Chapter 1401: Chapter 1401 - 1386: Something Strange in the Clouds
Under the barrage of over twenty thousand Flame Spirit Burst Demon Crossbows, the Water Monarch with a human body and fish head, along with the three thousand elites behind him at the Divine Communication Realm, were either dead or injured.
The remaining over a hundred thousand Water Demons, witnessing their Water Monarch being annihilated in the sky full of flames, immediately collapsed, their fighting spirit entirely dissipated.
They scattered in a panic, with a few ambitious Water Demon generals occasionally attempting to halt the collapse. However, the bombardment from the Flame Spirit Burst Demon Crossbows scared most Water Demons witless. Even orders for execution couldn’t restore order.
Military Commander Gao Xingji’s eyes showed eager anticipation, "My lord?"
Ye Zhen understood Gao Xingji’s meaning, pondered for a moment, and said, "Leave ten thousand men to guard the city and disrupt the battlefield, while the other troops, divided by camp, spread out to pursue and kill the Ruined Demons. Each section should carry at least a hundred Flame Spirit Burst Demon Crossbows!
If encountering large groups of Water Demons, retreat immediately!"
"I await commands!"
Excitedly, Military Commander Gao Xingji began issuing military orders, while Ye watched for a few breaths amidst the pervasive flames.
After a few breaths, the flames dissipated, and Fengg Jiumo’s group immediately plunged in.
After a few breaths, Fengg Jiumo flew over, carrying a Dragon-Patterned Golden Spotted Fish over three hundred meters long, with scale armor covering its body.
"My lord, the Water Monarch yet lives, albeit heavily injured, and has fainted!"
The Dragon-Patterned Golden Spotted Fish in front of Ye Zhen should be the true form of that Water Monarch with a human body and fish head. Under the assault of the Flame Spirit Burst Demon Crossbows, more than half of its golden scales had shattered, and its entire body was a bloody mess, looking wretched.
However, the Demon Race has always boasted immense vitality. Despite the grievous injuries of this Dragon Fish Water Lord, Ye Zhen wagered it would recover half its injuries in less than a day.
At most, in ten days, it would fully recuperate.
Of course, this related to the crossbow bolts Ye Zhen had issued.
The Flame Spirit Burst Demon Crossbow’s power is tremendous, and Ye Zhen had intentions of capturing; thus, he allocated ordinary Flame Spirit Burst Demon Crossbow Arrows to the soldiers. Those bolts, blessed by the Ancestor God Temple Priest, had several times the power of the ordinary ones, but Ye Zhen did not use those.
Otherwise, this Water Monarch at the Fourth Stage of the Dark Palace Realm might not even have remnants left.
Such a situation still owed to the extremely potent defensive capabilities of that Dragon Fish Water Lord’s golden armor.
"Bring all surviving leader-level captives over; I want to conduct a Soul Search!" Ye Zhen had no intention of acting on this Dragon Fish Water Lord for the time being.
"Yes..."
As Fengg Jiumo responded, his expression suddenly changed, and he gazed at the clouds in the void with immense vigilance while shouting urgently, "Protect the lord!"
"What’s happening?"
"My lord, there’s something strange in the sky!" Fengg Jiumo stood guardedly in front of Ye Zhen with a wary face.
"My lord, haven’t you noticed? The innate divine souls of those killed Water Demons are all fleeing in one direction. Look, there, in that thick layer of clouds!
Moreover, those Water Demons’ innate divine souls were howling and struggling while flying in that direction. There’s likely something terrifying hidden there!"
Saying so, the Heavenly Patrol Divine General Fengg Jiumo sniffed, "My lord, your subordinate vaguely sensed a trace of Demon Clan aura from there. It might be hiding a certain Grand Demon or a formidable member of the Demon Clan.
And, it’s less than ten miles away, yet your subordinate couldn’t detect it. The hidden entity there might very well be at the Realm King Realm!" With these words, Fengg Jiumo and the gathered Heavenly Patrol Divine Hunters became incredibly tense.
"My lord, using the Sky-Breaking Dragon-Slaying Crossbow might...."
Seeing the tense expression on Fengg Jiumo, the Wind Patrol Heavenly General, Ye Zhen felt an impulse to laugh.
Stifling this urge to laugh, Ye Zhen maintained a serious tone, "Since this person is hiding here and might be at the Realm King Realm, they probably have no intent to oppose us. Our manpower is limited, so it’s best not to stir up trouble!"
"But my lord, it seems like the hidden entity is taking advantage, seemingly collecting the slain innate divine souls." Fengg Jiumo hesitated.
"Let them collect; we shall not concern ourselves with it for now. Our primary enemies are the Water Demons invading and plundering North Sea County!" Ye Zhen sternly ordered.
Seeing Ye Zhen’s anger, Fengg Jiumo immediately fell silent.
The abnormality detected by Fengg Jiumo in the sky was none other than Ye Zhen’s Demon Marshal’s Avatar. As the war commenced, Ye Zhen arranged a diversion and let the Demon Marshal’s Avatar escape, forming endless Cloud Qi under the Cloud Winged Tiger King’s Kitten, concealing the Avatar there, and urging the War Soul Blood Flag to relentlessly devour the innate divine souls of the slain Water Demons.
By this time, the War Soul Blood Flag had devoured a massive number of innate divine souls, causing its aura to surge significantly. Ye Zhen estimated that with five to six thousand more of that strength, his War Soul Blood Flag’s grade could be restored to the level of a Mid-grade Town Artifact.
This anomaly was orchestrated by Ye Zhen, who naturally wouldn’t allow Fengg Jiumo to investigate further.
In fact, it was because Ye Zhen was the Wind Patrol Envoy here; otherwise, he wouldn’t dare openly devour innate divine souls to strengthen the War Soul Blood Flag.
Half a quarter-hour later, the Heavenly Patrol Divine Hunters and soldiers presented Ye Zhen with over a hundred half-dead elite Water Demons, including two Water Demon Generals.
Subsequently, Ye Zhen commanded them to imprison these Water Demons under the guise of detention, relegating them to large prison facilities within the city barracks.
A large Silent Barrier was set up, and Ye Zhen, along with a group of Heavenly Patrol Divine Hunters, began to deal with the captives.
Ye Zhen first dealt with the Dragon Fish Water Lord. Taking advantage of his unconsciousness, he used the Soul-locking Technique to extract one of his Innate Divine Souls and sealed it within the Spirit Palace.
Meanwhile, among the more than a hundred captives, some souls were being searched, and others were being interrogated with severe torture.
Quickly, Ye Zhen obtained the information he wanted.
The newly appointed Crown Prince of the Blue-scaled Dragon King was not an unusual occurrence among the Water Clan.
The offspring of the Dragon Clan were inherently difficult to produce, especially those with powerful cultivation.
The Blue-scaled Dragon King originally had thirteen sons, but due to his low cultivation level in earlier years, his sons perished one after another. It is said that during a battle thousands of years ago, the Blue-scaled Dragon King’s lair was raided, and all his children were killed.
Since that incident, the Blue-scaled Dragon King secluded himself to bitter cultivation for a millennium, his cultivation levels broke through continuously, and after avenging his family, he became a close confidant of the Dragon Lord of North Sea, managing a vast sea domain. Later, due to water calamities, he was conferred the title of Blue-scaled Dragon King by the Great Zhou Dynasty as a means of appeasement.
Speaking of the conferment of the Blue-scaled Dragon King by Great Zhou, it is necessary to mention Great Zhou’s external policy.
In fact, Great Zhou has consistently executed an iron-blood policy externally, whether against the Demon Clan, the Barbarian Clan, or various demons—prefer war to surrender.
But there exists an exception for the four major sea domains of the Primordial Continent.
It is said that the combined area of the four major sea domains is several times wider than the land area of the Primordial Continent, and the depth of the sea is hundreds of times greater than that of the land.
Millions of years ago, due to rampant water calamities, the Great Zhou had waged several campaigns against the sea domains, but each time ended in failure, with the army returning with broken halberds.
There was no way around it; in the sea, the elite soldiers of the Great Zhou could not even demonstrate thirty percent of their former strength. Furthermore, in terms of numbers, the Water Clan likely surpasses the Human Clan by manyfold.
After several failures, the Great Zhou realized this and shifted their policy towards the sea domains from warfare to appeasement.
The Dragon Kings and Lords of the various sea domains were happy to go along with this good will, accepting the conferment.
Even though the Great Zhou lost, their military zeal was still quite vexing to them.
Years ago, a Great Sun Priest from the Ancestor God Temple spread poison in North Sea, causing hundreds of billions of deaths among the Water Clan, creating countless dead zones in North Sea that still exist today.
If it were not for the poisons being extremely difficult to prepare and the vast ocean depth significantly diluting the toxin, the North Sea might have submitted then.
The acceptance of the conferment by the various sea domains was seen as a peace agreement, but within a few years, the marauding and looting by their clans resumed.
After several incidents, an unspoken understanding was developed between the two sides.
After all, the vastness of the sea domains and the often lawless nature of the Water Clan compared to the Human Clan meant that raids by water demons and Water Lords were not uncommon, and the Dragon Kings and Lords of the sea domains neither had the time nor desire to manage these issues, allowing them to proceed unchecked.
However, the Great Zhou had its own bottom line.
First, if a merchant ship carrying the Great Zhou flag went missing, it would be investigated.
Second, was the scale.
If water demons raided villages or townships, the Great Zhou would not pursue it deeply, but if a commandery were breached, the Great Zhou would surely seek retribution.
After all, the Great Zhou held items that the Dragon Kings and Lords of the sea domains were wary of.
In instances of Great Zhou’s wrath, even without the need for the military, the Dragon Kings and Lords of the sea domains would hand over the perpetrators tied up.
Over time, this became an iron law for water demons raiding the shore.
Raiding and even cannibalism were allowed, and you could fight the officials and soldiers of the various commanderies of Great Zhou, but you absolutely couldn’t breach the cities nor attack the commandery governance centers, and so on.
This was also one of the reasons the Dragon Fish Water Lord besieged but didn’t attack earlier.
After being conferred the title by Great Zhou, the Blue-scaled Dragon King’s influence expanded, with numerous beauties from various tribes in his harem, yet still no children.
After trying for two thousand years, a single ’sprout’ finally grew in the vast land of the Blue-scaled Dragon King, and naturally, it was highly treasured.
On his hundredth birthday last year, the newly adult single heir was eagerly appointed as Crown Prince by the Blue-scaled Dragon King.
Such second-generation individuals were rarely content.
Not long after being appointed as Crown Prince, having been confined within the Blue-scaled Dragon Palace for a century, he began to make waves.
This organized raid was orchestrated by this Dragon Prince.
Moreover, the early arrival of the rainy season could also be attributed to this Dragon Prince.
It is said that this Dragon Prince specially requested his elders to summon wind and rain so that he could seize the opportunity to abduct more Human Clan beauties to expand his newly built harem!
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