Within a damaged underwater fort, a talisman displaying the image of a fisherman shattered to pieces. The resounding explosion caught the attention of a fisherman caretaker at the True Immortal realm.
"Oh no!" He cried out in fright and rushed out of the fort. He swam past the dozen or so posted guards in a hurry. In his hysteria, he didn't properly defend against the cold. The edges of his robes began collecting ice.
However, he ignored it in favour in rushing to the commanding elder. His merman clan did not have much manpower. The death of anyone was big news. The higher ups must know.
"Big news, big news!" He called out.
"Halt," a burly fish man roared. He raised his palm and forcefully stopped the hysterical fish man. "What is it that have you so panicked?" He asked.
"Elder Bao, big news, big and terrible news," the fish man caretaker made out between huffs. "Elder Ri, who ventured out earlier had perished," he said solemnly.
"Impossible! Brother Ri is one of our premier experts just a hairs breath away from the Heavenly Immortal realm. He wields one of the great sabers of our clan, it is impossible for him to just die," elder Bao said in disbelief.
"But it is the truth, elder Ri's life binding talisman shattered," the fish man said sadly. His air of depression was shared by elder Bao.
"Oh this is terrible, the annual sealing of the monstrous evil is coming soon," elder Bao moaned depressingly. "Who will take his place?" He hung his head in defeat.
"Perhaps we should call for the emperor to come deal with the evil," the fish man suggested.
"Absolutely not!" Elder Dao roared. "Have you forgotten what they did to us? Those filthy innate gods cannot be trusted. They are animals who prey on our kind."
"Of course I have not forgotten elder Bao," the fish man said. "But think logically, what other choice do we have?"
"We'll fight," elder Bao said with great conviction. "We've suppressed the great evil for generations and will continue to do so. We have prevented his coming so it should be weak. With the patriarch's help, we can kill it."
Elder Bao turned to the fish man caretaker. "Notify, the rest of the elders. We must prepare ourselves." He took note of the fish man's trembling figure and sighed. Their history was long, their entire clan had existed for many tens of thousands of years.
Elder Bao could still remember those whimsical days. Those peaceful periods when thousands of races posed up. Peace didn't last for very long as they were all enslaved. Fed to primordial beasts and innate gods alike.
Now they were the only ones left. The few left to take care of the north sea. To prevent the rise of another innate god like Shenni.
Elder Bao swam into the edge of an underwater lake. Mighty chains were constructed atop it forming a massive platform where a half dozen Heavenly Immortal masters sat crossed legged. They looked extremely ragged, fatigued from years of activity.
"Elder Bao, you're early this year," an old female tired voice called out. "Quickly, join the seal formation, we cannot allow it to weaken anymore. The cracks are already beginning to form."
"Not so elder Yan, I bring grave news," he replied. He explained what the caretaker had explained to him. Immediately the mood shifted. These experts all carried deep frowns.
"It seems our last stand is here," a depressed elder laughed self deprecatingly. "If only we weren't born innate creatures, at least then we'd have a chance to thrive."
"Don't say that old thing. Have you no pride?" Another retaliated angrily. "Be proud of our heritage. Be proud that we as innate creatures born of the world are capable of kindness, capable of empathy."
"Hah, what's the use? Born into a nightmare under a villain. Then when the nightmare was just over another villain took his place," another elder sighed. "Then our numbers were massacred and we thought everything was fine. Such a pitiful dream."
"Too right, I have long forgotten what children looked like. Even the place we live hates us. Too cold for anything beyond immortals to survive. And now another villain wants to be born?" An angry elder gritted her teeth. "I say we kill it, the least outcome is us dying in the fight."
The depressed elders were all extraordinarily angry. They could sense the rest of the elders approaching. Several Heavenly Immortals followed by a few dozen Profound Immortals. They each drew their ice bladed weapons.
Their bloodlust eyes gazed down at the underwater lake. Years of hatred surfaced, years of torment gave way to rage.
The ocean began shaking before they knew it. The frozen seafloor rumbled and the chilling waters of the north splashed about. Like a living typhoon, a creature of incredible size burrowed out from beneath the seafloor.
A long serpentine monstrosity adorned with pure white scales. A large wide jaw of jagged teeth. Its face was lit by a lantern, like an angular fish except far larger. It had tendrils each adorned with jewel like glowing orbs embedded.
"Primordial beats?" elder Bao barely made out as the monster attacked. It tore into their ranks instantly killing an unprepared immortal elder.
"Why is it here? They normally don't leave the mysterious island," the northern sea creatures were thrown into disarray. They hurriedly fled from the platform which cracked as the beast rested on it.
"Oh no, the seal is breaking!" A penguin stammered in anguish.
…
Zulong flew with leisured haste. His brothers trailed behind him with keen expectation. The information the elder dragon had torn from the fish man's mind was very useful in allowing them to navigate the north sea. It had also allowed them to learn much of the north's history.
"Up ahead should be their village," Zulong reminded them. The details he'd gotten was that the village was built near the centre of the north sea. It was one of the first settlements built long before their birth.
It was subsequently abandoned then resettled during and after the events of the Shenni war. It was also the site of a new discovery.
In the aftermath of the war, when the new yuanhui came. An underground lake formed near the village. It was a lake of chilling water, born from the excessive Yin energy that permeated the north sea.
The existence of this lake drastically lowered the temperature of the north rendering it nigh uninhabitable for anything that was not already an immortal. Generations of newborns died just like that.
This event and in conjunction with Si Hai's 'pacififying' of the north led to a tiny population overall. It wasn't even the clan system employed by the rest of the primitive world. This was quite literally just a camp of various survivors.
"I wonder who this suppressed evil is," Qinglong wondered out loud.
"Likely an innate god like us," Yinglong said. "What else is there? If it was an innate creature then it wouldn't need so many immortals to suppress it. Though why would they even consider it evil if it had yet to be born?"
"It isn't," Zulong said. "Whoever fellow daoist is was never their concern. Only his birth status as an innate god." Zulogn sighed solemnly. "Their rage is understandable, seeing Shenni's actions is different from hearing about them."
A single individual had forever changed the climate of an entire region of the primitive world. The north was a wasteland, it was by far the harshest place to live in the modern world. It was also one of the few places where primordial beasts still existed.
Though extremely rare and largely extinct, a few primordial beasts had managed to survive up until now. They are few in number but are the strongest of the elites. Remnants of Shenni's reign.
"Whatever the case, the north is an intriguing place for resources. This special water has its own unique properties. I wonder what applications we can use it for," Yinglong said.
"Rich in Yin, extremely cold, hmm perhaps…Hm?" Zulong's wondering was abruptly halted as his antlered head snapped towards the village's direction. "A battle?" He said having felt the employment of Qi.
"Intriguing, let's see what's going on," Zulogn guided his brothers towards the commotion. Their high cultivations allowed for them to easily reach their destination. The cold water parted ways for them as the three dragons swam. They resembled torpedos in the empty waves.
"You are excited?" Yinglong asked Qinglong when he saw the younger dragon's facial expression.
"Of course, this will be our first time seeing a primordial beast. A creature before our time. Does it not fascinate you?" He replied.
"Only in how long it'll last against me."
"Heh, you won't even get a chance, just stay safe behind me."
"Why you little…"
"Enough brothers, we're here," Zulong announced haunting midway. The primordial beast slithered across the water sustaining blasts upon blasts with no damage. Its gaping maw was bloody with the blood and essence of immortal innate creatures.
The beasts took note of the trio and roared its horrifying screech. The immortals near it gripped their heads in pain. Weaker Profound Immortals had their eardrums burst, they gripped their bleeding heads unable to dodge as the beast's great white tail crushed them.
The beast blasted through the water biting at the dragons. Zulong smirked and was about to make a move but stopped. Seeing his brothers about to take action he decided to stop.
Qinglong was the first to react. Before the beast had done any damage, it was already knocked upwards. The humanoid azure dragon had sent an uppercut at the beast, it couldn't resist the terrifying strength of the dragon.
"Primordial beast, let me play with you," Qinglong chased after the creature and began brawling with it. The dragon casually danced around the lumbering creature. Each of his blows heavily bruised the monster broke its bones, forced it to spill out blood.
"Yinglong, go see if those innate creatures are alright," Zulong said.
"At once brother," Yinglong descended towards the underwater lake.
"Innate gods? Damn it," a frail looking Heavenly Immortal resembling a sunfish with a human's body gripped his sword made of ice. "You kind isn't welcome here, die," he charged at the winged dragon.
Yinglong caught the blade and shattered the ice by exerting his strength. "Such good quality material but so poorly made," he idly commented.
"Do not mock our culture, what would a fiend like you know," an old woman followed by three men jumped at Yinglong. Dozens of cultivators also attacked with renewed vigour.
"Please fellow daoists, I am not here to fight," Yinglong attempted to say. However, he was met by a stream of accusations. The winged dragon felt his blood boil at the stream of words calling him a liar, a villain, a fiend among other profanities.
'This is getting absurd,' he thought as he was struck again and again. Of course, he took no damage at all and merely held his hand up. He wasn't even flaring his power, just standing there.
"Do not be afraid comrades," the old woman said. "We will die fighting, but we will take him down with us." She was met with cries of agreement.
"Yinglong!" Zulong's voice sounded in his head. The winged dragon realised that this was a voice transmission.
"What is it brother?" He replied.
"Prepare for engagement, that snake is not the only primordial beast in the vicinity," Zulong said.
"Got it," Yinglong waved his hand and froze all the innate creatures. "Fellow daoists, I am not here to fight, I will ask you to take cover while I deal more primordial beasts."
The frozen old woman spat at him. "To hell with your lies, you will not break our spirit." Yinglong ignored her, he bound them in auspicious clouds chains and walked to the edge of the lake with interest.
Behind him, a massive leviathan with two heads and a thousand tails sprung up from the soil. Another massive bird with no feathers dived into the water narrowly missing Zulong. These creatures appeared to be salivating at the lake.
"So the leakage of power attracted them," Yinglong concluded. Two massive feathery wings sprouted from his back.
"Comrades, it seems this is it," the old woman sighed sadly. The leviathan was looking to be eating their entire group in one gulp. However this group did not yield, they bravely starred down the primordial beast.
However, death never came. A massive creature they did not recognise crushed the leviathan's left head and severed the right. Its head was like a crocodile with antlers of a deer. It was long like a serpent, clothed in yellow scales. Its whiskers were that of a catfish, long and elegant.
Yinglong had unleashed his true form. In but an instant, he killed both primordial beasts. He was quick and efficient, unlike Qinglong who had opted to play around.
The azure dragon meanwhile had returned with the head of the snake angler fish hybrid. "What did I miss?" He asked. Zulong silently transmitted the recent events to him.
The immortals who were tied up were still glaring at Yinglong who removed their chains. "There, I'm not here to fight. If I wanted to I could've killed you all with ease," he stated.
"You think we'd believe that. Your kind are a blight on this world, lowliest of scum. You'll torture us for your amusement, eat our children and force us to make more to fill the bellies of your pets!" The old woman screamed in a frenzied rage.
"The audacity to accuse us," Yinglong's eyes narrowed in anger. He had been patient but patience had its limits. He will not tolerate such behaviour.
"We are not Shenni," Zulong said calmly landing with Qinglong beside Yinglong.
"All innate gods are the same, merciless scum," another immortal said.
"The only difference between innate gods and innate creatures is that we're born Golden Immortals," Zulong said. "Do not confuse us for the chaos godfiends who made your lives a misery."
"So what? You want the exact same thing. I can see it in your eyes," the old woman spat.
"Yes, I wish to rule as your emperor, not as your slaver," Zulong said. "I can offer the north sea much. I can bring you peace, I can bring you prosperity. I can grant you resources to help you cultivate. I can guide you all to Golden Immortals."
Zulong waved his hand easily healing all their injuries. "I am not your enemy, I never was and I don't have to be. I can swear an oath under the Heavenly Dao that my intentions are not to use you as a food source. I am Zulong, the primordial celestial dragon, not the beast emperor."
The people listening had quieted down as if debating their options. "We already have an emperor, Si Hai rules these waters," one immortal said.
"And where is he? What has Si Hai done for you?" Zulong asked. He was met with silence and looks of sorrow and rage. Zulong took out many bottles of medicinal herbs from his inter spacial ring.
"Gifts to help you all," he said leaving the bottles down. He also took out various treasures and left them on the sea floor as well before stepping back.
"Brother, the seal is disappearing," Yinglong said. Zulong nodded, "Then it is time we meet fellow daoist beneath this lake."
Deep within the underwater lake. Admits the ice cold water, a gargantuan tortoise with a snake coiling around its body slept. A sleep bubble expanded and contracted on its nose. Suddenly, it popped.