"Lord Baihu," Xie Chun greeted as the white haired man walked up to him. Despite the last nine thousand years, the crab man was still terrified of the innate god. There was just something about him that invoked a sense of primal fear.
"May I ask what you're doing here?" He inquired.
"Just checking up on the seal," Baihu said walking past the crab and hopped onto the crystal platform covering the underground lake that was the source of so much of the north sea's problems.
"Oh and you should probably get out of here, for your own safety don't stay near the barrier," the white tiger reminded before disappearing out of sight.
Nodding, Xie Chun hopped away from the platform. Despite its reputation, he liked to come here to think. It was an isolated area where he doesn't need to deal with his fellow elders. Besides, the cold here hadn't been that big of a problem in many years.
Xie Chun sighed thinking about the lake. Even with the seal in place things still weren't as good as things were during ancient times. But at least their population had expanded again.
The current north sea still consisted of one village but it was a very safe village. With the presence of two Chaos Immortals, the small population of elites in the north sea were able to thrive peacefully. They've now expanded from the scattered few hundreds to a stable fifteen thousand members.
Of course, despite Xuanwu and Baihu's assistance, it was still an incredibly tough environment to live in. Several Profound Immortal elders had also succumbed to age and perished joining their forefathers in wherever the dead went.
Xie Chun sighed and sat down at a nearby iceberg. 'Heavens, who expected a lofty Chaos Immortals of all things to assist us,' he thought with reverence. Chaos Immortal was a mythical realm. Even he, a premier expert was only a three crowned Heavenly Immortal struggled to believe in something that far away.
However, Xie Chun had heard about the great wilderness beyond the seas. Of the five continents and four seas, a world of many experts. Some say Golden Immortals existed by the millions there and every clan was presided by a Great Unity Golden Immortal.
"To think the lofty realm of ancestral the ancient godfiends could be reached by us," he mused softly. Even he was nearing the time for his Golden Immortal tribulation. He wanted to do it soon, before his age caught up to him.
Even Heavenly Immortals aren't resistant to the test of time. While on paper they are ageless their souls were not. Heavenly Immortal stretches their lifespans to the limit of possibility, of one yuanhui and then their souls dissipate. Only the greatest of physical body refiners can leave an intact corpse behind when such an event happens.
Living here in the north sea was tough especially. The intense environment weakened everyone's vitality. With such a loss, their own lifespans decreased. Even Xie Chun does not expect himself to survive a full 129,600 years.
THOOM!
Xie Chun abruptly looked up in surprise. The crystal platform shook bouncing up and down for what seemed like an eternity. The crab nervously stepped forwards.
"What's going…" he barely made up before being thrown back by a sudden burst of frosty yin energy.
"Gah!" He screamed being forced into his true form. The arthropod crashed into the ice cold soil struggling to get up. "So cold," he shuddered bringing his pincers up to shield himself.
"What happened?" He thought with fear as the crystal platform disintegrated into colourful particles.
"NO! THE BARRIER!," he yelled trying to catch the particles in desperation only to be forced back. He scrambled to do something but only managed to achieve nothing except barely clinging to life.
'No! This is a disaster, I have to reform it,' Xie Chun thought in panicked frustration. He feared what would happen to the children with low cultivation back home. He feared what would happen to all his children and grandchildren.
ROAR!
The crab's train of thought was suddenly stopped by the bombastic cry of a fearsome tiger. The arthropod's eyes looked up catching the sight of a gargantuan tiger many thousands of kilometres in size facing down the lake.
With his presence, the icy waves of water was being suppressed and forced back. The bleak chilling atmosphere was being forced back to whence it came.
"Lord Baihu, what happened to the seal?" Xie Chun called out.
The white tiger looked at him stunned. "Didn't I tell you to leave?" He exclaimed. "Hai, dammit, listen when you're warned moron," he growled smashing both his white furry paws down.
The fierce iron sword energy pressed down hard on the cold air. Xie Chun watched in awe as the Venus star made its appearance. The celestial body created waves of metallic energy containing the cold air.
However, Xie Chun realised something. "Lord Baihu, why aren't you reforming the barrier? It should be well within your capabilities," then his mind turned to a horrific thought. "Did you destroy the barrier? Was it all a lie after all?"
"Oh for the love of, if you had just left you wouldn't notice a damn thing," the innate god growled back. "We're not destroying the barrier, we're replacing it with something better," he said looking up.
Following his line of sight, Xie Chun saw shadows above the water. His enhanced eyes struggled to see the distance on the ocean surface but he could see a massive shape rapidly descending.
"Stand back," Baihu commanded. "And this time, listen to my orders."
Accepting them, Xie Chun immediately swam as far away as possible. "You didn't specify how far I had to go," he grumbled in dissatisfaction. However, from the looks of things, Baihu heard him as the tiger turned his eyes at him with a growl.
THOOM!
Xie Chun's travels were broken when the water parted. A massive circular structure many times the size of the underwater lake descended. Xie Chun immediately picked up speed and swam even faster than before.
However, no matter how fast he went, he was still beneath the enormous construct's shadow. Even his full Heavenly Immortal peak cultivation couldn't help him much.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"Is this how it all ends?" He thought sombrely. He sighed, at least the dragon hadn't lied, they've indeed helped his north sea seafolk as promised.
"Got ya," a youthful voice said. Xie Chun suddenly found himself being held by a pair of scaled claws.
"Hey, you really weren't supposed to be there," Xie Chun looked up towards the voice. What greeted him was the similar looking draconic face of a dragon. The same as those three from all those years ago.
However, this dragon was considerably smaller and weaker. He was only a Golden Immortal after all.
"What?" The crab man could only say as the dragon dragged him out from beneath the circular construct. It was only then that Xie Chun saw what lay atop it.
The circle was in reality a large stone platform carrying a massive palace. A castle that was bigger than anything he'd ever seen. It was tens of thousands of kilometres in size and many thousands of kilometres high. Held up by massive pillars with coiling dragons, giant statues of guardian beasts.
The most eye catching thing was the centre. The main palace building was a large squarish shape looking temple in an elevated position with a large staircase leading up to massive gates with the carvings of a crowned dragon. Above was a sign with massive inscribed words.
Xie Chun read the words carefully and memorised them.
The in bold letters read:
'NORTH SEA DRAGON PALACE'
Glancing around, Xie Chun noticed that the cold energy had all but disappeared. The palace had completely sealed the lake shut, he couldn't even feel the chilling air anymore.
What was more awe inspiring was the azure serpentine form of Qinglong. The dragon wasn't alone however, he was surrounded by an army of dragons. Xie Chun's eyes counted at least a million dragons. Of them, there were also the auras of tens of thousands of Golden Immortals, a number that frankly boggled his mind.
…
"Got word from little brother, operation up north went well," Yinglong reported to his eldest brother before him.
Standing tall at the head of a flying battleship, Zulong wore armour instead of his usual black robes. He appeared like a general heading into battle.
Behind him was also a massive fleet travelling incredibly quickly. Far quicker than it'll take for immortals of lower cultivation to travel otherwise.
Several million dragons had followed Zulong along with millions of cultivators from the various sea clans. They stood on the ship standing in anticipation as they travelled.
"I see," Zulong said smiling. "Then the north is secured. Soon the south will follow," he said. The dragon's eyes brimmed with immortal power. His fingers rubbed the dragon pearl in anticipation.
"Tell me," Zulong said. "How much resistance can we expect."
"With Si Hai's reputation? A lot will throw themselves at us simply because of fear," Yinglong said. "However, if we replace him. No one will care. They will celebrate our arrival."
"Yes, I expected as much," Zulong nodded. "How far are we?"
"Minutes," Yinglong admitted pointing at a collapsing palace in the distance. "That should be his castle."
Zulong frowned and looked at the run down shack in shock. "That's his palace? What in heaven has he been doing?" The place was a disaster. Zulong had hoped he could save resources and just occupy Si Hai's castle as his own with some renovations but this looks like he'd have to start from scratch.
Looking closer, he also saw burn marks on the palace. "Hey brother, do the reports say anything about that peacock attacking this place?" He asked.
"Yes, the phoenix sovereign struck emperor Si Hai's stronghold several centuries ago. She was however repelled though reports say emperor Si Hai suffered heavy losses," the winged dragon replied.
"I'll say, this place looks terrible," Gui Daiyu said walking up to the deck. The dragons parted making way for the primordial turtle.
In the thousands of years since the dragon clan's creation, Gui Daiyu had reached the Golden Immortal realm. Her strength rose exponentially and she was considered among the top experts among Golden Immortals. She'd also been accepted as the matriarch of the dragon clan.
"Think Si Hai will show?" She taunted.
"His pride demands it," Zulong said walking forwards. He stepped onto the air with the confidence of an emperor. "But even so, he's nothing in front of me."
As if right on cue, the massive deity of ancient days appeared. Si Hai's monstrous form broke the surface of the water holding a cracked harpoon. His blank eyes and razor sharp teeth appeared downright murderous.
"You, how dare you cross into my domain," Si Hai roared. "You who dare copy the visage of my fellow emperor chaos sky dragon."
"I don't know who you're talking about and frankly I don't care. But see here's the thing," Zulong said. "The south sea is my domain now. For you my hated rival, there are two options. You can save me a lot of time by killing yourself now. Alternatively, I will be forced to expend some effort to kill you thereby wasting everyone's time," he announced.
"How dare you," Si Hai growled. "You little worm, do you have any idea who I am? I am emperor Si Hai of the chaos godfiends. I was a mighty powerhouse before you were even conceived. No one dared cross me."
"Yet here you are, bullied around by everyone. How deluded are you?" Zulong mocked. Si hai answered him with a charge.
Although Si Hai appeared monstrously powerful, Zulong could see through the facade. The godfiend was on the verge of death already. He was only barely holding on to life.
Zulong gripped his fist and punched out. His blow connected with the sea god hard punting into the distance.
With his other hand, Zulong created a claw of water from the ocean that grabbed hold of the god. "Your time is long over Si Hai," Zulong said shaking his head laughing. "Today, I, Ao Zulong am the ruler of the four seas."
"To think a disciple of that nobody will," Si Hai uttered weakly glaring at Zulong.
The dragon sliced sideways with his arm decapitating Si Hai. The godfiend of the past died instantly, his soul dissipating into nothingness.