“Finally it’s time! … But you don’t look too enthusiastic, senior brother, is there something bothering you?”

“Oh it’s nothing, I just don’t like dark places.”

“Ha ha, if you are joking like that then everything must be in order, just call me when I’m needed, I’ll be at the spiritual gym.”

“I’ll be sure to do that.”

Zhang Dong watched Huo Qiang as he left the room he was occupying. In it, he had a nice view of the dark ocean that they were above now. The upgraded flying fortress was in the middle of nowhere. Everything was covered by water and the shoreline was not visible even to someone that could enhance his eyes like him.

After a few weeks of preparation, they had packed up more than half of their army to set out on this attack. His change in mood was noticed by his friend as he did not like the way things were unfolding. The enemies that should be coming in waves weren’t appearing at all. In reality, he predicted them launching an attack in the time they were making their preparations.

‘Could the scenario have changed due to the Emerald Phoenix Emperor’s death? Is it possible that there is some type of hidden difficulty gauge?’

He couldn't discount something like this as he was in the ending phase of driving back the enemy empires. Some games that he played back in his old world had an alternating difficulty where it would change depending on a player's level. Mobs changed to make the game more challenging even when the player gained more and more power.

‘Could she be stronger than the Emerald Phoenix Emperor? It’s a possibility, I should probably be careful and not expect a cakewalk like I previously did.’

From the exchange that his people were having with the fish people, it was clear that they weren’t that strong. When even his regular sect masters could contend with the enemies without his involvement, then it meant that they weren’t the greatest. When he was fighting the demi-humans his forces could only give him some cover fire but would mostly be unable to take care of even the tribe heads. Now, on the other hand, even the named generals of these underwater armies could be soloed by a few of his companions.

‘This might be true but it could also be a cakewalk like with the farty emperor, I just need to watch my back and be ready to teleport everyone out of there when the time comes.’

While he burned through a lot of spirit points to upgrade his flying fortress there were now enough for an emergency retreat. This was one of the reasons he waited close to a month after the defeat of his last foes. Even though he didn’t spend any points on getting his army over to help him, the expenditure for the upgrades to attempt the underwater voyage were just that big.

“Is everyone ready?”

“Aye, they were just waiting for their leader to give them the sign.”

“Well then, without further ado let us depart, make sure the battleships don’t go outside of the outer barrier.”

Zhang Dong contacted Zhang Jin who had become the de facto captain of this palace. He himself was stuck in a more secluded area. Even though he had gotten used to talking to people and commanding them, it didn’t change the fact that he preferred not to do it. Even less when he was already in the company of someone else.

“This is quite the interesting spot you have there.”

“Isn’t it? We can even circle through all the vintage points of this palace.”

His wife Liena was coming for this mission with him. Normally she would be left back home with the kids but with no real threat there it was fine to leave them in the hands of other relatives and his disciples. Through the five-year gap that he was gone some people close to Liena had emerged and they could be trusted with this mission. There were also ways for him or her to go back instantly if any trouble arose.

Thanks to their sect being the governing body of the whole western region the threat was minuscule. Even if someone moved against them, the powerful weapons and protective formations at their base would be able to even stall him for weeks or even months. It was a possibility that the Long Clan could make a move when he was gone yet that would probably not happen.

The main problem with that tactic was his location being shrouded in mystery. He could frequently teleport through various areas thanks to the system and there was no way of telling where he was. His appearance in the eastern region was already a shocker. Before the news was spread he was already back in the main city to make a speech.

Through various teleportation efforts, he was making everyone doubt his true location. They wouldn’t even be sure if the person that traveled to the east was actually him or some other powerful master from his sect. Without proper information, the fable of the Golden Dragon just kept on growing. Bahamut who could move through the whole empire without him was also a force to be reckoned with. Some even believed him to be Long Dong just in his true form.

Thanks to all these diversion tactics he implemented no one could be sure where he was. Without knowing his true position even the Long Clan wouldn’t dare to attack. His system also helped him find all kinds of spies in his main city. To his surprise, there weren’t all that many, and none that actually belonged to the Long Clan.

“It sure is beautiful and terrifying at the same time, some people say that this whole sea could be larger than our entire empire and go down further than the tallest mountain… Hey, are you even listening?”

“Ouch…”

While he was thinking about the strange spy situation and the absence of the Long Clan looking into his sect, a small feminine fist connected with his forehead. Their fortress slowly descended into the dark sea below and Liena was still looking at the sun reflecting in the waves.

She seemed to take it a bit personally that her husband was spacing out on her. During the battle between empires, he had become somewhat distant, always somewhere away and never really interacting with her as much as she wanted to. The last time they had a proper interaction was when he gifted her the new armor and enhanced her power to another level.

“You’re quite daring my dear husband, spacing out when your beautiful wife is right next to you.”

“Ah you know, there were things that I was thinking about.”

“Such as?”

Liena started pushing herself up against him while he was trying to figure out the things to say. While his wife knew some of the facts of his origins he wasn’t sure if she truly believed it all. To begin with, there were many strange powers in this world, so explaining Bob and the system to her was extremely hard.

“That the enemies that we will be facing might be stronger than I expected and that we need to be careful…”

“You worry too much, haven’t you already proven yourself to be the strongest? Can even that little Azure Dragon compare to you at this point.”

“Hey, if they heard you talking like that then …”

“Then what? They would not dare attack us at a time like this, hmph!”

His lovely wife had become quite prideful of her husband that had been missing. It wasn’t strange for people to talk behind her back when he vanished. Some even wanted her to be remarried to another sect master. Luckily he had returned before anything like that could have happened.

“I’m glad that you hold me in such high regard…”

As he attempted to talk her down a bit the whole place began shaking. Their flying ship was hit by some waves as it had become submerged and was now spreading out various barriers to allow the other flying vessels to follow after them. This was the cause for all this shaking and also a little unforeseen mood maker as Liena landed in his arms when trying to hold her balance.

Zhang Dong wasn’t sure what to make of this. After taking into consideration that she was a high-level nascent soul master, she would have naturally been able to balance herself out without the need of falling into his arms. The only reason would be that either she was feeling playful or was just that distracted to not do anything about it.

‘Come to think of it… we haven’t really been together that much lately and it will take a lot of time to get to that underwater kingdom…’

His hand moved over to Liena’s thin waist as he tried to hold her closer. After not feeling any resistance he began smiling. No words needed to be said here as he knew his wife well. The place that they were in could only be accessed by a hidden entrance to which only he and now his wife had access.

“I already showed you the console but you haven’t seen the other rooms yet.”

‘Bob, notify me if the Cerulean Empress appears or if there is any trouble that the other sect members can’t happen, if the old fart asks for something, just tell him that I’m busy.’

‘Affirmative.’

Luckily he didn’t have to monitor everything that was happening around this now-submerged fortress. Bob could ring the alarm if something happened and the deed that he would perform here would certainly lower his stress levels. With a little application of his spiritual energy, a previously hidden entrance revealed itself. His hand never left his wife’s waistline as the two headed towards the path that opened. The door then quickly shut behind the pair while no one else was the wiser.

The journey toward the deep unknown had begun and while the grand leader was having some stress relief the people around them were still tense. This was an unprecedented event that had not come to pass at the Empire yet. Many people had attempted to conquer the sea but it always won in the end.

No one knew what to expect to be down there but with this fortress protecting them from all sides, they at least believed that they could make it out in one piece. The teleportation function had been presented to them already and with it as a sort of get away from jail card, they were willing to believe in their safety. Thus they finally departed for possibly their last dangerous mission that was supposed to put an end to this war.