Chapter 365 — Lord of the Dragon Herd

The Dragon Qilin too flopped down limp on the ground, not daring to move. Long Jiaonan hastily roused her vital essence and urged the flute, but the red flood dragon never stirred, only cowering there.

Long Jiaonan hastily leapt up to dodge the great hand, but the palm came down, closed lightly, and plucked up the Dragon King's red flood dragon, drawing back into the clouds.

The voice in the sky laughed: "There's also a qilin-blooded dragon, but a pity it's too young. Let it graze a few years and I'll come collect it. This trip to the lower realm wasn't bad at all; I got myself a flood dragon."

Shen Mu's mind reeled. He looked up and saw, amid the clouds, a giant treading on two flood dragons, one azure and one red, with two yellow flood dragons hanging from his ears, flying across the sky.

"A god..."

Shen Mu shook his head, unable to steady his mind, and looked again. The azure and red flood dragons beneath the god's feet swam onward, bearing him south.

"My father's dragon!"

Long Jiaonan shrieked and ran madly south. Shen Mu suppressed the shock in his heart, raised his hand to recall the Carefree Sword, and thrust out a single sword strike. The eight thousand swords became a cloud of blades, and suddenly the swords fell like rain, shh-shh-shh, studding the hillside.

Long Jiaonan gave a stifled grunt and slipped through the mountains like a great serpent, dodging the sword light, but there were still several beams she failed to avoid, and they wounded her.

"Long Jiaonan, do you remember? I said that if you raised your hand against me again, I would show you no mercy!"

Shen Mu kicked the Dragon Qilin awake and strode forward in pursuit, sword light screaming up as he attacked Long Jiaonan. Her figure moved like a spirit serpent, swift beyond measure, but in the next instant Shen Mu's speed erupted; he rose into the air and rode the cloud of swords surging forward.

Long Jiaonan kept up a long keening cry, circulating her mana and driving her divine powers, taking his sword light head-on.

The Dragon Qilin came to and hurried forward at a run, opened its great mouth, and let out a dragon's roar that shook Long Jiaonan dizzy.

Though Long Jiaonan was a powerhouse of the Seven-Star realm, she was still a notch short before the Dragon Qilin; her breath was shattered by the roar. Shen Mu seized the moment and thrust his sword downward. Countless flying swords swirled in clouds around the Carefree Sword, and like one enormous treasure blade they stabbed at Long Jiaonan!

"Who dares bully my child?"

Suddenly a heavy voice rang out, and Shen Mu's heart quaked: "The Dragon King is here!"

He hastily withdrew his sword and was about to flee when a dragon-shaped dark cloud came racing through the air. Long Jiaonan looked up and cried shrilly, "Father, it's the Infernal Demon Cult Master!"

Shen Mu sprinted to the Dragon Qilin and shouted, "Dragon Fatty, a thousand days spent raising a dragon, all for one hour of need. Run!"

The Dragon Qilin was just about to put forth its strength and run when its four limbs suddenly went weak and it collapsed to the ground, crying, "Cult Master, it's happening again!"

"What's happening again?"

Shen Mu lifted the Dragon Qilin up with both arms and was about to flee for his life when the sky suddenly darkened and a thunderous voice came from above: "I'm still short two virgin boys and girls to tend my dragons. Just the thing to snatch away..."

The Dragon Qilin went limp as if dead, utterly paralyzed.

Only then did Shen Mu realize what had come again. Then heaven and earth spun, and he was lifted off his feet against his will, landing in the clouds. Long Jiaonan landed in the clouds with him, also looking badly shaken.

"What demon are you? Put down my son!" The Dragon King's voice came, rapidly approaching.

Shen Mu saw two thick, sturdy legs standing in the mist beside him, covered in coarse scales, and beneath those legs two flood dragons swam in the clouds, bearing them south.

He looked up and saw a giant more than ten zhang tall, his robes fluttering in the wind, his face covered in scales as well, brow ridges high and prominent, horns growing from his head.

"Chattering little bug."

The god flicked a finger, and the Dragon King, sect master of the Dragon-Taming Sect, was sent flying backward, spitting blood all the way through the air, and with a boom crashed into a range of great mountains, his fate unknown.

"Virgin boy and girl, tend my dragons well."

The god looked down at the two in the clouds, bared a mouthful of sharp teeth, and said with a grin, "Otherwise I'll use you to whet my appetite."

Shen Mu set the Dragon Qilin down and, summoning his courage, said, "Senior, I am no longer a virgin boy..."

Long Jiaonan also said hastily, "I'm no longer a virgin girl either!"

The god sneered, "Then there's no use keeping you. Better to eat you!"

"I am a virgin boy!"

Shen Mu said with righteous indignation, "This little wench is no virgin girl. Please, Senior, do away with her!"