The Heavens: A Qing, the Yue Girl at the beginning

The storm that has enveloped Tokyo has lasted for a long time.

At first it was just fine rain, but later it gradually turned into a long rainy season.

The rain meandered out transparent veins on the glass curtain wall. Under the refraction of neon lights, those water marks looked like some kind of mysterious runes, or like the silent tears of the city.

A hazy mist filled the air, immersing the entire city in a milky white haze. The billboards at Shibuya Crossing became blurred in the mist, and the jumping electronic images seemed to come from another dimension.

The poison gas purifiers in the high-rise buildings along the coast kept working, making a low hum. They were like a group of silent guards, filtering out the abnormal substances mixed in the sea breeze. Occasionally, workers in protective clothing would inspect equipment on the roof, and their figures looked particularly small in the rain and fog.

After a new wave of ghost tooth vipers was repelled, some silver-blue scales floated on the surface of the bay, flashing strange light with the rise and fall of the tide.

Tokyo in the rain has a strange tranquility. The Hachiko statue in front of Shibuya Station is shining after being washed by the rain, and the loyal dog's eyes seem to be looking at a distant place that ordinary people cannot see.

The automatic umbrella rental machine at the entrance of the convenience store emits a soft blue light, and raindrops beat on the umbrella surface in a fine rhythm. The warm curtains of the izakaya become darker after being wet by the rain, and the light from inside is blurred in the mist, like a floating orange ball of light.

On a rainy day like this, there is a rare sense of comfort. Office workers are crowded in the small cafe, looking at the outside world through the foggy glass windows.

High school girls shared an umbrella and ran across the crosswalk, laughing and not noticing that their uniform skirts were soaked by the rain. An old man slowly sipped a hot drink from a vending machine under the eaves, his breath blending into the rain and mist.

Unfinished Lego blocks are scattered on the wool carpet in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Roppongi Hills apartment.

The little girl put her nose against the cold glass and watched the mist condense into a winding stream on the window. She drew a horned horse with her finger, and the water marks quickly disappeared under the heating in the room.

The sound of miso soup boiling could be heard in the kitchen, and the TV was broadcasting the Meteorological Agency's optimistic forecast of a decrease in acid rain concentrations.

The vast majority of people have not yet learned the truth about the world.

They were unaware of the trace amounts of dragon blood that might be contained in the rainwater, they did not see the shadows roaming in the depths of the bay, and they were unaware of the true meaning of the runes on the Nordic-style masks they wore.

The sound of rain became the best white noise, covering up the unknown commotion deep in the city.

The mist is like a layer of soft gauze, wrapping up all the sharpness and cruelty, leaving only a gentle and blurred world.

In the distance, the top of Tokyo Tower has disappeared into the clouds, like the last mast of a sinking ship. And deeper underground, some ancient vibration is slowly transmitting along the geological fault, like the pulse of a sleeper.

Mount Fuji, which has been active recently, has finally started to erupt, but the scale is not large. There are only flashes of dust columns and scattered fire streams that shoot dust into the sky.

The clouds were pitch black, while the edges were a burning bright color, as if the sky was filled with burning charcoal that would fall to the ground at any time.

……

9:27 am, Atami, Kuroishi Residence.

The rain falls slantingly and the sea fog is everywhere.

The Kuroishi Residence stands at the end of the Izu Peninsula, with towering black rock walls that plunge into the waves of Sagami Bay as if cut by a knife. This palace of the generals left over from the Edo period has now become the temporary command post of Su Enxi, the "Black Gold Swan".

Inside the official residence, in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, she was wearing a gray suit and black high heels. The diamond pendant on her right ear danced in the light. She wore black plastic-framed glasses and curled up on an Italian leather sofa, her fingertips rapidly switching between six screens.

The K-line chart of the Tokyo stock market, the fluctuations of international crude oil futures, the abnormal weather data in Osaka Bay, the "mask" craze on social media...all information flows are intertwined like a spider web under her control, and the sound of the Pacific Ocean tides is resonating with the hum of financial data flows.

"Increase short positions in Mitsubishi UFJ by another 20%. The yen exchange rate will continue to fall." She whispered into the headset, picked up the coffee cup with her other hand and took a sip: "Strange... Tokyo's capital flow suddenly experienced a large-scale abnormal withdrawal, as if someone was clearing the market in advance."

"Because Tokyo is about to become an altar."

A clear young boy's voice sounded behind her.

Su Enxi turned back suddenly - the black-clad boy was leaning on the windowsill, holding a lazy Siamese cat in his arms. His fingertips gently scratched the cat's chin, and the cat squinted its golden vertical pupils in comfort. The rain outside the window passed through his body, as if he was just an illusion.

"Boss?!" Su Enxi raised her eyebrows, her fingers still hovering over the keyboard, but her eyes were already locked on that figure, "How are you..."

"Are you having fun playing the financial game?" The boss smiled, and the black cat jumped off his lap and walked to Su Enxi's feet to rub against him. He took out another black chess piece and played with it in his hand, and the sound of his mouth was as light as the night wind.

Su Enxi shrugged: "It's okay, just a little boring."

The boss's figure was reflected on the glass, but it seemed to be distorted by some force, sometimes clear, sometimes blurry, as if it would disappear at any time.

He produced a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice from somewhere, with a funny little paper umbrella stuck on the straw. He took a sip slowly, then flicked his fingertips and the chess piece flew into the air, then landed steadily back in his palm. "Boring? That's great. What's going to happen next is definitely exciting enough."

Su Enxi narrowed her eyes: "For example?"

"Like... Odin is coming."

The air suddenly solidified.

Su Enxi's fingers finally left the keyboard. She slowly raised her head and said, "...Odin? The one-eyed god king in Norse mythology? The last time you mentioned him, you said that we didn't need to worry about him for the next five or six years."

"Plans can't keep up with changes."

The boss suddenly cursed in a low voice, with a rare irritation in his tone, "Odin, this idiot... is beyond my expectations."

"It seems like a really big deal that the boss can curse." Su Enxi thought, "But then again, he was biting the straw while cursing 'idiot'. This scene is somehow... cute? Wait, what am I thinking about? Is this the time to think about this?!"

"You could also miscalculate?" She raised her eyebrows slightly, deciding to use the question to cover up her strange associations.

The boss sneered, "I've said it before, the original script has been disrupted." He paused, as if talking to himself, "Loki, the Wind King, has been the spokesperson for the 'God King' for many years, always trying to escape his status as a pawn, but in the end he was abandoned."

"Loki?!" Su Enxi keenly caught the key words: "Wait, the god of trickery in Norse mythology? Isn't he Odin's sworn brother? How did he become the Dragon King? And he is actually the king of sky and wind? I remember Loki seemed to be the god of fire."

She couldn't help but imagine Odin sitting on the throne of Valhalla in a dragon robe, saying sinisterly: "Loki, do you know your sin?"

The boss sneered, pulled out the paper umbrella, and inserted it into the gap of Su Enxi's keyboard: "Do you believe the words of the God of Lies?"

He walked to the wine cabinet and poured himself another glass of juice. The amber liquid swayed in the glass:
"Almost all of the existing Norse mythology is the product of Loki's fabrication - he tampered with history and portrayed himself as Odin's 'brother' rather than... a tamed dog."

"As for the God of Fire becoming the King of Wind... In fact, in Norse mythology, most dragons correspond to the Frost Giants. The so-called 'frost' does not refer to temperature, but mental habits - cold, cruel, and indifferent to life."

"This does not change even though the dragon's breath is fire."

"Loki's name 'God of Fire' also represents his essence - the instigator of chaos." He turned around, his golden eyes suddenly brightened, and his tone was full of unquestionable arrogance: "Lies themselves are also a gust of wind - they penetrate everywhere, blow away the truth, but can never be caught."

Su Enxi digested this information and expressed her understanding of the fact that wind-type words were best at spreading rumors. She thought to herself, "So, Loki is actually controlled by Odin?"

"Almost. Although he was one of the best of the first generation, he was more like a shadow, always hiding behind Odin, dealing with some things for the 'King of the Gods' that were not convenient for him to do personally." The boss took a sip of wine, and his golden eyes narrowed slightly, "But now, he is dead."

Got it, Odin is the chairman, Loki is the CEO and the scapegoat. Su Enxi concluded silently in her heart that now that the CEO has been killed, the chairman has personally stepped in and brought a group of elite employees with him.

"Is it the battle in Osaka just now?" Su Enxi's fingers stopped at the cat's ears. The cat noticed her stiffness, meowed in dissatisfaction, jumped out of her arms, and landed lightly on the carpet.

"Yes, he was killed by Zhao Qing." The boss' tone was light, "After obtaining the first-generation level of fusion sacrifice, Odin gradually released the power that sealed it and was about to invade the real world. The Wall of Sighs that had been maintained for thousands of years is collapsing..."

“Wall of Sighs? What’s that new cryptocurrency?”

Su Enxi teased. The word sounded like some kind of ancient barrier, but she had never seen related records in the files of hybrids. "It sounds like the boundary of the underworld in Greek mythology... some kind of seal of the Nibelung?"

The boss looked at the surging waves below the cliff and Mount Fuji shrouded in sea fog in the distance. The smoke column now appeared as the outline of a giant tree, and the branches and leaves were dotted with golden meteors: "It is the curtain separating the mythological era and the modern era."

“When the boundaries between the two are blurred, between reality and illusion, there is Odin’s hunting ground.”

"Have you heard of Night Food?"

"The Land of Hades in Japanese mythology?"

Su Enxi recalled, "According to the legend, after Izanami died, Izanagi chased her to the underworld. What place did he see?"

The boss nodded. "But it's not a myth. It's a giant Nibelungen - a sealed Nibelungen from the Age of Gods. Its location completely overlaps with the present-day Tokyo. It's filled with deadpools and corpse guards transformed from the descendants of the White King."

"A nobleman whose skeleton was made into a Takamagahara corpse guard ten thousand years ago was freed by the M army's ammunition, but his soul was successfully resurrected in a cocoon transferred to Avalon. The muddled memory fragments provided Odin with a new key to open the gate to the underworld."

"Odin's target is the Night Eater?" Su Enxi asked, "Is he going to use the dragon blood monsters inside to replenish the Hall of Heroes?"

"No." The boss shook his head. "His goal is to descend into the real world and make the name of 'God King' come true. The souls that have been trapped for countless years will find a suitable carrier. The Night Food is just a stepping stone for him. The chess players who are qualified to participate in the game have all started to play in person."

Su Enxi's pupils shrank slightly: "What will happen to Tokyo?"

"It will become a huge cage," the boss said calmly, "the living can't get in, and the dead can't get out."

Su Enxi was silent for a moment, and suddenly asked: "What is Zhao Qing's strength? Can she be considered one of the 'chess players'?" "I don't know everything."

The boss tossed the chess pieces while thinking, and finally said, "But the alchemical mask that Odin has kept in the bottom of his chest... can only exert its full power in Nibelung. And there are probably far more than two or three such conceptual weapons and high-level alchemical life forms."

"The current situation is changing so fast that a single 'king' can't even make it to the table anymore. He must form an alliance and form a team."

"Time is running out. Odin's chess piece has already fallen. And it's time for us... to move and tell the players of this game who gets to make the rules." The boss turned around, a kind of almost tyrannical majesty burning in his golden eyes, and his voice paused and fell, as if he was commanding the world.

Su Enxi had never seen her boss look like this before—like a king overlooking a battlefield, or like a god deciding fate. She suddenly realized that this man who was always lazy and casual on weekdays had blood flowing in his bones that was more domineering than the Dragon King.

"Okay, let's go." Su Enxi took a deep breath and closed the computer.

"But..." She looked at the boss with sharp eyes: "You haven't told me yet, which side Zhao Qing is on?"

"Probably the opposite of Odin." The boss didn't give a clear answer, but just smiled.

Another deafening explosion was heard from the direction of Mount Fuji, followed by a rain of fire from the sky.

Burning volcanic rocks streaked across the sky like meteorites, and one of the rocks happened to fall near the coast of Atami, stirring up a cloud of steam that instantly obscured the view of the entire Black Stone Mansion.

In the hazy mist, the boss' figure gradually faded, leaving only the last sentence, low and powerful: "This world was created as a battlefield, destined to be soaked in blood."

Outside the window, the whole world is burning.

On the mirror surface where the rain curtain and the sea of ​​fire meet, the outlines of tens of thousands of undead cavalry are solidifying. The sea water trampled by their horses' hooves is forming frost flowers, but only a very small number of "awakened ones" can see them.

The rest of the people, including technological creations, can only observe distorted "natural" phenomena and have no chance to see the real side of the world.

……

Almost at the same time, on a barren hill dozens of miles away, Zhao Qing leaped out of the big hole drilled by the blind dragon and stood next to a half-collapsed stone lantern. The ground was shining in the rain, and the ochre-red clay was full of moisture, and stepping on it felt like stepping into warm syrup.

She sensed a low vibration coming from the sky - not thunder, but a heavier roar with the smell of earth. Xia Mi was falling obliquely from the lead-gray clouds.

I saw her legs slightly bent and her arms spread like wings, like an eagle swooping down from the clouds. When she was still a hundred meters away from the ground, she suddenly tightened her abdomen and took a deep breath, punching the air alternately with her fists. Each blow created crystal-like ripples in the rain, which had the effect of slowing down the opponent.

The soil below was shaken away, and the moist clay was lifted into the air by the tornado of energy, swirling around her into a turbid mud mist that instantly wrapped around Xia Mi's body and was delicately shaped into a mud ball with a diameter of more than three meters, which slammed onto the slope with a "bang".

The mud ball rolled down the slope, and the friction between clay and rock made a dull "crunching" sound, plowing out a gully half a person deep. Cracks continued to appear on the surface. It only rushed out for a few dozen meters before it exploded into a sky full of broken sand, revealing Xia Mi who had already slowed down inside.

She did a beautiful three and a half turns in the air, the water droplets from her hair condensed into tiny water rings, and finally landed steadily in front of Zhao Qing, without a speck of mud on her body. She raised her head, grinned, and waved: "Sorry for the wait!"

"Three minutes early."

Zhao Qing smiled slightly, quite satisfied with Xia Mi's performance of the Gang Jin force-dissipating technique: "Can't wait to devour and refine the Water King's core?" She flipped her hand and picked up the ice ball from before - the miniature star that matched it had already exhausted its energy and gone out - and shook it deliberately.

"What do you think?" Xia Mi glanced at the wind and rain in the current environment, feeling the elemental turbulence covering a wide range:
"It looks like a being above the first generation is about to awaken. Although I am a little reluctant to let go, after all, we are brothers and sisters from the past and there is still some friendship, but I have already made up my mind."

"In the face of the war among the gods, it's either you die or I die... But Master, perhaps you need your disciple to remind you whether you are ready to fight to the death with the Water King faction?"

"If one of the water kings is swallowed, how big a storm can the remaining one cause?"

Zhao Qing naturally did not take this threat seriously. What she was more concerned about was actually the water king "Black Snake", who seemed to have the identity of Zero/the boss's pet. If she really killed it completely, she was afraid that the other party would become her enemy.

The identities and status of Lu Mingfei and Lu Mingze, as well as their combat power and authority, remain a mystery to this day. Perhaps only an old freak like Odin knows something about this.

Xia Mi, whose memory is defective, can only be sure that the other party is a supreme being who is more ancient than the four monarchs. Perhaps, he is a great being who is qualified to compete for the position of "New Black King"?

Considering their both faces, the "Black Snake" is undoubtedly a difficult trophy to dispose of, and it may cost a heavy price.

But to go further, no matter the Mountain King and the Fire King twins, they were originally the targets that Lu Mingze planned to slaughter and were regarded as "traitors" who he wanted to take revenge on. Now that he had formed an alliance with these Dragon Kings, how could he compromise and betray them at will and use important supplies to please potential enemies?
This is the most basic responsibility.

At this critical moment, every bit of power gained can save more people, so why would she hesitate because of such conflicts? Even if she really got into trouble, she was already prepared to bear the consequences.

……

"Let's refine it first! How long will it take you?"

Zhao Qing's mind moved slightly. Judging from the plot of the original "Dragon Clan", before Lu Mingfei faced despair and sold his soul to the devil, the power that Lu Mingze could use was probably extremely limited, and it should be difficult for him to exceed the level of an ordinary first-generation species.

Moreover, considering that in the third transaction against Herzog's version of the White King, Lu, who had 3% fusion and 100 times gain, did not gain the upper hand and even almost overturned, it is unlikely that the power that Lu Mingze could bring into reality would exceed this threshold before Lu Mingfei sold 12/3 of his lives.

A strong man of this level is still within her reach.

Therefore, as long as Lu Mingfei in Binhai is taken good care of, so that he can live a free and easy life, no longer be lonely, and get further away from "despair", then the possible "revenge" attack from Lu Mingze will not be a real threat - the script designed by the latter forces Lu Mingfei into danger, which is not a good thing.

In order to achieve this goal, she had already settled things with the other party's uncle and aunt, and was using official channels to gradually transform the two into model guardians. Lu Mingfei's personal cultural quality also needed to be cultivated and improved - "illiterate" people with no vision and those with character defects are obviously more likely to be fooled and exploited.

He should be treated as an underage student, receiving a good education and the friendship of peers, and building an independent personality, rather than becoming a tool or weapon in the hands of certain people and stepping onto the battlefield at a loss.

For truly outstanding young people, when faced with major difficulties, the right thing to do is to rely on their own abilities to solve them. Selling out one's soul will not last long.

"If it's fast, a few hours?" Xia Mi made a simple estimate: "In addition to the internal devouring of the twins, the decomposition of the dragon bone cross and the reorganization and integration of cross-system powers are very complicated alchemical processes, no less than releasing the spirit of annihilation. I don't want to have indigestion."

"Does it require protection or cocooning or something like that?" Zhao Qing continued to ask, "Is there a weak stage during this period?"

"It's not getting weak, but its strength is growing all the time." Xia Mi replied: "I've said it before, even in the middle of refining, you can start to use the power in the core."

"Yes." Zhao Qing nodded. She claimed that she would use Guixu to attack Rome, relying on this kind of semi-fusion state: "Then I wish you great progress in strength and become a dual-system king!"

"Then I'll start." Xia Mi did not continue talking nonsense, but lowered her eyes and stared at the palm of her hand. Her knuckles suddenly bulged and the bones cracked, and tiny cracks appeared with "click". Blue-black bone spurs appeared inch by inch, and drop-shaped blood beads hung on the sharp blade, condensing into red silk threads in the rain.

She raised her hand, and the bone spur cut through the rain curtain and lightly scratched the surface of the ice ball that had begun to melt, making a crisp sound like glass. As her wrist turned, blood spread along the track left by the bone spur, weaving spider-web-like vine patterns, like an ancient alchemical array blooming on the ice.

Each line of blood was melting the ice, revealing the dark blue core inside.

With a crisp "pop" sound, Xia Mi broke the bone spur with her backhand, and the half of the bone blade with barbs pierced into the core with a "puff". The dark blue light vibrated violently, splashing out tiny ice crystals.

The palm that had not yet healed swelled again, and the second bone spur grew out from the flesh and blood, three points thicker and longer than before, with a cold metallic light at the tip. She repeated the piercing action, and each time the bone spur entered the core, there was a dull sound, as if it was nailing into some ancient seal.

Raindrops dripped down the ends of her hair, and the ice ball made a silent and tragic dragon roar, making people feel the pain it was enduring. The blue-black bone blades densely inserted into the core were like a curled up hedgehog. The dark blue light at the core was stained with blood, turning into a strange purple-black color.

As if foreseeing his own demise, the King of Ocean and Water launched his final fierce resistance.

Those vine-like lines that should have spread along the blood lines suddenly grew in the opposite direction, and ice-blue blood vessels gushed out from deep in the core. The surface was covered with dense black scales, which twisted wildly like a living thing and wrapped around Xia Mi's arm.

Countless tiny ice spikes grew, trying to drill into her muscle fibers like parasites.

The wind and waves on the sea suddenly changed direction, creating a thick wall of water nearly a hundred meters high, which slammed towards the barren hill. The rain increased a hundred times in an instant, and the bean-sized raindrops hit the rocks with a crisp sound like steel balls hitting each other. The whole world was covered by a curtain of water.

"Do you think you can swallow me up?" Xia Mi stood in the majestic rain waterfall, her chest heaving violently. Looking at the blood still dripping from her palm, she suddenly turned around, and with an expressionless face, she used her power to shatter the new blood vessels of the Water King.

She stretched out her hand and gently drew a line across her abdomen. The skin parted like a torn silk, revealing the dark red muscles and the gleaming internal organs. Without hesitation, Xia Mi placed the core covered with bone spurs directly into her abdomen, and the blood instantly dyed her clothes red.

The next moment, a shocking scene appeared.

The wound on Xia Mi's abdomen squirmed like a living thing. A fiery golden light shone from deep within the wound. The muscles and skin healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. The mark of the Earthly Serpent Jörmungandr appeared, and in just half a second, it returned to normal without even a scar left.

The devouring and plundering between dragons is so barbaric, primitive and direct.

"Now...it's my turn to eat you."

Xia Mi raised her head and looked at Mount Fuji which was erupting in the distance. A bloodthirsty smile appeared on the corner of her lips, and the golden light in her eyes became brighter and brighter.

Zhao Qing watched quietly from the side. She knew that the girl in front of her was completing a dangerous but crucial evolution. The profound changes in the laws of vital energy displayed in this process could also give her a lot of inspiration and help her comprehend new techniques.

The wind and rain grew stronger, and the outlines of the Undead Cavalry in the distance became clearer, but Xia Mi stood where she was, feeling the power surging in her body - it was the fusion of the Water King's core and her own power, like two giant dragons entwined and biting each other in her blood vessels, but gradually merging into one.

The huge waves that hit from the sea finally collapsed and turned into water mist all over the sky. The rain also weakened at this moment. Only drizzle was still washing the mess on the barren hills, but it could no longer get close to the area within ten feet around her.

Zhao Qing waved his sleeves to shatter the frozen raindrops. Knowing that refining them this time shouldn't be a problem, he turned his gaze to Shi Yiguang who was controlling the holographic screen:
"The Wind King who just transformed into a cocoon should be the creator of the typhoon rainy night crisis, right? He disguised himself as Odin and intercepted Chu Tianjiao's Maybach, took away a box, and made this S-level specialist disappear..."

"I'm not sure, but I have sent the relevant information to Chu Zihang." Shi Yiguang replied calmly: "I hope he can recognize it."

...(End of chapter)