Stranger Danger

The five-colored profound light in the sky grew even brighter, and a picture of Primal Chaos and pure nothingness took form.

Suddenly, the Eastern Sea Dragon King felt like he was the wheat trapped inside a millstone made from heaven and earth. His physical body was melting, and his mind was fading with every spin. Everything that composed his being was returning to void and chaos.

If even he was feeling this way, those weaker than him could only fare worse.

Every Stranger and living being within hundreds of kilometers—sentient or non-sentient, flora or fauna, strong or weak—began disintegrating under the five-colored profound light. They were dissolving into void and chaos like ash.

“Roar…”

The Eastern Sea Dragon King let out an angry roar and transformed into a thunder dragon tens of thousands of meters long. Devastating thunder instantly painted the entire sea region purple.

Thanks to the purple thunder, the five-colored profound light’s power weakened just enough that some aquatic people were able to avoid a gruesome fate.

Even so, the Eastern Sea Dragon King felt like his heart was bleeding. Over half of the living beings in this sea region had been annihilated in an instant, and a good number of them were his blood, the elite soldiers of the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace, and more.

One might say that over half of the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace’s lifelong work was destroyed just like that.

The next moment, the Eastern Sea Dragon King burst into the sky while surrounded by rolling thunder. He looked angry enough to rend heaven and earth asunder.

However, as soon as he leaped out of the water, he slammed face first into a bunch of golden lotuses and came to a screeching stop. At the same time, his thunder was disintegrating under the five-colored profound light.

“The Natural Five Phases Flags!”

The Eastern Sea Dragon King finally recognized the flags in the sky and exclaimed in realization.

The Natural Five Phases Flag was an Ancient-class Strange Artifact and ranked ninth on the “Strange Artifact Register”. Composed of five natural flags, each individual flag was equal to a Disaster-class Strange Artifact and boasted a unique ability.

The central Wuji Apricot Yellow Flag boasted ten thousand golden impenetrable lotuses.

The eastern Cyan Lotus Treasure Color Flag boasted the radiance of a Buddhist relic that could calm the mind and still the qi.

The southern Off Ground Flame Light Flag boasted the power to confuse yin and yang and reverse the Five Phases.

The western Plain Color Cloud Realm Flag boasted bizarre illusions and the power to brighten heaven and earth.

The northern True Martial Black Engraving Flag could blur out the world and blot out the sky.

And all of the flags possessed the power to repel evil and expel the arts.

If the five flags combined, then they became an Ancient-class Strange Artifact that could seal heaven and earth, muddy the rivers of fate, grind the Five Phases to dust, and return yin and yang to nothingness. It was a godlike Strange Artifact that sported terrifying offensive and defensive capabilities. That was why it was ranked nine on the “Strange Artifact Register”.

Generally speaking, the Natural Five Phases Flags were so potent that a Sage would find it difficult to escape from, and a Trueman difficult to endure. Everyone else below these two cultivation levels would just die like a common pig or dog. That was why so many living beings in the sea region had disintegrated into dust in just an instant.

The Natural Five Phases Flags were the ultimate treasures of Chu and usually held by Chu Xunxian, the Pacification King. Did that mean that Chu Xunxian was the attacker?

He was right. The next moment, he saw Chu Xunxian standing on a warship.

“It’s you, Chu Xunxian!”

“It’s me, Long Yuan. Long time no see!”

On the warship, Chu Xunxian stood tall and handsome like a living celestial.

“For what reason did you massacre my people, Chu Xunxian? I thought that the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace and the humans share a good relationship?” The Eastern Sea Dragon King uttered furiously, “Do you understand the consequences of what you’re doing?”

“Consequences?” Chu Xunxian remarked indifferently, “What consequences could killing a dog possibly incur?”

“Who are you calling a dog?” The Eastern Sea Dragon King raged.

“Who else? I’m talking about you.”

Chu Xunxian left no room for misinterpretation as he continued, “I have no intentions of wasting my breath on you, so don’t even try to talk your way out of this. For the crime of instigating the aquatic races of the four seas in an attempt to betray the human race, in the name of the emperor, I hereby sentence you to death.”

“... So, you know everything.”

There were a couple breaths of silence, and the Eastern Sea Dragon King’s voice slowly turned cruel. “I disagree with your choice of words, however. We, the dragon race, are mandated by the heavens themselves to rule the world. We are the natural masters of this world, just like humans are our natural slaves. If you ask me, you humans are the traitors who turned against your masters and stole our divine right.”

“I am just striving to retrieve what is ours. Betrayal? What betrayal?”

“Fuck you! Our ancestors worked long and hard and overcame all hardships to create a prosperous and bright future for the human race. Their achievements have not one whit to do with you dragons!”

Guo Ximian burst out yelling, “Mandated by heaven? The natural masters of the world? I have never heard such bullshit in my life! You are just a bunch of bloodsucking, ungrateful, heartless worms who feed on others like parasites!”

Long Yuan scoffed, “Heartless? Says the guy who just annihilated ten million of my kind.”

“And I have no doubt in my mind that they all deserve it.”

Chu Xunxian retook control of the conversation. “Just so you know, it is pointless to try and buy time. No one can escape while the Natural Five Phases Flags are active, and today is the day the dragons of the eastern sea go extinct. Do not expect reinforcements from the other three seas either. They are probably too busy saving themselves right now.”

“Now, you have but one way left to walk.”

“Bare your neck so I may remove it from your shoulders.”

The Eastern Sea Dragon King laughed. “No, no, I don’t think so. I think there is at least one other way I can walk. It’s called killing every last one of you!”

As soon as he finished, the Eastern Sea Dragon King’s aura began climbing rapidly, and his purple thunder slowly deepened in color. It turned from light purple to deep purple, then from deep purple to gold purple. Golden purple lightning slithered all over his body, painting a most fantastic sight and emitting a most profound sound. At the same time, his aura became as bottomless as a Sage.

That wasn’t all. His old and decrepit body was slowly regaining its vitality as well. His aura was positively terrifying, and his power was as vast as a god’s.

Just feeling the unconscious pressure the Eastern Sea Dragon King was giving off was enough to suffocate the likes of Chu Wangsun and Su Bancheng. They felt like ants standing before a god, and their instinctive fear was such that they could not muster even the thought of resistance.

The black tiger crouching above the Nether End Army’s warships scattered into nothing under the shockwaves of energy as well.

The might of a Sage rivaled that of a god or a demon. No mortal may look at them directly!

Clearly, the Eastern Sea Dragon King was no Disaster-class Stranger. It was an Ancient-class Stranger and the equal of a human Sage.

When humanity first founded and supported the Four Seas Dragon Palace to become the rulers of the four seas, they specifically commanded that no Dragon King were to ascend to Ancient-class. Should there exist a threat that could only be dealt with by a Sage-equivalent, they were required to contact a human Sage to carry out the extermination. Not only that, the human Sages personally ripped out the dragon race’s fate so that they would not receive the heavens’ protection, and their path to Sagehood was broken.

After all, an Ancient-class Stranger was on par with a human Sage in the sense that they had transcended mortality and evolved into something like a demigod. Their power was infinite, and their capacity for destruction incalculable. With one thought, they could found a realm or annihilate one. They were not to be treated lightly to say the last.

The only one who could suppress and kill a Sage was another Sage. All were ants beneath a Sage.

Take the Nether End Army for example. Fifty thousand Nether End troops were enough to easily suppress and kill even a Half Sage. But a Sage? It would be like trying to pit a colony of ants against a tiger or a dragon. One could not say that they would be completely ineffective against a Sage, but they certainly could not do much harm either.

Such was the might and power of a Sage.

A human Sage was terrifying enough, but an Ancient-class Stranger was even more anomalous and difficult to handle than a human Sage. All Ancient-class Strangers possessed long lifespans and were stupidly hard to kill. It was how they got their class name. This was doubly true for a dragon-type Stranger.

This was why the human Sages went through the trouble of stripping the dragon race of their fate and forbidding them from ascending to Ancient-class.

Logically speaking, no dragon should be able to enter the Ancient-class because they had lost their fate and so were loathed by the world itself. How on earth had the Eastern Sea Dragon King done the impossible?

“I knew it. You really had become an Ancient!”

Surprisingly, Chu Xunxian wasn’t surprised by this outcome. His tone was as calm as ever.

“Hahaha… you found out too late!” The Eastern Sea Dragon King laughed wildly as his golden thunder stirred the air. Everything in the area instantly became gold purple in color.

“Now die!”

The next moment, innumerable ropes of lightning poured down on the humans as if a celestial had accidentally tipped over a thunder pool. It felt as if the world itself would be annihilated with this one strike.