Chapter Twenty-Two

Cheng Yuan grew increasingly impressed with the fishing rod his father had bought. The two monsters beneath the boat together weighed well over a ton, yet the fishing line remained unbroken, still firmly hooked in the mouth of the plesiosaur-like beast. Just as Cheng Yuan, curious, was about to ask his father where he’d purchased such a remarkable rod, there was a sharp snap—the fishing line broke. One end of it whipped toward the Hengdu Boat with a shrill whooshing sound.

With a loud smack, it struck the deck. The boat spirit, who was steering, let out a cry, “That hurts!” Deprived of the fishing rod’s support, the plesiosaur, which had already hauled half its body out of the water, splashed back down with a great spray.

Yet this turn of events was no longer pivotal to the battle. Under the relentless assault of the jade flood dragon—twisting, crushing, and biting—the plesiosaur’s body was covered in wounds; some gashes on its neck were so deep that stark white bone and exposed, dark red trachea were visible.

Were it not for the mutated creature’s berserk nature, the plesiosaur would have been long past resistance. Even so, despite its mindless fury and disregard for pain, the loss of muscle, shattered bones, and bruised, even ruptured organs were rapidly sapping its strength.

Its bites never matched the speed of the jade flood dragon. Each time it lunged, the dragon would either evade just in time or the plesiosaur’s jaws would clamp down on the dragon’s impenetrable scales. Its