บท 15: Torrential Waters
Back at Heavenly Path Mountain, the Sect Elders were enveloped by a state of chaos. Many were yelling and talking over one another, trying to convince the others that their own plan was the superior course of action. This all started earlier that morning, soon after Yaan and his group departed into the Northern wilderness for the day's hunting.
A messenger arrived from the adjacent Thunder Steel Mountain, the location of the Thunder Sword School. The Thunder Sword School was the most recently established group in the Greenwood mountain range and had a decent relationship with the Heavenly Path Sect. The founder of the Thunder Sword School was actually a previous member of the Swift Sword School, but he left his sect after losing a battle to the school leader. From there, he established his own rival sword school. Since the Heavenly Path Sect was often at odds with the Swift Sword School, they naturally became close with the Thunder Sword School that was established by a deserter of their enemy.
The reason for this messenger's arrival was actually to request aid from the Heavenly Path Sect against a sudden beast tide! Learning that their neighbour was encountering a beast tide at the exact same time as them sent the Sect Elders into a panic.
This news suggested that they had severely underestimated the scale of this beast tide.
The Thunder Sword School's scouts were nearly all slaughtered during their excursion, but the one remaining survivor managed to report back that a Rank 5 Cricket King was leading the assault.
Two Rank 5 beasts leading two separate attacks, this was simply too much for it to be a coincidence.
Nobody dared to imagine it, but this situation suggested a horrifying possibility…that an even stronger beast was leading a joint attack against the two mountains!
When the Elders realised this, they immediately wanted to send an envoy to the mountain to their West, the Fire Dragon Mountain, home to the Fire Dragon Sect. The Fire Dragon Sect was their greatest enemy, but this unexpected calamity washed away any hatred and replaced it with fear of the unknown. With such a heavy terror racking their ranks, how could they still care about their petty enmity with the other sects?
Just as the Thunder Sword School envoy was sent off, another piece of dire news came in. The beast tide had suddenly increased in intensity, taking the lower strength groups by surprise and resulting in massive casualties! The Elders were unable to sit around after hearing that their disciples were in danger, immediately rushing into the Northern wilderness to execute a hasty rescue mission.
Great Elder Wan also joined in on this.
"Why do I feel nervous, as if I care for him? He's just a demon, a sect member only as a cover. Sigh, I really don't know anymore…" Great Elder Wan muttered to himself, a hint of confusion and hesitation flashing across his face.
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By rushing crazily in his panic to escape from the Rank 2 steel back gorilla, Yaan inadvertently ran directly over the edge of a sheer cliff face!
Their group had been gradually venturing deeper into the wilderness on each expedition, pushing the limits and exploring further and further. This was the farthest they had explored yet, thus Yaan was completely unaware that he would encounter a sudden drop in this place.
The sensation of falling rapidly, accelerating downwards towards the distant ground, was new to him. He quickly span his body around, adjusting himself mid air such that his feet were pointing downwards. As his heart raced rapidly, he squinted down in the direction of his descent.
"Yaan!"
"Eh?"
Only now did he became aware of Rui's voice. She had been calling out to him ever since he was hit by the gorilla, but he was previously too disoriented and his mind in disarray. Now that he was in this adrenaline inducing situation, his mind sobered up slightly and he heard her calm yet urgent voice.
"Stab your sword into the cliff to slow your descent."
Yaan's eyes brightened at her suggestion. He grabbed onto his sword and removed it from the sheath, then stabbed with full strength into the chalky cliff face. He only just managed to reach the cliff with the tip of his sword, but he was unable to fully penetrate the rock. Instead, he ended up pushing himself back even further away from the rocky wall, causing him to helplessly roll backwards through the air!
"There's a river below, straighten your body and enter the water feet first."
Seeing that the plan had failed, Rui didn't panic but instead changed her instructions to reflect the next best course of action.
Yaan awkwardly turned himself, just in time to see the rapidly approaching glistening blue surface.
Splash!
A tremendous force assaulted his body, putting pressure on his organs and forcing the air out from his lungs. Had he not strengthened his body to the Peak 1-Star realm, then this force would certainly have knocked him unconscious.
As it was, Yaan's mind became dazed. A few seconds later, he regained his faculties, noticing that he was underwater and hurriedly paddling up towards the surface.
He splashed about in an agitated frenzy, pushed by the water currents further down stream.
"Yaan, don't panic, swim across to the river bank on your right."
"I…*cough*…can't swim…"
Even Rui was taken back as he said this. She had to remind herself that Yaan was just a child from a small rural village, it was natural that he had never been taught to swim.
He followed her instructions, painfully making his way across to the river bank whilst swallowing multiple pints of water.
"Hah…hah…hah…"
Yaan gasped for breath and collapsed onto his back, taking a few minutes to recover his strength.
He sat up and stared at the river, then frowned as he raised his gaze and saw the hundred foot tall cliff on the other side of the rapidly flowing water.
"This…did I actually go past the sect territory boundary?" Yaan recounted the information he had learned about the sect's outer territories and how the Northern border was defined by a thin river located just past a small cliff.
"What thin river and small cliff, this cliff is over a hundred feet tall and the river a hundred feet wide!"
"For Spirit Core realm Qi masters like that Elder Wan, crossing this river and scaling that cliff is but a small matter, so they consider these features small." Rui pointed out.
"It's still the biggest I've ever seen…" Yaan muttered.
"Your world view is still narrow."
Ignoring Rui's words, Yaan picked himself up off the ground and looked around. He was lying on a sandy bank by the river, with the Northern wilderness extending behind him and the river in front.
"How should I get back?"
He would need to cross the river and scale the cliff to return. Unfortunately, he had already been washed quite far down stream and would again by tossed around by the strong current if he tried to cross the body of water with his petty swimming skills.
To begin with, he decided to walk back down along the riverbank, retracing the distance he travelled when the river swept him downstream. Yaan felt wary as he travelled, not just because he was alone, but also because he lost his sword when he fell into the river. Without a weapon, he could only rely on his physical body and his Yuan Qi to fend off any beasts, which was far from ideal for someone as weak as he.
"Eh, what's that?"
Ten minutes into his riverside walk, Yaan paused and frowned. He strained his ears, then turned towards the direction of the forest.
Thud…thud…thud…
A continuous thudding sound could be heard from the wilderness, causing Yaan to raise his guard.
Thud thud thud thud thud thud!
The sound gradually built up in volume and intensity, until it reached a point where Rui became aware of the impending disaster.
"Yaan, dive into the river!" For whatever reason, she sounded even more urgent than when he was faced with the Rank 2 steel back gorilla!
"Huh?! But I can't swim!"
"There's a wave of beasts approaching, if you don't hide in the river then you will die. Dive below the surface and hold your breath!"
"Damnit!" Yaan cursed his bad luck, but reluctantly did as Rui instructed.
Almost at the same moment that his body descended below the surface, a beast with an appearance akin to an enraged bull emerged from the forest line.
Following this bull, tens of similar looking bulls appeared, one after the other. Within less than a minute, hundreds of bulls tore out from the wilderness, standing at the river side as they waited for something.
"Squark!"
The bulls all looked up towards a dark crow that flew above their heads arrogantly, before diving into the river as if following its orders.
Yaan didn't see any of this, but he felt a bull's hooves slam into his body and push him into the bottom of the river. After this painful experience, he tried to stay as close to the river bed as possible, but still found himself being trodden on and slammed into every few seconds.
None of these strikes were fatal, but he was quite badl battered and bruised after 5 minutes.
As a 1-Star and Qi Gathering realm fiend, he could hold his breath for a bit over 5 minutes without issue. He forced himself to hold out for as long as possible, only coming up for breath after 7 minutes.
He managed to raise to the surface by kicking up off the river bed, then scrambled awkwardly towards the river bank once again. Unfortunately, the current had picked up, forcing him back down below the surface before he could reach dry land. He tumbled about helplessly, his body slamming into jagged boulders below the water as he was driven towards the river centre.
The flow of water was chaotic and Yaan was thrown about like a rag-doll for an entire hour. By the time he dragged himself out, he was so exhausted that he passed out in a large bush besides the river.
This time spent in the river led him many miles down stream, far away from his original point of entry.
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