Sovereign of the Ashes

Among the Dragon Clan of the Immortal Realm, the Flood Dragon King—known as the Great Sage Who Overturns the Seas—was an exceptionally shrewd and capable dragonkin.

Although his bloodline was mixed, the Flood Dragon King’s pride and ambition had never diminished.

Step by step, he continued climbing upward until he eventually reached the overlord realm.

Thanks to both his bloodline and the close relationships he had forged with several other Great Sages, the Flood Dragon King stood at the very peak of the Immortal Realm Civilization.

He was now a supreme figure whose actions alone could shake entire regions of the realm.

This time, he responded to the Dragon Clan’s call to join the war alongside the Magus Civilization.

The forces he brought were not limited to the flood dragons under his command.

He also mobilized enormous legions of serpentine, insectoid, and tortoise-type yao beasts—creatures with either extremely diluted dragon blood or none at all!

Among the lower-tier forces assembled by the Dragon Clan this time, nearly one-third of the combined troops from the major Dragon Palaces consisted of yao soldiers and generals under the Flood Dragon King’s banner.

Most of the Yao Clan developed far more slowly and with far greater difficulty than the Dragon Clan.

Only the truly powerful great yaos, Yao Sovereigns, and Yao Emperors could live relatively comfortably.

Moreover, yao creatures generally lacked the raw combat strength of dragons, nor did they have nearly as many resource-rich planes to exploit.

To the Flood Dragon King, this mission to aid the Magus Civilization was also an opportunity to expand his own forces further.

None of the dragonkin overlords, like Suanni, Bi’an, and the others, minded the Flood Dragon King’s actions.

Their main goals had always been rescue and revenge. Acquiring resources and wealth was only secondary.

Besides, the larger the army brought by the Flood Dragon King, the greater the prestige of their clan as a whole.

To a certain extent, it also showcased the overwhelming strength of the Dragon Clan of the Immortal Realm!

Earlier, when they departed from Primordial World and began assembling legions from the large-sized planes under the Immortal Realm’s control, the sheer scale of the mobilization had alarmed many sects and sage courts that were unaware of the situation.

Many even thought that these dragonkin were preparing to launch a massive campaign against someone.

Others even suspected the Dragon Clan had discovered another immensely valuable star domain and was preparing for a new wave of conquest and expansion.

Of course, there were also many sage courts and special sects that, despite being separated from the Magus Civilization by vast stretches of space and time, had been closely watching the Clash of Civilizations unfolding there.

Many of them likely already knew that this group of dragonkin from the Immortal Realm intended to join the Magus Civilization’s war.

This time, when the Flood Dragon King led his yao soldiers and generals toward the Magus Star Domain, he had also attempted to recruit several of his sworn brothers among the Eight Great Sages.

Quite a few of the Great Sages immediately showed strong interest.

However, none of them rushed to depart right away.

That was because in the Immortal Realm, joining a war required a proper justification.

The Dragon Clan’s large-scale mobilization could be justified as rescuing their descendants and seeking justice for Baxia’s lineage.

But if the other Great Sages intervened as well, what reason would they have?

Naturally, it would be better to wait for the Magus Civilization to formally send envoys requesting aid first before they could then openly mobilize their legions and march grandly to the Magus Civilization to “strike it rich”!

Similar joint operations between the Immortal Realm Civilization and the Magus Civilization had taken place more than once throughout history—that was how their friendly relationship had developed to this point.

Still, if the Eight Great Sages took the initiative and joined the war before the Magus Civilization even asked for help, it would not only hurt their reputation but also weaken their leverage when negotiating benefits afterward.

That was something the Great Sage Who Pacifies the Heavens and the others naturally could not accept.

And this was also likely the mindset shared by many of the Immortal Realm’s sages who had been observing the war from afar.

Quite a few of them had probably been waiting for the Magus Civilization to come seeking aid for a long time already.

However, among the Eight Great Sages, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven and the Great Sage of Demonic Heaven were exceptions.

These two strongest Great Sages both shared extremely deep ties with the Magus Civilization, and each of them owed it significant karmic debts.

The Immortal Realm Civilization placed great importance on karma.

To some extent, this concept resembled the Magus Civilization’s astrology, occult arts, and the universally accepted laws of balance and conservation.

As soon as the two Great Sages heard about the Flood Dragon King, they had already begun mobilizing their own armies.

Most likely, they would arrive at the Magus Civilization only slightly later than the Dragon Clan itself.

After all, the Dragon Clan had already completed its mobilization long ago.

There had been a slight delay before the two Great Sages received the news, which was likely related to the growing conflicts and external pressures the Immortal Realm had been facing in recent years.

Even beings as powerful as the Great Sages could not remain completely unaffected by the increasingly turbulent changes sweeping across the Immortal Realm Civilization.

In a way, participating in the Magus Civilization’s war this time might also serve as an opportunity for the Immortal Realm to redirect some of its internal tensions outward.

After all, the true leaders standing at the pinnacle of the Buddhist, Daoist, and Yao factions had no desire to see the Immortal Realm descend into civil war either.

Suanni’s joking remark made Dong Fangbai roll his eyes.

Having known each other for hundreds of thousands of years, Dong Fangbai obviously was not going to fall out with them over a single batch of Seven-Refinement Golden Pills.

Besides, even if he wanted to, Qingyang World probably could not withstand such an enormous dragon army anyway...

What truly gave Dong Fangbai a headache was the fact that the arrival of so many dragon forces had already disrupted the balance and stability of the entire Qingyang World.

Because of the nature of its cultivation system, the Immortal Realm Civilization did not have anything like a planar will.

As a result, even after Suanni and the others brought in massive legions, there was no anguished cry from the plane itself, warning that Qingyang World could no longer withstand the arrival of so many high-level lifeforms.

But as a complete plane, Qingyang World had a certain capacity.

In truth, the sudden arrival of five overlord-level dragonkin had already caused the skies of Qingyang World to change.

With his sage-level divine perception, Dong Fangbai could vaguely sense that even more legions, likely numbering in the trillions, were still waiting to pass through the space-time passage.

“Have you already coordinated this with the Magus Civilization? The transportation of so many legions is no small matter,” he said. “And Qingyang World does not have enough spirit stones to support the transfer of such a massive number of dragon troops.”

“As for the operating costs and maintenance of the interstellar teleportation, your Dragon Clan will have to handle those expenses yourselves,” Dong Fangbai said firmly.

Anything involving money was beyond the capabilities of a junior like Immortal Maiden Yunmeng, the current master of Tianyi Palace.

She simply could not keep these money-obsessed dragons under control. Dong Fangbai had to personally step in.

Sure enough, once Dong Fangbai made it clear that the Dragon Clan would be paying the full cost of transporting their legions, the five overlord-level dragon beasts all fell silent.

“That old codger...!” several hot-tempered and notoriously stingy Quasi Sage-level dragons could not help muttering under their breath.

The distance between the Immortal Realm Civilization and the Magus Civilization was vastly greater than the distance between the Amenkha Empire and the Magus Civilization.

On one hand, this made large-scale geopolitical conflicts or military friction between the two top-tier civilizations highly unlikely.

But on the other hand, if either side wanted to send large forces to assist the other, the cost of teleportation alone would be astronomical.

If the Dragon Clan of the Immortal Realm really had to cover the entire bill themselves, even they would feel the pain.