Roaring Dragon-Chapter 61: Lone Rider, Breaking the Line!

The cold moon hung high in the sky, river winds howling through the night.

A blood-stained white robe blazed across the black waters like a falling comet. The gleam of a three-foot-long blade dragged a line of silver light beneath the moon.

Tap tap tap—

The boundless river rippled underfoot, leading the eye toward the misty blood-red haze ahead. From a distance, it looked like an arrow in full flight—hurtling straight into the maw of a scarlet beast poised to devour the world.

Within the red fog, dimly glowing pleasure boats loomed like the singular, monstrous eye of that beast—cold and bloodshot, fixed on the river below.

Xie Jinhuan's robe billowed in the wind. His eyes locked onto the drifting blood-mist ahead. As he closed in, he flicked open a bottle cap with his left thumb.

“If this pill works, what’re my odds?”

Floating beside him under a red parasol, Ye Hongshang arched a brow.

“Afraid of dying now, are you?”

“I made a promise, can’t just pretend it was a fart. Besides—ever since I lost my memory, nothing pisses me off more than not being able to kill a bastard the moment I meet them.”

“Heh~”

Ye Hongshang gazed toward the sea of red mist in the distance, weighing things carefully.

“If the pill works like it should, and you don’t do anything too stupid, you can last until the city troops arrive.”

“And if my power doubles, I still don’t get to kill that old bastard?”

“You might—but it’s risky. If you can keep your wits about you, focus on delaying. Don’t just charge in headlong.”

Hearing there was still a chance, Xie Jinhuan tilted the bottle and swallowed the pill in one gulp. He tossed the empty bottle behind him.

“My will is as solid as a rock. You’ll see—heart calm as still water, movement slick as silk.”

Plop—

The bottle sank into the river, and his figure surged forward!

BOOM—

Xie Jinhuan tore across the water at full speed. As he inhaled sharply, he felt a wave of heat rise from his core. His blood and qi sea ignited like dry oil catching flame. Bloodlust and fury surged into his skull.

The first thought in his mind was to either brawl till dawn—or screw someone till morning.

“Rrrhh...”

Veins throbbed across his forehead. His qi thundered through every meridian. His body suddenly smashed through some unseen barrier.

The boiling true qi rushed into his dantian and began to condense into mist.

Already at the peak of fourth-rank, Xie had no room to grow—yet even the slightest push would nudge him into third-rank. That was the edge he’d been counting on.

After one last breakthrough, his senses sharpened to an eerie clarity. His perception expanded severalfold. He could even vaguely glimpse the qi coursing through his own body—an inkling of “inner vision.”

His blood and essence were being squeezed dry, transformed into raw qi, feeding the mist forming in his qi sea.

The power surging through him was unimaginable—but his mind was beginning to fray.

His eyes turned crimson. Visions flashed through his mind like a spinning lantern—only these weren’t scenes from his teenage years in the capital, but alien memories:

Cities he didn’t recognize—reduced to rubble.

Strangers’ faces—rotting into corpses.

He didn’t know where these places were or who these people had been, but somehow, he knew they were pieces of the missing years of his life.

He tried to chase the source—but by now, the blood mist was almost at his face.

—

Within the fog.

He Can stood on the deck of the ship, five cloaked puppets behind him, their silhouettes barely visible through the red haze. He listened intently to the roaring sound approaching fast.

RUMBLE...

Du Qingyi crouched on the rooftop, arms controlling two mist-serpent constructs. Her eyes narrowed as she sensed the oncoming force.

“What the hell’s coming at us?!”

“No idea...”

All around the ship, rogue cultivators gripped their weapons, backing off instinctively as the approaching presence grew louder.

And then—

“HAH!!”

A thunderous roar echoed across the river.

Xie Jinhuan shot across the black water like a ghost. Halfway there, he planted his feet apart, angled the Zhenglun Sword behind him—

Whoosh—

The mist and river spray surged toward his sword like magnetized particles.

But before the vortex could fully gather, the blade sliced forward with mountain-cleaving force.

BOOOOM—

The dense blood mist surrounding the massive ship split in half under the force of the strike!

The calm river exploded like a furious dragon plunging from the heavens, gouging a trench through the water.

Crash!

Waves crashed outward in both directions. The shockwave blasted the ship’s windows and railings into splinters!

BOOM—

He Can flinched, almost thinking the attacker was Sword Fanatic Li Jing himself. But when the white figure burst through the mist, blade blazing, he recognized him.

“Xie Jinhuan?! ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) The hell—wasn’t he just here?!”

Compared to his earlier calm demeanor, Xie Jinhuan now looked like a different man—veins bulging, madness in his eyes. And his “graceful” words had devolved into:

“Fucking dead freaks! Daring to soil my eyes!”

The sheer proper diction in Great Qian’s imperial accent caught the boat’s crew completely off guard.

He Can threw his five puppets in front of him. “Did he go mad?! What did you feed him?!”

Du Qingyi’s eyes widened. “I have no idea! STOP HIM!”

BOOM—

Before the words finished, Xie Jinhuan had already shattered the eaves of the rooftop, rocketing toward the red-robed demoness like a bolt of rage.

He Can tried to intercept but was too slow. Spinning his ghost umbrella, he summoned a swirl of evil qi—

Whoooosh—

Spectral winds howled above the deck.

But at that moment, blinding lightning burst from the rooftop.

Xie Jinhuan pressed forward through the smoke, dodging swarms of flying needles and venomous insects. His right hand crackled with raw electricity, and in a blink, he was upon her.

Du Qingyi’s face twisted in terror. She raised her arms and shrieked—

“AAAAHHHH—!!”

The sonic scream burst through the fog, staggering Xie Jinhuan for a split second. A tide of dark red poison mist surged down on him—

Du Qingyi’s blood venom was brutal. One wrong breath, and a man could dissolve into sludge in under half a quarter-hour.

Ye Hongshang, watching from afar, practically exploded with frustration.

“You call that stalling?!”

She was on the verge of logging in herself to take over the fight.

But to her surprise, the moment the poison mist fell, a deep rumble came from within.

WHOOOOSH—

Du Qingyi hadn’t even followed up when she noticed—Xie Jinhuan hadn’t gone down.

He stood there, poison swirling around him, left hand held up in a sword-sign.

His qi didn’t dissipate—it raged around him like a storm, drawing the mist inward.

WHOOOSH—

True qi was normally invisible, but with the blood mist drawn in, everyone could see a crimson fog-dragon coiling around him!

The dragon spun fast around his body, sucking in the poisonous mist, and Xie Jinhuan even had the gall to brag:

“This move’s called Soaring Dragon Coils the Mountain, one of the Eight Styles of the Lustful Dragon. And baby, I’ve got seven more!”

“Body-shielding true qi?!”

Du Qingyi had never heard of Soaring Dragon Coils the Mountain, but body-shielding qi was legendary.

Top-tier techniques like Mu Yunling’s Xuan Yang Tyrant Body or Wei Wuyi’s Formless Dragon Breath—all made users near-invincible.

But those methods required godlike control over qi. Even stepping into third rank usually wasn’t enough to learn them.

And yet—Xie Jinhuan was clearly using one now. The only flaw was that his mist-dragon looked cool but didn’t cover his whole body—his defense had openings.

“Everyone—GET HIM!!”

Du Qingyi shouted, and He Can blew into his bone flute.

BOOM BOOM BOOM—

The five puppets lunged forward. A dozen rogue fighters surged in from all sides!

Xie Jinhuan looked wild, but his combat instincts were razor-sharp.

As they closed in, he flung his left hand wide like thrusting a spear—

BANG—

Blood-tinged mist erupted outward, exploding into a choking wave that crashed into the attackers.

Several bandits were caught dead-on, screaming as their eyes melted—

“AAAHHH!”

While striking, Xie Jinhuan surged forward. It looked like he was clashing with the puppets head-on—but just three steps in, he slammed his palm down onto the rooftop!

THUD!

A shockwave rippled outward, blasting up the roof tiles.

Du Qingyi, who had just landed behind the puppets, hadn’t seen it coming—she stepped down just as the floor rebounded, launching her half a meter into the air!

At that exact moment, Xie Jinhuan dashed around the puppets in an arc, blade in hand, and leapt forward—

SLASH—

Moonlight flashed across the rooftop.

He Can scrambled to redirect his puppets, but before he could blink, a white blur shot past the roof like a blade of moonlight.

“Ah—!”

Du Qingyi shrieked mid-air—

Then the scream was cut off.

Her vision spun. She saw her own headless body, dressed in colorful silks, tumbling through the sky.

Blood sprayed into the night!

Xie Jinhuan landed smoothly. Without pause, he dashed straight toward the deck’s edge.

FWEEE—

The ghost flute fell silent.

He Can turned pale and bolted.

But without his spirits, he was no match for Xie’s speed.

He had barely turned when the white-clad figure slid low across the deck and swept his blade horizontally.

SLASH—

Sparks exploded—He Can’s hidden black-scale armor cracked as the blade tore through. Blood sprayed. His spine buckled. He was launched into the hall before he could even scream.

At that exact moment, the floor beneath the roof swelled.

BOOM—

Tiles and beams burst apart. A geyser of blood and mist exploded into the sky!

KRA-KOOM—

Xie Jinhuan, directly above, was blasted skyward and slammed into the rooftop’s far side.

WHUMP—

He rolled once and sprang back up. His robe was tattered, but that arrogant glint in his eyes still burned:

“You old fuck—you finally showed yourself!”

WHOOSH—

Taishu Dan burst from the breach and landed atop the roof. Interrupted again, he no longer had time to rework the Blood Fiend Pill ritual. His face was dark, his voice seething with rage.

“You think ruining my ritual makes these sacrifices worthless?!”

He struck his staff to the ground and raised his left hand.

WHOOSH—

All that escaped blood and mist gathered into his palm. The miasma surged skyward—

The blood sacrifice of over five hundred people flooded into him. His withered hands swelled with power. White hair turned black. Patches of tough green skin erupted on his face.

Ye Hongshang's voice rang out in warning:

“He’s about to hit third-rank peak! End it now!”

But Xie Jinhuan's eyes went cold.

“Are you teaching me how to fight? Say one more word, I’ll smack your ghost ass till you cry.”

“Heh? Wow... even now, your mind’s sharp. Got time to think about smacking women, huh...”