Volume One, Chapter Sixty-Nine: Iron-Blooded Confrontation

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Iron-Blooded Standoff

The geographical map of the Three Realms and the various lands showed that the territory of Rahu, King of the Asuras, lay beneath the waters of the Great Salty Sea. From there, heading north, as soon as one emerged from the depths, one would encounter the Great Deer Gathering Tree, around which the Dragon Kings and the Kings of the Golden-Winged Birds were entrenched. Further north beyond the Great Deer Gathering Tree stood the Chakkavala Mountains—the Double Iron Enclosure Mountains—the site of the Eight Great Hells, the domain of Dog and his brother Yama Raksasa.

The Iron Enclosure Mountains, home to the Eight Great Hells, were in fact already very close to the border of Jambudvipa. As he journeyed toward this boundary, Tu Zhe felt a surge of excitement, mixed with a tumult of emotions.

Jambudvipa—the planet once called Earth in his previous life, a world teeming with life, was his homeland.

There had once been his village, his parents, his childhood friends, his dreams, and his nightmares.

He could not suppress the urge to see that planet again, as if some ancient call was echoing deep within his soul.

Yet he knew all of that belonged to the past. That time had long since vanished; his parents were now mere bones beneath the yellow earth. He could no longer imagine what his old home might look like.

It felt both near and impossibly distant. The memories remained vivid, yet time itself had become mottled and broken.

Only a little over a month had passed since his birth on Mount Sumeru, but surely Jambudvipa had undergone countless changes. Even by the reckoning of one day on Sumeru equaling a hundred years on Earth, more than three millennia had passed since his death.

With a sigh, he cast aside that lingering attachment. Holding Dog and Little Lei Lei, together with the three Demonesses, Tu Zhe soared into the void, skimming the waves as he flew toward the northern shore of the Great Salty Sea.

Rahu, together with Yueyi and his five chief followers, shrouded in mist, watched Tu Zhe and his companions fade into the distance.

Yueyi murmured to herself, “If love can endure for long, why must it dwell only in fleeting dawns and dusks...” Her eyes brimmed with endless longing and reluctance.

Old Rahu glanced at his daughter, sighing inwardly. His daughter, he thought, has truly lost herself to obsession...

The Great Salty Sea was vast beyond measure; it dwarfed the four great oceans of Earth's former age, making them seem like mere puddles by comparison.

Within its depths, myriad aquatic races thrived, billions of minute creatures coexisted, and countless treasures lay hidden beneath the waves. Yet, as a human, one could do little more than gaze upon them. The thought of plundering such riches was futile; the monsters of the sea could tear an aircraft carrier apart with ease—who would dare try?

Speaking of the aquatic monsters beneath the Great Salty Sea, the most formidable among them were the Dragon Kings.

There were three particularly renowned dragon palaces beneath these waters: the Palace of Sagara, the Palace of Nanda, and the Palace of Upananda.

The Palace of Sagara and Rahu’s own capital, the City of Mahabodhi, both stood beneath the sea, facing one another across the depths. The two kept their distance, never clashing, owing to the influence of the Great Emperor.

The Dragon King Sagara was a close confidant of the Emperor, stationed here not without a hint of surveillance over old Rahu. Thus, their relationship remained outwardly cordial at best.

Nanda and Upananda’s palaces lay closer to Mount Sumeru, forming a pincer with Sagara’s palace. Should Rahu stir, these three Dragon Kings would form the vanguard.

One could not deny the Emperor’s cunning in this arrangement, nor that Rahu was indeed constrained. But Rahu, truth be told, cared little for these dragons. If not for the accursed National Protection Incantation, he would have swept them away long ago.

According to Tu Zhe’s analysis, these three great Dragon Kings would be unlikely to intervene against him while he traveled above the Great Salty Sea. But beneath the waves, other dragon kings dwelled—such as the Naga Demon Dragon King, a formidable candidate.

Given the vastness of the region, not all sentient beings were willing to submit to the rule of the Three Realms. Powerful monster clans gathered in the ocean’s depths, unrestrained by any authority; solitary monsters, meanwhile, would rob and kill at will, caring nothing for whom they preyed upon.

The Naga Demon Dragon King reigned as a dominant power beneath the Great Salty Sea, possessing the might of an emperor. Under his command were twenty-four minor dragon kings of the Great Sage level, and innumerable Arhat-level demon lords—if not a thousand, then at least eight hundred—along with tens of millions of demon generals and soldiers. The three great Dragon Kings, not to mention that their main foes were not the Naga Demon Dragon King, would find him an unconcerned rival even if they wished to confront him.

Should a battle arise, who would shrink from it?

Tu Zhe surmised that if his group encountered an ambush atop the Great Salty Sea, it would most likely come from the Naga Demon Dragon King’s faction.

The five chief followers of Rahu, trailing Tu Zhe from afar, were cloaked in a spell that concealed their forms and auras, rendering them invisible to mortal eyes. They were not an ambush force, but had been tasked with recording Tu Zhe’s battles and broadcasting them live to the heavens of the Desire Realm.

At this moment, Tu Zhe unleashed his divine sense without restraint, casting it out in all directions, covering a sphere five million kilometers wide in every direction. In essence, the entire expanse of the Great Salty Sea fell within his awareness; nothing unusual could escape his notice.

This was a blatant, naked provocation, an undisguised gesture of contempt.

Well then, didn’t some wish to challenge him? He had arrived—let them come forth and prove their worth, whether they were donkeys or horses!

Sagara, Nanda, and Upananda all sensed the mighty divine sense sweeping again and again through their palaces and territories. Such unbridled probing made it abundantly clear that he held them in no regard.

They had, of course, received instructions from Shakra—the Emperor Indra himself: should any conflict arise upon the surface of the Great Salty Sea, they were to pretend ignorance, as if they were in seclusion or asleep, and not to meddle.

Thus, although the three Dragon Kings seethed with rage, longing to burst forth and deliver a harsh lesson to this arrogant youngster, they held back...

Because they had been ordered not to intervene.

At the same time, all the powerful aquatic demons beneath the sea felt the touch of Tu Zhe’s divine sense. Would the monsters of the deep endure such provocation and scorn in silence?

Instantly, towering waves soared skyward, and upon their crests appeared legions of whale demons, shark demons, fish demons, turtle demons, clam demons, octopus demons, yakshas, jellyfish, and other aquatic monsters, all shouting at Tu Zhe and his party, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.

Tu Zhe’s group halted in mid-air, regarding the throng of water demons with cold impassivity, offering no explanation, calmly awaiting the arrival of the true adversary.

Tu Zhe’s divine sense pierced the waves, sweeping through the depths, where he saw battalions of aquatic monsters armed and arrayed, banners flying, twenty-four formations stationed in the deep. Clearly, these were the twenty-four lesser dragon kings of the Naga Demon Dragon King, each with their forces.

With a cold laugh, Tu Zhe focused his divine sense into a single line, carrying his voice directly into the ears of the twenty-four lesser dragon kings.

“Are you all prepared? This Prince has been waiting quite some time—come forth now!”

In an instant, thunder roared in the ears of the twenty-four lesser dragon kings, shaking their souls and making them stagger in both shock and fury. At once, they marshaled their armies, surging toward the surface in a tidal wave, driving the ordinary aquatic monsters from the crests, scattering them into the troughs with cries of alarm, some even tumbling back into the depths.

At the head of the host, the First Dragon King under the Naga Demon Dragon King stood atop the highest wave, leading his legion of black-bannered water demons, and bellowed to the assembled monsters:

“Under the command of the Great Naga Dragon King, Dragon One leads the twenty-four divisions of the demon dragon army on official business. Any unaffiliated monsters or aquatic tribes must immediately withdraw, or be punished for grave disrespect!”