"Sir, you've really made it ashore!"
After the group of thirty-odd people reached the shore, almost everyone collapsed to the ground, their legs weak. Clearly, the psychological pressure from swimming through that massive horde of undead was still too great.
Let alone them, even Chen Qing, who was certain that the zombies wouldn't attack him, felt a wave of fear.
The scene was so shocking that it was hard not to feel a sense of awe.
The Ghost Child didn't seem to have much of a reaction, but it was somewhat wary of the black undead.
Chen Qing turned around and looked at a black zombie that had emerged from the shore. The zombie stared intently at Chen Qing from within the black mist, without saying a word. It simply raised its arm and pointed to its wrist.
Chen Qing looked down at his wrist, where there was a black line. With a little sensing, he could sense the location of those black living corpses and activate communication within a hundred miles. This was the agreement between that guy and himself.
" Nezha, how much of a difference do you think those black guys are compared to Yuchi Peng?" Chen Qing asked directly.
The Ghost Child frowned slightly upon hearing this, but then said, "The difference isn't that great, and there's something very alarming about them. I have a feeling that if they unleash their full power, Yuchi Peng might not be a match for one of them!"
Chen Qing nodded upon hearing this. The Ghost Child's judgment was very accurate; it truly lived up to its reputation as a top-tier demon.
These black zombies must be the followers that guy has cultivated for thousands of years. The nine protozoa should all have something like this. They are the strongest weapons in their hands. These followers are not only powerful, but they also have forbidden techniques planted by their master in their bodies. Once they are unleashed, they can break through the limit of the Above First Rank in a short time. Just as the Ghost Child judged, even a top-notch Above First Rank martial artist like Yuchi Peng might be killed!
According to the other party, nearly half of her followers were lost in the last scheme, forcing her to hide on the outskirts, because if she were to face them head-on now, she might not be a match for any of her brothers.
In other words, the other creatures each have at least five such powerful subordinates under their command!
If these forces were combined, even if all the powerful families of the Great Jin attacked together, it would be difficult to win.
Chen Qing stood up and looked at the black corpse that was slowly leading a large group of zombies away from the coast. He felt somewhat fortunate, and thankful that he had designed these nine protozoa to be hostile to each other, and that their personalities were designed so that they could never unite. Otherwise, this wave alone could have wiped out the human race.
"My lord," a tall man behind him said, his brow furrowed as he watched the horde of corpses depart, "Will they truly keep their promise not to harm humans?"
"Of course not!" Chen Qing sneered. Although devouring other familiars could evolve oneself, eating living people was the best way to replenish basic familiars. He wouldn't believe a word that the woman would give up because of her promise to him.
Can you trust the words of a woman who would sacrifice her own country?
After the Ancient Insect were split apart by the Nine Heavens Mirror Valley, their personalities were also incomplete. The first person to possess them was the one who filled in the gaps in their complete personalities. If that woman hadn't been so ruthless, the Ancient Insect that possessed her wouldn't have been able to control her from doing such things.
For example, the Laosi she mentioned who had already died was originally designed to be a grassland general who pursued the ultimate power. His retinue always followed the will of their master and never harmed the old, weak, women, or children, especially the children. They always maintained the nature of the grassland people and never allowed anyone shorter than a cartwheel to be killed prematurely.
Among the nine protozoan creatures' retinues, the one behind Yuchi Feihong, the Laoqi, specifically targets children. Children are more malleable and more likely to evolve into advanced retinues mastering spells. This alone shows that the Laoqi is at least in the top three in terms of ruthlessness among the nine monsters, and perhaps not even third. Yuchi Feihong's judgment in choosing a master is truly questionable; how could he possibly believe that creature would coexist peacefully with humans?
To be honest, if it weren't for the inability to contact the others, and the fact that Laoqi is currently in a relatively weak position, Chen Qing would definitely not be looking to cooperate with her.
"Then, sir, we..." The soldier looked conflicted, clearly having some reservations about cooperating with such a demon.
Chen Qing shook his head and said, "That creature in the sea won't stop killing, whether we cooperate with her or not. What we need to do is rescue our compatriots as much as possible, cooperate with her, and eliminate the relatives of other factions as much as possible. This is also a way to protect the human race. As for her, we will settle accounts with her in the end!"
"Let's head to Yangzhou City!" Chen Qing exclaimed excitedly. "Our goal this time is to transform Yangzhou into a safe haven, like Liuzhou, where our compatriots can find refuge!"
Upon hearing this, the soldiers perked up and immediately knelt on one knee. "We are at your command, sir!"
--
You're back?
In the deep sea, a giant seashell slowly opened, and a beautiful woman looked tenderly at Yuchi Feihong.
A flicker of infatuation crossed Yuchi Feihong's eyes, but it vanished in an instant, replaced by a cold, hard expression. He bowed and said, "My lord, Chen Qing and the others have arrived safely in Yangzhou. It seems they truly intend to take the Yangzhou City!"
"That little fellow has quite the ambition," the woman said with a yawn. "He wants to use this opportunity to carve out a territory in Jiangnan!"
"He can't possibly succeed," Yuchi Feihong shook his head.
"That's not necessarily true," the woman laughed. "His abilities are quite interesting. If he can accomplish it, it wouldn't be a bad thing; at least more people in Jiangnan would survive."
"Let's hope so," Yuchi Feihong sighed. "My lord, according to Chen Qing, the Laojiu of the Shen Family might be possessed. Do you think that's possible?"
"Possibly," the woman nodded. "But if that's the case, it should be quite weak and shouldn't have exposed itself so quickly. After all, this Laojiu of the Shen Family was created by the Shen Family patriarch to control us. It doesn't meet the needs of any original owner. Forcibly possessing the Laojiu's body, while posing a great threat to us, is not beneficial to itself. Over time, it will even cause rejection and damage to its own foundation."
Upon hearing this Yuchi Feihong lowered his head.
He was amazed by this secret.
It turns out that the Shen Family patriarch learned his dragon-transformation technique from these monsters; it turns out the Shen Family patriarch died decades ago!
"You're saying the ancestor died long ago?"
In Shen Laoliu's cellar in Nanyang City, Wang Ye looked at all the information on the dragon transformations and finally confirmed all the intelligence that Chen Qing had given him!
"There's no mistake." Faced with Sixth Master Shen's shock, Wang Ye pointed to the documents and said, "Seven hundred years ago, when the Shen Family patriarch first awakened his Dragon Transformation, a great calamity occurred in the West Sea. No one knows the reason, but it's said that the populations of three island nations disappeared. Back then, the four great sorcerers of Jiangnan, including the Shen Family patriarch, went to the West Sea, clearly having discovered something."
"This Dragon Transformation Technique was probably not created by your ancestor himself, but rather taught to him by someone else. After successfully extending his lifespan for the first time, your ancestor searched the entire world for techniques. This wouldn't have been a problem in itself, but in reality, especially the latest collection of techniques, was too fragmented."
Wang Ye pointed to several of the latest techniques and said, "In the past, your ancestor collected most of the techniques in the Central Plains, which is not far from Jiangnan, and they were all exchanged through marriage alliances. This is also the traditional method of most technique families."
"But haven't you noticed this latest time? The techniques your ancestor collected are becoming increasingly obscure, and the locations are becoming more and more remote. The Divine Wind of the Heavenly Wolf Family Clan and the Thousand Eyes Spell of the Evil King Family Clan are techniques from Kingdom of Guhuang outside the Central Plains. Clearly, our Central Plains has such a rich heritage of excellent techniques. With the Shen Family's prestige and foundation, few families would be willing to exchange techniques through marriage."
"But why? Why choose such obscure techniques, spend so much money to search for them in the Western Regions, the North, and even Guhuang?"
Upon hearing this, Sixth Master Shen was taken aback, and his brows furrowed. Indeed, in the previous two dragon transformations, the ancestor had chosen to cooperate with families with techniques from the Jiangnan region. However, this time, apart from himself and his fifth brother, the techniques of his other brothers came from Tiannan, making it much more difficult to obtain them.
Take, for example, Divine Wind of the Heavenly Wolf Family Clan. The Shen Family spent a great deal of money and used various forms of intimidation to barely manage to marry Murong Yunji. Divine Wind of the Heavenly Wolf Family is indeed powerful, but there are many Central Plains families that are just as good. Why did they have to choose Divine Wind?
This was also the point of doubt that Sixth Master Shen had back then.
"It should be a necessary requirement for dragon transformation," said Sixth Master Shen, frowning.
"Transformation into a dragon is a must?" Wang Ye sneered, "Who came up with this standard? I've reviewed the information on your Dragon Transformation Spell over the past few generations, and I haven't seen any technique that's definitely related to dragon transformation. The requirement to refine the offspring of demons with dragon blood does seem to be related to dragon transformation, but Sixth Master is an expert on these techniques. Can you really see that these techniques are definitely related to dragon transformation?"
Sixth Master Shen fell silent upon hearing this.
He had wondered about this before.
The first generation of dragons was formed using the Divine Fire Spell, resulting in a fire Fire Dragon. But if the fire technique could work, couldn't the earth, fire, water, and wind techniques also work? The second generation was formed using the elder brother's Xiushe Technique. If we have to make a connection, the transformation from a serpent to a dragon is barely plausible.
But how can the Laojiu's Insect Spell, the Laoqi's Thousand Eyes Spell, or the Laoba's Origin Spell be related to the transformation into a dragon?
"This isn't necessary for the dragon transformation," Wang Ye said in a low voice. "It's necessary for the guy who taught your Shen Family family ancestor to transform into a dragon. The first two times, to lower your ancestor's guard, they didn't fully state their requirements. This latest time, I suspect these techniques are what they truly need!"
"Them?" Sixth Master Shen narrowed his eyes. "Is there something else that Vice Minister Wang hasn't told me?"
"It's not that I didn't want to tell Sixth Master Shen," Wang Ye said with a wry smile, "But Chen Qing's last guess was too outlandish, yet now it seems very likely that what he said was true."
"How is it?" Sixth Master Shen asked with a gloomy expression.
"Back then, it wasn't just your eldest brother who died mysteriously, but also your so-called patriarch of the Shen family. And this time, the monster in the mist didn't just arrive in the Great Jin Dynasty; it must have been there decades ago, before the death of the eldest patriarch of the Shen family." Wang Ye stared intently at Sixth Master Shen and said, "It's among Sixth Master's brothers!"