Malevolent Flood Dragon

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

The Malevolent Flood Dragon once inhabited the Si River and was close to becoming a true dragon. Its many sins subjected it to heavenly punishment: gathering storm clouds blinded it, thunder shook its mind and soul, and rain striking the river caused pain like thousands of piercing swords 15.

After the river administration sank a great Iron Rhino into the water, the creature began hiding inside its hollow belly during storms. The refuge spared it the immediate agony but prevented it from enduring the punishment and cleansing its sins. With its transformation path closed, it gradually fell asleep inside the artifact 15 33.

Cui Jiuyang knew this history through his great-grandfather Cui Chengshou’s records. His seemingly extraordinary drawing of the creature was based largely on that inherited knowledge rather than direct divination of the flood dragon 15.

Appearance

The creature has an enormous serpentine body and a head between that of a dragon and a snake. When awakened beneath Lake Taibai, its coils filled the cavern’s vaulted ceiling 14 28.

• Limbs: Four clawed limbs; no horns 14.
• Scales: Blade-like from head to tail, with a dark metallic sheen 14 35.
• Mouth: Interlocking fangs trailing venomous drool 14 28.
• Eyes: Slit pupils; one eye appeared only slightly smaller than the Water God’s palace doorway 28 35.
• Sleeping state: Breathes clouds and mist while coiled inside the Iron Rhino 14.

Personality

The flood dragon is vicious, proud, and vindictive. After awakening, it targets Cui Jiuyang as an outlet for its anger; following its expulsion from the underground tomb, it vents its fury by flooding Jining City 28 31.

Its aggression does not entirely override its caution. It initially hesitates before the Water God’s palace and Jidu Shrine, but prolonged frustration eventually drives it into a formation it recognizes as dangerous. When overwhelmed by Ninth Lady, it begs for mercy, then launches a final attack when she refuses 28 33 35 36 37.

Abilities & Skills

Dragon Traits and Aura

• Can conceal or reveal itself and change its size despite never completing true-dragon transformation 15.
• Its aura causes fish and shrimp to avoid the surrounding water, allowing Cui Jiuyang to locate the Iron Rhino indirectly 21.
• Mama Liu’s scouting tadpoles refuse to enter its sphere of influence. Cui Jiuyang concludes that most of her supernatural abilities would be ineffective there without Toad Boy possessing her 23.
• Ferocious aquatic beasts are not necessarily deterred: the Giant Softshell Turtle seeks it out as a territorial invader 21.

Weather and Water Manipulation

• Flies and coils through the air, stirring wind and clouds 28 29.
• Causes three days of torrential rain over Jining City, flooding low-lying homes above their rooftops 31.
• Uses wind, rain, thunder, and lightning to wear down Jidu Shrine’s defensive mist 33.
• Raises a towering wave to conceal an evasive movement and produces green-black waterspouts capable of matching Ninth Lady’s Turbid Waves Strike the Sky 35 36.

Physical Combat and Demonic Defense

• Shatters stone slabs with its claws, scatters Divine Attendants with its tail, and digs through the cavern ceiling to escape 28 29.
• Channels its Demon Core’s power into its tail. Its clash with Dragon Tail Slash mangles its own tail but badly injures Ninth Lady and shatters her River-Swallowing Alligator Nuo Mask 36.
• Reinforces its scales with demonic power, making them gleam like darksteel; this defense ultimately fails against Soul-Cleansing Rain 36.
• Can expel its Demon Core as a projectile surrounded by poisonous fumes. River-Cutting Chant destroys the core after three breaths 37.

Venom

• Its drool hisses and produces green smoke on contact with stone 28.
• Spits torrents of venomous saliva that cause green smoke and bubbling when they strike water 35.
• Exhales poisonous mist, although Ninth Lady’s sword wind disperses it 36.
• Its blood remains poisonous during its final struggle 37.

Weaknesses and Restrictions

• Si River punishment: Storm clouds, thunder, and rain torment it there. Away from the Si River, it can instead command storms 15 31.
• Rainstorm drumbeats: The Water Palace amplifies Sudden Rain Rush into waves of sound that torment its head, forcing it to flee through the ceiling 29.
• Divine authority: It initially cannot enter the Water God’s palace and lacks the nerve to destroy its doors. At Jidu Shrine, the presence of a higher-ranking Water God similarly makes it hesitate 28 33.
• Superior dragon aura: It stiffens upon sensing the chi-dragon aura manifested by Ninth Lady’s Ghost-Mask Chi Dragon 36.

Relationships

• Cui Jiuyang — Uses blood-marked copper coins and Striking the Drum and Sounding the Metal to rouse it and disrupt the Japanese plan; later directs the formation used against it 26 27 35.
• Ninth Lady — Drives it out of the underground cavern, defeats it at Jidu Shrine, and uses its corpse after becoming Chief Sacrificer 29 37 38.
• Abe and Togo — Transport the Iron Rhino to Lake Taibai and intend to sacrifice both artifact and creature to restore some of the Qingyuan Water God’s power 16 23.
• Turtle Chancellor — Devises the drumbeat strategy that expels it from the tomb. He states that subduing such a creature would have required effort even in his prime 28 29.
• Divine Attendants — Attack it immediately after it awakens. It repeatedly scatters them but cannot permanently eliminate them 28 29.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Discovery and Failed Sacrifice

• Cui Jiuyang’s drawing reveals the sleeping flood dragon inside the Iron Rhino, alarming the assembled Jining adepts 14.
• The artifact is traced to Lake Taibai after being stolen through a corrupted Five-Ghost Transport Technique 16 20.
• Abe and Togo intend to sacrifice the sleeping creature and its refuge, but the Water God’s tomb is only a cenotaph and cannot receive their offering 23 28.
• Cui Jiuyang deliberately stirs the creature to undermine their plan. It awakens, fights the Divine Attendants, and traps him, Ninth Lady, and the Turtle Chancellor inside the palace 26 27 28.

Escape and Flooding

• While besieging the palace, the dragon destroys the Offering Platform and scatters the Water Palace’s remaining treasures 29.
• Ninth Lady’s amplified Sudden Rain Rush forces it to claw through the weakened ceiling. Its escape collapses the cavern and creates a sinkhole 29.
• It subsequently unleashes the storm that floods Jining City 31.

Battle at Jidu Shrine

• The dragon attacks Jidu Shrine to obtain a magical treasure it believes can reopen its path to true-dragon transformation 33.
• Cui Jiuyang activates the Vast Marsh Jidu Heavenly Cycle Formation, allowing Ninth Lady to confront it with the River-Swallowing Alligator Nuo Mask. Their initial exchanges leave both combatants wounded 35 36.
• After Cui Jiuyang sacrifices his meridians and vital blood to sustain her, Ninth Lady manifests the Ghost-Mask Chi Dragon. Inverse-Scale Fury pierces the creature’s belly, and Soul-Cleansing Rain shatters its scales and riddles its body with wounds 36.
• Its plea for mercy fails. It retaliates with its Demon Core, but River-Cutting Chant destroys the core and drives a sword beam through its head, killing it 37.

Use of the Corpse

• When the formation closes, the enormous corpse falls outside Jidu Shrine hard enough to shake the building 37.
• The Turtle Chancellor instructs Ninth Lady to retrieve it into the Grand Formation. Using the corpse allows her to leave the shrine for a little over half a month despite her obligation to remain there and sustain the Water God’s spirit 38.