Three streams of escape light tore through the Southern Region's cloud layers.
The two characters "Return quickly!" burned into Ao Xuan's mind like red-hot iron, snuffing out any joy he felt for Cang Lie's newly acquired Heaven-Burning Golden Crystal. Since the establishment of the East China Sea Dragon Palace, Qinghe had never sent a message in such a hurried tone—something far more serious than a mere "ferocious beast attack" must have happened.
"Fellow Daoist Ao Xuan, watch my Taoist technique!"
Yuan Hao slung his stone staff over his shoulder, his spiritual energy surging. The cloud beneath their feet solidified almost into a tangible form, boosting their escape speed by thirty percent.
Cang Lie also restrained his newly advanced Nanming Golden Metal, wrapping his body in silver-white spiritual light. He could sense the violent fluctuations in Ao Xuan's water fortune laws—even the surrounding cloud vapor had condensed into tiny water droplets. Ao Xuan's anxiety was so intense that he couldn't bother to suppress his spiritual energy.
With their relentless speed, the outline of the East China Sea came into view in just a few days.
"Huh?" Ao Xuan's dragon pupils widened as he looked down at the Four Seas from mid-air. The other three seas, which had been calm when he left, were now shrouded in strange-colored spiritual light.
The South China Sea blazed crimson like fire, the West China Sea shimmered silver as frost, and the North China Sea glowed pale blue like ice. These three lights formed a tripod, echoing the cyan-gold spiritual light of the East China Sea—yet they exuded an unfamiliar dragon's power. Even the tides of the East China Sea seemed to be pulled by this pressure, becoming unusually regular.
"Is that... the spiritual energy of the Three Seas?" Yuan Hao's eyes widened, pointing at the crimson light over the South China Sea. "When we passed by a few days ago, the water veins there were too weak to sustain a large spiritual formation. How did they suddenly become so powerful?"
Before Ao Xuan could respond, a turquoise figure flew out of the sea—it was Qinghe.
Her emerald eyes were filled with urgency. Seeing the three of them, she let out a sigh of relief and quickly bowed. "Your Majesty! You're finally back! Something terrible has happened in the Three Seas..."
"These are my two brothers: White Tiger Cang Lie and White Ape Yuan Hao. Let's return to the Dragon Palace first to discuss the details." Before finishing, Ao Xuan led everyone into a stream of light, passing through the Azure Dragon Sea-Suppressing Formation.
The giant black-armored whale guarding the formation's eye let out a deep whale song upon seeing him.
Stepping into the main hall of the Dragon Palace, the atmosphere was more solemn than expected.
Jiao Xuan leaned on a dragon staff, standing by the hall's side, his elderly face filled with complex emotions. Xie Ao wore black-armored battle gear, and the ink mist around Mo Yuan was several times thicker than usual.
When they saw Ao Xuan, everyone bowed in unison, but no one spoke first.
"Qinghe, speak." Ao Xuan sat back on his dragon throne, tapping the armrest lightly with his fingertips as his gaze swept across the hall. "Why has the spiritual light of the Three Seas suddenly surged? And what prompted the 'Return quickly!' on the message talisman?"
Qinghe stepped forward, holding a water mirror. The mirror reflected scenes of the Three Seas:
At the bottom of the South China Sea, a palace built from red coral and fire spirit pearls rose from the seabed. The four characters "South China Sea Dragon Palace" on the palace walls glowed with innate fire-element spiritual light—it was actually rooted in a previously undiscovered "Coral Fire Spiritual Vein."
In the depths of the West China Sea, the Black Ice Palace floated beside a tributary of the Heavenly River. Its silver water patterns resonated with the Heavenly River, and the palace walls were refined from Heavenly River Black Ice, capable of withstanding an attack from a Mid-Golden Immortal.
Beneath the North China Sea's ice field, the Ice Soul Palace was embedded in an "Ice Spiritual Eye." Pale blue ice spiritual light froze the surrounding seawater into crystal pillars, and the White Whale Clan guarded the palace gates.
"Three days ago, the dragon clans of the other Three Seas suddenly began constructing palaces simultaneously, moving at an astonishing speed."
Qinghe's voice was filled with disbelief. "What's even stranger is that the spiritual veins and formations of each Dragon Palace were guided by a powerful expert—the South China Sea's 'Scarlet Flame Sea-Suppressing Formation,' which merges fire and water underwater, could only be laid by a top-tier powerhouse. The West China Sea's 'Black Water Locking Formation' requires the power of a Heavenly River tributary to activate. The North China Sea's 'Cold Water Formation' even needs to awaken an extreme cold spiritual eye to operate. We initially thought the Three Seas had obtained some opportunity—until yesterday..."
"Yesterday, an innate divine dragon claiming to be the 'Ancestral Dragon' arrived at the East China Sea."
Jiao Xuan suddenly spoke, tapping his wooden staff on the ground. A golden dragon pattern emanated from the staff's tip.
"This old jiao has never felt such pure innate dragon energy. That divine dragon was surrounded by the Dao rhythm of the dawn of chaos, and its scales glowed with intertwined golden and crimson spiritual light. As soon as it stepped into the East China Sea, even the water fortune spiritual vein of the sea eye resonated automatically. He said... that Your Majesty's establishment of the East China Sea Dragon Palace inspired him to 'unify the dragon clan.'"
"Ancestral Dragon?" Ao Xuan's fingertips tightened suddenly, leaving a faint indentation on the dragon throne's armrest.
In his previous life, he had studied countless Primordial records. He knew full well that the Ancestral Dragon was the first divine dragon of the Four Seas after Pangu opened the sky, falling in the Dragon-Han Catastrophe to protect the dragon clan. How could he have suddenly awakened?
To protect the dragon clan?
The Dragon-Han Catastrophe?
Right!
Right! Right!
Ao Xuan finally realized what was wrong.
It was time—the timeline was off!
Now that the Ancestral Dragon had appeared, according to the progression of the Primordial World's first kalpa—the Dragon-Han Catastrophe—the dragon clan would soon fall out with the phoenix and qilin clans. Demon Ancestor Luo Hu would seize the opportunity to stir up trouble. Then the dragon clan would first ally with the phoenix clan to destroy the qilin clan. After the qilin clan sealed themselves in the Ancestral Vein Mountain, the dragon clan would turn on and eliminate the phoenix clan...
And Hongjun had not intervened initially. The deeper reason was that the Heavenly Dao was not yet complete and needed to perfect itself through kalpas! Luo Hu's instigation just happened to align with the Heavenly Will, triggering the "Heaven unleashes its killing intent, stars shift and constellations move!"
...Then!
Only after Hongjun defeated Luo Hu did he gain the Heavenly Dao's recognition and attain the position of Sage!
To repay the karmic debt to heaven and earth, he opened Zixiao Palace beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens to preach the Dao!!!
So why?
The Dragon-Han Catastrophe hadn't even begun, Luo Hu was still alive, yet Hongjun had already become a Sage—and his first preaching at Zixiao Palace had already ended!!!
This was completely different from the timeline of the Primordial kalpas he knew!
Ao Xuan's heart tightened. Knowing the progression of the Primordial World's five great kalpas had been his greatest reliance. He had always prided himself on being a transmigrator—for in this Primordial World, only he knew how to survive each kalpa. As long as he understood the direction of the kalpas, he could find loopholes to exploit.
But now, the history of the Primordial World was completely different from what he had known before his transmigration!
"What else did the Ancestral Dragon do?" Ao Xuan's voice was deeper than usual.
Xie Ao stepped forward, his voice filled with awe. "Lord Ancestral Dragon said that the dragon clan has been scattered across the Four Seas for too long, losing the momentum of unification. He personally traveled to the Three Seas, guiding the dragon clans to find innate spiritual veins, passing down ancient formations, and helping them build their Dragon Palaces. When he arrived at the East China Sea yesterday, he also brought envoys from the Three Seas, saying he wished to discuss 'Four Seas Alliance' with Your Majesty."
"Envoys from the Three Seas?" Ao Xuan fell silent for a moment, then raised his hand. "Send them in."
Soon, four figures entered the main hall.
They were:
Ao Lie of the South China Sea, wearing crimson scale armor and holding a red coral token.
Ao Ze of the West China Sea, clad in silver scale armor and gripping a black jade token.
Ao Bing of the North China Sea, wrapped in pale blue ice armor and holding an ice soul token.
Behind the three stood a cultivator in a golden-red patterned robe, embroidered with a five-clawed golden dragon totem at the hem. The dragon energy around him was condensed into a tangible form—but this was not the Ancestral Dragon, only his attendant.
"Ao Lie of the South China Sea (Ao Ze of the West China Sea, Ao Bing of the North China Sea) pays homage to His Majesty, the Dragon King of the East China Sea!"
The three envoys bowed in unison, their tones respectful.
The cultivator in the golden-red robe bowed slightly, his voice carrying innate dragon power. "Golden Dragon, attendant of Lord Ancestral Dragon, pays homage to His Majesty Ao Xuan. My lord awaits at Dragon Gate Reef, where the Four Seas converge. He has specially ordered me and the three envoys to deliver the alliance document."
As he spoke, Golden Dragon took out a roll of golden bamboo slips from his sleeve. The slips exuded rich innate dragon energy. When presented to Ao Xuan, they unfolded automatically, the characters formed by coiling dragon patterns:
"I am the innate Ancestral Dragon, existing since the dawn of chaos. Today, seeing the establishment of the East China Sea Dragon Palace, I know the time for the dragon clan's great prosperity has arrived. I hereby decree: The dragon clans of the Four Seas shall govern each sea, collectively known as the 'Four Seas Dragon Kings'—the East China Sea shall control the central hub of world water fortune, the South China Sea shall oversee fire-element spiritual veins, the West China Sea shall guard the Heavenly River tributaries, and the North China Sea shall suppress the Ice Spiritual Eye. The military forces and spiritual veins of the Four Seas shall be shared. Once the dragon clan is unified, we shall jointly conquer the chaotic Primordial World. Both heaven and earth shall honor our dragon clan as the 'Supreme Scaled Ones'!"
Ao Xuan brushed his fingertips over the bamboo slips, clearly sensing the dragon energy within—pure, vast, and domineering!
It carried the weight of the dawn of chaos, definitely not forged.
This was truly the aura of an innate divine dragon, sharing the same origin as the Azure Dragon essence in his body, yet far more majestic.
"Lord Ancestral Dragon said that if Your Majesty agrees to the alliance, he will host a banquet at Dragon Gate Reef in three days to hold the Four Seas Dragon Kings' Enfeoffment Ceremony." Golden Dragon continued. "At that time, my lord will personally attend, passing down the dragon clan's supreme treasure, the 'Four Seas Dragon Seal,' to help Your Majesty control the water fortune of the Four Seas. If Your Majesty refuses..."
"Refuses what?" Yuan Hao slung his stone staff over his shoulder and stepped forward, his earth-element spiritual energy surging. "Could it be that this Ancestral Dragon intends to force Fellow Daoist Ao Xuan? Cang Lie and I are here—we'd like to see just how powerful this 'Supreme Scaled One' really is!"
Cang Lie also stepped forward, his Nanming Golden Metal glowing with faint golden light, his tiger eyes filled with vigilance. "Innate divine beasts each have their own territories: the Azure Dragon governs the East, the White Tiger guards the West, the Vermilion Bird rules the South, and the Black Tortoise protects the North. How dare anyone arbitrarily dominate them? Though the Ancestral Dragon is an innate divine dragon, he cannot defy the Heavenly Dao's rules!"
But Golden Dragon remained calm, raising his hand to shield the three envoys with a wisp of golden dragon energy. His tone was still peaceful. "Lord Ancestral Dragon has no intention of forcing Your Majesty. He merely cherishes the dragon clan's shared bloodline and refuses to see us scattered any longer. If Your Majesty refuses, the Three Seas will not become enemies of the East China Sea. However... when the Primordial kalpa arrives in the future, the East China Sea Dragon Clan may struggle to survive with just one sea's strength."
Ao Lie quickly added. "Your Majesty, Lord Ancestral Dragon is truly the supreme ruler of the dragon clan! He not only guided us in building our palaces but also passed down dragon clan secret techniques, allowing our cultivation to advance several times faster. If the Four Seas ally, the dragon clan will surely become the most powerful force in the Primordial World—no one will dare to humiliate us again!"
Ao Xuan frowned. If he followed the Ancestral Dragon's plan, wouldn't this lead them right back to the path of the Dragon-Han Catastrophe?
Especially the four characters "Supreme Scaled Ones"—they would simply elevate the dragon clan to a position where the entire world would be their enemy...
But...
Ao Xuan looked at Golden Dragon and the three envoys, his voice calm yet carrying undeniable authority. "I need time to consider the alliance. In three days, I will personally go to Dragon Gate Reef to meet with Lord Ancestral Dragon and the other Three Seas Dragon Kings face to face. You may leave."
Golden Dragon's face lit up with joy, and he bowed. "Your Majesty is wise. This subordinate will relay your words to Lord Ancestral Dragon. We shall await Your Majesty's arrival at Dragon Gate Reef in three days."
The three envoys exchanged glances, saying no more as they followed Golden Dragon out of the hall.
After the four left, the solemn atmosphere in the hall grew even thicker.
"Your Majesty, though the Ancestral Dragon means no harm, his ambitions are too great!" Xie Ao couldn't help but speak. "Unify the Primordial World? The phoenix and qilin clans are on equal footing with the dragon clan—how could they submit? And the witch and demon clans: the witch clan is formed from Pangu's flesh and blood, while the demon clan has Nüwa, Fuxi, and the ambitious Di Jun and Tai Yi. How could they tolerate us? Western Buddhism is also full of schemes. If we truly ally with the Three Seas, we will surely be pushed to the forefront!"
"What's more troublesome is the Three Seas' attitude." Mo Yuan's voice was solemn. "Having received guidance from the Ancestral Dragon, the other Three Seas are extremely loyal to him. If Your Majesty refuses to acknowledge his authority, the Three Seas may become estranged from the East China Sea."
Qinghe nodded in agreement. "The Ritual Platform has received news that the fire crow flock in the Southern Region has detected unusual movements in the Four Seas. The South China Sea Dragon Clan's forces have been acting frequently, often landing on the shore recently. The neighboring phoenix clan is also watching secretly. If internal strife breaks out within the dragon clan, the surrounding forces will surely seize the opportunity to strike."
Ao Xuan stood up and walked outside the hall, his brows furrowed the entire time. The Ancestral Dragon's series of moves were more steady and ruthless than he had imagined—first claiming that he had helped the Three Seas build their palaces to protect the dragon clan because of the East China Sea's example, then using "the dragon clan's revival" as bait to make him unable to refuse the alliance. If he refused, he would truly be making an enemy of the entire dragon clan!