Chapter 734: Chapter 23 Breaking the Seal (Part 2) Chapter 734: Chapter 23 Breaking the Seal (Part 2) “`
“Yan Gong, save me! Yan Gong, save me!”

The water ripples endlessly, a golden tentacle wraps around Yang Zichu’s ghastly dragon form, pulling him uncontrollably closer, until suddenly the immense pitch-black eyes and mouth parts of Yan Gong appear before him.

“How did you end up like this? Which one did you provoke? Didn’t you show it my jade pendant?”

Yang Zichu’s wounds are bone-deep, obviously not feigned. He had prepared his story well in advance, unafraid of facing off with the great demons, but just as his silver tongue was about to work its magic, a rush of heat surged to his head, and with a gasp of pain, blood poured from his seven orifices, the entire dragon twitched twice and then breathed its last.

Dead?

Not only was Li Jiang shocked, but even Li Yan was taken aback upon witnessing this, unintentionally tightening her grip on the bubble with her hands, causing ripples of iridescent colors to rise.

Without a moment’s thought, Li Jiang spewed a stream of golden fluid from her mouth parts into the nostrils of the Pig Dragon King. But there was no response from Yang Zichu for a long time, even the temperature of his carcass gradually dropped under the rinsing of the cold seawater, as bubbles rose beneath his claws – they were dozens of newly polished agate saddles, marked with tooth and claw.

Li Jiang extended her tentacles, gently laying the Pig Dragon King’s carcass on the ground, bubbles of air rumbled from her mouth parts, it was unclear whether she was stunned or enraged.

It was at this moment, a distant scolding rang out.

“Li Jiang, your little dragon has been very unruly, not only harming my child’s life but also offending more than a dozen heavens in just half a day. Could it be that you did this deliberately?”

One could hear the voice, but not see the person.

The speaker was clad in scarlet-colored armor, resembling a martial figure; with nothing below the waist, the most terrifying feature was a pair of flesh lumps extending from the eye sockets, over two feet long, wrapping around brilliantly shining eyes.

Needless to say, this person was none other than Tian Yan Jun. Behind him, the various demon kings each bore a different demeanor, their anger boiling, and a tumultuous demonic aura swirling; all of them had come knocking on the door,
Originally, Tian Yan Jun knew that a subordinate had been killed by a Pig Dragon brandishing Yan Gong’s jade pendant but dare not express his anger.

It was common knowledge in Heavenly Mother Palace that Li Jiang had a savage and volatile nature, and possessed great magical power. There were countless demons in the world, but perhaps the only one who could make the haughty ruler of Qi Country, Xiao Bai, acknowledge a sister was her. Even when Heavenly Mother had subdued Yan Gong in the past, it was by clever ruse, trapping her with a dazedly agreed-upon contract of ten cups.

Later, it was discovered that the Pig Dragon had not only stolen the Blood Seaweed but also smashed Miyao King’s statue, devoured two of Dier Lord’s ghost concubines, swapped the healing herbs for Tunjin Demon Toad’s furuncle with mud, and even barged into Mei Bang’s boudoir. Mei Bang, out of respect for Yan Gong, had treated her courteously, and in the time it took to serve a cup of tea, the thieving Pig Dragon had not only stolen Mei Bang’s Golden Bead, which had been nurtured for five hundred years, but had also made lewd remarks. The rest of the misdeeds were innumerable.

Tian Yan Jun, seeing the crowd’s excitement, began to suspect. Though Yan Gong was fierce, she never stooped to cause unnecessary trouble; it must have been that little dragon acting on its own.

Thus, he led his forces here to demand accountability, his opening terms leaving room for negotiation – he didn’t even seek a life for a life, just an admission from Yan Gong would suffice, leaving the remaining crimes to fall on the small little crocodile dragon.

“Could it be you instigated this?”

Unfortunately, Yang Zichu was already dead, and upon hearing these words, Li Jiang’s black vertical pupils immediately dilated.

Quite the Tian Yan, killing my subject and not resting until bringing the fight to my doorstep, pointing fingers and hurling accusations at me?

Before Tian Yan could speak again, a golden tentacle, like a thunderous decree, pierced through his skull in the blink of an eye.

“Who is this?!”

“`
Ruchika pointed to a yellowed scroll of paper that depicted a general with half of a flesh tumor protruding from his eye socket, clad in shiny red leather armor.

The man with the blackened teeth glanced at the paper Ruchika was pointing to, and shuffled his chair backwards against the peeling wall paint, muttering indistinctly, “This is a ghost king who ran rampant in China some six or seven hundred years ago, named Tian Yan Jun.”

“Was he very powerful?”

Ruchika asked, curious.

The man with the blackened teeth snorted coldly, showing particular disdain for Ruchika’s question, “Just so you know, Tian Yan Jun was the malevolent spirit of a famous minister from the Shang and Zhou dynasties reborn. With a pair of extraordinary eyes, his magic was boundless; those caught in his gaze would die instantly, and he could spy from a thousand miles away. Had it not been for Heavenly Mother’s intervention to subdue him, I fear that even now, no one in the South Seas would be able to control him. Not the Demon Thief Queen Yan, nor anyone else could match him.”

“Hmm~”
Ruchika looked up and saw three earthen walls over two meters high, arranged in a pinwheel shape, enclosing the youth in the middle, with the walls covered with paintings and scrolls. These were the relics of the Lu Mountain lineage to which the man with blackened teeth belonged, the writings of ancestors past, recording the images of the demons and monsters that Heavenly Mother had subdued.

The Tian Yan Jun would kill with one strike, yet Li Jiang was somewhat taken aback. She struck out in anger, without anticipating that Dier Lord would be so weak against her blows. Having now killed Tian Yan Jun, her rage subsided slightly. She wanted to say a few words to the group of monsters outside the Water Palace, but her tentacles instinctively began to consume the remnant soul of Dier Lord. Under the grip of the tentacles, Dier Lord’s soul was torn and devoured, disappearing in just a few breaths.

Tian Yan Jun and Dier Lord had shared a deep bond; now witnessing the tragic death of his comrade, Dier Lord cried out in anguish, ready to fight Li Jiang to the death. But she merely tossed him to the ground with a wave of her tentacle, and had he not been prepared, he would have met the same one-strike fatal end as Tian Yan Jun.

“Li Jiang, you are going too far!”

The ferocity of Mi Yao King immediately terrified some of the demon creatures, who fled on the spot, but it also completely enraged a portion of the massive demons confident in their own strength, among whom Mi Yao King was the most incensed.

This Mi Yao King was over ten zhang long and so wide that even the size of normal warships paled in comparison; he was a gigantic brown fish. Angered, his entire body swelled and puffed up, turning him into a massive ball. With several lashes of her tentacles, Li Jiang sent Mi Yao King flying in all directions, but for the time being, he seemed to sustain no serious damage.

“Mi Yao King was a deity worshipped by the people of the Fusang islands during the Qin and Han dynasties, known for his fondness for consuming young boys and girls, deeply troubling the islanders until he was subdued by the Heavenly Mother. Mi Yao’s nature is fierce and cruel, with a taste for human flesh. Occasionally, pirates and merchants who encounter him while Heavenly Mother is crossing the sea never make it back alive.”

“Roar~”
Mi Yao King, lashed by Li Jiang, was now split and bleeding all over, barely able to keep himself together, about to be pierced through with one strike; suddenly, a pitch-black toad stuck out its long tongue, entangling with one of Li Jiang’s tentacles, resulting in a stalemate.

“Tunjin Demon Toad, cunning by nature, can summon the wind and call forth the rain, taking on thousands of forms. It often shrouds a sea area in poisonous fog to confuse merchants and send them plunging into the sea or onto the deck, where it then sweeps each one into its belly with its tongue.”

The horde of demons and spirits could no longer contain themselves, among them the Yasha Evil Ghost, Sharp Toothed Giant Turtle, and numerous scarlet jellyfish and sea horses, all of whom charged into Li Jiang’s Water Palace.

With just two or three tentacles, Li Jiang engaged in battle, subduing both Tian Yan Jun and Mi Yao King. Although she had shown mercy, she didn’t expect this throng of minor demons to be so brazen as to gang up on her. Anger surged in her heart, and she whisked up five of the bubbles from within the Seven-Star Precious Pagoda, rising amidst the water to grapple with the horde of demons in a furious melee.

In the blink of an eye, the seas roared and the earth shook as several large whirlpools spread outward, turning palace walls and roof tiles, fish, algae, and coral to nothing but dust and debris. Only when they reached the very edge and hit a clump of pitch-black figures did they burst apart with a thud.

“And what is this?”

Ruchika pointed at a painting in the corner of the room, where there was a figure cloaked in darkness, its appearance, attire, and even hair indiscernible.

The man with the blackened teeth also became serious, “Stories of the Heavenly Mother subduing demons are widely circulated in Zhejiang and Fujian; among them, the three most fearsome are acknowledged to be: the Spirit of the Sea Yan Gong, the Ma Ling Elder, and Jiudou Sect Master. This is Ma Ling the Elder.”