It was clear that Old General Chen had ultimately failed to intimidate the Yangchun River’s flood dragon clan.
They had lived in this river longer than Linjiang Prefecture had existed.
“Formation!”
The Commanders rose together and moved quickly along the riverbank under the Deputy Commanders’ direction. The old flood dragon was for General Chen to handle — the two had been dealing with each other for years, and since the General’s recent breakthrough, he could at least hold even with it.
And since the old general had given the order, he must have anticipated the flood dragon clan’s counterattack — and felt confident about it.
Their job was to hold the riverbank and keep the rest of the water clan from slipping into Linjiang Prefecture under the cover of the chaos.
Then — the dark spine rose slowly from the water, revealing scales with a metallic sheen. The massive body churned the river, and a ferocious, angular head snapped upward.
“ROAR!“
The flood dragon opened its enormous mouth — sharp fangs, a scarlet tongue extending — and let out a long, sky-splitting cry.
The sound rolled outward. Several Commanders stumbled, pressing their hands over their ears, staring at the river in alarm.
Supported by that colossal body, the wet flood dragon head surged over a hundred zhang into the air, the rising black shape blotting out the sky — and even now, most of its body was still submerged.
After many years of absence — the Yangchun River’s sovereign finally showed itself to the world again.
The old flood dragon looked down from the sky at the black-armored figure on the bank. The vertical pupils carried a deep cold.
“Chen Qiankun — who gave you the nerve to provoke me?”
It had accepted the demon king’s gift and had been planning to wait until the breakthrough before killing this old man.
It hadn’t expected the man to be even more arrogant than it was before it could come looking for revenge.
“…”
Chen Qiankun exhaled slowly, gripping the mixed-iron halberd.
The qi coming off the old flood dragon confirmed what Shen Yi had reported.
Even among the Howling Moon’s sixteen remaining demon lords, with the advantage of the Yangchun River behind it, this creature ranked in the top three without question.
“General — what are your odds?” Liu Yuchuan had clearly noticed something off about the old general.
Chen Qiankun glanced at him. “About how long until Jiang Qiulan arrives?”
Liu Yuchuan did the calculation. “Half a day?”
“How have I treated you, these years?” The old general looked back toward the flood dragon in the sky.
“Like family!” Liu Yuchuan said without hesitation.
“That young man is too busy to rely on. Make sure you light incense for me every year.”
Chen Qiankun closed his eyes. The mixed-iron halberd left his hand, producing a fierce vibrating ring — and shot straight into the sky.
The same halberd that had nearly taken Zhang Hengzhou down in a single blow — against the old flood dragon, it looked somewhat less than imposing.
As expected. The flood dragon’s expression curled with contempt.
A casual swing of its tail. The vast Yangchun River was thrown into turbulence immediately. A ferocious wall of water rose dozens of zhang — as if intending to drown everything before it.
For a creature of this scale, every motion was an unimaginable disaster for a place like Shuiyun Township.
The Commanders and Deputy Commanders could kill demons — they couldn’t stop a wave of this size. They put everything into holding it back with qi, watching the sky-filling mass of water drive toward the bank.
Then — the wave seemed to freeze mid-air.
The old flood dragon’s eyes moved with surprise.
Then it watched the river water settle and transform into a flowing bridge that stretched toward the distant village.
The bizarre sight left everyone staring blankly.
Even the halberd changed direction, turning somewhat dumbly toward the village.
In a few breaths — a young man in black-gleaming armor walked out of the village and stepped onto the flowing bridge of water.
Shen Yi looked up at the flood dragon. The river waves surged beneath his feet—
And launched him into the sky, straight toward the heavens.
He picked up the mixed-iron halberd on the way past.
“…”
Chen Qiankun opened his eyes. His hand closed instinctively around nothing.
“This young man — what does he think he’s doing?!”
He was a core-nurturing practitioner nurturing a divine spirit embryo. And yet he’d had his weapon taken before he could so much as put up resistance.
“General—”
Liu Yuchuan turned his head slowly. Setting the weapon aside — wasn’t there something rather more significant happening here?
They were both practitioners. Even if General Shen’s cultivation was considerably higher — this posture of standing on the river’s waves in the air, like a deity manifesting before the people — which martial technique in any manual covered this?
A hundred zhang in the sky.
Surrounded by river waves, Shen Yi held the mixed-iron halberd, the crimson cape spreading in the air like red clouds across everyone’s field of vision.
He looked down at the flood dragon below.
Something unexpectedly displeased rose in him.
Standing above the Yangchun River — like being in a territory that was intimately, deeply familiar.
And right now, something had trespassed into this territory.
“Well, so the old man was this brazen because he called for help—”
The old flood dragon watched the black-armored young man with wariness. Another Demon Suppression General — but an unfamiliar face.
No. Wait. There was something on this one — a very familiar scent.
Before it could work out where the qi came from—
The vertical pupils caught a flash of metallic light.
The mixed-iron halberd erupted outward.
Carrying the seventh transformation’s physical force, it drove into the flood dragon’s ferocious head with full impact.
The enormous creature lurched backward and began falling toward the bank.
The dark shape rushing to cover them all — every Division practitioner threw themselves away in a scrambling sprint.
But the old flood dragon never reached the ground.
The young man’s hand closed casually.
Several broad streams of water rose from the river surface, coiling like serpents around the flood dragon’s body.
The flood dragon’s skull — strong as refined iron — had been pierced through by the halberd. Blood soaked into both terrifying eyes. In a single exchange, far too much had already felt wrong.
Not only the flood dragon.
Chen Qiankun and Liu Yuchuan, standing at the bank with the weapon confiscated from them, wore identically bewildered and skeptical expressions.
This was a Demon Suppression General fighting a core-nurturing demon lord?
Why was it that they couldn’t identify a single technique Shen Yi was using?
“ROAR!“
The old flood dragon let out a furious cry, shook the water off its body, and turned them into a torrent of water arrows slamming toward the young man.
At the same time, the body still submerged swung massively upward from below.
Water arrows capable of shattering mountain peaks — they shattered against nothing the moment they came close to Shen Yi. He fixed his attention on the vast scale-covered flood dragon tail coming down from above, and in the instant before it arrived—
He pressed his palm forward.
Boom.
Cyan light rose across the slender fingers, pressing into the scaled body, fingertips driving inward, piercing gradually through the scales and into flesh under the overwhelming force.
Against the flood dragon’s tail, his frame looked infinitely small.
By any reasonable account, he should have been crushed into the river.
Instead — a standoff formed in the air.
An enormous flood dragon whose body blotted out the sky, and a young man of ordinary size, locked in a contest of strength.
No sophisticated technique. No spectacular exchange.
Shen Yi simply — with raw force — pressed the old flood dragon back.
(End of Chapter)