Chapter 4569 — The Sea-Splitting Stage

"One day, a special spirit-beast transmission suddenly rang out over the whole of South Island. It said that the Azure Dragon Elder had been out of contact for several years, with no word of him to this day, his life or death unknown. Now a new king of the spirit beasts had ascended the throne, and the post of Azure Dragon Elder—his right hand—could not be left vacant. So the great king had decided to hold an open selection for a new Azure Dragon Elder. There was one minimum requirement for entry: the candidate had to be a dragon-clan spirit beast at the Sea-Splitting stage or above." The Five-Bane Dragon told it from the very beginning.

"The Sea-Splitting stage?" Wei Zhao was stunned again—yet another new realm whose fearsomeness he could not begin to fathom.

"Above the Earth-Opening stage lies the Sea-Splitting stage. To become a top elder of the spirit-beast clan, Sea-Splitting strength is the basic threshold. Otherwise there would be no way to hold down so many proud, unruly, powerful spirit beasts—not even with the dragon clan's age-old prestige. If one cannot overawe even one's own clan's spirit beasts, there is still less hope with the other races," the Ghost Thing explained.

"I see." Wei Zhao's eyes lit up at once. He had long been guessing at what the Ghost Thing's strength had been at his peak; from the Profound-Ascension stage to the Mountain-Cleaving stage to the Earth-Opening stage, he had run through nearly every possibility, and now at last he had a fair idea. It seemed it must be the Sea-Splitting stage... or perhaps even above it! The very thought was terrifying.

"So then, your master, the Five-Venom Flood Dragon, went to take part in this selection for the new Azure Dragon Elder?" the Ghost Thing asked, turning to the Five-Bane Dragon, his tone soft and measured.

"That's right. My master was qualified in his own right. Though he had always kept himself somewhat aloof from the world, he was not entirely free of desire for peace and quiet—he still had some ambition in him. With this chance to become the new Azure Dragon Elder, he naturally would not let it slip by, and with his strength he was all but certain of it. Barring accidents, that post was his for the taking," the Five-Bane Dragon said, eyes blazing.

"I have never met this Five-Venom Flood Dragon, but with his formidable gift of possessing all five elemental attributes at once, ordinary spirit beasts would truly find him hard to match. Even among those of his own level, the odds favored him," the Ghost Thing appraised.

Wei Zhao nodded. If even the Ghost Thing judged him so, then this Five-Venom Flood Dragon truly did have the strength to contend for the post of Azure Dragon Elder. He could not help asking, "And after that? Surely there wasn't a dragon-clan spirit beast in the selection stronger than your master?"

"No." The Five-Bane Dragon shook his head decisively.

"No? Were you there in person during the selection?" Wei Zhao asked, puzzled.

"I was not there. With the little strength I had then, if I had gone out I would easily have become fodder for other spirit beasts. Besides, at a realm like Sea-Splitting, the exchanges between such beings are already sublime beyond description. Without sufficient strength one could not make out the least thing—one would only be more likely to be shaken to death by the aftershocks. So my master did not take me to the selection," the Five-Bane Dragon said, shaking his head.

"Then how did your master come to—" Wei Zhao did not finish. If the Five-Venom Flood Dragon's strength truly was so great, and yet in the end he had failed to become the new Azure Dragon Elder and instead met his death, then there must be a deep story behind it.

"My master told me all of this after he fled back. He had gone to compete for the post of Azure Dragon Elder full of confidence, but the outcome was utterly beyond expectation: that Vermilion Bird Elder who presided over the affair had already had a candidate of his own in mind. The so-called open selection was nothing but a formality. Yet although the candidate they had settled on in advance was also very strong, in the end my master—an interloper who came out of nowhere—proved the stronger. Seeing the situation slip out of control, that Vermilion Bird actually struck in secret and poisoned my master. Caught off guard, my master was gravely wounded, and he fought desperately to flee back to these Five-Venom Marshes!" The Five-Bane Dragon spoke through clenched teeth.

"Hm? Since he was able to flee back here, then even that Vermilion Bird creature should have been helpless against him. How could he have died?" the Ghost Thing suddenly asked.

Only spirit beasts or human cultivators possessing all five elemental attributes could come and go freely through the Five-Venom Marshes. So far the Ghost Thing knew of only three: the Five-Venom Flood Dragon, the Five-Bane Dragon, and Wei Zhao. Beyond these, no matter how great one's strength, one could not enter—not the Vermilion Bird, and not even the Ghost Thing himself at his peak, who had been utterly without recourse. It was a natural sanctuary; in theory, so long as one could flee back here, one was absolutely safe. No matter how strong the Vermilion Bird or how many allies it had, it would have no way in.

"My master did manage to flee back, but he was already gravely wounded, his lamp all but spent. His injuries worsened day by day, and he could not heal himself by his own power alone. But the Vermilion Bird had set guards above, so slipping out to seek help was out of the question. In the end he could only accept his fate. He used a secret initiation art of infusion to force the whole of his mighty strength into me—that is why my power rose so quickly. Alas, my master's injuries were too severe. Before I had received the full transmission, he was already gone..." Here the Five-Bane Dragon, a top-tier existence of the Earth-Opening stage, could not keep his eyes from reddening, and tears fell.

Fierce and savage a spirit beast though he was, he was far more loyal and affectionate than most humans. To him the Five-Venom Flood Dragon was not only a master who taught by word and example, but a loving father and elder of the family—the only warmth he had felt since coming to Cloud-Tier Island. Above all, in the end the Flood Dragon had fought to the death to pass on the whole of his strength; even a son of one's own blood could have done no more.

A man does not shed tears lightly, and the Five-Bane Dragon had not known what tears were from the day he was born. But the death of the Five-Venom Flood Dragon made him taste tears for the first time in his life.

Wei Zhao watched this scene and could not help falling silent. He had never thought the Five-Venom Flood Dragon would die for such a reason. Then he glanced unconsciously at the Ghost Thing, thinking to himself that strong as the Five-Venom Flood Dragon was, when all was said and done the Ghost Thing—the former Azure Dragon—was probably the stronger.

If the Five-Venom Flood Dragon had been the Ghost Thing, then after fleeing back to the Five-Venom Marshes, at the very worst he could have transformed into primordial-spirit form, and in days to come would still have had some chance to rise again—he would not have simply perished like this.

Of course, the Ghost Thing's heaven-defying ability was likely unique in all the world, with no second to be found. After all, a primordial spirit depends on the physical body for its existence; once the body perishes, no matter how powerful the spirit, it becomes a stream without a source, a tree without roots, and can only end by slowly wasting away—it cannot endure forever as the Ghost Thing now did.