With thunderous momentum, Zulong and his brothers tore through the experts in the East Sea one after the other. The trio proved to be too powerful for many ancient life forms to handle, and eventually all the sea clans admitted defeat. However, while they acknowledged their defeat, they refused to bow to the dragon.
For the past three thousand years, Zulong's mood has become progressively worse. He gave all his opponents a choice to serve but they all refused.
"Perhaps you're too soft brother," Yinglong had advised him to take a harsher stance. He advocated for a serve or die mentality which Zulong could see the merits of.
On the other hand, Qinglong had advocated for peaceful negotiations. The azure dragon believed that wanton deaths with reckless abandon will give them a terrible image in the eyes of the denizens of the East Sea.
Throughout the years, the duo of Yinglong and Qinglong had remained at the Golden Immortal realm whereas Zulong had managed to form the primal unity and reach the Great Unity Golden Immortal realm. With their strength they were able to best the Colossal Shark ancestor who was publicly recognised as number one beneath the Saint of Yingzhou in the East Sea.
"Brother, I believe we'd need more prestige in order to establish a power base," Qinglong informed him. Zulong nodded, however they'd already defeated most of the experts of the east. The only option left was to go to the other seas.
"It is publicly acknowledged that the North, South, and West Seas are inferior to the East," he mused. "Qinglong, Yinglong, where do you think the chaos godfiends are hiding these days?"
"Brother you can't seriously be thinking of challenging our predecessors right?" Qinglong yelled out. Although Yinglong stayed silent, his facial expression displayed much the same disbelief. "Zulong listen to me, chaos godfiends are in another dimension of power," they tried to convince.
"Well what choice do we have?" Zulong defended. "Besides, my cultivation isn't far from theirs, I also have two top grade xiantian spiritual treasures on me. We can take a chaos godfiend down together," he boasted.
"Big brother you're smarter than this, don't let frustration get to your head," Yinglong advised. They attempted to dissuade Zulong for hours. However the elder dragon was a little too stubborn and reckless.
"Brother, you know I am always loyal to you but you must see reason. Promote to the Chaos Immortal realm first then talk about defeating chaos godfiends."
"Yes, you are right brother. My apologies, the years of no progress are getting to me," Zulong admitted. His youthful face showed clear anger, annoyance, and frustration. 'It seems the benevolent route is unavailable,' he thought.
"Yinglong, Qinglong, who's a big shot we can kill off safely to get the message across but is also not too valuable of an asset," he demanded.
"Well, the big three clans' experts are out. Turtles, dolphins, and crab clans are also out. I'd say seagulls but they recently began farming spiritual herbs so they're out," Yinglong contemplated who to pick.
"How about the Calamity Serpent?" Qinglong brought up.
"Oh that pretentious prick," Zulong scowled. "Well boys, we've found our target. what's his last known location". His brothers shrugged. "There's a crab village not far from here, we'll ask them," he commanded.
The three dragons were prepared to move when they suddenly sensed something. The three antlered men turned their heads to look at the westward sky. The clouds had darkened, conglomerating into a huge mass.
"Is it normal for the clouds to look so ominous?" Qinglong said.
"No brother, unless there's some sort of auspicious phenomenon occurring by way of the Heavenly Dao, this is certainly not natural," Zulong, Qinglong, and Yinglong tensed as a great aura manifested far above them.
It was as if the heavens themselves were crying in joy, singing the praises of a lord of heaven. Violent winds kicked up the waves generating hurricanes above the east sea. Mighty thunder rumbled their eardrums.
Deep below them, hordes of roaming sea creatures recognised danger and fled. If the dragons were less prideful they would've too. For the aura they sensed far outstripped anything they had ever felt before.
They heard sonorous voices singing in praise. They heard the chanting of a million sky demons. They heard the winds chiming high above the clouds. They heard bells ringing signifying divine descent.
"This kind of natural phenomenon," Zulong muttered in amazement. The clouds, the winds, the hurricanes radiated profound insight into the Dao. As a Great Unity Golden Immortal, Zulong had already stopped relying on the primitive world for insight. But even he struggled to fathom what he was witnessing.
"Hm, top grade xiantian spiritual treasures, not bad not bad indeed," the sonorous voice hummed along with an ancient divine voice who spoke. The three dragons could feel their hearts thumping in their chest. Was the feeling of mortals' meeting with God?
"Your ancestor here has been a bit lacking in treasures, don't you think as respectful juniors you should help this senior out?" The ancient voice asked. The clouds flashed an image within. A titanic whirlwind of smokey air with red eyes carried by massive featured wings attached to the whirlwind. He had no legs nor arms, the only appendages it had were spherical balls of air held by near invisible strings of air running through his body.
"And who may I ask is this ancestor," Zulong did not back down. Despite all the feelings in his chest telling him to submit, to venerate, to worship, he stood tall. Even Qinglong and Yinglong were brought to their knees.
"Arrogant brat, you do not know to whom you speak," the voice roared in anger. The hurricane became violent, fierce, ripping away at Zulong's human flesh peeling it away to reveal gleaming golden scales. However his normally gleaming scales had lost much of its lustre in the face of the unknown assailant.
"Your ancestor here is the ancient godfiend Shen Feng, the ancestor of divine winds. The war god of the north, the exalted patriarch of the heavens, the most august of heavenly phenomenons," Shen Feng's sonorous voice rumbled throughout the heavens reaching the ears of those in the east sea. His figure towered over Zulong.
"Well you definitely got your wish," Qinglong laughed, trying to lighten the mood. However the trio were all sent quivering as Shen Feng approached.
"Brothers listen to me," Zulong said with seriousness. "I will use everything I have to delay him. Take this chance to run, run as far as you can," he commanded, unleashing waves of meritorious golden light.
"But brother, what about you?" The two looked frantic at the implication of Zulong's words. None of the brothers were willing to abandon their family, they couldn't possibly leave their brother behind.
"Fools!" Zulong roared, swinging his fist back and knocking the two many kilometres away. "I am born from Pangu's Qi of the Yang aspect. I have plenty of merit, I'll figure out a way," he reassured his retreating siblings.
"Brave of you," Shen Feng chuckled. "I could respect your balls brat so I'll give you one last chance," a stream of air approached the dragon-man resembling a palm.
Zulong wasted no time, he exploded in a burst of golden light uncurling his serpentine draconic form. His nine digit claw ripped the wind palm apart.
"You'll have to take it from my corpse," he challenged. The ancestor of divine winds chuckled in mocking amusement. Zulong's feeling of dread became palpable. His ten thousand kilometre length appeared insignificant before Shen Feng. His profound cultivation became nothing.
His mind became distorted, his Dao heart trembled. His vision was blurred, he couldn't tell if it had been a few seconds or a few hours. It was as if the time itself began distorting. Zulong shook his head to regain composure, the amount of natural phenomenons generated by a Great Principle Chaos Immortal was terrifying.
Shen Feng did not participate in the Shenni war, he had defected from Shenni and planned to escape to the chaos. Luckily he had no need to, as the problem was resolved. In the tens of thousands of years since, he'd recovered to the Great Principle Chaos Immortal realm and regained a fraction of his former divine might.
His current strength was far superior to the four evils who fought during the war. Of course after so many years they were bound to have many improvements making victory in a direct confrontation improbable. However Shen Feng was more than capable of crushing an inexperienced Great Unity Golden Immortal like Zulong.
The dragon couldn't even begin moving when his golden body was batted away. Zulong spat out mouthfuls of blood, he just barely stabilised himself. He couldn't believe it, was the gap between Great Unity and Great Principle so large?
He manifested the Dragon Pearl and the Twenty Four Ocean Calming Pearls. The combined might of both treasures unleashed unspeakable power from the sea.
"Hmph!" Shen Feng snorted. He clapped his wings and dispelled Zulong's attack much to his shock. "You are weak, unable to truly utilise those spiritual treasures. They are wasted on you," Shen Feng's smokey face had a greedy look, his massive form flew towards Zulong at blinding speeds.
"ROAR!" Zulong brought up both treasures and met the godfiend head on. In an instant he was blown back like nothing, dropping the chain of beads but was able to hold onto the single azure pearl.
"Brother!" To Zulong's fearful surprise, Qinglong and Yinglong caught the golden dragon.
"You fools," he scolded but secretly he felt very grateful.
"We couldn't leave you brother, we are one family. We came into the world together and we must support each other," they insisted. Qinglong and Yinglong unleashed their true forms and dashed for the twenty four sea calming pearls. "Don't you dare steal from our elder brother," they roared at Shen Feng.
"Wait brothers, treasure isn't as important as your life," Zulong called out frantically chasing after them. Shen Feng found the whole situation amusing. He casually slapped away Qinglong and Yinglong with a wing.
"Brats these days don't know what's good for them," he mocked. He toyed with the three with little effort nor care. The treasures were already as good as his.
"Bullying juniors? Really Shen Feng, have you truly fallen so low?" The three brother's feeling of dread doubled as another profound aura appeared. Natural phenomenons generating sonorous voices sung in the air, profound scriptures flashed across the waves.
Illusions of dancing fairies, marching deities, and celebrating immortals sung in brilliant radiance as the waves parted. Shen Feng's storm clouds slowly receded as the cloudy outline of an eight headed serpent surfaced. A younger male with a short beard and long yellow hair walked from within the water.
"Da Hai," Shen Feng said slowly in recognition. "This business has nothing to do with you, leave," he commanded. Da Hai ignored the wind god and looked at the state of the dragons.
"Spawned from the Yang rich half of Pangu's Qi, the personification of the masculine form known as the ancestral dragon Zulong. He is a creature of great destiny. Why must you harm juniors," Da Hai accused.
"Taking the higher ground? You hunger for their treasures too," Shen Feng accused back.
Da Hai turned his attention to the three dragons. Pulling from a certain famous phrase, he said, "You three have destiny with me, are you willing to worship me as your master and join my Yingzhou lineage?"
The dragon siblings couldn't believe their good luck. Although this meant bowing their heads for now, they would also get a teacher at the Chaos Immortal realm. Even if it was the weakest tier of Chaos Immortal, it was still far above them. They'd heard of Yingzhou as well, it was one of the best environments for cultivation.
The three dragons assumed human forms and bowed. "Greetings master," they said in unison. Da Hai chuckled softly, 'they may be arrogant but they aren't stupid'. In truth, Zulong felt slightly unhappy at his choice, however given the circumstance it was the only option that will save his brothers.
"Shen Feng, you have bullied my disciples. I give you one opportunity to scram from here," he warned. Shen Feng's smokey face contorted in anger.
"Da Hai, watch your tone," he flared up his power causing tsunamis in the open ocean. The sea floor began cracking and the heavens split in two, distant dimensional walls were also beginning to shake.
"On the cusp of Hunyaun already?" Da Hai exclaimed in surprise but then laughed. The profound aura of the sea crashed down as well, not losing out one bit to Shen Feng. In fact, it slowly began overtaking the wind god.
Shen Feng gulped. Da Hai was proving to be far more impressive than he had thought. The wind dissipated and Shen Feng's figure disappeared into the horizon. Da Hai couldn't help but slap the title 'coward' on the godfiend.
"Shen Feng is many things, but brave is never one of them. Do not worry, he won't trouble you again," Da Hai informed the dragons. "Take this as a lesson, there are always bigger fish in the sea."
Da Hai waved his hands, closing up the injuries of the dragons. He picked up the twenty four ocean calming pearls and handed them back to Zulong.
"We thank master for your teachings," Zulong, Yinglong, and Qinglong said. Da Hai nodded, "Follow me back to Yingzhou, we have much to talk about and work on."