Chapter 74: Dragon City Changes Hands

Qin Mu wondered, "Why isn't Granny's back hunched anymore? She seems so excited, rolling around in bed..."

The next morning, Qin Mu woke up to find Granny Si absent from her room, but breakfast was already laid out on the table.

The boy washed up, ate breakfast, and went downstairs to find Granny Si and the blind man. They had already prepared the ox cart and loaded it with the purchased oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, silks, and satins.

What puzzled Qin Mu was that the blind man was harnessing the ox cart, with three oxen hitched in front and three large bullocks following behind.

The six bullocks trembled with fear upon seeing Qin Mu.

"Granny, weren't our six oxen sold?" Qin Mu asked.

Granny Si yawned casually, "I couldn't sleep last night, so I went out and bought six oxen."

Qin Mu was skeptical, observing the six bullocks shaking their heads repeatedly, as if trying to say something, but only able to moo.

As the ox cart left the city, it was still early morning. There were already a few carriages and horses on the road, as villagers who had come to the city to buy supplies were taking advantage of the early hour to return, hoping to reach their villages before dark.

Qin Mu drove the cart to the docks. The river was roaring and turbulent, and many villagers were already on the bank, offering sacrifices to the River God and summoning the giant river beasts. On the riverbank, large-nosed river beasts were enjoying the incense offered by the villagers, exhaling large smoke rings. Some of these beasts were already carrying returning villagers laden with goods, beginning their journey back.

The blind man offered incense by the river, summoned a river beast, and fed it. Qin Mu then drove the ox cart onto the beast's back, and the giant creature began moving upstream.

The river flowed mightily from west to east. When they came, they had drifted downstream, but now they were traveling upstream from the lower reaches, which would undoubtedly present significant resistance.

However, the river beast's speed was no slower than before. At this pace, they would only need to rest one night at Granny Temple and could reach Crippled Old Village the next day.

After traveling over fifty *li* by water, Granny Si's expression shifted slightly. She stood up, holding her small basket, and smiled, "My job is here. Blind Man, you go on ahead."

The blind man nodded and said, "Be careful."

Granny Si leaped, suddenly soaring into the sky and disappearing from sight.

Qin Mu looked up, seeing Granny Si suspended in the air for a long time without descending.

The blind man, however, was accustomed to this and paid it no mind, standing with his cane against the wind.

Soon after, Qin Mu suddenly saw a cloud behind them turn blood-red in mid-air. Then, blood rained down, pouring so heavily that it quickly dyed the Surging River crimson!

"What's happening in the sky?"

Just as Qin Mu thought this, a head suddenly fell from the blood-red cloud and plunged into the river.

Qin Mu's blood ran cold. The moment the head hit the water, he clearly saw its face: it was the yellow-faced woman from the City Lord's manor, whom he had met once before!

Qin Mu looked up. What was happening in that cloud?

The rain came and went quickly. Soon, the downpour stopped, and the crimson dye on the river from the blood rain seemed like a mere illusion as the river flowed clear once more.

Qin Mu washed the blood from his clothes. He waited for a long time, but Granny Si still did not reappear, while the blind man remained perfectly calm, showing no worry at all.

Just then, Qin Mu suddenly felt a terrifying, earth-shattering tremor coming from downstream of the Surging River. It was so dreadful that even the giant river beast beneath them became restless, abruptly increasing its speed and swimming swiftly upstream.

The blind man's ear twitched suddenly, and he yelled, "Mu'er, hold on tight! Don't fall off!"

Qin Mu quickly braced himself, his feet seemingly rooted to the back of the giant river beast. He then heard a strange whistling sound coming from behind him. He quickly turned to look and was horrified.

He saw the great river behind them rapidly rising higher and higher. The river water was actually flowing backward, from downstream to upstream!

The river surface downstream was now more than ten *zhang* higher than the banks, and colossal white waves surged, crashing violently towards them!

The massive wave drew closer and closer. Water sprayed wildly to both sides, submerging the dense forests along the banks. The terrifying, surging waves transformed from a whistling sound into an earth-shattering roar, like hundreds of thunderclaps exploding in a valley!

Qin Mu was terrified. He saw the excess spray from the large wave dissipate, revealing a giant hand, almost as wide as the river itself, pushing forcefully from downstream to upstream!

The blind man remained calm and composed, seemingly oblivious to the horrifying scene behind them.

The enormous hand made of river water quickly approached them, still a hundred *zhang* away. At that moment, the giant hand suddenly disintegrated, and the water roared and surged, scattering in all directions. The incoming waves lifted the giant river beast beneath them more than ten *zhang* high before it fell back down.

Qin Mu, still shaken, quickly grabbed hold of the ox cart on the beast's back to avoid sliding into the water.

The blind man poked the river beast's head with his bamboo staff, and the beast immediately turned, heading downstream once more. "Mu'er, we're going back to Xianglong City."

Thirty *li* downstream, Fu Yundi, the City Lord of Xianglong, descended from the sky. He landed swiftly on the river surface, took two quick steps forward, and then stopped, his expression grim as he looked around. "Which senior brother broke my spell?"

"Not a senior brother, but a senior sister."

Granny Si, holding her small basket, tiptoed across the river surface, her wrinkled face creased into a smile. "City Lord, aren't you afraid of harming the villagers of the Great Ruins by causing trouble on the river? If that attack had landed, the villagers along a hundred *li* of this river would have died by your hand. That would be a grave sin."

"You're that old woman accompanying the abandoned?"

Fu Yundi said coldly, "So you're the one who taught him the ultimate techniques of your battle art school, enabling him to kill my son? I must avenge my son's death. You're blocking my way, so you die!"

Granny Si sighed, pulling a ball of thread from her basket. She said faintly, "City Lord, this is the Great Overarching Heaven Devil Scripture you've longed for. Unfortunately, this is the last time you'll ever see it. You will still be alive, but sealed within your own skin. I will wear your skin, govern Xianglong City, and go to meet the Imperial Preceptor of Yankang..."

Fu Yundi's pupils constricted. The ball of thread in Granny Si's hand spun rapidly, threads extending swiftly, crisscrossing and weaving across the river surface in an instant, forming a net. Fu Yundi was trapped within this net.

"Last night, your son's death gave me an opportunity to ambush you. You were already severely wounded then. If you had simply settled down to heal, you might have had a chance to escape today."

Granny Si smiled, "But you were too greedy, chasing after me to seize the Great Overarching Heaven Devil Scripture. That sealed your fate today."

"You think you can kill me? Dream on! How many years have you been cultivating?"

Fu Yundi shook his body, and violent vital qi erupted. The incredibly dense vital qi formed an eight-armed, eight-headed Heavenly God behind him. He had almost achieved 'refining the false into the real'; the eight-armed, eight-headed Heavenly God forged from vital qi nearly became tangible!

The Heavenly God behind him held eight artifacts, which were also refined to be almost corporeal!

As the formidable City Lord of Xianglong, he naturally possessed extraordinary abilities!

"The Eight Phase Heavenly God Art is indeed an impressive cultivation method, but merely impressive. It's far from reaching the divine realm!"

Granny Si chuckled. Suddenly, her outer skin peeled away, and a young woman in her prime emerged from the granny's skin – none other than the breathtakingly beautiful Sect Mistress from the City Lord's manor!

She charged forward. Simultaneously, the threads formed by the Great Overarching Heaven Devil Scripture darted rapidly. Fu Yundi roared, seeing the beautiful Sect Mistress's palm strike towards him, and sneered, "Si Youyou, you're only a little over a hundred years old. Can your magical power be as profound as mine?"

*Boom*—

Their palms met, and "Granny Si" was sent flying high into the air.

"Trying to escape?"

Fu Yundi leaped, also soaring into the air, and suddenly felt something strange. "Why am I so light..."

He looked down and saw a blood-red figure standing on the river surface, devoid of skin.

He looked at himself and shrieked. He had become a sheet of human skin, and the blood-red figure below was himself, stripped of his skin!

The moment "Granny Si" met his palm, the threads transformed by the Great Overarching Heaven Devil Scripture penetrated his body, instantly sealing his three souls and seven spirits, and flaying him.

"Granny Si" being sent flying high was actually her intentionally leaping into the air. With a forceful tug on the threads in her hand, she cleanly and efficiently pulled his skin from his body!

"Fu Yundi, nothing more than that."

"Granny Si" raised her hand, grasped the human skin, and with a whoosh, draped it over herself. Her appearance and demeanor became identical to Fu Yundi's.

Below, Fu Yundi's skinless corpse sank into the water and was carried away by the river currents.

Her figure descended, and just as she landed on the river surface, Qin Mu and the blind man's river beast arrived at the same spot.

"The City Lord of Xianglong?" Qin Mu's scalp tingled, and the Young Protector Sword at his waist let out a crisp chime, ready to strike at any moment.

"Mu'er, it's Granny."

Granny Si's voice came from Fu Yundi's mouth, then switched back to Fu Yundi's voice, almost indistinguishably, "The army of Yankang Kingdom should be arriving soon, right? When will the Village Chief and the others arrive?"

The blind man tilted his head and said, "They've most likely already entered the city. The Imperial Preceptor of Yankang is coming with great momentum. Granny, this time you're impersonating Fu Yundi. You mustn't show any slip-ups, otherwise, with the Imperial Preceptor's skill, he might take your life in a single move. Can you imitate Fu Yundi's Eight Phase Heavenly God Art?"