“What kind of damn formation is this? Made of paper?!”
Li Shun’s expression changed drastically as he stared at the towering flood surging across the horizon like a roaring silver river.
In the very instant he cursed inwardly, the faint golden barrier covering Lengshan County let out a strained, mournful cry before shattering with a thunderous crash. It broke apart into countless dazzling golden fragments, scattering through the sky like a rain of tragic blossoms.
Yet over by the county yamen, the formation seemed to have been pushed to its absolute limit. Golden light erupted brilliantly, condensing into a solid, unbreakable cage of gold.
With the barrier gone, the raging flood smashed through the city gates in an instant, sweeping across the entire county with unstoppable force.
The surging waters rampaged like a feral dragon, effortlessly devouring streets and buildings alike. The disaster struck too suddenly and too violently. The townsfolk had no time to escape before they were dragged into the churning, murky currents amid desperate, heart-wrenching screams.
“Fang Xun has gone completely mad. He doesn’t care about the people’s lives at all!”
“Good thing I prepared in advance!”
The current Li Shun was no longer the cripple he once was. Having regained his youth, his movements were swift and agile. Just before the flood engulfed his residence, he slipped cleanly into an underground tunnel.
At what had once been the deepest point of the tunnel, he had carved out an additional upward passage. At its end, he forcefully dug out a cramped hidden chamber, barely three feet across. The walls of this chamber had long been planted with faintly glowing Lengshan Grass.
The moment Li Shun crawled in, cold, murky water surged in from below, rapidly rising. It threatened to swallow his final refuge at any moment.
“Take it in!”
Forcing himself to stay calm, Li Shun extended one hand and touched the rising water.
In an instant, the water that came into contact with his palm vanished completely. As more water surged in, he repeated the process again and again without pause.
After an unknown number of repetitions, the flooding finally came to a halt. No more water rose into the chamber.
Meanwhile, within the Fangcun space, the previously empty region had already been filled to the brim with muddy floodwater.
The accumulated water formed a vast abyss, like an inverted ocean suspended in midair.
Fortunately, each region within Fangcun was isolated from the others. This enormous volume of water did not spill into neighboring areas. However, constrained by invisible boundaries, the water could only rise endlessly upward, forming a towering column that stretched beyond sight.
“How much water did I just store?”
Li Shun shook his head, feeling a wave of dizziness wash over him.
This wasn’t backlash from overloading Fangcun, but rather the result of exhausting his divine sense through hundreds, perhaps thousands, of forced collections.
“If I didn’t need to physically touch objects to store them in Fangcun, I wouldn’t have been reduced to such a clumsy method.”
“If I could collect things from a distance, I alone could have easily resolved this entire flood.”
The dim glow of Lengshan Grass illuminated his uncertain expression.
He tilted his head upward, as though trying to see through layers of earth to the surface.
“I’ve escaped this disaster for now, but I’m still trapped underground. I’ll wait a bit longer. If things don’t improve before dawn, I may have no choice but to activate Threefold Self-Reflection again.”
Fortunately, his worries did not come to pass.
Around nine in the evening, Li Shun keenly noticed that the floodwaters within the tunnels had begun to recede.
Clearing away the remaining water as he went, he struggled back to the surface through the muddy, slippery passage. By the time he emerged, he was drenched from head to toe, covered in filth, looking no better than someone dragged out of a swamp.
Looking around, his once-familiar courtyard had been reduced to ruins. The walls had collapsed, and the air was thick with the stench of blood and faint traces of decay.
Yet compared to the other townsfolk, Li Shun’s situation was already far better.
All around him, Lengshan City lay in devastation. Countless innocent lives had been tragically lost in this sudden calamity.
“Fang Xun has lost his mind…”
Having lived here for decades, Li Shun couldn’t help but feel a deep sorrow as he saw familiar faces reduced to cold corpses.
But Fang Xun was far from insane.
On the contrary, he was experiencing unprecedented triumph.
“To single-handedly capture the remnants of Xiang Kingdom! With such a monumental achievement, I can directly ascend to the eleventh rank of nobility, ‘Sub-Minister (Yaqing),’ and step into the ranks of Great Qian’s high officials!”
Fang Xun’s usually gloomy face was now flushed with intense excitement.
He paced back and forth in the depths of the great prison, venting the excitement surging within him.
In the damp, frigid darkness of the dungeon, Fang Xun strode restlessly, as though the agitation in his chest might spill over at any moment.
Fortunately, he had not been completely blinded by greed, “Capturing him alive is one thing, but only by escorting this brat safely back to the capital will this merit truly be secured. Besides, this matter is of great importance. I cannot keep it from Master. I must report it immediately.”
Just as Fang Xun was calculating his next steps, a series of muffled groans and struggling noises came from a nearby cell.
The source was none other than Xiong Jin’s nephew.
The towering man, built like an iron tower, was now bound tightly in layers of refined steel chains. His bare muscles were branded with dense, black, grotesque symbols. Though he once possessed strength capable of uprooting mountains, under such suppression he could not muster even a fraction of it.
Fang Xun cast him a sidelong glance, his eyes filled with disdain. Without hesitation, he kicked him hard and sneered, “Behave yourself!”
After issuing strict orders to the jailers to guard the prisoner closely, Fang Xun flicked his sleeve and departed, returning to the rear office.
Back in his study, he followed his usual routine without deviation. He washed his face, cleansed his hands, and adjusted his attire with meticulous precision.
Only then did he light incense and summon the mirror.
Yet this time, for some reason, his Master did not respond for quite a while.
As the fragrance of incense curled through the air, Fang Xun lit a second stick.
After some time, his Master’s dignified voice finally echoed faintly through the rippling surface.
“Shensi, what is it this time?”
Fang Xun took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his excitement, and reported in full detail how he had captured the remnant of the Xiang Kingdom alive.
“Good! Shensi, I truly did not misjudge you!” The smoke churned violently, and the voice carried undisguised satisfaction.
After years of painstaking maneuvering, he had finally earned recognition. Fang Xun’s eyes grew moist with emotion. He immediately dropped to his knees, kowtowing repeatedly in gratitude to his Master.
His Master offered a few more words of encouragement before his tone suddenly turned grave.
“You must personally oversee this matter and guard him strictly. At dawn tomorrow, the Black-Robed Envoys will arrive to take custody.”
Fang Xun nodded repeatedly in acknowledgment.
After respectfully bidding farewell, he did not dare slack off, keeping watch in the prison throughout the entire night.
At daybreak the next morning, a squad of Blackclad Envoys arrived, riding the clouds as they descended from the sky.
They wore heavy black armor, ferocious fang-like masks, and rode armored qilin steeds. A suffocating aura of killing intent surrounded them.
The leading envoy reined in his mount and looked down at Lengshan County below, now ravaged by floodwaters, letting out a faint sound of surprise.
Fang Xun’s heart skipped a beat, but his expression remained calm as he stepped forward to explain,
“Brother Zhao, you may not know this, but that criminal is extremely cunning. He not only melted the ice with fire but also flooded the city without hesitation. Fortunately, I managed to capture him alive in time, preventing an even greater disaster.”
The envoy leader nodded slightly, a chilling coldness seeping through his mask.
“I see. A villain of such brutality. Once he is escorted back to the capital, he will be flayed, his bones ground to dust. Only then can we deter the wicked under heaven.”
Fang Xun nodded in agreement again and again.
The Black-Robed Envoys did not exchange further pleasantries. Escorting Xiong Jin’s nephew, they transformed into streaks of light and sped toward the Sacred Capital.
Only after their figures vanished completely into the horizon did Fang Xun’s tightly drawn face finally relax into an uncontrollable smile of triumph. In his mind, he was already indulging in visions of a meteoric rise to power.
…
The Black-Robed Envoys traveled swiftly. Just as they were about to leave the borders of Lengshan, a sudden change occurred.
The dozens of riders, who had been traversing the air, abruptly withdrew their light and descended without warning.
At the very moment they landed, both the envoys and their armored qilin mounts twisted unnaturally. In an instant, they all transformed into paper-thin figures, as light as cicada wings, drifting down in scattered pieces upon the ground.
“…?!”
Under the stunned gaze of Xiong Jin’s nephew, a frail and slender figure slowly emerged from the overgrown grass ahead.
The youth’s complexion was pale with a faint sickly hue. His features were delicate, almost possessing a feminine beauty.
With his hands tucked into his sleeves, he looked at the fallen man surrounded by eerie paper figures, a faint smile playing on his lips.
Then, in a teasing tone, he said, “Well, well… isn’t this Jiang Chongguang, who prides himself as a peerless hero? How did you end up in such a sorry state today?”