The kingdom of the Primordial Turtle clan flourished for many years, ruling from their capital city of Gui Cheng. The Turtle king was a primordial existence who was already quite old during the Shenni war, succeeding Da Hai's own birth by only ten thousand years or so. As such he was quite intelligent in forging alliances and trades with other clans in order for his own to survive.
Having braved many challenges without resorting to violence had been a great personal achievement for the king. However the responsibility Da Hai had saddled him was truly headache inducing.
"Daddy, I'm back!" A youthful girl who looked around sixteen years old ran into the throne room followed by several turtle and shark guards. Turtle king looked up in surprise.
"Yu'er, you're back," he exclaimed in pleasant surprise. He quickly got off his throne and hugged his daughter in tearful joy. "Oh daddy has missed you, silly girl," he laughed in true joy.
Gui Daiyu was the only daughter of the Turtle king from his marriage with a princess of the Colossal Shark clan who herself was the daughter of the Colossal Shark ancestor and the Mosasaur ancestor's sister. The apple in her father's eye, Gui Daiyu had been in her maternal home for several centuries.
"You're back, and so soon? Did something happen?" Turtle king inquired. Gui Daiyu shouldn't be back so soon. Last he had heard, she was receiving training under her grandfather, the Colossal Shark ancestor.
"Well, grandfather said that since I excelled so much in his teachings, I could come back early," she giggled and held out her hand. Turtle king examined her cultivation and gasped in astonishment. The little girl of yesteryear who was born mortal had very quickly ascended to a Heavenly Immortal realm expert.
Turtle king could already see the foundation of a flower crown of the Three Splendours. This kind of talent was extremely rare, Gui Daiyu was still less than a thousand years old. This was less than a fraction of a Heavenly Immortal's lifespan.
"So, what's been going on dad? Why does everyone seem so nervous?" She asked chipperly. Her father suddenly froze, contemplating whether to tell his daughter or not.
She was largely unaware of the dangers of the Primitive World, having been sheltered for a majority of her life. Turtle king looked nervously at the ministers around him who returned the same nervous look. The shark guards looked at their turtle allies in confusion as a result.
"Hey, what do you think's the matter?" One of the sharks leaned in on another and whispered.
"No idea bro. They're turtles, so anything somewhat scary scares them," the other answered.
"Yea, it could be anything," the first shark nodded, then asked another question. "Remind me why are we in an alliance with them again?"
"They're rich," the other shark answered. Out of all the factions in the East Sea, excluding Yingzhou, the Primordial Turtles were the wealthiest and had the most knowledge in miscellaneous advancements. They were the best alchemists, the best smiths, the best farmers, not to mention their nigh impenetrable defence.
Gui Daiyu crossed her arms and said, "Well dad?" The turtle king could tell she was expecting an answer fast. However he was deeply concerned that she may offend the mighty Zulong. He may be defenceless now but he is one of the few disciples of the Great Saint of Yingzhou.
"Well um… Yu'er why don't you go visit the city again like you always do? We've recently built a new temple," he said, trying to divert her attention.
"I've already been there though," she grumbled. "Why do we need so many temples for one guy anyway? And stop diverting the topic dad, what's going on?"
Turtle king quickly put his finger in her lips, shushing her. "Silly girl, don't say such things lest you offend the Great Saint of Yingzhou." He carried on on a tangent while his daughter gave him an unimpressed look.
"Okay fine, I won't look too deeply into this," she finally said. She then quickly added an , "I promise". Seeing this the turtle king sighed in relief.
"Haha, that's good, all's good, now how about we tour the city again like the old days?" His daughter answered with a happy nod. "Very well, men, ready the sea carriage."
However unknown to the king, Gui Daiyu held her fingers crossed behind her back. No guards who were standing behind her reported though, seeing as this was the most favoured child in the East Sea.
That same week, when the turtle king had left the palace for an inspection on the underwater herb farms. Gui Daiyu snuck around the palace.
She quickly noticed a place that was infrequently visited by the servants. A place that seemed to be permeated with a dark aura that she can't quite put her finger on.
"What exactly is going on?" She wondered till she arrived before the guest room. She remembered this room as the same one which hosted her maternal grandfather many years ago. It was a very high class guest room.
"I said I didn't want to be disturbed, leave," a rude male voice commanded from within. Those words held so much force, Gui Daiyu felt almost compelled to obey.
'Some sort of unique bloodline ability?' She thought curiously. All innate creature clans had some sort of unique ability but not all were that useful and most were very similar. Those clans with exceptional abilities were almost always at the very top of the food chain. Her own Primordial Turtle clan had their shells which were harder than most spiritual treasures in the world.
"I said leave," the rude voice commanded again much to her chagrin. The princess gritted her teeth, seething in anger.
"I am the princess of the Primordial Turtle clan, who are you to order me around?" She retorted. "Now I order you to open this door and reveal yourself."
The voice on the other side growled in annoyance. She could almost feel the water becoming chilly. She could vaguely hear cursing, something about idiotic turtles and stupid master.
'Could he be talking about my Primordial Turtle clan?" She thought in offended anger. She grabbed hold of the door handle and tried to yank it open. It came off fairly easily given her enormous strength.
"I said to LEAVE!" A young man with a fierce look and deer like antlers roared back at her. He looked extremely arrogant that it just pissed her off to no end.
"And just who are you to command me stranger?" She yelled back. It was then that she noticed the trashed room and grew even more furious. "Do you know what you've done?"
"Oh? What of it?" The antlered stranger taunted. Gui Daiyu gritted her teeth and mentally chanted her royal lessons in etiquette. It didn't help much as she immediately commanded, "You better apologise and fix this room or else."
"Or else what?" The antlered stranger growled.
"Or else I teach you a lesson you'll never forget."
The stranger laughed as if he heard the most amusing thing in the world. "Teach me? Me? Oh that's rich, your granddaddy here made your ancestors quake in their little water caves. Who are you to teach me a lesson, hm?" He chuckled, "Nothing but a nobody from a worthless clan."
"Worthless?" Gui Daiyu roared and punched the stranger. Her speed shocked him. He could barely react before he was thrown to the wall. "All talk no bite," she mocked.
The young man got up groggily onto his feat. He looked absolutely humiliated, he Zulong was a mighty innate god several thousand years her senior. The same god who once terrorised the East Sea with absolute might. Being pushed around by a puny Heaven Immortal quickly ignited his anger even higher.
He tried to call forth his mighty strength and howled in frustration when he couldn't bring it forward. 'It's fine,' he thought. 'My cultivation base is sealed but my physical strength is still there.'
He charged forward to attack the turtle princess who met him in hand to hand combat. The strength displayed by Zulong surprised Gui Daiyu. He was able to fight her, who had trained with the best the Colossal Sharks and Mosasaurs had to offer.
Zulong was extremely aggressive, but he lacked proper form and all his attacks were wild. He however made up for it with insane physical strength that dwarfed hers easily. Gui Daiyu knew she had to resort to a more technical approach to win.
Meanwhile Zulong was frustrated. He couldn't exert anywhere near what he was truly capable of. He couldn't help but curse Da Hai at his current situation. This woman was pushing him to the brink.
Gui Daiyu leapt back and kicked out waves of water in an arc like wave. They all impacted Zulong who couldn't utilise Qi to defend. He had to tank every attack with his body. However, although his cultivation was sealed, his dragon scales were still incredibly hard and he didn't receive any damage.
"Hah!" Gui Daiyu got past the staggering Zulong and sent a palm attack directly into his chest, easily sending him crashing through the wall. The dragon couldn't right himself in the water and was thrown outside into the courtyard.
By now the fight had caught the attention of some guards. However they were too far away to do anything as Gui Daiyu swam after Zulong in top speed. She unleashed a barrage of palm strikes at the dragon's abdomen ending with a kick that rocketed him into the ground.
He impacted the floor hard creating a crater. However much to Gui Daiyu's shock, he was not even remotely injured. 'Just what is he made of?' She thought with wonder.
Zulong slowly got up to his feet and stared at the woman. He was huffing and held onto his own knees for support. All this time he had been attempting to call forth his dragon physique but had been unsuccessful. He was forced to rely on his Dao body.
"Yah!" Zulong charged in for his own aggressive attack. Each of his punches carried immense weight, weight that was able to push the princess back with each block. As such Gui Daiyu countered his strong punches with quicker nimble strikes at his meridians.
These were sharp attacks some shrimp instructors had taught her. She'd never thought that she'd be forced to use them. Using various martial forms, Gui Daiyu danced around Zulong, skilfully dodging and attacking, whittling him down step by step.
With each successive exchange, she guided Zulong into an advantageous position for herself. Before he realised what happened, she'd caught his arm in a wrist lock, twisting it around him and flipped him onto the ground.
Zulong found himself unable to exert any strength at all. He began to realise he had lost the exchange. He was shocked to his core. Completely frozen in shock.
Gui Daiyu meanwhile was sweating and felt incredibly tired. Her spell repertoire was lacking to begin with hence she relied on her martial ability. This was the most difficult fight she had ever had since she began training.
They were both sweaty and fatigued, something they were both unused to as the princess had never been in a real fight while Zulong never experienced difficult fights like this before.
"What have you done?" The turtle king who ran through the gates into the palace courtyard screamed. He immediately ran up to the two and manhandled his daughter off of Zulong.
"Hey what are you…" before Gui Daiyu finished, the turtle king slapped her, surprising her. Her father had never struck her before and at this moment she too became frozen not knowing how to proceed.
"Idiot girl," he immediately got onto his knees. "Please exalted lord, forgive my idiot daughter. She is young and naive, she doesn't know any better." The ministers who trailed after him all began kowtowing and begging.
"What?" Gui Daiyu who held her red cheek did not know how to react. Just who was this man to make her father so subservient? She knew her paternal side wasn't known for their bravery but this was a little too out of character.
"What are you waiting for? Kneel!" Turtle king grabbed Gui Daiyu and forced her to kneel as well. "Quickly apologise!" He commanded.
"Enough, no harm done," Zulong who had gotten back onto his feet waved to the people kowtowing to get up. He flexed his biceps as the turtles were still apologising. He groaned in pain.
"What are you waiting for? Thank his highness!" Turtle king immediately changed his words and offered deep thanks. However Gui Daiyu was still too shocked at the scene to speak.
"Idiot girl, this is the exalted Zulong, the ancestral dragon and personal disciple of his exalted majestic Saint of Yingzhou. Oh what have you done, our clan is doomed, doomed. Oh wuwuwuwu wu," the turtle king began crying.
'Disciple?' Gui Daiyu was slowly realising the gravity of the situation. She felt her previous courage drop and a petrifying fear enveloped her.
Zulong was expressionless when he walked up to her. The king and ministers seeing this closed their eyes and accepted her death. They could do nothing at this point but curse the girl for her stupidity.
However, no attack came. Zulong reached for her arms and helped her up wordlessly. He looked at her with begrudging respect and said, "Be proud of your accomplishment."
He wordlessly walked back to the ruined room and said, "Leave, I need some time alone."
"Oh thank you, thank you, my lord, thank you for your mercy. Daiyu, why aren't you thanking him!" The turtle king cried hysterically.
"I said leave!" Zulong roared and following this, the turtles hurriedly left, dragging their princess away. She spared him one last look of shock before she was taken away.
Zulong sat down and leaned on the broken wall. Many thoughts raced through his mind. However one thing was certain, he had indeed lost that fight. The fact that it was a lowly innate creature deeply troubled him.