STNS: Chapter 528 (Patreon)

Loong Feng had left the village not long after the phoenix began his assault. He had not even bothered to inform Loong Fei about his departure. In fact, he very much hoped that she would help stall the phoenix so he had time to escape. She might have been his daughter’s child, but that girl had run away, gotten herself pregnant, and then died. He had taken the girl in out of a sense of obligation, but that didn’t mean he cared for her. He would always prioritize his own life over the life of someone else.

He had already bypassed the protective mist that surrounded the Flood Dragon’s ancestral home and was now wandering through an ancient woodland. Towering trees stretched endlessly toward the heavens. Their trunks were colossal, wide enough to house an entire family within them. If he glanced up, he knew that he would find an emerald canopy far overhead.

The air was thick with moisture and saturated with the heavy scent of damp earth, blooming herbs, and the musk of unseen beasts lurking in the underbrush--not that any beast dared come near him. Most of the magical beasts here were barely at the Human Limit Realm. They lacked intelligence. However, that did not mean they lacked instinct. All of them could sense his power, which was at the peak of the Realization Realm.

It had been a long time since he’d come this way, but he still remembered exactly where to go. The deeper one ventured into this forest, the more mystical the surroundings became. Leaves on the trees shimmered faintly with silver light as though absorbing the moon’s radiance.  Pools of glimmering dew gathered in depressions within the roots, glowing faintly with energy. This dew was very beneficial to cultivators still in the latter stages of their cultivation. Had the sects from the Xaio Continent seen it, they would have been salivating.

“Just where do you think you’re going?” a voice suddenly said.

Loong Fei skidded to a halt as two people appeared before him. He almost thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. These two had not been there just a moment ago, and he had not sensed their presence before their sudden appearance, even though he was on high alert.

Both were a pair of young men, and he recognized one of them. His black hair was shaggy and stopped around the base of his neck. He had dark eyes that were sharp and penetrating like a drawn blade, and though the smile on his face made him seem affable, the sharpness in it was anything but. The black hanfu he wore fit him well, showing off his muscular physique and his arms littered with scars.

Wu Jian and…

Next to him was a young man who Loong Feng didn’t know. He had brilliant crimson hair that looked like fire personified. It was long and trailed down to his knees, though he had currently tied it up. A few loose strands framed either side of his face. Unlike Wu Jian, whose expression was a mask that scarcely hid his anger, this man looked amused. He wore red and gold clothing that looked gaudy. However, he wore them well. With his arms crossed and an amused smile plastered across his face, he looked like the quintessential young master.

“Aren’t you the young man who arrived with the phoenix? What are you doing here? And you, Wu Jian, why are you with him? Have you betrayed the Flood Dragons?” asked Loong Feng, pointing an accusing finger at him.

Wu Jian’s smile grew wider, but it was not a pleasant smile. This smile was sharp like a sword.

“I don’t think you’re in any position to accuse me of betraying the Flood Dragons when you’re the one running away in the middle of their greatest time of crisis,” Wu Jian said. “Just why are you running away? Surely, the great Loong Feng isn’t a coward who flees at the first sign of trouble? Perhaps… you have something to hide?”

Loong Feng’s face turned red, though whether from anger or shame, not even he could tell.

“H-how dare you accuse me of hiding something! I have loyally served the Flood Dragons for my entire life! Five hundred years! I’ve been serving them long before your great grandfather was even a glimmer in your ancestor’s eyes! I will not tolerate this disrespect from a welp like you!”

“Perhaps… there was a time, long ago, when you faithfully served your people, but that time has long past.” Wu Jian paused and tilted his head. “Did you know that someone from the Flood Dragon has been sneaking into the Phoenix Volcano and stealing from the great phoenix who lives there? That’s the entire reason he is attacking the Flood Dragon Clan right now.”

“So? I fail to see what that has to do with me?”  Loong Feng crossed his arms.

“Now, now. There’s no need to act the fool. I already know that you’re the one who was responsible for entering Phoenix Volcano without permission to try and steal phoenix ashes. There’s no need to deny it. We have an eyewitness,” Wu Jian said.

“An eyewitness?” Loong Feng’s eyes widened for a moment, but only for a moment. They narrowed soon after. “Loong Fei, that wretch! She told you, didn’t she?! Damn her! I should have never taken that brat in! How dare she disrespect her own grandfather like this! How dare she betray her own flesh and blood!”

“Hah! Look at his face!” Shuchang finally said something after being silent for so long. “He looked like someone force fed him shit!”

Wu Jian sighed at his friend, but he spoke to Loong Feng. “Stop talking. You betrayed her first. Be honest with yourself, you never saw her as a child of your loins. You took her in because you thought she might prove useful, but you’ve always hated her. How can you expect her to remain loyal to you when you have not shown her an ounce of love?”

“Shut up! I refuse to put up with this slander!”

“And I refuse to continue this obnoxious conversation. You’re a fool who has nearly led the Flood Dragon Clan to ruins, and you will pay for your crimes.”

***

Wu Jian had discovered a loophole in Shuchang’s oath to the great phoenix immediately upon hearing it. The key phrase in his oath was “bringing  retribution upon those responsible for his suffering” and “ensuring that justice is done.” The oath did not specifically state that Shuchang needed to destroy the Flood Dragon Clan. It only said that he needed to help punish those responsible for the phoenix’s grievances, meaning he would fulfill his oath as long as those responsible were brought to justice.

 But how did they define justice?

Wu Jian had theorized that “ensuring justice is done” did not mean the wholesale destruction of innocent people, and if the current leadership of the Flood Dragon Clan had no involvement in wrongdoing, then Shuchang would not be fulfilling his oath by helping bring about the clan’s destruction. Loong Chen was already long gone. If someone had been coming into the phoenix’s territory and causing problems, then finding that person and enacting justice would settle the matter.

But how do they go about finding the person responsible for the phoenix’s grievances?

Wu Jian had an idea on that too. He had spent enough time in Dragon Spine Valley to understand that the Flood Dragon Clan had nothing to do with the phoenix and his domain. They were not the sort to encroach upon another’s territory… all except one person. From the moment Loong Feng had come to them upon sensing Zhou Lihua refining an alchemy pill, Wu Jian had suspected him of being a power hungry individual. It had not been thoughtful planning that led Loong Feng to their little summit that day. It had been an instinctive greed and lust for power. The man did not cover his tracks well. The powerful rarely did. So certain were they in their own power that they saw no need to bother hiding their wrongdoings.

Unfortunately for Loong Feng, this had backfired.

Wu Jian had no intention of letting this man go after learning the truth.

“It seems you wish to court death,” Loong Feng said, snarling. “Fine then! Come! I will grant you the death you so blatantly seek!”

“Flood Dragon’s Sweeping Devastation!”

Loong Feng’s tail became razor-sharp as he whipped it around, infusing the entire length with high-pressure water that had been compressed into an edge that was nearly invisible. If Wu Jian did not have excellent spatial awareness, he wouldn’t have even seen it. A crescent-shaped blade of pressurized water erupted from the tail as Wu Jian and Shuchang flew out of the way. The blade sliced through numerous trees like they were made of tofu. Then came the hurricane-like aftershock, which slammed into them both and sent them tumbling away.

It wasn’t just Wu Jian and Shuchang that had been tossed about. Everything within a several li vicinity was annihilated. If the water blade didn’t slice it apart, then the fierce winds and shockwave uprooted it and threw it about. Entire trees were torn from the ground and tossed into the maelstrom. Wu Jian spun around within this incredibly fierce wind, sending spatial blades about seemingly at random to slice through each tree that came his way. Even then, he almost missed several. Fortunately, Shuchang was there to watch his back. The young man burnt the trees to a crisp with his vermillion flames.

“Holy shit! This guy is actually really powerful!” Shuchang shouted as they floated in the air.

“You’re just now realizing that?” Wu Jian said dryly.

“I mean…  no, but it just didn’t really hit home until now,” Shuchang said.

Wu Jian would have made a snappy comeback, but Loong Feng burst from the forest before he could even open his mouth.

“Dragon Fang Soul Shatter!”

With a roar, Loong Feng gathered condensed Qi into his fangs and opened his mouth wide. As he did, a spectral dragon’s head manifested around him, many times bigger than his current body. It was as though the head was showcasing his true body. So much power was packed into his technique that the air around him shattered and created distortions in space.

“Teleport!”

Wu Jian grabbed Shuchang and quickly teleported to the ground. He looked up just in time to see the dragon head snap closed around the space where they had been. The air burst. Power caused the sky to shatter. He had fought people at the peak of the Realization Realm before, but it was obvious just from this single attack how much more powerful a magical beast was over a human.

“Shuchang, I need you to give me some time,” he said.

Shuchang looked at him like he was a moron. “You want me to fight against that? Alone? Are you crazy?!”

“Just give me thirty seconds,” Wu Jian said.

At that moment, the dragon head disappeared and Loong Feng looked down at where they were standing. His face was looking more reptilian by the minute. Scales were forming along his skin and his hands had already transformed into claws. It looked like he was just barely keeping his human form intact.

Wu Jian wondered why this man wasn’t transforming, but perhaps it was a form of vanity and pride. Dragons were prideful creatures. The idea of using his true form, which was vastly more powerful than his humanoid form, likely didn’t sit well with Loong Feng. Doing so felt beneath him. If that was the case, then he and Shuchang might have a chance to achieve victory.

“I’ll give you ten,” Shuchang said. “I can’t promise any more than that.”

“Then let’s hope I can transform in those ten seconds,” Wu Jian muttered. “Now get! Distract him for me!”

“I’ll remember this!” Shuchang shouted as he raced into the sk