Chapter 385: The River-Dominating Dragon
If the Dragon Tamer had hidden the true dragon nest in some other place, Qin Mu wouldn't have praised his cunning. One must know that in the Village of the Remaining Elders, cunning was absolutely a great compliment.
The Dragon Tamer hiding the true dragon nest on himself or on the Dragon King God would be normal human thinking. Doing so would actually make it easier to expose the target. But the Dragon Tamer hiding it on an inconspicuous ink dragon, having the ink dragon swallow it into its belly—this kind of non-normal human thinking habit was very commendable.
Therefore, he didn't spare his praise for the Dragon Tamer.
The Dragon Tamer ignored him, focusing all his energy on shedding his skin, struggling to burrow out of his old hide. As long as he shed these two layers of skin, he could kill Qin Mu and take back the true dragon nest and the True Dragon Master.
Qin Mu touched the ink dragon on his shoulder. The ink dragon obediently rubbed against his palm, making a sound like a baby: "Maha!"
Qin Mu activated the Dragon Control Art, establishing a connection with this ink dragon. He handed over the Carefree Sword, trying to control the ink dragon to kill the Dragon Tamer, but the ink dragon didn't dare to actually lay a hand on the Dragon Tamer. It actually broke free from his mental control.
The ink dragon wasn't just raised by the Dragon Tamer; there was also a natural fear, making it dare not attack the Dragon Tamer. However, relying solely on Qin Mu's strength, even holding a divine sword, he couldn't inflict a fatal wound on the Dragon Tamer. At most, he could pierce his flesh.
The Dragon Tamer's injuries were extremely severe, fatal wounds. The damage Blind had caused him was too great, coupled with Qin Mu personally feeding him poison. Therefore, he needed two transformations to erase the injuries. Even if the transformation succeeded, it would greatly deplete his vitality.
"My Three-Break Powder is exhausted. It's too late to refine poison now. Although Dragon Fatty is at the Heavenly Man realm, whether he can kill the Dragon Tamer by activating the Carefree Sword is still somewhat difficult... How about trying the power of the Sun Jade Eye..."
Thinking this, he planned to take out the Sun Jade Eye, but after a moment's thought, he changed his mind and took out the Moon Jade Eye from his Gluttony Bag.
This was the Surging River, where the water was fierce. The Sun Jade Eye emitted extremely intense flames, which would inevitably collide with the water's force, weakening the power and might of the jade eye.
As for the Moon Jade Eye, Qin Mu had never tested its power before. However, the Moon Jade Eye wasn't afraid of water and could unleash its full power underwater.
Qin Mu came to the Dragon Tamer's neck, placed this huge eyeball down. The Dragon Tamer ignored him, continuing to struggle with his transformation.
Qin Mu adjusted the position of the Moon Jade Eye, pointing the jade eye towards the Dragon Tamer's neck, then made some adjustments.
This was the first time he had used the Moon Jade Eye. He had tried the Sun Jade Eye before; its power was extremely strong, directly cutting through the Qu Mountain Divine Hall and destroying that underwater space.
When he designed the Sun-Shooting Divine Cannon for Emperor Yanfeng, he also referenced the structure of the Sun Jade Eye, absorbing many of its forging concepts. After all, what the Yan Kang National Teacher had given him was only the cultivation method for the Sun-Shooting Divine Eye, which contained no records about designing divine cannons.
It was only by drawing some structural elements from the Sun Jade Eye that Qin Mu could transform the Sun-Shooting Divine Eye into the Sun-Shooting Divine Cannon.
And he speculated that the Qu Mountain Divine Hall might have come from an era before the Kai Huang era, because many of the runic marks on the Qu Mountain Divine Hall were very different from those of the present and the Kai Huang era.
Qin Mu pondered for a moment, then activated the Moon Jade Eye.
The jade eye slowly opened. The interior of this huge eyeball gradually lit up, as if a round, bright moon was hidden within.
Both the Sun-Shooting Divine Eye and the Sun-Shooting Divine Cannon required energy-supplying treasures, so Qin Mu had refined many alchemy furnaces to provide energy. However, the Moon Jade Eye and Sun Jade Eye had no similar structures. Qin Mu had pondered this for a long time but had never figured out where the energy for these two divine eyes came from.
He had a few bold guesses. One was that these two jade eyes might actually contain a real sun or moon, providing them with endless energy. However, this guess was too bold, and Qin Mu himself didn't dare believe it.
The second guess was more plausible: that ancient humans or deities had mastered a strange formation capable of drawing energy from heaven and earth.
But the flaw in this guess was that when Qin Mu activated the jade eye, he didn't sense any unknown energy fluctuations nearby.
He had a third guess, which was more far-fetched. He guessed that the Moon Jade Eye and Sun Jade Eye were actually spatial teleportation treasures, but more complex than teleportation formations, similar to teleportation portals.
This kind of treasure would only need to establish a huge portal on the surface of the sun or moon, and another portal within the jade eye. Through these two portals, the energy from the sun or moon could be gathered and released from the portal in the jade eye, thus creating the jade eye's terrifying attack power, without needing to specially manufacture energy-supplying treasures.
The boldness of this guess lay in: who could fly to the sun or moon?
Moreover, from the calculations of Qin Mu and others, the celestial phenomena were all fake, including the moon and sun. They were pasted on like a painting, impossible to leave this world. How could one go to the sun and moon to build teleportation portals?
He really wanted to dismantle the jade eye and see its internal structure, but he didn't dare to do so.
Finally, the energy within the Moon Jade Eye was fully gathered. Qin Mu controlled the jade eye, and the pupil of the jade eye instantly became vertical, shooting out a thin blade of light forward!
The Dragon Tamer had already crawled out most of his neck. This blade of light sliced across his neck without any abnormality. However, where the light blade passed, a paper-thin ice wall suddenly appeared on the riverbed of the Surging River. This ice wall, of unknown length, split the riverbed of the Surging River!
Many fish monsters and water monsters were swimming in the river. Suddenly, a large fish was split in two by the ice wall, which was so thin it had almost no thickness.
And that fish monster seemed completely unaware, still swimming, but its body was split from the center, becoming two swimming fish, each with half a body.
Not only was there no blood flowing from its severed body, but its internal organs could even be clearly seen, and its brain tissue!
The two halves of the fish monster swam around, completely unaware that they had been cut in half.
Qin Mu was stunned, not understanding what had happened.
"Could it be that this Moon Jade Eye has no power at all, just capable of cutting people? Why don't they die after being cut?"
He was puzzled, thinking to himself: "Could it be that the wounds of these fish monsters were frozen, so the wounds didn't bleed? But the frozen area must be extremely thin, otherwise this fish monster couldn't still be swimming."
Suddenly, the two halves of the swimming fish monster gradually began to bleed. It should be that the frozen ice layer on the wound had melted. The smell of blood spread, and soon the two halves of the fish monster were gnawed down to bones by the swarming fish monsters.
The Dragon Tamer, who was shedding his skin, had long stopped squirming, lying completely still, his eyeballs rolling around. He had also seen the situation with that fish monster and felt a sense of horror.
Qin Mu adjusted the jade eye, cutting another fish monster from the center. That fish monster was also split in two. Qin Mu's primal energy surged out, rolling the two halves of the fish monster over, then he put the two halves of the fish's body together.
That fish monster became a whole again, swimming away.
Qin Mu was dumbfounded, then overjoyed: "This Moon Jade Eye has this kind of effect too?"
The Dragon Tamer's eyeballs rolled wildly. The body behind his neck kept squirming, not forward, but backward, trying to shed the two layers of skin.
"Don't move, Dragon Lord!"
Qin Mu lifted the jade eye and circled it around his neck.
The Dragon Tamer remained motionless, his dragon eyes filled with fear. A white line appeared on his neck, going around from one side to the other.
Qin Mu shook his neck, but couldn't move it at all. He immediately took out his large iron hammer, using all his strength to strike along that white line on his neck.
Crack.
A crisp sound came, and the Dragon Tamer's scalp went numb. His voice hoarse, he said, "Wait!"
Qin Mu swung the hammer again, striking heavily. Another crack sounded. The Dragon Tamer was hoarse and desperate, but didn't dare speak loudly, calling out, "Wait! I have something to say!"
Qin Mu stopped, curious: "What does the Dragon Lord have to say?"
"What benefit do you get from killing me?"
The Dragon Tamer spoke carefully, afraid that speaking too loudly would snap his own neck, saying, "Even if you kill me, it will still invite the revenge of the Upper Firmament. The Upper Firmament will send down deities stronger than me, find you, and kill you. They will still change the Surging River, turning this place into another Great Ruins!"
Qin Mu swung the hammer down, saying, "When soldiers come, we block them with generals; when water comes, we dam it with earth. Kill one first, then talk!"
"Stop! We of the Upper Firmament are just gatekeepers. If one deity dies, it's one thing. If two deities die, it will alarm those True Gods, and the consequence will be the destruction of the world!"
The Dragon Tamer shouted, "I have no enmity with you. I only descended to the lower realm to follow orders. Why must you be so ruthless?"
Qin Mu stopped, smiling, "The destruction of Yan Kang, what does that have to do with me? I am originally from the Great Ruins. If Yan Kang becomes another Great Ruins, I would be even more at ease. Besides, if I let you go back, won't you still come to kill me? When you return to the Upper Firmament, you won't speak for Yan Kang either. So what use is keeping you?"
The Dragon Tamer's face was uncertain. Suddenly, he gritted his teeth and said, "I can swear an oath to Lord Tu Bo. If you let me go back, I will absolutely not seek revenge against you!"
Qin Mu raised his hammer: "If it's just not seeking revenge, if I kill you, you won't be able to seek revenge against me either."
The Dragon Tamer trembled, "Stop! I can teach you how to collect the dragon veins, how to mobilize the power of the True Dragon Master!"
Qin Mu put down the iron hammer, his eyes flickering: "And what else?"
The Dragon Tamer's face muscles twitched, saying, "I can guard the Surging River's dragon vein and serve you!"
Qin Mu's expression turned solemn: "Swear an oath to Lord Tu Bo!"
The Dragon Tamer gritted his teeth: "Swear an oath to Lord Tu Bo!"
Qin Mu smiled slightly, put away the iron hammer, and supported the Moon Jade Eye. Suddenly, he manifested the form of the Town Star Lord, with a human head and snake body, and a Gate of Heaven-Bearing appeared behind him.
The two doors of the Gate of Heaven-Bearing opened, revealing the deep and dark world of the Nether Realm.
Qin Mu said in a deep voice, "You can now swear the oath to Lord Tu Bo. Don't try any tricks. I have already sworn an oath to Lord Tu Bo once. No matter what tricks you try, you can't outsmart me, an honest man."
"Honest man..."
The Dragon Tamer's eyelids twitched. He honestly swore the oath. As soon as the oath to guard the Surging River and not rebel was spoken, the Dragon Tamer involuntarily revealed his true form. His body expanded with a booming sound, turning into a giant flood dragon over a hundred miles long, prostrating on the riverbed. A chain formed from black energy appeared, one end connected to the Surging River, the other connected to his soul!
If he broke his oath, this chain would lock his soul and drag him into the Nether Realm, causing his death and the dissipation of his Dao!
Qin Mu carefully examined his oath, finding no loopholes. He smiled, "When the ice line on your neck melts, your body will still be intact. Take back your Dragon King God and guard the Surging River well!"
The giant flood dragon that the Dragon Tamer had transformed into had a head as huge as a mountain, looking at Qin Mu with a complex expression. Suddenly, he said, "I have always called you a simple-minded lad, but I still don't know your name. May I ask which divine being you are?"
Qin Mu rose towards the river surface with the ink dragon, his voice coming from the water: "Qin Mu of the Village of the Remaining Elders, Heavenly Demon Cult Leader, current Human Sovereign."
The Dragon Tamer was stunned, then said dejectedly, "So you are the Human Sovereign... Who taught you to be like this? Even harder to deal with than the Sword God of that year..."