“You mean?”
Zhu Fen and Zhu Zai exchanged glances. Ever since the beginning, they had never taken the identity of an honoured guest of the king’s estate seriously. They would neither risk their lives for the King of Southern Yue, nor did they rely on the King of Southern Yue to save their lives.
“Do you really think the King of Southern Yue actually returned to his estate after giving us the Divine Fire tablets? Wouldn’t he want to see the outcome of a significant battle like this that influences the entire South sea? Wouldn’t he want to observe our true strength? Perhaps he’s watching us from a certain location right now!” Zhu Yan said.
Zhu Fen and Zhu Zai subconsciously looked around. However, apart from the dark clouds and water, they found absolutely nothing. Whether it was the Divine Fire domain or the Icebound domain, they could both isolate an entire region from the outside world.
Zhu Zai said, “Let’s hope what you said is true. It’s worth a try!”
Faced with death, their dignity no longer mattered. Since they had already accepted their identities as subjects to the king, it was not embarrassing even if they took it a step further.
The three of them bowed deeply towards the north and said loudly, “Your majesty the King of Zhao, your subjects plead for you to save their lives!”
Li Qingshan’s heart sank. Sure enough, not only had they snuck here on the Silver Dragon King, they had actually become honoured guests of the king’s estate too. Surely nothing would happen to Ru Xin, right?
On the ocean sealed in ice, the clouds continued to press down, and the wind and snow continued to whistle. Nothing happened.
Zhu Yan’s eyebrows locked together firmly. “Was I wrong?”
Li Qingshan’s eyes narrowed. On the horizon towards the north, a silver star suddenly lit up. The Silver Dragon King had returned!
The three fire devourers were overjoyed. Their identities as honoured guests really were effective.
Zhu Yan let out a secret sigh. When the three of them worked together, even the King of Southern Yue could not underestimate their power. Even if he refused to help them destroy the Merfolk of the South sea, he definitely would not just watch them die here.
“I didn’t think that you, mighty kings of godfolk, would actually become the lackeys of humans! You really have brought shame to your ancestors!” Gong Yuan sneered.
Otherfolk never forgot about their past glory, referring to themselves as godfolk and looking down on other races. Becoming the subjects of humans was not particularly honourable at all, not to mention the fact that the war between violent and battle-hungry fire devourers and the humans and daemons had been the most intense in the ancient times.
Zhu Fen snorted in irritation, while Zhu Zai called her “bitch” again. Neither of them had anything to say.
Zhu Yan said, “Gong Yuan, if it weren’t for this human who interfered today, do you think you would still be alive? When you mock others, why don’t you check yourself in the mirror and see what you’ve become? At least becoming subjects to the King of Southern Yue is better than becoming a monk’s woman!”
“Who are you calling a monk!?” Li Qingshan was taken aback before realising they were referring to him. He could not help but fly into a rage. At the same time, he said inside, “Don’t fall for their attempt to sow discord. Let’s see what the King of Southern Yue wants.”
Gong Yuan let out a gentle interjection of agreement and said nothing more.
The Silver Dragon King rapidly drew closer. When there was still five hundred kilometers between them, the dragon head on the tip of the ship suddenly lit up.
A huge streak of scorching, white light immediately crossed the five hundred kilometers, piercing the Icebound domain and tearing apart the thick clouds.
Gong Yuan shuddered all over like she had just been struck by a bolt of lightning. Whether it was the Fire Devouring Kings or her, neither of them could use these techniques that sealed up an entire region freely. It was already too late if she wanted to release it after the Silver Dragon King had launched an attack. It had already been rather difficult for her to maintain this Icebound domain alone. Now that it had been directly pierced by such a terrifying attack, it was not like she had three people to withstand it like the fire devourers. She suffered a severe backlash.
Li Qingshan was forced to give up on his final sliver of hope. However, the significance behind the attack was it did not target him and Gong Yuan, or they would have already retreated by now.
The three Fire Devouring Kings regained their freedom. They were not foolish. They had also noticed this.
They actually understood the reason behind this extremely well. Under the reason that different races would always have differing thoughts, the King of Southern Yue did not trust them, nor did he have any intentions of assisting them in destroying the Merfolk of the South sea. Otherwise, the Silver Dragon King would have never left in the first place. That was also the reason why he did not help them kill Gong Yuan right now.
“Thank you for your assistance, your majesty. We will definitely pay you back in the future. Let’s go!” Zhu Fen clasped his hands at the Silver Dragon King on the horizon and called Zhu Zai and Zhu Yan. Then he glanced at Li Qingshan deeply. “Kid, I’ve remembered you!” He stepped into the unfrozen Gate of Divine Fire first.
Zhu Zai and Zhu Yan followed close behind. They both expressed gratitude and enmity towards the King of Southern Yue and Li Qingshan respectively.
Making them serve humans and ask to be saved by humans was already their limit. They really could not bring themselves to further plead with the King of Southern Yue to assist them and strut around in borrowed plumes to deal with Gong Yuan. Most importantly, even if they shamelessly requested this, they would probably just end up humiliated.
……
“I really didn’t expect this. This Li Qingshan always brings surprises. What do you think?”
In the cabin of the Silver Dragon King, the King of Southern Yue crossed his fingers together and sat comfortably against the tall back of the seat in a leisurely manner. Half transparent images hung before him, displaying the situation of Giant Ship island from different aspects and distances.
The Myriad Poison Ancestor and Ru Xin stood right next to him. They had observed the entire battle filled with surprises. Although they remained calm on the surface, their thoughts constantly changed with how the battle progressed.
The Silver Dragon King had flown to a distance where even regular great cultivators could not sense it, but this mechanical creation of uncanny craftsmanship completely exceeded any regular person’s imaginations when it came to observation and spying. Even the space where Yin Qing hid could not escape its observation.
As a moving fortress, the first imaginary enemy it was modelled against was a king’s estate that lorded over an entire province. There could not be any shortcomings that anyone could take advantage of.
“Since you plan on interfering, why not be a little more direct, your majesty?” Ru Xin’s eyes locked onto the pitch-black sphere that hovered in the air.
“Inside there, one of them is your family, while the other is your lover. If I were to be a little more direct, their lives would be in danger!” the King of Southern Yue said in contemplation.
“As cultivators, why do we speak of family and lovers?” Ru Xin was indifferent.
“You treat them as nothing, but the question is, what do they treat you as?” The King of Southern Yue smiled.
Ru Xin wanted to answer. The King of Southern Yue raised his hand. “There’s no need to say anything more. We’ll know once we test them later. As for your question, you should understand it better than anyone with your identity. As a chess player, the most important aspect is not to leap into the chessboard yourself. Once you’ve become a chess piece, you’ve already lost half the battle.”
He used the South sea as a chessboard, with the fire devourers and the merpeople as the black and white pieces.
The Kingdom of Southern Yue’s strategic belief had always been to use Fire Melt mountain to keep the South sea busy, preventing the Merfolk from developing in peace. After all, it was not like Fire Melt mountain was hidden deep under the sea like the Crystal palace. Once they had actually made up their minds, they could destroy it if they wanted to!
Now that war was on the brink of erupting, the King of Southern Yue was in even more need of a peaceful rear, such that the Merfolk would not be able to take advantage of them after the war with the Green province. The three Divine Fire tablets could drastically increase the intensity of the war, making the two great otherfolk races severely wear down each other. At the same time, it would net him three fighters.
However, he would not personally partake in this. If he supported the fire devourers in completely destroying the Merfolk of the South sea, not only would Fire Melt mountain develop beyond his control, but the surviving merpeople kings would definitely hold the King of Southern Yue’s estate in utter hatred and carry out horrific revenge.
Once a powerful third heavenly tribulation cultivator gave up on their cultivation and did all that they could to strike and run, to assassinate, it would be extremely terrifying. The fire devourers could shell up on Fire Melt mountain, but how was the Mist province that spanned a hundred thousand kilometers supposed to guard against that? He had so many guests and descendants, so surely they could not all just hide in the Mist capital, right?
The merpeople kings only needed to attack the small and medium sized sects indiscriminately, and it would drastically weaken the foundation of the Mist province’s cultivation community, which was also the foundation of the King of Southern Yue’s estate.
Similarly, even though the Cloud Sail sect have bitten off more than they could chew by turning him down and personally destroying a great sect would create an even greater deterrence and strike fear into the hearts of cultivators, making them raise their guards, but the effect would be nowhere near as great as destroying the entire Cloud Sail sect with just a gentle push from behind.
And even when something unexpected occurred on the chessboard with Ji Changfeng getting away alive, his target for revenge would only be the fire devourers even if he knew this was a plan from the King of Southern Yue’s estate all along.
The chess player stood high above. Everyone knew he was arranging the chessboard in secret and creating various situations, but the chess pieces could only kill one another on the chessboard. Even if the chess player made a wrong move, the chess pieces could not harm the chess player.
This was why the King of Southern Yue refused to just watch these three Fire Devouring Kings die here, but he also refused to directly make an enemy out of the Merfolk. None of the hatred would go to him.
Ru Xin said, “Unfortunately, you were still forced to personally take part and rearrange the chessboard in the end.”
“After all, not all chess pieces will move according to the chess player’s will. What do you think I should do about these disobedient chess pieces?”
The King of Southern Yue sighed as a cold light flashed through his eyes.
