Chapter 48 The Evil Dragon Overturns at the Bottom of the Yellow River; Mortals Form an Army to Slay the Dragon and Establish Order

The carriage left the palace, and the atmosphere inside the carriage was frozen, almost suffocating.

Princess Yin Rong held Chen Yuan tightly, her body trembling uncontrollably from lingering fear, and tears slid down silently.

They soaked her son's shoulder. Having escaped death and experienced such extreme ups and downs, this princess who grew up in the deep palace was already exhausted.

Yun Xiao sat opposite, looking at the child who had been titled the "Guardian Qilin."

He did not cry, nor did he laugh.

Since boarding the carriage, he had lifted a corner of the curtain, staring silently into the distance.

That was not a gaze a five-year-old child should have; it pierced through the bustling streets of Zhaoge, as if falling upon the distant ends of the heaven and earth.

For some reason, his complexion was even paler than it had been in the Golden Throne Hall.

"Yuaner..." Princess Yin Rong choked, wanting to say something.

Chen Yuan suddenly turned his head, his small brows tightly knit, and on that tender face, a look called "solemnity" appeared for the first time.

He felt it.

Just moments ago, that ancient, evil aura coming from the direction of the Yellow River—a presence billions of times more massive than the killing intent of King Wendin—had completely awakened.

Like a Vicious Beast that had been sleeping for eons, it opened its hungry eyes.

...

Qingyuan County, the final dam of the Yellow River diversion project.

Tens of thousands of soldiers and laborers were sweating profusely, nearing completion. The turbid Yellow River water was being guided bit by bit toward the planned wasteland of Yunmengze.

General Chen Lie stood on a high earthen slope, looking at the surging torrent that was about to be tamed.

A trace of a smile finally appeared on his mud-stained face.

He thought of his wife and son in Zhaoge City.

Once the flooding subsided, he could return to the capital and give that son who made him proud and heartbroken a good hug.

However, at this very moment!

"Boom—!"

A loud noise came from the depths of the riverbed, and the entire earth trembled violently!

The originally rushing river water strangely stilled for an instant. Immediately after, a huge vortex appeared out of thin air in the middle of the river channel, spinning crazily and swallowing everything around it!

"What is happening!"

"The River God is angry!"

The crowd was in an uproar.

Chen Lie's expression changed drastically, and he shouted sternly: "All troops, be on guard! Stabilize the dam!"

Before his voice faded.

"Roar—!!!"

A roar unlike any creature of the Mortal realm made everyone's eardrums buzz.

In the terrified gaze of tens of thousands, a massive head covered in black iron-like scales suddenly rushed out from the center of the vortex!

The head was larger than a house, two ferocious dragon horns pierced the sky, and a pair of blood-red eyes were like two giant lanterns burning with resentment and brutality.

A Millennium Evil Dragon!

Startled by the diverted river water, it broke through the earth, carrying boundless rage!

The Evil Dragon shook its head furiously, stirring up a monstrous wave dozens of zhang high.

Like a moving wall of water, it slammed fiercely toward the soldiers and laborers on the shore!

"Ah—!"

Screams rang out in unison.

Fragile Physical Bodies were like ants in the face of absolute power. In one encounter, hundreds were swept into the torrent and vanished instantly.

"Fire arrows! Fire arrows!"

A general roared hoarsely.

A buzzing rain of arrows covered the beast, but they only made crisp "clinking" sounds upon hitting the Evil Dragon, failing to pierce even a single scale.

The Evil Dragon was enraged; its hundred-zhang-long body completely surged out of the river, and its giant tail swept across.

The solid dam collapsed instantly, and another thousand people were swallowed by the mudslide and floodwaters.

This was not a war; this was a slaughter!

The Mortal army had no power to fight back against a true extraordinary Vicious Beast!

Chen Lie's eyes were blood-red; he drew the sword at his waist and roared, ordering the army to retreat, attempting to reorganize the Formation. But it was all in vain. Fear had already spread, and the Formation had long since collapsed.

He watched helplessly as the elite force he had personally trained was wantonly trampled by that Vicious Beast.

Despair instantly drowned the heart of this iron-blooded general.

...

Zhaoge, Chen Residence.

The carriage had just stopped.

With a "thump," Chen Yuan actually fell straight out of the carriage.

"Yuaner!"

Princess Yin Rong and Yun Xiao exclaimed at the same time.

Chen Yuan's little face was deathly pale, he was panting heavily, and his forehead was covered in beads of sweat.

He seemed not to hear his mother's call at all, scrambling into the courtyard.

He pushed aside all the clutter, knelt on the ground, and dug into the earth with his hands like a madman.

Pebbles, withered branches, fallen leaves...

Everything he could grab became his chess pieces.

His hands moved so fast they blurred, rapidly placing them on the dirt ground, and a mysterious and complex pattern was taking shape quickly.

That was a chess game, and also a topographical map of Qingyuan County!

In the courtyard next door, Bixiao and Qiong Xiao sensed the movement and appeared on the wall instantly. Seeing this scene, their hearts tightened involuntarily.

"Sister, what is wrong with our little nephew?" Qiong Xiao asked worriedly.

Yun Xiao did not answer; she stared fixedly at Chen Yuan's hands.

She understood.

Chen Yuan was deducing!

With his five-year-old Mortal body, he was forcibly deducing a killing game thousands of miles away that involved the lives of tens of thousands and an extraordinary Vicious Beast!

"Pfft!"

Chen Yuan suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, staining the ground in front of him red.

His body swayed violently, almost collapsing, but he used his small hands to brace the ground, his eyes bloodshot, staring fixedly at the "chessboard" he had laid out.

"No... conventional military Formations are suicide..."

"Its 'momentum' is in the water; it must be lured ashore..."

"Sacrifice... must sacrifice the 'corner' to lock the 'big dragon'..."

"Tianyuan... who will be the Tianyuan..."

The childish voice was intermittent, carrying a hoarseness and madness not belonging to his age.

He suddenly raised his head, his gaze piercing through the Void Realm, as if seeing his father fighting in blood in the flood thousands of miles away.

...

On the banks of the Yellow River.

Chen Lie was struck by the Evil Dragon's tail; his Protective Aura shattered, and he flew backward, spitting blood, crashing heavily into the mud.

He struggled to stand, looking at the apocalyptic scene, and a massive sense of powerlessness welled up in his heart.

Could it be that Heaven wants to destroy our Great Shang?

Just as he lost his composure, a remarkably clear and grand concept, like a bolt of lightning from the Nine Heavens, struck his mind!

It was not a sound, nor was it text.

It was a complete, dynamic military Formation map containing tens of thousands of points!

Each point represented a soldier, and each line represented a military order!

Where to sacrifice, where to contain, where to encircle, where to deliver the fatal blow... everything was crystal clear!

This Formation was domineering, sharp, and full of unimaginable creativity!

Chen Lie shuddered.

It was Yuaner!

This was his son's chess game!

There was no time to think about how this connection across thousands of miles was achieved, nor time to be shocked by the unfathomable nature of this Formation.

In this life-or-death moment, Chen Lie chose to trust completely!

He suddenly pulled the tiger tally—which symbolized the king's personal presence and the authority to execute before reporting—from his chest, and with all his strength, let out an earth-shattering roar!

"The tiger tally is here! All troops, obey orders!"

The sound waves rolled, overpowering the roar of the flood and the hiss of the Evil Dragon.

The chaotic soldiers subconsciously looked toward the sound.

"Third and Fourth Battalions, advance thirty steps to the east, abandon the dam, form a small cone Formation, be the 'Star' position!"

"Fifth and Sixth Battalions, retreat fifty steps to the west, rely on the earthen mound, form a half-moon Formation, be the 'Hook' position!"

"All laborers, immediately dig three feet into the ground at my specified locations, connecting them into a line!"

"..."

Unimaginable military orders were roared out from Chen Lie's mouth.

These orders completely violated military common sense, and were even tantamount to suicide.

But, under the absolute authority of the tiger tally and Chen Lie's formidable military prestige.

The desperate Shang army burst forth with their final bloody courage and discipline.

They moved!

Tens of thousands of people began a desperate run and reorganization on the muddy ground!

Above the clouds, Daoist Qingping's pupils shrank; he, who had always been calm and composed, clenched his fists in a rare loss of composure.

"Using thirty thousand Mortals as pieces, using military prestige and blood Qi as momentum, laying out the heaven and earth chessboard... this is... this is the 'Trapped Dragon' Formation!"

On the wall, the Three Xiao Fairies were even more dumbfounded.

They saw that as the military Formation moved, an invisible energy field began to condense on the battlefield.

It was an invisible net woven together by the will of tens of thousands of people, their blood Qi, and the iron-blooded military prestige of the Great Shang Dynasty that suppressed all directions!

The Evil Dragon was still rampaging, but it gradually felt something was wrong.

The air became viscous, as if it had fallen into a swamp. Every one of its movements encountered huge resistance.

An invisible pressure squeezed in from all directions, making it irritable and angry!

It tried to rush back into the river, but found that its path had been firmly blocked by an army with their flesh and blood!

It was trapped on the shore!

Chen Lie stood at the very center of the large Formation, the "Tianyuan" position where the pressure was most terrifying, and blood had already begun to seep from his seven orifices.

Watching that Vicious Beast charging left and right in the Formation, he raised the sword in his hand and issued the final order for the general attack!

"Great Shang! Eternal Victory!"

"Close the net—!!!"

"Roar!!!"

Tens of thousands of soldiers and laborers let out a thunderous roar at the same moment!

Hum—!

That invisible net of blood Qi suddenly tightened!

The Evil Dragon let out an extremely painful wail; its indestructible massive body was actually firmly imprisoned in place by this invisible force, unable to move!

"Archers! Shoot its eyes!"

"Spearmen! Pierce its seven inches!"

Chen Lie's orders were calm and cruel.

Having lost its speed and Divine Ability, the Evil Dragon was just a huge mountain of meat!

Swish, swish, swish!

Countless poisoned arrows shot precisely into its huge eyeballs!

Pfft, pfft, pfft!

Thousands of sharp spears, under the desperate charge of the soldiers, fiercely stabbed into its soft neck and abdomen!

The Evil Dragon twisted frantically, but could not break free from that net woven by Mortal will.

Finally, it let out a cry of unwillingness, its huge head crashed heavily onto the ground, and its life force was extinguished.

Blood stained the Yellow River red.

Between heaven and earth, there was dead silence.

The surviving soldiers stared blankly at the Evil Dragon's corpse, then at the weapons in their own hands, as if unable to believe it.

We...

Killed a Dragon?

The next second, earth-shattering cheers broke through the clouds!

Chen Lie could no longer hold on, knelt on one knee, looked toward the direction of Zhaoge, his tiger eyes filled with tears.