Chapter 72 - 71: Piggy Dragon and Water Monkey

Chapter 72: Chapter 71: Piggy Dragon and Water Monkey

The ironclad ship moved slowly along the narrowing river, the muffled rumbling of its engine intertwining with the sound of the flowing water. The cliffs on both sides seemed to close in silently, squeezing the sky into a narrow, grayish-blue ribbon.

Here, the river had lost the impatience of its upper reaches. The water became broad and placid, rising and falling like the slow breathing of a dormant behemoth. This was the middle section of the Canglan River, where the currents were at their calmest.

However, the gentle flow of the water did not bring safety. This stretch of the river was the domain of the Piggy Dragon, widely acknowledged as the pinnacle of combat strength among the three great Demon Beasts of the Canglan River.

According to the boatmen’s descriptions, although the Piggy Dragon lurking beneath the water was slightly smaller than the giant catfish they encountered earlier, its combat prowess was utterly terrifying. Particularly its aged hide—blades could not hack into it, and spears could not pierce it. Even the explosives brought by the Voiders might not be able to blast it open. If it swung its tail with full force, even this ironclad ship might not be able to withstand the blow.

Because of this, this stretch of water, with its lush aquatic plants and abundant fish and shrimp, became its exclusive hunting ground. No other demons dared to come and compete for food.

According to the boatmen, the Piggy Dragon was most active before autumn. Conversely, upon entering late autumn—which was the current season—its movements became much less frequent. However, no one knew exactly where it was hiding.

But this wasn’t too difficult for Lu Jing’an. Following the same procedure as before, he used Cause and Effect Following Sound to meticulously comb through the water inch by inch, like sifting sand through a sieve. He carefully swept over every inch of the riverbed and every cluster of aquatic plants. This process was extremely taxing on his mind, sending faint throbs of pain deep into his brain. Yet, Lu Jing’an didn’t even furrow his brow. Compared to the fatal risks they might encounter, this minor toll was nothing.

Finding the Piggy Dragon’s trail actually proved much easier than locating the giant catfish. It had dug a massive cave at the bottom of the river. The deep, pitch-black entrance gaped open like the throat of a giant beast.

Deep inside the cave, a figure over five meters long lay quietly, resembling a small hill. Its entire body was covered in dark brown scale armor that looked like iron and stone, with a rugged, jagged spine. Its limbs were short, thick, and powerful, and its long snout was slightly parted to reveal rows of sharp, menacing teeth. It remained completely motionless, seemingly deep in slumber.

Although Demon Beasts had developed intelligence, many of their innate instincts were hard to change; hibernation was one of them.

Lu Jing’an carefully drew closer to observe the Piggy Dragon. Even though he wasn’t looking at it with his physical eyes, he could still sense that this fellow possessed truly thick and tough skin. From his observation, the Piggy Dragon’s hide was likely dozens of centimeters thick. Its hardness was genuinely comparable to actual armor. At this level, its defense was truly flawless. Ordinary explosives really couldn’t blast through its skin. The only exception would be specialized high-explosive armor-piercing shells. However, such things were not products of this era. Even if they were, there was a high probability that the Lu family wouldn’t be able to get their hands on them.

The moment his Divine Thought drew near, the Piggy Dragon’s tightly shut eyelids seemed to tremble ever so slightly. But it showed no further reaction, merely exhaling a string of fine bubbles from its snout before returning to absolute stillness. There was an almost arrogant composure in its posture; it had absolute confidence in its defense. Because of this, it hadn’t even bothered to deeply conceal its lair, leaving it openly exposed at the bottom of the river.

Withdrawing his gaze, Lu Jing’an slowly opened his eyes, his brow involuntarily furrowing. Things that couldn’t be damaged were the hardest to deal with. At the very least, none of the methods he could think of right now would be of any use against this Piggy Dragon.

With such thick skin, neither fire nor explosives would work. Poison, perhaps, could be a viable option. But there were still many problems to solve. He wondered what type of poison to use, and in what quantity. Even if he could figure out those two factors, the third problem remained exceedingly difficult. At the bottom of a river with such massive water volume and fast currents, any poison dropped in would quickly be washed away and diluted. Moreover, the Canglan River was the primary water source for millions of people living along its banks. If the poison was too potent, the innocent civilians on both sides would suffer as well.

After pondering for a while to no avail, Lu Jing’an temporarily set the thought aside. The main purpose of this trip was to patrol and gather information. Besides, these Demon Beasts weren’t the most pressing issue that needed to be resolved right now. He could afford to leave them alone for the time being.

The patrol ship continued its voyage forward.

The waterway kept narrowing until it soon reached the tightest bottleneck of the entire Canglan River. At its narrowest, the river here was no more than thirty meters wide. People standing on opposite banks could clearly see each other’s faces.

This long, narrow stretch of water was about fifteen miles long. The land on both sides was incredibly fertile, having been constantly enriched by the river’s wash. As a result, there were many crops and farmlands lining the banks. However, alongside its fertility, immense danger lurked here.

The Water Monkey lived within this very waterway. Unlike the previous two beasts, this Water Monkey was a truly vicious creature capable of coming ashore to claim lives. Cruel and cunning, it frequently ambushed and killed humans and livestock along the banks.

The villagers from both shores had gathered their robust young men several times, wielding homemade hunting rifles and broadswords in an attempt to encircle and exterminate it, but they failed time and time again. The creature was exceptionally vigilant and never strayed far from the water. At the slightest sign of trouble, it would dive into the deep water and vanish without a trace. And once a hunt failed, it would invariably return with even more aggressive and intensified retaliation.

In the end, the people on both shores adopted a rather compromising solution. Every so often, they would throw livestock into the water. However, livestock alone was not enough to fully satisfy its appetite. Therefore, every year, the locals had to draw lots to sacrifice a pair of virgin boys and girls by throwing them into the river.

These details had all been relayed to Lu Jing’an by the veteran boatmen. When he first heard them, it had taken him some time to fully process the grim reality.

Of the three great Demon Beasts of the Canglan River, the Water Monkey wasn’t the one that ate the most people. Yet, it posed the greatest threat to humanity. This was because it could come ashore, directly threatening the people on land. Moreover, the Water Monkey was the hardest to track down. Its body was small, and its movements were incredibly fast. It was highly unlikely to find it by combing through the river inch by inch.

However, based on the information Lu Jing’an had gathered, drawing the Water Monkey out proactively wasn’t entirely impossible. The Water Monkey was highly sensitive to sound, especially loud, booming noises. Thus, before setting off, Lu Jing’an had ordered his men to prepare several large gongs on the ship.

Just as Lu Jing’an raised his hand, preparing to order the men to sound the gongs and lure the enemy, Chen Xuan, who had been silently standing guard by his side, suddenly took a half-step forward.

He lowered his voice and said, "Young Master, there is something following us underwater."

As a High Tier Martial Cultivator, Chen Xuan possessed keen Spiritual Sense. Although the water could block out most perception, if a foreign entity approached within a certain range, he could still catch its dank, malicious intent like a prickling needle.

Hearing Chen Xuan’s words, Lu Jing’an immediately spread out his Divine Thought, instantly enveloping a fifty-meter radius. Under this coverage, Lu Jing’an instantly caught sight of the Water Monkey—the legendary creature whose face no one had ever seen clearly.

It was a hunched figure, appearing to be only about 1.5 meters tall, with exceptionally long arms covered in scale armor. Wet hair plastered flat against its head. Its disproportionately large eyes took up almost a third of its face, flickering with a ghostly, eerie green light. Its skin was a sickly, wrinkled grayish-blue, like a corpse that had been submerged in stagnant water for far too long. It clung to the shadows of a nearby reef beneath the ship like a gecko, utterly soundless.

The very instant Lu Jing’an’s Divine Thought brushed against it, the Water Monkey snapped its head around. Those massive green eyes seemed to pierce straight through the water and the ship’s hull, staring directly toward Lu Jing’an’s location!

The Water Monkey’s Spiritual Sense was far more acute than that of the Piggy Dragon and the giant catfish. The moment it realized it had been discovered, before anyone could react, the grayish-blue figure abruptly contracted. Its slender limbs kicked off the reef, turning it into a blurry blue streak. It darted into the murky depths and vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a trail of tiny bubbles that quickly popped in the yellowish-brown currents of the river.