Chapter 39: Chapter 39: A 300-Li Raid Seeing the Giant Flood Dragon charging toward him on the water, Li Chang’an advanced instead of retreating. The long saber in his hand moved like lightning as he slashed viciously toward it! "ROAR!" The Flood Dragon let out a piercing shriek! Li Chang’an’s saber moved too fast to be seen, and in an instant, he carved a massive gash, a full meter long, into the Flood Dragon’s belly! Scalding blood from the Flood Dragon stained the murky yellow floodwaters crimson. Stung by the pain, its eyes filled with ferocity, the Flood Dragon suddenly leaped up and unleashed a colossal pillar of water, seven or eight meters thick, straight at Li Chang’an! The pillar of water was immense, threatening to engulf Li Chang’an at any moment and grind him to dust. But Li Chang’an didn’t flinch. He raised his long saber, his form like the first flash of light at the dawn of creation! "Break!" With a great roar, Li Chang’an put his entire body into the strike, cleaving the pillar of water in two. Before the Flood Dragon could react, he had already passed through the parted column of water and, with even greater speed, brought his saber down upon its head. "SQUELCH! BOOM!" The great river shuddered and floodwaters surged. Li Chang’an’s strike was a testament to the miracles of pure, unadulterated strength—he had actually lopped off nearly half the Flood Dragon’s head! Having suffered such a devastating blow, the Flood Dragon thrashed in agony, its body slamming back down onto the murky water and sending up a massive spray of blood. Li Chang’an wiped the blood dripping from his saber. He looked down upon the Flood Dragon, which had most of its head remaining but whose eyes were still filled with venomous hatred. His voice was cold and detached. "A life for a life, a debt for a debt. You wretched beast have wrought havoc, causing hundreds of thousands to suffer from this disastrous flood. Today, I will slay you to appease the souls of those who died unjustly!" With that, he gave the Flood Dragon no further chance to struggle. Like a bolt of lightning, he plunged directly into the river! Seeing how ferocious Li Chang’an was—daring to enter the water to fight it—the Flood Dragon immediately endured its excruciating pain and fled several hundred meters through the turbid river. It was utterly terrified. In its nearly thousand years of life, it had never encountered a human so terrifyingly fierce! But now that Li Chang’an was determined to kill it, how could he possibly let it escape so easily? He closed the distance in just a few flashes. As it saw his long saber lunging forward once more, the Flood Dragon finally lost its nerve completely. A golden light suddenly erupted from its body, blocking Li Chang’an’s attack. The Flood Dragon’s voice boomed like thunder as it spoke in human tongue, "I am the River God, appointed by the Imperial Court! I am protected by the Destiny of the Mortal Realm! You cannot kill me!" Hearing this, Li Chang’an almost laughed in anger. But the golden light on the Flood Dragon’s body seemed to be tangible. No matter how Li Chang’an slashed at it, he could only chip away small fragments; he couldn’t break through to harm the creature’s body in the slightest. The Flood Dragon writhed, its eyes filled with anguish at the cost. It shot Li Chang’an one last look and was about to dive deep into the river to escape, but then it saw that faint wisps of golden light had also begun to rise from Li Chang’an’s body. The Flood Dragon’s pupils shrank in shock. It instinctively glanced around. It turned out that nearly ten thousand people had gathered on both banks of the Three Yellow Rivers. They stood in the pouring rain, each one soaked to the bone. But upon seeing Li Chang’an actually routing the Flood Dragon that had plagued them for so many years, their faces lit up with excitement. The nearly ten thousand people fell to their knees, kowtowing frantically in Li Chang’an’s direction. One person prayed while kowtowing, "Taiping Immortal Master, your virtue is boundless! We beg you to slay this vile Flood Dragon today and save us from our suffering!" They had tolerated the Flood Dragon’s evil deeds only because they were powerless against it, not because their hearts were free of resentment and anger. Now that someone dared to stand up for them—to enact justice on behalf of Heaven—and actually possessed the power to do so, the people were instantly overcome with emotion. They pinned all their hopes on Li Chang’an! Others kowtowed so hard their heads were like pestles grinding garlic, crying, "As long as this beast lives, we will never know peace! Taiping Immortal Master, have mercy!" "Taiping Immortal Master" was the title the people had recently given Li Chang’an. In the past year, after the Rebel Army had captured Sanhuang County, they hadn’t pillaged and plundered as others had before. Instead, they had distributed relief grain to the disaster-stricken populace. During the busy farming season, Li Chang’an would even occasionally send men to help them till their fields. After a series of such actions, the Taiping Uprising Army earned near-universal praise among the people of Sanhuang County. Naturally, Li Chang’an’s reputation slowly evolved into that of the "Taiping Immortal Master," a savior of the suffering. Wisps of golden light peeled away from the bodies of the people and flowed into Li Chang’an. Feeling this power of the masses gathering upon him, Li Chang’an’s heart skipped a beat. ’Well, I’ll be,’ he thought. ’I always assumed a dynasty’s Destiny was something ethereal and intangible. I never imagined it would have a real, tangible effect!’ Seeing that Li Chang’an was also wreathed in golden light, the Flood Dragon, which had still possessed a shred of arrogance, instantly became like a startled beast. It cast aside all pride and tried to dive into the water to escape. Li Chang’an snorted. He made a grasping motion with one hand, and a torrent of Qi erupted from his palm, seizing the Giant Flood Dragon and yanking it out of the water! This was a technique for manipulating Qi that he had learned through his Heaven-defying Comprehension months ago, back when he was being hunted by a Chief Banner Officer of the Martial King realm from the Prison Control Department. After obtaining a sufficient number of Martial Arts Techniques, Li Chang’an’s Martial Arts Realm had progressed by leaps and bounds. The Qi within his body had now completely solidified, and he had officially stepped into the Martial King Realm. His mastery of this technique now far surpassed that of the Chief Banner Officer from whom he had learned it. With his left hand holding the Flood Dragon fast, he brought the saber in his right hand crashing down. "SQUELCH!" This time, the golden light on the Flood Dragon’s body could no longer block Li Chang’an’s fatal strike. Its enormous body was cleaved in two, and scarlet blood dyed more than half of the river’s surface below. Li Chang’an stood above the river, saber in hand. His gaze swept over the surrounding Rebel Army members and the common folk. "This malevolent beast has plagued this land," he announced coolly. "Today, I have enacted Heaven’s justice and slain it!" Hearing his voice, the surrounding people and members of the Rebel Army trembled with excitement. Someone began to cheer, shouting, "Long live the Immortal Master!" Li Chang’an paused. Ignoring the cheers of the crowd, he continued, "However, the root of this catastrophe lies not with the beast, but with the Imperial Court!" At these words, a sudden silence fell over both banks of the Three Yellow Rivers. All eyes were on Li Chang’an, filled with a complex mix of excitement and other emotions. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎 ’That’s right,’ they thought. ’How could the root cause of this disaster truly be some beast?’ ’It was clearly the Imperial Court that dressed this beast up as a so-called "River God," using it as an excuse to endlessly plunder the people on both banks.’ But this was something no one ever dared to say aloud. Li Chang’an was the first person to dare condemn the Imperial Court publicly, in front of so many people. "The Imperial Court’s troops in Qingpu County and Pingdong County are eyeing us like hungry tigers, ready to strike us down at any moment. Rather than wait here and fight like cornered beasts, we should seize the initiative and attack!" Clearly, Li Chang’an was not finished. His gaze slowly swept over everyone on both banks of the river. "All men, hear my order! We will march three hundred li and seize Qingpu City!" ...