Chapter 309. Nine Children of the Dragon Pillars (1)

"RAAAAH!!" The South Sea Dragon King roared. Immediately after his deafening roar, his trident made a beeline for Zhou Xuchuan's lower body.

Zhou Xuchuan retreated three steps and easily dodged the trident.

However, he was unable to counterattack.

Woosh!

The trident that had struck the ground bounced upward.

It wasn't a bad technique for an ignorant and barbaric technique.

Zhou Xuchuan retreated three steps farther and dodged the trident.

It passed by precariously, almost grazing his chin.

Spears had the advantage when it came to reach. However, due to the large movements needed to wield the weapon, a spearman would inevitably reveal an opening once an enemy was close enough to them.

Zhou Xuchuan took advantage of such an opening. Since the South Sea Dragon King had swung his spear with both hands instead of just one, his chest was left open.

The tip of Longyuan aimed for the center of the Dragon King's chest.

Clang!

Huh?

The sword emitted a violet hue and bounced off upon impact.

Armor? No, that's...

Zhou Xuchuan narrowed his eyes and peeked at the old man's chest. Upon closer inspection, he could see that it was covered in red-colored scales.

"That's definitely the Dragon's Claw's..."

"It's similar but not the same. This isn't the Southern Dragon Claw Arts, but the Dragon Scale External Art."

The South Sea Dragon King's cold voice pierced his eardrums.

Whoosh!

As soon as the man finished speaking, a sharp kick struck Zhou Xuchuan's side. The South Sea Dragon King's leg was as thick as a log, so the air exploded as it flew toward Zhou Xuchuan.

This is...?!

The sound and momentum of the kick were unusual. Flicking his wrist, Zhou Xuchuan turned his sword around, covering his upper body with the blade to block the kick.

BOOM!

Zhou Xuchuan was struck by a massive shockwave coursing through his blade. The problem wasn't just the power of the blow but the red aura emanating from the Dragon King's legs.

"Wow!" Zhou Xuchuan couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

The Southern Dragon Claw Arts, the Dragon Scale External Art, and the Water Dragon's Tail Kick. They were the martial arts of the Dragon's Claw, the Dragon's Scale, and the Dragon's Tail, respectively.

"The claws, scales, and tail are all part of the Dragon King!"

The Dragon's Heart and Body Canon.

It was the South Sea Dragon Gate's greatest divine art, and it was a peerless technique.

The Dragon's Heart and Body Canon, as its name suggested, was a technique divided between the dragon's heart and the dragon's body.

The Southern Dragon Claw Arts, the Dragon Scale External Art, the Water Dragon Tail Kick, and the voice of the dragon, Dragon's Roar, were all techniques that were a part of the Dragon's Heart and Body Canon.[1]

The art that controlled all of these techniques was the Dragon King's Cultivation Method. It was a qi cultivation method that only the South Sea Dragon Gate Master was allowed to learn.

The heart controlled the body.

The Dragon King's Cultivation Method was a qi cultivation method that allowed one to cultivate the entirety of the Dragon's Heart and Body Canon without any problems.

It was both similar and different in nature to the Ten Thousand Convergence Art.

How impressive.

Zhou Xuchuan couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. While the techniques themselves were impressive, the South Sea Dragon King himself was also incredible.

It wasn't easy to train in not just one but several martial arts, especially when considering the arts in question weren't just any random arts but ascendant techniques.

Most who tried such a thing would end up being mediocre, but the South Sea Dragon King boasted such a fierce power with such skills that he couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

Since the techniques came from a single source, the difficulty level of branching out across the various arts was probably a bit low, but even considering that, it was still an impressive achievement.

Instead of the Dragon's Roar, the South Sea Dragon King shouted, "

Hyaaah!

"

He struck aside the sword's blade with his vast leg and stomped hard. The impact was great, and perhaps it was because he was increasing his body weight with the Thousand Catty Ballast.

The ground shook violently again.

The South Sea Dragon King repositioned and converted the qi he had drawn from his dantian into aura before bending the fingers on his right hand.

"

Ha!

"

He let out a roar that seemed as though it would blow the Dragon Palace away. At the same time, he unleashed the Southern Dragon Claw Arts with his right hand without a spear.

The five lines drawn in the empty air flashed red.

Boom!

It wasn't a fist technique but a claw technique. However, it sounded as if he had just punched someone. In fact, it looked as if he was punching someone.

Zhou Xuchuan couldn't move his sword back, giving way to openings, so he had no choice but to let the attack hit him. He was blasted away, crashing into a wall.

Boom!

The wall was crushed as if it were made of tofu before cracks appeared on it with a

screech.

It split apart, creating patterns reminiscent of a spiderweb.

The stone fragments shattered and covered the ground as dust covered the surroundings. The crystal sculptures decorated nearby shattered as well.

"This is the result of your sin—insulting the Dragon Palace!"

"Serves you right, you foolish land human!"

The fight that was supposed to end in an instant had taken longer than expected, leaving them a little taken aback, but soon, the South Sea Dragon Gate warriors felt relieved.

Even if the humans on land were strong, they were useless in front of the South Sea's Dragon King.

The South Sea Dragon Gate warriors cheered.

However, their cheers were short-lived.

The dust that had risen above the ground disappeared, and Zhou Xuchuan appeared once again.

Moreover, he looked perfectly fine.

"W-what?!"

"How could this be?!"

Screams of shock and disbelief erupted here and there.

The man was supposed to be in a mess, but he didn't have even a single wound on him. His clothes were just merely a bit disheveled.

"You really are quite neat and impressive."

The Dragon King's movements were fluid, and his power was great.

"You bastard dare..." The South Sea Dragon King quietly seethed. The Southern Dragon Claw Arts wasn't a fist art but a claw art.

His attack was supposed to make a hole in Zhou Xuchuan's abdomen, but the Dragon King realized that the swordsman had blocked the attack, as the feedback felt like he had punched Zhou Xuchuan.

However, even the South Sea Dragon King hadn't expected him to be perfectly fine, without a single wound.

"I'm coming." Zhou Xuchuan blurred, leaving only an afterimage.

"...!"

The South Sea Dragon King was startled.

Illusive Shift?

Zhou Xuchuan hadn't disappeared. He was just moving at a speed that made it seem like he had disappeared.

Moreover, he's coming directly at me?

The Dragon King thought the swordsman would attack from the side or from behind, but it wasn't the case at all. The blurry Zhou Xuchuan had appeared right in front of him.

He tried to grab the trident at his feet, but it was too late. Thus, he gave up on counterattacking or evading, focusing on defense. From the tips of his hands to his feet, the skin across his body turned into scales. Then, he tried to cover his heart and his head—the important parts of his body.

Before he could fully coat his body in scales, Zhou Xuchuan's sword arrived.

South Sea Single Sword Flow.

He discarded all petty movements. He got rid of any connecting flows that would lead to another technique. He bet everything on this one technique.

It wasn't a single saber but a single sword capable of cutting on both sides.

Squelch!

Zhou Xuchuan's sword slashed downward from the top of the Dragon King's head.

It dug in from the crown of the Dragon King's head, passed through the forehead, protecting the brain, and drew a line down from the bridge of his nose through to his lower half.

The flesh and bones beyond the scales were cut and split like a piece of wood.

"

Ha!

" The South Sea Dragon King's eyes widened. He panted as sweat flowed through the wrinkles that showed the passage of time. The moment the sweat dripped down his cheeks and chin, the South Sea Dragon King came to his senses as if he had woken up from a nightmare.

"..."

The South Sea Dragon King finally realized what had happened, and his expression distorted, looking miserable and indignant.

"I lost."

It had happened in a split second.

The sword that appeared seemingly out of thin air stopped right before the Dragon King's eyebrows. Zhou Xuchuan had intentionally stopped just before cleaving through him.

The moment the Dragon King realized that he wouldn't be able to avoid the extremely sharp sword, he unconsciously imagined getting slaughtered by the sword's might.

The red scales that had covered his skin as if expanding its territory disappeared.

He froze like a stone; he couldn't move at all.

He was soaked with cold sweat.

His legs lost their strength, and he knew he had lost face.

The South Sea Dragon King acknowledged the difference in strength between them.

How come a monster of this caliber has only appeared now?

The anger that had been boiling like lava cooled down. His sense of reasoning that had been avoiding him finally returned to him. Only now could he look ahead objectively. He finally realized the great difference between their capabilities.

The South Sea Dragon King's face turned ashen in an instant.

Judging from Dragon's Tail's appearance, they had to have been defeated at sea. It was still unknown what had happened on the coast, but it was still pointless since the lives within the Dragon Palace and the Dragon King himself were at stake.

"Kill me."

The South Sea Dragon King meekly admitted defeat.

"Your Majesty!"

"No!"

Mourning cries erupted from all sides. The voices were so loud that they made Zhou Xuchuan's ears ring.

They were so loud that he made a joke about how they had trained themselves to shout to replace the Dragon's Roar.

"If I had come here to kill you, I would never have done such a troublesome thing in the first place."

"...What is it that you want?"

"As I said earlier, I came to fetch Gan Yezi. And since there seems to be some misunderstanding between us, wouldn't you like to calm down and talk things over?"

The South Sea Dragon King didn't say anything.

In any case, he had no choice.

"Before we start talking, I have a few questions to ask you. Do you know anything about the Dark Heavens Association?"

"Dark Heavens Association...?"

"That response should be enough."

Clearly, the South Sea Dragon Gate itself had nothing to do with the Dark Heavens Association.

"What are the Nine Children of the Dragon Pillars?"

"Oh my?!"

"How can you be so shameless!"

As soon as he asked about the Nine Children of the Dragon Pillars, the reactions from those around him became intense. The South Sea Dragon King frowned, and then he raised his hand to clear up the commotion around him before answering Zhou Xuchuan's question.

"They are the nine pillars that support the Dragon Palace."

There was once a major earthquake that had shaken the entire earth. The earthquake inflicted so much damage that a small island was wiped out.

The underwater cave where the Dragon Palace was located wasn't spared from the damage, and it almost collapsed.

The South Sea Dragon Gate had quickly repaired the underwater cave, erecting nine pillars to support the Dragon Palace so that it wouldn't collapse. The name of these pillars was the "Nine Children of the Dragon Pillars."

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"What do you mean by we destroyed the Nine Children of the Dragon Pillars?"

"It's because the land humans fought over their interests, infuriating the sea, which caused the damage!" Chi Shuishui roared sharply.

"So, you're saying that the Nine Children of the Dragon Pillars began collapsing when the martial arts sects, like the Hainan Sword Sect and the Returning Deer Gate, began to fight for power?"

"They didn't begin to collapse—they actually collapsed."

The South Sea Dragon King pointed out an inconsistency in Zhou Xuchuan's interpretation.

We can't understand each other.

He knew that the people of the sea believed in superstitions, but the issue was that their beliefs were so ingrained that it was impossible to communicate.

I mean, what couldn't they believe in when they named one of themselves the Four Seas Dragon King?

Just then...

Rumble!!!

"It's the sea!"

"The dragon is angry!"

"It's the wrath of the sea!"

The Dragon Palace's ground shook.

The tremors grew bigger and bigger, and the underwater cave started trembling.

Could this earthquake be the problem?

The earthquakes seemed to be the reason behind the collapse of the Nine Children of the Dragon Pillars. If that was true, then there really was no answer.

How could they prevent natural disasters? Since things had turned out this way, Zhou Xuchuan thought that he ought to just threaten them and take Gan Yezi away.

"I mean, I can't do anything because of that damned bastard!"

A short, middle-aged man walked out behind the golden throne, grumbling in apparent fury.

"Wait...?"

Zhou Xuchuan was more surprised to see the middle-aged man than by the earthquake.

The man's hair wasn't aqua blue but black. His skin was healthy and tanned—a shade of copper—and his muscular body was his defining characteristic. He was different from the mermaids of the South Sea Dragon Gate in their twenties and thirties, who had aqua-blue hair and snow-white skin.

In other words...

"Gan Yezi?"

"

Huh?

Who are you? And do we know each other?"

The middle-aged man, Gan Yezi, tilted his head.

Wasn't he kidnapped?

According to eyewitness accounts, Gan Yezi followed the South Sea Dragon Gate seemingly of his own volition.

Zhou Xuchuan had assumed that he was threatened, but judging from his attire, it didn't seem to be the case whatsoever.

He had no restraints, and his complexion was normal. Other than being angry, there was nothing particularly wrong with him.

"Gan Yezi! What happened to the Nine Children of the Dragon Pillars?" the South Sea Dragon King asked Gan Yezi with a horrid expression. Unlike how he treated Zhou Xuchuan, his tone toward Gan Yezi was gentle.

"Even if I try to fix them, because of that damned bast—"

RUMBLE!!!

"Agh!"

"The Dragon Palace is collapsing!"

"Lord Sea God!"

The ground shook, and cracks appeared in the wall. Water flowed in from the one and only entrance.

Crystals studded like stars fell from above. If one wasn't careful, they could end up with a hole in their skull.

What the hell is going on?

Something was about to happen.

Something unusual was about to happen.

1. We will be changing Dragon Roar to Dragon's Roar to fit the naming conventions of Dragon's Heart and Body Art. The previous chapter's changes should have been done by now! ☜