Don't Call Me Emperor, I'm Scared

Lan Shuang had already fallen into despair.

Three days earlier, Cold Moon Island, where the Sea Spirit Clan lived, had been forcibly conscripted by the Dragon Clan.

The Dragon Clan demanded that they hand over three thousand able-bodied adults to build water palaces and transport spirit ore on the Eastern Sea battlefield.

Everyone knew it.

The Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin Clans were constantly clashing now.

Among the small clans sent to the battlefield, being lucky enough for even one in ten to return was already a blessing.

Lan Shuang refused.

So Cold Moon Island was razed by the Dragon Clan.

The clan elders fought to the death, barely buying her a sliver of hope.

She fled into the Northern Sea with the last few dozen clansmen, thinking they could use its complex currents to shake off their pursuers.

But the flood Dragon behind them had relentlessly pursued them.

Ao Zheng.

The son of the Blackwater Dragon King.

A Golden Immortal.

To the Sea Spirit Clan, he was an existence they could not possibly contend with.

"Clan Chief, we can't go any farther!"

One of the clansmen was pale as death.

Lan Shuang looked up.

The seawater ahead was black as ink.

Guixu Power surged there, devouring spiritual energy and erasing divine sense.

This was the forbidden region of the Northern Sea.

Rumor had it that countless years ago, a Dragon Clan Great Principle had entered to investigate, only to return gravely wounded.

Since then, the aquatic clans of the Northern Sea had rarely dared approach this place.

Lan Shuang glanced back.

Ao Zheng was getting closer and closer.

His Dragon eyes held undisguised mockery.

"Sea Spirit Clan, where else can you run?"

"Kneel now, and I might still leave you a few intact corpses."

Resolve filled Lan Shuang's eyes.

"Into Guixu."

"Clan Chief!"

"If we fall into Ao Zheng's hands, we'll die far worse deaths."

Clutching the child in her arms, Lan Shuang was the first to charge toward that pitch-black sea.

The rest of the clansmen gritted their teeth and followed.

Just as Guixu Power was about to swallow them, a crack suddenly split open in the center of the black seawater.

Behind the crack floated a barren island.

The island's spiritual energy was thin, yet it was peaceful and tranquil.

A deep voice echoed from all directions.

"Those who enter this realm must observe three rules."

"No noise."

"No fighting."

"Do not reveal this place."

"Leave on your own after one hundred years."

Before Lan Shuang could speak, a gentle yet irresistible force enveloped every member of the Sea Spirit Clan.

The next instant.

They had already landed on the barren island.

There was earth beneath their feet.

A spirit vein lay in the distance.

Above them stretched a murky gray sky.

Ao Zheng's Dragon might was gone from behind them.

"We... survived?"

"What is this place?"

"And what kind of existence was that senior who spoke just now?"

The clansmen were still trembling with fear.

A tempestuous wave rose in Lan Shuang's heart.

To open up a Grotto-Heaven in the depths of Guixu.

To instantly draw them inside across endless seawater.

This senior's cultivation was likely far beyond that of a Golden Immortal.

He might even be a Great Principle.

Lan Shuang immediately fell to her knees.

"Lan Shuang of the Sea Spirit Clan thanks you, Senior, for saving our lives!"

The sky fell silent for a moment.

Then the voice spoke again.

"Keep quiet. I am in seclusion."

Lan Shuang hurriedly lowered her head.

"This junior obeys."

Outside.

Ao Zheng stopped beyond the Ruins Sea Eye.

The Sea Spirit Clan's aura had vanished.

It had vanished completely.

A trace of confusion flashed through Ao Zheng's eyes.

"Did Guixu swallow them?"

He circled the area several times before quickly noticing a massive shadow in the depths of the seabed.

The shadow resembled a mountain range, lying beside Guixu.

Ancient patterns covered its surface.

Ao Zheng's eyes gradually brightened.

"An innate spirit treasure?"

Anything capable of existing beside the Ruins Sea Eye was certainly extraordinary.

The Sea Spirit Clan no longer mattered.

If he could bring this spirit treasure back to the Blackwater Dragon Palace, his father would surely reward him handsomely.

Ao Zheng extended his Dragon claw.

Black lightning coiled around it.

"Come up!"

The Dragon Claw crashed down.

Bang!

The seawater of Guixu Sea exploded violently.

Before the smile on Ao Zheng's face could fully bloom, a terrifying rebounding force surged back through his Dragon Claw.

Crack!

His Dragon Claw snapped on the spot.

Large patches of Dragon scales shattered.

Ao Zheng let out a scream as his massive Dragon body was hurled away, smashing through several undersea peaks in succession.

He looked up in terror.

The shadow on the seabed moved.

Just once.

The depths of the entire Northern Sea shook with it.

Ao Zheng finally saw clearly.

That was not some innate spirit treasure at all.

It was a tortoise shell.

A tortoise shell so enormous it could support mountains and rivers.

Ao Zheng felt cold all over.

"An Innate Divine Saint!"

He turned and fled.

The next instant.

Guixu Power transformed into black chains, wrapping around his body from every direction.

Ao Zheng's mana instantly fell silent.

His Primordial Spirit was forced back into his sea of consciousness.

His massive Dragon body shrank smaller and smaller until he became a black flood Dragon several zhang long, struggling wildly within the chains.

Lu Chen's divine sense descended.

"I hid here to cultivate in seclusion."

"Why did you insist on swatting me with your claw?"

Ao Zheng was scared out of his wits.

"Senior, spare my life!"

"This junior did not know this was Senior's cultivation ground!"

"This junior is from the Eastern Sea Dragon Clan. My father is the Blackwater Dragon King, and our clan has Great Principle ancestors. If Senior is willing to let me go, the Dragon Clan will surely repay you generously!"

Lu Chen frowned deeply as he listened.

The Dragon Clan was truly troublesome!

All he wanted now was to throw this flood Dragon as far away as possible.

"Get lost."

The chains loosened.

Ao Zheng regained his freedom and hurriedly fled outward.

After escaping several hundred li, he gathered his courage again and carefully asked, "May Senior leave a name behind? Then when this junior returns, I can explain it to my clan."

Lu Chen fell silent for a moment.

Leave a name?

What name was he supposed to leave?

What if Ancestral Dragon heard that a powerful Black Tortoise had appeared in the Northern Sea and came personally to visit?

"No need."

"Tell the Dragon Clan that Guixu will not involve itself in the conflict of the three clans."

"If there is a next time, I'll stew you."

Ao Zheng shuddered all over.

"This junior understands!"

Dragging his broken claw behind him, he charged out of the Northern Sea at top speed.

Guixu Inner Realm.

The Sea Spirit Clan had heard every bit of what happened outside.

A Golden Immortal flood Dragon like Ao Zheng had been utterly powerless before this senior.

But what shook Lan Shuang even more was his statement that Guixu would not involve itself in the conflict of the three clans.

Among the myriad clans of the Primordial World, who dared say such words before the Dragon Clan?

The Three-Clan Hegemony had swept across heaven and earth.

Countless small clans had been forced to choose a side.

Choose wrong, and die.

Refuse to choose, and die as well.

Yet this senior lived in seclusion in Guixu, rejecting the three clans and sheltering the weak.

Such broad-mindedness, such confidence, was simply awe-inspiring.

Lan Shuang led her clansmen in kneeling once more.

"We thank the Emperor for your protection!"

Lu Chen instantly opened his eyes.

"Stop."

"Don't call me Emperor."

"It scares me when I hear it."

Lan Shuang froze slightly.

Then understanding appeared in her eyes.

A true great power truly did not care for empty titles.

The senior had secluded himself in Guixu, clearly waiting for the right moment.

If they rashly addressed him as Emperor, they might expose the senior's plans.

Lan Shuang nodded solemnly.

"This junior understands."

"This junior shall obey the Emperor's decree."

Lu Chen: "..."

What did you understand?

I told you not to call me that.

Lu Chen had wanted to correct her further.

But on second thought...

Forget it.

In a hundred years, he would let them leave.

By then, Guixu would close again, and he could go back to sleep.

It was only a form of address.

It was not a big problem.