Mu Fei borrowed a practice boat and transported it to the river section near where Zhu Dayong had his accident. Seeing that almost everyone had arrived, she said, "We'll set off on the water when it gets a bit darker."

Tan Xiao nodded and even touched the drum Mu Fei had prepared, familiarizing himself with the props he would be using later. He saw Fang Zhu standing on the shore with his hands behind his back, looking very confident.

Fang Zhu grew up in Yunmeng Marsh and naturally was extremely familiar with dragon boat racing, as it was the birthplace of the sport. So when Mu Fei said to let him be the helmsman, he was brimming with confidence.

"You don't know, back then I would secretly borrow boats to participate in the races on the water, it was really interesting." Fang Zhu gazed at the water surface for a long time before turning his head and sighing.

Tan Xiao: "..."

Good grief, so it was you. You contributed to the supernatural legends of dragon boat racing, didn't you?

-- This was also the difference between demons and humans. Even Fang Zhu, who was considered kind-hearted among the demon race, would sometimes scare people by borrowing boats without realizing it.

"Alright, I'll repeat the positions now. Helmsman Fang Zhu, drummer Tan Xiao, I'm the gong player. Then in the front row, Ah Jin and Aperture. Second row..." Mu Fei read out all the positions but didn't mention Kong Xuan. "Thanks for the hard work everyone."

Fang Zhu thought that in this kind of situation, there was probably no need for the great god Peacock to personally row the boat. When the time came, with one command from the shaman, he could directly take action.

The most important role in this dragon boat race was still me. I have to lead everyone...

Before Fang Zhu could finish his thought, he heard Tan Xiao say while holding the drumsticks, "No trouble at all, it's up to the great god to lead us to victory."

"Huh?" Fang Zhu couldn't help but voice his doubts.

Kong Xuan glanced over and said, "Do you have a problem with that?"

What else could it be?

There's a saying that a thousand-mile voyage depends on the helmsman!

Fang Zhu said in a daze, "I thought I was the one steering..."

Kong Xuan snorted and pointed at the bare dragon boat, "Don't you see the boat has no dragon head or tail? Don't you know what's most important for a boat?"

While the helmsman is the most important person, the most crucial components... the dragon head, body and tail are like heaven, earth and man. The dragon head and tail must be attached to form a complete whole, especially the head.

Fang Zhu had always thought Mu Fei had other preparations, but now hearing Kong Xuan's words, he suddenly had a bad feeling.

Kong Xuan looked at the sky, it was time to set off. He gracefully stood on the bow and revealed his original form as a peacock. A magnificent peacock with dazzling colorful feathers crouched at the bow, larger in size than an ordinary peacock. It held its head high, its long tail feathers covering the bow, the colors even more vivid than the patterns on the boat's body.

The five-colored divine light embedded in the stern became the "dragon" tail. Looking at the silhouette in the night, it really seemed like the real thing.

This substitute was who knows how many levels higher than the thorn branches.

At the same time, it also served to conceal their movements -- of course they couldn't openly reveal their actions. What if citizens saw and took photos? Although the urban legends seemed quite fierce already.

Witnessing this scene, Fang Zhu was dumbfounded. "This..."

How could he refute this! Without a dragon head it wouldn't even be called a dragon boat!

Kong Xuan was extremely pleased. He turned his head and urged, "Let's set off."

Tan Xiao then eagerly carried the drum onto the boat. As he passed the bow, he even reached out to touch Kong Xuan's tail. "The boat has become so much more magnificent, hasn't it?"

The ancients said "The painted mandarin ducks come together, greatly racing down the Yangtze River". Among bird boats, besides the phoenix, there were quite a few other bird species. Who knows if anyone had ever made a peacock boat, but the one before their eyes was undoubtedly the most eye-catching they had ever seen.

Kong Xuan didn't say anything, but Mu Fei shielded her eyes, "Great god, no glowing dragon boats!"

The five-colored divine light was shining again, good grief. It looked great, but wouldn't it scare the other side?

Fang Zhu's gaze gradually changed from shock to admiration as it fell on Tan Xiao. Was this how you got the great Peacock God to agree to be the dragon head...

The night was vast and the river surface was empty.

After boarding the boat, Tan Xiao first beat the side drum to get everyone in sync with the rhythm.

Ah Jin in the front row felt numb. He was a bit scared. Dragon boats tended to take on water easily when moving forward, so it needed to be cleared out. As an electrical appliance, he always felt a bit uncomfortable being immersed in water.

But he looked around pitifully and realized he was the only one afraid. That darned camera wasn't even scared. What, did it have amazing waterproofing capabilities?

"Boom boom boom!"

While Ah Jin was still grumbling inwardly, the drumbeat had already tightened up!

Ah Jin, an amateur rower, quickly followed the temporary training and sped up his rowing frequency in time with the faster beat. Perhaps it was because the drummer was a shaman, but the sound of this drum was different from ordinary dragon boat drums. It carried especially far, drifting over the great river. It seemed leisurely and carefree, yet it made people's hearts beat faster.

Ah Jin only felt his own spirit being driven along, bouncing non-stop inside his body. As the rhythm grew more urgent, the entire spirit inexplicably became excited, forgetting his aversion to water. He made large strokes, feeling like he was riding the wind and breaking the waves.

Immersed in rowing, a thought floated through Ah Jin's overheated mind, "Why hasn't that Night Dragon Boat been lured out yet? Could it be they don't dare to come?"

Ah Jin quickly glanced back, but saw that at some point Tan Xiao had already put on his shaman mask, the old paper version. The shadows on that night face were even heavier.

As he beat the drum, he seemed to sense something and slightly turned his head to look back. Even through the mask, Ah Jin could feel his stern gaze, scaring him into quickly refocusing on rowing, no longer letting his mind wander.

After drumming for a long time without seeing the boat, at this moment, amidst the panting, Tan Xiao loudly sang a dragon boat song he had heard as a child, "Flying oars part a thousand waves, turn inward!"

Leading the chorus, although today's newly formed dragon boat rowers hadn't rehearsed, they couldn't help but all join in with Tan Xiao, "Turn inward--"

"Clang clang clang! Clang clang clang!"

The rousing, urgent sound of a gong suddenly rang out from behind, giving everyone a start!

This was the gong signaling the dragon boat to speed up urgently, representing that the dragon boat had fallen behind and needed to accelerate.

It had come.

The sound of drums and gongs abruptly appeared behind them in the darkness.

Everyone's hearts stirred, knowing it must be the Night Dragon Boat arriving.

"Boom boom boom!" But at this time, Tan Xiao's drum told them to focus on rowing and not disrupt the rhythm.

The rowers in the back row kept their heads down paddling, but from the corner of their eyes they could almost see the vague outline of the boat catching up. However, in the next second, Fang Zhu took a long stroke with the rudder and their dragon boat shot forward a great distance again.

"Beat the drums and row the boat!"

"Fortune has come to dispel calamity--"

On the other dragon boat, a rhythmic rowing chant also rang out, clearly putting in more effort than their side, and the speed was getting faster and faster, looking like it was about to catch up again.

Although most of the people on this side were amateurs, Fang Zhu was a water creature, so he leisurely dipped his oar into the water, playing with the other side as if he was slipping away.

Ah Jin didn't know what Tan Xiao's plan was, and even the Peacock God didn't lash out in irritation, only silently cutting through the wind and waves with the posture of a dragon head. Could it be that they really intended to win against the other side in the race?

However, amidst the drumbeats that seemed to be able to control people's hearts, he had no time to think about anything else. The two boats raced on the river, the hulls changing positions back and forth, and no one knew where the finish line was.

On the balcony of a riverside apartment by the shore, a little girl pointed at the two moving shadows on the river and shouted loudly, "Mom, look, there are people rowing boats down there!"

The lady of the house smiled and said, "That's called a cargo ship, it's used for transportation."

"No, mom, they are racing." The little girl turned her head and said.

The lady suddenly remembered the recent rumors in the neighborhood, her heart skipped a beat, she ran to the window and looked down, but the river was vast and there was no sign of any boats.

"Go! Go!" The little girl raised her fist and cheered, not knowing which dragon boat she was cheering for.

In a daze, the lady also seemed to hear the distant sound of gongs and drums. Her face turned pale, she covered her daughter's mouth, "Good girl, let's not watch the race anymore, shall we go to sleep?"

......

"Boom boom boom! Boom! Boom!"

Ah Jin only heard the drumbeat change, and he also subconsciously followed suit, feeling his body sway, and the boat under him quickly turned around.

Within an extremely short speed, the entire dragon boat turned sideways, blocking the path of the dragon boat behind it.

Faced with such a "waist-cutting" move, the other party did not want to collide with the boat, so they had no choice but to also turn their boat, but in doing so, the only direction left for them was the end of a dangerous shoal that appeared in front of them at some unknown time!

At this point in the river, the channel was narrow and the current was fierce, there was no room to use skills to turn around with the other party. At this moment, what could the Night Dragon Boat do?

The Night Dragon Boat almost brushed past their Peacock Boat at an extremely fast speed, rushing onto the shoal, still sliding a long way on the shoal, and narrowly running aground.

"..." Ah Jin panted, only now understanding why Tan Xiao had not made a move all along, he was waiting for this turning point at the shoal.

And that Night Dragon Boat, after running aground, did not escape either.

They lost the race badly, and were even forced to run aground on the shoal, they lost too miserably, and were too convinced to flee in shame.

Only then did Tan Xiao change the drumbeat, Fang Zhu grasped the direction, and the dragon boat headed towards that side, everyone's spirits finally gradually relaxed.

Mu Fei directly put down the gong and wiped the sweat from his forehead, "That scared me to death!"

If they had fought with magic earlier, it would have been an intense battle on the water, but the dragon boat race was clearly another kind of passion.

Everyone on the boat looked at each other, this sudden unity and cooperation gave a unique sense of satisfaction. Even Kong Xuan, who was the dragon head, was not dissatisfied that he did not make a move - no, wait, how could this victory in the race not count as making a move? Look how well he took the lead in coordinating with Tan Xiao's drumbeat.

Just now, almost everyone had no time to turn their heads to look at that boat. Now, looking at the silhouette of that beached dragon boat in the darkness, Ah Jin couldn't help but say, "Spirit Master, I have a question. You said that without a dragon head, a dragon boat can't be considered a dragon boat, but this one, it shouldn't have a dragon head either, right?"

Tan Xiao's face under the mask was also full of confusion. Indeed... He didn't even know where this boat came from. He had specially asked Mu Fei to go and check, and none of the boats used in the dragon boat race were missing. Not only the boats used in the race, Mu Fei had even asked the local dragon boat factories and workshops, and none of them said that any boats were missing.

As for the dragon head, that was even more impossible. The dragon heads were now only in the temples, or given to the shamans who wanted to perform rituals, so it was even more difficult for them to be stolen.

"Then maybe they are just... not up to standard. Oh well, they are illegal dragon boats to begin with, don't bother with them." Mu Fei said.

"No way, when we were on the river earlier, I think I caught a glimpse of their dragon head." Fang Zhu said. As the helmsman, he needed to be fully focused, so he didn't really take a proper look.

"Yeah, yeah, I think I also saw it out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn't see what kind of dragon head it was in the dark."

"Huh? So they also went to borrow a dragon head?" Mu Fei said gloomily.

At this time, their boat had also reached the shoal and successfully beached.

Everyone jumped off the boat one after another and walked to the side. Being this close, they could see clearly that the rowers and helmsman on the boat were mostly wearing short clothes, some even quite dated, with pale faces and dripping wet all over.