54: Chapter 54 The New King

The moment the time acceleration adjustment began, Su Bai felt the entire world go silent.

Greyish-white Yin Qi descended like a curtain, enveloping that patch of deep blue ocean. The sea surface no longer churned, waves frozen in mid-air, and even the Nagas who had just been subdued by the Brand were frozen in their kneeling positions.

Only Su Bai's consciousness could penetrate that curtain and see everything.

He watched as time began to accelerate.

Year one, year two, year five, year ten.

The surface of the Deep Blue Sea Abyss remained calm.

Twenty-six thousand Deep Sea Nagas, led by the Naga King, began to rebuild their home in this unfamiliar ocean.

They chose an underwater canyon as their new settlement. Steep rocky walls lined both sides of the canyon, with soft sea sand at the bottom and over a dozen natural rock crevices in its depths that could be converted into their initial nests.

The Nagas built crude houses from coral and rock, wove fishing nets from seaweed, and crafted tools from shells. The nobles who once owned palaces and cities in the Deep Blue Realm were now forced to squeeze into narrow rock crevices, watching everything with resentful eyes.

But no one dared to resist.

The Naga King's Brand was still there; it was an absolute loyalty planted by the Creator himself.

However, loyalty was one thing, but the hearts of the people were another.

Year twenty.

The first batch of Naga hatchlings was born.

The eggs were carefully placed in a specially designated hatchery, guarded day and night by elderly female Nagas. Three months later, the hatchlings broke through their shells, emitting tiny hisses.

The newborns' eyes were pure black and would take several years to turn into the vertical pupils of adult Nagas. Their scales were soft and transparent, taking over a decade to gradually harden and change color.

But their birth meant that the race had not gone extinct.

It meant the Deep Blue Sea Abyss would become their new home.

The elderly Nagas gathered around the hatchery, watching those squirming little lives with complex glints in their eyes.

Someone whispered the name of their homeland.

"The Deep Blue Realm... we can never go back."

"There is only Yin Qi and seawater here, no sunlight, no warm currents, no coral forests..."

"Can our children survive?"

No one answered.

But the hissing of the hatchlings echoed in the silent abyss like some ancient prophecy.

Year fifty.

The Deep Blue Sea Abyss underwent its first major change.

The seawater soaked in Yin Qi began to undergo subtle mutations.

In areas with high concentrations of Yin Qi, the originally deep blue seawater gradually took on a greyish-white base. That greyish-white was not turbidity, but a strange transparency somewhere between the physical and the ethereal.

The Nagas living in those areas began to show symptoms of maladaptation.

Scales falling off.

Deteriorating vision.

Mental confusion.

Some even went mad in the sea, attacking their companions and biting themselves, finally dying in agony.

The death toll rose from dozens in the first year to hundreds by the tenth year, and to over a thousand by the fiftieth year.

The Naga King issued an emergency order to migrate all clansmen to areas with lower Yin Qi concentrations, while sending messengers to the Shadow Demon Abyss and the Extreme Cold Ice Plains to seek help from the races that had already adapted to Yin Qi.

Shadow Blade sent several Shadow Demon Elders. They observed the edges of the Deep Blue Sea Abyss for three days and left one sentence:

"Have your clansmen actively absorb the Yin Qi."

"Either die or adapt."

"There is no third path."

The Nagas were furious.

"Actively absorb Yin Qi? That's suicide!"

"Those Shadow Demons are lunatics! We won't listen to them!"

"We want to find the Creator! Have him send us back to our original world!"

But the Naga King remained silent for a long time, finally issuing a cruel command:

"From today onwards, every adult Naga must enter the Yin Qi zone for six hours every day."

"Those who adapt shall live; those who do not shall die."

On the day the order was given, three hundred Nagas went mad and died in the Yin Qi zone.

Second day, two hundred.

Third day, one hundred and fifty.

Fourth day, one hundred.

Fifth day, eighty.

The death toll was slowly declining.

The surviving Nagas began to undergo subtle changes.

Their scales darkened, turning from deep blue to ghostly blue, then to grey-blue. Their eyes began to adapt to the greyish-white light, allowing them to see further in the Yin Qi. Their bodies began to absorb that strange energy, making them even more powerful.

The first Naga to successfully fuse with the Yin Qi was a young Naga named Lan.

He came from the bottom of society, his parents having died early, and he grew up scavenging for scraps. His scales were naturally duller than other Nagas, and his build was smaller; he had been bullied, mocked, and looked down upon since childhood.

But he survived.

That day, when he walked out of the Yin Qi zone, everyone was stunned.

His scales were no longer grey-blue but a pure silver-grey. His eyes were no longer black or vertical slits, but had turned a faint gold. His aura jumped directly from Rank 1 to Rank 2.

He stood at the edge of the Yin Qi zone, looking at the Nagas who had once bullied him, saying nothing.

He just gave a faint glance.

Then he swam away.

That was the first time Lan had entered everyone's sight.

And the last.

Because after that, he disappeared again.

Just as he had once lived in obscurity at the bottom, he returned to his corner in obscurity once more.

But some people are destined not to remain obscure forever.

Year two hundred.

The population of the Deep Blue Sea Abyss grew from twenty-six thousand to thirty-eight thousand.

Those Nagas who successfully fused with Yin Qi were called the Grey Scale Clan. Their scales were grey-blue or silver-grey, their eyes were mostly faint gold or pure white, and their strength was generally much higher than that of ordinary Nagas.

Those who did not fuse with Yin Qi, or failed to do so, were called the Deep Blue Clan. Their scales remained the traditional deep blue, their eyes were still black vertical pupils, and their strength remained as before.

On the surface, the two clans lived in peace.

But a rift had existed from the very beginning.

Within the Deep Blue Clan, many were descendants of former nobles.

They remembered their glory in the Deep Blue Realm, the palaces and slaves they once owned, and the days when they stood high above, looking down upon all living beings.

They were unwilling to accept this.

Why should those lowly bottom-dwellers be able to step on their heads just because they were lucky enough to fuse with Yin Qi?

Why should that beggar named Lan receive extra attention from the Shadow Demon Elders after walking out of the Yin Qi zone?

Why?

Year three hundred.

The noble descendants of the Deep Blue Clan began to secretly collude.

Leading them was a Naga named Yuan.

He was a descendant of one of the three great noble families of the former Deep Blue Realm, with pure blood and ambitious goals. His scales were a pure deep blue, making him the most dazzling presence even within the Deep Blue Clan. His strength was at the peak of Rank 4, second only to the Naga King.

He had not fused with Yin Qi.

Because he disdained it.

"Do those greyish bastards deserve to sit as equals with me?"

He told his followers this.

The followers nodded feverishly.

Thus, on the seventh month of the three hundredth year, Yuan launched a coup.

Leading two thousand elites of the Deep Blue Clan, he launched a surprise attack on the Naga King's palace.

That night, the Deep Blue Sea Abyss turned into a sea of blood.

Yuan's forces killed all the guards loyal to the Naga King, all the resisting Grey Scale Clan members, and everyone who refused to submit.

Because Yuan's attack was a surprise, the Naga King was severely wounded in the battle and imprisoned in a cage at the deepest part of the seabed.

Yuan stood in a pool of blood, raising his trident high and declaring himself the new king.