Dragon King’s Son-In-Law

Hao Ren was about to ask Liu Yi to go and find Premier Xia, but Premier Xia, who was overseeing the reconstruction at a distance, saw Hao Ren at the door.

“Gongzi Hao! Gongzi Hao!” Premier Xia ran to Hao Ren; his hunched back made running difficult.

“Liu Yi, you may go tend to your business.” Hao Ren glanced at Liu Yi.

Liu Yi was a straight-forward and honorable character. Hao Ren had already seen him as his trusted aide.

“Understood!” Liu Yi went out of the palace to continue patrolling the surroundings.

“Gongzi Hao, I knew you’d come,” Premier Xia ran to Hao Ren and said with excitement.

“Premier, you’re not young anymore. Don’t sprint.” Hao Ren laughed and asked, “Elder Lu and Elder Sun have left?”

“The two elders have returned to the East Ocean Dragon Palace. They will send six elders to the West Ocean Dragon Palace,” Premier Xia said.

“What is the final arrangement?” Hao Ren asked. He was not skilled at negotiation, so he left Premier Xia and the two elders with enough leverage and went to Beijing to see Zhao Jiayi’s basketball game.

“Fuma, this is what the four clans agreed on. The East Ocean Dragon Clan will be responsible for the area between the West Ocean Dragon Clan and the Demon Sea. The area between the West Ocean Dragon Palace to the South Ocean Dragon Palace will be guarded by South Ocean, and the area between the West Ocean Dragon Palace to the North Ocean Dragon Palace will be guarded by North Ocean.

Lastly, the area between the West Ocean Dragon Palace and the land will be taken care of by West Ocean itself,” Premier Xia said seriously as he looked at Hao Ren.

Hao Ren pictured the distribution in his mind. With the West Ocean Dragon Palace as the center, its territory was divided into four areas, and each of the dragon clan took a piece.

From the perspective of South Ocean and North Ocean, their territory simply increased. Also, since the areas they took over weren’t connected with the Demon Sea, their defense line didn’t need to expand.

As for the East Ocean Dragon Clan, the area it took was from the West Ocean Dragon Clan to the Demon Sea. Since the Demon Sea was very far from the West Ocean Dragon Palace, the area was the largest. It was comparatively much more difficult to defend than the areas that were taken by the South Ocean Dragon Clan and the North Ocean Dragon Clan. However, since it was closer to the Demon Sea where nature essence was abundant, there were more resources.

As for the sea area that the West Ocean Dragon Clan was responsible for, it was the smallest of the four sea areas. Since the dragon palace was not far from the land, the ocean floor was relatively shallow, and there were often mortal activities. It had the lowest nature essence intensity and the least amount of resources.

Hao Ren was somewhat satisfied with this distribution. The demon beasts in the Demon Sea were fierce, but those active near the border were low-leveled. As long as the Demon Sea remained stable, the soldiers of East Ocean wouldn’t have too much danger.

During this time, the East Ocean Dragon Clan would take over valuable resources from West Ocean, and it was very significant.

“Other than that, regarding the internal management of the West Ocean Dragon Clan, each of the other three dragon clans will each send six elders. Together with the six senior elders of the West Ocean Dragon Clan, they will form a senate. The group will make amendments on the decisions of West Ocean’s Crown Prince,” Premier Xia reported.

“Good.” Hao Ren nodded again. This method divided the internal power of the West Ocean Dragon Palace into four, immensely weakening Zeng Yitao’s centralized authority.

Since 18 of the 24 elders were from other three dragon clans, they would always prioritize their own interests. The six elders from West Ocean itself, short in numbers, would not make much of a difference.

“Zeng Yitao is in the dragon palace?” Hao Ren asked Premier Xia.

“Yes, Gongzi Hao. I’ll take you to him.” Premier Xia led the way with his hunched back.

The West Ocean Dragon Palace looked completely defeated without any solemnity and glory.

In fact, in terms of infrastructures, the West Ocean Dragon Palace and the East Ocean Dragon Palace had some similarities. They both had a palace for storing techniques, ad palace for storing dharma treasure, a practice field, a main palace, a few side palaces…

If the East Ocean Dragon Clan got too weak and was invaded by enemies, it would look like this…

No matter what, gaining power was always the priority.

The West Ocean Dragon Clan dared to invade the East Ocean Dragon Clan because they had confidence in their West Ocean Mystic Ice and the number of Qian-level and Kun-level elders.

If East Ocean lost the war with West Ocean, Oldman Zeng and Zeng Yitao would be walking in the broken East Ocean Dragon Palace, and Zhao Yanzi would have become Zeng Yitao’s imperial concubine. They would show no mercy to East Ocean.

Thinking of this, Hao Ren withdrew his gaze and followed Premier Xia into a somewhat intact palace.

Zeng Yitao was sitting on a golden throne and wearing a fancy golden dragon robe. A few purple-robed elders stood beside him, advising him on some matter.

When Zeng Yitao saw Hao Ren walking in, he stood up abruptly. Anger flashed in his eyes, but he immediately turned modest.

“Zhen level…” Hao Ren noticed that Zeng Yitao’s realm was recovered.

Oldman Zeng went to the Dragon God Shrine for a unique elixir pill and a secret technique which healed Zeng Yitao. However, from the looks of it, his realm wouldn’t get higher.

“Welcome, Commanding General.” The few purple-robed elders beside Zeng Yitao cupped their hands toward Hao Ren.

Hao Ren waved lightly. In the past when West Ocean was powerful, the elders did not respect him at all.

“Welcome… Commanding General of East Ocean,” Zeng Yitao stared at Hao Ren and said stiffly.

Everyone at West Ocean knew that East Ocean won in the end amongst the three dragon clans that came here.

Also, the shocking news of Hao Ren single-handedly taking on a level 8 demon beast had spread through West Ocean.

Everyone in West Ocean knew clearly that if East Ocean marched into West Ocean with this strength, Zeng Xin couldn’t stop it even if he were still alive.

Zeng Xin took the risk to try to become a Heavenly Dragon to turn the situation around, but he failed.

“Eh…”

Hao Ren nodded, and his eyes were fixated on Zeng Yitao. The goal of East Ocean’s intervention here was to occupy territories. The so-called ‘helping West Ocean’ was only the obvious excuse.

However, it was also true that the West Ocean Dragon Palace would be better off controlled by the other three ocean dragon clans compared with other forces. The four ocean dragon clans were a group of their own. Although the other three dragon clans controlled most of the territories of West Ocean, they were still maintaining its operations and assisting with its reconstruction.

On Zeng Yitao’s face, there was confusion, embarrassment, fear, and unease.

Back then when Hao Ren was weak, he couldn’t eliminate him. Today, Hao Ren was far more powerful both in terms of individual strength as well as the hundreds of thousands of soldiers under his control.

Even the two commanding generals from South Ocean and North Ocean had to respect him.

“Your grandpa… is not buried yet?” Hao Ren asked him.

Zeng Yitao looked at him with confusion and shook his head.

Hao Ren turned to look at Premier Xia beside him. “The Old Dragon King of West Ocean should be buried with the level of honor and tribute as a dragon king. Premier Xia, you shall assist the premier and the elders of West Ocean on this matter. Our East Ocean Dragon Clan will pay all the expenses.”

Premier Xia was stunned. Then, he bowed in a hurry, “As you wish.”

The few elders of West Ocean all looked at Hao Ren with surprise as well.

Zeng Xin attempted to charge into the Heavenly Dragon Realm but died under the lightning bolts.

Both South Ocean and North Ocean stationed troops at the West Ocean Dragon Palace, but they did not mention Zeng Xin at all since it didn’t matter.

West Ocean became enemies with East Ocean, and South Ocean and North Ocean almost got dragged into it. Therefore, they still had some grudges against West Ocean.

“There is nothing else. Zeng Yitao, if you can keep the West Ocean Dragon Palace under control, what once belonged to West Ocean will be back to your son or grandson’s grasp in the future.”

Zeng Yitao was still the Crown Prince of West Ocean, but he was in fact a prisoner. Hao Ren had no interest in talking to him anymore.

“I… I was wrong!” Seeing Hao Ren turning, Zeng Yitao suddenly shouted.

“Invading the East Ocean Dragon Clan was my grandpa’s idea! I called Black Wolf to capture you only to scare you. I didn’t mean to harm you and your women! Capturing your family was also not my order… Hao Ren, I beg you! Let me go, let me go… I’m useless. I’ll stop pursuing Zhao Yanzi; I’ll give up the prince title. Please send me to the land and give me some money…”

Zeng Yitao’s tone changed from shouting to begging.

Hao Ren did not pay attention to him at all, and he led Premier Xia out of the palace. He knew about Zeng Yitao’s terrible conduct, and he had no sympathy for this kind of people.

Therefore, Hao Ren did not believe Zeng Yitao’s explanation, and Zeng Yitao was going to spend the rest of his life in the West Ocean Dragon Palace as a puppet.

If he were obedient, he would be kept alive. If not, he would be ditched!

Premier Xia followed Hao Ren tightly, and he suddenly thought that this Fuma was unfathomable. Beating enemies showed power, but respecting enemies showed magnanimity.

Zeng Xin attacked East Ocean and caused many troubles, but Hao Ren still respected him for his courage and calculations. Despite Zeng Xin dying in the Heavenly Tribulation, Hao Ren still granted him a proper burial.

“Fuma will be able to accomplish great things…” Premier Xia thought and suddenly felt like Hao Ren grew more majestic.

Hao Ren walked to the outside of the hall silently before turning to Premier Xia. “Premier Xia, are you coming back with me to the East Ocean Dragon Palace, or are you staying here to take care of more business?”

“I need to go back to East Ocean. If it is convenient for Fuma, please take me along with you,” Premier Xia said respectfully.

“Sure!” Hao Ren nodded.

He rolled open the River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting and soared out of the water toward East Ocean.

Premier Xia had never traveled this fast before, and he was pleasantly surprised.

“Gongzi Hao is incredible. As long as he is in the helm of East Ocean, the defeated West Ocean Dragon Clan would not be able to surpass the East Ocean Dragon Clan for the next 1,000 years. No wonder Gongzi Hao said that it would be Zeng Yitao’s son or grandson who might be able to regain control,” he thought.

Hao Ren looked ordinary but was ferocious, and Zeng Yitao looked ferocious but was weak.

After this incident, the South Ocean Dragon Clan and the North Ocean Dragon Clan firmly aligned themselves to the East Ocean Dragon Clan. Even if the weak Zeng Yitao wanted to resist, he had no means!

Also, it looked like Zeng Yitao did not want to resist either! After all, his life was in Hao Ren’s control.

Even if the Dragon God Shrine supported him, he would not dare to do it.

As a strategy in war, you should never cut off all your enemies’ hopes.

If Hao Ren didn’t leave the West Ocean Dragon Palace a way out and pressured them to death, this would cause Zeng Yitao and his elders to revolt. Now that Hao Ren let Zeng Yitao remain as the prince, and the elders and soldiers of West Ocean got to keep their status and treatment, they had a sliver of hope, and it was hard for them to unite and fight back.

Now that the four Oceans entered a state of stability, the other forces had no means to intervene.

Hao Ren did not seem to do anything, but everything was under his control.

It was brilliant, really brilliant!

The River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting went past the Demon Sea with a speed close to that of a Soul Formation Realm cultivator.

Soon, they entered the ocean area of East Ocean.

River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting was also extremely fast under water. In only the blink of an eye, Hao Ren took Premier Xia to the main gate of the East Ocean Dragon Palace.

Compared to the damaged West Ocean Dragon Palace, the East Ocean Dragon Palace was truly magnificent!

“Premier Xia, I’m not going in. I have something else to do!” Hao Ren left Premier Xia at the gate and said with a smile.

“Gongzi Hao, thank you!” Premier Xia said respectfully.

“If you have time, come and hang out on the land,” Hao Ren said before leaving on the River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting.

He knew that Premier Xia was busy with all kinds of matters in the dragon clan and had little opportunity to visit the land. However, Premier Xia actually really wanted to take a vacation on land.

Whoosh!

Quickly, Hao Ren rushed out of the ocean and flew far away.

The plains, mountains, hills, and rivers beneath the clouds were scattered territories of dragon clans. Dragon palaces, large and small, were hidden within. The River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting flew at top speed, and the large area in front was the Kunlun Mountain.

There was a Soul Formation Realm cultivator in there, so Hao Ren didn’t dare to go in and cause trouble. Therefore, he specially flew around the border of the Kunlun Mountain before continuing toward the Dragon God Shrine.

“Huh?” a gasp sounded in the Kunlun Mountain.

Hua!

Hao Ren broke through the thick clouds and put away the River-Mountain Qian-Kun Painting. He hung the inspector’s token by his waist and rushed onto the platform of the Dragon God Shrine.

The dignified and mighty Dragon God Shrine stood at the center of the floating platform.

Hao Ren, stepping on a grey sword energy, directly landed at the east entrance of the Dragon God Shrine.

Su Han took him here last time, but he came here by himself this time.

Passing through the spacious hall on the first floor, Hao Ren walked up the rotating staircase and soon reached the area that was only open to level 3 inspectors.

The regional inspectors of the four cities around the four ocean dragon palaces were at least level 3 inspectors. Therefore, their offices were in this area.

Hao Ren memorized the locations last time when he entered the Dragon God Shrine with Su Han. After slowly searching for it, he finally found the way.

In front of the room that said East Ocean, Hao Ren put his token into the dent.

The stone gate slowly opened.

The black-robed Su Han appeared in front of Hao Ren barefooted.