While Yun Jhin was cultivating peacefully in his courtyard, things weren't so peaceful under the ocean, a middle-aged man with graying hair looked down at his subordinate that kneeled with a deep fearful look on her face, the man waved his hand and the woman disappeared in a cloud of ashes.
The man shook his head as he looked down from the blue throne that he stood on and he sighed while saying:
"We lost the dragon stone and these fools couldn't find it in such a long time, is it possible I missed someone when I went to inspect the treasury? When I touched the dragon stone it turned into bits, someone should have stolen it but who?"
The man scratched his chin as he then gave out a command:
"There's a big chance the stone is back into the Long Empire's hands, we will attack with full force to recover it, it's time to end this charade, that poor emperor should still be in seclusion, I injured him quite heavily."
The man got up from his throne and disappeared into a swirl of blue water, back in the Empire Long Huang and his son were giving out commands for the army to gather, they were ready to invade the Heavenly Turtle sect again, and with the help of the dragon caterpillar, they were sure they were going to win, as a dragon caterpillar could fight with atleast 6-7 same cultivation realm adversaries, they also knew that as long as it ate enough it could grow in cultivation, they would make sure that all the high-level Ki cultivating enemies would end up in its stomach!
Long Huang opened his mouth to tell all of his ministers and officials:
"It's time for us to end this hidden war with the Heavenly Turtle sect, these petty fools thought that because we attacked their subordinate that they had a good reason to attack back, but I know they had been eyeing our dragon stone for a long while, they coveted it, and I made a foolish mistake that gave them a good reason to retaliate..."
The emperor admitted his mistakes as he looked at his subordinates and continued:
"However! This is also an opportunity for us, an opportunity to expand our empire and take over the Heavenly Turtle sect, I will go immediately to 'invite' all of the rogue sects around the empire and enroll them into our service, of course, benefits need to be dolled out or else they would rebel."
The ministers and officials nodded their heads like chicks pecking at rice, they didn't dare to talk back or say anything to their emperor, after all, he broke through to the second stage of the King Realm!
The right minister didn't like the crown prince but that didn't mean he was against the imperial family, he was supporting the Emperor but he thought that the crown prince wasn't a good enough descendant and he felt that if the emperor fell he shouldn't take over the throne.
After the emperor finished talking everyone dismissed as he waved his hand, only Long Huang and his son remained in the throne room, they looked at each other as they surveyed a military map, Long Huang opened his mouth and told his son:
"I shall teach you some military tactics, in my youth I was known as the best military tactician, the only one who I could call equal would be the minister of the military, but his sharp edge started to dull as he hasn't been on the battlefield for a long time."
Long Huang started to point at some important points on the map when suddenly the formations at the border of the ocean were triggered, even though the capital was far away the Emperor made sure to connect all of the important formations to his soul so he knew when their borders were attacked.
Long Huang frowned as he looked down at his son and said:
"It seems we don't have to invade them, they already came!"
The crown prince gasped as he said:
"Imperial father, the heavenly turtle sect came already?"
His father didn't bother to respond as he should already know the answer, then he immediately sent out a message to recruit all of the sects, mobilize the army and make way to the battlefield!
The emperor was ready to wake up Yun Jhin.
In Yun Jhin's courtyard, different transformations happened inside his big body, his ki transformed from a little spring into a lake as his whole body started to fill up with ki, a peculiar yellow golden aura started to encase Yun Jhin's draconic body, his power increased by quite a high deal as both his body and ki passageways were strengthened by the medicinal power of the draconic pill, even his bloodline was stimulated somewhat and strengthened, but the bloodline strengthening was negligible at best.
Yun Jhin opened his dark eyes as he looked in front of him and saw the father-son duo ready to wake up him, they smiled awkwardly at each other as the crown prince went forward and said:
"Yun Jhin, I'm sorry but we need your help, we are invaded by the Heavenly Turtle sect and we need to employ your flying ability to get to the battlefield quickly, the other troops are ready to go there, with your giant body you should be able to drag all of them along with this boat me made."
As the crown prince explained things, hot air came out of Yun Jhin's nostrils as he looked at the duo and said:
"I can do that, but I will need some more draconic herbs."
The emperor smiled as he saw Yun Jhin's attitude, even though the dragons were proud beings, that pride wouldn't fully transfer to halflings or quarterings, it seemed to the emperor that Yun Jhin was a practical cultivation beast who knew what was best for it.
The duo jumped on his back as they made him fly to the army's headquarters there they tied 50 big boats to his body which weren't a big strain to Yun Jhin's new body, he wasn't that long but most of the boats were tied in one spot which didn't take much space.
Yun Jhin started flying at quick speeds according to the instructions of the Emperor as Long Huang closed his eyes and felt the responses of the formations Yun Jhin flew accordingly.
Finally, after a moderate amount of traveling they all dropped on the battlefield surprising the army of the Heavenly Turtle sect with an aerial ambush!
Yun Jhin kept flying up above then he looked at the crown prince and the Emperor as they dropped down on the ground, the Emperor looked around and frowned as he didn't spot the patriarch of the Heavenly Turtle sect.
He ordered the army to attack and a bloodbath ensued, limbs and organs flew around the battlefield as the Heavenly Turtle sect was massacred, however, something wasn't right, most of the disciples were too low level for them to start this war, this was most likely to be a diversion!
Yun Jhin didn't say anything as he opened his mouth and inhaled a bunch of disciples in the heavenly realm, he made sure to look like he was working. The Emperor frowned as he looked around, then his eyes widened as a sword stuck out of his thigh and a snort was heard:
"It seems you have broken through, lucky for you, you almost dodged the attack fully!"
The middle-aged greying man appeared near the Emperor and out of the sea a barrage of water blasts shot out, the water blasts pushed back a lot of the army and hastily recruited sect members, some of them even drowned and died.
The Emperor frowned as his thigh wound closed up and healed then he said:
"Luo Sunfeng, I didn't know you would be so underhanded that you would do such a sneak attack."
Luo Sunfeng laughed as he pointed up at the sky where Yun Jhin was flying around:
"I didn't know you got your hands on a dragon caterpillar, I see now why you called yourself and your empire Long, unluckily for you I will kill you and take both the caterpillar and the dragon stone for myself!"
While the King's fought there was no space for small fries around, The emperor pushed the crown prince away then threw him directly on Yun Jhin's back, Yun Jhin looked down at the duo and waited, if things went out as he planned he would profit immensely from their fight!
The emperor and the patriarch looked at each other as they sneered, lightning clashed in the middle as they glared at each other. Long Huang immediately attacked, taking a sword out of his spatial bag he went to the offensive as he made an overhead slash trying to directly cut the patriarch into two pieces.
The patriarch waved around the slash as if he was dancing and took his weapon out, it was a simple blue trident with some turtle engravings on it, Yun Jhin narrowed his eyes as he looked at the trident, those engravings were familiar, could the heavenly turtle sect be connected to the Black Turtle planet?
Yun Jhin flew further away from the battlefield as he didn't want the shockwaves from the fight to hit him, he would need to be at full power to be able to take advantage of the duo's weak moment.
The crown prince looked at his father fight with wide eyes as he seemingly couldn't look away, even though he couldn't make out what happened with his eyes, his soul willpower boosted with his inner ki could make him keep up a little and understand what happened.
The patriarch's aura intensified as he waved his trident and a giant wave of water appeared and started to engulf Long Huang, however, Long Huang grasped his sword with both hands as he slashed the wave into two, he dashed inside the opening he made but Luo Sunfeng chuckled as he put his hand forward and clenched it!
The wave closed in and buried Long Huang inside of it, but a barrier of sword slashes stopped him from being crushed inside the water currents, Long Huang coughed out a bit of water as he looked at Luo Sunfeng and he said:
"It seems your control of the Sea Turtle sutra has increased even further..."
Luo Sunfeng didn't say anything as he waved his hands in some peculiar hand seals then slammed his palms on the ground, out of the ground a giant geyser of hot water rushed directly at Long Huang, but Long Huang jumped away as soon as he felt the earth tremble, he knew most of the patriarch's tricks as this wasn't the first time he fought him head-on.
Long Huang took out a second sword as he dashed directly to the patriarch cutting through the water geysers that would spawn from time to time, he engulfed his body in a deep red aura that kept him safe from the attacks of the patriarch, when the emperor was almost head to head with the patriarch, Luo Sunfeng suddenly smiled as he got up from his kneeling position and the trident appeared in his hands again, he thrust his trident forward at an extremely quick speed ready to impale Long Huang in the heart and take his life!
Long Huang crossed his swords at the last moment and he was pushed back for tens of meters until he got control of his body, the technique that he used with the trident sent a shockwave through his swords directly into his body unbalancing it, if it hit his chest and his heart the shockwave would have directly destroyed it killing him instantly!
Long Huang frowned as he looked at the patriarch and muttered to himself:
"Even though he didn't break through to the 3rd stage, the improvement of his technique is something that I can barely keep up with... have I made a mistake here?"
Before he could say anything else, Luo Sunfeng dashed at him as he got into melee range, the man was so confident of the new techniques which he mastered that he challenged the emperor in the area he was the most confident in!
But the patriarch wasn't the only one who learned and mastered some new techniques!
Long Huang put both of his swords forward as he suddenly disappeared from where he was, Luo Sunfeng's eyes widened as he looked down at his chest as a current of wind threw him away into the sky and a rain of blood appeared where he previously stood.
The emperor looked at the sky as he said slowly:
"Dragon style swordsmanship: wind slash stage 1"
He jumped after the patriarch as he was ready to use his swordsmanship combo on him when suddenly the crown prince's scream could be heard up from the sky!
Long Huang cursed as he used his ki to enter into a stance of pseudo flying, he needed to be faster to get to his son, it seemed he made a mistake when he threw Luo Sunfeng into the sky, he didn't think that Yun Jhin would be still flying in the same place!