Just with one sentence, Zulong, the eldest of the three dragons, challenged all experts in the four seas. Many may not have heard nor noticed him, especially those too far away. But many within the East Sea did, and boy, were they furious.
Many of the first generation innate creatures, ancestors of their respective clans, wore dark faces. Their East Sea was ahead of the curb in terms of cultivation compared to the South, West, and North. It is then understandable why the 'upstart' Ancestor Dragon managed to trigger them all.
An expected result was clearly seen when not even a week later, the White Sand Crab ancestor and the Pale Ghost Manta-ray ancestor tracked the three dragons down. The end result was a beating of a lifetime for the two ancestors.
In the end they only managed to escape with their lives when they offered low grade xiantian spiritual treasures of their own to the three brothers. The following encounters with East Sea Golden Immortals were much the same. They learned very quickly that Zulong, Yinglong, and Qinlong were not jokes.
BOOM!
The Great Force Sea Snail patriarch's shell cracked under the pressure of Zulong's claws. The nine clad golden dragon claws easily dispatched the snail's spells and directly attacked. The snail didn't know what hit him.
"Impressive, you withstood my strength," Zulong complemented. He was happy to have found the first true resistance among the east sea denizens.
"Don't get cocky brat, my clan isn't famed for our spells," the snail lifted his head with great force, striking the dragon with a burst of superior strength.
Zulong raised his eyebrows, "Haha, to have overpowered me, how would you like to be my underling?" These words deeply offended the snail ancestor. One must understand that in the East Sea, the most respected individual was the Great Saint of Yingzhou, Da Hai. In comparison, Zulong was still very green.
"Like I said brat, don't get cocky," the snail warned. His mollusc body rippled with muscles. Zuloung spun his long body and struck out with a claw, only to be met with an equal force from the snail's body.
"Big brother seems to be having some trouble," Qinglong said worriedly. He looked just about ready to charge in for a helping hand. However Yinglong stopped him with a raised arm. The two were in human forms at the moment, with the notable addition of deer antlers.
"Third brother, wait. He's fine on his own."
"What, but just look, big brother is struggling."
"Oh, you know how Zulong gets when we interfere unnecessarily. Besides look at them. Big brother is fine," Yinglong assured and pointed with a claw.
Zulong, who was previously overpowered physically, swam around the snail. He held the azure coloured orb, the Dragon Pearl, and brought it down in a smash.
The snail's shell had expanded, rolling the entire snail into it to become a huge, spinning wheel of destruction. He kicked up columns of sea water and split the ocean floor sending up soil and sea grass all the way into the clouds.
The two forces met with terrifying might. The young golden celestial dragon clashed against the spinning snail with his dragon's pearl. Profound lights of the azure colour wrapped in auspicious clouds burst forth with great force.
BOOM!
Both sides broke apart, splitting the ocean in the process. Zulong was leaking a trail of blood from his mouth. The Great Force sea snail patriarch's shell was completely smashed apart. He helplessly fell back into the waves.
"Big brother!" Yinglong and Qinglong cried out when they saw what had happened. They quickly rushed for a helping hand. Zulong's elongated dragon body shrunk into a human shape.
Zulong's Dao body was incredibly fit and muscular. He looked to be in his early twenties, handsome and prideful. He had the look of a charismatic leader. Adorned on his head of black hair were two deer like antlers.
"I'm fine," Zulong exclaimed. He showed his minor injuries, his gleaming golden scales were only slightly damaged but otherwise he was still alright.
"That was a good challenge, senior," Zulong said with recognition. The snail had shown himself to be the greatest foe he had faced thus far. As such, Zulong was willing to recognise him as an elder.
"I warn you for your own good," the snail patriarch's voice called out softly as the figure of his elderly human form rose out of the sea. He held his spleen in discomfort as he rose into the air. "The seas are not as simple as you think, Dragon. I can tell you are an inborn creature, an innate god."
"Your forefathers, innate gods of the first generation, the reincarnated chaos godfiends, still roam these lands. Take care of your words," he said. Zulong however did not seem to pay them much heed.
"Yes, they are strong, but in time I will surpass them. I am born of Pangu's Qi, my talent is much higher than some relics of a bygone era," Zulong proclaimed with pride. The old snail simply shook his head, this dragon was a little too proud.
"The offer still stands, I can do with some servants as capable as you," Zulong offered.
The snail was unimpressed, "You still don't understand boy, divine from the Heavenly Dao, you'll see what I mean." With that said the snail vanished back into the ocean leaving a visibly displeased Zulong behind.
"Brother, should we chase after him?" Yinglong asked the golden dragon. Zulong did not respond to his younger brother. He merely looked on in the horizon in thought
"He has a point though, there exist at least two terrifying existences in the four seas that we know of," Qinglong wisely counselled. "Not to mention some of the strongest chaos godfiends of the past are still roaming the wilderness."
"The keyword here is the wilderness third brother," Zulong slowly replied. "The whereabouts of Yang Mei, Si Chen, Yinyang, Shen Feng, and the Destiny Demon god are unaccounted for. Qiankun and Shangxia were crippled during the last war before our birth."
"That leaves the ones we know of. The saint of Yingzhou Da Hai, whose location varies, Hongjun, who has not been involved with the world, Luohu, who rules the west, Si Hai, who hasn't been seen for thousands of years, and Wangshu, who is presumably still in the starry sea," Zulong rubbed his chin in thought. His eyes glowed in heavenly wisdom
"Only two really dwell in the waters and only one is our true opponent," he concluded. Yinglong and Qinglong were not slow, they could understand why he would believe so.
Da Hai mentored many experts of the seas, not just the East. However he's historically never attempted to rule. Zulong's ultimate goal was to dominate the oceans as his kingdom, and that meant his only real opponent was Si Hai.
"Let's go second brother, third brother. We have yet to visit the core territories of the most prominent clans," he commanded. "You should also work on achieving Primal Unity soon. We already have one complete great Dao inside us, becoming Great Principle Golden Immortal is only a matter of time."
"Yes big brother, you are wise," they bowed in unison. Their faith in Zulong's power never wavered even once. Zulong possessed two top grade xiantian spiritual treasures, not to mention his own physical body strength.
Zulong also possessed auspicious might, able to draw in merit naturally from the world as well as produce powerful spells. His foundation was actually superior to a lot of Chaos Godfiends.
...
Yingzhou
In a luxurious room of Da Hai's restored palace, a water mirror showed the mirage of the three dragons traveling across the open ocean. The mirage sat atop a candelabrum which had streams of water coming out of its three handles instead of fire. They formed the base of the mirage.
Da Hai observed the reckless actions of the dragons. Though they proved to be very powerful, they were a little too arrogant. They were blatantly looking down on their predecessors and even contemporaries.
It was true that their origin as Pangu's Qi made them exceptional talents. But the chaos godfiends should not be taken lightly under any circumstances. Especially because the ones still roaming the primitive world were at the very top of the totem pole.
"This kid… he's a little too confident in himself. Does he think Luohu will just sit back and watch him take the West Sea?" Da Hai muttered in amusement as he bit into a sesame seed ball. "While it's true Luohu holds little interest in the oceans thus far, you shouldn't discount him yet," he lectured. "That is not even mentioning Si Hai," he shook his head.
"And this should be a full house," a soft feminine voice said excitedly, laying down a combination of five poker cards. Wangshu placed triple threes and a pair of fives. She smirked at Da Hai.
"Full house with three twos," Da Hai unceremoniously flipped his hand over much to Wangshu's chagrin. This was the 328th game they've played over the course of the last week. Every single time, Da Hai had a perfect hand.
"Cheater," Wangshu spat as she collected the cards.
"You shuffled each and every single time," Da Hai said as he ate another sesame seed ball. "You can only blame your poor luck," he retorted secretly thanking the constant stream of merits he'd been getting. The only real way to win, luck sacking like a pro.
"Why is two even the biggest? It's a much smaller number than ten," Wangshu complained as she got to shuffling again. She hadn't even touched her plate of her own hand made dim sum.
"Because the game is called big two, that means two is the biggest."
"Dumb game, got anything else to play with these?" She asked, holding up the deck. "By the way, can I keep them?"
"Well we already tried goldfish and standard poker, those are the only games I know. And yes you can keep them," he said.
"Great, what about that other rainbow deck?" She pointed at a pile of uno cards scattered on the floor from her previous temper tantrum at losing.
"Meh, go ahead," he said to her grin. "How long are you going to stay here?" He asked.
"As long as I want, you wouldn't believe how empty the starry skies are now that Yang Mei's gone," she said with some sadness. Da Hai nodded in understanding, the great wilderness held much more than the starry skies.
In the current state of the Primitive World, the great wilderness was the only location where anything happened. 'It's not really primitive anymore, though' thought Da Hai. Going by the developments of the universe, the Primitive World had already transitioned out of its most primitive state.
'I guess Primordial? Well, the Dragon-Phoenix period and the Demon-Wu period are both primordial so which is what?' He wondered.
"What's wrong? Don't like my sweets?" Wangshu snapped Da Hai out of his thinking.
"No no, just wondering about the current state of the universe."
Wangshu frowned, "Thinking too much on Hongjun and Luohu will end up stressing you out, it's incredibly demoralizing."
"Yeah I know, and that wasn't what I was thinking about," he corrected. He took another bite and marveled at the taste. Somehow Wangshu had magically figured out how to make dim sum from his description.
"What are your plans so far?" She inquired as she handed out a new hand. She openly smirked when she saw her cards and let out a small giggle.
"I'll keep waiting for now. Eventually, those three will get into some trouble then can't escape from, and that is when I'll strike," he admitted while gazing at his own had of nothing but twos, aces, and kings. Karmic luck provided by merit was a godsend.