A Pawn's Passage

After the Ise-jingu sank into the mountain’s depths, part of the buildings and most of the surrounding walls of Mount Omikami still remained. Overhead, heavy clouds and mist churned, forming a vast abyss.

Suddenly, the mist began to roil. Within it, faint shadows stirred, moving as though some colossal creature was about to burst forth from the fog.

Moments later, the shadow within the mist grew clearer and larger. It flew and twisted amidst the sea of clouds, and wherever it passed, the clouds churned violently, thunder and lightning crackling in its wake.

If Suzuka Gozen’s eyes did not deceive her, that could only be the legendary dragon.

After nearly a century of large-scale dragon hunting by the Daoist Order, the few surviving dragons had long fled to the deep seas, rarely seen again.

Just as Suzuka Gozen reeled in shock, the sea of clouds split apart with a thunderous roar, scattering endless wisps of vapor. From within, a massive head slowly emerged. Two golden eyes, each as wide as a well’s mouth, gleamed coldly. A pair of dragon whiskers swayed gently, and though it did not roar, dense mist and rolling vapor billowed from its maw.

Like a Daoist flying ship, the dragon was perpetually shrouded in a fine, drizzling rain.

High mountains could block the northern gales, holding back frigid currents from the Grasslands. Meanwhile, deep seas could preserve the long rains and snows, keeping the coastal lands humid and mild. If mountains and seas were likened to people, then even without deliberately restraining their breath, their very existence alone would shape everything around them.

This held true with dragons too. They could summon wind and rain. Wherever they passed, downpours fell in torrents, defying even the natural order of the heavens.

Suzuka Gozen was a semi-immortal, and with the divine artifact of Fenglin in her grasp, she did not lose her composure. Instead, she studied the colossal being before her with careful eyes.

Relief flickered faintly within her heart.

The monstrous form before her, though terrifying to behold, was clearly not a true dragon. It was just a flood dragon.

A serpent could become a flood dragon after 500 years; a flood dragon could become a true dragon after 1,000 years. a thousand; after 500 more years, a dragon could become a horned dragon, and after another thousand, a winged dragon called the Yinglong.

In ancient mythology, the Yinglong was called the Dragon of Timeliness and the Dragon of Virtue. It was a Yellow Flying Dragon with wings, a being on par with a Third-Tribulation Earthly Immortal.

The horned dragon was an elder among dragons. Its horns were large, with many branches, and its power was equal to that of a Second-Tribulation Immortal.

The difference between a dragon and a horned dragon was not great. The dragon’s horns were slightly smaller, and its power was equal to that of a First-Tribulation Immortal.

But compared to these dragons, flood dragons were very different.

First, their horns differed. A flood dragon’s horns were straight and short, without any branches, while a dragon had two horns, each with branching prongs.

Second, their tails were different. A flood dragon’s tail was bare, much like that of a serpent, while a dragon’s tail not only had scales but also caudal fins.

Lastly, their claws differed. A flood dragon had only four claws, while a dragon had five.

What Suzuka Gozen faced now was a flood dragon, not a true dragon.

Even so, a flood dragon should not be underestimated, as its power was on par with an Immortal.

Several centuries ago, Suzuka Gozen had once seen a flood dragon pass over Mount Suzuka, though they never interacted. Since then, she had not seen one again for hundreds of years. She had only heard rumors of Daoists slaughtering flood dragons on a massive scale to build their flying ships.

This was the first time Suzuka Gozen had observed a flood dragon at such close range.

After a brief standoff, the flood dragon moved first. It opened its maw and let out a long roar, striking Suzuka Gozen like thunder and freezing her body in place. A tremendous fear welled up in her heart, leaving her limbs almost unresponsive.

Every divine beast had its own unique powers. The phoenix could be reborn; tigers could turn those they killed into ghosts; and dragons were born with dragon might, a pressure that could cow beings beneath their realm—whether man, beast, bird, or insect—sometimes even enslaving them as its puppets.

Suzuka Gozen was only a Pseudo-Immortal, while the flood dragon was comparable to a true Immortal. Though she would not become its slave, the flood dragon’s roar still threw her mind into turmoil.

The flood dragon opened its massive jaws, intending to swallow Suzuka Gozen whole.

For divine beasts, fasting was unheard of, especially for those with such gargantuan bodies. They required sustenance, but their feeding cycles were long, perhaps once every several years. However, each meal might be the size of a giant whale.

Though Suzuka Gozen was only human-sized, her level of cultivation could equal billions of fish and shrimp. Consuming her could sustain the flood dragon for decades without food and even shorten the time needed for its transformation into a true dragon.

At that critical instant, Suzuka Gozen snapped back to her senses and drifted swiftly backward.

The flood dragon pursued relentlessly, but Suzuka Gozen quickly drew the Daitsuren, slashing the blade fiercely across the flood dragon’s nose.

The nose of a dragon was a vulnerable spot, so the strike sent the flood dragon writhing in agony.

Man was the spirit of all creation, the ruler of the mortal realm. Thus, whether demon or beast, all ultimately sought to take human form. Without cultivation, beasts naturally surpassed men. But once upon the path of longevity, beasts were innately lacking.

Beyond their inborn divine powers, beasts found it difficult to master the methods passed down by Daoist or Buddhist patriarchs. Such arts were made for humans. Since the structure of beasts differed, with meridians, acupoints, and Dantian positioned wholly otherwise, how could they truly master such arts? Hence, except for a few extraordinary prodigies, beasts and demons who wished to advance further had to transform into human form. As such, the fox demon clan was considered the finest among them.

Back then, the Daoist elders besieged God Luwu, who was equivalent to a Second-Tribulation Immortal, and could still drive him back. However, they would have lost to the Sage of Mind, who was at the same level as God Luwu. The root reason was that God Luwu was a beast and had never transformed into human form. Against humans, he could rely only on his innate divine abilities and a physique even stronger than most Immortals. That left exploitable weaknesses.

The same principle could apply to the flood dragon. Its colossal body thrashed wildly through the sky. Wherever it passed, the sea of clouds roiled, thunder rumbled, lightning crackled, and torrents of rain poured from the heavens.

However, Suzuka Gozen was not too afraid, since Great Sage Zhang Qihan was close at hand, still withholding his strike. A flood dragon was, after all, not a true dragon. Against Zhang Qihan, it would surely be no match.

Soon, the flood dragon lunged again at Suzuka Gozen. She gripped Daitsuren in one hand and Shotsuren in the other, unleashing both swords together, clashing head-on with the dragon.

Compared to the flood dragon’s massive body, the two Radiant Swords seemed tiny. Yet, they forced the dragon to a standstill.

The flood dragon bellowed, its roar resounding and its dragon might rippling outward in waves.

Although Suzuka Gozen was mentally prepared this time and resisted its might, her body was still driven backward.

When she finally halted her retreat, her body and swords trembled faintly. This revealed just how great the flood dragon’s brute strength was. Though flood dragons were not famed for sheer force, the weight of their immense body made them comparable to, if not stronger than, Pseudo-Immortal Martial Arts Practitioners like The Owner of The Inn.

Suzuka Gozen felt the bones, flesh, and meridians in her arms suffer varying degrees of damage. But she still did not falter. She crossed her swords and unleashed two arcs of sword light, one to the left and one to the right, slashing toward the flood dragon.

The flood dragon did not meet the strike head-on. It turned with a lash of its tail and vanished once more into the sea of clouds.

It was a strange sight indeed. For all its vast size, once it slipped into the clouds, it vanished, completely hiding its form.

Then came another dragon’s roar. Fierce winds rose, thunder rumbled faintly, and the sea of clouds churned until it formed a huge whirlpool. Finally, it transformed into a tornado, like a giant funnel stretching down toward the earth.

The flood dragon was not best known for brute force. In many ways, it resembled more a Diviner than a Martial Arts Practitioner.

Such powers to summon wind and rain, swallow clouds, and exhale mist were innate to the flood dragon. They could wield it with perfect ease, flowing as naturally as thought itself.

The colossal tornado stretched from sky to earth, moving slowly yet relentlessly. Wherever it passed, buildings were razed flat, debris whirled high into the heavens, and even towering ancient trees were uprooted. As far as the eye could see, the land was scarred with ravines and devastation.

It also carried a tremendous suction force that was nearly impossible to resist, leaving Suzuka Gozen struggling to break free.

Fortunately, it was spring, when the air held less moisture. Had it been summer, with abundant rainfall, its might would have grown far greater. The downpours it generated could cause floods that broke dams, capable of drowning half of North Ise.

Suzuka Gozen could no longer hold back. She drew the Kenmyoren, which unfurled into a shimmering curtain of light that rippled like waves before transforming into a glowing sphere that enclosed her completely.

The howling storm crashed against the glowing sphere’s surface like wind over a lake, raising ripples that vanished instantly, leaving Suzuka Gozen untouched from within.

The two sides came to a stalemate for a while. The flood dragon’s momentum did not falter, and Suzuka Gozen gradually fell into disadvantage.

At that critical moment, Suzuka Gozen finally merged the Three Radiant Swords—Daitsuren, Shotsuren, and Kenmyoren—into one.

A giant sword materialized like an inverted mountain, hung suspended between heaven and earth.

That mountain was none other than Mount Suzuka.

The tornado that connected heaven to earth seemed struck by an immovable sea-stabilizing needle. It slowly unraveled and dissipated.

The flood dragon revealed its form again. Gazing at the massive sword, the flood dragon’s golden pupils shone with solemnity. Then, it coiled its body in defense, raising its head high in a stance of guarded readiness.

Suzuka Gozen slowly raised her right arm, index and middle fingers joined into a sword seal. Her hand trembled slightly, as if lifting a great weight too heavy to bear, and pointed toward the flood dragon.

The inverted Sword of Suzuka descended from the sky, its might immeasurable.

Within the flood dragon’s golden eyes flashed a disturbingly human trace of fear, which then flared into rage. Its whiskers twitched, its gaze blazed, and torrents of condensed water vapor erupted from its maw, surging like a river breaching its banks, flooding the skies.

Its dragon’s roar rippled outward in waves visible to the naked eye, spreading layer upon layer across the heavens.

The mountain-sized sword descended from above as the flood dragon’s torrential dragon breath surged upward to meet it.

With a deafening crash, the two forces clashed as though a mountain had plunged into the sea, raising waves that reached the heavens.

In the end, both forces dissipated into the void.

The flood dragon was utterly enraged. Its massive body was no longer coiled but stretched out once more. What ensued was a continuous roar, summoning terrifying waves over the sea of clouds.