Hai Zhen looked shiny on the outside, sure, but underneath? It was a mess of blood and stolen treasure. For ages, this Master Qian Xu had built his whole empire on the backs of enslaved merfolk. I mean, they were ripping off these people. The merfolk's scales, which used to be bright and full of life, were sold for a measly amount up on the surface. They would dry them out, do some weird, secret magic on them, and turn them into jewelry for snobby nobles or even, like, ingredients for potions that supposedly made you stronger.
Merchants from all over – the Seven Allied Empires, or whatever – couldn't wait to get their hands on this stuff. They set up shop at trade ports built right over these hidden underwater tunnels. Picture huge barges shaped like giant sea turtles, hauling crates full of scales and barrels of dead mermaid meat. At night, these barges would sneak through fake whirlpools, hiding the tunnels from anyone on the surface. By morning, that gruesome cargo would be showing up at fancy parties thrown by kings and big-shot lords.
Can you believe they actually ate mermaid? Roasted mermaid, covered in honeyed seaweed and sprinkled with crushed pearls, was like, the ultimate fancy dish at weddings and victory celebrations. The rich people would be singing praises about how awesome Hai Zhen was, without even thinking about the screams coming from under the sea. Talk about messed up.
With all that cash rolling in, Qian Xu got greedy. The old prisons were getting too small, what with the number of people they were snatching up. So, he decided to build this massive fortress called Jing Hai. And get this – it was all made from the bones and scales of the merfolk they'd killed!
The guys in charge of making it happen were Qian Xu's best fighters, and they had this whole ranking thing going on, it was called cultivation levels:
Bronze Rank: These were the low-level guys, like this dude Bai Lian, who were basically slave drivers.
Silver Rank: These were the supervisors at the construction sites and shipping docks.
Gold Rank: Enforcers who were in charge of keeping the trades safe.
Platinum Rank: These people designed the fortresses and prisons.
Diamond Rank: Governors of the Seven Empire alliances, so pretty high up.
Obsidian Rank: And at the very top, you had Master Qian Xu himself, the big boss for centuries.
Two big shots, Zhao Shen (Platinum rank) and Lady Mei Xuan (Diamond rank) oversaw the building of the fortress. It went up super fast, with shiny towers covered in scales and walls made of ground-up bone ash. They bragged that Jing Hai Fortress would hold even the toughest monsters from the sea. Bigger, safer, and creepier than the old dungeons, they said.
Their fighters were scurrying around like crazy down there, casting spells into the walls to keep the slaves from getting any power. Chains with magic symbols glowed in the water. They even put slabs of fresh mermaid meat in the fancy dining rooms for visiting VIPs. Things were going great for the empire.
Until they weren't.
It started small – a little shake in the water, enough to make the skin crawl.
Then came something like a wave. But it wasn't water. It was a powerful, invisible force that slammed into the fortress like a hurricane.
Zhao Shen froze mid-sentence, her powerful Platinum aura flickering around him. Everywhere, the fortress groaned. Walls that were supposed to last forever started to crack. The magic chains snapped. The bone walls shook like they were in an earthquake.
"What is that?! Lady Mei Xuan sounded really freaked out, and her Diamond aura was all over the place.
Another pulse hit, even harder. Spires fell down. Towers turned into piles of rubble. The water seemed to be boiling.
All over Hai Zhen, fighters started panicking. The Bronze and Silver ranks tried to put up shields, but they shattered like glass. The Gold ranks lit up their flames, but they just sputtered out.
The Seven Empire ambassadors, who were there for some big trade talks, were screaming as their fancy rooms got blasted by waves of crazy heat.
A third pulse.
Fire exploded across the fortress – but it wasn't normal fire. It was like some ultra-powerful flame that just ate everything, even underwater. It tore through the walls and pillars, burning the magic seals like they were made of paper.
"Call the Master!" Zhao Shen yelled. Her aura flared up, but the flames just licked at it.
Master Qian Xu showed up in a flash, coming down from his throne room in a swirl of dark magic. His Obsidian aura spread out like a cloud, putting out the smaller flames around him.
He sounded calm, but you could tell he was mad. "Who dares challenge Hai Zhen?!"
But even he, the guy who'd ruled the seas for ages, hesitated when another wave of power rolled through the fortress. It was stronger, hotter, and purer than anything he'd ever felt.
Qian Xu started doing some fancy hand movements, casting a forbidden spell called "Night Void Suppression." A ball of darkness swallowed the flames nearby.
It worked for a second… and then the flames came back, brighter than before, eating up the darkness.
His eyes went wide. "Impossible."
His fighters huddled around him, whispering. They could all feel it – this power wasn't from their world. It didn't follow the same rules they'd been using for centuries.
Zhao Shen, barely standing, choked out, "M-Master… what rank is this attacker? Diamond? Obsidian?"
Qian Xu's face went dark. "It's neither. It's beyond our system… something ancient. Something pure."
The slaves, crammed into the damaged chambers, weren't touched by the fire. The flames danced around them, like a protective shield, even as the walls crumbled.
Mei Xuan grabbed her chest, shaking. "Master, our spells don't work. Our ranks… they mean nothing to this force."
Panic spread through the remaining fighters. Their whole world, built on rankings and power, was falling apart. Nothing in their history books mentioned anything like this.
Then, through the smoke and flames, a guy appeared. He was tall, broad, and had chains hanging from his wrists like broken shackles.
Liang Feng.
His eyes were burning with golden fire, and the deadly power was rolling off him in waves that made the fighters flinch. He just stood there, but bent the water around him.
Qian Xu's fighters stepped back, scared. Zhao Shen, bloody and wide-eyed, stammered, "We have to negotiate—he's not… he's not following our rules…"
Liang looked at them, and it felt like a blade cutting through the air.
Qian Xu, swallowing his pride, raised his hands. "Stranger… let's talk."
But Liang just smiled, a cold, scary smile.
"Talk?" His voice was like thunder in the distance. "After what you've done?"
The flames shot up again, licking at the highest towers. The fighters braced themselves, knowing they were facing something way bigger than anything they'd prepared for.