A Pawn's Passage

Back when the Imperial Preceptor slew the dragon, he did so with effortless grace. The feat seemed almost casual, and he even had the leisure to recite a few lines of poetry afterward.

Qi Xuansu and his group had no such capabilities. Their battle was a brutal struggle in the mud. Together, they desperately pinned down the flood dragon, preventing it from breaking free while waiting for the Horned Dragon to fire the shot.

The old flood dragon had already lost its nerve. Even at the cost of worsening its injuries, it was determined to escape back into the sea. But Utu moved to block its retreat.

Utu manifested his Spiritual Statue that towered between heaven and earth. Ignoring the raging storm, he swept his colossal scythe across the battlefield, its blade writhing with countless vengeful spirits and shadows.

A dragon’s might inspired fear, and so did death.

The scythe swept through the old flood dragon. Though its body remained completely unharmed, its mind lapsed into a brief moment of distraction.

Qi Xuansu and Hun Ahau seized the opportunity, catching up to the flood dragon and pinning it down once more.

Qi Xuansu’s primary role was to make use of his Pseudo-Immortal Qi Refiner lineage to wrestle the flood dragon for dominion over the surrounding elemental energy. As a result, every attempt the dragon made to gather a great storm was thwarted.

As the Pseudo-Immortal Martial Arts Practitioner, Hun Ahau bore the responsibility of confronting the flood dragon head-on, matching it in raw physical might.

Meanwhile, Utu continuously assaulted the flood dragon’s soul, forcing it to divide its attention. The slightest lapse in concentration allowed Utu to disrupt its mind, allowing his shadows to invade its consciousness, severely hindering its movements.

The three worked together with flawless coordination, preventing the old flood dragon from reaching the sea no matter how desperately it tried to escape.

Meanwhile, the Horned Dragon flying ship had completed loading its first shell, the Grade-A Series Two Dragon Eye Bomb.

From a considerable distance away, the Horned Dragon began drawing in the surrounding elemental energy on a massive scale. All of it converged into the Starcrusher, its depths glowing with an increasingly brilliant crimson light.

At this level, artillery did not rely on visual targeting. Instead, it locked onto its target’s aura, operating on the same principle as a flying sword capable of striking from hundreds of kilometers away.

Inside the Horned Dragon, the Spirit Guards carried out their assigned duties and reported their status with solemn expressions.

“Calibration complete.”

“Energy accumulation complete.”

“All preparations complete. Awaiting orders.”

Yang Shaozhen, who was standing on the bridge of the Horned Dragon, fixed her gaze on the sea of clouds. Only the faint silhouette of an enormous shadow could be seen flickering in and out of view.

She then gave the order, “Fire!”

The Horned Dragon reached the limit of its energy buildup.

Following a thunderous explosion, the entire Horned Dragon seemed to shudder. A massive shockwave burst outward from the warship, scattering every trace of cloud and mist in all directions.

An unbroken torrent of blazing light erupted from the barrel of the Starcrusher, streaking across the heavens before reaching the flood dragon hidden deep within the sea of clouds. From afar, it resembled a single, endless crimson line.

Though it appeared to be a mere line, it was actually as wide as the muzzle of the Starcrusher itself, about one meter in diameter.

The blast struck the old flood dragon squarely at its vital spot. Although it failed to blast the dragon completely in two, scales exploded in every direction, flesh was torn apart, and a massive wound was punched clean through its body.

Wracked by excruciating pain, the old flood dragon let out an earth-shaking roar, unleashing its overwhelming aura.

Hun Ahau’s eyes had already become vacant due to the impact of the roar on his mind, but his body continued to fight under the autonomous control of his body spirits.

By this point, the arrogance bestowed by the Scripture of Zuriel was no longer sufficient to completely neutralize this overwhelming dragon aura. Qi Xuansu had no choice but to rely on the Pure Bodhi, using it to dispel part of the dragon’s oppressive might.

As a Pseudo-Immortal Shaman, Utu possessed greater resistance to such spiritual oppression compared to the rest, yet even he was forced to temporarily withdraw from the dragon’s immediate vicinity.

However, after that brief but devastating roar, the old flood dragon was left even weaker than before.

Qi Xuansu abandoned the Daozi Sword and instead drew Green Cloud, transforming into a streak of green light as he shot directly toward the gaping wound blasted open by the Grade-A Series Two Dragon Eye Bomb.

The old flood dragon swung one of its massive claws in an attempt to intercept him, but Qi Xuansu employed the Banished Immortal’s Joyous Cloud Shield, completely disregarding the dragon’s attack. He pierced straight through the wound, enlarging the already devastating opening.

This was precisely what made Qi Xuansu such an unreasonable opponent. He simultaneously possessed four lineages that had all reached the Zaohua stage, making him nearly omnipotent in battle. If he were ever to bring all five of his lineages to their absolute peak, he would possess virtually no weaknesses. No opponent of equal level could hope to defeat him through sheer strength.

At the same time, Qi Xuansu unleashed Wu Luo’s karmic fire and Izanami’s demonic fire. These too were techniques belonging to Immortals. With Qi Xuansu temporarily elevated to the Pseudo-Immortal stage, their power increased dramatically. While they were not enough to kill the flood dragon outright, they were more than sufficient to inflict severe suffering upon an enemy already burdened with grievous wounds.

The old flood dragon twisted around and snapped its jaws at Qi Xuansu. Utu hurriedly intercepted, spinning the enormous scythe in his hands until it resembled a full moon. The whirling blade cleanly severed one of the dragon’s long whiskers.

Meanwhile, Hun Ahau had already leaped onto the flood dragon’s head, gripping one dragon horn with each hand. The arms of his Manly Immortal True Form bulged as he exerted all of the strength he could conjure, attempting to snap the horns in half. Though he failed to break the dragon horns, the move inflicted intense pain upon the old flood dragon, driving it into an even greater frenzy.

For a time, the old flood dragon found itself overwhelmed, unable to deal with every threat at once.

Though this style of fighting was anything but elegant, it was exceptionally effective. The old flood dragon was forced into a grueling battle of attrition.

Meanwhile, the Horned Dragon flying ship had already begun preparing its second shot.

To accomplish this, the Horned Dragon employed an emergency cooling procedure, consuming a precious drop of Tianyi True Water. This substance was another product of the Daoist Order’s creation project, refined from ordinary water through repeated purification until only its purest essence remained.

Its production process was conceptually simple, but the cost was staggering. Refining a single drop of Tianyi True Water required an amount of water roughly equivalent to draining all the waters of Hangzhou’s West Lake. Under normal circumstances, the Daoist Order refined it from seawater rather than the far more valuable freshwater. Yet the complex composition of seawater made the refining process even more expensive.

Tianyi True Water had a remarkably wide range of applications. It could be used in alchemy, artifact forging, or even stored as an emergency water reserve. In practice, the Daoist Order regarded it as a strategic resource, using it primarily to cool heavy artillery, especially massive cannons like the Starcrusher.

Due to its exorbitant cost, Tianyi True Water would never be used except in emergencies. This Horned Dragon carried only three Grade-A Series Two Dragon Eye Bombs and two drops of Tianyi True Water so it could fire all three shells in the shortest possible time.

To ensure the success of the dragon-slaying operation, Qi Xuansu had spared no expense.

This time, the Starcrusher was aimed directly at the old flood dragon’s head.

Cold sweat beaded across Yang Shaozhen’s forehead. Setting aside the fact that Hun Ahau was standing atop the flood dragon’s head, the dragon was also relentlessly pursuing Qi Xuansu, requiring careful calculation of its future position.

If the shell failed to hit its target, the dragon-slaying operation would effectively be a failure. Worse still, if it accidentally struck Hun Ahau or Qi Xuansu instead, Yang Shaozhen would have to bear the responsibility.

Yang Shaozhen took a deep breath before giving the order to fire.

The Horned Dragon’s hull lurched downward once again under the immense recoil.

The three-against-one fight proved effective, as the old flood dragon’s attention and agility had been so greatly reduced that it did not dodge the shot. The bomb flew directly into the old flood dragon’s gaping maw.

The flood dragon’s body was protected by layers of dragon scales. Although the first shell had shattered many of them, much of its force had been spent breaking through that natural armor, limiting the damage it could inflict. However, there were no scales inside the dragon’s body, making its interior far more vulnerable than its exterior, which was true for all living beings.

This shell blasted the old flood dragon’s mouth into a mangled ruin and continued driving inward, tearing through its throat and esophagus before plunging deep into its stomach and intestines.

The old flood dragon’s colossal body crashed violently to the ground under the force of the blow, tumbling uncontrollably. The earth shook, and the mountains trembled as its immense bulk gouged out a gigantic ravine across the land.

Even so, the old flood dragon would not die from this alone. Its physique rivaled that of a Manly Immortal, with extraordinary regenerative abilities. Given enough time, injuries of this magnitude could still heal completely.

At that very moment, Qi Xuansu made his move again. He plunged into the flood dragon’s body through its shattered jaws and unleashed his full power from within. Green Cloud’s sword qi erupted, making it seem like a blooming green lotus had blossomed inside the dragon’s body.

Under Qi Xuansu’s assault, its wounds only worsened.

Seeing this, Utu and Hun Ahau did not stand by idly. Both men attacked with everything they had, coordinating with Qi Xuansu in a simultaneous assault, determined to kill the old flood dragon.

Driven to the brink of life and death, the old flood dragon had no choice but to gamble everything on one final desperate attack.

The old flood dragon barely managed to coil itself into a defensive serpent formation. Its lone remaining whisker quivered violently. A point of light first appeared within its mangled mouth, followed by the emergence of a purple Dragon Pearl.

The Dragon Pearl was the core of the flood dragon, as well as the core of Daoist flying ships.

Though the Golden Core cultivated by Immortals was formless and intangible, a Demon Immortal’s inner core possessed tangible form. It embodied the essence of the creature’s entire being and was its most precious treasure, able to be wielded directly in battle.

Wrapped in vast streams of purple qi that surged like a mighty river descending from the heavens, the Dragon Pearl burst forth with overwhelming force. In the process, it blasted Qi Xuansu, who had been wreaking havoc inside the dragon’s body, back out.

Once the Dragon Pearl emerged, its radiance intensified dramatically until it resembled a purple sun. It then conjured countless spheres of water, each roughly the size of a human head, arranged so densely that they formed a curtain of glistening pearls.

This technique was equally effective for offense and defense. When necessary, the curtain of water orbs could instantly transform into explosive water mines, each more powerful than an ordinary thunder. With so many of them gathered together, their destructive potential was beyond imagination.

The Dragon Pearl was both the flood dragon’s greatest weakness and its most powerful weapon. However, there were already several conspicuous cracks on its surface.

Qi Xuansu had not inflicted those cracks since he was not yet capable of such a feat. These were the scars left from the old flood dragon’s previous battle with the great demon of Nanyang. Since the Dragon Pearl had been damaged, the old flood dragon had been unwilling to reveal it until now. But at this desperate moment, it had no other choice.

All it could do now was gamble that the warship was incapable of firing a third shot, assuming that two consecutive blasts were already the absolute limit.

This assumption was not entirely wrong. Without Tianyi True Water, firing two consecutive shots would have brought the cannon barrel to the brink of melting. As such, a third shot would have been utterly impossible.

What the old flood dragon did not know was that the world had changed. The strength of a great organization lies in every aspect of its capabilities.

Aboard the Horned Dragon, the second drop of Tianyi True Water had already been expended to force a second emergency cooling cycle. The crew then loaded the final Grade-A Series Two Dragon Eye Bomb into the Starcrusher.

This time, there was no question about the target. It was the Dragon Pearl itself, the radiant purple sun with a fractured surface.

At Yang Shaozhen’s command, the final Grade-A Series Two Dragon Eye Bomb roared from the barrel of the Starcrusher. There was no suspense as it struck the Dragon Pearl dead center.

The cracks across the Dragon Pearl deepened, widened, and spread relentlessly until they merged into a single web of fractures.

The old flood dragon’s aura collapsed instantly. Its life force plummeted, leaving it barely clinging to life.