318: Chapter 318 Reversal! A Deal is Made with the Dragon King, and the Sea God's True Colors are Revealed

Passing through that production line piled with wreckage, ahead lay a bone hall so empty that one could hear their own heartbeat echoing.

There were no guards and no traps.

There was only a high platform.

The platform was not cast from gold, but was instead constructed from countless dragon bones of various sizes and eras. The stark white bones were jagged and interlocking, forming a hideous throne.

Upon the throne, a Dragon was shackled.

A... green Dragon so old it was nearly desiccated.

Its size was far more massive than the corpses outside the hall; even curled up, it was like a small mountain. However, its condition was miserable to the extreme.

The dragon scales across its entire body had been plucked clean, revealing the dark red flesh beneath. Dozens of black iron hooks, thicker than a man's waist, pierced through its scapulae, spine, and limbs, pinning it firmly to the throne.

At the position of its heart, a massive bloody hole was gurgling with dark gold dragon blood, which flowed along the grooves beneath the throne and into the still-functioning blood pool.

It was the... main power source of this factory.

"Roar..."

Seemingly sensing the aura of a living person, the old Dragon struggled to lift its head. Its eyelids drooped, and its turbid eyes held not a hint of spirit, only a deathly, ashen gray.

It looked at Lu Sheng, its lips parting to produce a voice as raspy as two pieces of rusted iron rubbing together.

"A new... executioner?"

"Do it... I... can't be squeezed for much more..."

It seemed to mistake Lu Sheng for a new batch of butchers sent by the "Sea God."

Li Xiaoyao's body was trembling violently. He looked at that old Dragon, at the familiar green skin and that aged face, making unintelligible whimpering sounds.

"East Sea Dragon King... Ao Guang..."

Dao Yi whispered the name, his face filled with disbelief.

This was the overlord who once ruled the Four Seas and stood on equal footing with Kunlun's Spirit Emperor? To think he had ended up in such a state.

"Sea God..." Lu Sheng ignored the commotion behind him. He stared at the old Dragon, gray light swirling within his cross-shaped pupils. "You made a deal with it?"

The old Dragon's turbid eyeballs moved slightly, seemingly surprised that Lu Sheng could call out the "Sea God's" name.

It gave a miserable smile, the laughter pulling at the iron hooks and causing a series of dull thuds as flesh tore.

"A deal? Heh... that wasn't a deal; that was inviting a wolf into the house."

"Ten thousand years ago, when the Abyss Rift first appeared, my Dragon Clan's Bloodline began to wither day by day, and nine out of ten newborns were deformed or died in infancy." There was endless regret in the old Dragon's voice. "Just as the Dragon Clan's Legacy was about to be severed, 'it' appeared."

"It called itself the 'Sea God' and said it could purify our clan's Bloodline and return the Dragon Clan to its peak. The price was... the Dragon Clan serving it as master for all eternity."

"I agreed."

"I handed over control of the Dragon Palace to it and migrated my clansmen here to receive its 'blessing'."

As the old Dragon spoke to this point, two lines of bloody tears flowed from its deathly gray eyes.

"But that wasn't a blessing; it was a curse! It was a modification! My clansmen, my children, were sent one by one into those jars, becoming monsters without a Soul who knew only slaughter!"

"And I..." It glanced at the tube inserted into its own heart. "I became the nutrient for their birth."

"A joke, a massive joke! To continue the Bloodline, I personally pushed the entire Dragon Clan... into the slaughterhouse!"

A sorrowful roar echoed through the hall.

Li Xiaoyao could no longer hold back; old tears streamed down his face as he collapsed to his knees.

Dao Yi was also visibly moved, his fingers gripping his whisk trembling slightly, clearly shaken by this ancient tragedy.

Only Lu Sheng.

There was no expression on his face.

Under the Dragon King's grief-stricken gaze, he slowly walked up the high platform.

He didn't look at those hideous iron hooks, nor did he look at the flowing dragon blood.

He reached out a hand and felt the exposed, still-twitching meat on the old Dragon's neck, even tapping it with his knuckles.

"Hmm."

Lu Sheng let out a hum, like a cook inspecting goods.

"This tenderloin is actually quite firm."

"Pity, the depletion of Qi and blood is too severe, and over ninety percent of the divinity has been lost. If I took it to be steamed now, the texture would probably be very tough."

Dead silence filled the room.

Even the old Dragon's wail got stuck in its throat.

Its turbid eyes suddenly widened, staring fixedly at the human before it.

Astonishment, anger, absurdity... even with all its emotions, it couldn't understand the scene unfolding before it.

"Lu Sheng!" Dao Yi finally couldn't help but speak, his voice tinged with urgency. "He..."

"What about him?" Lu Sheng turned his head and looked at Dao Yi calmly. "He's pitiful? He's tragic? So what? You want me to take him down and then kneel on the ground to kowtow to him, praising his noble character for sacrificing himself for his clan?"

Lu Sheng sneered and pointed at the black iron hooks on the Dragon King that had already grown into its flesh.

"Look closely; those are inscribed with an Abyss Contract. If I so much as touch them, that so-called 'Sea God' will sense it immediately."

"Saving him? That's the same as sounding an alarm to tell the butchers in the kitchen that a piece of meat is trying to escape."

"I'm not that stupid."

Lu Sheng withdrew his hand and looked back at the completely bewildered Dragon King.

"Your story is finished; it was very moving."

"But to me, your only current value is 'waste utilization'."

He held up two fingers.

"I'll give you two choices."

"One, you continue to be locked here, acting as a blood bag for the rest of your life until your last drop of blood is squeezed dry, turning into one of those living corpses in the jars outside."

"Two..." Within Lu Sheng's cross-shaped pupils, the gray light was as sharp as a blade. "I will help you find release."

"I will kill you, letting you die like a warrior rather than meat on a chopping block."

The Dragon King's massive body jolted.

Release?

It hadn't heard that word for thousands of years.

"In return," Lu Sheng's voice was devoid of emotion, "give me your Dragon Pearl, which hasn't been completely contaminated, and everything you know about that 'Sea God'."

"Especially... its weakness."

Within the hall, only the Dragon King's heavy breathing remained.

It looked at Lu Sheng, looking into those eyes that contained no mercy, only a pure transaction.

It suddenly laughed.

It laughed with incomparable joy, so much so that the entire bone throne trembled.

"Hahahaha... Good! What a fine 'waste utilization'!"

"I, Ao Guang, dominated the Four Seas for tens of thousands of years and considered myself an overlord, yet in the end, I actually need a human to grant me death!"

Within those turbid eyes, a faint but extremely crazed flame was rekindled.

"I accept!"

The Dragon King roared.

"As long as you can kill all those half-dragon, half-ghost bastards outside and clean up my clan, my Dragon Pearl, my Legacy, and everything I know... will all be yours!"

"Deal."

Lu Sheng nodded, crisp and decisive.

He slowly raised his hand, and within his palm, the phantom of the dragon devouring spear began to condense.

Just then, the Dragon King seemed to remember something, and a hint of extreme terror flashed in its eyes.

"Be careful... of that 'Sea God'..."

Its voice was kept extremely low, filled with wariness.

"It... it is not a biological creature..."

"It is a... living heart... from beyond the heavens!"