After the Immortal Disappeared

He looked down, and the exact same thought that had crossed Hee Chunhua’s mind now crossed his:

’How did this brat get up here?’

However, the Strange Bird’s strength was limited, and it was already struggling to fly in the downpour, its wings soaked. It could barely manage to carry two men if it pushed itself. Now, with a third man, full of vigor and vitality, suddenly appearing, how could it possibly bear the load?

Though it flapped its wings frantically, it still tilted precariously and plunged toward the floodwaters below.

Dong Rui was scared out of his wits. The two of them had huddled together under the bird’s belly where he couldn’t attack them, so all he could do was shout helplessly, "Let go! Both of you, let go!"

’Why is it that every time I run into this father and son, I suffer such terrible luck?’

’What a curse!’

Hee Lingchuan’s voice came from under the bird’s belly, ringing out clearly, "Go back to land, or we all die together!"

He had already used a life-saving escape art like Substitution. The Ghost Shadow Cicada Shell was what he had just stuffed into his father’s belt. If he fell into the flood again, death was his only option.

Dong Rui didn’t dare to argue. He wrenched the Strange Bird’s head around to face the land and ordered it to fly back.

But it truly couldn’t handle the weight of three men. As it drew closer to land, it also flew lower and lower. Hee Lingchuan felt a chill on the top of his foot as the water’s surface submerged his ankle.

He looked around. All he could see was a vast expanse of water. Where was the high ground? Where was the riverbank?

Where was the army?

There was nothing but the churning, violent flood.

Alarmed, Hee Chunhua instinctively struggled to pull himself up. "Don’t move!" Hee Lingchuan shouted.

But it was too late. The Strange Bird was already exhausted and struggling to stay airborne. How could it withstand his flailing? With a loud SQUAWK, it helplessly plunged into the water.

The violent waves showed no mercy, crashing down and forcing them under.

Being able to swim was useless. Hee Chunhua swallowed several mouthfuls of water, unable to see anything. In his panic, his hand brushed against something.

A drowning man will clutch at a straw, and he instinctively grabbed hold of his lifeline.

It was a small tree growing on the edge of a rocky outcrop. Half its branches were being battered by the flood, whipping about wildly.

Fortunately, its root system was quite sturdy and seemed to have no problem supporting Hee Chunhua’s weight.

He was also holding onto his son’s trouser leg with one hand.

Looking up, he saw Dong Rui clinging to the Strange Bird, which in turn had one of its talons hooked onto Hee Lingchuan. The three of them were tangled together in a mess.

"Chuan’Er, grab... grab me..." Hee Chunhua wanted to say "grab my hand," but Hee Lingchuan was being battered by the powerful current, unable to even bend at the waist.

The weight of three men and one bird, compounded by the immense force of the current, was now all bearing down on Hee Chunhua.

Even with his Cultivation, he felt his arms were about to be torn from their sockets after just two seconds. He could barely hold on.

To make matters worse, the small tree was beginning to come loose.

Hee Lingchuan raised his arm and fired a Sleeve Arrow at the tree’s trunk, planning to use the attached rope to pull himself back.

But just then, a huge wave crashed down, its fierce force knocking the Sleeve Arrow off course.

’...’ ’How can my luck be this bad?’

The problem was that the Hooked Rope and Sleeve Arrow were a single unit. He couldn’t fire a second shot!

The Yuan People on the shore finally noticed the situation. Wu Shaoyi ran over, shouting, "Ropes! Bring ropes!"

But it was too late.

Another wave came, this one carrying a Barbaric Bull. The massive animal’s body slammed directly into Dong Rui.

The impact made his eyes glaze over.

These Barbaric Bulls had not escaped the flood’s clutches either. No matter how well they could normally swim, they could only await death now.

With a loud RIP, Hee Lingchuan’s trouser leg tore.

In an instant, the flood swept the two men, one bird, and one bull forty or fifty feet away, leaving Hee Chunhua with only a piece of torn cloth in his hand.

"Chuan’Er..." Hee Chunhua stared in disbelief.

The Yuan People on the shore threw down ropes, hauled the tree branch up, and finally rescued Hee Chunhua.

Just then, a drifting mass of countless branches, rocks, and mud rushed down from upstream, sweeping over the very spot where Hee Chunhua had been moments before.

The sheer, mighty force of it could only be described by an old verse:

A boundless fall of timber, rustling down.

No one could survive such an indiscriminate assault. No one.

And if he had been there just a few moments longer, Hee Chunhua would have been dead too.

He stood on the shore like a drowned rat, water streaming from his entire body, but his heart felt utterly hollow.

His son was gone.

And all around him, urgent whistles and shouts still echoed—

The battle wasn’t over yet!

Wu Shaoyi saw his pale face and vacant stare and could only offer some comfort. "My lord, my condolences! We must retreat!"

’Falling into a flood like that... unless you’re a Daluo Golden Immortal, no one could possibly survive, right?’

’What kind of Heavenly Magic did Nian Zanli use to orchestrate the flooding of the Yuan Army?’

However, at that very moment, Nian Zanli had a grievance he could not voice:

’The flood... it won’t stop!’

Seeing that the Yuan Army had been turned into drowned rats, his objective was achieved, and he tried to cap the bottle to stop the water.

But he performed the Technique to seal the bottle again and again, yet the water gushing from it showed no sign of stopping. It continued to surge violently!

Furthermore, it was constantly and crazily absorbing his True Power, Essence, Qi, and Spirit, as greedy as a Giant Elephant that hadn’t had a drink in three days.

"Damn it! Stop! Stop! Stop, I said!"

The bottle didn’t obey him.

Only then did he recall Hong Chenglu’s earlier warning:

The Green Bottle might just be a high-quality imitation of the ancient Cloud Water Treasure Bottle, but its temper was just as great as the original’s.

But Nian Zanli had thought "temperamental" meant it was just proud. This thing was draining his Essence, Qi, and Spirit without any reservation. If not for his years of cultivation, which had made his True Power dense and abundant, he would have been sucked into a weightless, withered husk by now.

He finally understood Hong Chenglu’s words now. It was impossible for a mortal to wield this bottle and control it at will!

In his desperation, he had no choice but to aim the mouth of the Green Bottle toward the main channel of the Hanhe River.

However, the Hanhe River’s water level had already surged after a period of low tide. Now, with the addition of the massive volume of water from the Green Bottle, it was a double flood, directly amplifying the next two flood crests.

The first crest was especially massive, with waves reaching a height of four zhang (thirteen meters)!

By this time, the southern bank of the Hanhe River was already inundated. The flood had carved a smooth path for itself here and was now desperately pouring southward, holding nothing back, sweeping away everything it could.

Nian Zanli could only watch as the earthen bank was obliterated by the four-zhang-high crest. Soldiers who had just escaped death and crawled onto the bank, whether they were Xunzhou people or Yuan Soldiers, were all swept into the water at the same time.

Countless black dots bobbed in the murky water.

Each dot represented a living person struggling for their life.

Each dot also represented a fleeting life.

Because with every surge of the waves, these black dots were forced under...

And the flood continued to erode the bank. The people on the shore couldn’t run as fast as the bank was collapsing!

Nian Zanli watched, his heart feeling like it was being cut by a knife.

Those were his men! The army he had painstakingly built for so many years, the generals he had promoted—more than half of them were swept away by the flood in an instant.

But he had to keep a firm grip on the bottle, not daring to let go.

He didn’t know how many times he had performed the Mantra, his mouth had gone numb from chanting, when the bottle suddenly stopped.

The water was no longer pouring out.

Nian Zanli staggered back two steps, unable to lower his hands for a moment.

He wanted to give an order, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he sprayed a mouthful of blood.

He was overcome with rage.

His personal guards rushed over to support him. "General, General?!"

They thought they heard Nian Zanli muttering, "Hong Chenglu, you bastard, you set me up!"

After repeating this several times, Nian Zanli gasped for breath and said, "Pursue... pursue the Yuan Army! Don’t let Zhao Pan escape."

Even if this wave counted as a victory, it was a pyrrhic one. In reality, he had suffered a colossal loss.

Since it had come to this, he had to at least achieve his objective of crossing the river.

Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered the promise Hong Chenglu had made when he gave him the idea:

"I guarantee the Xunzhou Soldiers will be able to cross the river and get ashore."

’Son of a bitch.’

He was already exhausted from controlling the Green Bottle. Now, overcome with rage, he actually fainted.

At this time, the survivors of both armies were regrouping on the banks. Just now, pressed for time, Nian Zanli hadn’t waited for all his men to get ashore before unleashing the monstrous flood. In the end, he lost control of the water and ended up drowning his own army.

Both sides had suffered heavy casualties.

Although Zhao Pan had escaped the worst of it by pursuing the Xunzhou Army, a quick count of his remaining soldiers showed that only thirty percent were left!

A single flood had swallowed nearly thirty thousand of his elite soldiers.

Both sides were sounding the call to assemble, but Zhao Pan’s heart felt as if it had sunk to the bottom of the Hanhe River.

He had lost.

The northern Xiazhou battlefield, deadlocked for two or three months, had ended in his defeat.

He had failed the task entrusted to him by the Monarch!

Just then, Hee Chunhua ran toward him, the Xiazhou Army already assembled behind him. Seeing Zhao Pan’s dejected and soulless expression, Hee Chunhua grabbed him by the collar and roared, "Pull yourself together! You haven’t lost! This war isn’t over yet!"

Zhao Pan was about to swat his hand away, but he froze when he heard those words. "What?"

Hee Chunhua’s face was contorted. He was covered in either water or mud, and a lock of hair was stuck to his nose, a far cry from his usual refined and steady demeanor.

But the light in his eyes was either eerie or frenzied, it was hard to say.

"General Zhao, you’re getting caught up in appearances!" Hee Chunhua said to Zhao Pan instead. "Think about your mission! To hold Nian Zanli back in the north! Look, look over there!"

The sky was dark and the rain was heavy. With the soldiers in a panic and horses in chaos, Zhao Pan hadn’t been able to see the full picture. Now, looking in the direction Hee Chunhua pointed, he saw nothing but a vast, churning sea.

That’s right. Nian Zanli’s army had just climbed to high ground, but the waves had risen even higher, completely submerging that high ground as well.

"His men were drowned too! His situation is no better than yours!" Hee Chunhua’s face was flushed red. "Besides, for him to use such an earth-shattering Divine Technique, do you think he paid no price? That idiot! That kind of Divine Technique is not something a mortal should be using!"

One can only wield Divine Techniques commensurate with one’s own power.

To try and punch above one’s weight always comes with a price.

"General Zhao, Heaven has not abandoned us!"

These words struck Zhao Pan like a lightning bolt, clearing his mind completely.

That’s right. His mission was to defend against the enemy in the north. As long as he stopped the Xunzhou Soldiers from advancing south, he would have completed his task.

His own army had suffered a heavy blow, but how much better off was Nian Zanli?

This chaotic battle had turned into an exchange of pieces—a bloody, brutal exchange—but he hadn’t lost yet!

He asked Hee Chunhua, "What about your men?"

"I have two thousand left! You can use them all!"

"Good!" Zhao Pan wiped the water from his face and ordered his elite troops to assemble. He gathered eight hundred men, added the Xiazhou Army as the backbone, and charged toward Nian Zanli’s battered remnants.

At a time like this, whoever regained their senses first would have the advantage. Zhao Pan’s side had banners waving and war drums beating, scaring the Xunzhou Soldiers who had just escaped the water into scattering and fleeing. In contrast, the Yuan Soldiers saw their own side’s strength and quickly rallied to them.

As they gave chase, the number of soldiers they gathered actually grew larger and larger.

Something seemed to have gone wrong on Nian Zanli’s side. His army was fleeing west along the river, and their main banner had even fallen, making them look especially panicked.

By now, Hong Chenglu and his companions had retreated to a safe forested area, looking down on the battlefield from a high vantage point.

Wuu Qing stood beside him and sighed deeply. "Neither side came out of this well."

The outcome of this battle was truly unexpected.

Hong Chenglu looked up toward the East, a faint smile finally appearing on his face. "It seems I can return to Beiga ahead of schedule."

He was tightly clutching the comb in his hand.

————

This concludes the *Dunyu* volume. The next Chapter begins the new *Demon Nest* arc.

2022.11.17