Chapter 74: Dragon City Changes Hands
Qin Mu was puzzled: "Grandma's back isn't hunched anymore? She seems excited, rolling around on the bed..."
The next day, Qin Mu woke up to find Grandma Si not in the room, but breakfast was already prepared on the table.
The young man washed up, ate breakfast, and went downstairs to find Grandma Si and Blind. They had already prepared the oxcart and loaded the purchased oil, salt, sauces, vinegar, silks, and satins onto it.
What puzzled Qin Mu, however, was that Blind was hitching the oxen to the cart—three oxen in front, and three more sturdy bulls following behind.
Those six large bulls, upon seeing Qin Mu, showed terror in their eyes and trembled uncontrollably.
"Grandma, didn't we sell our six oxen?" Qin Mu asked.
Grandma Si yawned and said casually, "I couldn't sleep last night, so I went out and bought six oxen."
Qin Mu was skeptical. The six large bulls shook their heads repeatedly, as if trying to say something, but could only moo.
The oxcart drove out of the city. It was still early morning, and there were already a few carts and horses on the road—country folk who had come to the city to buy supplies were heading back to their villages early, hoping to return home before dark.
Qin Mu drove the cart to the dock. The river surged violently, and many villagers were already on the riverbank, offering sacrifices to the River God, summoning the great river beasts. On the shore, large-snouted river beasts enjoyed the incense offered by the villagers, blowing out big smoke rings. Some beasts were already carrying villagers laden with goods, starting their return journey.
Blind lit incense on the riverbank, summoned a river beast, and fed it. Qin Mu drove the oxcart onto the beast's back, and the giant creature began heading upstream.
The river flowed mightily from west to east. When they had come, they drifted downstream; now they were going against the current, which should have been much harder.
But the river beast's speed was no slower than before. At this pace, they only needed to rest one night at the Granny Temple and could reach the Village of the Cripples the next day.
After traveling about fifty miles by water, Grandma Si's expression shifted slightly. She stood up, picked up her small basket, and said with a smile, "My work is here. Blind, you two go on ahead."
Blind nodded. "Be careful."
Grandma Si leaped up and suddenly vanished into the blue sky, disappearing from sight.
Qin Mu looked up, watching her jump into the air. She didn't come down for a long time.
Blind was used to this and didn't seem concerned, standing with his staff in the wind.
Not long after, Qin Mu suddenly saw a cloud behind them turn blood-red. Then, a rain of blood poured down like a torrent, soon dyeing the Surging River crimson!
"What happened up in the sky?"
Just as Qin Mu thought this, a head fell from the blood-red cloud and splashed into the river.
Qin Mu's hair stood on end. In the instant the head hit the water, he recognized the face—it was the sallow-faced woman he had briefly seen in the City Lord's mansion!
He looked up again. What had happened in that cloud?
The rain came quickly and stopped just as fast. Soon, the downpour ceased, and the blood-red river seemed like an illusion. The river flowed on, clear again.
Qin Mu washed the blood off himself and waited a long time, but Grandma Si still didn't appear. Blind remained calm and composed, showing no worry at all.
Just then, Qin Mu suddenly felt a terrifying, earth-shaking pulse from downstream. It was so powerful that even the river beast beneath them grew restless, speeding up and swimming frantically upstream.
Blind's ears twitched, and he shouted, "Mu, steady yourself! Don't fall off!"
Qin Mu quickly steadied himself, his feet rooting into the beast's back like growing roots. He then heard a strange whistling sound from behind and turned to look, horrified.
Behind them, the river was rising rapidly, higher and higher. The water was actually flowing backward—from downstream to upstream!
The downstream river surface was now more than ten zhang higher than the banks, and massive white waves surged forward, crashing toward them with tremendous force!
The waves grew closer and closer, water splashing wildly to both sides, flooding the dense forests along the banks. The roaring waves turned from a whistling sound into a deafening thunder, like hundreds of thunderclaps exploding in the valley!
Qin Mu was terrified. As the excess spray dissipated, the waves formed a giant hand—a hand as wide as the river itself—pushing fiercely from downstream to upstream!
Blind remained calm, seemingly unaware of the terrifying scene behind him.
The giant hand made of river water soon reached them, still a hundred zhang away. Then, suddenly, the hand collapsed. The water roared and scattered, lifting the river beast beneath them over ten zhang high before it fell back down.
Qin Mu, still shaken, grabbed the oxcart on the beast's back to keep from sliding into the water.
Blind tapped the river beast's head with his bamboo staff, and the creature turned, heading downstream again. "Mu, we're going back to Inlaid Dragon City."
Thirty miles downstream, Inlaid Dragon City Lord Fu Yundi descended from the sky, landing swiftly on the river's surface. He took two quick steps forward before stopping, his face dark as he looked around. "Which senior brother broke my spell?"
"Not a senior brother, a senior sister."
Grandma Si, carrying her small basket and walking on tiptoes, came across the river surface. Her wrinkled face was scrunched into a smile. "City Lord, causing trouble on the river—aren't you afraid of harming the villagers of the Great Wasteland? If that strike of yours had landed, all the villagers along this hundred-mile stretch of river would have died. That's no small sin."
"So you're the old woman beside that abandoned child?"
Fu Yundi said coldly, "You taught him the techniques of the War God School and let him kill my son? The blood debt for my son must be repaid. You block my path—you die!"
Grandma Si sighed, pulled a ball of thread from her basket, and said softly, "City Lord, this is the Great Cultivation Demon Scripture you've been waiting so long for. Unfortunately, this is the last time you'll see it. You'll still live, but sealed inside your own skin. I'll wear your skin, take over Inlaid Dragon City, and meet the Imperial Preceptor of the Eternal Peace Kingdom..."
Fu Yundi's pupils contracted. The ball of thread in Grandma Si's hand spun rapidly, the thread extending and weaving back and forth across the river surface, forming a net in an instant—and Fu Yundi was right in the middle of it.
"Last night, when your son died, he gave me the chance to ambush you. You were already severely wounded. If you had stayed calm and healed, you might have escaped today."
Grandma Si smiled. "But you were too greedy. You chased me, wanting to seize the Great Cultivation Demon Scripture. So your fate was sealed."
"You think you can kill me? Dream on! How many years have you even cultivated?"
Fu Yundi shook his body, and his violent primal energy erupted. Thick, dense primal energy formed an eight-armed, eight-headed celestial god behind him. He had almost achieved the transformation of illusion into reality—the eight-armed, eight-headed god formed from his primal energy was nearly solid!
The celestial god in his hands held eight magical artifacts, also refined almost to reality!
As the lord of Inlaid Dragon City, he naturally possessed extraordinary skills!
"The Eight Aspects Celestial God Technique is indeed a remarkable skill. But remarkable is all it is—far from reaching the realm of a god!"
Grandma Si chuckled. Suddenly, her skin shed, and from the old woman's shell stepped out a woman in the prime of her youth—the stunningly beautiful Lady of the Sect Leader from the City Lord's mansion!
She dashed forward, and at the same time, the threads of the Great Cultivation Demon Scripture wove rapidly. Fu Yundi roared, and as he met the beautiful Lady of the Sect Leader's palm strike, he sneered, "Si Youyou, you're barely over a hundred years old. Can your magical power match mine?"
Boom!
Their palms met, and "Grandma Si" was sent flying into the air.
"Trying to run?"
Fu Yundi leaped up, jumping into the air as well. But then he felt something strange: "Why am I so light..."
He looked down and saw a blood-soaked figure standing on the river surface—a person without skin.
He looked at himself and screamed. He had become a sheet of human skin, and the blood-soaked figure below was himself, flayed!
In the instant "Grandma Si" had clapped palms with him, the threads of the Great Cultivation Demon Scripture had drilled into his body, sealing his three souls and seven spirits, and peeling off his skin.
"Grandma Si" being sent flying was actually her taking the initiative to leap upward, pulling the threads in her hand to yank his skin clean off!
"Fu Yundi, nothing special."
"Grandma Si" grabbed the skin, threw it over herself with a swish, and her appearance and manner instantly became identical to Fu Yundi's.
Below, Fu Yundi's skinless corpse sank into the water and was swept away by the current.
Her figure descended, and just as she landed on the river surface, Qin Mu and Blind's river beast arrived at that very spot.
"Inlaid Dragon City Lord?" Qin Mu's scalp tingled. The Shaobao Sword at his waist chimed softly, ready to strike at any moment.
"Mu, it's Grandma."
Fu Yundi's mouth spoke in Grandma Si's voice, then switched to Fu Yundi's voice, almost indistinguishable. "The Eternal Peace Kingdom's army should be arriving soon, right? When will the Village Chief and the others come?"
Blind tilted his head. "They've probably already entered the city. The Imperial Preceptor of Eternal Peace is coming with great force. Grandma, this time you're playing the role of Fu Yundi. You can't slip up. With the Imperial Preceptor's skill, one wrong move could cost you your life. Can you imitate Fu Yundi's Eight Aspects Celestial God Technique?"