Chapter 1163: Tao Shihua

"Thunder rolls, then wind blows, wind blows then rain falls — time to go home and bring in the laundry."

Xu Zishuai carried a basket of iron ingots, weighed their mass, turned and walked against the crowd, like a reef in flowing water, while sky-spanning dark clouds gathered and scattered, lightning spawned and grew, gloom and clear skies alternating.

Behind him countless apprentices and soldiers stared blankly upward; they were like moths drawn to fire, unable to suppress their fear, yet moving forward with stiff steps.

The young apprentice's pupils trembled, his legs shook, he stared fixedly at the two lights contending in the sky, then glanced back: "Master Xu! Where are you going?"

"Smelting iron." Xu Zishuai lifted a corner of the curtain, turned his head and said.

"But, but..."

The young apprentice glanced inside the tent; surging red light spilled through the fabric, Lu Gang, bare-chested, swung his hammer forging a vessel, muscles knotted, clear sweat mixed with grease sliding down, utterly focused.

How strange.

Both of them are so strange.

The young apprentice pointed at the wind and clouds of the vault of heaven, speaking incoherently.

"Oh, a Wu Sheng battle." Xu Zishuai set the iron ingots down by the tent pole, "What's there to watch? If they lose, can you escape?"

"No."

"If they win, do they need you to go up?"

"No need."

"Can't not be needed. What are you spacing out for? Come help, go pull that bellows, move it."

The young apprentice entered the tent in a daze; Xu Zishuai sidestepped and let go, the curtain fell, and between the gradually narrowing triangle, Qinzhou Linjiang rose from the ground, straight and soaring to the heavens.

Camp soldiers fled in panic.

"Add fire." Lu Gang shouted.

"Coming!"

Bang.

Sparks sprayed in all directions.

Two golden pupils, like torches, like fire.

No birds flew, the Great River was formless, heaven and earth were silent.

Between blue-black, red light exploded anew!

A new high mountain rose from the ground, forcibly and violently squeezing between the two mountains.

The Imperial Capital, the Royal Court, the Dutong, the Dragon Palace... the mountains clamored in shock.

In the nine heavens' vault, Panding's pupils trembled slightly, gazing at the golden pupils, pitch-black pupils dilated to the limit, staring at the thousand-li Linjiang — not looking down, but looking up.

Linjiang, Qinzhou's first great river, a northern branch of the LUCANG River, over three thousand six hundred fifty li long, flowing from northwest to southeast, now cut off for a thousand li, from the nine heavens to the Yellow Springs.

The muddy Shahe cleared, ten thousand tons of mud and sand shook loose into mountains.

Then, amid the rain of blood, stained crimson.

The blood river surged wildly.

The water's light changed three times, ferocity assaulting the face, waves flowing straight down, crimson river water stained the Bai Yuan's shoulders, fine hairs spread, layer by layer the Bai Mao soaked into blood bristles, as if bathed in fresh blood.

Panding opened his mouth.

The Entering Zhen Xiang on both banks twitched their cheeks.

The Southern Frontier Tusi's eyes nearly split open.

"Ah!!!"

Canines bared, spittle spraying.

The Bai Yuan roared skyward, blue veins like great dragons knotted and twisted, skin all over cracking and bursting blood, muscles tearing, chopping down at Linjiang, a straight water staff, swinging out a long bow's great arc.

Hua.

Afterimages floated, heaven above earth below, two Linjiangs.

All things, everything around, turned into black-and-white line drawings; clouds, rain, lightning, all materialized into abstract lines, no color, hollow and twisted.

The staff tip swept past, suddenly creating a vacuum, the lines of all things were disrupted, snapped, bounced, collapsed, the vanished colors bloomed back into view.

The vault of heaven split in two.

Linjiang fell back into its riverbed.

The Fubo spear blade split into three sections, fragments flying.

A severed arm, half a severed leg, bloody and mangled, flew skyward, amid gray decay, free-falling into the riverbed.

Trembling pupils stopped shaking.

Panding's sleeves empty, turned and fled.

Meng Yi knelt on the ground, bathed in rain, weeping.

"Chong Wang!!!"

Hong!

Blue light pinned down black light.

Panding's eyes bloodshot, turned and spat a mouthful of blood, sacrificed a thread of black light, pierced Chong Wang's lower abdomen and self-detonated, breaking free of restraint.

Black light leapt again.

Blue light dragged again.

Kugu, Xingjin, Baizu, South Sea — all rushed wildly, hearts shaken beyond measure; moreover Southern Frontier Martial Saints urgently traversed, Great Shun Martial Saints followed close behind, relying on divine abilities for extreme speed, completing the handover before South Sea and Baizu arrived.

The LUCANG River's Jiangshan dragon entered the water to observe.

The Northern Court Martial Saints heard the wind and came south.

The Jianghuai Great Marsh, flood dragons neighboring the sea entrance, roamed observing, lingering without entering, turtles, frogs, fish before the whirlpool dared not rashly move south, exposing themselves.

The mountains rush toward this place!

In the squeezing convergence of the mountain range, Bai Yuan seized the opportunity, leaping up with a violent spring, his ten fingers gripping and seizing, again lifting the riverside earth, raising it high overhead, spreading his arms to embrace and form ten.

Two breaths.

"Die!!!"

The water dragon pillar head downward, fixed and settled the coiled cavern.

Bai Yuan's pillar tail violently pushed, a thousand li riverside, bursting and flooding the great cavern.

"Ah!" The coiled cavern was pierced into the earth by the long river, agonized howls echoed, resounding through heaven and earth.

The staff head snapped joint by joint, blood waves surged and rolled heavenward.

Soldiers of Nanjiang bled from their ears with a buzzing, rolling all over the ground.

Within the water pillar, tens of thousands of vortex blades spun, tens of thousands of water dragons flew in, corroding, cutting, gnawing the flesh of the coiled cavern, the sea of qi linked heaven and earth, under endless washing, the great cavern's skin, muscles, like boiling water poured on snow, dissolved and melted away.

The earth dragon turned over, wind and clouds poured backward, the vacuum gathered the scattered dark clouds anew, heavy rain poured down.

Meng Yi stared blankly, sunk into the mire, butting his head against the ground.

Could do nothing, could accomplish nothing.

Bang!

The thousand-li river was utterly severed.

The coiled cavern did not die, its surface skin completely dissolved, strip-like muscle pieces clung to the bones, like a blood corpse, waving arms to shatter rubble, rushing out from the riverside, fleeing toward the heart of Nanjiang.

The blue and red lights surged again, transforming into two streaks of meteors, one left, one right, thunder issuing from the mountains, encircling the coiled cavern, striking it down to the ground.

A human shadow pierced through three great mountains, cliff walls collapsing with falling rocks.

The coiled cavern collapsed onto the ground.

"Roar!!!"

The blood ape's golden eyes melted gold, treading the void, descending from heaven, shaking the heavens with frenzied roars from double fists, violently swinging arms, fresh blood continually spraying from the ape's body surface, the demon king cooperating with the Chong King, again and again driving the coiled cavern's head into the earth, into the azure heavens.

Shredded flesh and shattered bones flew across the sky, piercing tree trunks.

Plants and trees drenched in blood, fire scorched and withered, demon beasts roared and grew.

The remnant shock turned the earth over and filled it again, crushing trees.

Crack!

The coiled cavern's bones could no longer support, the skull cracked open, a streak of blood shot out.

He pointed at the blood ape, his eyes filled with hatred and killing intent, yet again struck by the blood ape's clasped-hands cannon fist, shattering his finger bones, jagged bone spurs protruded from his forearm, two pieces of flesh hanging.

The blue and red lights ground the coiled cavern like a millstone, like two ferocious vultures extending their talons in midair, devouring the rich flesh and blood, tearing the skeleton, specks of meat and blood stains scattering over the riverside.

Both banks of the riverside turned to scorched earth, riverbanks eroded a hundred zhang, layers of sand and soil broken apart.

Three breaths.

"Stop!"

Rainbow light meteors shot violently forth, a great shout, then suddenly halted a hundred li away, the centipede stared wide-eyed as the blue and red light occupied half the azure heavens, thoroughly grinding the black light in the crevice to dust.

Bang!

Brain matter burst, two eyeballs leapt out of the skull, bounced and fell to the ground.

The remnant half-skull of the coiled cavern extended its arms forward, bone spurs jabbed the earth, blood gurgled and rolled out, transforming into only blood-spider gu worms, attempting to support his crawl out of the cave, a huge five-toed foot violently stomped down, completely burying the skull, rocks shattered and flew.

The centipede in full charge suddenly trembled, chest heaving violently, not daring to move forward, he saw the surging killing intent and the faintly vanishing qi sensation in his perception, pupils dilated.

"Hua..."

The heavy rain washed out, underground rivers overflowed from rock layer fissures.

Heaven and earth, filling each pit one by one, became the great lake, ripples dotting.

Collapse, the mountains collapsed...

The centipede's heart filled with startled fear and trembling, retreated three steps, hands and feet at a loss, deathly staring at the blood ape, Chong King, and the distant Nanhai King in the field center, a strong sense of absurdity arose in his heart.

How could it be?

The coiled cavern, the coiled cavern he knew, the great cavern, just died like this?

Fast.

Too fast.

The strange "river stone" that appeared out of nowhere, instantly grown into a martial saint, the resurrected... Bai Yuan?

On the Northern Court Great Wall, the Wolf Lord gazed into the distance, his index finger twitching.

He did not know who the suddenly appearing river stone was, the whole affair too strange.

Hunting tigers entering Entering Zhen Xiang in seclusion, short half a month, long one month, compared to Entering Zhen Xiang, the martial saint only grows longer, never shorter, even if knocking open the heavenly pass, at least within half a month, still vastly different from a martial saint, only after one month might there be a chance for comparison.

But having transformed into the "river reef stone," only at the instant the heavenly pass is knocked open, therefore even if someone breaks through in battle, it is absolutely impossible to coordinate with another martial saint for a flanking attack!

Especially that suddenly appearing flood dragon, not merely initial entry, at least fifth or sixth rank, only then possible to cooperate with the Chong King, swiftly taking down the Nanjiang coiled cavern great cavern.

Did the Great Shun conceal the "river stone"?

When did they master such a terrifying means to awe the world?

If truly so, for Northern Court and Nanjiang, it is an utterly terrible matter, must swiftly dispatch envoys to contact, form an alliance.

Moreover.

"How could the flood dragon move?"

Sensing the flood dragon moved from the center of Jianghuai to the river mouth, the Wolf Lord's heart felt even more absurd, the world's flood dragons are few, the flood dragon even more so an oddity among them.

Could it not be...

Heavy rain poured down, heaven and earth deep blue.

The Chong King pressed his abdomen, chest heaving violently, wiped blood from the corner of his mouth, the whole person dazed and dull, continually swallowing saliva, his chest cavity also had a rib bone protruding.

The blood ape gasped loudly, the scarlet long hair on his body accompanied by the rain washing, turned back to white hair, stepping on the coiled cavern's corpse, extending his index finger, pointing far at the centipede.

Canine teeth gnashed open, the tooth sockets crimson.

"Hahaha!"

The Prince of Chong coughed twice, unable to suppress his laughter.

Forked lightning flickered within the clouds, a thunderous boom rang in the ears, illuminating the shadows on the ground.

In the white light, the centipede and the South Sea figures froze, arriving one after another, none daring to act rashly; thereafter, the skeletal remains and the Xingjin retreated further, becoming a tiny black dot.

Above Linjiang, figures appeared one after another, bathed in the great rain, standing in the void, gazing downward.

Prince An, Prince Jingjiang, Prince Chi...

Heart Lamp, Ten Directions, Mysterious Female...

All are infant dragons!

The qi of heaven and earth grew ever denser, invisible ripples distorted the textures, one mountain after another squeezed into this tiny realm of heaven and earth, facing each other across, turning into two transverse mountain ranges.

Xu Haitao, Meng Yi, Ji Yan Yu tilted their heads back until their necks ached.

We thought it was just an ordinary day, no one expected it to become like this.

"Of no consequence..." Xu Haitao murmured two lines, finally understanding why Liang Qu said it was of no consequence; before this matter today, what is the surrender of a Nanjiang Entering Zhen Xiang? A few sesame seeds sprinkled on a biscuit.

The vortex churned foam.

Martial Saints and Great Sovereigns gathered ever more.

Facing the golden-eyed snow-toothed one, besides fear, there was even greater caution.

Did Bai Yuan not die?

Resurrected from death, dispelling the "Stone in the River"... two heaven-shaking feats actually converged on a single demon's body, or perhaps... the two were originally one and the same?

On which side does the flood dragon stand? Mid-year, it devoured Bai Yuan—was it intentional, or a mere accident?

"Pfft."

Bai Yuan exhaled through his nostrils, blowing the rain into mist.

Weariness welled up in the heart, yet was dispelled by the Rebirth of the Withered Tree; Bai Yuan lifted his head, green light rippled, the vitality and vigor within his body grew ever more exuberant; with the aid of the Silkworm Cocoon, his sea of qi, over twelve thousand times, not only fully recovered but continuously expanded outward, swelling!

Pan Dong fell, the battle situation strangely stalled.

The situation unclear, no one dared act rashly, even if the Nanjiang Great Sovereign saw Bai Yuan's state was off.

Since the smooth flow of the Golden Sea of Great Shun, there had not been a fall of an infant dragon in the great struggle for decades; today, the death of the Nanjiang Great Sovereign moved everyone to sorrow like a rabbit's death fox grieves.

Boom—

Bai Yuan lifted his head, sensing another qi machine slowly approaching from afar, gazing into the distance, through the mountain mist, two pupils dark yellow, starkly different from Bai Yuan's molten gold, the flood dragon's solar gold; its frame extremely sturdy, even stronger than the flood dragon, its scales earthen in color; to call it a water god is clearly more like a mountain god!

Nanjiang False Dragon!

Vision intertwined then separated, Bai Yuan's golden eyes surveyed the nine heavens, Nanjiang Great Sovereign, Great Shun Wu Sheng... even farther, the Northern Court, the overseas states—truly a gathering of the worthy.

Yet, this tacit calm was soon broken by a dragon.

All eyes turned north, then lowered to gaze at the central Bai Yuan.

"Whoosh!"

Bai Yuan held his breath.

It moved.

At the Jianghuai river mouth, the flood dragon leapt to the East Sea, with an extremely fast shuttle speed, flickering southward!

If others are a straight line, then the flood dragon is a dashed line made of black dots; in barely a breath, the flood dragon had already covered one-third of the journey, from Jianghuai to Nanjiang, faster than the centipede already in Nanjiang.

Nanjiang and Great Shun stood in strict readiness.

Friend or foe? Good or ill? Stable or chaotic?

Came to probe, whether from the flood dragon's movements, one could discern a hint of Bai Yuan's oddity!

"Quite patient."

Bai Yuan retracted his canine teeth, pressed his lips to the tooth sockets, first looked north, then south, as if becoming the center of all Martial Saints and Great Sovereigns, yet under everyone's gaze, he seized Pan Dong's corpse and leapt into Linjiang.

The centipede roared: "Seal Heaven, Lock Earth, block it!"

The heaven-earth ripples flashed; even without heaven-earth lockdown, so many Martial Saints gathered in a tiny space, merely by the spread of their own "foundation," was enough to prevent Liang Qu from shuttling; he ran east, Linjiang surged, transformed into countless small hands, lifting Bai Yuan.

"It wants to enter the sea!"

"Sever the river!"

"Mountain God!"

Divine powers flew sideways, gale winds swept everywhere.

Great Sovereigns and Martial Saints collided, the natural barriers of mountains and rivers that obstruct ordinary people, in the hands of Martial Saints were like mud in a child's hands; Bai Yuan charged to the midpoint, forced to burst through the broken riverbed, treading the void, continuing eastward.

Yet, just as everyone prepared to continue blocking, at the moment the flood dragon reached midway, the Jianghuai Great Marsh, the East Sea, and Peng Ze—three places, four demon kings—all moved, likewise at extreme speed, flying sideways, even with identical trajectories, successively gathering at the East Sea, then straight south!

"What!?"

Nanjiang, Great Shun, and Northern Court all startled.

The flood dragon is for Bai Yuan, the other demon kings are for whom? And are they coming to aid whom?

The flood dragon's form paused slightly, then continued south!

Too little information, yet the centipede, from the flood dragon's pause, sensed a hint: "Continue!"

"You dare!"

Mad winds howled, overcast clouds filled the sky.

Mountain ranges collided.

With the aid of the Great Shun Wu Sheng, Bai Yuan indeed broke through the Nanjiang blockade.

At this moment, the flood dragon had already reached the South Sea, less than twenty thousand li away.

"Ah Fei!"

The fat catfish poked its head out, swallowed the bones from Pan Dong, and shrank back into the 【Vortex Palace】.

The flood dragon closed in to within eight thousand li.

Liang Qu could almost see its golden eyes.

【Water Travels a Thousand Li】!

Splash!

The water surged into the void, sucking in the air.

The flood dragon shattered the silver bubbles and kept pressing the attack.

But in a situation no one expected, Bai Yuan did not head for Dashun, nor did it go to the ocean; it turned and charged straight for the southern borders.

"Frog Lord!!!"

Inside the 【Vortex Palace】.

The old toad yanked hard on the fat catfish's long whiskers.

"Left!"