Pei Xuance made his move!
The Canglan River.
The night wind, carrying damp moisture, blew past a row of Demon Suppression Guard standing along the river.
Pei Xuance sat alone by the river, a long spear in front of him, his eyes closed, looking from a distance as if he were fishing.
Lü Heng, who was standing not far away, knew that Pei Xuance had been sitting there for quite some time.
His aura was sometimes subdued, and sometimes suddenly surged.
Whenever his breath stirred, ripples would rise on the river surface, and the pebbles on the shore would tremble slightly. These were signs that Pei Xuance was attempting to break through to the next realm Dao-Infant Realm.
Lü Heng stood guard to the side, not daring to disturb them.
These days, he watched the Demon Suppression Guard stand guard day and night on the riverbank, and watched the Water Demon constantly harass the banks, but he could never find an opportunity to completely resolve the scourge.
What frustrated him even more was that, despite being stationed by the river, they could only watch the Old Flood Dragon hide at the bottom of the river, and Pei Xuance couldn't leave easily.
If General Pei can break through to the Dao-Infant Realm, he can use the power of the Dao Infant to ignore the river's obstruction, directly charge into the riverbed, and drag out that Old Flood Dragon.
But this step is not so easy after all.
Lü Heng was gazing at the river in a daze when he suddenly heard a whooshing sound overhead.
He suddenly looked up.
A figure in black robes carried the enormous corpse of a dragon and landed steadily on the riverbank.
The dragon's corpse crashed to the ground, splashing up a cloud of mud and water; its broken body gleamed coldly in the sunlight.
"Deputy General Yang? You're back!?" Lü Heng was stunned when he saw who it was.
Yang Xiao put down the dragon's corpse and bowed to Pei Xuance, who was still sitting with his eyes closed.
"Yang Xiao greets General Pei."
Pei Xuance's surging aura gradually subsided.
He opened his eyes, first looking at Yang Xiao, then his gaze fell on the dragon's corpse.
The bloodstains on the dragon's corpse had not yet congealed, and the remaining Yao Qi was still dissipating outwards, indicating that it had just been killed not long ago, and it was even still steaming.
Pei Xuance clearly hadn't expected that when the two met again, Yang Xiao would arrive carrying the corpse of a Flood Dragon Lord Prince.
Yang Xiao was about to speak, and was about to ask if there was anything he could do.
Pei Xuance, however, had already seen through what he was trying to say, and turned to look at the river, his gaze carrying a hidden meaning.
"No need to attract them."
He stood up, and the spear beside him responded with a low hum.
It's here.
As Pei Xuance's voice fell, the river suddenly stopped flowing.
It's not slowing down, it's not calming down, it's complete stillness.
The waves hung suspended in mid-air, the spray condensed on their crests, and even the mist whipped up by the wind on the shore froze in mid-air, motionless.
Yang Xiao's pupils contracted slightly.
He sensed that the surface of the Canglan River ahead was changing rapidly.
The river, thousands of feet wide, seemed to be pressed down from above by an invisible giant hand, and the entire river slowly collapsed.
The water in the middle of the river began to rise, and a huge outline emerged from the bottom of the water, rising higher and higher, bringing with it two huge waves tens of meters high on the river surface.
Yang Xiao gripped the Army-Breaking Spear at his side tightly.
He had seen the original form of the Third Lord Jiao, and the true form of the Little Dragon King, and had even carried the Flood Dragon Lord Prince with his bare hands.
But the rising shadow before us was far larger than any of them.
"Whoosh--!"
The entire river exploded.
The enormous roar and waves crashed against the shore, causing several Demon-Suppressing Captain to stumble.
They looked towards the river with expressions of terror.
A dark blue-green dragon head emerged from the water, its scales gleaming with a cold, eerie light. Its head rose a hundred feet high, almost touching the clouds.
This is only part of the other party's body.
This overlord of the Qingzhou Waterfolk has finally revealed its immense power to the world again after many years.
The moment the Old Flood Dragon broke through the water, it first glanced down at the corpse of the Flood Dragon Lord on the shore.
Second Lord Jiao's body lay on the mudflat, his dark blue scales tattered, his head a bloody mess, and he was already lifeless.
The Old Flood Dragon's gaze lingered on the corpse for a moment, its vertical pupils slowly contracting.
Then, its gaze shifted to Yang Xiao.
Those vertical pupils seemed to rival the sun and moon, but were as cold and unfathomable as two ancient wells.
It stared intently at Yang Xiao, its nostrils flaring, exhaling two streams of scorching air carrying a misty spray. The air swirled across the riverbank, causing Yang Xiao's robes to flutter loudly.
It smelled it.
Several familiar auras clung to this young man.
He dispatched numerous Waterfolk to search the Canglan River for a long time, but unexpectedly, all these auras were concentrated on one person.
The Old Flood Dragon's vertical pupils gleamed with a chilling aura.
"Kid."
Its voice was deep and rumbling like thunder, making the river surface tremble. "Why do you smell like my son and my grandson?"
Yang Xiao looked up and met those large, vertical pupils, his voice calm and undisturbed.
"It's very simple."
"I killed them all."
The river was deathly still for a moment.
Immediately, the Old Flood Dragon let out a mournful howl.
The roar shook the river, causing it to surge backward and creating towering waves dozens of feet high that crashed down the banks. The Demon Suppression Guard were forced to retreat by the sound waves, with some even kneeling on the ground and covering their ears.
Yang Xiao stood still, motionless.
He stared at the Old Flood Dragon, quickly assessing the difference in strength between the two sides.
This Old Flood Dragon is even stronger than the Core Illumination Demon King he saw in Zhenshan Commandery.
It has entrenched itself on the Canglan River for countless years, its Demon Power as profound as the river itself, making this river its home ground.
Yang Xiao knew very well that if he didn't reach the Core Illumination Realm, he probably wouldn't be able to confront such an Old Flood Dragon head-on.
But he did not back down.
Because Pei Xuance was already standing in front of him at some point.
After the Old Flood Dragon roared, it did not immediately pounce on Yang Xiao.
It suppressed its anger, its vertical pupils turning to Pei Xuance, its voice carrying a hint of suppressed violence. "Pei Xuance."
"I'm giving you a chance."
"Hand this brat over to me, and I will immediately recall all the river Water Demon and guarantee that they will not harass an inch of Qingzhou's land for the next ten years."
"This is my final concession."
Pei Xuance looked at it calmly.
He understood what the Old Flood Dragon meant: to exchange Yang Xiao's life for ten years of peace Canglan River.
This condition is undeniably tempting for Qingzhou.
However, Pei Xuance simply said, "Since when did you get the illusion that I would agree?"
Upon hearing this, the Old Flood Dragon's vertical pupils turned icy, and it completely lost its patience.
"Then I will take it myself!"
The Old Flood Dragon raised its front claw and slammed it towards the riverbank.
The river water surged up with a roar, forming giant waves tens of meters high. Interspersed within the walls of waves were countless Water Blades, each gleaming with a cold, eerie light.
Giant Wave's primary target was not Yang Xiao.
Instead, it was the Demon-Suppressing Captain on the shore.
The Old Flood Dragon had lived for countless years and knew Pei Xuance's weakness well.
It couldn't kill Pei Xuance, but it could make Pei Xuance watch helplessly as his soldiers were swept into the river, leaving no trace of their bodies.
Pei Xuance's expression darkened slightly.
"Step back a bit."
Lü Heng was the first to react, grabbing the two weak-legged Demon-Suppressing Captain beside him and desperately retreating backward.
Giant waves, rippled with Water Blade, crashed against the riverbank.
At that very moment, Pei Xuance took a step forward.
The aura of a peak Core Illumination Realm expert was fully unleashed at this moment.
A beam of earthy yellow Core Illumination Light spread out from beneath his feet, like an invisible force pressing down on the earth.
The riverbank beneath his feet suddenly became firm, as if a giant hand had pressed down on the previously soft riverbed, making even the sand floating in mid-air feel incredibly heavy.