"Let's go."
Morax turned his massive draconic form and soared toward the horizon.
A moment later—he circled back, eyes narrowing as he stared at Xue Kui still standing on the rooftop.
"…What are you waiting for?"
Xue Kui deadpanned.
"I can't fly."
Morax paused.
"You haven't even learned the basic art of levitation?"
Xue Kui's face darkened.
So what if you can fly? Stop acting superior.
Morax sighed.
"Fine. Get on."
He did not mean on his back.
With a thought, a stone pillar—engraved with precise geometric patterns—rose from beneath the rooftop and tilted horizontally before Xue Kui.
Xue Kui stepped onto it, eyelid twitching.
He remembered very well how this thing had pinned him into the dirt.
Morax flicked his tail and rose skyward.
The stone pillar followed, carrying its reluctant passenger.
The further they ascended, the smaller the world beneath them became—trees shrinking to dust specks, the settlement receding into the distance.
Clouds fled around them, wind sweeping past like tearing silk.
Riding clouds… is this what it feels like?
Yet Xue Kui felt no biting cold.
A thin golden barrier wrapped around the pillar like a shell—shielding him from the wind.
High above the world, everything seemed insignificant.
A god's perspective.
He should've been thrilled.
But instead—
He didn't like it.
He couldn't explain why. The wind, the height—something felt wrong.
Flying should be freer than this.
Not confined. Not rigid.
Guizhong drifting peacefully through the air, sleeves floating like petals—
That felt right.
Soon, Morax descended, slowing their pace.
Below them was… an endless expanse of dark sea.
Xue Kui frowned.
Why here?
To catch fish and roast them?
Then—
Something beneath the sea pulsed.
A pressure—not hostile, but ancient.
He snapped his head up.
Behind them, the bright sky abruptly shifted—
a clear line dividing blue sky from heavy storm clouds.
The sea below wasn't just the ocean.
Jagged peaks poked through the water's surface—
not rocks.
Mountain tops.
This had once been land.
A village.
Morax finally spoke.
"This was a human settlement."
He did not turn to look at Xue Kui.
His voice was cold.
"But one day, they angered a god beneath the sea.
This space—this land swallowed by the ocean—is the result of that god's 'Principle.'"
Xue Kui stiffened.
Principle.
That strange essence he sensed in Morax and Guizhong—
the force that bent reality.
To alter the land itself…
to change a mountain into an ocean—
That was the scale of a god's will.
"Not all mortals are virtuous," Morax continued.
"Some sow the seeds of their own destruction."
Morax shook his head once.
"Their fate was deserved."
His voice dropped—sharper, deeper.
"But leaving their power here—within my territory—"
Golden light surged around his form.
"—is a challenge to me."
He was no longer addressing Xue Kui.
He was speaking to the god beneath the sea.
"In a domain stained with your Principle,
you must feel my presence."
Morax's voice echoed across the waves.
"So why do you continue to cower below, pretending indifference?"
Silence.
No answer.
No ripple.
Xue Kui, after a long moment—
snorted.
He couldn't help himself.
"You're being ignored."
Morax's gathered aura dispersed in an instant.
He turned his head slowly toward the yaksha.
Xue Kui quickly spread his hands in innocence.
"…Wasn't me."
Morax inhaled deeply.
Just like their first meeting.
I should never have let Guizhong influence him.
He shook off the distraction.
The pressure surged.
Xue Kui instinctively retreated on the stone pillar.
Above them—
the sky split open.
The storm clouds spiraled into a massive vortex.
Golden light tore through the darkness—
And from within emerged something massive, crystalline—
A gigantic jade-like construct, neither stone nor gem,
etched with golden sigils.
Not like the pillars Morax used to smack him before.
This one was—
divine.
The construct plunged toward the ocean, blazing like a falling star.
The sea roared—
but did not splash.
The water absorbed the impact.
Two Principles collided.
Xue Kui stared, mind blank.
He felt his nose warm.
A drop of blood fell onto the pillar.
He… couldn't withstand even the aftershock.
Morax frowned.
Golden script flared beneath Xue Kui's feet, forming a protective barrier.
Far below, the jade monolith continued sinking—
water turning to stone wherever it touched.
The sea resisted.
Black waves rose like claws, swallowing the monolith.
Then—gold pierced through the dark.
A final burst of light.
The sea god's Principle shattered.
The ocean was still.
Xue Kui trembled.
He finally understood—
what it meant for gods to shape the world.
To command mountains and seas.
To point—
and have land rise where water once was.
The power of the Geo Archon.
Terrifying.
Absolute.
To reshape the land with will alone—
such is Morax.
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