A Feast of Fire and Water
His roar shook the surrounding waters once more, which were already churning as if swept by a typhoon.
"The Dragon Lord has commanded!"
"Go! You fools!"
The Water Beasts waiting in the distance moved in unison. Thousands, tens of thousands, an endless army of aquatic monsters surged forward, scrambling over one another in complete and utter chaos.
Jekyeong quietly took in the spectacular sight. It brought back memories of the battlefield where the Sangyo Forest and the Jeyeon Sect had once clashed. Back then, watching thousands of the Beast Race led by Great Demons rushing toward their deaths had filled him with a mixture of awe and terror.
But now, the army of Water Beasts he had mobilized was far grander than anything he had witnessed back then. Seeing so many beasts move solely according to his will stirred an indescribable emotion deep within him.
'Yes! Go! Bite as much as you want, and swallow to your heart's content!'
The nature of the Beast Race was inherently savage. Those without Spiritual Intelligence were little more than monstrous abominations. Furthermore, Water Beasts were naturally dim-witted. When Jekyeong's thunderous roar ruthlessly stoked their primal instincts, their eyes turned bloodshot. They charged ferociously toward the capsizing ships and the human cultivators falling into the water.
"The Water Beasts are coming!"
"Pull me up! Pull me up, damn it!"
The battle began in earnest. The Foundation Establishment cultivators, who had been blindly launching attacks toward Jekyeong's estimated position, now turned their attention to the swarms of Water Beasts rising from the depths. While they easily dispatched the beasts they could reach, they also scrambled to rescue their endangered juniors. Yet, no matter how powerful these Foundation Establishment cultivators were, the sheer number of Water Beasts was overwhelming. Worse, completely consumed by their savage instincts, the beasts felt neither fear nor pain.
"Aaargh!" Ultimately, a single hand could not block ten, and the once-clear blue lake water was quickly dyed a deep, crimson red.
"Damn it all!" An early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator's eyes twitched as he stared at the water's surface, which was teeming with beasts. No matter where he looked, there was nothing but Water Beasts. Nearly half of the ships had already been destroyed or capsized, and those who failed to escape in time became instant fodder for the ravenous monsters.
"There's no end to them!" He pulled out several talismans and scattered them into the air. The talismans, which seemed to flutter aimlessly at first, suddenly froze in midair as if nailed in place, transforming into glowing, mystical runes.
"Shatter!" the cultivator roared. His voice carried not only anger and battle intent but also an undeniable sense of regret. Of course, that regret was not for his foolish juniors dying below, but for the precious talismans dissolving into the air.
You get what you pay for. While this was a universal truth in all fields, it applied with absolute certainty to talisman magic.
Rumble! The moment the runes flared with light, dark clouds gathered in the clear sky, and a torrential storm of lightning rained down.
Boom! Crash! Hundreds of Water Beasts were instantly obliterated by the falling lightning. Their bodies exploded or were charred black. Even those lucky enough to avoid a direct hit were electrocuted, rolling their eyes back as they floated belly-up.
"Yes!" His explosive talisman magic breathed new life into the faltering human cultivators. At the same time, it drew the attention of a certain Great Demon who had been patiently waiting for an opening.
"Huh?!" The Foundation Establishment cultivator, who had been focused on squeezing the last drop of power from his talismans, widened his eyes as a sudden hot wind swept past. Realizing something, he quickly looked up at the sky. Though dark clouds still loomed overhead, the erratic electrical currents had vanished.
"This is..." Another gust of hot wind blew. But within that scorching breeze, what he felt was not warmth, but a chilling dread.
Whoosh! The sky erupted in flames. It seemed impossible, yet that was exactly what it looked like. A torrential rain of fire poured down, making the previous lightning storm look like child's play.
"It's the Black Flood Dragon's doing!"
"Disperse those flame clouds immediately!"
As the Foundation Establishment cultivators shouted urgently, the Qi Condensation cultivators, finally grasping the situation, scrambled to activate their defensive ship formations. Those with extra resources deployed their own personal protective barriers.
"Damn it!" The Foundation Establishment cultivator who had just exhausted several Lightning Strike Talismans pulled out another stack. Under normal circumstances, he would never behave so extravagantly unless his life was on the line. However, the Vice Chairman of the Yeongbu Merchant Alliance who hired him had promised to reimburse all talismans consumed in battle. Without that guarantee, he would never have wasted them so freely.
"A fire-breathing dragon living underwater? You've got to be kidding me..." Muttering to ease his tension, he was just about to scatter the talismans once more when—
Crash! An immense pillar of water erupted behind him. He threw himself forward instinctively, but the massive figure bursting from the water was a step faster.
Crunch! A sickening sound of bones snapping and flesh tearing echoed. At the same time, a sudden, distant sensation washed over him.
"Daoist Ha!" A familiar voice seemed to call out. The cultivator surnamed Ha realized belatedly that the voice was calling him, but he could not understand why they sounded so desperate.
'It's hot.' Amidst the agonizing heat, his fading consciousness snapped.
After swallowing the talisman-wielding Foundation Establishment cultivator in a single bite, Jekyeong barely had time to savor his triumph before a barrage of attacks rained down on him from all directions. Magic treasures like spears and flying swords, lassos made of black water, and oversized ice spikes—
Boom! Crash! Every single attack slammed into him as if they had been waiting for this exact moment. Some were merely stinging pricks, while others burned with agonizing pain.
"Graaaargh!" Jekyeong did not just take the beating lying down. Once he confirmed that the life force of the cultivator in his stomach had been completely extinguished, he unleashed a torrent of fearsome Yokai Fire. Having undergone a qualitative transformation after refining the Sacred Fire, his flames were now far more destructive than before.
Any attack that touched the flames lost its momentum, and the light of the magic treasures dimmed. A flying sword that had charged forward with great momentum emerged from the blaze with a third of its blade completely melted.
"Black Flood Dragon! How dare you show your face! You are courting death!" A brave voice reached Jekyeong's ears as he focused on spewing fire. It was definitely a voice he had never heard before, yet it felt strangely familiar.
Jekyeong glanced over to identify the speaker. It was a middle-aged cultivator wearing a grey robe. He exuded a rugged, rough aura, and unlike the others who were startled by Jekyeong's flames, he showed not a hint of panic.
After staring at him for a moment, Jekyeong slightly curled the corners of his mouth. It was a faint smirk, but to the humans, it looked as though he was enraged by the middle-aged cultivator's provocation.
From his numerous battles with human cultivators, Jekyeong had realized that their fighting style was incredibly sly. There was no sense of straightforwardness; they never stopped testing the waters until the very end.
To use a metaphor, they were like a hybrid of a bee and a fly. They possessed a lethal sting like a bee, but buzzed around annoyingly like a fly.
This was a common trait among humans. They were classic glass cannons. Whether using magic treasures or spells, their offensive power was immense, but their defensive capabilities fell far short. This was an inherent biological limitation of their race.
To compensate for this weakness, Body Cultivator techniques had once been developed, but the path of a Body Cultivator was far too grueling for just anyone to walk. Thus, their combat style had naturally evolved into this 'fly with a bee's sting' approach.
Boom! However, their 'stingers' were not particularly threatening to Jekyeong. Though he sustained wounds and bled from the continuous onslaught, he did not fall, nor did he even falter. At most, his breathing had grown slightly heavy. And if it came to heavy breathing, the humans were in a far worse state than he was.
"He's incredibly resilient!"
"Damn it! Even if he isn't a Demon King, a Flood Dragon is still a Flood Dragon!"
The human cultivators were no longer angry. Their voices remained rough and loud, but a subtle, deflated helplessness had crept into them.
'Every single one of them is a born actor.' Jekyeong sneered inwardly at their helpless display. He did not believe for a second that cultivators who had reached the Foundation Establishment stage could be so incompetent.
Of course, Jekyeong trusted his sturdy body and his raw power. Even if they outnumbered him, he did not think he would lose. But by the same token, he was not entirely confident he could win either. Human cultivators possessed a wide variety of tricks, and those at the Foundation Establishment stage were bound to have one or two trump cards up their sleeves.
Yet, even though they were panting heavily, they still refused to play their trump cards. Why? Were they too precious to waste? That might be part of it, but it was more likely out of self-preservation.
This was a battle to defeat an enemy, but it was also a battle to keep oneself alive. Objectively, Jekyeong was a formidable opponent, and it was highly unlikely that all nine remaining cultivators would emerge unscathed. They feared that if they prematurely revealed their hands, they would become the second casualty.
Why had they followed Gwak Jeong-sin here in the first place? Because they had been promised a hefty reward. But what use was a reward if they died or were severely crippled? No matter how valuable Spirit Stones were, they were only useful if one was alive to spend them.
Jekyeong saw right through their psychology. He had anticipated this, but seeing it play out before his eyes made him want to laugh. If he were to press them with everything he had right now, how would they react? Would they bravely fight back? Or would they...
'No, I shouldn't.' Jekyeong suppressed his dangerous curiosity. There was no need to ruin a perfectly good atmosphere.
"It tickles! It feels like a mere bug bite!"
The low laughter rumbling from his massive maw dripped with a sinister, murderous intent that struck dread into the hearts of the Foundation Establishment cultivators. If it could affect cultivators of equivalent rank, the Qi Condensation cultivators stood no chance. As they fought desperately, the moment the thunderous, ominous laughter echoed, blood sprayed from their seven orifices, and they momentarily lost their balance.
"You cunning beast!" The enraged Foundation Establishment cultivators rushed forward belatedly, but they could not undo the damage of his laughter. Jekyeong endured their fierce onslaught with a smirk, spewing fire once more to force them back.
"Damn it! What kind of fire is this?!"