Rolling thunder spread through the entirety of Cangmu Town.
Every resident of Cangmu Town was struck dumb with shock.
Many of them could scarcely believe their own ears.
What had they heard?
Someone had come to slay the River Lord of Shunling River?
By the Divine Oracle of an Orthodox Land God?
The Temple Keeper of Four Seas Village?
What Orthodox Gods could possibly exist beneath the heavens!
If Orthodox Gods truly existed—
Would Demonic Creatures and Evil Specters still cover the land everywhere?
No one believed it.
"It's over!"
"This is going to enrage the River Lord!"
"Once the River Lord becomes enraged, he won't calm his fury without devouring at least a hundred people!"
"That Temple Keeper from Four Seas Village truly deserves to die! Why did he have to provoke the River Lord?"
"If he wants to slay demons and eliminate evil, couldn't he go somewhere else?"
"Five years ago, someone came to kill the River Lord too. What happened? Not only was he eaten, but he also provoked the River Lord into sweeping away over a hundred people—my son was among them!"
"What a sin, what a sin! I only beg the River Lord not to be angered! This has nothing to do with our Cangmu Town!"
"Please, River Lord, do not be angered!"
"River Lord, please quell your wrath!"
A great number of Cangmu Town's residents knelt on the ground with pale faces, continuously kowtowing in the direction of Shunling River.
They were terrified, utterly petrified.
The River Lord was monstrously terrifying.
There was simply no one who could possibly kill the River Lord!
The Human Race was too weak.
They were utterly incapable of comparing with Demonic Creatures.
And once the River Lord was angered, he would devour many people!
They feared that their wives, children, and kin would be eaten by the River Lord.
Previously—
The River Lord only ate three people each month.
There were so many people in town that the odds of it being their turn were not high.
But once the River Lord was enraged, he would directly sweep away more than a hundred people to eat. Their wives, children, and relatives might all be devoured!
The entire town—
Had fallen into panic at Li Youming's cold shout.
Even the Wei Clan, the town's greatest Lineage, trembled like leaves.
How much less the other townsfolk?
Li Youming stood quietly atop a willow tree by Shunling River.
He glanced at the town behind him, now swallowed by panic and fear, and sighed inwardly.
This was the current state of the Human Race.
The Human Race had declined, while Demonic Creatures flourished.
Someone had come to slay demons and eliminate evil, yet his arrival instead filled the entire town with terror and even resentment.
"They cannot be blamed."
"The Demonic Creatures of Shunling River have occupied this place for decades, long since establishing an authority deeply rooted in the hearts of Cangmu Town's people."
"Again and again, people came to slay demons."
"Again and again, they were instead devoured by the Demonic Creatures of Shunling River."
"Every time the demon-slayers provoked them, they would feast wildly upon the townsfolk."
"How tragic!"
"How could our Human Race be so tragic!"
A surge of anger rose within him.
He was furious that Demonic Creatures treated the Human Race as blood food.
Yet this anger swiftly turned into gratitude toward Lord Zhangyue.
Had Lord Zhangyue not descended into the world and protected their Four Seas Village—
Their Four Villages would still be blood food for the wolf demons of Thousand Wolf Mountain.
How could they even speak of slaying demons and eliminating evil?
Whoosh—
Shunling River suddenly began to churn violently.
A massive vortex emerged upon the river's surface.
Shunling River was not particularly large, but neither was it small.
It spanned forty or fifty zhang across. At this moment, the vortex occupied nearly half the river, while rolling black mist rose from within it.
Dense, profound demonic aura spread through the air.
A gigantic serpent thicker than a water vat burst from the vortex!
Its enormous body was pitch-black throughout, slightly coiled, like a mountain of flesh floating above Shunling River.
Layer after layer of scales reflected a cold gleam, as though carved from metal and iron. One glance was enough to make them seem indestructible.
Its icy vertical pupils brimmed with cruelty and bloodlust as it looked down upon Li Youming.
"An Orthodox God?"
"I am the River Lord of Shunling River. My Divine Seat is far higher than that so-called Orthodox Land God behind you."
"Have that so-called Orthodox God behind you come and pay respects to me at once!"
"If I am in a good mood, I may spare your life."
Its voice was low and hoarse; merely hearing it sent a chill through one's heart.
Above its head, two small protrusions could vaguely be seen, as though horns were about to grow.
Once they grew—
It could transform from a serpent into a flood dragon.
Within Cangmu Town—
A shamaness in her forties saw the giant serpent burst forth and hover above Shunling River. She immediately fell to her knees and cried out.
"The River Lord has revealed himself!"
"Our Human Race has offended the River Lord. Our crimes deserve ten thousand deaths!"
"Why are you not begging forgiveness from the River Lord and pleading for him to quell his wrath?"
Her final words were fierce and stern as she roared at the townsfolk who were gradually leaving their homes and kneeling upon the ground.
At once—
Countless townsfolk kowtowed repeatedly, their faces deathly pale with terror as they begged the River Lord to quell his wrath.
A trace of pride appeared on the shamaness's face.
In Cangmu Town, she was the most powerful human!
Here, she was the local emperor.
Whoever displeased her would be offered to the River Lord the following month.
No one in town did not fear her.
Even the mighty Wei Clan had to kneel at her feet.
More than twenty years ago, she had been nothing more than the lowliest female slave in a pleasure house. Now, she was the most powerful local emperor in town. The thought filled her with boundless satisfaction.
Within Cangmu Town, she could summon wind if she wanted wind, and rain if she wanted rain!
With the River Lord backing her, she feared no one!
"You still dare come and bring misfortune upon the River Lord?"
"I want to see how the River Lord swallows you whole in a single bite!"
Her face full of cold mockery, she stared at the figure standing atop the willow tree.
The Human Race should submit beneath the River Lord's feet and become his blood food!
And resist?
Any human who resisted deserved to be eaten by the River Lord!
"Impudence!"
"You petty Demonic Creature, how dare you show disrespect to an Orthodox God?"
"I, Li Youming, walk the Mortal Realm on Lord Zhangyue's behalf. Today, I will slay you here!"
Li Youming shouted furiously.
He formed a hand seal, and the surging Qi within his body abruptly boiled!
It was Qi far beyond what he had possessed at the second-tier mid-grade!
Both in quality and quantity!
Boom!
A gigantic golden blade over a zhang long materialized from thin air, carrying terrifying golden radiance as it viciously cleaved toward the giant black serpent!
The golden blade split the air, releasing a piercing shriek!
"Hm?!"
The giant black serpent's icy vertical pupils changed.
It roared and opened its mouth, spewing out a vast expanse of frigid mist.
Wherever the mist passed, swathes of air froze solid and fell as icy fragments.
It was, astonishingly, an ice-attributed Demonic Creature!
Yet the golden blade seemed capable of cutting through anything. The frigid mist could not freeze it at all and was instead cleaved apart by the blade!
Pfft—!
The golden blade slammed into the black serpent's body. Those scales that reflected cold light and seemed indestructible proved of little use, and icy serpent blood splashed out!
That strike nearly cut the giant serpent in two at the waist!
"Roar—!"
The giant serpent let out an incomparably agonized roar.
Its pair of icy vertical pupils stared viciously at Li Youming as its massive body abruptly dove toward Shunling River!
It was afraid!
This human's methods were strange. A single blow had wounded it, and his strength had actually reached the third-tier mid-grade.
One level higher than its own!
But so long as it returned to the water, even a third-tier mid-grade opponent who dared pursue it would be killed by it!
The river was its territory!
"Trying to run?"
Li Youming's face was cold as he abruptly swept his sleeve.
The surging Qi within him rushed out, condensing above Shunling River into a bank of clouds and mist!
The technique he had previously obtained was the Lesser Cloud and Mist Protection Technique.
But after receiving Lord Zhangyue's blessing this time, he discovered that the Lesser Cloud and Mist Protection Technique had become the Lesser Cloud and Mist Method!
Its wondrous uses were inexhaustible!
Bang!
The black giant serpent crashed into the clouds and mist as though it had struck a mountain range. It could not pass through the rolling mist and enter Shunling River at all.
Shock and fury surfaced in its icy vertical pupils.
How could this be?!
Before you continue