The river crashed down, shaking the surrounding mountains so violently that landslides erupted and rocks tumbled from the peaks. The devastation was terrifying—villages nestled against the mountains suffered disaster.
But there was no other choice.
If the Dragon-Keeper Lord wasn’t stopped and his attempt to alter the dragon vein wasn’t broken, it wouldn’t just be the riverside villagers who suffered—the entire Everpeace Empire would be doomed!
"Grandpa Blind, the Dragon-Keeper Lord can molt to heal himself!"
Quinn Shepherd raced over atop the Dragon-Qilin’s head, shouting, “Don’t let your guard down! He’s still alive!”
Grandpa Blind frowned in confusion. “What’s wrong with that eel lord? I shattered all his bones and scales, cut off his lifeforce, and then the surging river crushed him. How could he still be alive?”
“He’s not dead!”
Quinn shouted, “As long as his head isn’t cut off, no matter how badly he’s injured, once he molts, he’ll be fully healed!”
Just then, the river suddenly surged high, waves rolling downstream like mountains—something enormous was swimming beneath the water.
"The eel lord’s Flood-Dragon King has arrived! Looks like he really isn’t dead."
Grandpa Blind’s heart tightened. He raised his bamboo cane and pointed it at the river. The Dragon-Keeper Lord lay crushed on the riverbed beneath the surging Yong, the weight of the falling river and Grandpa Blind’s attack together enough to pulverize him.
Just as Grandpa Blind’s cane struck the river, the sapphire Flood-Dragon King coiled its massive body, raising its huge head high. The surging waters collided fiercely with the cane!
Boom!
The Yong River split, exposing the deep riverbed. The Dragon-Qilin dodged the shockwave and soared upward.
Quinn clung to the Dragon-Qilin’s back, peering down. He saw the Dragon-Keeper Lord sprawled in a huge pit, the mud at the bottom swept clean by Grandpa Blind and the Flood-Dragon King’s attacks. The god lay there, limbs splayed, utterly miserable.
But just as Quinn expected, the Dragon-Keeper Lord wasn’t dead—he was still in the midst of molting.
Quinn glanced quickly and saw the god’s forehead splitting open, a huge new head writhing inside, struggling to push outward.
"If the Dragon-Keeper Lord succeeds in molting and gains the Flood-Dragon King’s help, Grandpa Blind might not be able to defeat him!"
Without another thought, Quinn suddenly leapt from the Dragon-Qilin’s back, sprinting madly toward the Dragon-Keeper Lord on the riverbed!
Serena Yunxiang and Lynn Ling cried out, reaching to grab him, but their hands closed on empty air—Quinn was already gone.
Bang!
Quinn accelerated faster and faster, breaking the sound barrier in an instant and leaving a white vapor trail behind him.
Grandpa Blind had sealed his three divine treasuries, preventing him from using his yuanqi, but the Stealing-Heavens Leg Art was a physical divine art—it erupted solely from the body's power.
That, Grandpa Blind could not seal.
Quinn whistled down from the sky, charging straight toward the Dragon-Keeper Lord.
At that moment, the waters of the Yong River upstream and downstream began to merge. Behind Grandpa Blind, the Black Tortoise Primordial Spirit appeared, battling fiercely with the Flood-Dragon King. With his heart-sight, Grandpa Blind 'saw' Quinn racing down from above straight at the Dragon-Keeper Lord, and couldn't help but curse the boy's audacity, hurriedly flicking a finger.
Quinn, still midair, was struck on the brow by Grandpa Blind's finger wind. Instantly, three thunderous booms echoed inside him as his Spirit Embryo, Five Luminaries, and Six Directions Treasuries unlocked one after another—his power surged back, and he couldn't help but rejoice.
On the riverbank, Grandpa Blind attacked with wild ferocity, fighting the Flood-Dragon King desperately to keep Quinn from being killed by a swipe of its tail.
'Even with your divine treasuries sealed, you dare pull a stunt like this! That brat—why wasn't he this bold and vigorous in the bridal chamber?'
Grandpa Blind's hair and brows flew wildly as true anger flared; the Flood-Dragon King's dragon claw swept down, but Grandpa Blind jabbed his bamboo cane at it again and again, disrupting the claw's bones and leaving it powerless.
Grandpa Blind jabbed his cane, sending the swirling river water surging together, transforming into a massive spear that pierced straight at the Flood-Dragon King's heart. Forced to dodge, the dragon king leapt skyward to avoid the blow.
Splat—
Before the waters could fully merge, Quinn dove headfirst into the muddy riverbed. A deafening roar followed as the currents collided, monstrous waves surging eastward.
Beneath the river, Quinn held his breath, but the crushing pressure from the merging currents nearly killed him—his chest felt ready to burst, his mind ringing.
After a moment, Quinn came to his senses, wriggled out of the silt, and swam like a fish toward the massive pit where the Dragon-Keeper Lord lay.
The Yong River kept hauling silt, piling it up and half-burying the Dragon-Keeper Lord.
Quinn swam to the Dragon-Keeper Lord's side, finding nothing but ruined flesh all around. Even the god-blood had been crushed and washed away by the current—already, most of it was gone.
A god's body is incredibly heavy—even a Divine Bridge realm expert couldn't carry one. So the Dragon-Keeper Lord lay unmoving, the river unable to sweep him away.
Though most of the god-blood had drained away, the Dragon-Keeper Lord's head still writhed, two dragon horns poking out.
Quinn immediately started groping around, his hands darting over the Dragon-Keeper Lord's body, searching everywhere.
"Where's the True Dragon Nest? Where did you hide it..."
Crack.
The Dragon-Keeper Lord's forehead split wider, waves of divine might pouring out from the crack.
Quinn's heart skipped—he saw a dragon head half-emerged from the forehead. He darted to the bare skull, drew the Worryless Sword, and, channeling all three treasuries, drove the blade down. With a metallic clang, the sword struck a hidden dragon scale and bounced high, leaving only a faint mark.
He stabbed again and again, more than a dozen times, until finally he pierced the scale.
Quinn shoved the sword deeper, hammering it down with all his strength. Half the blade sank into the Dragon-Keeper Lord's skull; then he grabbed a massive iron hammer and pounded the hilt until the Worryless Sword was driven fully in.
The Worryless Sword pinned the Dragon-Keeper Lord's old skin and his emerging new body together. The dragon head dared not move violently, as if fearing the hidden divine power within the sword. Forced to shed slowly, he was stuck—unable to complete the molt or break free.
"Stubborn kid, you again..."
The Dragon-Keeper Lord opened his mouth, his voice weak: "I'll kill you... I will definitely kill you..."
Quinn gathered his yuanqi, scooped mud and silt into the god's mouth and nose, silencing him. Then, wrapping his last bit of Triple-Break Powder in yuanqi, he stuffed it in too, and kept searching.
"If the poison doesn't kill you, it'll at least make you shed another layer!" Quinn kept flipping the god over, searching for the True Dragon Nest.
The Dragon-Keeper Lord's nearly rigid body trembled at the riverbed. As the saying goes, strike while the iron's hot—the Triple-Break Powder's poison exploded, snapping his body, spirit, and soul with crackling sounds.
He hadn't fully shed his old skin, so his new body was still connected—and instantly poisoned, making his suffering indescribable.
Quinn rummaged through the god's corpse, pulling out a dragon-skin drum, dragon horns, a claw-staff, a dragon-bone short flute, and other odd relics, but the True Dragon Nest was nowhere to be found.
"Strange. He should've hidden it on himself—there's no way he'd just throw it away..."
Quinn drew the Imperial Disc, trying to sense the Nest by resonance, but oddly, the Disc gave no response. He activated it again and again, watching the glyphs shift, but still couldn't find the Nest.
Just then, he suddenly sensed a strange disturbance in the surrounding current, and his heart leapt.
The river was murky now, silt swirling everywhere, making it hard to see far. Quinn quickly swam up to the Dragon-Keeper Lord's forehead, one hand on the sword hilt, eyes alert.
A powerful current surged past him—a massive dragon body, its scales ink-green, each one larger than Quinn himself.
It was a flood-dragon, surely one of the Dragon-Keeper Lord's own, drawn by his aura. This flood-dragon was far stronger than most Cult Master-level beasts; Quinn knew he was no match for it.
Quinn's eyes darted; with his free hand, he quietly grabbed the dragon-bone short flute he'd just looted, wrapped it in yuanqi, and began to play.
He tried to use the Dragon-Controlling Mantra to establish a link and seize control of the flood-dragon.
Suddenly, a powerful backlash struck his mind— the Dragon-Keeper Lord, with the last remnant of his spirit, hurled a mental shock at Quinn, nearly knocking him out.
Quinn winced in pain. Beneath his feet, the Dragon-Keeper Lord writhed desperately, dragging the Worryless Sword with him, slicing open more of his scalp.
"Even after swallowing a whole handful of Triple-Break Powder, you can still shed your skin? My poison really can't compare to Apothecary Grandpa's. If he'd brewed it, you'd die even after shedding a dozen times!"
Quinn tried to pull out the sword, but he'd hammered it in too deep to extract quickly. Meanwhile, the Dragon-Keeper Lord had already forced out a new dragon head, the Worryless Sword still stuck in his forehead.
Quinn stood atop the god's head, both hands gripping the sword hilt. Below him, the Dragon-Keeper Lord's huge eyes glared up, his face bluish-black from poison as he strained to suppress the Triple-Break Powder's effect.
Behind Quinn, a massive dragon head appeared, its body coiled in the water—the ink-green flood-dragon opened its jaws, revealing rows of jagged fangs.
Quinn's eyes darted anxiously; he furtively raised the Imperial Disc behind his head and glanced back. The flood-dragon's upper jaw was already inches from his scalp, its teeth nearly scraping his brow!
Quinn lifted the Imperial Disc high, legs trembling, as the Dragon-Keeper Lord kept writhing below.
"D-d-d..." Quinn stammered, hearing his own teeth chatter, bubbles streaming from his mouth. "Don't move, d-d-d... Be good, d-d-d..."
The ink-green flood-dragon paused, slowly withdrew, its gaze fixed on the Imperial Disc in Quinn's palm.
"Maha..."
The flood-dragon slowly lowered its head.
Quinn finally breathed out in relief. He stomped on the Dragon-Keeper Lord's eye and snapped, "Nearly got me killed! Now, where'd you hide the True Dragon Nest? I've got hundreds of poisons here—believe me, I'll grind you to dust!"
The Dragon-Keeper Lord glared coldly at him, still writhing outward. Suddenly, another crack split his forehead and a second dragon head forced its way out. He'd been poisoned by Quinn—one molt wasn't enough to purge it; he had to shed again.
"Maha maha!"
The ink-green flood-dragon shrank its body down, swam to perch on Quinn's shoulder, its claws resting lightly there. It opened its mouth, and Quinn, startled, saw the True Dragon Nest hidden inside.
"Cunning—you're truly cunning!" Quinn's heart blossomed with joy as he gave the Dragon-Keeper Lord a thumbs-up.
(End of chapter)