Chapter 2158: Counterattack
When it sensed the rays of light, the ferocious gaze of the stone dragon eased up. Immediately after, the rune lines around it scattered and gathered again. The dragon pattern eventually disappeared and formed some other special diagrams. Then, with a series of loud creaks, the tomb entrance slowly opened. The interior was incredibly dark, like the mouth of an abyss waiting for people to jump in.
The Firedevil Sea Beast and the others were really excited. They were now just a single step away from success. However, Ka Qier was surprisingly calm. He only stared at the tomb entrance calmly. It was hard to tell what he was thinking.
Then, Zu An waved his hand, gesturing for everyone to follow him in.
An Ocean race elder stepped forward to stop him. His expression was a bit troubled as he protested, “Your majesty, in the past, only the Dragon King and the deceased dragons were allowed to enter the Tomb of Ten Thousand Dragons!”
Zu An said indifferently, “The Mermaid Queen has been blessed, and this ruler is in a good mood. I’ll be bringing in some people to experience the grace of the Dragon Deity together.”
“But…” The Ocean race elders looked at each other in dismay.
Just then, Ao Yong spoke up. “What brother king says makes sense. There are more deceased dragons this time than usual, so we can’t just have brother king carry them all alone, right? We’ll help him bring them inside.”
Zu An was stunned. He had never expected this guy to be the one who would speak up for him.
Is the sun rising from the west today?
Shang Liuyu, who was impersonating a maid, gave Ao Yong a look. This trip into the tomb was likely going to be dangerous. Having more people from the Ocean races to help out could be good.
Zu An couldn"t help but chuckle.
This woman really is naive. She might not know just how much this guy likes her sister. There’s no way he would help me.
Even so, he decided to agree as well. Keeping Ao Yong outside could only bring Shang Hongyu more danger in her following plans. It could be better to take him in.
When they saw how firm the Dragon King was on this, and with Ao Yong taking the lead, many other Ocean race higher-ups approved of the plan, even including some of the elders. Thus, the other elders didn’t stop them and let them proceed.
In truth, they were actually a bit curious about what the inside of the Tomb of Ten Thousand Dragons looked like themselves. However, they had a duty to stand guard outside the tomb. Thus, in the end, they chose some elders to follow the Dragon King, Ao Yong, and the others into the tomb.
Zu An secretly warned Shang Liuyu, “Big sis Shang, follow me closely. Don’t go beyond three feet from me.”
Whether it was the alien monsters or the h.e.l.l creatures, none of them were good sorts. If she was too far from him, he wouldn’t be able to guarantee her safety.
Shang Liuyu had a weird expression. She had previously found ‘big sis Shang’ quite endearing, but after what he had done with her sister, she was supposed to be calling him brother-in-law. For him to call her "big sis" felt especially strange now. She opened her mouth and was about to ask him to change the way he called her, but she just couldn"t bring herself to say it. In the end, she could only voice her confirmation.
Zu An’s group entered the Tomb of Ten Thousand Dragons in a grandiose fashion, and the tomb entrance slowly closed. Only when all of the rituals were complete would the Dragon King be able to open the door again from inside.
When they saw the tomb door gradually disappear, many people from the Ocean races had looks of worry on their faces. There had never been anyone who entered the tomb in such a huge group.
Will bad things happen if so many people enter at the same time? Over a thousand people went in!
Still, several others seemed to be at ease. They felt that it was a sign of the Ocean races’ might. In the past, the Dragon Kings had always been fine, so how could there be any problems if so many powerful individuals went in together? What they were more worried about was the Mermaid Queen’s pregnancy. Now that they thought about it, the Dragon King already had several children with women of the Mermaid race. Now, the Mermaid race’s influence could ruin the balance of the Ocean races.
Thankfully, the Mermaid race had always been peace-loving and weren’t cruel and bloodthirsty. The various races’ relationship with them was good too. The empress was gentle and dignified, so people all had an excellent impression of her. Compared to the previous situation, when the queen had a bounty on her head, the current situation was much better.
…
While resting inside the palace, the Mermaid Queen everyone was talking about suddenly opened her eyes. Her hands shot out like lightning and she quickly restrained the maids in the room. Then, she pulled away the covers and jumped out of bed. As she took a few steps, pieces of armor appeared out of thin air before eventually forming a beautiful set of red armor. Not only did it further accentuate her figure, it also added a heroic air to her appearance.
This was the Mermaid race’s most precious battle armor, and because she was now the Mermaid Queen, it had been improved with many materials from the Dragon Palace. It was probably one of the most outstanding armors in the entire world. Now that she put on this set of armor, it officially signified the start of a war.
Soon after, she killed some servants and maids near the Dragon Palace. They were all individuals she knew for sure were on the monsters’ side, based on their previous investigations.
Most of the alien monsters and h.e.l.l creatures had already followed Ka Qier and the Shadowhorror Devil into the Tomb of Ten Thousand Dragons. To them, Shang Hongyu appeared to have already been fully subdued by Zu An, so they weren’t worried about her at all. They figured that leaving her out here was no different from leaving the sick and elderly alone.
Then, she contacted some of her trusted aides in the Dragon Palace. She began to lead the troops to swiftly eliminate the monsters in the Dragon Palace. She and Zu An had already gotten a very clear picture of the current situation while they were preparing for the Tomb of Ten Thousand Dragons’ ceremony.
Many of the monsters who had seized key positions were immediately killed. Those who remained were without their leaders and could only fight on their own, so they were also quickly wiped out. The monsters and h.e.l.l creatures tried to contact the Shadowhorror Devil, Ka Qier, and the others, but the Tomb of Ten Thousand Dragons was a special place. Even with his knowledge, not even Zu An could understand its formations. It completely isolated the inside from the outside world. Thus, they couldn"t contact their masters at all and could only await their deaths in despair.
The blood of Shang Hongyu’s enemies splattered across her face. She no longer had her usual soft and graceful air. Instead, her presence was full of killing intent. It was as if she was venting out all of the humiliation and resentment she had experienced here and now.
She had been the queen for many years. Whether in terms of her cultivation or prestige, both were enough to convince the ma.s.ses. At first, many subjects sensed that there was something going on and were alarmed, but when they saw her, they quickly calmed down. Additionally, she declared that she was acting on the decree of the Dragon King to eliminate monsters. They knew just how in love the two were, so no one doubted her.
In fact, fear of the fact that the monsters had already infiltrated so deeply made more and more Ocean race cultivators join in. How could those alien monsters and h.e.l.l creatures possibly stop them?
There were a few smart individuals that claimed that they were the Dragon King’s real trusted aides and that the queen was revolting. Unfortunately, Shang Hongyu removed the Heart-Devouring Demon Spiders right from their corpses to show everyone. That was more convincing than any words could be.
Once they were surrounded by the infuriated Ocean race experts, in the end, the alien monsters and h.e.l.l creatures were filled with despair. They decided to just announce that the Dragon King was already one of them, telling everyone to cease their futile struggle, and that the earlier they defected to the side of the aliens and h.e.l.l, the better.
Now, sure enough, many Ocean race experts hesitated. They remembered the mysterious dispute between the Dragon King and Mermaid Queen, and then the arrest order for the queen. They all began to form doubts, wondering if the Dragon King had already become a monster. What meaning was there left in their resistance then?
When those thoughts arose, the morale of their side couldn"t help but waver.
Shang Hongyu sneered. “The Dragon King has already received the acknowledgement of the Crown of the Ocean Deity, which proves that he is the true Dragon King. Don’t believe the lies of these fiends!”
Everyone else suddenly realized that as well.
Right, with the Dragon King and Mermaid Queen here, why are we listening to what the monsters say?
As such, they all raised their weapons in fury, circling and annihilating the monsters.
Then, Shang Hongyu mobilized her forces to investigate if there were any monsters or h.e.l.l creatures left in the Dragon Palace. In the past, such a large-scale operation would definitely have stirred up public dissent, but they had just seen monsters occupy some Ocean race corpses, so who would go against the order?
If anyone wasn’t willing to be checked, that only implied they carried guilt. They could very well be a monster. There were glowers being cast all around, so no one was willing to take that risk. Furthermore, they did find some monsters through this process, so that made everyone present cooperate even more.
When Shang Hongyu saw that the situation in the Dragon Palace was stabilizing, she sighed in relief. She looked in the direction of the Tomb of Ten Thousand Dragons.
Everything now depends on you two. You and little sis need to be safe.
…
Meanwhile, Zu An had Shang Liuyu at his side; following them were Ka Qier and the three alien monsters. Around them were many of their respective subordinates. Zu An had already deduced that these individuals were either controlled by Heart-Devouring Demon Spiders, or were h.e.l.l creatures dressed in skins.
The only ones remaining were Ao Yong’s group and some Ocean race elders, as well as some servants who were transporting the dragon corpses.
Zu An felt that something was a bit strange. The alien monsters clearly had the Lord of Myriad Transformations and Shadowhorror Devil’s groups, while the h.e.l.l creatures only had Ka Qier on their level. That was a four to one ratio. Even though Ka Qier had more subordinates, there was no way it would make up for the difference in strength.
Is he really not worried that the alien monsters might suddenly turn hostile against him?