessels.
“Let’s check it out!”
As captain, “Reef” took the lead in surfacing, his twelve dragon guards following closely.
Those who needed ships to cross the sea weren’t water-adapted, giving dragonfolk a natural advantage and thus confidence.
Besides, they could ask these travelers about the situation.
With splashing sounds, waves parted as Captain “Reef” and the twelve dragon patrol guards stood on the sea surface as if on solid ground, examining the ship’s occupants.
They first noticed the bewitching fox spirit and the pure, gentle Merfolk Queen, but before they could appreciate the two females’ beauty, their attention was forcibly drawn to the male at the bow.
What kind of tribe’s male is this… the dragonfolk studied Xu Qi An with curiosity and surprise.
The Alsur Archipelago lay tens of thousands of li from the Nine States continent, and humans rarely came here. The island’s divine beast descendants likewise never crossed the vast ocean to the Nine States.
Thus they had never seen what humans looked like.
This male creature at the bow differed from any males they knew—overall more proportionate and attractive, but also more “delicate,” lacking defensive scales, exaggerated muscles, or sharp weaponized parts.
As the dragonfolk examined the three, Xu Qi An was also studying them.
No bloodthirsty madness, sound minds intact… is the Alsur Archipelago’s situation different from what I expected? Xu Qi An pondered, stroking his chin.
He had guessed the archipelago would be in dire straits.
Perhaps even destroyed.
At this point, the dragonfolk finally noticed their kindred’s corpse on deck.
A Fallen One… their snake-like vertical pupils contracted sharply, their breathing quickening.
The dragonfolk easily deduced what had happened—the bloodthirsty, mad Fallen One had encountered the ship and, driven by killing instinct, attacked the three aboard, only to be slain.
No wonder they hadn’t encountered the Fallen One; it had already been hunted down by these three powerful beings.
Pearl moved toward the ship’s rail, sweeping her gaze over the dragonfolk as she said in her gentle voice:
“I am the Queen of the Merfolk.”
The Merfolk Queen?!
The thirteen dragonfolk exchanged glances. Their rank and status didn’t qualify them to meet the Merfolk Queen.
Thus they couldn’t gauge the visitors’ status.
Pearl turned to look at Xu Qi An, transmitting mentally:
“They don’t recognize me.”
Sometimes high status has its drawbacks… Xu Qi An shook his sleeve, sliding out a small black snake.
The small black snake danced gracefully through the air, letting out a roaring “Aooo!” as its body swelled into a flood dragon tens of zhang long.
Transcendent energy instantly filled the area, the pressure from this higher being making all thirteen dragonfolk tremble. The patterns covering the dragon’s body were concealed by Xu Qi An’s energy—had the dragonfolk seen them, they would have fainted on the spot or, worse, gone mad themselves.
“L-Lord Mo Yu…”
“Reef” prostrated himself motionless on the sea surface, apparently recognizing the flood dragon.
Why was Lord Mo Yu with them?
Hadn’t he died during the expedition?
Various theories flashed through “Reef’s” mind.
He no longer doubted the Merfolk Queen’s identity—only transcendents could accompany transcendents.
Seeing this tall, sturdy dragonfolk’s submissive posture, Pearl asked softly:
“Is this dragonfolk on deck one of your tribesmen?”
Still prostrated, “Reef” replied, “Yes, Queen!”
Pearl frowned, asking the key question:
“Why did he become like this?”