Blue-green waves rippling; fish and shrimp in shoals.

Below the clear water there stood a white stone palace of imposing grandeur.

Ke the Seventh, a dragon grandson come of age, with the whole strength of the gold-veined turtle-kin behind it, already held a fief of its own.

At this moment it sat upright upon a coral throne.

Its expression had gone somewhat cold, and it looked down with something of a headache.

An aged gold-veined turtle demon knelt on one knee, its face full of a grim killing air, the aura about it — a match for the White Jade Capital — showing and fading by turns. “I beg the dragon grandson to hand down a decree, and let this old servant lead soldiers to the Heaven-Sword Sect and demand an answer!”

“……” Ke the Seventh pressed its lips together, and swallowed back the words “on the strength of you?”

Had this old turtle's head gone muddled?

Were the Nanhong Seven a thing that any comer might push about? Truly anger them, and this crowd would stake their old lives on it — they could turn the South Dragon Palace itself upside down.

Still…

Whether the old creature's beloved son was alive or dead, nobody knew.

The happy occasion the turtle-kin had made ready for would most likely be held now as a funeral.

The South Dragon Palace was not afraid of the Nanhong Seven; that much was true.

But it, this dragon grandson, could not speak for the Dragon Palace — still less over the affair of a subordinate great general's son.

Ke the Seventh had no wish at all to hand down that decree.

Its standing in the Dragon Palace was low to begin with, and if it stirred up trouble on top of that, it could hardly avoid displeasing Dragon Grandfather.

By Ke the Seventh's way of doing business, it had only ever to invoke the Dragon Palace's name and ninety-nine troubles out of a hundred went away; and where that failed, its instinct was to draw back.

“What is your hurry.”

With this in mind, Ke…