Cultivating Immortality, Starting from Childhood Sweethearts-Chapter 416 - Why Must It Be This Way?

“Your life.”

“What?”

Just as the words of the East Sea Dragon King, Ao Zhi, landed, his pupils suddenly contracted.

Mei Hongyu’s jade flute was already pointed at Ao Zhi’s heart.

Ao Zhi wanted to dodge, but it was too late.

Mei Hongyu’s jade flute pierced through his body.

Ao Zhi stared at Mei Hongyu, dragon blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. “You—”

“Apologies, Your Majesty. My master said that this plan must succeed, and the Four Seas must fall into chaos.

But rest assured, Your Majesty, your death will not be in vain. You will have made a great contribution to my master’s grand ambitions. Once everything settles, I believe many will remember you.”

Mei Hongyu withdrew the jade flute, and Ao Zhi collapsed sideways, unable to even close his eyes in death.

“Thankfully, it didn’t take too much effort to kill him,” Mei Hongyu exhaled in relief.

Though Mei Hongyu was only in the early stages of the Ascension Realm, while Ao Zhi was at the peak of the Immortal Realm—a whole major realm apart—killing him should have been exceedingly difficult, especially within the East Sea, where the Dragon Palace’s formations strengthened him. There was a real chance she could have been counter-killed.

Fortunately, Ao Zhi had expended most of his spiritual power when using his essence blood to weaken the Dragon King’s Soar’s resistance, leaving him physically frail. Moreover, he had suffered severe backlash from the Dragon King’s Soar just moments ago. With his injuries, coupled with Mei Hongyu’s ambush, she was able to kill him so effortlessly. freёweɓnovel.com

Sometimes, high-realm cultivators are indeed hard to kill.

But at other times, no matter the cultivation realm, death is simply death.

Mei Hongyu crouched down and extracted Ao Zhi’s heart.

The East Sea Dragon King’s soul attempted to escape, but how could Mei Hongyu possibly give him that chance?

In truth, she had no particular intention of eradicating him completely.

Letting him escape wouldn’t have been much of a problem for her—even if he sought revenge in the future, she wouldn’t be afraid.

After all, when a soul reincarnates or seizes another body, their cultivation typically drops by an entire realm, and regaining their former peak is nearly impossible.

However, this Dragon King’s soul was of great use to Mei Hongyu, so she had no choice but to be ruthless.

She formed a hand seal. Ao Zhi’s struggling soul twisted and writhed, but in the end, it was drawn into his own still-beating heart.

Holding the pulsating dragon heart in her hand, Mei Hongyu took steady steps toward the Dragon King’s Soar’s phantom and threw it into the illusionary figure.

At the same time, in the North Sea—

The North Sea Dragon Empress was on the verge of refining the Dragon King’s Soar, but at that critical moment, she suddenly opened her eyes.

A golden, turbulent aura erupted, forcing her back.

A woman’s phantom emerged in the sky above.

The North Sea Dragon Empress’s delicate brows furrowed.

She recognized this red-clad woman—she was the senior disciple of the End Mountain. Two thousand years ago, they had once fought.

Back then, this woman was the first person to survive after clashing with her, despite the fact that she had been an entire major realm lower.

At this moment, Xu Ming could sense that the Dragon Empress was finally treating someone as a true threat.

The woman’s gaze swept across the headless dragon corpse on the ground, a flicker of sorrow passing through her eyes, but only for a fleeting instant.

“Mei Hongyu of the End Mountain greets Your Majesty,” Mei Hongyu said with a slight bow.

“The End Mountain has stretched its hands too far,” the Dragon Empress’s voice carried unquestionable authority. “Did you really think that by allying with that boy Ao Zhi, you could control the Dragon King’s Soar?”

“Our plan should have been flawless,” Mei Hongyu sighed, a hint of regret in her tone. “But alas, there were still some unexpected variables.”

“Indeed, it would have been difficult for me to detect anything. But in the end, it seems fate does not favor the End Mountain,” the Dragon Empress said.

Since ancient times, the Four Seas have always remained neutral between the human and demon races. It was an unspoken consensus upheld by the dragon race.

Thus, throughout history, no Dragon King had ever broken this agreement.

The Dragon Empress would never have imagined that the East Sea Dragon King had colluded with the End Mountain.

Not to mention, who could have possibly discovered those two Qiankun (Yin-Yang) Fish? The Coral Mountain formation was even more concealed—only the End Mountain was capable of orchestrating such a thing.

Even when Xu Ming mentioned the matter of Ten Thousand Fish Lake, and the Dragon Empress sent people to investigate, she had almost dismissed it, thinking it was insignificant.

It was only because she had decided to fish out that peculiar fish for Xu Ming that Xiaolan and the Tower Master of Ting Hai (Listening Sea) Tower noticed something unusual.

Even then, the Dragon Empress had not linked these abnormalities to the Dragon King’s Soar.

In the end, it was a paper fish that swam toward the Dragon Palace, intercepted by Xia Zhu, who then presented it to the Dragon Empress. Only then did she uncover the hidden formation at the tallest Coral Mountain outside the Dragon Capital.

With this information, and given the Dragon Empress’s millennia of experience, she naturally deduced everything.

Some schemes appear simple yet are destined to succeed.

Some seem intricate, yet all it takes is the slightest variable—like pulling a single brick from a great wall—and everything comes crashing down.

“What exactly is fate?” Mei Hongyu murmured, looking up at the vast sky, lost in thought.

Then, she turned her gaze back to the Dragon Empress, smiling.

“Your Majesty, have you considered joining the End Mountain?” Mei Hongyu asked. “If Your Majesty is willing, the Dragon King’s Soar will be yours. Our sect is willing to support you as the ruler of the Four Seas.”

“You must be dreaming.” The Dragon Empress pointed at Mei Hongyu’s phantom, and a silver dragon surged forward, lunging at her.

Yet, the silver dragon merely passed through, unable to inflict the slightest harm.

“Sigh, what a pity.” Mei Hongyu’s voice carried a hint of regret. “Since that’s the case, I’m afraid the people of the Four Seas will have to suffer.”

As her phantom gradually dissipated, her final words echoed—

“Your Majesty, take care.”

The Dragon Empress’s heart trembled as she turned toward the Dragon King’s Soar, flying toward it at full speed.

But it was already too late.

“ROAR—!”

The Dragon King’s Soar let out a frenzied howl as countless dragon phantoms reappeared, and cracks began to form along it’s body.

High above the East Sea Dragon Capital, Mei Hongyu turned toward the southern Demon Kingdom and called out in a clear voice—

“I ask the Patriarch to make his move.”

“Sigh... must this truly be the way?”

As the elderly voice faded, the skies above the North Sea Dragon Capital churned. The sea rolled back, revealing a whirlpool of dark clouds.

From its depths, a heart descended.

This heart pulsed, condensing and compressing, until it finally shrank into a single drop of essence blood!

The drop fell onto the Dragon King’s Soar’s disintegrating form.

It was like the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

The moment the essence blood touched the Dragon King’s Soar—

It shattered completely.