Chapter 89: Chapter 88: Groom
The tiger-shaped Demon on the riverbank pushed itself up on its forelimbs. Its dark golden pupils turned to the man as it snorted black smoke laced with sparks.
"ROAR—"
The man seemed to understand its meaning and blinked.
’You’re saying there are two?’
The Demon shook its neck, letting out a series of hoarse, low roars. Only then could one see the circle of black fur growing beneath its neck.
’You want to eat them both?’
The man laughed and moved closer to the Demon.
The invisible waves of heat rolling off its body scorched the man’s already sparse hair, leaving it even more withered. His lips were chapped, and his cheeks had a sickly, purple-red color and premature age from years of exposure to high heat.
But he seemed not to mind at all. Instead, he slowly brought his palm closer to the Demon, making a stroking motion in the air.
"Rest assured, they will be your blood food sooner or later."
The man narrowed his eyes, gazing at the river surface in the distance. He applied a slight pressure with his fingers, and the scorched black pebble he had been twirling instantly turned to powder, trickling from the gaps between his fingers.
"Once we’ve conquered Yangping, and then two more provinces...
...my Military Martial Dao will have reached a new level. With that and your Divine Abilities, the world will be vast enough for us to go wherever we please."
Suddenly, someone raised a rifle high and fired a shot into the air. Immediately, thousands of people shouted in unison, "Marshal Ming!"
The countless waving red scarves and the sky-shaking shouts were like a raging fire that ignited out of nowhere, instantly sweeping across the river beach and driving away the surrounding winter chill.
.....
"RUMBLE RUMBLE—"
Amidst the roar of the diesel engine, the small cargo boat chugged forward, trailing black smoke and leaving a wake of turbid white foam on the river’s surface.
Fu Juemin stood at the bow, gazing at the scenery on both banks.
He had changed into a light-colored stand-collar shirt and the Brocade Trousers he often wore for practice. He didn’t feel cold, though the biting river wind made the skin on his face feel tight.
It had been nearly four hours since the small cargo boat left the Luan River. Its speed had gradually stabilized, and they were now in the Wu County section of the river.
It was winter, and both banks of the river were lined with vast stretches of withered yellow reeds, followed by the dried, silted riverbed left by the receding water. From time to time, he could see a few crude shacks built by the river. When the cargo boat passed, refugees foraging in the muddy shallows would wave at him with excited faces.
Along the way, the Fu Family’s party had encountered more than one collapsed riverbank and several heavily silted sections. If the cargo boat hadn’t been so small with a shallow draft, they would have faced many more problems.
’According to the route on the map, at the cargo boat’s current speed, it will only take three days to leave Yangping territory if the journey is smooth.
Then, we’ll switch to the Haiyan passenger liner at the mouth of the Min River and head straight for Shenghai...’
Fu Juemin thought to himself.
It was already three in the afternoon. The world was bright but held no warmth; the sunlight was listless, as if perpetually veiled by a thin layer of grayish-white clouds.
This was what old sayings called "snow-brewing weather"—it might not actually snow, but the temperature was certain to drop sharply at night.
"Brother Lingjun."
A soft call pulled Fu Juemin’s gaze back. Xu Xinyi, wrapped in a hand-woven cashmere blanket, took the chance to burrow into his arms.
This time, Fu Juemin didn’t refuse and held her. Xu Xinyi had a curvaceous figure and was thinly dressed; holding her felt like embracing a piece of warm, full-bodied Jade.
Fu Juemin had already heard from Cao Tian about everything that had happened at the cold-weather clothing ceremony on the docks. He was quite satisfied with Xu Xinyi’s final choice.
He might not have much affection for Xu Xinyi, but it wasn’t a bad thing to have a woman who was willing to love him so devotedly.
"Brother Lingjun..."
Xu Xinyi called out softly again from his arms. Fu Juemin grunted in acknowledgment and looked into her eyes, feeling as though she had a lot she wanted to say to him.
But in the end, she said nothing, only hugging him with exceptional tightness.
The two of them nestled against each other at the bow until the sun sank in the west. The chill from the river rose, and the black smoke spewing from the diesel cargo boat became unbearable, forcing them to retreat back into the cabin.
Night fell.
Inside the small room, Fu Juemin stood with his eyes closed, practicing the Mixed Element Stance.
Space on the boat was limited. Aside from a few bottles of blood-strengthening Supplements, he hadn’t brought anything related to his training. For the next while, Fu Juemin feared he would only be able to practice his Stance.
’Once we get to Shenghai, I’ll just have to spend a lot of silver coins. It’ll be easy to restore my training conditions to what they were on the Luan River, and maybe even make them better.’
The diesel engine in the boat’s hold was shut off after dinner. The boat was now left to drift on the river, with the boatman steering. If the river wind was favorable, they could still cover a good distance overnight.
Fu Juemin stood barefoot on the deck, his body moving with the rise and fall of the boat. He seemed rooted to the spot, exuding an indescribable rhythm.
He had been practicing the Mixed Element Stance for a long time, but without relying on Skill Points, the realm of Great Success still seemed a distant prospect.
Martial arts had always been a matter of gradual, grinding effort.
"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK—"
Suddenly, a light knocking came from the door.
Fu Juemin opened his eyes, a strange look on his face.
He stood quietly for a moment. After the knocking sounded a third time, he finally walked over and opened the door.
"Bro... Brother Lingjun..."
As the door opened, he saw Xu Xinyi standing there wrapped in a blanket. It was unclear if she was trembling from the evening river wind or for some other reason, but both her body and her voice shook when she saw him.
"Come in."
Fu Juemin reached out, pulled her inside, and closed the door, watching her with a calm expression.
Inside the cramped, narrow cabin, the light of the kerosene lamp on the table flickered.
Xu Xinyi said nothing after coming in, but she clutched the corners of the blanket tightly.
"I..."
Suddenly, Xu Xinyi opened her mouth as if having made a decision. Her hands relaxed, and the blanket draped over her shoulders slid to the floor.
Beneath it, she wore only a lace-trimmed nightgown, the kind one might wear in summer, revealing her pearl-white, beautiful arms and neck.
At that moment, Xu Xinyi was like a gift unwrapping itself. She stood before Fu Juemin with her head lowered, waiting for his appreciation.
A glint appeared in Fu Juemin’s eyes. A moment later, he reached out, pulled Xu Xinyi into his arms, and then scooped her up.
Xu Xinyi’s breathing instantly became rapid, and she buried her head deep in the crook of his arm.
Fu Juemin carried Xu Xinyi to the bed. He peeled her bare as one would a spring bamboo shoot, carefully examining the vast expanse of tempting, pale skin as it gradually flushed with a thin layer of rouge pink.
Under the dim yellow light, he took a soft breath and was about to slowly press his body down onto hers.
Just then...
An unprecedented sense of dread rose in Fu Juemin’s heart!
It was like a bucket of cold water poured over his head, instantly extinguishing all of his passion.
Fu Juemin’s expression turned grim. He leaped off the bed, picked up the clothes he had just taken off, hastily threw them on, and strode out of the room.
"Brother Lingjun!"
Xu Xinyi’s shocked and bewildered voice sounded from behind him, but Fu Juemin didn’t turn back. He just left her with a heavy command, "Get dressed, and don’t come out for now!"
"BANG!"
He shut the door and stepped out of the cabin. Only then did Fu Juemin’s expression turn truly ugly.
’The docks... the Water Demon...’
’It’s appeared again...’
And from his recent sense of the Demonic Species aura, he was certain that it was nearby.
’It followed me all the way from the Luan River?!’
Fu Juemin’s face was grim as he scanned his surroundings. The river’s surface was pitch black, and he could barely see a thing. On the boat, however, people were running about frantically.
After a short while, someone came rushing toward him.
"Young Master!"
The one who came was one of the Nursing Homes the Fu Family had brought along on this trip. It seemed he was looking for him.
"Something’s happened!"
Watching the terrified expression flashing across the man’s face, Fu Juemin took a deep breath and said slowly, "Take me there."
.....
Five minutes later, Fu Juemin stood on the deck at the stern, surrounded by a crowd of people.
Except for the female family members, nearly all the men on the boat had gathered. A dozen or so torches were lit, illuminating a small patch of the surrounding water.
"...I first heard a ’SPLASH’ sound. I thought it was a big fish, but then...
It shot up out of nowhere, grabbed Xiaoliu, and dove back into the water..."
The speaker was Wang Shuisheng. His face was pale and his voice trembled. Someone next to him handed him a calming cigarette, but his hand was so unsteady that he dropped it.
To have frightened Wang Shuisheng, a Martial Artist of the Bone Forging Realm, to this extent, it was hard to imagine what kind of horrifying scene he had just witnessed.
Fu Juemin glanced to the side and saw his father, Fu Guosheng, frowning deeply, while Li Tong also wore a grave expression.
He thought for a moment and was about to say something.
Suddenly, a loud SPLASH erupted from the nearby river surface. In an instant, everyone on the boat was terrified, and they all scrambled backward.
"Mercy, River God! Mercy! We meant no offense...!"
The hired boatman was the most pathetic, dropping directly to his knees on the deck and kowtowing repeatedly to the rippling water, begging for mercy.
Annoyed, Fu Juemin kicked him over.
"Instead of wasting time kowtowing here, you’d be better off starting the boat!"
He rebuked him, then gestured with a cold expression, "Give me the gun!"
A quick-witted Nursing Home nearby hurriedly handed over the long rifle in his hands and raised a torch high to light the way for him.
Expressionless, Fu Juemin walked to the edge of the boat, raised the rifle, and aimed. The muzzle swept slowly over the pitch-black surface of the river.
[Yao Ling] activated. All movement underwater within a radius of several miles quickly flooded into his ears—
The sound of underwater currents surging, of schools of fish darting about, the faint scrape of stone against scales...
Countless extraneous noises were quickly filtered out. Finally, a strange and familiar skinny figure appeared in Fu Juemin’s mind.
It was different from the one Fu Juemin had "seen" before; this water monkey seemed to be carrying something on its back.
It was dark and long, completely entangled in thick layers of silt and water weeds.
In the murky, dark water, Fu Juemin "glimpsed" a part of the long object that wasn’t fully wrapped. Faintly visible was a small section of what appeared to be a woman’s deathly pale ankle...
As if sensing Fu Juemin’s "prying," the water monkey in his [Yao Ling] "vision" abruptly turned, and a pair of eyes burning like ghost fire instantly locked onto Fu Juemin!
"BOOM!"
On the pitch-black surface of the water, a splash erupted without warning.
A sharp glint flashed in Fu Juemin’s eyes at almost the same moment. He pulled the trigger, and the deafening crack of the rifle shot exploded...
