Chapter 36: Five Loaches in One Hand

"What?" Jiang Wen, still immersed in his grief, cast a glance at the flood dragon within the Jiang family's territory.

His brows, furrowed in astonishment, smoothed out in a daze. He hesitated, then asked again, "The Jiang family of today cannot even handle a mere Great Saint?"

Receiving a firm nod from the elderly man, his expression soured. He glared fiercely at the man, who stood before him with the submissiveness of a grandson, and upon seeing the token at the elder's waist, he knit his brows again, unable to suppress his outburst:

"Damn it, what has the world come to? How can a mere cultivator at the first level of the Sendai realm be an elder of the Jiang family!"

"Where is the contemporary patriarch? What is his cultivation level, that you would wake me from my slumber for a mere Great Saint-level loach?"

Jiang Wen wore a grave expression. For someone nearing the end of his lifespan, every time he was awakened from the divine source, it signaled a further acceleration of his remaining time.

He cursed angrily, "A bunch of useless things! Even if the patriarch were only at the Four Extremities realm, with the incomplete Imperial Array guarding the Jiang territory, it shouldn't have been possible for a mere Great Saint-level demon beast to break through!"

Immediately, he had no time to lecture his incompetent descendants; if he did not act, the flood dragon outside would soon cause mass casualties.

With a sigh of disappointment, he reached out a large hand.

In an instant, his withered, wrinkled palm burst with light as the divine power within him began to circulate. Dense, intricate Daoist patterns entwined around his arm, transforming his withered hand into a golden canopy that blotted out the sky.

Viewed from the space above Big Dipper, one could see a powerful golden arm—its palm spanning tens of thousands of kilometers, large enough to grip a planet like Earth—pinching the massive, thousand-kilometer-long flood dragon like an earthworm between two fingers, rendering it completely immobile.

Ignoring the hundreds of thousands of kilometers of atmosphere, the arm moved at over fifty percent the speed of light. As it retracted into the high altitude, it effortlessly neutralized the devastating shockwaves that would have otherwise ravaged the atmosphere.

On Big Dipper, a life-sustaining ancient star so enormous its diameter rivaled dozens of suns, the greater part of the Northern Region—countless mortal kingdoms, sects, and clans—could see the golden canopy occupying the entire sky, a sight of terrifying proportions.

In innumerable mortal dynasties, wars ceased immediately as countless people knelt on the ground, kowtowing to this divine miracle in the sky.

Cultivators across the Northern Region watched in shock at the massive hand emerging from the Jiang family's territory, whispering among themselves.

Some old antiques, recently awakened from divine sources, murmured, "What is happening! Since the turmoil in the forbidden life zones a few days ago, has the Jiang family also unleashed its foundation?"

Elders from other Great Emperor clans frowned, "Emperor Hengyu once quelled the dark turmoil, and the Jiang family's Imperial son died long ago in the process. Are they awakening their foundation once again to face a dark turmoil, preparing to blood-sacrifice their Imperial weapon?"

"If a Quasi-Emperor of the Jiang family has sufficiently pure blood, would they be able to briefly contend with a Supreme Being after blood-sacrificing the Imperial weapon?"

Strong beings within the forbidden zones glanced over with disdain, snorting coldly, "Just bits of crumbling, aged blood-food."

...

*Awoo...*

The dragon's roar, already violent and painful due to its injuries, transformed instantly into a dying wail under the pressure of the giant hand.

Black dragon blood, filled with intense, malevolent yin energy, spurted from the gaps in the palm like a tsunami crashing down from the sky.

Had it been left unchecked, this drop of Great Saint-level flood dragon blood—capable of piercing through stars—would have rendered millions of miles of the Northern Region barren, extinguishing all life and condensing into a sea of malevolent blood stretching for tens of thousands of miles beneath the earth.

"Eh?" As he retracted his hand and felt the probe of his divine sense, Jiang Wen let out a startled sound.

"It is not a manifestation, but flesh and blood. And this cold dragon... it has never even cultivated!"

The results of his divine sense probe shocked him to his core: this flood dragon attacking the Jiang territory possessed not a single trace of cultivation!

Within its body, there were no traces of the five great cultivation realms—the Sea of Bitterns, the Dao Palace, the Four Extremities, the Dragon Transformation, or the Sendai realm—nor any signs of the other cultivation systems scattered throughout the starry sky.

This cold dragon was pure and flawless. Relying solely on its vibrant blood essence and the innate yin energy of its kind, it had reached the terrifying level of a Great Saint!

One must understand that in these Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, billions of beings must rely on cultivation to break their limits and grow stronger.

Having traveled the starry sky for over a thousand years in his youth, he had extraordinary insight. He knew that deep in the cosmos, there existed special, naturally born bloodlines. Those savage beasts and unique life forms, even without a single day of cultivation, would grow to be terrifyingly strong as long as they fed and reached adulthood.

For instance, there were the Star-Swallowing Beasts that nested in the suns. Their population was extremely sparse, and it was said they were extinct, but upon reaching adulthood, they would at least reach the level of a Saint King.

However, only through cultivation—constantly developing the five great realms—could one break the constraints of the bloodline itself to surpass its natural limits.

Yet, to reach the Great Saint level through mere physical body and primordial spirit born of natural blood, without any cultivation—this aptitude was unimaginably monstrous!

Moreover, this flood dragon's blood essence and soul were far too pure!

So pure... it was practically like a hatchling that had just broken out of its eggshell!

"To reach the Great Saint level without cultivation—what would happen if it were to train a little?"

"With a bloodline this pure, it is almost comparable to a True Dragon, isn't it?"

Realizing he had stumbled upon something, the giant hand suddenly became gentle. He hurriedly utilized a secret technique to heal the dying cold dragon, while gathering all the blood scattered across the sky.

Having finally awakened once, and needing to preserve his strength for the impending crises, Jiang Wen knew he likely had little time left.

As an old man, without a monumental stroke of luck, he could not continue to break through and extend his life; he needed to consider the future generations of the Jiang family.

Jiang Wen intended to imprison this flood dragon of unmatched blood purity and extract its essence blood. He would see if it could be refined into medicine to temper the foundations of the Jiang family's new generation of geniuses; that would make his awakening worthwhile.

Even if powerful demon beings came to demand this untainted prodigy, he would be sure to wring a heavy price from them.

Was it over?

Not at all.

In Minecraft, the mechanics of a mob spawner activate when a player is within sixteen blocks.

By default, it attempts to spawn a batch of monsters every 10–40 seconds, with a maximum of four at a time. If there are six monsters within its spawning range, it stops spawning.

Just as Jiang Wen's giant hand retracted, Fang Zheng had only just realized what was happening. He wondered why the sky had suddenly gone bright and dark, and was puzzled by what kind of super-monster the scales inside the dark clouds belonged to.

Ten seconds after the first spawn, the cooldown had passed, and the spawner began to work again.

Only this time, whereas there had been only one before, this time it spawned the maximum number of monsters for a single cycle—four!