Plague Rat quickly turned his head, only to see that the bodies of the Sea Emperor and Cangming had almost merged into one with the ice platform.
The extreme cold within the cold spring raged, with solid ice creeping up their torsos inch by inch, already covering their faces.
The father and son were not even able to speak anymore; they could only stare fixedly at the dark abyss below with their eyes, pushing their last bit of strength to activate the Cold Spring Array.
"Damn it..."
Plague Rat cursed under his breath and spat a mouthful of saliva.
The tremors beneath the sea eye grew increasingly violent. The black spots that had been briefly suppressed by the cold spring were now all agitated, frantically slamming against the solid ice.
BOOM—!
With a thunderous crash, the outer layer of ice shattered.
Plague Rat's eyelids twitched wildly; he sensed that the aura outside had also fallen into chaos.
If the black spots in the sea eye could not be suppressed, things certainly wouldn't be easy outside the Dragon Palace either. The black spots were interconnected through the ley lines.
That idiot bird, Poison-Wing, was likely being pushed to his limits as well.
"Dammit, dammit!"
"Is everyone a fucking waste?!"
Plague Rat roared, raising his slightly trembling arms once again.
He forcibly overextended his origin, and dark green fiendish qi erupted from every one of his pores, causing his crimson pupils to twist like those of a malevolent ghost.
Pain.
A pain that pierced the heart and carved the bones.
Plague Rat mobilized his festering divinity. Under the forced overextension, every breath felt like a saw rasping against his own bones.
His flesh was rotting, and his entire body was in agony.
But he could not stop.
A mass of black spots squirmed and tore through the ice, rapidly condensing into the shape of a monster before lunging straight for the Sea Emperor and his son on the ice platform.
"Get the hell back!"
Plague Rat's figure blurred, transforming into a dark shadow that blocked the monster's path.
He didn't even have time to use any sophisticated techniques, directly clashing with his body.
Screech—
The black spots were corroded by the fiendish qi, emitting billowing black smoke, but Plague Rat was also violently swatted away by the massive force, smashing heavily against the ice wall.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Plague Rat spat out large chunks of blood. Three of the ribs in his chest were broken, but his smile only grew more hideous.
"Is that all the strength you have?"
"Didn't you eat? You animal!"
He struggled to his feet and lunged forward again.
As long as he could still move, as long as he had a single breath left, these monsters could forget about crawling out of the sea eye!
However, it wasn't enough.
It truly wasn't enough.
The monsters were too numerous, coming in a continuous stream as if they could never be killed or exhausted.
Just as Plague Rat's fiendish qi corroded one, three more would immediately fill the gap.
He was like a clumsy mason on a dam about to collapse, robbing Peter to pay Paul.
The balance that the Sea Emperor and he had finally managed to maintain just a moment ago had completely shattered.
"Ugh..."
Within the solid ice, Cangming let out a pained groan.
The ice layer on his body thickened instantly; half of his torso had been completely turned to ice, and even his divine soul began to freeze.
"How are you? Can you still keep going?"
Plague Rat asked hurriedly, but Cangming was completely unable to answer him.
Beside him, the Sea Emperor's aura was even more faint, no different from a dead man.
Plague Rat saw this and grew anxious.
The Master had entrusted the Eastern Region to him.
The Master trusted him, which was why he had been sent to guard this most critical sea eye.
If he couldn't protect it, if he let the sea eye explode and the black spots spread out, the entire Eastern Region would be finished!
When that time came, how could he have the face to return to the City of the Wrongfully Dead?
How could he have the face to see the Master?
"I... I am a fucking Auspicious One!"
Plague Rat's eyes were blood-red as he roared hysterically, as if brainwashing himself, and as if declaring war against this god-awful heaven.
"An Auspicious One dispels evil, avoids calamity, grants blessings, and cleanses filth!"
"I am going to... cleanse all of you filthy things!"
"AAAAHHHH—!!"
Plague Rat grew desperate.
He recklessly activated the plague origin within his body. The fiendish core in his sea of consciousness vibrated frantically, even developing a slight crack.
His festering divinity was pushed to the absolute limit.
The price was that his own body was also festering alongside it.
His black clothes became tattered, his mask slowly shattered, and his skin began to peel away, revealing the bright red muscle texture and large patches of human-face sores underneath.
Dark green fiendish qi mixed with the maximized festering divinity, frantically pouring into the sea eye.
However, although this power was domineering, it was also full of destructiveness.
While the fiendish qi corroded the monsters, it was also corroding the foundations of the sea eye's array.
Cangming was anxious yet helpless; he was frozen to the point where he couldn't even send out a divine sense, let alone help.
But the Sea Emperor, who had been listless the entire time, slowly raised his eyes.
From within the ice, the Sea Emperor's gaze pierced through the solid ice, falling upon Plague Rat, who was struggling to fight against the black spots.
Plague Rat's wretched figure appeared exceptionally piercing in the Sea Emperor's eyes at this moment.
He was the Emperor of the Eastern Region, the Lord of Ten Thousand Seas who managed the Eastern Region on behalf of the Dragon Ancestor.
In this desperate situation of the sea eye, how could he let an outsider protect it with his life and take on the end that should have belonged to him?
Beneath the solid ice, the Sea Emperor managed a slight twitch of his lips.
He smiled.
The next moment.
"Forget it..."
The ten-thousand-year-old profound ice on the ice platform began to disintegrate from the inside out.
The Sea Emperor ignited his divine soul. He turned his ten thousand years of imperial fortune and the blessing of the Eastern Region's mountains and rivers into fuel for his final moment.
The Sea Emperor's gaze first fell upon Cangming; with a single look, he seemed to convey a thousand words.
"Ming'er, from this day forth, the position of Sea Emperor is inherited by you."
Then, he looked toward Plague Rat and nodded slightly.
"Lord Plague Rat, thank you."
"Please witness the karma of this moment."
"The beings of the Eastern Region... I leave them in your care hereafter."
The Sea Emperor's voice was exceptionally calm. Having spoken, he slowly spread his arms, as if embracing his own kingdom, walking toward the end of his destiny.
He intended to sacrifice his entire ten thousand years of cultivation, along with his flesh, blood, and divine soul, to the cold spring, turning himself into a seal to completely suppress the sea eye.
"Screw your thanks!"
Just as the Sea Emperor was about to completely disintegrate, a furious roar exploded in his ear.
Slap!
A claw so festered it was down to bone and rotting meat slammed hard onto the crown of the Sea Emperor's head, crudely interrupting the technique he had prepared for his self-sacrifice.
Poof—
The Sea Emperor was already at the end of his rope, holding on by a single thread of breath.
Now that he had been forcibly interrupted, his blood and qi surged violently, and he spat out a mouthful of old blood.
His vision went dark, and he fainted on the spot.
However, the trend of disintegration on his body also came to a halt.
"Old man, who gave you permission to die?!"
Plague Rat gasped for breath.
Dealing with the black spots alone was already difficult enough. Why was there a pig teammate actively seeking death and wasting his strength?
Plague Rat glared fiercely at the unconscious Sea Emperor, gritting his teeth.
"Did my Master agree to it?"
"You dare to die without his permission? Stay the hell back where you belong!"
"This place... is under this lord's protection!"
Plague Rat threw the Sea Emperor behind Cangming and stood alone above the sea eye that resembled the gaping maw of an abyss.
Rate on N.U.
