Asura battlefield
"It seems these are all we have left."
When the sun was high in the sky, Ao Tianhai glanced at the less than twenty Golden Core cultivators around him and spoke calmly.
Wherever his golden pupils swept, every Golden Core cultivator lowered their head, not just because of their status, but because their aura was already infinitely close to that of a Nascent Soul.
Ao Tianhai was tall and robust, about nine feet in height, with broad shoulders and a deep waist. His frame carried a heavy and imposing presence that was not innate to humans Demon Race.
What is most striking is the layer of fine golden dragon scales floating on his neck, wrist bones, behind his ears, and between his collarbones.
Not to mention the East Sea, there are no true dragons in the entire Four Seas. These things are not species that can be nurtured in the low Spiritual Qi environment of Earth Star.
Therefore, the cultivators of the East Sea had all sorts of speculations about Ao Tianhai's dragon lineage, the most absurd of which was that this guy was a product of the Heavenly Gate's genetic experiments.
They didn't even consider that without any dragon genes, how could they have conducted the experiment?
However, Ao Tianhai's status was far higher than imagined. Even the three Nascent Soul demons from the Thirty-Six Islands of the Eastern Sea treated him with respect.
According to Heavenly Gate's arrangement, half of the newly opened Sea Dragon Vein will be given to one of the three Nascent Soul demons to perform meritorious deeds and Spirit Transformation.
Neither party addressed the ownership of the other half of the Sea Dragon Vein.
It wasn't that East Sea Immortal Island didn't want it, but rather that this half of the Sea Dragon Vein already had a designated person to control it—none other than Ao Tianhai.
To put it more bluntly, the current Lord Lin of Lin Jun also bears the surname Ao.
Faced with this disregard for his authority, Ao Tianhai was not angry; instead, he shook his head with a touch of pity.
"Since they don't want to leave, let them go."
Upon seeing this, one of the monks from the inner islands mustered up the courage to ask.
"Dragon Lord, may I ask why those three on the island issued the Penglai Command? Has the East Sea Archipelago encountered an unprecedented enemy?"
In his opinion, only in such a life-or-death crisis would the three on the inner island issue the Penglai Command, demanding their retreat.
Could it be that Overseas Devil Sect is about to launch a large-scale invasion?
"A formidable enemy? I suppose so."
"Then may I ask the Dragon Lord, is the reason you ordered us to withdraw from the Dragon Blood Tide also to defend against the enemy?" someone else asked.
"Has the Dragon Lord fought against those people? How strong are they?"
After thinking for a moment, Ao Tianhai recalled the strange demonic cultivator he had fought before.
There are one or two people whose abilities are about the same as mine.
Ao Tianhai had no desire to answer and directly transformed into a golden beam of light, shooting towards the inner island.
The remaining cultivators looked at each other, then transformed into streaks of light and followed closely behind.
On the smuggling boat, Old Sha frowned as he looked at Old Zhu, Old Zhu himself seemed somewhat uneasy.
"So, according to you, after you separated, he didn't come back all night, and you couldn't find him?"
"More or less," Old Zhu said, his brow furrowed so deeply it could trap a mosquito.
"Dead?" Old Sha asked bluntly.
"That can't be right. I'd believe it if other Golden Core cultivators died, but I don't really believe it if he did."
Thinking of the other party's amazing flashlight and terrifying explosive power, Old Zhu felt that things weren't that simple.
However, when he thought back to the Nascent Soul level wave he had seen when the two of them were separated, he became somewhat uncertain.
"Probably not."
"In the core area of Dragon Blood Tide, no one is to blame but themselves for dying," Old Sha said calmly. "Have you prepared the compensation money?"
Old Zhu gasped, "I don't even know where he lives. I'll call Zhao Tiezhu and ask."
For these two veteran smugglers, death was nothing new. On the contrary, the returning crew members looked at each other with mixed feelings upon hearing the news.
After two and a half days of fishing, under the arrangement of the local Old Sha, they were basically intact. The most seriously injured one only had half a hand bitten off by a sea monster. This guy only rested for half a day before being driven by the desire to get rich quick and went back into the sea with his injury.
The one who shouldn't have had an accident, how could they just suddenly be gone when everything was fine?
It's true that fortune and misfortune are unpredictable!
Meanwhile, inside the conference room of the Sea-Pacifying Divine Warship, a high-level military meeting was being held.
The attendees included not only fleet officers, field officers, and special operations team leaders, but also high-ranking military officials on the other end of the video call.
However, the important figures remained silent, allowing the experts inside the divine ship to explain the situation.
"... Therefore, according to our statistics, the outbreak of Turbid Qi should occur around 3 PM. We must suppress the main consciousness of the Turbid Dragon within eight hours. Once the main consciousness is suppressed, its body will just be pure Turbid Qi, which we can disperse using our newly developed Clear Qi Bomb."
"According to our calculations, as long as the Turbid Qi content of an artificially cultivated Dragon Vein does not exceed 30%, it will not affect the dragon's nature. I will keep you all informed of the progress once the operation begins."
After the experts finished speaking, a military officer went on stage to distribute military tasks in various directions.
However, these operations had already been rehearsed countless times before they even set sail, so that wasn't the focus of everyone's attention.
After that person left, it was time for the open discussion.
As the final discussion meeting of this "Sea-Pacifying Operation," many things will be decided in this discussion, and all participants present attach great importance to it.
"Should we have the Yu Household prepare that Dragon Vein treasure? If we use that treasure, the level of Turbid Qi should be able to be reduced to below 20%?"
"Not for now. This operation should be led by us, and we should try to avoid relying on external forces. Otherwise, given the Yu Household's intricate network of relationships within Heavenly Gate, if they perform too well in this operation, there will be more wrangling over the control of the Sea Dragon Vein."
"What about the Dragon-Slaying Department? Will they detect the anomaly in the East Sea's Dragon Vein? Will they keep it a secret?"
"According to the rules, they are only responsible for monitoring the Dragon Vein inside the Heavenly Gate. The Sea Dragon Vein should belong to our navy. Lord Lin has already submitted the plan of the Four Seas Navy to the meeting of the Ten Lords, so this operation must be a resounding success."
"I recall that the Dragon-Slaying Department has the authority to mobilize military satellites, right?"
"Yes, so we've already used the pretext of simulating military operations to occupy the satellite's access route."
"As for the Saha Continent, I remember they are exceptionally sensitive to changes in the heavens and earth."
"Regarding Plans 4 and 6 for preventing the use of magic, I have something to add..."
Meanwhile, on the other end of the video conference, several high-ranking military officials listened to the plan while silently smoking.
According to the internal power structure of Heavenly Gate, all matters concerning the Dragon Vein are handed over to the Dragon-Slaying Department.
But overseas has always been Lord Lin's territory, how could he allow the Dragon-Slaying Department to interfere?
Some things, once done, are done; as long as they are done well, acting first and informing later is not unacceptable.
Ghost Lord did a good job in the north before. If it weren't for a little accident at the last moment, the Dragon-Slaying Department might have been kept in the dark from beginning to end.
This operation is of the same nature.
If things go well, the "Old Four Seas Military Office" can completely seize control of a portion of the overseas dragon Dragon Vein from the Dragon-Slaying Department.
The Dragon-Slaying Department is responsible for overseeing the Heavenly Gate Dragon Vein, so who is in charge of the overseas Dragon Vein? Shouldn't they be under the jurisdiction of the Navy?
They acted first and informed later.
But if things go wrong and the suppression of the Turbid Dragon Vein fails, then someone has to take the blame.
Therefore, these high-ranking officials attached great importance to this Sea-Pacifying Operation.
At 3 PM, as expected, Dragon Blood Tide encountered an accident.
On the surface of the Dragon Blood Tide, everything seemed to continue the rhythm of the morning. The sea eye was still erupting, the Spiritual Qi was still surging, and the cultivators were still vying for the treasures spewing from the seabed.
But the seasoned veterans who had made their living at sea for a long time had already sensed something was amiss.
First, the color of the seawater, which was originally a thick, blood-brown, is deepening at an imperceptible pace, transitioning from dark red to turbid, as if something is surging up from the depths of the sea, stirring up the underlying color of the entire sea area layer by layer.
Then came the smell; the air was filled with a mixture of sulfur and rust.
The Spiritual Qi at the bottom of the sea also began to scorch, and a layer of fire-attribute Spiritual Qi seemed to suddenly wrap around the water Spiritual Qi.
The most crucial thing is the sea eye!
The once stable, rhythmic eruption of the sea eye, like a fountain, began to become disordered.
Some sea vents suddenly stopped erupting, like a chicken with its neck being choked. After a moment of silence, they suddenly spewed out a black, turbid stream carrying a large amount of mud, sand, and gravel, drenching the surrounding cultivators who had no time to dodge. Other sea vents began to suck water in the opposite direction, drawing the surrounding seawater and floating objects into the bottomless whirlpool, making a gurgling sound like a giant beast swallowing.
Many of the sunken treasures that spewed out from the seabed were sucked back in before they even came into existence, causing the cultivators who watched helplessly as the treasures disappeared to stomp their feet and curse in anger.
But the first to react were not the treasure-hunting cultivators, but the creatures of the sea. Schools of fish frantically fled from the deep sea to the surface, some leaping out of the water and landing on the deck, jumping around desperately. The large sea monsters that usually lurked in the seabed crevices also surfaced one after another, swimming away from the Dragon Blood Tide without regard for anything else.
As this strange phenomenon intensified, even the most greedy cultivators began to sense that something was amiss.
Some experienced old cultivators were the first to stop and call their companions to evacuate; then came the merchant fleets sailing on ocean-going ships, who began to lower their Spiritual Qi anchors and turn their ships around.
However, the mutation occurred much faster than expected.
The Spiritual Qi of the sea seemed to freeze in an instant.
Then, in the next moment, it was as if hundreds or thousands of underwater volcanoes erupted simultaneously.
In that instant, the sea ceased to be a sea; it transformed into a boiling cauldron. Countless columns of black, Turbid Qi erupted simultaneously from the seabed, some from the center of the sea eye, some from cracks in the sea surface, and some directly from a hole blasted open in the flat seabed mud and sand, densely packed and layered, covering the entire core area of Dragon Blood Tide.
In an instant, the Dragon Blood Tide turned into a massive battleground.