Cangming, who hadn't left yet, immediately stood up in excitement when he heard the Dragon Ancestor was going to the Eastern Region.
His movement was so swift that it even stirred up a gust of water, making Wugou’s bald head feel a chill.
"Lord, Cangming is willing to accompany and protect you!"
"The situation in the Eastern Region is currently chaotic with deep-sea black spots running rampant. Although I am untalented and my strength is meager, my word still carries weight in my own neck of the woods!"
He looked up, his eyes filled with earnestness.
"As long as I am there, I will surely pave a golden road for you, allowing you to walk through the Eastern Region as if on level ground, a completely smooth path!"
He was truly anxious. The return of the Dragon Ancestor was an event that would bring glory to his ancestors and could even change the fate of the entire Sea Race.
How could he let the Dragon Ancestor go to such a dirty and chaotic place alone?
What if those blind black spot monsters offended him?
Chen Zhou looked at the excited Cangming but calmly waved his hand.
"No, you cannot go."
"Why?" Cangming was stunned, his face full of confusion.
Chen Zhou pointed at his fish tail, which was still seeping black blood, and analyzed in a calm tone.
"Your target is too big."
"The Eastern Region came to the provincial capital this time for the Golden Buddha, and you also represent the face of the Eastern Region's royal family."
"Yin Wudao is watching you, the court officials are watching you, and there are even countless eyes watching you from the shadows."
"Your current half-dead appearance is the best disguise and the situation Yin Wudao most wants to see."
"You must stay in the provincial capital and continue to play along with Yin Wudao. Don't let him notice anything amiss."
"If you suddenly run away or disappear at this critical juncture, with Yin Wudao's nature, he will definitely become suspicious."
"Once he perceives that there might be changes in the Eastern Region or suspects my whereabouts, this game will be difficult to play."
Upon hearing this, Cangming opened his mouth to argue, but found that every word the Dragon Ancestor said was reasonable.
He felt extremely disappointed, suddenly looking like a golden retriever that had just been told it couldn't go for a walk with its master.
Cangming truly did not want to leave the Dragon Ancestor's side.
Even if he just stayed in this room and did nothing, that feeling of being bathed in pure dragon might—the trembling and comfort deep within his soul—endeared him to it immensely.
That feeling was like a lonely boat that had drifted for ten thousand years finally finding a harbor; even the restless deep-sea black spots in his body seemed to become docile.
"Lord..."
Cangming didn't give up and asked expectantly once more, "Do you really not need Cangming to accompany you?"
"I could be a guide for you, or even just serve tea and water."
"I am very familiar with the terrain of the Eastern Region. I know where the royal treasury is hidden and how to open it."
Chen Zhou remained firm and waved his hand. "Say no more."
"Go back quickly. Do not linger outside for too long, lest there be ears on the other side of the wall."
Seeing the Dragon Ancestor's mind was set, Cangming did not dare to truly disobey, fearing he might displease him.
He could only kneel respectfully on the ground and give three solid kowtows.
"Yes, Cangming will obey the decree."
"Cangming will stay in the provincial capital to guard this door for you and stall Yin Wudao."
"I will also increase the manpower to help you protect Chef Song."
Wugou was dissatisfied. "With this monk here, does Benefactor Song's safety need you?"
Cangming turned a deaf ear. After standing up, he took three steps and looked back once, reluctantly moving out of the room.
After seeing Cangming off, Chen Zhou raised his ghost domain again, isolating all perception.
The room returned to silence.
Chen Zhou contacted the Plague Rat in his sea of consciousness.
"Lord, are you ready?"
The Plague Rat's voice soon came through, carrying a hint of tension. "The waters in the Eastern Region are quite muddy. Poison-Wing and I almost got lost as soon as we entered."
"Mm, I'm coming now."
Chen Zhou responded, then closed his eyes and activated 【Bone Incarnation】.
...
Eastern Region, the Boundless Sea.
This was the most vast area in the entire Gloomlight Province.
Above the sea, a heavy mist lingered year-round; beneath the sea lay a bottomless abyss.
In the deepest part of the Eastern Region, there was a forbidden area known as the sea eye.
The sea eye was dark and silent, containing only an extreme cold capable of freezing the soul.
Ten thousand yards of profound ice covered everything as far as the eye could see. Giant ice pillars hung upside down like sharp swords, emitting a faint blue light.
The sea eye was the eruption point of the earth-core cold spring, and also the place where the spiritual qi and death qi of the entire Eastern Region intertwined most violently.
In the very center of the sea eye, atop an ice platform, sat an elderly figure.
He had a silver fish tail several yards long, but it had long since lost its luster, becoming dry and thin, no different from dried fish.
This was the current ruler of the Eastern Region, Sea Emperor Cang Yu.
Suddenly, a faint crackling sound came from within the frozen ice.
Crack.
The thin ice covering Cang Yu's eyelids cracked, and he slowly opened his eyes.
"Cough... cough cough..."
Cang Yu coughed violently, and with every cough, a streak of stagnant blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
He felt an unprecedented sense of urgency.
He hid in this sea eye, utilizing the extreme cold of the earth-core cold spring to freeze the sea's earth veins, solely to suppress the deep-sea black spots' mutations throughout the Eastern Region.
Doing so could weaken the monsters transformed by the black spots by several grades, buying a bit more time for the Eastern Region's royal family.
Without a special reason, his son Cangming would absolutely not rashly send a message to disturb him.
Cangming was a filial child and knew his father's body was failing; every time he woke up, he was consuming his last bits of life force.
'Could it be... some change occurred in the Southern Region?'
'Or has Shanhe Pass been breached, and some calamity that will exterminate the race has descended?'
Cang Yu's heart tightened, and he immediately checked the message that had just been sent back.
It was sent urgently by Cangming using a royal secret method.
Cang Yu read word by word, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter.
"Dragon... Dragon Ancestor?"
After reading the last sentence, Cang Yu's first reaction was that it was absurd.
The Dragon Ancestor had disappeared for tens of thousands of years.
There had long been no true dragons in the sea; this was a despair that all high-level Sea Race members tacitly understood.
After so many years, because they lost the nourishment of dragon qi, the Sea Race had slowly stagnated, their bloodlines regressing with each generation.
In the past, which of the many Sea Emperors hadn't been ambitious at the start of their reign?
Which of them hadn't left Shanhe Pass to search the world for traces of the Dragon Ancestor?
Including Cang Yu himself in his younger days; when he was young and vigorous, he had almost turned the entire Gloomlight Province upside down.
He even spared no expense to commission people to other provinces to inquire, not letting go of even the slightest rumor regarding a dragon.
But the result?
Nothing.
All false, all legends.
It wasn't until the outbreak of the deep-sea black spots nearly a thousand years ago that Cang Yu, in order to fight this eerie thing, had to temporarily shelve the plan to find the Dragon Ancestor, exhausting all his efforts.
Furthermore, Cang Yu held a secret in his heart.
A shocking secret passed down orally only between successive Sea Emperors, one they dared not reveal to the outside world.
The Dragon Gate had collapsed long ago.
Rate on N.U.
