Bloody Battle with the Dragon King

# Chapter 29: Bloody Battle with the Dragon King

The setting sun was like blood, casting the murky pond water into an eerie dark red.

Everyone held their breath, knife handles soaked slippery with sweat.

Gurgle... gurgle...

The muddy water churned more violently, and on the turbid surface, a massive shadow slowly rose upward.

First to break the water was an enormous head.

The head was hairless, covered in a layer of slimy, green-black mucus.

Two lantern-sized eyeballs bulged outward, lidless, with only a layer of cloudy white film, coldly sweeping across the shore.

Then, the colossal body emerged from the water.

It was a monster beyond words.

Part loach, part catfish, its body covered in slippery scales, its belly lined with dozens of pairs of fine, wriggling limbs squirming through the muck.

A dense demonic aura exploded outward, a stinking, rotten wind sweeping in.

"B-Bone Resonance Realm..."

Zhao Hu's voice trembled.

Such might—this was surely a Bone-Resonating great demon, and nothing less!

"Don't anyone move!"

Liu Chen's voice came from not far away.

The demon creature seemed not to have noticed the people hiding in the shadows. It simply stared blankly at the dead, silent mud pool before it.

From its throat came a meaningless whimper.

The sound was mournful, like weeping, like lamenting.

It slowly crawled ashore, its dozens of pairs of limbs carving deep furrows into the mud.

Beneath its massive body, it pressed down a female corpse, long since bloated beyond recognition.

The corpse's belly was swollen high, but its limbs were nothing but skin and bones.

The demon carefully laid the corpse on the bank, then extended its slick head, gently nuzzling the cold face.

"Xing'er..."

"Xing'er, I brought you something to eat..."

It opened its gaping maw and spat out a pile of rotten, stinking fish and shrimp, still coated in slime.

"Why won't you... wake up..."

"Wake up... look at our child... he's almost here..."

The listeners' hearts churned with mixed emotions.

A demon with deep feelings—how absurd.

And yet this absurd scene was playing out right before their eyes.

Liu Chen's heart tightened. He hesitated no longer.

Even if it was a Bone-Resonating great demon...

They had no reason to retreat.

What's more, compared to the Pig Demon of Gold City, this creature's aura was noticeably weaker.

Eight of them, Demon Suppression Guards, including a martial artist as strong as Jiang Yuechu...

There was a chance!

"Move!"

With a sharp shout, eight figures charged out from different directions at once.

Blade light flared in the dim twilight, descending like a net over the monster!

"Roar—"

The demon let out a sky-shaking roar. The rolling sound waves sent several of the weaker Demon Suppression Guards reeling, their blood surging, their movements faltering.

It whipped its tail violently. The thick, powerful limb carried the force of ten thousand jun, bringing a blast of stench as it swept out!

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The three Demon Suppression Guards at the front didn't even have time to react before the massive tail struck them. They flew backward with screams, crashing hard against distant rocks, spitting blood—alive or dead, unknown.

"Damn it!"

Zhao Hu's eyes turned bloodshot. Instead of retreating, he pressed forward. A faint, earthy-yellow aura ignited on his Horizontal Blade. Without dodging or evading, he swung a single slash at the sweeping tail!

Clang—

Sparks flew.

He felt an irresistible, overwhelming force transmit through the blade. His whole body was knocked back seven or eight steps, landing hard on the ground, his face deathly pale.

What tough skin!

Liu Chen and Old Wang attacked from both sides, their two Horizontal Blades slamming heavily onto the demonic creature's spine, yet they only left two shallow white marks, not even breaking through its scales!

How are they supposed to fight this?!

A flicker of shock had just risen in everyone's hearts.

But at that moment, a blood-red tiger shadow shot up into the sky.

Roar—

A tiger's howl stirred wind and thunder, shaking the wilderness all around!

Jiang Yuechu hadn't chosen to strike at the spine; instead, she aimed her target at the relatively softer limbs beneath its belly!

A piercing flash of blade light came and went!

Puchi! Puchi!

Blood mixed with blackish-green mucus sprayed into the air!

Several limbs snapped off cleanly at the sound!

"Roar—"

The searing pain drove the creature completely into a frenzy. It spun around abruptly, opened its gaping maw, and a water arrow shot out from its mouth, flying straight at Jiang Yuechu's face!

Jiang Yuechu's pupils contracted. She pushed off the ground with force, and her entire body dodged to the side in the narrowest margin.

Boom—

The water arrow missed, slamming violently into the rock behind her, shattering the half-man-high boulder into pieces!

Debris flew in all directions!

Jiang Yuechu twisted midair, landing steadily, and looked at the mess around her, a wave of lingering fear washing over her heart.

If that had hit her, with her mere physical body, she'd likely be dead or crippled.

"A mere String-Hearing Realm, and you dare to come hunt This Seat?!"

"How... how dare you?!!!"

You see, even demons had their own hierarchy.

Many demons boasted about the Demon Suppression Bureau experts who had hunted them as a point of pride.

If two great demons happened to meet on a mountain peak.

One demon would ask, 'Brother, which path do you walk?'

The other demon would stroke his beard and sigh, 'Ah, don't even mention it. This Humble One is nothing special—just a few years back, I ate a few cities' worth of people, and it got the Demon Suppression General personally chasing me. Barely escaped with my life to this godforsaken place.'

Saying that, the other would surely regard him with a few extra points of respect, solemn and awed.

But now? A mere String-Hearing Realm dared to come hunt a Bone-Resonating great demon?

Saying that out loud would be embarrassing enough.

Yet what was even more embarrassing?

What was even more embarrassing was that he, a dignified Bone-Resonating great demon, had actually been wounded by a String-Hearing Realm martial artist!

"Good! Very good!"

"It's been a hundred years since This Seat last tasted this feeling!"

The creature let out a long, slow breath.

The prolonged suppression, the stinging pain from the wounds splitting under its slimy skin, brought it a sick sort of pleasure.

It couldn't help but open its mouth and let out a piercing, drawn-out howl.

"Roar—"

Its bloodshot eyes locked firmly onto Jiang Yuechu, and its massive body suddenly sank low.

The entire Backwater Bay seemed to tremble.

Mud and sludge shot up like black walls, surging in all directions!

"Watch out!" Liu Chen roared, holding his Horizontal Blade in front of him.

But he had ultimately underestimated the full force of a Bone-Resonating great demon's power.

The mud wall slammed into his blade. Liu Chen felt as if he'd been hit head-on by a mad bull; his entire body flew backward, a sweetness rising in his throat, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

If even he was like this, the rest were even more miserable.

For a moment, screams and the sound of bones cracking filled the air without end.

Only one figure, like a lone boat in a raging storm, wove and dodged through the gaps in the overwhelming mud.

Jiang Yuechu gripped her Horizontal Blade, her eyes as calm as an ancient well, her mind entirely focused on the monster charging toward her.

Clearly, this demon's abilities had surpassed those of mere beasts that relied on brute strength.

Not only was it thick-skinned, strong, and immensely powerful, but it could also control the water and mire, holding the advantage of both terrain and timing.

A head-on clash is suicide.

"ROAR—"

The monster, seeing that its strike had failed, opened its massive maw and spat out another water arrow!

The water arrow tore through the air with a piercing shriek.

Jiang Yuechu dared not meet it head-on. She pushed off the ground, her figure leaping higher, narrowly dodging again.

But before she could catch her breath—

The creature's enormous body twisted violently, its limbs frantically churning the mud, charging straight at her with a speed that defied its bulk!

A foul wind swept over her; the sheer pressure of its approach was enough to make any ordinary martial artist's heart and liver split with fear.

"Miss Jiang! Watch out!"

Not far away, Liu Chen, who had just struggled to his feet, shouted in alarm.

But he was already gravely wounded, far too slow to come to her aid.

The gaping maw was about to devour Jiang Yuechu.

Just then—

A flash of resolve gleamed in Jiang Yuechu's eyes.

Instead of retreating, she charged forward, meeting the monster head-on!

The Black River Water Monster