Rage of the Dragon King (2)

Upon seeing the wave approaching Garakil, Shui made the decision to interfere. It wasn't a decision based on righteousness or a desire to show off. It was a calculated decision that took into consideration the losses that would be faced by the Artisan Palace and the additional hoops he would have to go through if his enemies within Storm Sky Manor asked him to explain how he survived the disaster. If he had simply happened upon the scene of the water dragon king leading tsunami serpents to the city, Shui likely wouldn't have taken action since he didn't know the background details and he didn't have a deep personal connection to the city. 

Even though he decided to solve this matter, it would be too troublesome if he was seen fighting here, so he wanted to be as discreet as possible. To deal with the wave, he used a tiny ember of the void flame. Despite its size, the fact that the flame could only cancel out the wave was proof that he still had a long way to go to perfect it. 

He didn't want to give the tsunami serpents time to resist, so once the wave was vaporised, Shui quickly took control of it so that he could make his next move.

"Pseudo Domain: Misty Garden."

Before any of the serpents had noticed, the steam became increasingly opaque, eventually to the point that they couldn't see anything but themselves. Agitated, they started to thrash and howl, and soon after they heard a response. The serpents hastily went towards the sound, only to suddenly be attacked. While the location differed, all of the tsunami serpents felt an impact. They couldn't believe their senses the first time, but the second hit confirmed that the attack was from the fog itself. 

As strange as it was, after finding a target for their hostility, the serpents attacked the fog viciously. They saw their attacks pass through without resistance, but they still remained trapped within the fog. The initial strikes were comparable to mosquito bites, but overtime the mysterious fog attacks became strong enough to damage their scales. The tsunami serpents were confused, but their frustration outweighed rational thought, so they continued wildly retaliating, not even minding the screams of their blood comrades. Only the water dragon king possessed the calm of mind to realise that they were being toyed with and took action to dismantle the trap. 

Shui called this 'Misty Garden' a pseudo domain, but that was only his hope for it. It used the manipulation of wind and water through the Four Elements Technique along with various spiritual techniques to create an elaborate illusion to trap his enemies. Even the powerful tsunami serpents, which were at least equivalent to peak Sky Realm experts, couldn't break through the trap by force, and the more they inhaled the fog, the more susceptible they became to the illusion. Shui was manipulating the fog to tease the serpents and diverting their attacks to each other while slowly leading them away from the city. This method alone would have been enough to handle most of the tsunami serpents, but the water dragon king had a card that could easily rip apart Shui's technique.

"!"

With a soundless roar, the water dragon king began absorbing the water in the fog, effectively dispersing it. Despite Shui's impressive control, the dragon king's authority was too strong to resist. Nevertheless, Shui had been prepared for this scenario. He took out a sturdy spear artifact and assumed a throwing stance while aiming at the dragon king. He didn't need to focus very hard to maintain the fog around himself, and although the dragon king noticed his killing intent, it didn't deem him a threat and continued absorbing the fog's water.

"Thank you for making this so easy for me."

With all his might, Shui threw the spear at the creature. It finally noticed the danger, but the spear was too fast for it to react. It slammed into the water dragon king and almost knocked it out of the sky. The spear didn't manage to pierce its flesh, but blood leaked from the subdragon's mouth due to internal injuries. With the fury of a storm in its eyes, the water dragon king used the water it gathered to spit a quick breath at the source of the attack. However, as mighty as it seemed, the dragon king was still unable to see through Shui's technique, so the breath missed him by a large margin.

After analysing the results of his first attack, Shui decided to make a heavy lance. Thanks to the Four Elements technique and the insights he had gained through his metal physique, Shui was able to transform the ground below him into an adamantine spear. It wouldn't last long, but it had the same properties as adamantine while in this form. As he had made it for the purpose of hunting the water dragon king, it was twice his height and heavy enough that only body cultivators comparable to Masters could lift it.

With the lance ready, Shui reassumed his throwing stance and activated his transcendent force. He felt a rush of vitality and seemingly endless power, but his didn't let this power sway him from the fundamentals. He stomped the ground with his left foot to steady his form and, with a twist of his whole body, threw the lance at the water dragon king. Despite the greater weight, the lance flew even faster than the spear and broke the water dragon king's scales before it registered the attack. The lance even went on to knock it out of the sky and pin the subdragon to the edge of one of the lakes in its territory. No one except Shui and those outside the mist had realised, but the subdragons had been lured back to their territory.

With the water dragon king wounded to this extent, Shui was sure it wouldn't be able to make any drastic moves for the time being, and the tsunami serpents wouldn't be able to do much harm without their king. Satisfied with his work, Shui dispelled Misty Garden. The tsunami were confused at first by the mist's sudden departure, but they quickly focused once they spotted the state of their king. 

Shui took a look in the direction of Mercum, who had been awoken from the hypnosis thanks to sensing the water dragon king's power. The fire dragon king was now attacking the smugglers while its subordinates stole back the eggs. It seemed like everything would work out, so Shui randomly picked an opportunistic smuggler to rob and went on his way.