Chapter 386 — The Evil Dragon That Locks the River
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
If Lord Dragon-Rearer had hidden the True Dragon Nest anywhere else, Shen Mu would not have gone so far as to praise him for cunning. In Hidden Remnant Village, after all, cunning was the highest of compliments.
To hide the True Dragon Nest on his own body, or on the body of the Flood Dragon King God, was the thinking of an ordinary man, and would only have made the target easier to find. But Lord Dragon-Rearer had hidden it on the utterly unremarkable black flood dragon, making the creature swallow it into its belly — that was a habit of thought no ordinary human would ever adopt, and it deserved praise. So he did not stint his admiration. Lord Dragon-Rearer paid him no heed, shedding his skin in one sustained effort, straining to push himself out of it.
Once he shed those two layers of hide, he could finish Shen Mu off and take back the True Dragon Nest and the True Dragon Lord.
Shen Mu stroked the black flood dragon on his shoulder. It nuzzled obediently under his palm, and a sound like an infant's came from its mouth: "Maha!
" Shen Mu roused the Dragon-Riding Art, forged a link with the black flood dragon, passed it the Carefree Sword, and tried to command it to cut Lord Dragon-Rearer down. But the black flood dragon did not dare truly raise a hand against Lord Dragon-Rearer, and actually broke free of his mental control.
The black flood dragon had not merely been raised by Lord Dragon-Rearer; it also held an instinctive terror of him, and dared not strike at him. Yet with Shen Mu's strength alone, even holding a divine sword, he could not inflict a fatal wound on Lord Dragon-Rearer — at most he could pierce his hide and flesh. Lord Dragon-Rearer's injuries were grave, mortal in fact.
The Blind Elder's blow had done him too much damage, and Shen Mu had personally fed him poison besides; only two moltings could erase such wounds, and even a successful molting would cost him dearly in vital essence. "My Triple-Break Powder is used up, and there's no time to refine more poison. Fat Dragon may be at the Heaven-Man realm, but whether he can wield the Carefree Sword well enough to slay Lord Dragon-Rearer is doubtful.
. . Perhaps I should test the power of the Sun Jade Eye.
. . " At this thought he meant to take out the Sun Jade Eye, but on second thought changed his mind and drew the Moon Jade Eye from the Taotie Pouch instead.
This was the Yong River, its waters fierce; the Sun Jade Eye spewed incomparably intense firelight, and clashing with the water would surely blunt its power. As for the Moon Jade Eye, he had never yet tested its might, but the Moon Jade Eye did not fear water, and could unleash its full power at the bottom of a river.
Shen Mu went to Lord Dragon-Rearer's neck and set the enormous eyeball down. Lord Dragon-Rearer ignored him and kept struggling to molt.
Shen Mu adjusted the Moon Jade Eye's position, aimed it at Lord Dragon-Rearer's neck, and made some fine adjustments. This was the first time he had ever used the Moon Jade Eye.
The Sun Jade Eye he had tried before; its power was tremendous — it had sliced the Qushan Shrine clean open and destroyed that undersea space. When he designed the Sun-Shooting Divine Cannon for Emperor Yanfeng, he had also studied the Sun Jade Eye's structure and absorbed many of its forging principles.
After all, what the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping had given him was only the cultivation method for the Sun-Shooting Divine Pupil, with no record of how to design the cannon.
Only by drawing on certain structural features of the Sun Jade Eye had Shen Mu been able to turn the Sun-Shooting Divine Pupil into the Sun-Shooting Divine Cannon. And he surmised that the Qushan Shrine might come from some age before the Kaihuang era, for many of the runic marks upon it differed greatly from those of both the present day and the Kaihuang era.