The Regressor of Mount Hua-Chapter 313. The South Seas Solution (1)

The Dragon's Roar wasn't any ordinary sound technique.

As a part of the Dragon's Heart and Body Canon, the Dragon's Roar was also an extension of a dragon itself.

After his last Dragon's Roar and his final strike, the imoogi had collapsed while crying out. At that moment, some of the beast's emotions and thoughts were transmitted through his ears into his mind.

The resentment of not yet becoming a dragon, the pain of its body being torn apart, the humiliation of being defeated by a mere human—and many other feelings.

What was strange was that Zhou Xuchuan actually understood those emotions and thoughts, even though he couldn't express them in words.

With a hopeful mind, he changed his qi circulation to that of the Dragon's Roar and concentrated.

"...!"

Thoughts and memories flooded his head.

Spiritual beasts born with a spiritual aura, and out of those spiritual beasts, a snake.

It was smarter, stronger, and faster than any ordinary creature.

As time passed, its spiritual qi grew stronger, and along with it, so did its lifespan and size.

It occasionally encountered greedy humans and came close to death, but thanks to its wit, it survived.

By the time it reached a hundred years old, its body had grown vast.

It developed a poison that instantly paralyzed or killed its prey with a single bite. It also adapted to living in forests, rivers, and eventually, the seas.

It sought stronger prey to catch and devour, overpowering anything that dared to attack it. All living creatures bent beneath its tail.

In its five hundredth year, the snake was no longer a snake, but an imoogi.

As it gained intelligence and cultivated the Dao, the imoogi began to glimpse the truth of the word, dragon.

It wasn't something that it had learned. It was instinctual. A goal and desire engraved in its soul.

After that, many things changed.

It no longer desired to be king of the forest or rivers. Its violent temper subsided.

Its appetite also decreased, and it no longer went out of its way to seek out prey. It only occasionally looked for food when it grew bored.

After wandering around the Central Plains for several decades, or even longer, it finally arrived at a place.

There, a divine tree with sacred qi stood deep within an underwater cave filled with Water Spiritual Fruits.

Those fruits grew from the divine tree’s branches, and as if possessed, the imoogi consumed one.

In that moment, a new world opened before it.

An innate memory of its body floating and rising above the clouds filled its entire body. It was a feeling beyond pleasure. Unfortunately, it wasn't able to see anything more than that. It had returned after barely sticking its head past the door leading to the truth.

When it came to, its body, cultivation, and spirit had all evolved to the point where it was almost unrecognizable. But that didn’t matter.

It wanted to become a dragon. It wanted to return to that truth once more.

That instinct, burned into its soul, cried out.

It instinctively looked for another fruit on the divine tree, but it couldn't find any. Instead, it only found two blossoms.

Seeing that, it seemed as though it would take time for the tree to bear another fruit. While it was a pity that it couldn't consume it right away, since it had time left anyway, it decided to wait while absorbing qi.

Since most of what it had consumed was water qi, it was more efficient for it to go underwater to absorb it than staying inside the cave.

The qi contained in the fruit of the divine tree had been greater than it had thought, so it took quite a while for it to fully digest. The imoogi had taken even longer to return, spending that time sorting through what it had experienced, trying not to forget the glimpse of truth it had seen and to make it its own.

After roughly absorbing what it had consumed for a few decades underwater, it returned to the underwater cave that had become its new nest.

The fruits of the divine tree had not yet fully grown. Moreover, the speed of growth for the two fruits was different, which was disappointing.

Since it was already tired from having digested the qi of the fruit of the divine tree, the Water Spiritual Fruit, anyway, it decided to go into a deep sleep.

It didn't know how much time had passed. All it knew was that it was a long time.

In the middle of it, it had a strange dream.

A young human had appeared, holding a yeouiju in its arms. It had glanced at the human before drifting back to sleep. Then, when it awoke again, the imoogi was shocked.

There was nothing left.

Its means to become a dragon was gone.

The fruits that should have ripened after hundreds of years were gone.

It searched everywhere, including the underwater caves, but it couldn't find them.

It didn't even have the time to get angry, it was just desperate.

It couldn't afford to wait another long time again. Not knowing what to do, it just wandered around when it caught a scent of something in the South Sea.

It was the scent of the mother of the divine fruits, the scent of a divine tree.

The imoogi set out for the South Sea with hope of reaching another divine tree, and it arrived at none other than the South Sea Dragon Gate.

As expected, that's what happened.

He could finally see why the imoogi, which had been sleeping near Shaanxi, had drifted all the way to the distant South Sea.

Its key to ascending to a higher level of being, to ascending to a dragon, was the Water Spiritual Fruit.

However, since Zhou Xuchuan had fled with them, the imoogi had no choice but to wander around looking for another divine tree.

After much hardship, it was fortunate enough to arrive at the underwater cave of Hainan Island's South Sea Dragon Gate. However, the issue was that the entrance was just too small.

In the end, after much thought, it had started to hit the outer wall of the large cave. It truly had an obsession with becoming a dragon.

Through this, Zhou Xuchuan was able to indirectly learn the truth that had been unknown in his previous life.

Was that why there had been two Water Spiritual Fruits instead of one?

There was supposed to have been one Water Spiritual Fruit, not two.

He could now guess why only one had been found in his previous life.

According to the imoogi's memory, it had prepared two Water Spiritual Fruits in order to ascend to the heavens as a dragon.

The Water Spiritual Fruits were no different from Yeouiju to the imoogi.

It had planned to become a dragon through the Water Spiritual Fruits.

It had spent hundreds of years cultivating the fruits.

After taking the first, or to be exact, the second Water Spiritual Fruit, it would have left the cave to absorb it properly. After finishing its absorption of its qi, it would have then gone back to eat the third and last Water Spiritual Fruit—which is where the original imoogi would have been shocked to find it missing.

The problem in the original timeline had been that a martial artist had accidentally found his way to the cave and taken the third fruit away. At that point, the imoogi would have reached the exact same point it was at right now, looking for the South Sea Dragon Palace.

If that's the case, then it explains why the Hainan Sword Sect and the other sects of the South Sea didn't show up even during the Era of War and Chaos.

No matter how large Hainan Island was, it was still just an island. Even if it was caught in a power struggle, such a conflict couldn’t have lasted more than thirty or forty years.

This incident also explained why proper contact had been impossible during the chaotic times of the Era of War and Chaos.

The imoogi of that timeline must have also struck the outer walls of the South Sea Dragon Gate to find the Nine Children of the Dragon Pillars, which were forged out of divine trees.

The Returning Deer Gate, the South Sea Dragon Gate, and the invasion of the Eastern Pirates would have all combined to make it so that the Hainan Sword Sect ultimately couldn't help the Central Plains.

Ha, seriously.

The strength in his hand holding the sword loosened. While Zhou Xuchuan tried to finish off the imoogi as he usually did with enemies, his hand wouldn’t move easily.

He hadn’t meant for things to end up this way—he could never have imagined such circumstances. And now, he felt sympathy for the imoogi.

"I'm sorry."

Bō zhǎng shí zhī ěr mǎ xī chí (撥長食之爾馬奚馳).

There was a saying that went, while the one to run is the horse, the one to eat is the rider.[1]

That saying felt painfully fitting.

The imoogi had spent centuries dreaming of becoming a dragon while guarding a divine tree, nurturing a Water Spiritual Fruit. Yet, in the end, a human had come and taken it all away.

It was truly a strange life.

If the imoogi were to find out that the divine tree it was searching for had become nine pillars that couldn't bear fruit because of human hands, it would go crazy.

"Don't resent me too much."

The fruits of the divine tree, the Water Spiritual Fruit, had no owner.

While the imoogi thought it had guarded the fruit so that it would grow well, in truth, the fruits were in a place that not only people, but also beasts couldn't reach if they weren't blessed by the heavens, meaning that the fruits would have grown well even if the imoogi hadn't been there.

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Still, thinking about it made Zhou Xuchuan feel bad.

"I’m grateful you spared my life back then and let me go. But even then, you weren’t in your right mind. If you hadn’t been in a deep sleep, I would’ve died."

He took a deep breath and exhaled, steadying himself.

Then, he gripped the sword once more, preparing to finish it off.

However...

"Hmph!"

He had lost count of how many times he’d resolved to do it. He put strength into his sword, but in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to cut the imoogi’s throat.

Zhou Xuchuan hesitated several times before finally standing, scratching his head.

What’s with this sudden curiosity?

The imoogi couldn’t speak. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was—he could feel its thoughts, memories, and emotions.

The Dragon's Roar might have been an art meant to communicate with dragons or similar creatures.[2]

Have I grown weak?

It was foolish to spare an enemy out of pity.

He had learned that the hard way during the Era of War and Chaos, when showing mercy had nearly cost him his life. Back then, he vowed to kill all his enemies without mercy.

Even now, he knew this wasn’t a wise decision.

But still... he chose mercy.

Here. This is my tribute to your dream of becoming a dragon.

Zhou Xuchuan injected qi into the imoogi.

He made sure to use water qi in case the qi was rejected.

"What do you think you're doing?!" the South Sea Dragon King shouted upon noticing, but Zhou Xuchuan didn’t stop.

The amount of qi he imbued was endless, like the ocean before his eyes.

However, he didn't use all his qi. He left about half his qi reserves just in case.

Still, that alone was enough for the imoogi to recover.

While its reverse scales didn't grow back, the bleeding had stopped and the wounds slowly began to heal.

The Water Spiritual Fruits are gone. The place you kept ramming into only holds the remnants of the divine tree.

After his injection of qi was finished, he conveyed a message using the Dragon's Roar.

If he could hear it, he could also speak to it.

Even though precise conversation was impossible, he could still convey his meaning.

I’ll let you go just this once. Don’t even think about revenge. If you ever cross me again, you’ll truly face death.

Zhou Xuchuan imbued the message with bloodlust, a clear warning.

Then, he felt a feeling of agreement from the imoogi.

At least on the surface, the imoogi’s response felt genuine.

As long as you do so, that's enough. Don't cause trouble unless someone messes with you. I believe you understand what I'm saying since you're a spiritual beast.

There was no need to tell it not to attack anyone at all. That kind of command could be exploited by villains.

If you want to vent your anger, the Eastern Pirates... vent it on the pirates.

Like the Human-faced Spider, the imoogi was more extraordinary than most people.

Even if Zhou Xuchuan didn't explain what pirates were, the beast most likely understood what he meant.

"Then, go. Find a quiet place far from people, and heal your wounds."

Their silent conversation ended. Zhou Xuchuan leaped off the imoogi's body and landed on the water.

Screech!

"Hmm?"

He was about to leave without looking back, but the imoogi called out to him.

"You’ll repay me for showing you mercy? No... there’s no need for that."

To be honest, it was a complicated situation.

The imoogi could have become a dragon, but that opportunity had been taken away because of him.

Moreover, the imoogi had almost died at his hands. This was even worse than giving someone a wound and medicine at the same time.

Although it was an unavoidable situation for him, it was different from the imoogi's perspective. Truthfully, Zhou Xuchuan had nothing he could say even if the imoogi wanted to kill him.

Perhaps because its emotions and memories, including thoughts, were conveyed, Zhou Xuchuan understood that feeling even more.

Even he would have been angry if that had happened to him. That was why his conscience had pricked him even more.

Possibly because the imoogi was still a beast, the pseudodragon displayed a look of submission before the powerful being standing in front of it.

Then, as if bowing its head, it blinked in acknowledgment and slowly sank beneath the water.

"Captain―!"

Hua Bisheng waved from a ship a mile away.

Zhou Xuchuan raised his hand to greet him, then turned around.

"South Sea's Dragon King. Since the problem has been solved, is it okay for me to take the blacksmith with me?"

"Of course."

The South Sea Dragon King's eyes were filled with respect.

1. While one does all the work, another is the one to benefit. ☜

2. You don't say. ☜