1695 Azure Dragon's Defense

Qing Tianchui absolutely could not believe that he was hearing something so absurd coming from the mouth of the man before him.

"You… want to kill my wife and son… because they might be a danger to you?" he asked, unsure if he was even hearing it correctly.

"Yes, that is what my prophecy says," the Dragon Emperor told the Azure Dragon. "Your wife and son will be responsible for my death."

"PROPHECY?" the Azure Dragon roared in anger. "You're doing this because of a stupid prophecy?"

"I can understand your feelings, Your Majesty," the Dragon Emperor said. "But I'll have to ask you to put those aside for now and let us do what we came to do."

"You…"

"Besides," the Dragon Emperor continued. "You can't fight back. You'll bring the wrath of the Heavens if you continue." He then turned toward his men and gestured for them to continue.

The Azure Dragon immediately reacted, using the least amount of Qi he could to defend his wife and child. "Stop it!" the Dragon shouted at the soldiers. "I am your ruler and you will listen to my command."

The soldiers hesitated for a brief moment, a look of genuine anguish appearing on their faces. Someone even cried, screaming apologies as they continued attacking again.

2 soldiers fell to the ground, writhing in pain for some reason, dead.

The Azure Dragon's eyes widened in shock as he failed to understand what was happening. "What did you do?" he asked the Dragon Emperor. "What did you—"

His words stopped halfway as he turned and teleported, appearing right in front of his wife as a spear was about to go for her heart.

The Azure Dragon grabbed the spear, clutching it tightly as he stared at Jie Tianyue whose eyes betrayed her look of fearlessness. "Stop this!" he shouted at her. "Is this how you two repay me for all I've done?"

"I'm sorry, your Majesty, but this must be done for my husband's survival," the Empress said. "You fight for your partner's life. I fight for mine. Please understand."

Then she employed her Immortal Qi and struck out an attack.

The Azure Dragon quickly attacked her only to redirect the attack. As it was an Immortal attack, he couldn't stop it as easily as he had the others.

The attack flew off somewhere, leaving a resounding boom in the air. The Azure Dragon used the momentary slip in concentration from the Empress to slam his arm into her stomach, pushing her back, but at the same time employing the Dao of Teleportation to send her outside of the secret realm.

Confusion filled the Azure Dragon's face as what he wanted, didn't happen.

The Empress was pushed back by the force of the palm slam. She grunted in pain, but she wasn't teleported away at all.

"What?" he couldn't understand. Why had she not teleported? Why had his Dao failed?

A possibility came to him and he grunted in anger. "That damned sword," he thought before waving away another attack that came toward them.

He looked at the people that attacked him and frowned. Something was going on there too. They weren't listening to his command despite looking as though they wanted to.

"What did you do to them?" he asked the Dragon Emperor who stood in the air, doing nothing. "Why are they like this?"

"I made them follow my command for today," the Dragon Emperor said. "They gave me their oath."

"You… you are a scum!" the Azure Dragon said. "To think I celebrated the day you were born. To think I let your father name you after me."

"Let us not waste our time cursing each other, Your Majesty," the Dragon Emperor said. "We will have plenty of time to do so later."

The Dragon Emperor brought out his spear and joined the fight. He attacked the Azure Dragon— not to kill, not that he could— but to stop him from teleporting to his wife.

He had the Dao of Space Expansion and he used it each time he could to stop him from getting close to his wife.

Meanwhile, the Empress handled the task of killing the White cat and the child, teleporting them each time to attack.

The Azure Dragon tried to fight the Dragon Emperor while protecting his wife from the other attackers at the same time. Each time he focused his attention on one person, another one joined the attack, distracting him.

He used his Intent and spiritual energy to attack some of them, but even attacking with that caused Heaven to get angry at him. He really couldn't do much except defend.

If only he had someone strong to fight against, like the monster from the Central Continent that he had to face all those years ago. He could go all out if that was the case and then worry about his safety later.

The Azure Dragon did what it could, and during some of the times, teleported next to some of the soldiers, sending them out of the secret realm. The Dragon Emperor and the Empress could come in anytime they wanted thanks to the formation of the secret realm and the sword.

The Azure Dragon teleported and stopped the Empress again, but the Dragon Emperor attacked him and pushed him away.

The fight was getting more and more violent, and some attacks were making it past the Azure Dragon's defenses. He was stopping the stronger ones as they were the ones he prioritized, but the weaker ones he could not get to attack Meiyoung.

There was a legion's worth of fighters here, each stronger than the next one. Kingdoms would fall within hours if they were to go to war, and here they were attacking a new mother.

Meiyoung stopped what she could too, but as someone who had only recently given birth, she wasn't fit enough to fight such a battle of life and death. On top of that, she had her child to protect, who she kept under her at all times.

There was blood on Meiyoung's white fur now, with wounds showing in some places. She was surrounded from all sides, attacked all the same.

The Azure Dragon tried to teleport out with her multiple times, but either the Dragon Emperor or the Empress would interfere with his plan by attacking them as he tried to do so.

The Empress's sword especially was a problem as the teleportation aura was disrupted by the sword.

"Damn you!" the Azure Dragon shouted, fighting even more, teleporting out those he could to bless the fighters.

The attacks dropped for a while as the soldiers were distracted. The Azure Dragon sensed the arrival of beasts that worked in his secret realm. They were here to aid.

He was happy, but the happiness lasted for only so long. These beasts were no fighters. They were weak and were only here to take care of the realm while he was wounded.

Against a legion of the strongest humans in this continent, they fell like birds to a volley of arrows. Soon, the beasts were dead, with the only ones remaining being him, his wife, and his son.

As the Azure Dragon stood before the army, he started to understand that he could not only defend. If he wanted to save his wife and son, he would have to risk fighting back.

He would have to risk getting hunted by the Heavens again.

He would have to risk his life.