156: Chapter 156 Dragon People

The chaotic battle at Sanmenxia broke out without any warning.

The Guiliu Society had mobilized almost its entire force, with a dark, dense crowd surging out from every direction, rushing toward the defensive line on the bank like a breached flood.

However, the Jiantian Bureau had made ample preparations here beforehand, with layers of talisman formations, crisscrossing fire points, and tacit coordination between each squad.

The chaos was only temporary.

Those members of the Guiliu Society were mediocre in strength, fighting individually without any strategy; naturally, they were no match for the well-trained members of the Jiantian Bureau, who were organized into squads.

In less than ten minutes, the shouts and cries of battle on the bank gradually faded, leaving only sporadic, desperate struggles.

The battle in the sky had also been decided.

Family Head Lu Bingxi's Ten Thousand Thunder Formation came to an abrupt halt.

Those seven crimson mechs were the latest models, and the pilots inside were top-tier.

Family Head Lu Bingxi had sparred with them for less than ten minutes before showing signs of fatigue. One mech seized a gap in his evasion and surged in from the side, its heavy steel body carrying terrifying force propelled by electricity and spiritual energy, delivering a vicious kick to his back!

Boom!

Family Head Lu Bingxi plummeted from the clouds like a meteorite, smashing into the soil of the riverbank.

The loud crash shook the river valley, and dust and smoke billowed into the sky.

When the dust settled slightly, a massive crater was revealed on the ground. Family Head Lu Bingxi lay at the bottom of the pit, his withered body curled up, dark red blood overflowing from his mouth and staining the gravel beneath him.

"Drop the magical artifact in your hand immediately!"

"If you don't surrender now, don't blame us for being impolite!"

The chaos on the riverbank had gradually subsided.

The resistance of the Guiliu Society was truly disappointing; there was no epic life-or-death battle as imagined, and it was neither tragic nor spectacular.

Furthermore, from beginning to end, Li Xiuyuan had not made a move; he had been waiting for the appearance of Song Guanchao.

"Is the location wrong? Why hasn't Song Guanchao arrived yet? Also, there's no movement from the Yellow River." Lu Xingyun muttered while standing beside Li Xiuyuan.

At this moment, the surface of the Yellow River remained calm, perhaps even quieter than before. There were no waves or ripples; the entire great river was like a frozen mirror, utterly motionless.

The battle on the bank was nearing its end. The members of the Guiliu Society were either dead or injured, and the few remaining were surrounded by people from the Jiantian Bureau and the Mysterious Investigation Bureau.

The seven mechs also arrived beside Family Head Lu Bingxi. At this point, the old man was on the verge of death; his eyes were unfocused, and the vitality in his pupils was fading away.

Lu Shuang, not far away, watched this scene, and suddenly, sorrow welled up in her heart.

She didn't know why, even though she had already been abandoned by the Lu family, she still felt sad looking at the old man lying in the crater.

...

Li Xiuyuan's gaze never left the river surface.

Suddenly, his brow twitched slightly.

"It's coming."

As soon as he finished speaking, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble slowly.

The silent water surface finally changed; the water level began to drop.

The murky river water receded at a speed visible to the naked eye, revealing the damp mud and water marks on the riverbanks. The water line dropped lower and lower, as if someone had pulled a plug at the bottom of the river, draining the entire Yellow River's water into the depths.

"Why has the river water receded so much?" Lu Xingyun rubbed his eyes, watching everything in disbelief.

Li Xiuyuan said nothing, his golden vertical pupils fixed intently on the river surface. The water level had already dropped by two meters and was continuing to fall.

So much so that the riverbed began to be exposed inch by inch. The mud and rocks, which had never seen the light of day for thousands of years, shimmered with a cold, grayish-white light under the moonlight.

The damp water marks on the riverbanks were clearly visible, as if a layer of the earth's skin had been peeled away, revealing the pale flesh beneath.

Some deep pools or gullies at the river bottom still contained stagnant water. Some fish and shrimp were trapped on the dried riverbed, struggling in vain, their tails slapping against the cracked mud, emitting faint slapping sounds.

Right under everyone's gaze,

a fissure appeared in the very center of the river bottom.

The fissure extended along the course of the Yellow River, from upstream to downstream, as if the earth had been cleaved in two by an invisible giant blade.

The fissure grew wider, its bottom extremely deep and endless. Dark red light seeped out from the crack, dyeing the entire river valley in an eerie blood-red color.

Li Xiuyuan's Spiritual Sense probed into the fissure, and he then sensed that the rock walls on both sides were covered with dense, intricate patterns. These patterns were ancient and complex, like some forgotten script, or perhaps, the imprints left on the rocks by the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth.

This fissure was likely the missing water vein foundation of the Yellow River, but at this moment, it was empty inside.

...

In the shadows of the riverbank, a figure took a few steps forward.

Song Guanchao suppressed all his aura, hiding himself behind an inconspicuous pile of rocks.

That body, pieced together from twelve different aquatic species, was almost indistinguishable in the darkness, save for those dark green eyes that occasionally flashed with a cold light.

"Now is the time."

His voice was very soft, as if he were talking to himself.

The voice traveled along some invisible connection to the bottom of the Yellow River, reaching the ears of the Loach that was curled up in a deep pool.

The Loach Monster opened its eyes abruptly. Upon receiving the order, it crawled out of the mud and arrived before the fissure. Just as this massive Loach was about to jump into the fissure, its peripheral vision caught sight of a large red carp hiding beneath a reef nearby.

Although it had lost its previous memories, when it saw this large red carp, it always felt that it had harbored a grudge against the other party.

But having missed the opportunity for revenge, the Loach Monster opened its mouth and inhaled sharply. A massive suction force swept the red carp, along with the surrounding water and mud, toward it.

The large red carp struggled desperately, its tail flapping frantically, but its resistance was futile. It could only follow that suction force and be drawn into the Loach's belly, becoming part of the Yellow River's water vein foundation together with the Loach.

...

At almost the same moment, on another height on the bank, Jiang Yan, who had been waiting, led the twenty or so Lu family members behind him to simultaneously activate the Spirit-Drawing Array.

Everyone simultaneously formed hand seals and chanted, the obscure and difficult-to-understand syllables echoing in the night wind, carrying an eerie rhythm that did not belong to the human world.

The formation patterns on the ground suddenly lit up, with golden light surging from beneath everyone's feet, converging along the pre-arranged veins to form a massive magical formation.

The light of the formation became increasingly intense, illuminating the entire highland as if it were daylight.

The light converged in the center of the formation, eventually transforming into a thick golden beam of light that shot straight into the fissure, landing precisely on the Loach Monster.

The Loach Monster's body stiffened abruptly. Hit by this violent surge of spiritual energy, it smashed through all the shackles restricting its bloodline within its body.

Its body began to expand violently, and its aura changed simultaneously. This breakthrough, forced by prematurely pushing it to grow, also brought about painful tearing.

And at the very moment this Loach finally transformed into a Flood Dragon,

it raised its head, opened its massive mouth, and let out a deafening roar.

But just then, those ancient and complex patterns on the rock walls on both sides lit up simultaneously, and the dark red light abruptly turned into gold.

Countless golden beams of light shot out from the patterns, piercing into the body of the newborn Flood Dragon, spreading wildly within it, and tightly binding it to this waterway!

...

Above the riverbed, the water level began to rise.

The rock walls on both sides of the fissure began to heal, and the torn riverbed was slowly closing.

The rising water level brought with it an unbelievable purity of spiritual energy, and at the same time, the Yellow River's Dragon Throne appeared at Sanmenxia.

At the intersection of the three gates—God, Ghost, and Human—a pale golden orb of light was slowly condensing.

To transform one's bloodline, one must obtain that golden light.

Song Guanchao, who had been lying in wait for a long time, finally walked out from the shadows.

At this moment, he no longer looked human at all; he was entirely a monster pieced together.

Song Guanchao raised that octopus tentacle and waved it lightly; everyone on the bank froze in place without any warning.

Whether they were from the Guiliu Society or the Jiantian Bureau, everyone was frozen in place, but their minds remained active.

"This ability was learned from the Innate Supernatural Power of an aquatic creature."

"I've forgotten its name, and I've also forgotten what the Innate Supernatural Power was called. Anyway, I have this ability, but it can only last for three minutes."

Song Guanchao walked unhurriedly, as if strolling in his own backyard.

He strode toward Sanmenxia, walking on the water as if it were flat ground. Everyone could only watch helplessly as Song Guanchao walked step by step toward Sanmenxia.

Suddenly,

a figure appeared behind Song Guanchao. As if he had sensed it long ago, Song Guanchao turned around and met those golden vertical pupils.

"It is truly lamentable."

"You are clearly the monster, yet at this moment, you possess such a good appearance, looking just like a human, so handsome."

"I am clearly the human, yet at this moment, I have become a monster."

Li Xiuyuan slightly lifted his head: "To compete for power, you were willing to let yourself become such a monster; the pain you have endured is definitely not something an ordinary person can imagine. For this alone, I will think highly of you."

Although the Song Guanchao heard about from others was a despicable villain who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals, for this will to endure pain alone, he was worthy of Li Xiuyuan's recognition.

"I didn't go to such lengths just to make you think highly of me."

"Also, you are conversing with me like this without taking any action; aren't you worried that I'm distracting you to steal the Dragon Throne?"

Song Guanchao asked.

Li Xiuyuan glanced at the golden glowing orb in the sky. Admittedly, that orb represented the Yellow River's Dragon Throne and was an absolute temptation for him, but Li Xiuyuan was not the type of person to let impulse occupy his brain.

That Loach was found by Song Guanchao, and the location for the transformation into a dragon was also chosen by Song Guanchao. It could be said that everything here was proceeding methodically according to Song Guanchao's plan.

The golden orb in the sky was certainly within Song Guanchao's expectations.

"I don't trust the Dragon Throne delivered by that Loach," Li Xiuyuan said.

Song Guanchao was stunned upon hearing this, then laughed: "Hahaha, I knew it would be like this. No wonder you could slay the Dragon Lord; such character is not something that arrogant existence could compare to."

"What a pity. If you were the Lord River God, and if the faith of the Guiliu Society were you, this organization would surely flourish."

After saying this,

Song Guanchao waved his hand toward the sky, and that golden orb, which was lethally tempting to all aquatic creatures, flew down toward Song Guanchao's palm.

His tentacle wrapped around the golden orb and squeezed hard, crushing it.

The golden fragmented light, like fireflies filling the sky, drifted from Song Guanchao's palm. As if guided by some invisible force, it fell in a flurry onto his body, which was pieced together from twelve aquatic species.

As the fragmented light entered his body, Song Guanchao's body shuddered violently.

Those dense stitching marks began to glow, and the scales, skin, and shells of different aquatic species began to melt in the golden light.

The robes on his body were torn to shreds by the power surging from within, revealing the body that was being reshaped beneath.

The scales on his body surface, covered by different aquatic species, melted in the golden light into scales with a dark golden luster. At the same time, his physique also changed; his bloated body began to shrink in the golden light, and the right arm that had transformed into an octopus tentacle was also being reshaped.

When the last bit of fragmented light fell into his body, Song Guanchao's appearance was completely fixed.

He had turned into a Dragon Man.

However, Li Xiuyuan could feel that the aura of the Song Guanchao before him was not pure.

"There are two minutes left now. Let's end all of this within two minutes."

Song Guanchao loosened his neck, his joints making crisp cracking sounds: "I also want to see where exactly the gap between you and me lies."

"The gap?"

Li Xiuyuan looked at him: "That is to say, you have seen the Seven-Day Ruyi Bell, and today's final result is your defeat?"

Song Guanchao smiled, his mouth stretching wide to reveal a row of teeth as sharp as saw blades.

Then,

that body covered in dark golden scales instantly vanished from its spot, leaving only a sharp sonic boom in the air.

Li Xiuyuan's pupils contracted slightly, and he dodged to the right.

A fierce gust of wind brushed past his left shoulder, plowing a deep trench into the water surface behind him. The river water surged to both sides, revealing the dried riverbed beneath, and the water was unable to close up for a long time.

"So fast!" Song Guanchao said.

Li Xiuyuan glanced at him, not retreating, but instead charging forward. The two figures collided on the water surface, exchanging punches and kicks, erupting with muffled, thunderous sounds.

Dark golden scales and moon-colored robes intertwined. Each collision exploded with a visible ring of airwaves, sweeping the surrounding mud and gravel into the sky.

Song Guanchao had evidently practiced martial arts techniques, his moves clean and decisive, while Li Xiuyuan, relying on the combat experience of Moyuan, dealt with them calmly.

Furthermore, he knew exactly what Song Guanchao's next move would be. Just as Song Guanchao intended to deliver a tail whip and follow up with the next move, he did not expect Li Xiuyuan to reach out with his right hand, his five fingers like iron tongs, firmly gripping his dragon tail.

Song Guanchao's pupils contracted abruptly.

Li Xiuyuan held the dragon tail and gave it a fierce swing, throwing Song Guanchao into mid-air.

Then, with a bang, the river water beneath his feet rippled outward. His figure shot up from the ground, catching up to that dark golden figure in mid-air. He clenched his right fist and slammed it into Song Guanchao's chest!

'Boom!'

Song Guanchao, like a kite with a broken string, plummeted from high in the sky, smashing into the water of the Yellow River.

A hundred-zhang-high wave of water surged into the sky, and the spray exploded into thousands of fragments of silver under the moonlight. The entire great river vibrated violently under this blow, unable to calm down for a long time.