Chapter 273: Chapter 273: The Celestial Will is Hard to Defy

「The Four Seas Sect, Eastern Island Dragon Palace.」

Misty vapor flowed over the steps before the hall. A sound like rolling thunder—the sound of breathing—reverberated from within, as if a behemoth were resting inside.

Only upon entering the hall did one realize it was no giant beast.

Instead, a handsome, scholarly-looking young man in a white robe leaned against a window, engrossed in a Pill Book he held in his hands.

Just then, a woman walked into the great hall.

She had a curvaceous figure, a vermilion dot marked between her brows, and a face of refined, classical beauty. Her every move carried an air of nobility, mixed with a hint of untamed willfulness.

Upon entering the hall and seeing the young man by the window, she immediately cried out:

“Brother! What time do you think it is, for you to still be reading here? If this continues, the Four Seas Sect and the Dragon Race will lose all face!”

The young man sighed and looked up at her. “Sister, have you forgotten Father’s verbal edict? We were to enter seclusion and silently recite the Dao Scriptures. A tribulation is upon us. If we remain here, Father can still protect us. But if we go out… there are no guarantees.”

“But Sui Ying is dead!”

The woman shook her head, her open mouth revealing a set of sharp teeth as she spoke with hatred, “Sui Ying was a Dragon King, yet he was killed by a human! How can we simply ignore it?”

When he was alive, Sui Ying had been a prominent figure in the Dragon Palace.

His relationship with the woman was especially close, as they were full-blooded siblings. The woman’s name was Sui Ling; she was, strictly speaking, Sui Ying’s younger sister.

Now that her brother was dead, how could she not feel hatred?

In contrast, the young man remained calm. “So what? Sui Ying died inland. Are you planning to hunt his killer down there?”

“Give it up, Sister.”

The young man’s name was Tianqiu. He was the second son of the Dragon Monarch and had reached Great Trueman cultivation at Foundation Establishment Perfection years ago. He was also one of the Dragon Monarch’s most capable aides.

Thus, he was far more level-headed than the young and impulsive Sui Ling. He shook his head. “I fear this tribulation is another cleansing of the Overseas by the inland. It’s likely impossible to resist. We can only hide. Nothing will happen to us if we stay in the Dragon Palace, but if we leave, there’s a ninety-nine percent chance our bodies will perish and our Daos will be extinguished.”

“How can this be…”

Sui Ling gritted her teeth at his words, but then an idea seemed to strike her. She exclaimed, “What if I lure that person into the Dragon Palace?”

Tianqiu raised an eyebrow. “Lure him into the Dragon Palace… If you can truly manage that, then it would be fine. Even the great ones in the heavens would have nothing to say.”

Perfected Lords plan the game; Perfected Persons are the pieces.

The former focus only on the grand scheme, while the latter control the details. Victory and defeat are determined by their own abilities—this is the unspoken understanding among Perfected Lords.

“Excellent!”

Seeing his reaction, Sui Ling eagerly rubbed her hands together. “I previously asked a friend from the Profound Turtle Race to perform a divination for me. That person happens to be coming Overseas on his current journey!”

“The karmic links show that his target is the very Primordial Magnetic Divine Mountain that you, Brother, have had your eye on. I ask you to move that Divine Mountain into our Dragon Palace’s territory. That way, he’ll either have to force his way into our Dragon Palace or give up on advancing his cultivation. Either outcome will be enough to vent my anger!”

“The Primordial Magnetic Divine Mountain…”

At Sui Ling’s words, Tianqiu’s brow furrowed, and he smiled bitterly in his heart. ’As expected of a Perfected Lord. They always strike where it hurts most, leaving me no room to escape!’

Why did he value the Primordial Magnetic Divine Mountain?

Like Summon, he too had recognized that this Divine Mountain was a Grotto Heaven Fragment left behind after a Perfected Lord’s fall. It would be of immense benefit to his own attempt at Seeking Gold!

If it were an ordinary item, he would have just let it go.

But this Divine Mountain was something he could not give up!

Yet if he didn’t let it go, he would forge karmic links with the other party. In that exchange, the tribulation would be upon him, and a life-or-death crisis would be imminent!

“Father…”

Tianqiu looked up toward the deepest part of the Dragon Palace, as if he could feel a pair of golden eyes, vast as mountains, watching him. An immense pressure washed over him.

’…That’s right. Father can deduce karmic links; how could he not know the full story? Knowing this, he still told me to enter seclusion and recite the Dao Scriptures. He wants me to give it up. But the Primordial Magnetic Divine Mountain… That’s a Grotto Heaven Fragment! If I obtain it, my chances of Seeking Gold will increase dramatically. How can I just give it up like this?’

For a moment, Tianqiu’s expression was fraught with conflict.

After a long while, he finally calmed his emotions and turned to Sui Ling. “The Divine Mountain has not yet fully matured. Moving it into the Dragon Palace now would just be a waste.”

“You go first, Sister.”

“Gather more people to guard the Divine Mountain for me. If that inland Cultivator who killed Sui Ying truly intends to make a move on it… then I will intervene.”

“I accept your command, Brother!”

Sui Ling was overjoyed to hear this. She departed with light steps, leaving Tianqiu sitting alone in the hall, his expression unsettled. The Dao Scripture in his hands was already closed.

“The Celestial Will is hard to defy… It is hard to defy!”

……..

RUMBLE!

Thunder and incandescent flashes of lightning streaked across the sky, revealing the fury of the one behind the scenes, only to be forcefully concealed by thick, dark clouds.

“You all… have gone too far!”

The suppressed voice caused Heaven and Earth to roar. In an instant, the waves of the Overseas began to churn, and countless natural disasters manifested from thin air, on the verge of becoming monstrous tsunamis.

But in the next moment, three streams of Mighty Power arose in response, pressing down with unshakable force. Like a great, invisible hand, they flattened the myriad waves, and all the disasters vanished without a trace before they could fully form. The voice that had been roaring across Heaven and Earth suddenly grew much quieter.

“Amitabha. Dragon Monarch, why must you be in such a hurry?”

“Those below are, after all, those below. In a game of chess, there are wins and losses. One must be willing to accept defeat to maintain some dignity. Getting angry just shows your own pettiness!”

“I…”

The Dragon Monarch gritted his teeth. A game of chess certainly has wins and losses, but you bastards have no sense of sportsmanship! Three of you playing against me—I make one move, and you make three!

This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. He thought back to when the True Dragon Race was the nobility of Heaven and Earth. They didn’t need to practice cultivation; they would reach Foundation Establishment upon adulthood. Four Dragon Monarchs divided the rivers and seas amongst themselves—what magnificent power that was! But ever since they fled to the Overseas and the nobility of Heaven and Earth became subordinates to humankind, everything had changed.

Back then, when they fled to the Overseas, he was the only Dragon Monarch the Dragon Race had left.

And now, after countless years, the Dragon Race still had only him as a Dragon Monarch!

’Every so often, they conduct a cleansing, a harvest, of the Overseas. They’re raising the Demon Race like livestock! And I’m just their designated sheepdog!’

Whenever a demon beast cultivated to Foundation Establishment Perfection and approached the stage of Seeking Gold, it would trigger a “cleansing.”

Their methods never even changed. They would simply toss out an ’opportunity for Seeking Gold’ to lure out the target, claiming that success or failure depended entirely on one’s own abilities.

—Fine words, indeed.

In reality, over all these years, the Demon Race had never won even once. The Four Great Forces joining hands to eradicate any variables—how could anyone possibly stand against that?

Unless…

In the next instant, the Dragon Monarch decisively retracted his spiritual perception, no longer confronting the three streams of Mighty Power in the void. He returned to his true body in the Dragon Palace and opened his golden eyes.

His gaze pierced through everything, and an invisible Illusion Barrier was unveiled.

Instantly, a tall, slender figure with a leisurely demeanor appeared before the Dragon Monarch’s eyes, a smile on his face. “It seems the Dragon Monarch has made his decision?”

“…A promise is a promise.”

The Dragon Monarch’s voice was deep. “Ang Xiao, as long as you can help my Dragon Race produce another Dragon Monarch and obtain the Fruit of Sky-River Water, I will let it go to your Netherworld!”

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