Battle for the Treasure
A great commotion could be seen on the surface of the river with water splashing everywhere, even reaching Pure Yang Lord standing on the shore.
He realized the unusual nature of this river—flowing with great currents and turbulence, despite the absence of heavy rainfall or great storm. His heart raced as he deduced this could likely be due to a treasure.
His eyes lit up with anticipation when he sensed Princess Sara struggling to retrieve the treasure, even with her formidable cultivation.
He clenched his fists in frustration, feeling powerless that he couldn't go and support her due to his puny cultivation.
He finally made up his mind to make use of this evil system which was currently his only hope to reach higher cultivation levels. Only with high cultivation does he have a chance to free himself from its control and take revenge on its master.
While anxiously waiting for Sara, he turned his attention inside his mind.
'Hey, system. What do you mean by enslaving the princess?'
[You have to successfully place a slave seal on the princess for her to be considered enslaved.]
"You are definitely messing with me, right?" he retorted.
"She's at least a Martial Saint, maybe even a Martial Emperor level expert! How do you expect me, a puny Body Refinement Realm cultivator, to place a slave seal on her who is several realms higher than me?"
[She's only at the Void Amalgamation Realm, known as Martial King Realm in your previous world.]
'But how can she fly around so easily if she's only a Martial King?' he asked, puzzled.
[People with cultivation few realms below Martial Saint can fly around if they have suitable flying treasure and secret flying battle techniques. Even people with lower cultivation can fly using their swords or special magical artifacts.]
He felt like a frog at the bottom of a well, listening to the system. Despite reaching the Martial Emperor Realm in his previous life, there were still many things he didn't know.
He sighed, shaking his head. 'Looks like lots of cultivation knowledge were lost in that cataclysmic war. No wonder people couldn't reach higher realms in the future.'
Roar!
His conversation was interrupted by a loud sound that reverberated through the water causing ripples and waves on the surface.
[The system suggests hostage retreat far from the river if the hostage doesn't want to die in the aftermath of their battle.]
He gritted his teeth and ran far from the river into the thick forest.
He sighed again, feeling at a loss. 'Who would've guessed that someone who once roamed the world freely as the peak expert, would be reduced to such a state?'
He finally came to a stop about five hundred meters away from the river and landed on top of an enormous tree to observe the battle in the river.
The mist around the river dispersed and the river flowing with great current slowed down while ripples could be seen on the surface.
An enormous serpent slowly emerged, floating above the river. The sleek body of this magical beast was seven or eight meters long with scales in shades of deep blue and emerald green. At the top of its head, there were two dark blue helix-shaped horns. Its eyes were large with iridescent pupils that were narrowed with anger, shining menacingly. Two small protrusions could be seen on its back akin to partially grown wings. This creature resembled a mix of a serpent and a dragon.
The serpent stood in the air and released a shapeless pressure with a great roar, causing Pure Yang Lord's heart to tremble despite the distance between them.
"Is this… the legendary Soaring Sea Serpent?" he mumbled softly, unable to believe his eyes.
He was deeply shocked to see this magical beast which was the symbol of both beauty and destruction in the myths.
This creature was considered to be extinct in his previous life and only appeared in historical books. It was said that the Soaring Sea Serpent had a trace of bloodline from dragons and would become a Beast Emperor equivalent to Martial Emperor Realm upon maturity.
He shifted his gaze to another well-proportioned and exquisite body floating out of the river. A tight, violet-colored armor had appeared around Princess Sara and she was holding an exquisitely carved longsword that was emitting a radiant purple light.
Her beautiful yet slightly immature face was surprisingly calm, without the slightest change facing this legendary magical beast. On her back, a pair of purple-colored wings could be seen simmering with faint azure light.
"Puny human, you'll pay for disturbing my slumber!" The huge serpent in the sky suddenly roared using human language.
Pure Yang Lord's heart shook upon hearing the magical beast speak in human language. He knew that magical beasts possessed intelligence at Beast King level but they could only communicate in human language after they reached Beast Emperor level.
Puzzled, he asked in his mind, 'System, is this serpent at the Beast Emperor level?'
[This Soaring Sea Serpent is still immature and only at the Beast King level. A mature Beast Emperor-level Soaring Sea Serpent needs fully developed wings. Due to some unknown reasons, this beast has gained the higher intelligence needed to speak human language.]
"I was only looking for a bead-shaped treasure." Princess Sara fixed her beautiful eyes on the Soaring Sea Serpent and said with a clear and soothing voice.
But the beast's expression became strange upon hearing about the treasure. It fiercely growled, "There's no such treasure here. Bugger off before I change my mind."
Her intelligent eyes shined when she saw the change in the beast's expression when she mentioned bead-shaped treasure.
"I can give you a 'Spirit Form Conversion Pill' in exchange for the treasure." She proposed to the beast with great confidence. It seemed she was slightly apprehensive of this fierce beast and wasn't willing to engage in a struggle with it.
'What's this Spirit Form Conversion Pill?' he asked in his mind.
[Using the 'Spirit Form Conversion Pill', a magical beast would be able to take on a human form. With this transformation, their cultivation speed would be equivalent to that of humans.]
He understood why turning to human form has such a great appeal to the magical beasts. Magical beasts have a far longer lifespan than humans but their cultivation speed is very slow. So, if a beast could transform into a human, its cultivation speed would increase a lot.
But this beast contemplated for a while and shook its head. "I want the pill but I don't have any bead-shaped treasure for exchange. How about you change it to something else?"
Princess Sara's expression darkened, not expecting the beast to refuse her offer.
Both Pure Yang Lord and the princess realized the beast definitely had the bead-shaped treasure but was unwilling to exchange for it.
The princess cleverly shook her head, letting out a soft sigh, and turned around as if leaving this place. "What a pity. I'm only interested in that bead-shaped treasure."
"Since you already brought the pill to my doorstep, why not leave it behind?" Watching her about to leave, the beast spoke in a hostile tone.
It suddenly opened its mouth. As it did so, a green-colored wisp appeared in the air in front of its mouth turning into a tornado. Soon, it increased to become over a hundred feet wide huge tornado.
The tornado swirled with great speed uprooting the trees near the river from the ground as the ferocious wind wreaked havoc moving towards the princess.
Pure Yang Lord quickly jumped among the trees widening his distance from the attack and looked back at the condition of the Princess.
In the blink of an eye, a purple-colored light spread from the princess's body turning into an enormous hand that grabbed at the tornado. The purple light brought a chilling sensation in the surroundings, causing Pure Yang Lord, who was almost a kilometer away to shiver.
"What a terrifying sight," he muttered, his voice dry, facing the pressure of the distant tornado and the purple hand. Despite his vast experiences, he had never met any Martial King and Beast King as terrifying as these two.
'System, are these two really at Martial King level?' he inquired.
[The Soaring Sea Serpent has awakened a part of its dragon bloodline causing its strength to soar above the normal Beast King-level. Princess Sara has Pure Ying Physique granting her strength above the level of the Martial King.]
'Then, who do you think will win?' He asked wiping the perspiration on his forehead.
[In terms of raw strength and power, Soaring Sea Serpent is definitely stronger. But it won't be easy for it to defeat the princess who is equipped with powerful magical artifacts. Unless they possess an extremely strong trump card, it will be difficult for any one of them to defeat their opponent.]
He could only look on helplessly as the two enormous forces collided dividing the sky into green and purple colors releasing an uncontrolled and frightening energy in the surroundings.