Lu Yun was obviously provoking them on purpose, but the first prince of the North Sea court, heir to the North Sea emperor, was no fool. Cheap taunts weren’t going to get him to fling open the gates and rush out.
Therefore, the degenerate alliance were left to vandalize the front entrance of the palace while muttering curses under their breath.
The light barrier was now covered in all sorts of bodily waste and painted with derogatory language, completely defacing the grand structure’s entrance. Lu Yun had even fetched a plaque from somewhere, roughly fifty meters long, that said ‘North Sea, Home of Worms’ in squiggly characters.
Amidst a din of raucous cheers from the princes, the plaque was firmly nailed to the barrier of light at the front entrance, covering the sign that read ‘North Sea Palace’.
The commotion had drawn quite a crowd. Some onlookers were monster spirits who’d just transformed into human form, while others hadn’t yet reached the cultivation heights that would enable them to transform.
There were many creatures in the ocean. On land, ordinary cultivators weren’t allowed to approach the palaces of the heavenly courts, but within the ocean, such prohibitions didn’t exist. Therefore, news of this public display spread quickly, reaching almost everyone in the imperial seas in no time at all. The North Sea court swiftly became the butt of every joke in its territory.
Those under the court’s rule weren’t the only ones in the imperial seas at the moment. There were even more cultivators from other regions in the world who’d come to partake in the happenings, since they weren’t powerful enough to enter the skydragon tomb.
……
“Ughhhh, enough!” Beigong Chonglou stomped his feet angrily, shaking with anger and glaring so hard at the princes outside that his eyeballs threatened to pop out of his skull.
“Bunch of little bastards,” he screamed, apoplectic. “I’m going to tear them all into pieces!!”
“You mustn’t take the bait, Your Royal Highness,” hurried out an elder with a turtle shell on his back. “They’re clearly up to something. If we open up the formation, high-level immortals in hiding will surely strike!”
“Does our court not care about its reputation then?!” Beigong Chonglou huffed into calm fury. “If we do nothing when someone humiliates us on our doorstep, how are we to maintain our dominance in the world of immortals? How are we to rule over the vast North Sea? How are we to govern all of the immortal seas in the future?
“I would suffer it if it were just me, but they’re challenging the authority of the North Sea court itself! If we offer no response, our court will lose the respect of the monster spirits, even if royal father acquires great treasures from the tomb.”
With a wave of his hand, Beigong Chonglou displayed the situation in the vicinity to everyone.
North Sea monster spirits and foreign cultivators alike were watching the farce play out with obvious delight. Clearly, they were here to see the ruling body humiliated.
Many still recalled the dragons from ten thousand years ago, and knew the current court for its illegitimacy. The old turtle broke out in a cold sweat, thinking this is a deviously vicious plan! The North Sea court would suffer a serious blow no matter what their response was.
Lu Yun and his cohort had humiliated the ruling clan much worse than when Aoxue had humiliated the Qing Clan by blockading their home’s entrance.
It’d be one thing if the antagonists were dao immortals—acting like this would actually only make a fool out of themselves and discard their dignity. Beigong Chonglou could just ignore them, if that were the case.
However, these were juniors that hadn’t even ascended to immortality and were guarded by just a few peerless immortals. If the North Sea court didn’t mount an appropriate response, they’d become the court jester for the rest of the entire world.
“Use the clan treasure!” Beigong Chonglou ordered with a clenched jaw. “We can’t allow these squealing brats to keep this up, and we mustn’t give those experts in hiding any chance at an opening.
“Kill them all with our supreme treasure before anyone can react! Please, seniors!” Beigong Chonglou took a deep breath and bowed at the air.
“Do not worry, Your Royal Highness,” boomed a bright voice. “None can survive the ultimate treasure of the blackwater snake clan.”
Beigong Chonglou inclined his head and got to his feet. “Prepare the army, Admiral Turtle. Let us meet these irreverent youths and see just who they are!”
His handsome face still bore hints of being sickly pale, as he hadn’t yet fully recovered from having been possessed by an immortal ghost, but he had to put in an appearance now.
It was no surprise that the palace would be challenged after the skydragon tomb emerged, but he didn’t expect the intruders to be so shameless. It seemed as if they would stop at nothing to undermine the court!
He would leave the palace as a means to test them.
Rumble!
The barrier outside the palace trembled, and the waste matter and offensive words slowly disappeared. However, the plaque Lu Yun had attached to the barrier remained.
North Sea, Home of Worms.
“Bastard!” Beigong Chonglou’s lungs hurt from the sheer force of his fury. The pejorative would stick to the North Sea court for a very long time. “Activate the formation!!”
“Uh-oh, the little worms are angry.” Lu Yun’s expression darkened when he saw Beigong Chonglou setting foot outside the palace. He stepped forward and stopped the six princes from launching any reckless actions.
They couldn’t control their emotions when faced with the first prince. Once they started speaking, they’d alert the crown prince as to the true state of things, rendering their plans useless.
With a casual gesture, Lu Yun calmed the six of them down with tranquility talismans.
“Time to go!” he snickered. “The first prince of the worms has shown his face. Those little reptiles must really be angry. Let’s go, let’s go!”
He manifested a large, black fortress ship with a wave of his hand; it took the group in and cut through the water, quickly vanishing beyond the horizon.
The three dao immortals hiding behind the formation had planned to kill all of them the moment the formation opened. Thus, they’d circulated their inner energy to the limit, ready to unleash it on a moment’s notice. Abruptly having no targets to spring at had made them almost choke on sea water, and their frustration nearly spontaneously ignited.
“Bastards, bastards!!” Beigong Chonglou’s face flushed beet red.
The formation had cracked open, yet the large plaque remained stubbornly nailed to it, and in fact, was slowly becoming a part of the light barrier
That little band of human cultivators had disappeared without a trace, further convincing Beigong Chonglou that they only had peerless immortals by their sides. There were no further powerful experts around; they’d simply come to make a nuisance of themselves!
Heat burst from his chest as the prince threw up a mouthful of blood. He hadn’t yet made a full recovery from his previous injuries, and now his swell of fury almost caused a cultivation deviation, to boot!
“Guards, pass down my order and scour the North Sea! Even if we have to turn the imperial seas upside down, we must catch those worms!” he growled as he coughed out blood. Then he realized what he’d just said. Worms...
He threw up another mouthful of blood.
……
“Hahaha! Damn, that felt good!” Feng Ruyu, third prince of the Unmeant Sea, burst into hearty laughter, but his eyes were mirthless and filled with terrifying killing intent. He was a dragon, of a mutated breed called demon dragons.
In the ancient times, demon dragons were the most powerful warriors among the dragon race. Unrivalled in brutality and destruction, they became demon skydragons upon breaking through the dao immortal realm, one of the mightiest fighters among their kind.
“What do we do next? Go back now and kill them all?” He could barely keep his murderous intent in check, his struggle made evident by the veins popping out on his forehead.
Lu Yun slapped another tranquility talisman on him.
“There’s no rush.” The human shook his head. “Beigong Chonglou is a cautious person. He must’ve made some preparations before he dared leave the palace. Let’s hang him out to dry for a few days. Once things settle down, we’ll go back and kick things around again.”
The others nodded.
The palace was the heart of the North Sea court, after all. Although the elites of the North Sea had all departed the area, the alliance of troublemakers still wasn’t powerful enough to destroy the palace.
“Senior brother Lu is right. Three aether dao immortals were hiding behind the formation just now, preparing to activate their clan treasure.” Li Yan’s eyes glowed with a green sheen. He was a pureblooded human, but his eyes set him apart from the rest of his kind. He could see things as what they were. The others hadn’t been able to see the three dao immortals, but he had.
Of course, he had to ascend to immortality before he could tap into the full power of his eyes.
His statement sent a shudder down everyone’s spine. If the three dao immortals had attacked them with the North Sea clan treasure, they would’ve been easily decimated. Even Xue Daozi would be a pile of ashes by now.
“Our withdrawal will relax Beigong Chonglou’s guard,” Lu Yun reminded them. “The next time the formation opens, we’ll rush in immediately. I’ve locked onto his aura, so he won’t be able to get away from us.”
……
The North Sea searched every nook and cranny for the troublemakers, all of the imperial sea on the move. Countless soldiers and marine creatures wandered around, looking for Lu Yun and his companions; the North Sea court had issued a bounty for their heads.
The youths, however, were journeying across the ocean and its islands and having the time of their lives, free of any concerns. Lu Yun had made another batch of shapeshifting talismans to transform everyone. Even if a search party found them, no one wouldn’t recognize them.
Meanwhile, the youth kept tabs on the skydragon tomb through regular reports from Canghai Chengkong.
……
Three days passed, and the monster spirits searching for Lu Yun and the others grew complacent. That was when the delinquent youths made their return.
“Yoo-hoo, worms of the Home of Worms, we’ve come to visit again!” It was Qing Han who threw down the gauntlet this time.
