Chapter 83: With a Thunderous Roar, the Golden Shackles Shatter—The Flood Dragon Breaks Free and Soars into the Clouds!

A wicked surge of baleful force had already drawn Yan Yunxiao’s consciousness out of her mortal shell and merged it into a vast and resonant rhythm.

Little by little, she linked with a will that had sunk into a profound slumber, until at last the two formed a harmony that echoed in all directions.

Under ordinary circumstances, an officiant could not set up a ritual altar until reaching the middle ranks.

But Yan Yunxiao had once personally established the Eightfold Wind-Rising Pavilion Array, and with her true body hidden deep within a dragon vein’s node, her spirit-communion state made Moon Harbor itself equivalent to her own sacred domain.

So for her, this special seventh-rank officiant in the Little Friend Realm, I am my own backing, and I am my own cheat code.

The Great Nuo Twelve Shamanic Chants she was now invoking were also one of the shared arts of the three clerical branches.

Even if they were not as specialized as the Temple Masters and the like, in the hands of Yan Yunxiao, a dragon maiden already granted divine rank, they were more than enough to work miracles.

Within the Great Nuo Twelve Shamanic Chants, the twelve divine names each corresponded to a different use.

And what Yunxiao was chanting now was called “Qiongqi Summons Troops.”

The chant had barely fallen when she bowed deeply toward the Tianfei Hall in the ancestral temple of Meizhou:

“I, your servant, request that the eighteen officers, generals, scribes, and soldiers of the Water Camp descend to the altar!

Slay the evil spirits, and protect the people!”

Her voice, cold yet commanding, spread through all of Moon Harbor with the formation and rang far out over the sea.

The evil spirits rampaging through the harbor suddenly froze, all of them turning toward the octagonal tower as the towering baleful aura above them forcibly scattered the black clouds overhead.

“Kill!”

But before they could stride toward the octagonal tower to deal with the woman who had dared declare war on every one of them, stern voices rang down from the heavens in rapid succession:

“Black-armored swarms blot out the sun as they come, venomous stings sweeping the miasma clean.
Hornet Commander, report!”

Divine radiance burst above the beacon tower at Baoshan, and a general in golden armor drew his sword with a clang. Behind him, officers and soldiers bearing bows and crossbows sent killing cries shaking the sky.

“Silver saddles tread the sea as they chase the tides; jade bridles neigh long, startling ghosts and sprites.
White Horse General, report!”

A silver-armored general rode forth at full gallop, followed by a torrent of ghostly cavalry in heavy armor.

“Black robes, vermilion faces, twin cudgels in hand, bringing down evil spirits with blessing and grace.”

Again and again, divine light exploded. The officers, generals, scribes, and soldiers dispatched by the ghost gods and earth gods of the Tianfei lineage answered the summons in succession, standing in for the living men of the Mountain-Sea Society and blocking the evil spirits.

Crash, clatter.

Chains dragged and rattled through every street and alley, and many spirits that failed to escape in time were bound and hauled away by force.

Even if, as Yunxiao had said, the officers, generals, scribes, and soldiers dealt only with the affairs of the underworld and had no authority to interfere with bandits and Japanese pirates in the world of the living, the pressure on the city’s defenses was instantly reduced by eighty percent.

Hidden within a secret stronghold somewhere in the city, the dung tyrant known as Night-Fragrance Five Master Qian’s face went deathly pale the instant he saw the divine radiance bursting from Baoshan Beacon Tower. He cried out in misery:

“Damn that matchmaker Ye for deceiving me!

She took my money and did nothing. Three thousand taels of silver might as well have been fed to a dog.”

He had clearly checked that the gate of the temple at Baoshan Beacon Tower was indeed sealed shut, and on top of that he had skimmed two thousand taels in handling fees from Pu Shouying. He had been smugly pleased with himself.

Under normal circumstances, three thousand taels would have been more than enough to buy a death soldier to die for him. He truly could not understand why, after he had only embezzled two thousand taels, matters had turned out like this.

Before he could even abandon the task assigned by Pu Shouying and quietly slip away, Zheng Qian, fully armed, led a detachment of Mountain-Sea Society troops and surrounded him and his direct dung gang followers so tightly that not even water could seep through.

The second page

“Master Qian, it is time to go on your way.”

By contrast, the civilian maritime merchants who had organized themselves within the city were suddenly filled with renewed morale.

“Kill! Leave none alive!”

One after another, their self-formed bands surged into action and began hunting down the Japanese scattered throughout the city.

Wang Cheng waved a hand, and Zhang Wen led his personal guard in as well, charging into the city to beat the already drowning dog.

After all, the eight hundred Japanese raiders were only a minority in a harbor city of tens of thousands of households.

Once they lost their initial surprise and the chaos caused by the evil spirits, they suffered heavy casualties and were forced back step by step.

But as expendable pawns arranged by Pu Shouying, there was no place for them to flee.

So long as Moon Harbor restored order and stabilized its rear, the harbor’s merchant houses could throw their full strength into supporting their own fleets and keep the enemy outside the walls.

At this time, the white-headed eagle Aji, soaring through the clouds, had already seen the first light appearing on the eastern horizon, and the hour of Chen was almost upon them.

Wang Cheng picked up a cloak and draped it once more over Yunxiao’s shoulders.

That performance of the Great Nuo Twelve Shamanic Chants had clearly taken a toll on her; her legs were already a little weak.

“If Moon Harbor can be held, Sister Axiao should take the greatest credit.”

It was Wang Cheng’s merit that they had managed to deceive the heavens and keep Baoshan Beacon Tower, this Tianfei temple, in place. But without Axiao, this temple keeper, they could never have turned the tide in such a sudden crisis.

Seizing the chief contradiction of the evil spirits and striking it down in one blow caused the secondary contradiction of the eight hundred Japanese to collapse at once as well, interrupting from the very start the swelling tide of evil that had been growing like a snowball.

It also happened to clear out a wave of unstable elements in the city who did not believe in the sea god and showed no reverence toward the Water Camp deities, and therefore could not receive timely protection from the officers and soldiers.

Most of these were potential supporters of the gentry faction, and their removal cleared the path for the day when they would fully take over Moon Harbor.

But Axiao did not relax. After some hesitation, she said:

“Fu Gui, although the tide of evil spirits has been dealt with, the historical sediment, Stone Drum Dragon Fishing, has already begun to awaken, and the Eightfold Wind-Rising Pavilion Array can no longer hold it back.

From this point on, the two of us will act independently. Come with me underground beneath the octagonal tower; we must seize the initiative. I have something that concerns life and death, and I need your help.

If all goes well, perhaps this disaster can be ended here.”

A glint flashed in Wang Cheng’s eyes.

“Underground? The octagonal tower is the eye of the Moon Harbor geomantic formation. Could it be that beneath it there is—”

Before they could finish speaking, from a winehouse opposite them, only slightly lower than the octagonal tower, suddenly came a voice so tender and seductive it seemed to sink into the bones:

“Trying to leave? Tsk, tsk. Have you forgotten something?

Do not tell me you think the personnel we went to such trouble to send back to Moon Harbor under the cover of the feint are only those Japanese pirates? Hee-hee-hee...”

The two of them turned in unison toward the window.

At the top of the winehouse stood an unparalleled beauty in a multicolored dress, her attire neat and proper yet possessed of innate allure.

It was none other than one of the former Eight Ship Captains, the West Lake Boat Maiden Tang Miaofu.

A single glance at her was enough to make both Wang Cheng and Yunxiao feel as though their entire bodies had caught fire.

The West Lake Boat Maiden corresponded to the first solar term of Awakening of Insects, and the spirit she had received was called Peach Charm.

Tender peach boughs, lush with blossoms, brilliant and flourishing and fervent.

In simple terms, the essence of its power was this: spring had arrived, all things were waking again, and it was once more the season for animals to attend to serious business.

Peach Charm was especially adept at commanding wood-based spells and all manner of lustful illusions, leaving people floating in ecstasy amid a sea of blooms.

Wang Cheng immediately turned his head and deliberately looked hard at Axiao beside him, whose lovely and cool beauty was like a water lotus, countering the intensity of the other woman’s allure with a different kind of beauty before he recovered himself.

Then he shouted, “Tang Miaofu, you gentry faction lot really dare to jump out and stir up this storm yourselves? Are you not afraid that once the plan fails, you’ll die and vanish along with the true culprits?”

The deadly beauty, like poison itself, did not answer his question. Instead she lifted a slender jade finger to her lips and said with a smile that was half playful, half mocking:

“So long as we win, won’t we avoid death?

That is why I, this backup trump card, came to the octagonal tower. The evil spirits can no longer be relied upon, but I have a more direct method.

You want to delay the outbreak of historical sediment and seize the initiative in advance, so I will help you speed things up a little. Just consider it my invitation for the two of you to enjoy the fireworks at close range.”

The moment she finished speaking, Tang Miaofu vanished within a drift of pink petals, making it impossible to tell whether the figure they had just seen had been real or illusion.

The next instant.

Boom!

A thunderous explosion shook the entire octagonal tower.

Then blazing fire began racing upward from the lowest level, exploding floor by floor from bottom to top, and within just a few breaths the octagonal tower had been transformed into a sea of flames.

Clearly, this was the “more direct method” Tang Miaofu had meant: blow the damned thing up.

Once a war began, struggles that had previously only been carried out beneath the table were suddenly unsealed; of course one used whatever means one had, and whatever means worked best.

Before, they had still needed to keep things under wraps, but now that she had chosen to act in person, she displayed an unprecedented savagery.

No one knew how much explosives Tang Miaofu had planted inside the octagonal tower, the very eye of the formation.

They were all precious red and purple fire powders, inventions of the celestial-grade officiant Divine-Cloud Daoists, and each was far more powerful than ordinary black powder.

Layer upon layer of searing shockwaves surged upward, and in an instant the lower-floor rosewood pillars were blown apart. The entire octagonal tower blazed furiously as it began to collapse in ruin.

The stench of smoke, fire, and sulfur filled their nostrils; crackling flames already echoed all around them, and the tips of their hair were singed into curls.

Yunxiao subconsciously clutched Wang Cheng’s sleeve and instinctively hid behind him.

Whether it was because of the pearl-diving maiden’s own spiritual response, Yin Transformation, she seemed especially fearful of such violent yang fire.

Wang Cheng, however, remained remarkably calm. Looking toward the place where Tang Miaofu had vanished, he said:

“I delayed our conversation to wait for the hour of Chen. What were you babbling on about there for, if not to wait for something too?”

At that moment, inside Qianyan’s little world, the snake skin from the Higao Serpent had already been burned to powder after its seventh refinement.

He swiftly took out the powdered skin and swallowed it together with the rootless water he had prepared long ago.

A rush of heat rose rapidly from his abdomen. His skin began to itch, as though something were growing at high speed beneath it.

Too occupied to sense the changes in himself, he scooped up Yunxiao beside him and, in a dragon’s evasive turn, shot out through the window on the top floor of the octagonal tower.

Wind whirled around him, and Wang Cheng left behind streaks of broken pale-green afterimages, even forcing the flames blocking his path to scatter apart.

Then, like a leaf swept in a gale, he borrowed force from the eaves of a nearby building with the tip of his foot and rode the air currents down toward the ground at extreme speed.

Pressed close against his chest in intimate contact, Yunxiao suddenly felt that this younger brother had somehow become a true flood dragon, his body overflowing with a familiar and reassuring aura.

It stirred in her, who had never had kindred or companions since childhood, an irresistible feeling of closeness.

Boom!!!

The octagonal tower came crashing down. Flames roared upward and split to either side as one foot stepped out slowly from within.

Firelight revealed Wang Cheng wearing a blue dragon robe and python mantle, the hem snapping in the scorching wind. Beside the one-of-a-kind flood-dragon roundel on his chest, there flowed a pattern of coinlike scales edged in gold.

And it was not only the dragon robe. Golden-blue phantom scales had appeared on his cheeks, shoulder blades, arms, and the outer sides of his thighs, while his bright eyes, clear as if touched with black lacquer, had also been faintly rimmed with a ring of brilliant gold.

With a peal of thunder, the golden lock broke open, and the flood dragon broke free and soared into the clouds.

Only at this moment did Wang Cheng finally complete the transformation of a seventh-rank Whitewater Man, making up for his own shortcomings and gaining the qualifications to maneuver between camps in this age of great voyages.