Chapter 597: Lord of Yu Nanhong

Deep within the turbid waters, a magnificent hall of green stone has stood unchanged for hundreds of thousands of years.

And the master of this hall has now completely lost the breath of life.

Wisps of gray mist drifted from the body of the Prince Nanlong King, flowing into Shen Yi's five fingers, while the blood talisman in his palm, as if washed by waves, gradually faded and finally vanished.

Boom—

This broken and dilapidated towering dragon body finally fell straight to the ground, its body covered in gaping wounds so gruesome they reached the bone.

"Congratulations to my Lord, ruler of Yu Nanhong!"

Ke Shisan led more than ten Great Demon Guardians of the Dao-Integration realm, kneeling uniformly on one knee with hands clasped in salute.

Before the corpse of the Prince Nanlong King, this was no longer mere flattery, but simply a statement of fact.

"..."

Shen Yi, unusually, did not immediately store the Dragon King's corpse; instead, his gaze solemn fixed on the green stone hall ahead, and he murmured, "It is not over yet."

In his vision, this exaggerated massive structure built purely of green stone was now entirely enveloped by an even more sinister and terrifying dark hall.

Wan Yao Dian.

The reason they had failed to fully suppress this green stone dragon palace back then was that the demons lacked sufficient lifespan, and furthermore, Shen Yi's slightly rash actions had inadvertently drawn the Prince Nanlong King's attention.

And now, it seemed the time had come to fully take over this place.

Shen Yi turned his gaze toward the dragon cave deep within the hall, discovering that the vast dragon qi, which had settled in the bottomless abyss for years, began to stir rapidly after the Prince Nanlong King's death.

At most, it would take only half a day for this dragon qi to surge into the clouds and spread across the Four Floods.

By then, alarming the North Flood, or even reaching the ears of Bai Xi and the Immortals, would be nothing out of the ordinary.

This was the first hurdle Shen Yi had to cross.

Fortunately, he had already devised a countermeasure.

With no Dragon King in Yu Nanhong, then he would support one himself!

It required a powerful dragon clan of extremely pure bloodline to suppress the area; in this regard, who could compare to Ke Shisan?

Shen Yi stared at the dragon cave and said softly, "Go try."

Upon hearing this, Ke Shisan instantly rose and, without hesitation, darted into the dragon cave.

In the next moment, it fully mobilized its pure blood throughout its body, resonating with the surrounding yellow qi, which was so dense it had nearly become solid.

This dragon qi clung tightly to Ke Shisan's flesh and skin, as if puzzled, probing for something.

Only after sensing the bloodline power within this Guardian's body, which was pure to the extreme, did they seem to see a new king, roaring as they surged forward to embrace it!

With the support of this dragon qi, Ke Shisan closed its eyes tightly, making no move, yet its aura steadily surged!

It climbed until it far surpassed the level of Ye Jiu and the Prince Nanlong King.

Heaven realm perfection!

"Hah."

Shen Yi silently gazed at the imposing figure before him, finding it hard to imagine: if the Prince Nanlong King had continued to guard this place without leaving, leveraging the dragon qi to contend with the Nanhongqi Sect, how exactly could they, with their current strength, ever hope to defeat the opponent?

"Reporting to my Lord, it is done!"

The surging dragon qi slowly calmed, gently coiling around Ke Shisan's body.

It opened its eyes in delight; clearly, the dragon cave had recognized a new master. Although it could not bring this Heaven realm perfection cultivation outside the dragon cave, it had at least helped its master solve the first trouble.

"Return."

Shen Yi nodded slightly, withdrawing Ke Shisan and the various Great Demon Guardians entirely into the sea of consciousness between his eyebrows.

Although possessing a subordinate with Heaven realm perfection strength was quite tempting, he still needed Ke Shisan by his side as an assistant for the time being; moreover, once the current matter was resolved, feeding the numerous corpses into it might well help it break through.

Once the dragon cave ceased changing, Shen Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

This proved his guess was correct.

Since Yu Nanhong could operate this way, then the West Flood, the East Flood, and even the North Flood could do the same.

Of course, this only proved they could act without being detected; to truly master the heavenly and earthly qi of a land and water region, one still had to seek the missing great seal.

Only these things could truly pose a threat to the Immortals.

Shen Yi raised his eyes to look at the panel.

To avoid leaking any news, while they were fighting the Prince Nanlong King earlier, the various Demon Guardians had already transformed into butchers, burying the dragon sons and grandsons completely within this silent waters before they could react.

Even their strongest and most loyal guards were left without a single survivor.

Beneath the hundreds of dense notifications lay the lives of demons, each at least at the late stage of the Void-Return realm or higher; even the cracks in the green stone tiles were filled with demon blood.

【Remaining Demon Lifespan: 12,940,000 years】

This was absolutely the greatest harvest Shen Yi had made since transmigrating; the quantity was so vast that even he, upon first seeing it, could not help but fall into a brief daze.

Such immense demon lifespan, given to one person to deduce a technique, would absolutely be... an endless nightmare.

But ever since Wan Yao Dian was formed, Shen Yi had noticed something amiss.

This hall shields Xiancheng, suppresses the dragon palace, and even steals the power of Immortals; the seemingly terrifying demon lifespan poured into it clearly does far more than simple deduction—it is clearly performing an act of stealing the sky and changing the sun!

"Hah."

Shen Yi exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, darted into the dragon palace, and picked up a jade seal from the table.

This seal was clearly an object for commanding the waters of Yu Nanhong, held by the Crown Prince of the Ke family, possessing the authority to mobilize all water soldiers and demon generals of the dragon palace.

But it was not the item he needed.

He looked at the panel again.

【Demon Emperor Seal: He who holds this seal is the Demon Emperor's Envoy, touring the heavens on behalf of Heaven.】

"..."

Shen Yi pondered for a moment; the four characters "touring the heavens on behalf of Heaven" struck him as strange in every way.

Interpreted literally, this is the duty of an imperial envoy.

The problem is, did Qingtian agree to let you take his place?

So you're just forcing your way in?

Fortunately, this vast lifespan wasn't earned by my own hands... it came quickly and will leave quickly; if it's gone, it's gone.

Shen Yi closed his eyes, his divine soul sinking into the Wan Yao Nan Dian.

As the remaining lifespan of the demons suddenly shrank by a large chunk, on the throne of the Demon Palace, a wisp of scarlet mist quietly emerged between Yu Lan's five pale white fingers, then swirled out like a vortex, quickly ravaging the entire Dacheng!

Right in the center of that vortex, a square red jade seal rapidly took shape, as if carved by an invisible chisel; soon, a blood phoenix with spread wings appeared atop the seal.

At the same time, within the phantom image of the Wan Yao Nan Dian shrouding the green stone hall, a streak of red light likewise manifested, binding the entire Green Stone Palace tightly like a prison, rapidly corroding it!

"Hah."

Yu Lan, breathing heavily, gripped that seal.

In that instant, Shen Yi's pupils suddenly contracted; his vision seemed to soar ten thousand feet high, and before his eyes, the entire Yu Nanhong land and water appeared!

And within this land and water, dense threads of mist slowly wandered restlessly, as if forming a cycle.

"Is this the heavenly and earthly qi of the entire Yu Nanhong?"

As Shen Yi's mind stirred slightly, that perfect cycle abruptly became disordered.

As long as he wished, he could draw upon this qi for his own use at any time!

And the vastness and power of this heavenly and earthly spiritual qi had long surpassed the so-called Dao-Integration Realm; let alone a perfect Heavenly Realm, even a stronger Dao Realm, what of it?

A mere treasure land, compared to Yu Nanhong, was no different from a shallow puddle compared to Wang Yang.

Trying to build a ritual ground inside a snail shell; no matter how exquisite the technique, how could it possibly fill the huge gap in quantity!

Even if unwilling to admit it, the power gained from exchanging ten million years of demon lifespan was far more worthwhile than using it on oneself...

"Hiss."

Shen Yi bit his tongue hard, forcing himself to stop the thought of trying to control this heavenly and earthly qi.

He had not been swept off his feet by such a shocking scene.

Remember, Immortals possess four such things... now it should be three.

Moreover, Yu Nanhong is the most barren of them all.

Sure enough, the Bai Xi in the sky opened its eyes again, looking puzzledly toward Yu Nanhong, as if sensing the qi disturbance from that brief moment earlier.

But the blood threads within the phantom image of the Wan Yao Nan Dian seemed to have blinded its vision.

Bai Xi watched silently for a while, shook its head, and fell back into slumber.

"..."

Shen Yi likewise remained silent for a long time.

Sitting on a mountain of gold but unable to use it; this feeling was truly somewhat unbearable.

But he could only comfort himself.

At least he now possessed a desperate move.

If he were truly driven to the brink, with a mindset of mutual destruction that didn't care if the Immortals discovered him, with this power alone, what Liangdaohuang Sect, what Northern Long Gong, could last even a stick of incense? That would count as him being merciful.

Besides, if there is one, there will be two.

If he could master both Hongs simultaneously, even the relatively barren west and south, even an Immortal would probably have to weigh the consequences, wouldn't they?

Thinking of this, Shen Yi's mood improved greatly; the exhaustion throughout his body finally had meaning.

He slowly walked out of the Green Stone Palace, arriving before the bloodied and flesh-mangled dragon corpse, just about to reach out and store it in his ring, when a sound of hurried breathing suddenly rang in his ear.

Shen Yi raised his gaze slightly; not far away, a graceful figure stood tightly clutching her sleeve.

Ji Jingxi, a senior who had already achieved Dao-Integration ten thousand years ago and is also the Qingyue Sect Master, had not shown such a young woman's demeanor since her senior brother Qin fell.

She bit her red lips, her water-filled eyes wide open, her full chest heaving restlessly, no longer possessing the former calm and coldness.

"You..."

Ji Jingxi had come with the intention of saving someone; even if she died here today, she would take Shen Yi back from the water.

Even though reason told her that, regardless of life or death, she could do little before the Southern Dragon King, the thought that the sole hope of the Seven Sons of Yu Nanhong would perish here caused her to lose her composure.

However, Ji Jingxi never imagined, no matter what.

That after rushing with all her might to the Dragon Cave, she would, without any warning, see the corpse of the Southern Dragon King.

This cruel and cautious great demon, after losing its breath, was so miserable and wretched; lying quietly before Shen Yi's long boots, one could not see any trace of its former terror.

"Senior Ji, why have you come?"

Shen Yi quietly stored the dragon corpse; in his heart, he felt somewhat fortunate that he had acted quickly, otherwise, if the anomaly in the Dragon Cave had been noticed just now, it would indeed be very hard to explain clearly.

At the same time, he felt somewhat puzzled in his heart.

The situation was so clear, he had hidden no information; why did the other party, a mid-stage Heavenly Realm cultivator, come to make a scene?

"Senior?"

Hearing this title, Ji Jingxi's lips curved into an expression full of complex meaning; she stared blankly at Shen Yi's face: "Why do I feel I should address you as Senior?"

She let out a long sigh: "Your honorable title, can it not yet be revealed to us?"

Until this moment, Ji Jingxi had completely ruled out the possibility that the other party was the reincarnation of her senior brother Qin.

With a low-stage Heavenly Realm cultivation, and in such a short time, standing before the Dragon Cave and slaying the Dragon King; this is absolutely something her senior brother could not do. Forget reincarnation, even if the other party were to come back to life, there would be no possibility.

Only a true Immortal undergoing reincarnation and training could achieve such terrifying feats as our Shen Zongzhu.

Honorable... honorable title?

Shen Yi raised an eyebrow, glancing over with a slightly strange expression.

This Senior Ji seems a bit obsessed.

Just as the two locked gazes.

On another floating island in Yu Nanhong, Qi Yansheng supported Ye Jiu as they descended, steadied themselves somewhat dazedly, and prepared to temporarily suppress the raging demon qi within her body.

At that moment, a faint, mournful cry entered his ears.

The cry seemed to have no source, rising from all directions—not loud, yet like silk and bamboo lingering around the beams, enduring without end.

Qi Yansheng looked up blankly and saw that the once clear blue sky had darkened considerably; a light drizzle now fell upon the earth, washing away the lingering stench of blood.

The phenomenon accompanying the death of a Heaven Realm great demon was an exceedingly rare sight.

But perhaps he had seen too many of them lately.

Qi Yansheng, no longer startled as he had been at first, felt numb instead; he reached out his hand listlessly to catch the falling raindrops. Ye Jiu collapsed with a thud onto the ground, made no complaint, but opened his mouth to taste them.

The raindrops dissolved into pure, unimaginably concentrated heavenly and earthly qi.

When a whale dies, ten thousand lives are born.

Prince Nanlong King was the largest whale in this land and water, and his death would undoubtedly bless all living things.

"I don't understand."

Qi Yansheng turned his head toward Ye Jiu, his voice hoarse as if burned: "If such a heavenly prodigy truly exists, why was he born in Nanhongqi Sect?"

Could it be that Nanhong has no immortal fortune because all its blessings were used to forge such a terrifying being?

Ye Jiu closed his eyes and felt the sweet rain for a long while before his cracked lips finally split into a smile.

He rarely agreed with Qi Yansheng's views, but this time, he had no intention of disputing them.

The only thing that needed correction was…

"He is no heavenly prodigy."

Ye Jiu opened his eyes; with the rain's nourishment, he regained a little strength and barely rose from the ground, then sat on the earth with no trace of a master's dignity, gasping for breath in deep, heavy heaves.

After a long while, he rasped out a laugh: "He is the Lord of Nanhong."

Hearing those four words, Qi Yansheng shuddered violently, as if suddenly reminded: "If the Southern Dragon King is dead, the other Hong sects will surely notice…"

"Who cares?"

Ye Jiu wiped the blood from his face and spat: "I can't even wield a sword properly—how could I have the brain to think about such things? I only know that Nanyang is the foremost of the Seven Sons. Following him is always right."

(End of Chapter)