Chiao Jiao

Taoist Mu arrived.

If corpses counted too.

His death looked much more miserable than the other corpses, with a hollow body that had been truly and thoroughly emptied out, an expression frozen in horror, and wrinkles on his face that were filled with the panic of his last moments.

Two burly men carried Taoist Mu's corpse over and set it down to one side, saying as they did so:

"We realized Taoist Mu still hadn't shown up, so we talked it over and went to go take a look. But when we'd walked halfway there, we discovered Taoist Mu's corpse lying in the middle of the road."

When the two burly men got to this point, their voices filled with horror and genuine fear.

Chen Xia stood up and looked over Taoist Mu's corpse, faintly frowning.

He hadn't had much interaction with Taoist Mu, but he did know that Taoist Mu understood some occult arts.

It was said that in his youth he had specialized in slaying zombies and had the nickname "Zombie Hunter", attaining no small reputation within a hundred li and resolving many cases of the occult.

Twenty years ago, Taoist Mu had also accepted money to investigate an evil presence for a wealthy family. At the time Chen Xia had still been a constable and had heard that Taoist Mu seemed to have discovered something, but the matter had ultimately been dropped.

Supposedly there were taboos involved, but Chen Xia truly didn't know what taboos those were.

Chen Xia squatted down in front of Taoist Mu's corpse, opened up his Taoist robes, and prepared to look for what the fatal wound was exactly.

The other villagers didn't dare look directly at this, averting their eyes.

The empty chest cavity represented that his death had been no easy one.

From the inner pocket of the Taoist robes, Chen Xia discovered a small yellow paper slip stained with dark blood. He pulled it out and looked it over.

The writing on it was neat, done in thick ink, seemingly representing the writer's heavy mood.

"To the town chief" was the opening line.

"Twenty years ago I accepted money from a wealthy family to investigate an evil presence. Through many methods and many clues, everything pointed towards the deep mountains at the front end of town."

"At noon, when the sun was at its fiercest, I entered the deep mountains, following the small path hunters had expanded up to the halfway point of the mountain."

"At that point there was no more road. The forests further in were too deep, with no sunlight able to penetrate. Holding a compass and keeping vigilant watch over my mind and spirit, I felt my way along another five li."

"By the time I reached the thickest parts of the dense forests, the temperature had grown cold, as if it were midwinter despite being noon."

"There I saw a dilapidated village, along with over a hundred graves."

"In my panic I hastily took a look - this town was called Tou Mountain Town."

"After I left and stood halfway up the mountain to look back down, I realized that this mountain range was like a spine, with the long and narrow Tail Creek Town shaped like a tail."

"Only then did I recall an elder's legend."

"The 'tail' of Tail Creek Town is the tail of a flood dragon."

"A flood dragon lurks deep in the mountains, surrounding itself with countless ghosts. Occasionally one or two of those ghosts come down the mountain and devour villagers. And the closer it gets to the flood dragon's revival, the more severe these occurrences become."

"In the end, the ghosts move at night."

The yellow paper slip ended there, laying bare Tail Creek Town's taboo in its entirety.

Chen Xia furrowed his brow. If things really were as Taoist Mu described, then this flood dragon should be an extremely formidable existence, lying dormant deep in the mountains and biding its time to emerge into the world.

By all rights, he should find a place to hide right now and quietly add points for ten thousand years.

But after taking on the position of town chief, he had to do something.

And Chen Xia was kindhearted, truly unable to bear watching Tail Creek Town's destruction. So he could only go destroy this flood dragon.

He quickened his pace until in a flash he stood at the foot of the mountain. He didn't make a move right away, first lightly rapping the mountain range with his fist.

With just an ordinary punch, the entire mountain range shook and rumbled as rocks tumbled down.

"Dragon brother, are you there?"

No reply sounded, so it should still be lying dormant.

The corners of Chen Xia's mouth quirked up in a smile. When you could catch it unprepared, who would fight head-on?

He clenched his fist, muscles bulging, and stared straight at this stretch of mountains as his body swiftly reddened and every cell trembled with effort.

This was the first time he had used his full power after raising his strength to 25.

The corners of Chen Xia's mouth stretched open and he exhaled wisps of steam, representing that he had already built up pressure to a terrifying degree.

To borrow a line from a book:

The reason these deep mountains are here is because I hadn't come before.

Now that I'm here, there won't be any more deep mountains.

Chen Xia shifted his feet and stomped.

The ground instantly collapsed, as fragile and unsupportive as an ant nest, sinking down a hundred meters.

His figure shot out like a meteor, trailing an arc of light and continuous rumbles of sonic booms.

All the buildup

was for throwing out a single punch.

Chen Xia didn't know where the flood dragon was lurking or where the dilapidated village was.

So he chose to punch towards the peak - as long as he shattered the entire deep mountains, he would naturally strike the flood dragon.

This was the logic that as long as your attack range was wide enough, you didn't need to worry about missing.

The night wind blew, cool and refreshing.

The punch fell,

striking straight towards the mountaintop.

The terrifying might of 25 points of strength was revealed in that moment.

The deep mountains fractured inch by inch as if made of spiderwebs before collapsing at extreme speed.

Words could not describe this punch - because the mountain had simply collapsed entirely.

Inside there was no flood dragon, only a several dozen meter long snake, half dead as it lay amidst the rubble.

Chen Xia landed before it and squatted down, asking in puzzlement:

"What kind of dragon are you?"

The giant snake actually revealed a hideous face and spat human speech, hissing:

"I was about to complete my transformation into a flood dragon after devouring just a hundred more living humans. Why did you have to stop me? Do you not fear the punishments of the Heavenly Dao?"

Chen Xia smiled and nodded. "I really don't fear it at all."

Since he had grown stronger through adding points, and was not a person of this world to begin with, the Heavenly Dao truly could not control him.

The giant snake twisted its battered body, struggling to strike at Chen Xia in a final gamble.

Chen Xia casually stomped, crushing the snake's head and pulverizing the soul and consciousness within.

The several dozen meter long snake thus thoroughly perished, body and spirit.

If gauged by the realms of cultivators, the snake should have been at the Qi Condensation Realm. If it had completed its transformation into a flood dragon, it would have reached the Foundation Establishment Realm.

In this mundane world it could be considered invincible.

It was just unfortunate to encounter the even more invincible Chen Xia.

He viciously flicked his finger at the snake's head, and the force instantly drilled into its entire body, abruptly shattering it and turning its flesh and blood into mincemeat to be eaten by the birds.

The flesh and blood of a demonic beast that had become a monster was very attractive to these common birds and beasts.

Chen Xia waved his hands to shake off the dust that had gotten on them, resolving a hidden danger for Tail Creek Town.

After the giant snake died, a wisp of profound yellow qi suddenly drilled into Chen Xia's crown, and at the same time a notification popped up in his mind.

[Qiyun effect, obtained low-grade flood dragon qi.]

Chen Xia looked up.

Between the flowing brilliance in his eyes was profound, thick yellow qi!