After the reappearance of the Three Mountains of the Ying Sea, many demons started to make their way into the Ying Sea as well. Everybody wanted to take a little something back from their adventures and perhaps return home with some exotic and rare treasures inside the Ying Sea.
The demons still remaining in the East Sea were greatly reduced at this point in time. However, the demons that appeared in front of Mu Yu and company had three demonic lord stage dragons amongst their ranks, along with several other dragons of lower levels of cultivation.
The three demonic lord stage dragons did not even include the two that Lin Feng had chased away previously.
As they observed the invader"s line-up, both Mu Yu and Lu Ning felt their hearts sink. Lu Ning was even considering the possibility of taking Luo Yao away and run away - in the end, the demons were here for Mu Yu.
The demons had something else in mind, however. They circled the company as barriers were set up all around the void; they were determined not to let a single person escape. Lu Ning dispelled all other thoughts as she knew she had no choice but to face the enemy together with Mu Yu and the others.
In the last chaotic battle, Mu Yu misplaced the voice-projection crystal that allowed him to contact his seniors and juniors. There was no way of contacting the Luofu Mystical Island or Huang Ming to call for aid. Their only hope was that this place was not too far away from the Luofu Mystical Island.
If anybody from the Luofu Mystical Island detected anything wrong, a patrol party would be sent forth to investigate. However, till then, it was up to Mu Yu and the rest to support themselves and stay alive.
The only problem was that the difference in battle prowess between the two parties were just too great. The battle had barely just begun when the humans started to feel the intense pressure.
Mu Yu and Lu Ning were barely able to take care of themselves. Luo Yao, Yun Jinxi and the others could only rely upon themselves and team up with the other aurous core and foundation establishment stage cultivators to face off the lower-level demons that came upon them.
Yun Jinxi and Cao Zhendong glared at the demons before them as flames poured out of their eyes. Furious thoughts of revenge and vengeance masked over the confusion and fear of the ambush as they started channeling their own abhijnas and magic items to battle the demonic commander stage dragons with fearless determination.
The Luofu Mystical Island had always been in constant conflict against the demons at the border of the two worlds. There were times when demons sent a force to invade the East Sea, and the Luofu Mystical Island frequently sent forth cultivators into the Barren Expanses to attack the demons. Thus, even though Yun Jinxi and the others were still young and their levels of cultivation were not too high, their experiences with real-life combat and battles were not lacking.
The only problem was that fiery wrath was not enough to plug the gap in numbers and battle prowess. Furthermore, the dragons were here for revenge and vengeance as well and their level of determination rivaled that of Yun Jinxi and Cao Zhendong.
Not before long, Yun Jinxi and the others were already at a heavy disadvantage. Luo Yao, who was only in the Qi cultivation stage, was even worse.
Mu Yu was able to tear himself away and support Luo Yao initially, but was very quickly forced to concentrate on defending himself. It came to a point where he had to choice but to distance himself from Luo Yao as much as possible - otherwise, the ripple effects of an epic battle between a nascent soul stage cultivator and a demonic lord stage dragon could sweep him away and could even result in his demise.
Luo Yao was being chased by a raging jade dragon. Luo Yao tried his best to dodge left and right, but it seemed like he was about to be ripped open.
He could see, out of the corner of his eye, that Cao Zhendong had already lost one entire arm. Half of his body was drenched in blood, his hair was in a mess and he just looked so dreadful and pathetic. He did not even have time to treat his wounds as he had to focus on dodging the attacks of another dragon. After every attack that he managed to dodge, he had to focus all his attention on dodging the next one. Not before long, his defensive magic item was completely destroyed.
The golden hair on Yun Jinxi"s head that used to be radiant like the sun was not riddled with bloodstains and dirt, and the original splendor had completely disappeared. Her rosy lips lost their flavorful colors as well as she stretched her very limits to repel the demonic general stage dragons, but a greater danger was about to befall the young lady.
It was dangerous to the point where she felt all hope was lost. A demonic commander stage dragon that had already formed the aurous core was lunging towards her with blazing blue flames pouring out of its gaping jaws. Her defensive magic items and the protective mana surrounding her were torched away in an instant as the dragon came for her right away and was just about to gobble her up.
This was all distant to Luo Yao at this point, as his physical body was being ravaged by another jade dragon!
Clouds of blood blew up around the tall young man but he could no longer feel any pain.
"I…I should be dead…" Luo Yao discovered, to his great surprise, that he could still think and his brain was still working. This gave him an extremely strange feeling as he was practically watching his own body crumble into a puddle of flesh and blood.
"What"s… What"s going on?" Luo Yan was terrified, but eventually realized that he was inside a circular pearl-like object as golden mist rolled around in front of him. Purple light flickered all around, but what was strange was the fact that he felt like he knew what this was.
Luo Yao recovered after a while. His physical body had been completely destroyed, and the "him" that was inside this strange golden pearl was just his soul.
The purple light surged into his soul as he began to feel murky and an uncanny feeling came over him. Uncountable and continuous pictures flashed through his mind, things that he could not connect together and did not know the meaning of.
He stumbled along and started to realize that his soul was starting to exude the same purple radiance.
Multiple thoughts and worries clouded his consciousness. Some of the principles that he held on so dearly were kept, and actually became stronger and more amplified. In the end, there was only one thought, one voice, that was left inside his mind. A voice that shouted again and again:
"I can"t die! I need to save them! Senior Mu and Jinxi cannot die!"
Radiant purple light exploded and rushed out of the Heavenly Oyster"s Golden Pearl and lit up the sky all around.
Innumerable glyphs and runes danced around in the flames and lit up the void as they imprinted themselves upon every inch of s.p.a.ce.
Even Mu Yu, Lu Ning and the other powerful demonic lord stage dragons that were entangled in close quarter combat could not help but turn around towards the Heavenly Oyster"s Golden Pearl.
Mu Yu and the other humans were only slightly shocked, but the powerful demonic lord stage dragons began to feel a calamitous dread that seemed to come from the bottom of their souls. It was as if an unknown terror came into existence, something like a tyrannical leader that was destined to rule over them from its birth.
The dragons were stunned and perplexed at the same time. As dragons, arrogance and dignity were part of their nature. Most other demon races would revere them and accord them the respect they deserved. For the dragons themselves to feel this same reverence and fear of something higher than them was pretty much non-existent.
"Unless…" The three jade dragons" eyes widened as they turned to stare at the golden pearl that was still radiating with purple light.
The dragon that tore apart Luo Yao"s body was s.h.i.+vering from top to bottom. He was so sh.e.l.l-shocked that he felt paralyzed; he wanted to run, but his body was weak from fear and he could not even more a talon.
The purple lights continued to flicker as a thick golden mist began to flow out of the Heavenly Oyster"s Golden Pearl and materialized in the air. The thick mist transformed into a figure that was pure-gold with dashes of purple light encircling it.
The figure had a shape and build that was very similar to humans, but ultimately it was only humanoid.
Purple marks riddled its body as if they were carved upon it. The hair on its head was silver-white and stretched out behind its back all the way to his hips. Upon closer inspection, one could tell that it was not just purely hair from the head as long silver-white hair extended all the way down its spine up till its tailbone.
The hair did not grow beyond its shoulder blades, and its skin was very similar to the quality of humans and purple patterns could be seen all over.
The hair that extended beyond its tailbone became a long tail made of hair, and was swaying casually in the wind.
This figure seemed half-demon and half human. Its physical characteristics and features were exactly the same as Luo Yao"s, except for the fact that his face was covered with purple-colored patterns. Three horns with dense volumes of glyphs and runes extended out of its head as frightening demonic power rippled forth.
The light from Luo Yao"s eyes were a pure purple color, and everything that his gaze came into contact with began to crumble into dust.
"Roar!!!"
The reborn young man let loose a great howl as he flashed four sharp teeth that resembled a mix between dragons" teeth and that of canines.
This majestic roar stunned everybody at the scene. They almost felt as if the sound was shaking apart their very souls.
The lower-level dragons were the first to drop. The sparkle in their eyes completely disappeared in an instant as they plummeted into the oceans below like rocks; these dragons" demonic souls had been directly shattered by Luo Yao"s roar.
The three demonic lord stage dragons felt their limbs go numb. They lowered their heads as their scales s.h.i.+mmered in a display of submission - they did not even think about running away, let alone trying to resist.
Mu Yu and the others watched on speechlessly as they watched the humanoid Luo Yao radiate with purple brilliance.
The only person that could remain calm and still think rationally was Lin Feng, who was still watching on from the void. He watched at the reborn Luo Yao and raised an eyebrow, "Eh, turns out it"s not a incarnation of the Royal Hades Region. Hmmm, interesting. It"s getting really interesting."
Even though the Heavenly Oyster"s Golden Pearl formed Luo Yao"s new physical body, Lin Feng could feel that his connection to the Heavenly Oyster"s Golden Pearl had not been cut off. He watched Luo Yao"s transformation from the beginning to the end.
"It"s not a beast, but a demon. His soul is simple and transparent, and it"s not an incarnation of a previous great demon. But…" the corner of Lin Feng"s mouth curled up into a faint smile. "But, there are other secrets buried within that soul. There are other things that have yet to be discovered. Ha, interesting. This is truly a pleasant surprise."
After the majestic roar, Luo Yao"s body once again flickered with purple radiance but the purple light from his eyes began to recede. His eyes became clear once again, but his pupils were no longer black - they were a dark purple.
Luo Yao"s rationality had returned to him and the aura surrounding him was no longer so violent. His eyes even looked a little lost as he tilted his head down and scrutinized his new body and raised his hands to touch the three horns on his head.
"I…" Luo Yao opened his mouth and wanted to say something but not a single sound came out. He was pretty much frozen to the spot.
The group of dragons did not even dare to move. They just remained there in submission as they waited patiently for their orders.
The legends were far too ancient, and such beings had not been seen in the world for thousands of years. Mu Yu and the others were simply surprised at Luo Yao"s transformation, but were unaware of the deeper levels of meaning.
Only the three demonic lord stage dragons could recognize Luo Yao"s new form.
He was from one of the only races that dominated the Barren Expanses and ruled over all others - the Hades Tribe!
The purple radiance that felt like it could sweep over the Heavens and intimidate the universe originated from the Hades" Dark Mantra of the ancient Royal Hades" Region.
However, not every Beast of Hades had the power and level of the Heavenly Sea Hades, and the tribe itself had its own age of maturation and p.u.b.erty. There were stronger beasts and weaker ones as well. However, the new physical body that Luo Yao formed from the Heavenly Oyster"s Golden Pearl was at the demonic lord advanced stage and had no problem demolis.h.i.+ng all the dragons in front of him.
The dragons were inferior in ability, and they were also naturally inclined to give way to the Hades Race. This was the reason why the dragons before him did not think about trying to resist.