Chapter 936: A Red Thread Leads the Mud Doll

"Iron chains across the river cut the midstream, stone ox and iron horse suppress the Chaoguan!"

A burst of Qi sank into Zhang Sanzhi's chest. Looking at the mighty iron chain array across the river, laid out by the combined manpower of over a hundred thousand from the Boatmen's Guild and the Qingpi trade, a surge of heroism rose in his chest.

As his Qi and blood spat out, he said: "Old and young folks! Elders and fellow villagers! My Qingpi trade, all the Pot-Fire houses, stronghold masters, and Big Players! We have arranged a duel with the Xuanzhen Sect here, imitating the ancestors who pulled the towlines, to pull the ghost ship here, to see who can pull the Red Mansion Ghost Ship and the million Yin soldiers!"

"Therefore, we have laid out the iron chains across the river. Each side will send one person to use these iron chains to pull the ghost ship and decide the winner. Whoever can pull it, whoever pulls more, everyone will see clearly!"

"Please bear witness!"

"Good!"

The cheers from the idlers on both banks were like a tide. Everyone looked left and right, saying: "Where are the people from the Xuanzhen Sect? That duel yesterday was... Oh my! Our Dagu Port hasn't been this lively for a long time! This scene, looking back hundreds of years, looking forward hundreds of years, who has ever seen it?"

"The Xuanzhen Sect wouldn't be too scared to come, would they?" some hooligans said deliberately.

The idlers beside them laughed: "They won a round against you! And that skill, eating three thousand jin of copper and iron and walking out alive—even if they aren't immortals, they're close!"

"Iron chains across the river are indeed impressive, but whether they can pull it depends on skill!"

The group of foreigners on the case, seeing the scene of iron chains across the river and the stone ox suppressing it, all changed color. Kadoorie saw it clearly through his monocular telescope. Hundreds of porters had lifted the mountain-like stone ox. He estimated that those hundreds of people must each have the strength of a Great Knight to lift such a mountain-like heavy object.

Lowering the telescope, the expression on his face twisted slightly, and he exaggerated: "Don't these Easterners know about the pulley theorem and mechanics?"

"Sir..."

The old ship captain who had offered the anchor knew how thick and heavy those anchor chains were. His expression was solemn as he said: "Even if they don't know, they still lifted it over! And according to my experience, their construction is not bad; these tricks shouldn't stump them."

"What a terrifying extraordinary inheritance!"

Another foreigner lowered his telescope and said to Drummond: "You were right, they have too many extraordinary practitioners! When the spiritual tide rises, everything we have painstakingly accumulated over hundreds of years will be washed away under the power of this vast base of extraordinary practitioners!"

"We must raise the divine throne before the spiritual tide..."

"Fortunately, their emperor is mad! The ship carrying the immortal medicine has already stopped outside the port, but the local officials won't allow us to enter the port!"

"Their emperor will urge them. In order to find those things from all over the world, we and their emperor have already paid too much. The emperor will absolutely not give up."

"Are those things really immortal medicine?" a captain couldn't help but ask: "I feel that's more terrifying than the devil!"

"If you had watched their extraordinary competition yesterday, you would know that the Easterners are no less than the devil! Let the devil and the evil spirits fight! The future belongs to us..."

The large dragon boat of the Boatmen's Guild slowly sailed behind the Chaoguan Floating Bridge.

The dragon boat was the trump card magic object of the two major Boatmen's Guilds. The golden head at the helm was carved with a pair of dragon eyes, painted with gold lacquer, and had been dotted by a master, truly possessing a spirit.

The so-called "Golden Head" was a crossbeam installed on the bow, a "protruding rafter" to cut the wind and avoid waves, and also the position of the figurehead in the foreigners' terms.

The pair of dragon eyes were black and white, dotted in the middle with the blood of an angry-eyed rooster, East Sea red coral knocked into powder, and ground with the bone ash of large fish in the sea, ambergris, and other secret rituals blended into gold lacquer. Above the two eyes, a three-legged ingot nail was nailed, and a copper lamp hung on the nail. What was lit inside was a pearl!

Three zhang beyond the mast at the bow, it was carved with: "One Saint Bright Venerable illuminates the four directions, Two Saints Tianhou saves from suffering, Three Saints Mirror Master settles the wind and waves."

A copper mirror was hung high at the top, and a dragon flag hung below the mirror. In the middle was a golden dragon exploring the sea, holding a bright pearl, dyed with secret medicine, embroidered by Suzhou embroiderers in Zhigu, called the Dragon Flag.

This flag surface would change color according to the weather. Seeing the cold west wind, it became a white flag; in big winds and waves, it became a green flag; in storms, it became a black flag; in calm seas, it became a blue flag; too far from the sea, the flag surface drooping became a yellow flag!

It was truly one of the three treasures of the Boatmen's Guild, with infinite wonderful uses.

There was also an iron tripod in the hold to suppress the ship.

On the ship, the dragon flag fluttered, and the Dharma drums shook the sky. Dozens of Boatmen's Guild men, shirtless, tattooed with scroll scales, faces painted by masters with oil paint, painted with the faces of shrimp soldiers and crab generals, turtle ministers and dragon kings, holding trident forks, stood in strict formation.

The Qingpi trade invited a dry corpse with only the upper half, placed it in a shrine, and carried it all the way from Hebei Main Street to the riverbank.

Wang Haichuan had changed into a short jacket this time, barefoot, standing before the stone ox with a dozen hooligans who had drawn the black lot.

The Boatmen's Guild sent several capable incense masters, standing beside the stone ox on the other side.

The helm master of the Wei Boatmen's Guild looked at the sky and said to Zhang Sanzhi beside him: "It's almost dark! Why can't we even see half a shadow of the Xuanzhen Sect? They wouldn't be too scared to come, would they?"

Zhang Sanzhi shook his head firmly: "The Xuanzhen Sect has big plans; they absolutely won't not come!"

At this moment, from the direction of the Northern Canal in the east, a large ship came quietly.

The crow stood on the ship, looking at the crowd on the shore, but did not get off the ship, just floating beside the dragon boat watching.

Zhang Sanzhi and the two helm masters of the Boatmen's Guild looked at each other, unable to figure out what medicine the Xuanzhen Sect was selling in this gourd.

But seeing over on the Hai River side, someone carrying a green cloth bundle came out of the Tianhou Palace, limping.

He squeezed through the crowded crowd on the road, came to Zhang Sanzhi in two or three steps, sized up the heavy stone ox, clasped his fists and said: "I am the executor of the Xuanzhen Sect for this round, Wu Ponu!"

Zhang Sanzhi and the two helm masters sized him up, but saw that he was just a third-realm martial artist who had practiced a few hard skills.

They had heard of the name Wu Ponu; he was someone who couldn't stand his ground in the martial arts world and was recruited by the Xuanzhen Sect.

In the previous round, that Chang Yan was like a demon, but this round's Wu Ponu was plain and ordinary, looking like a vulgar martial artist—everyone felt relieved in their hearts!

Zhang Sanzhi and the two helm masters of the Boatmen's Guild looked at each other, clasped their fists and said: "Guests from afar! I have already laid out the iron chains across the river array, which will definitely be able to block the Red Mansion Ghost Ship. I don't know if Executor Wu will lead the vanguard or take the second position?"

"According to the rules, each family separates, one by one, if one dies, replace with another. Whoever can block the ghost ship, that family is judged the winner!"

The Boatmen's Guild helm master introduced.

No matter which family won, as long as they blocked the ghost ship and broke the White Lotus Sect's magic, it was his Boatmen's Guild that won!

If the Boatmen's Guild helped the Qingpi trade win and suppressed the outsiders, their prestige would inevitably rise, and that would mean the Boatmen's Guild won twice—a win-win!

Wu Ponu looked at the huge stone ox and the thick anchor chain hanging on the ox's horns.

He circled the stone ox twice, shook his head, touched the anchor chain again, and pulled with both hands. The huge chain swayed on the river, like an iron dragon shaking its head and tail on the canal.

The eyes of the people beside him jumped. Being able to sway an iron chain hundreds of meters long and as thick as an embrace—this strength, if not a heavenly human, was at least the limit of the human world!

Just by relying on brute strength, this Wu Ponu was a peak third-realm, near-fourth-realm figure.

Several martial arts hall masters of the martial arts world, He Chang, took the lead and clasped his fists: "Master Wu!"

Wu Ponu glanced at them, said nothing, returned to Zhang Sanzhi's side, and said: "The stone ox won't work, it can't suppress it! The iron chain can, it can block the Red Mansion Ghost Ship, but it can't block the Yin soldiers. Yin soldiers walk the lower river path; even if the ghost ship is blocked, when the Yin soldiers pass, the iron chain will be frozen and cannot be held!"

The helm master of the Lu Boatmen's Guild in the north sneered, put down his teacup, stood up on the high platform and asked: "What do you know?"

He pointed at the stone ox: "Do you know where the stone ox came from? It can suppress the Yellow River river demon; can't it suppress your mere ghost ship and Yin soldiers?"

Wu Ponu said sincerely: "It was driven by a stone man! You moved the stone ox here; I'm afraid the one-eyed stone man on the old Yellow River channel will also come upstream here. Not only is it useless, but it will also cause trouble..."

The Lu Boatmen's Guild helm master just sneered, having no interest in talking to him anymore.

Wu Ponu took out two things wrapped in paper from the bundle behind him. He dug a pit under the stone ox, buried one of them, and pulled a thin red thread out of the soil.

Then he ran under the stone ox on the opposite side and buried the other one.

Besides a thick iron chain, there was now a thin, weak red rope swaying in the wind across the canal.

Zhang Sanzhi said blankly: "You don't want to use this thing to block the ghost ship, do you? This red thread, I'm afraid it will break with a gust of wind, let alone block a large ship of over a thousand shi?"

Wu Ponu said solemnly: "This world has long since become ash and shadow. Don't look at the ghost ship as huge, the iron ship as a mountain; in fact, they are all made of paper, ghost-floating. When it comes to weight, they are not even as heavy as my red rope. This rope was borrowed from the Daoist priest of the Tianhou Palace, dismantled from the cloak of the Tianhou Mother."

The surrounding people were stunned for a moment, and someone laughed: "Isn't that just the red rope for tying dolls?"

Wu Ponu nodded: "It is indeed the red rope for tying dolls. If it can tie dolls, why not a mere ghost ship?"

Comparing a mud doll to a ghost ship, the crowd didn't know if he was a fool or a madman. The old saying goes, don't talk to fools, and for a while, everyone became quiet.

"The Red Mansion Ghost Ship is small! The dozens of ghost ships with Yin soldiers passing are big. My red rope will block both big and small. You can pull the iron cable, or you can pull the red rope; we are competing in pulling the towline, whoever pulls it! Whoever wins!"

Wu Ponu clasped his fists and ran to the stone ox, closing his eyes and waiting.

By the time the sky gradually darkened, lanterns were lit on both sides of the canal.

The entire Chaoguan Floating Bridge was brightly lit, and some fearless common folk were still following along to watch!

The Boatmen's Guild, hooligans, martial arts world, and even the River Patrol Battalion and Constabulary team were waiting at both ends of the floating bridge. If they couldn't stop the ghost ship this time, something big would happen!

Gradually, in the night, on the Southern Canal side, a quiet red ship, with red lanterns lit, appeared vaguely on the river surface.

Everyone woke up at once, all saying: "The ghost ship is here!" ===== CHAPTER 937 =====