Chapter 577: Chapter 561: Battle of Sea and Land
San Niang maintained a stoic expression while her silver teeth secretly clenched.
“This guy knows too much. It’s not just a matter of Admiral Lai Qi’s subordinate encountering a problem with the Sea Race. It’s as if the Sea Emperor has conveyed all the information deduced from that earlier battle to him. Isn’t this something only his most loyal arm is entitled to?”
“The critical word here isn’t about the Human King’s romantic escapades, it’s about Xuanwu, okay?
What does it matter if the Human King’s flirtatious nature spreads across the sea? Who doesn’t know he’s promiscuous by nature—that’s irrelevant! But once it becomes known on land that Xuanwu and his little pig have been gnawing on each other, staying shamelessly for days inside a boat cabin, San Niang can barely imagine the world’s reaction—let alone that of Tang Wanju and the others.
And then, what would Vermilion Bird’s reaction be? What about Chichi’s reaction?
If it were also known that these two had been uprooted by the pig, what would the world’s reaction be?
The Four Symbols Sect is no joke!
San Niang, enraged, ignored her unhealed bone injuries. A snake whip emerged from her ring and she furiously whipped at the water person: “Die!”
The water person: “?”
It seems water elementals and your human race don’t share sorrows and joys. Why the hell are you hitting me when others are just talking to you?
Meanwhile, Zhao Changhe turned his head to look at San Niang starting a fierce battle with the water person, holding his knife with a belly full of unspeakable frustrations. Feeling as if his own fighting spirit had vanished after a few words…
He glanced at Hai Changkong who seemed to find interest in watching San Niang fight the water person, and said coolly, “Your Majesty, this posture of having everything under control really annoys me.”
Hai Changkong’s gaze returned to him, smiling slightly: “Then please enlighten, Human King.”
Zhao Changhe raised his knife, and the next moment suddenly plunged it downward, breaking through the bottom of the ship. Seawater surged in, and the ship shook violently.
The water person roared: “Bastard!”
“Swish!” San Niang’s snake whip furiously coiled, enveloping the water person, completely stopping the attack that was aiming at Zhao Changhe. Not a trace of force escaped.
“You…” Hai Changkong’s expression slightly changed as he looked at Zhao Changhe, his eyes finally showing some gravity.
Zhao Changhe smirked, “I’ve been observing for a while, and though I don’t know much else, I did notice one thing—what the Admiral says, no one knows which is true and which is a lie. Just like this statement about the array worsening underwater…I don’t believe it.”
“Thunderous roar!” The ship rapidly sank, and likewise, Hai Changkong’s expression sank rapidly: “Reason?”
Zhao Changhe said, “It’s simple. If the array became invincible underwater, this naive water person here would have let the array sink voluntarily. This implies the array is ineffective underwater; it needs inscriptions that can’t be embedded in water. If I’m not wrong, it can’t use the land either, hence, it must be suspended in wood over water—this is the best solution.”
San Niang immediately understood that Zhao Changhe’s analysis was completely rational. Quickly converting her rage to joy, she smashed through the cabin wall and flew out, “Little water person, come play on shore~”
Like they were telepathically linked, Zhao Changhe also escaped through the broken hull the moment San Niang moved. The water person’s angry strike, freed from the entanglement of the snake whip, didn’t even graze them but instead shattered another side of the hull.
Watching the ship about to sink, the water person angrily asked Hai Changkong, “Why didn’t you stop them? Only have a mouth left?”
Hai Changkong sighed, “I couldn’t find any flaws in him. Including in spirit and momentum.”
The water person went silent.
At their level of confrontation, it indeed was no longer about just attacking with swords. In many cases, dialogue itself was a process of finding the opponent’s flaws and attacking their spirits. What originally seemed like Hai Changkong’s confident control over everything had been cleanly shattered by Zhao Changhe’s casual strike.
Indeed, one couldn’t blame Hai Changkong; Zhao Changhe’s intelligence and decisiveness truly exceeded the water person’s predictions.
“It’s come to this, let it sink,” Hai Changkong said without getting too hung up. “No plan can anticipate a perfect ending; one must accept all sorts of variables. The Sea God has already gained much needed power of faith; it’s an acceptable result…”
The water person, interrupting in anger: “Yet it’s my Sea Race that dies the most! If it weren’t for my people taking the lead and charging into battle, how could those national fleets have become so chaotic? Now those who took the lead have mostly died, and before they could even begin to reap the real rewards, it’s all been destroyed!”
“What’s the use of you getting angry at me?” Hai Changkong said calmly. “Do yiou really think I can handle these two alone? Now that you’re free from the Array Core, join forces with me to kill this couple, then we can rearrange the array later. I’ll order changing from slaughter to trying to capture them alive. Sacrificing captives will yield the same result.”
With this backup plan in mind, the water person felt slightly relieved and said no more, dashing out.
Not far from the shore of Dong’an Island, Zhao Changhe and San Niang stood side by side, coldly watching its approach. Changing from slaughter to capture seemed the most direct result from wrecking the array… If they could further defeat their enemies here, wouldn’t this battle reach a perfect conclusion?
Surrounding them, Penglai warriors watched from a distance, but no one approached.
Many seasoned warriors were restraining their own troops, looking at San Niang with emotions in their eyes that others couldn’t understand, yet ultimately, no one spoke.
San Niang glanced back and said only one sentence, “Take everyone and move farther away, quickly.”
“Boom!” Before her words could fade, a towering tide surged forward, the full force of the Water Element burst forth, no longer just a simple exchange hidden in the cabin.
It simply didn’t care about the lives of the soldiers here.
San Niang, without looking back, punched out, reversing the huge wave, and a nearby lifeboat turned into wood chips under the combined force of her punch and the wave.
“Bang!” The wave hit the shore, whipping up a sky full of spray mixed with splinters scattering wildly.
The Penglai warriors on the shore evacuated one after another, hiding deeper into the center of the island.
If San Niang and the Water Element were to fully unleash their battle, no one nearby would survive; the might of the Third Layer Secret Treasure represented the pinnacle of power in this era, almost divine!
“The strength of the Third Leader now far surpasses that of her mother in the past…”
“Your Majesty, with his injuries not yet healed, would not have such divine power.”
“And now?”
“I don’t know. They are beyond our understanding and reach…” A seasoned warrior whispered, “I really want to know the outcome of the battle between the Admiral and the first on the Human List.”
That is the level normal people can aspire to.
In the seas of Penglai, almost all the elders wanted to return to see the land of their past and compare themselves now to the warriors of Great Xia.
They say no one wants every event to be seen by the Chaotic World Book… but on the other hand, how many warriors are willing to traverse the Four Seas their whole lives, going through countless storms, wars, and dangers, yet remain nameless and unknown?
Penglai Country even officially compiled a marine version of the Chaotic World Book, but it was not on the same level as the worldly revered Heavenly Book, only fooling themselves, ultimately bland and ignored.
No matter what everyone thinks of Hai Changkong or the many intricacies and aftermaths of this battle, everyone at this moment is already beyond caring.
Hai Changkong essentially represented the highest military force of Penglai besides Dragon King Hai Pinglan, and everyone was eager to know if he could defeat the first on the Human List, representing the highest standard of the mortals of Central Plains, proving that the heroes of the sea were not inferior to those of Central Plains.
Hai Changkong soared like a hawk, his long saber arching through the sky, slashing directly at Zhao Changhe’s Heavenly Spirit.
Zhao Changhe stood still, vibrating his wrist, and Dragon Sparrow, coming later but striking first, chopped beside Hai Changkong’s saber.
With a clash sounding “clang,” several thick water columns burst out from beneath Hai Changkong, spiraling upwards.
The flow touched the atmospheric layer above, and suddenly, with flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder, it fell like rain.
That wasn’t any skill of Hai Changkong’s… purely the power of their clash, simultaneously drawing in the surrounding wind and seawater, intertwining and counteracting each other, creating an effect that altered the weather.
All the distant onlookers were dumbfounded.
They had thought that on San Niang’s end was a Divine War, and here, a battle among men.
It turned out, these two were not human either!
Further out at sea, Hai Qianfan and Hua Zhenming flew over countless warships, heading straight for the island, with no one able to stop them.
It was unclear whether it was due to the extreme desire to participate in this pinnacle battle, or because they were worried about San Niang and came to support.
Zhao Changhe and Hai Changkong, as if sensing something, both turned their heads to look, then facing each other again, both smiled.
Hai Changkong said, “Before they arrive, how about we end the fight?”
Zhao Changhe said, “Then, I will only make three moves.”