Flood of the Flood Dragon

Everything in heaven and earth is born with a predetermined fate. As the saying goes, dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, and a rat's offspring knows how to burrow.

For most creatures, their birth determines everything.

They dutifully play their roles within fixed trajectories, obeying destiny and living out their lives.

But the ways of heaven are not immutable.

Among the myriad mortals, there are always a few lucky ones, blessed with profound fortune, who by chance gain sentience.

With sentience awakened and true spirit clear, they suppress their innate nature, aspiring to defy destiny.

Once intelligent, these mundane beings develop a rebellious heart, unwilling to follow their original fate and live out their lives in ignorance.

Thus, these rebels, at the cost of their own lives, explored a path that defied destiny, breaking the limitations of predetermined bloodlines.

Because of their noble bloodline, the true dragon race is regarded as the ultimate goal by most rebels. Consequently, paths with true dragons as the final evolutionary target are the most numerous, yet also the most difficult.

Most rebels fail to complete this path and achieve their aspirations. Only a fortunate few shed their mortal bodies and mundane blood, ascending to become true dragons.

Among them, the path of defying fate for snakes is the most complete, with a significant number of successful rebels.

Mundane snakes, after gaining sentience, toil day and night, hunting prey to strengthen their bodies, without rest for ten years, before they can transform into pythons.

Pythons are massive and robust, yet compared to a true dragon, they are but a grain of sand. They must continue day and night, consuming a hundred catties of meat daily for a hundred years, to cultivate into anacondas.

Anacondas are no longer mundane beings; they can refine the essence of the sun by day, consume the splendor of the moon by night, and drink morning dew to cleanse themselves of a century of mortality. Simply put, they become yokai.

After a thousand years of this, they become flood dragons.

Flood dragons, with half the character for 'dragon' in their name, possess terrifying power and extraordinary bloodlines. Although they might have little presence in grand, brilliant myths, often serving as mere backdrops.

However, for most minor yokai, there isn't much difference between a flood dragon and a true dragon—just the difference between being instantly killed in one move or two.

Furthermore, flood dragons are the preferred patrons for many minor yokai.

"My great king is the Flood Dragon King!" sounds far more impressive than "My great king is the Black Ox King" or "White Monkey King."

Moreover, most flood dragons dream of transforming into true dragons. To achieve this true form, undergoing the Flood of the Flood Dragon tribulation is essential.

The saying 'flood dragon becomes dragon in ten thousand years' refers to this ten-thousand-year preparation period before the tribulation.

For those with exceptional talent, there's no need for ten thousand years; a hundred, or even ten years, might suffice to overcome the tribulation and become a true dragon. Alternatively, with a powerful background and protection from elders, one can also directly undertake the Flood of the Flood Dragon and achieve true dragonhood.

However, ordinary flood dragons, lacking both talent and background, must meticulously plan and strategize to have any hope of overcoming the tribulation.

The Yellow Cang Great Marsh, the largest marsh in the South Xuan Region.

Legend has it that long ago, the great marsh was just a small lake. A flood dragon coiled there, accumulating power for a thousand years, completed its Flood of the Flood Dragon, and named itself Yellow Cang.

That day, the true dragon Yellow Cang used great magic to summon clouds and bring rain, nourishing all things, and the small lake became the great marsh.

After performing its magic, the true dragon departed, vanishing into the East Sea. One who achieves dragonhood in a thousand years is considered to have some talent, enough to enter the gates of the Dragon Palace.

The minor yokai of old, to commemorate the true dragon, named the great marsh after it.

Time passed, and the owners of the great marsh changed hands repeatedly, until another flood dragon arrived.

"Great King!"

A catfish yokai swam into the cave dwelling.

Inside the cave dwelling, a flood dragon was coiled on a golden pillar. Hearing the sound, one of its enormous eyes opened, looking down at the catfish yokai.

"Great King, the tasks you assigned have all been arranged by your humble servants."

"Mm."

The flood dragon replied, descending from the pillar.

"What was their reply from the north?"

"Great King, they agreed to cooperate, but..."

"But what?"

"But they said that one of the young kings must go to their cave dwelling to study with their young kings under a master, to be, to be a nephew.

And they specifically requested the fourth young king; no others would do.

I also don't understand, Great King, you are a flood dragon, and the young kings also have flood dragon blood, so how could they be related to those lowly beings?"

The catfish yokai's brows furrowed in confusion.

"That's a hostage, not a nephew."

"Ah? Aren't they the same thing?"

The flood dragon glanced at the catfish yokai, offering no further explanation, and simply walked out of the cave dwelling.

The catfish yokai quickly flicked its tail, following behind the flood dragon.

After leaving the cave dwelling, the flood dragon looked at the great marsh before it, its mind filled with a myriad of thoughts.

Five thousand years. It had occupied this Yellow Cang Great Marsh for five millennia. During that time, it wasn't that it hadn't considered undergoing the Flood of the Flood Dragon, overcoming the tribulations, and becoming a true dragon.

But whenever the thought of undertaking the Flood of the Flood Dragon tribulation arose, it would be struck by a premonition, feeling that great disaster was imminent, scaring it into immediately abandoning the idea.

And so, it had dragged on until now.

"Black Year."

"Great King, Black Year is here!"

"Take the fourth young king, personally escort him to the north, and tell them that I, Qing Cang, agree to their terms. And I hope they can also fulfill my demands."

"Yes, Great King!"

The catfish yokai acknowledged, then immediately departed, leaving only Qing Cang.

Qing Cang looked east, towards the sea—the direction it would undertake its Flood of the Flood Dragon.

...

Meanwhile, deep within a certain mountain range, Daxia's clearing force was continuously arriving.

Chen Xu, along with a group of epic-tier powerhouses, flew directly to the mountain peak.

"Old Ye, this Eastern setting is your territory. What are your thoughts?"

"It's tricky,"

Ye Bufan said with a heavy tone.

"How so?"

"As you can all see, within these deep mountains and old forests, there are only some villages, no sect buildings or temple halls.

However, the spiritual energy concentration here is not low.

Either there's some major trouble nearby, making it unworthy for sects to establish themselves here.

Or, the spiritual energy concentration of this world is generally high, and this is just an average level.

If it's the latter, then the power level of the people here could be formidable."

After Ye Bufan finished speaking, Wu Xiuyuan also affirmed.

"The air here, a single breath refreshes the mind, two breaths clear the eyes and soothe the heart. In such a good environment, even a pig could probably step into the Transcendent realm."

"Old Wu, the usual procedure?"

Ye Bufan looked at Wu Xiuyuan, asking.

Wu Xiuyuan nodded, replying, "The usual procedure."

After speaking, Ye Bufan, Wu Xiuyuan, and Zhuge Xuanqi each unleashed their flight techniques, flying off in different directions.

"Big Brother Xiang, what are Big Brother Ye and Old Wu doing?"

Chen Xu, not understanding what was happening, turned to Xiang Longwu for help.

"Hahaha, Little Brother Chen probably hasn't participated in dungeon clearing as a team with a warband or legion, right?"

"Indeed, I haven't."

"Old Ye and Old Wu are first going to scout the surrounding situation. This is military reconnaissance team work. Oh, right, you might not know, but Old Ye was also part of the military reconnaissance team back then."

"Ah? Big Brother Ye was on a reconnaissance team? Isn't he a Sword Cultivator?"

Chen Xu looked puzzled, casting a doubtful glance at Xiang Longwu.

"Heh heh, Sword Cultivators aren't just strong in combat; with sword flight as swift as light, how many can keep up?"

"So what do we do now?"

"We wait, wait until the surrounding environment is clear. Little Brother Chen, leave this brain-intensive work to Old Xia and the others."

As he spoke, Xiang Longwu extended his right hand, clenched it into a fist, and placed it on his chest.

"We just need to fight. Fight, understand? They're responsible for giving us targets, and we're responsible for eliminating them."