"This territory is forbidden. If you value your lives, turn back now."
Luo Zhen stood like a statue carved from obsidian, his grip tightening on the hilt of the Green Brilliance Saber. His voice was not a shout, but a low rumble that cut through the howling wind, laced with a killing intent so palpable it felt like a drop in temperature.
Across the dune, three figures hesitated. They were sturdy men, radiating the distinct, briny aura of crustacean demons, but their eyes were fixed not on Luo Zhen, but on the cataclysm unfolding behind him.
"Come on, friend, don't be like that," one of the men sneered, gesturing toward the storm of violet lightning that was currently drowning the figure of Bai Susu. "Look at the opportunity here. That's an Emperor-level entity undergoing a tribulation. She's vulnerable. If we strike together, right now, we can tip the scales."
His companion licked his lips, greed overcoming caution. "We don't even need to kill her. Just a little distraction. If her concentration slips for a fraction of a second, the lightning will do the rest."
"Exactly!" the third man chimed in, stepping forward. "This is the golden hour for scavenging. When an Emperor falls, the artifacts and essence left behind are enough to make us kings. Why share with her when you can take it all?"
Luo Zhen's expression darkened. These three crab demons were not just passersby; they were vultures circling a wounded lion. They had misunderstood the situation entirely, assuming Luo Zhen was another opportunist waiting for the right moment to strike.
"You think I'm here to scavenge?" Luo Zhen asked, his voice dropping an octave.
"Aren't you?" The leader of the trio scoffed. "Stop pretending. You want to hog the loot for yourself? Don't be greedy. There's enough for—"
"That is my woman," Luo Zhen roared, the calm façade shattering instantly.
The air around him exploded with violence. He didn't just swing the saber; he unleashed a torrent of energy. The Green Brilliance Saber cleaved the air, sending a jagged arc of emerald energy screaming toward the intruders.
The three scavengers paled, their greed instantly replaced by terror. They scrambled, summoning shields of hardened shell and frantic bursts of spiritual light. The impact was deafening, sending them skidding backward, feet carving deep furrows into the sand. They barely survived the opening blow.
"You lunatic!" the leader screamed, his voice trembling. "You're her Guardian? Why didn't you say so? We thought—"
"I don't care what you thought," Luo Zhen hissed. He raised the saber high, the blade humming as it gathered the ambient energy of the storm. "You looked at her with greed. That is a capital offense."
Above him, the sky seemed to split. A phantom blade, over a hundred meters long, materialized from the void. It was a projection of pure destructive intent, casting a long, terrified shadow over the three crab demons.
The realization hit them like a physical blow: they had kicked a steel wall.
They tried to run. Instinct screamed at them to flee into the ocean, to burrow into the sand, to go anywhere but here. But the pressure of the phantom blade locked them in place. The atmosphere grew heavy, viscous like mercury.
"Block it! Give it everything!"
They screamed, burning their life essence to fuel their defensive treasures. Shields of blue light, hardened carapaces, and desperate mystic arts formed a chaotic barrier.
It didn't matter.
BOOM!
The sound was less like a crash and more like the earth screaming. The hundred-meter green blade descended with the weight of a mountain. It didn't just break their defenses; it obliterated them. The sand exploded outward in a shockwave of glass and dust, leaving a massive trench carved into the beach.
Luo Zhen didn't wait for the dust to settle. He was a pragmatist, and he knew that cockroaches were hard to kill. With a flick of his wrist, he summoned the Return Origin Crimson Fire.
The dark red flames surged from his sleeves like a living thing, possessing a sinister intelligence. They washed over the trench, seeking flesh. For a brief, horrific moment, screams echoed from the pit before being abruptly silenced. In less than thirty seconds, the scavengers were nothing but ash carried away by the sea breeze.
Luo Zhen didn't spare the ashes a second glance. He swiped his hand through the air, collecting their storage rings with telekinetic precision, and immediately spun around, his eyes locking onto the center of the lightning storm.
That was where the real battle was.
Ten agonizing minutes passed. The sky roared, hurling bolts of tribulation lightning that could vaporize mountains, but the figure in the center stood firm. Finally, the clouds broke. The thunder receded into a low grumble, and the oppressive weight lifted from the island.
Bai Susu descended from the sky.
She looked ethereal, though battered. Her hair was a wild halo around her face, and her protective crystalline aura had shattered, leaving her defenseless. Her face was pale, drained of blood, but her eyes burned with a new, terrifying intensity. She had survived.
Luo Zhen moved instantly, blurring across the sand to catch her as she stumbled.
"Susu," he whispered, his voice gentle, a stark contrast to the monster who had just incinerated three demons. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she breathed, leaning heavily against him. "Just... drained. The tribulation was heavier than I expected. Get me to the sand. I need to meditate."
Luo Zhen nodded, helping her sit on a dry patch of soft sand. Bai Susu immediately crossed her legs, her hands forming a mudra as she swallowed a handful of high-grade healing pills.
As the medicinal energy flooded her system, her breathing steadied. Then, it happened. A shockwave of spiritual pressure erupted from her body, blowing the sand around them into a perfect circle.
"Demon Emperor, Fifth Layer," Luo Zhen murmured, feeling the density of her aura. A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. She hadn't just survived; she had ascended.
"Keep watch," Bai Susu said without opening her eyes. "I broke through three minor realms consecutively. My internal energy is volatile. If I don't stabilize it now, it could tear me apart. I need a day or two."
"Rest," Luo Zhen said, planting himself on a nearby rock and placing the saber across his knees. "Even if the sky collapses, I'll hold it up."
"Don't be dramatic," she smiled faintly, finally closing her eyes.
Luo Zhen settled into the silence. He extended his spiritual sense, creating an invisible net around the beach. For a day, there was only the sound of the waves and the rhythmic breathing of the woman he protected.
Twenty-four hours later, Bai Susu opened her eyes. The pallor was gone, replaced by a radiant glow of vitality.
"I'm back," she announced, stretching her limbs. The air around her shimmered with heat. "It feels good to be whole again."
Luo Zhen stood to greet her, but before he could speak, the ocean's surface erupted.
It started as a bubbling froth, then exploded into chaos. Dozens of serpentine shapes launched themselves from the water, landing on the beach in a panic. It was a stampede.
Silver Flood Dragons.
They came in all sizes. Massive, scarred beasts radiating the power of the Demon King realm, and smaller, younger dragons barely at the Demon Essence stage. They were terrified, scrambling over each other, dragging their young, fleeing something in the deep.
Bai Susu's expression shifted from joy to a mask of freezing rage.
"The Silver Flood Dragon Clan," she spat.
The temperature on the beach seemed to drop. Luo Zhen watched her carefully. He knew the history. The Silver Flood Dragons were tyrants of this region. To secure their dominance, they had hunted Bai Susu relentlessly, nearly killing her and decimating her beloved swarm of Flying Fire Poison Ants.
For a cultivator, an attack on their companion beasts was as personal as an attack on their own body. This wasn't just a rivalry; it was a blood feud.
Bai Susu didn't hesitate. She raised a delicate, pale hand toward the cluster of King-level dragons leading the stampede. She didn't shout. She didn't chant. She simply clenched her fist.
CRUNCH.
The air pressure over the dragons collapsed. A massive, invisible hand comprised of pure atmospheric Qi slammed shut. There was no resistance. The King-level dragons—beasts that could rule entire islands—exploded into mists of blood and bone.
Instant death.
This was the terrifying reality of the Fifth Layer of the Demon Emperor realm. The gap between King and Emperor was not a slope; it was a cliff.
The surviving dragons froze, covered in the blood of their leaders. They looked up, finally noticing the two figures on the dunes. They saw the carnage. They felt the crushing aura of an enraged Empress.
"A stranger? An Emperor?!" one of the dragons shrieked.
"She killed the Kings with a wave of her hand! Run! The heavens have abandoned us today!"
Panic, primal and overriding, seized the pack. They scrambled away, skittering across the sand, diving back into the shallows or racing down the coastline, desperate to put distance between themselves and the woman in white.
Bai Susu lowered her hand. She watched them flee, her chest heaving slightly.
Luo Zhen frowned. He stepped forward, his saber humming. "You're letting them go?"
Bai Susu's eyes softened as she looked at the smaller dragons, the runts of the litter who were squealing in terror. "The strong ones are dead. The rest... they are weak. Look at them, Luo Zhen. They are pathetic. There are children among them."
Luo Zhen shook his head, his face hardening.
"Compassion is a luxury we cannot afford," he said, his voice grim. "This is a blood feud, Susu. You pity the young ones today because they are weak. But give them a hundred years. When they cultivate, when they grow claws and fangs, will they pity you? No. They will remember this day. They will come for your head."
He looked at her, his eyes dark and serious. "In this world, you either do nothing or you do it absolutely. To kill the weed, you must pull the roots."
Bai Susu looked away, conflict warring in her eyes. She had the power to kill them, but the massacre of the weak left a bitter taste in her mouth.
"I can't do it," she whispered.
"Then I will," Luo Zhen said.
He didn't wait for permission. He blurred into motion, a streak of death moving against the wind. He didn't enjoy it, but he understood the brutal arithmetic of survival. Every survivor was a future knife in the back.
The Green Brilliance Saber sang a dirge. The Return Origin Crimson Fire roared.
Luo Zhen moved through the fleeing pack like a scythe through wheat. It was efficient, brutal, and systematic. He hunted them down, one by one, ensuring that the legacy of the Silver Flood Dragons ended on this beach.
A silence fell over the coast. It was a heavy, wet silence.
The waves that lapped at the shore were tinged pink. The beach was a graveyard. Luo Zhen stood amidst the carnage, flicking blood from his blade.
"Strange," he muttered, walking back to Bai Susu.
"What is?"
"The numbers don't add up," Luo Zhen said, scanning the bloody horizon. "We killed perhaps thirty King-level dragons. That's a huge blow to their clan, but where is the rest? Why did the waves stop coming? Did we scare them back into the deep?"
Bai Susu shook her head, her gaze fixed on the dark water. Her spiritual perception, sharpened by her breakthrough, pierced through the waves, diving deep into the abyss.
"No," she said, her voice hollow. "They didn't stop coming because they were scared. They stopped coming because they are dead."
"Dead?"
"Daoist Qing Yang," she whispered, realizing the horror of what was happening below. "He's down there. He's eating them. The dragons that didn't make it to the surface... he devoured them all to replenish his strength. He's using their blood to fuel his resistance against the clan's protective formation."
Luo Zhen let out a low whistle. "So, the Silver Flood Dragon Emperor is sitting on a throne of bones. His entire race is dead, eaten by his enemy or slaughtered by us."
"Just the Emperor and the four Elders remain," Bai Susu confirmed. "Generals without an army."
Meanwhile, deep beneath the crushing pressure of the ocean, inside the crystalline walls of the Dragon Palace, panic was setting in.
The Silver Flood Dragon Emperor, a being of immense power, felt a chill that had nothing to do with the ocean depths.
"I felt it," he hissed, his eyes darting around the council chamber. "A spiritual scan. Someone pierced our shielding from the surface. It was strong—stronger than me."
"Another Emperor?" The First Elder gasped. "How? All the Emperors of this region are accounted for!"
"Go," the Emperor commanded, his voice cracking with strain as he poured energy into the crumbling defensive array. "Third Elder, Fourth Elder. Go to the surface. Find out who is scanning us. Find our people. See if anyone survived the exodus."
Two figures clad in shimmering golden robes bowed and shot upward, tearing through the water column like torpedoes.
On the surface, Bai Susu stiffened.
"Two of them are coming," she warned. "Emperor level."
Luo Zhen stepped beside her, his muscles coiling. "I'm ready."
The water exploded. Two golden-robed elders hovered in the air, water dripping from their silk garments. They looked down, expecting to see their kin regrouping.
Instead, they saw a slaughterhouse.
The beach was a tapestry of severed scales and broken bodies. The stench of death was overwhelming.
"No..." The Fourth Elder's voice broke, a sound of pure anguish. "My clan... my kin! Who dared?!"
The Third Elder, however, locked eyes with the woman in white. His shock turned instantly to venomous recognition.
"Bai Susu!" he screamed, veins bulging on his forehead. "You! You're supposed to be dead!"
The Fourth Elder snapped his head around, his grief hardening into a psychotic rage. "You? The ant-keeper? You did this?"
"I did," Bai Susu replied, her voice calm, carrying effortlessly over the wind. "You besieged me. You slaughtered my children. Today, the debt is paid."
"You lowborn filth!" The Fourth Elder roared, his aura flaring, causing the ocean beneath him to boil. "How dare you compare your wretched insects to the noble blood of the Silver Flood Dragons? This island belongs to us! You exist only to be enslaved or purged!"
The arrogance. The sheer, unadulterated entitlement. It was the spark that ignited the powder keg.
Bai Susu's eyes went pitch black. The killing intent she released was so dense it physically warped the light around her.
Luo Zhen stepped forward, the Nine Infants Demon Shadow stirring within his soul, eager to feed.
"Stand down," Bai Susu ordered, stopping him with a gesture.
"Susu?"
"Back away, Luo Zhen," she said, her voice devoid of all warmth. She floated upward, meeting the two Elders at eye level. The air around her began to crackle with unstable, catastrophic energy.
"These two old dogs," she whispered, "are mine."