The sudden, terrifying earthquake was not a natural disaster; it was born of a tremendous transcendent force!
And now, that force was rushing straight toward Jing Qian at a speed of nearly two hundred kilometers per hour!
Even when it was still miles away, he could already feel its abyss-like, ocean-deep pressure.
It was a colossal purple dragon-serpent spanning across the sky. Its sheer size was enough to make one's heart tremble at a glance; it seemed endless.
Its body alone measured more than three hundred meters thick, and its head was nearly twice as wide as its body.
Each scale gleamed with a cold, metallic luster, heavy as mountains. As it surged forward, the friction between its scales resounded like ancient war drums, reverberating in the air.
Its eyes were like two fathomless pools, shining with a soul-piercing, divine-killing light, as if they could see through all illusions of the world.
Its very breath became gales of wind, sweeping up everything in its path, turning heaven and earth into a swirling chaos of dust and storm.
As it moved, the ground trembled beneath its weight. The earthquake Jing Qian had felt was born from this very beast.
When the dragon-serpent barreled toward him, Jing Qian felt the entire world freeze in that instant.
Fear surged through him, his body quaking uncontrollably, yet he refused to retreat.
Even though his consciousness was on the verge of collapse under the crushing weight of the serpent's aura, he still stood tall, his back straight, his stance firm!
His body instinctively assumed the Subduing Dragon Stance, exuding a spirit of defiance, as though he truly intended to seize this dragon-serpent himself!
The violent winds nearly toppled him, but he did not yield a single step—until the titanic beast swept past, brushing right by him.
Only then did he glimpse its true length: more than ten miles long!
The "dry riverbed" he had once taken for a natural channel turned out to be nothing more than the trail carved out when this serpent last swam across the land.
The stone platform that held the Dragon-Drinking Gong happened to lie just outside that colossal path, allowing the dragon-serpent and Jing Qian to narrowly brush past one another.
The beast surged along its serpentine trail, cut through Hunzhou's market, and plunged headfirst into the great sinkhole.
There, it pressed its gaping jaws over the Hun River, swallowing it whole.
The boundless waters of the sea poured into its maw through the river's channel.
So this was what "Dragon-Drinking" truly meant; it was literal!
The dragon-serpent drank the river for a full hour, lowering the dammed lake's water level by half.
The many boats on the lake suffered miserably. The sudden drop stranded many ships, leaving them tilting and stuck in the mud.
Only about one-fifth of the vessels glowed with protective auras of mystical light, treasured ships of higher grade managing to shield themselves.
But even that wasn't the worst.
Those ships already sailing along the Hun River toward the docks coming in from the open sea were the most unfortunate.
Three vessels in total, with no way to evade, were swallowed whole by the serpent in sheer despair.
From the entire fleet, only one monk, who had cultivated the White Elephant Manifestation, leapt off his ship in advance and fled for his life.
But when he watched his fleet swallowed whole with his own eyes, even his heart shattered completely.
Such a loss would be unbearable even for a cultivator of the Dragon-Elephant Realm!
Once the dragon-serpent had drunk its fill of the Hun River's waters, it turned back the way it had come.
Behind it lay devastation, though gradually, the Hun River began to flow once more, restoring its course bit by bit.
Those who survived all exhaled in deep relief.
For everyone who lived and worked on the cavern wharves, each Dragon-Drinking was an unavoidable brush with death itself.
The so-called "Dragon-Drinking Gong" mainly exists to compensate for the destruction caused whenever the dragon-serpent moves.
The enormous creature slithered along at an unhurried pace until it came to a halt before the Dragon-Drinking Platform. There, it opened its vast jaws, as though it meant to swallow heaven and earth whole.
And in front of that gaping maw stood a small, masked figure, who did not retreat in the slightest!
Jing Qian forcibly suppressed the urge to flee into Sumeru space, relying purely on his own will to withstand the crushing aura of the dragon-serpent.
His stance sank even deeper into the Subduing-Dragon Stance, his footing rooted and unshakable.
Through that cavernous mouth, he could see a sprawling government complex.
This was the very heart of Hunzhou, the seat of its prefectural government.
Three thousand years ago, a dragon-serpent once brought calamity upon this land. A divine being descended, subdued the beast, carved land into an island, built stoves and forges, and established this six-rank Fate Island, thus giving rise to the territory of Hunzhou, with its splendid mountains and seas.
And now, the six-rank Violet-Eyed Dragon-Serpent before him was history manifest, the living origin of Hunzhou itself.
The creature's mouth yawned wider, revealing the prefectural offices within. Soon, a rotund cultivator in azure official robes stepped out at a leisurely pace.
Following the serpent's tongue, he strode until he was within a hundred meters of the stone platform, then, with a sudden leap, landed directly before Jing Qian.
He gave the young man a slow once-over and finally spoke:
"So, you're the boy from the Jing family?"
"You've got guts, I'll grant you that. Not everyone can stand tall before the dragon-serpent's might."
"But daring to strike the Dragon-Drinking Gong… do you even know the cost? Every bit of damage this beast wreaked across the island on its way here must now be borne by the one who struck the gong. We're talking wealth measured in thousands of gold. If you can't pay, you'll have to settle the debt with your life."
His tone was sharp, but Jing Qian remained utterly calm. He bowed slightly and replied:
"Your Excellency, I am indeed of the Jing clan. My honored ancestor once served as commander of the Hunling Vessel. According to our family's records, that ancestor left behind a single chance to sound the Dragon-Drinking Gong, meant as a safeguard for unworthy descendants like myself. I dare not deceive you; if you check, you will see it is true."
Hearing this, the rotund cultivator's brows drew together.
His cultivation had already reached the eighth-rank Dragon-Elephant Realm. He might appear harmless at first glance, but once serious, his presence radiated undeniable authority.
"In that case, come with me to meet the House Lord."
With that, he gathered his Life Essence power and stamped his foot upon the stone platform.
At his touch, a stone pillar extended upward, linking directly to the dragon-serpent's tongue.
He began walking up the pillar, and Jing Qian followed close behind.
As they walked, Jing Qian asked quietly:
"Your Excellency, to which House Lord are we going?"
The cultivator glanced back at him and replied as he continued forward:
"You don't recognize me? I am Qian Yuan! Since you are of the naval division, naturally, we are going to see the Sea House's Lord Zhu."
Jing Qian fell silent, head lowered.
So this portly cultivator was none other than the very man responsible for the Jing clan's destruction.
A smiling tiger indeed.
Inwardly, Jing Qian began channeling his Sumeru arts, ready to slip into the void at any moment.
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