Chapter Thirty-Three: The Home-Raised Flood Dragon

In just over ten seconds, the seemingly shallow cavern lake swelled until it submerged the entire grotto, reaching depths of over a hundred meters. A massive whirlpool spun rapidly, and specks of Essence of Gui Water emerged. Within the vortex, lightning flickered faintly. Everyone felt a profound sense of threat rising from the depths of the water, expanding at a rapid pace.

Just then, someone shouted, "This is the art of 'Dragon Pathing'—it can control water and lightning! The next wave will be devastating. Everyone, prepare for the impact!"

Even the few who hadn't activated their defensive artifacts dared not be reckless, and they quickly summoned their treasures for protection.

Su Yu promptly erected a protective qi shield, his eyes flickering. "Sixteen Vermilion Fruits. Five for each of the three factions, and the extra one goes to whoever performs the best on-site. This is an opportunity."

He pursed his lips, his mind set, and blue light bloomed within his pupils. Extending a hand, he pressed down lightly. "Sea Suppressor!"

In that instant, two thousand units of mana burned from his dantian, and the Sea Suppressor Pearl in his spiritual sea shone brilliantly. His pupils transformed into a pair of azure suns. An invisible ripple exploded outward from him, sweeping across the rising lake water and instantly freezing the entire whirlpool in place.

"???"

Everyone was stunned, expressions of disbelief plastered on their faces.

"Brother Su, what is this?"

Cao Ze’s expression changed drastically. He noticed that as the invisible ripple swept past, the three-legged fire crows summoned by his Fire Crow Pot shrank in size, as if drowned by water.

"My natural counter!"

"Parting the Waters!"

Su Yu pointed a finger gently, burning another two thousand units of mana. The frozen lake water parted down the middle, splitting the massive whirlpool in two and revealing the unicorn viper serpent coiled at the bottom.

"Attack!"

The group finally snapped out of their shock and, without hesitation, unleashed their artifacts, hammering the immobilized viper down into the lakebed.

Su Yu took out a low-grade Yuan-Restoration Pill to recover 3,000 mana, channeling the Sea Suppressor Pearl to keep the ten thousand tons of lake water firmly locked; no matter how the unicorn viper struggled, it could not move. A mere viper, not even a true dragon, could never hope to contest the control of the lake water against the Sea Suppressor Pearl.

Unable to harness the power of the water, the viper’s abilities were halved, forcing it to fight with its raw physical strength.

"Now!"

Lan Yiying transformed, her head becoming that of a dragon, and condensed orbs of Divine Gui Water Lightning, raining them down. Cao Ze commanded his elite three-legged fire crows, all above level 55, to vomit fireballs incessantly. Wei Xia activated his ultimate move, summoning a thundercloud that covered the entire dome and unleashing hundreds of lightning bolts in a single strike.

The unicorn viper roared and shot into the sky, its massive body forcefully brushing aside lightning and fireballs. It swatted away a flying sword, then opened its maw to inhale; a powerful suction force emerged, and several nearby fire crows were caught off guard and swallowed whole.

Cao Ze decisively triggered his artifact, causing the viper’s head to tremble with muffled thuds as black smoke puffed from its maw.

*Swish!*

A flash of white light erupted from the Sword Spirit Pavilion’s side—a dazzling sword rainbow that, even from afar, sent a stinging pain across Su Yu’s skin.

"A seventh-tier flying sword!"

With a streak of light, the viper hissed in pain as a long, deep gash was carved into its back, blood gushing out.

Immediately after, a member of the Thunder Eagle Society tossed a bracelet that transformed into a long ice chain. It spiraled around the viper, weaving back and forth until it tightened, locking the creature’s body in place while the other end remained firmly in the user’s grip.

Another person slammed down a Profound Yin Beast-Gathering Banner covered in strange creatures. A vortex of profound yin opened, spewing black mist that materialized into ghostly beast spirits. In the center was the soul of a poison dragon, a level 110 elite-template entity, which charged forward without fear to entangle and shred the unicorn viper.

Ghostly spirits were naturally inferior to the living, but given their levels, they were more than capable of holding it off for a while.

Seeing that everyone had exhausted their means and had the unicorn viper suppressed, Ding Lingyu stopped holding back. He brought his hands together, forming a seal, and began chanting.

Moments later, golden light exploded behind him, rising to form the phantom of a majestic, awe-inspiring divine general. In the next second, the phantom merged with him, and he transformed into a warrior wreathed in thunder. With a fierce glare and hands raised high, the thunderclouds above converged upon him. He gathered hundreds of lightning bolts into his grasp, forging them into a lightning spear that made the very air warp. With a savage throw, he smashed the unicorn viper into the lakebed, leaving a smoking, charred hole in its body.

"Awoo!"

Accompanied by the viper’s agonized roar, a terrifying damage number of 46,000 popped up.

As thunderclouds continued to strike, he captured lightning to form new spears, each hit dealing massive damage to the viper.

"That output..."

"Those stats..."

Su Yu’s expression turned solemn as he observed the 360,000 HP Ding Lingyu possessed in his divine general state. Although this power was borrowed by utilizing Wei Xia’s lightning clouds, the ability to command so much lightning was a testament to his strength, and combined with that massive health pool...

"Troublesome."

He doubted that someone with such high health would have low physical stats or strength.

"My output is on par, and I can break through defenses, but my own defense is lacking. If only I had a high-grade defensive artifact."

"The next step is to find a way to get a good defensive artifact. If I can't get a seventh-tier one, a sixth-tier will do."

While he was lost in thought, the unicorn viper had already been driven from the sky. The elites of the three major guilds bombarded it relentlessly, leaving the level 100 boss with no room to counterattack. In less than five minutes, its millions of HP were depleted, and it breathed its last.

***

Whoever landed the final blow was unknown, but Su Yu still gained tens of thousands of cultivation points and twenty points of Dao practice. As the viper died, seven pieces of loot scattered, one of which flew toward Su Yu.

He caught the item—a viper spine over 130 meters long.

"Not bad."

[Viper Spine: Material, can be used to construct a warship keel.]

It wasn't long enough to be a primary keel, but it could serve as a secondary one for a fourth-tier wave-piercing boat, fetching about 5 taels of gold.

After stowing it away, Ding Lingyu and the others descended to the small island at the bottom. Su Yu flew down, and the group gathered before the thousand-year-old Vermilion Fruit tree.

Ding Lingyu, still in his divine general form, pointed at Su Yu, his voice booming like thunder. "In this battle, Su Yu suppressed the water energy, significantly reducing the difficulty of the fight. His contribution is the greatest. He should get the extra fruit. Does anyone have any objections?"

Someone immediately objected. "I don't think so. Without him, given our strength and artifact levels, we could have handled it just the same."

Wei Xia, holding his thunder hammer, retorted, "If you want to put it that way, with our strength and artifacts, we could have handled it without you, too."

"You..."

"What about me? This was agreed upon by everyone."

"Enough, stop arguing."

It was the temporary captain of the Sword Spirit Pavilion who spoke. He signaled his side to calm down and said in a deep voice, "We agreed to this beforehand, so don't go back on your word. His contribution was indeed the greatest. It’s only right that he gets one fruit."

With his and Ding Lingyu’s approval, two of the three factions were in agreement, and the others fell silent.

The three temporary captains gathered before the tree to discuss the distribution. After gesturing at the branches, they quickly reached a consensus. The fruits were plucked and distributed: five for each of the three factions, and one for Su Yu.

Next, Ding Lingyu used a jade sword to cut the branches at the agreed-upon points. There were six branches in total; the Sword Spirit Pavilion and the Thunder Eagle Society each took two, Su Yu took one, and Ding Lingyu took the bare main trunk.

[Thousand-Year Vermilion Fruit (7th Grade): Heavenly material and earthly treasure. Attribute: Innate Bone Root +1, Mana Cap +500, Lifespan +10 years. Effective for the first three.]

[Thousand-Year Vermilion Fruit Tree Branch: Can be planted in a spirit-rich location to cultivate a new tree.]

With the items in hand, Su Yu immediately tucked them into his storage space; as long as they weren't removed, their vitality wouldn't drain. If he ever had his own cave abode, he could plant them.

Once the distribution was complete, everyone began to leave.

***

Back on the small mountain, the group gathered to divide the fruits among their own members. Ding Lingyu, Lan Yiying, Wei Xia, Xu Lulu, and Cao Ze each took one. In addition, each had to provide 10 taels of gold to be distributed among those who didn't receive a fruit.

Su Yu didn't need to pay; his fruit was an extra reward. He stood with his arms crossed, watching them finish their trades, and called out to Cao Ze, "Cao Ze, you weren't convinced by me earlier. Now that the viper is dead, how about a duel?"

The group froze, then watched the two with great interest.

However, Cao Ze cupped his hands with surprising bluntness and said, "No need. I concede."

"Tch!"

This was expected; Su Yu’s technique was simply too effective a counter against Cao Ze.

Just then, He Shoucheng patted Su Yu on the shoulder and whispered, "Brother Su, I recall there being several other big monsters in this secret realm, all water-type spirits. Shall we team up to hunt them?"

"How many people?" Su Yu looked at Zhang Yunfei, who was following He Shoucheng, and shook his head. "Even though my technique counters water spirits, they are all level 100+ bosses. We can't take them on with just us few."

"Then invite a few more?"

"Call everyone. Otherwise, our output won't be enough."

"Is it necessary?"

"It is." Su Yu pointed to the east. "I saw a large lake to the east earlier. There’s a dragon inside, and it’s a leader-level boss. That thing is much stronger than this unicorn viper. Plus, the lake is so large I might not be able to suppress it. We need more people to be safe."

"Fine."

He Shoucheng turned and clapped his hands to grab everyone’s attention. "We’ve discovered a leader-level dragon to the east. Anyone interested in hunting it?"

Everyone’s eyes lit up, and they nodded repeatedly. "Count me in!"

The group took to the sky and flew toward the east.

***

Su Yu led them to the eastern edge of the secret realm, then headed south along the boundary, quickly spotting the large lake. They flew over the water and soon discovered the dragon cruising within.

[Azure Dragon (Elite): Leader, Level 121, Water-type, Dragon. Attributes: HP 278,000, Spirit Power 1.56 million, Attack 22,000, Speed 1500 km/h. Skills: Water-type spells, Dragon Pathing Technique, ???]

Su Yu observed the lake and pointed to a specific corner. "I can't suppress a lake this large, but we can lure the dragon to that corner. I only need to suppress the water there."

He looked at the others. "Who’s going to lure it?"

Wei Xia raised his thunder hammer. "I’ll do it."

"Then we’ll wait at the corner."

The group split into two. After a while, they saw a lightning bolt strike the water from the sky. Moments later, a massive figure rose from the exploding lake, roaring toward the heavens. Endless water vapor gathered around the dragon, forming clouds. It opened its mouth and unleashed a breath attack that traveled several kilometers, sending Wei Xia flying.

"So fierce?"

Watching the dragon, wreathed in lightning and dark clouds, Su Yu felt a sudden sense of foreboding.

Ding Lingyu approached and whispered, "Do you notice something off about this dragon?"

"I do."

Before he could finish, another breath attack tore through the air, knocking Wei Xia down.

Su Yu felt things were going south and rushed to support Wei Xia, shouting, "Quick, support him!"

With a wave of his hand, his Yanyan Sword flashed, trailing a long rainbow as it struck at the dragon. This immediately drew the attention of the creature pursuing Wei Xia. The dragon raised a claw, and the clouds around it condensed into an invisible dragon claw that expanded to several acres, swallowing the sword rainbow in an instant.

"What the hell!"

Su Yu quickly recalled his sword and veered away, only to hear the dragon lift its head and speak in a human tongue: "Audacious human! You dare offend me? You are seeking your own death!"

It opened its maw, chanting. Circles of invisible ripples exploded, the lake water boiling and rising rapidly.

Su Yu immediately raised the Sea Suppressor Pearl and shouted, "Suppress the Sea!"

The ripple exploded, momentarily stilling the boiling surface. Yet, before he could catch his breath, the dragon locked its massive eyes on him and spat out a blue orb. A ripple erupted, and Su Yu felt an unimaginable force—like a dragon crashing into his mind—slam into him. His head snapped back, his mind falling into chaos.

The suppression was instantly broken. Endless water vapor boiled over, the lake rose at an even faster rate, and the sky filled with Essence of Gui Water. The lakebed felt like a volcano on the verge of eruption.

"Retreat!"

The group fled in a panic, quickly exiting the lake area.

"Damn, that’s a domesticated dragon."

Everyone was speechless. "Domesticated" meant the spirit beast had an owner—it was the pet of some powerful figure. Wild dragons didn't know Daoist spells; that massive claw was a martial arts grapple that required deep cultivation of an internal energy technique. Furthermore, this dragon had over a million spirit power—it must have practiced advanced arts, as a normal dragon of that level would only have a hundred thousand.

Moreover, that blue orb was clearly a high-tier artifact, at least seventh-tier, likely eighth or ninth, otherwise it couldn't have shattered the Sea Suppressor Pearl so easily.

Domesticated versus wild were two different concepts; at the same level and template, the difference in combat power was astronomical. Realizing this, everyone lost interest and left, dejected.

With the boss fight impossible, the team soon dispersed. Su Yu, He Shoucheng, his girlfriend, and Wei Xia formed a group, wandering the secret realm in search of rare herbs like the thousand-year Vermilion Fruit tree. Unfortunately, after wandering for over ten hours, they found nothing of that caliber, only digging up some decent herbs.

During their wanderings, they occasionally encountered lone or grouped members of the Sword Spirit Pavilion and the Thunder Eagle Society, contributing a few more kills to their tally.

When the time was up, their talismans activated, and an invisible force enveloped them, pulling them out of the secret realm.