A General's Last Stand

"It is no matter."

Chen Zhou's voice remained calm. "Stand up and show me your tail."

Upon hearing this, Chiwei did not hesitate and immediately straightened his back.

He snapped his legs together, and his lower half transformed into a thick, dark-red fish tail. It was covered in crisscrossing scars and large patches of rotting deep-sea black spots, a truly shocking sight.

Just as Chen Zhou was about to lean in for a closer look, a hand suddenly reached out from the side and shoved Chiwei's tail away.

"Why look at his?"

With a face full of indignation, Cang Che squeezed in front of Chiwei.

He displayed his own glamorous, deep-blue fish tail, even swishing it a couple of times to show off its smooth lines and the luster of its scales.

"Lord Ancestor, if you wish to see a tail, look at mine."

"My tail is far more pleasing to the eye than his."

Chiwei was pushed aside, looking at his prince with a completely bewildered expression.

Before Chiwei could react, a withered, massive hand suddenly swung through the air with a gust of wind.

Smack!

A crisp sound echoed.

With a darkened face, the Sea Emperor, Cang Yu, slapped the back of Cang Che's head so hard that the prince saw stars and nearly face-planted into the mud.

"You useless brat!"

The Sea Emperor's beard trembled with rage.

"Think you're special, do you?"

"You're served fine food and drink in the Dragon Palace every day, idling about. What have you actually done besides giving orders?"

"You haven't even been deeply infected by the black spots. What's the point of looking at your tail?"

"You think only your tail looks good?"

"Is this old man's pure silver tail not ten thousand times better than you greenhorn's?"

As he spoke, the Sea Emperor also manifested his tail, specifically displaying it for Chen Zhou. Then, as if he hadn't vented enough, he delivered another backhand slap.

"Get the hell over there."

"Don't cause trouble for the Lord Ancestor here. You're an embarrassment!"

Clutching his head, Cang Che didn't dare talk back and could only scurry away. Chiwei was so terrified by this scene that he didn't even dare to breathe loudly. He tried to shrink himself as much as possible, fearing the Second Prince would settle the score with him later.

Chen Zhou shook his head, somewhat speechless. He crouched down, his gaze falling upon Chiwei's tail.

It was truly in a wretched state.

It was even more severe than what he had seen on Cang Ming. Large sections of scales had fallen off, revealing flesh that had turned a grayish-black, densely covered with countless deep-sea black spots. In some places, it had even begun to keratinize, sprouting small protrusions like bone spurs.

This was a precursor to imminent mutation.

"Do your attacks work well against the black-spotted monsters?" Chen Zhou reached out, not touching it, but sensing the aura of the black spots through the air.

Seeing the Dragon Ancestor ask a question, Chiwei immediately sat upright, his previous embarrassment swept away. He remained in a state of extreme excitement, speaking rapidly.

"Reporting to the Lord Ancestor, not entirely!"

"Ordinary slashes are no different from those of the common fish and shrimp under my command—at most, they're just a bit stronger."

"But there is one move that is exceptionally lethal!"

As Chiwei spoke, perhaps fearing he couldn't explain it clearly, he grabbed his weapon from the ground.

"Lord Ancestor, please observe."

"Hah!"

With a violent shout, demon power surged through Chiwei's body. The surrounding seawater was instantly churned, forming a high-speed rotating water tornado. As he swung his halberd, the water tornado, laced with sharp water blades, slammed into a distant rock.

Boom!

The rock shattered instantly.

Chen Zhou keenly captured that at the moment the water tornado erupted, the demon power within Chiwei underwent a qualitative change.

Although Chiwei was only at the sixth-stage first transformation of eerification, this move contained the battle intent and slaughter intent he had accumulated over centuries of combat. This intent was highly concentrated and had already formed the embryonic shape of divinity.

Chen Zhou became lost in thought.

Sixth-stage beings could already gestate broken divinity; this was the beginning of the eerification stage, which was why they could deal damage to the black spots.

Having formed a hypothesis, Chen Zhou's gaze toward Chiwei became somewhat profound. Conveniently, he was also ready to conduct an experiment.

"This deity can remove the black spots for you."

Chen Zhou stood up, looking down at Chiwei.

"It may be somewhat painful. Endure it for a moment."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire area fell silent. Everyone widened their eyes, looking at Chen Zhou in disbelief.

Remove the black spots?

This was a terminal disease that had plagued the Eastern Region for a millennium! Even the Sea Emperor could only use ice to suppress it; he could not eradicate it. The Dragon Ancestor actually said... he could remove it?

"Lord... you... are you serious?"

Chiwei was so agitated his entire body shook, and he could barely speak clearly.

"Can it really... really be cured?"

Chen Zhou didn't waste words and tapped his fingertip. A wisp of flame, black as ink, danced upon his finger.

"Endure."

After Chen Zhou spoke, the Hatred Fire instantly flew out and landed on the most severely rotted patch of deep-sea black spots on Chiwei's tail.

The other members of the Sea Race nearby, including Cang Che, saw their expressions change. It was pure, unadulterated envy!

Why? What had this big oaf done to deserve this? To think the Dragon Ancestor would personally take action to heal him! This was the Dragon Ancestor's blessing! Even if it was painful, even if it burned the tail off, it was a supreme honor.

Cang Che was so envious his teeth were about to shatter.

If he had known, he would have ignored all warnings and gone to the front lines to catch some black spots himself. Perhaps he would be the one enjoying this treatment now.

Amidst the envious and jealous gazes of the gathered seafood, Chiwei's face was filled with happiness and adoration. He puffed out his chest and roared loudly, "Lord Ancestor, do as you must!"

"Chiwei is thick-skinned and tough; I do not fear pain!"

"To have the Lord Ancestor personally take action, even if you took Chiwei's life, Chiwei would..."

"AHHHH—!!!"

Before his heroic words could be finished, a shrill, agonizing scream echoed throughout the entire trench.

Chiwei's face instantly twisted into a knot.

Pain!

It was too painful!

This wasn't just a physical burning sensation; it was as if ten thousand blunt knives were slowly scraping his soul from his body, and then rubbing salt into the wound.

The Hatred Fire was incinerating the black spots. The black spots retaliated frantically, clashing and devouring the divinity of hatred within the fire. As the battlefield, Chiwei's tail was naturally suffering a devastating blow.

Chiwei broke into a cold sweat from the agony, and he instinctively wanted to scream and roll on the ground. But as he looked up and saw the Dragon Ancestor, then looked at the circle of envious colleagues—and the Second Prince, who was staring at him, ready to mock him at any moment—Chiwei forcibly swallowed the screams at the back of his throat.

'I can't scream!'

'I absolutely cannot scream!'

'This is the Lord Ancestor's blessing!'

Chiwei bit his lip so hard his teeth creaked. His face turned from pale to flushed—pale from the pain, and red from holding it in. Even though his entire body was trembling violently and his fingernails were dug deep into the mud, he didn't make another sound.

This was perhaps a general's last stand of stubborn pride.