Chapter 62: Fierce Battle Against the River God

Watercloud Hamlet, fishing village.

Amid the restless roar of the Yangchun River, villagers one by one gripped torches to light the pitch-black night.

Firelight and shadow intertwined.

Their faces flickered in and out of view, silently staring ahead, the leaping flames reflected in their pupils, tinged with a hint of fervor.

A group of young men held fish-tridents, pressing the sharp tips against the chests of several gravely wounded Zhen Mo Si Captains.

Liu Xiujie and Li Xiaoer lay on the ground, gasping for air in great gulps, their gazes unfocused, their minds already growing hazy.

Ma Tao was in even worse shape — skilled as he was at close-quarters grappling, now every bone in his body was shattered, thick plasma staining his long robe red, his breath a gossamer thread.

They simply could not fathom what kind of temptation could make a river god — who had painstakingly accumulated centuries of reputation and washed away its name as a demon — suddenly go berserk and brazenly attack Zhen Mo Si Captains.

Unlike other demons.

The river god was deeply revered by the common folk; having stayed here so long, one could even say Watercloud Hamlet was the "territory" the Zhen Mo Si tacitly ceded to it.

In exchange, even if it did not act with its own hands, whenever something went wrong in this place, the imperial court could hold it to account.

That was also why, upon arriving here, Li Mujin went to the temple to wait at the first opportunity — though she was unaccustomed to this river demon, it could barely be counted as "one of our own."

Committing such an act meant the other party was doomed unless it hid in the water for the rest of its life — ten deaths, no life!

Four hundred years of patient forbearance ruined in a single stroke, all just to kill a few Captains who had come to observe the festival?

There was no reason for it…

"Ha! That'll teach you dogs in human skin to throw your weight around!"

Meng Xian breathed heavily with excitement, planting one foot on Li Xinhan's shoulder embroidered with a gold-threaded fierce wolf.

By now this three-striped Captain of the Jade Liquid Realm had long since fainted from the tremendous pain, his arm twisted into a hemp-rope shape by some monstrous force, pale broken bone jutting through skin and flesh — too gruesome to look at.

And not long before, he had still been evacuating the crowd, raising his aura to resist the surging river water rushing in.

Seeing Meng Xian's behavior.

The remaining fishermen's hands gripping the fish-tridents trembled slightly.

Although they had been raised under the river god's protection since childhood, they still held a trace of awe toward the imperial court.

Disliking the Zhen Mo Si Captains did not mean daring to insult them; deep down they vaguely felt there was no need to.

Besides…

They all looked up together.

Outside the river god's temple.

Li Mujin stood there, looking slightly weary.

Her brow tip lightly furrowed; her originally languid, alluring face now showed a markedly sickly pallor. After a long while she said softly, "Hey, are you about done for? If you're done for, stop pushing yourself, will you?"

Opposite her, a short sword was plainly embedded in the blue-robed woman's lower abdomen.

The river god lowered her gaze, expressionlessly watching her belly, then the corner of her lips curled into a smile.

She reached out, her Bai Xi five fingers gripping the sword hilt, then unhurriedly pulled it out.

A trace of mild discomfort crossed her face; the blade slid out of the writhing intestines, and as she released her grip, the short sword dropped to the ground.

The river god's voice was exceedingly gentle: "I'm waiting for him to come back. What are you waiting for?"

Hearing this, Li Mujin recalled the black wind from earlier.

After a moment's thought, she said frankly, "Far too great a gap."

The river demon seemed to have suffered some injury, its essence depleted, unable to bring out even half of its full strength.

But the other party's foundation at the late stage of the Jade Liquid Realm was simply too deep and rich; to wound it even a little was already the utmost she could manage.

"Why the hell are you shaking!"

Meng Xian casually slapped the person beside him, snatching the fish-trident from their hands.

A vicious look surged across his face; so excited his very brain was trembling, he bellowed at the top of his lungs: "On behalf of the River God Lady, kill these Zhen Mo Si lapdogs!"

Yelling as he went, he strode with great steps toward the woman to kill her.

The village chief had originally been standing silently to the side, a faint sneer playing at the corner of his mouth, as if watching a good show.

Seeing this, the old man instantly grew a little uneasy.

You stupid boy — a fight between Zhen Mo Si Captains and the river god is something a commoner like you can butt into?!

Even if the woman surnamed Li were injured far more heavily, just standing there without moving, she could crush you to death with one little finger!

He hurriedly hobbled forward on his cane to stop him.

But before he could step forward.

Li Mujin turned and looked back, watching Meng Xian shrieking as he thrust the fish-trident at her.

She lowered her head slightly, her disheveled long hair stirring faintly: "So annoying."

As the words fell, her tall, full-bodied figure actually tilted over like a kite with a broken string.

Compared to the river demon, she was the one whose oil lamp had long since run dry, merely holding on with a last stubborn breath.

In her field of vision, Meng Xian's ugly face was covered in a beast-like frenzy, his shrieking growing ever higher, brimming with fervor — he was about to prove himself before the river god with his own hands.

Puchi!

His facial expression froze instantly; the fish-trident still raised high, from his gaping mouth a straight black blade quietly poked out.

Blood plasma surged from his throat, filling his entire mouth, then was drained away entirely by the blade.

"…"

Li Mujin lay on the ground; in her hazy field of vision appeared a familiar figure.

Her breath was faint; she could not speak.

She could only watch that tall, slender figure casually draw the long blade from Meng Xian's skull.

A handsome face stained with blood; a dark-red ink robe swayed.

The other party walked over slowly, stepping past Meng Xian's corpse, then stepping over himself as well.

"..."

The River God stood with both hands hanging down, staring blankly at Shen Yi.

The dignified, noble grace on her face was swiftly replaced by tension: "Why is it you who came back? Where is he?"

She looked about in panic behind the other party, only to see the torch-lit path utterly empty: "I have gathered all the precious medicines for him — where is he?"

Searching desperately, the River God suddenly caught a whiff of an extremely familiar scent.

Her gaze slowly fell upon Shen Yi, snagging on the fold of his robe where the demon core was kept; in the span of a breath, fury surged across her face: "You seek death!"

Hiss!

Shen Yi suddenly stepped forward, the ceremonial blade in his hand cleaving down with tremendous force!

The Greedy Wolf Slayer of Evil, perfected to completion, was unleashed with full power.

The blade swept across the long sky like a soul-snatching scythe through the black curtain of night.

The River God, in her wrath, did not dodge in the slightest; the instant she raised both palms, two streams of crystal-clear water sprang into being out of thin air, transforming into chains that bound the blade.

The black edge that had always cut through everything actually stalled within that gentle current, and the blood threads flowing along the blade were washed away.

She, already heavily drained, now held nothing back.

Her five fingers gripped another stream of water, shaping it into a long whip, and lashed viciously toward the youth!

"I will flay the skin from your body and pull out your bones, to sacrifice to my Dragon Lord's spirit!"

The wind-breaking sound was like thunder splitting apart; the water-whip came down savagely, like a long serpent bursting from its hole, as though it meant to scrape a whole layer of flesh off the youth's body.

Shen Yi released his grip on the blade, letting it hang bound in the air, and his figure suddenly grew elusive.

He stepped into the White Ape Plays with the Python stance, his five fingers clenching tight in a sudden grip.

He bent forward to within a foot of the woman in the blue robe, his gaze chillingly cold.

The dense web of veins across the woman's body was laid out clearly before his eyes.

Sever the meridians, seize the dragon!

A fist, white as jade, smashed thunderously into the River God's delicately featured face.

The next instant, stripped of demon power's concealment, greasy rolls of fat burst open across her face.

Four hundred years of flesh and blood offerings, combined with the Zhen Mo Si's indulgence toward her, had long since turned that once-kind-faced River God Lady into a living, breathing pig of a creature.

(End of chapter)