Guided by the 'hundred beasts' commanded by Lingyuan, the people of Chenyu Vale supported the elderly and carried the young, swarming into the various mountain shelters prepared in advance by Changsheng and Fujin in a panicked yet orderly fashion.
Inside the caves, the crying of children and the low sobbing of adults intertwined, filling the air with fear of the unknown disaster.
Watching the terrified state of the populace, Fujin's heart could not bear it, and her instinct was to go and comfort them.
However, a wisp of adeptal energy she had specifically left on the Bishui River transmitted an urgent warning at that very moment.
The water level was rising sharply!
The original riverbank had long since disappeared; the turbid river water had already swallowed the weeds and low shrubs by the shore and was spreading toward the wider land.
Her heart tightened. Disregarding everything else, she immediately found Changsheng, who was checking the structural integrity of the final shelter.
"The river water..." Fujin began.
Changsheng had already understood her intent and spoke decisively, "Go quickly to prepare the 'Jade Casting' ritual. You must stabilize the downstream river channel and minimize the impact as much as possible! I will go north and buy you a little more time!"
Fujin worried, "But the people here..."
"The number of shelters is sufficient. Lingyuan and the mountain beasts will ensure everyone enters the safety zone," Changsheng replied.
"But Lingyuan, she..."
"I have already spoken with her. She will stay to comfort the people. Rest assured."
Fujin opened her mouth, wanting to say something more. "Oh my, just let me say a few words..."
Changsheng shook her head, raising her volume with a teasing tone, "Why are you such a fussy fish? I have already arranged everything you're worried about! Now, go complete your ritual immediately. Go!"
Fujin originally had many exhortations and jokes she wanted to say, but the imminent disaster before her eyes and her friend's resolute attitude made her unable to suppress her sorrow and worry any longer. It all ultimately turned into a single, trembling shout:
"You must be careful!"
Changsheng stood with her back to her, her voice returning to its usual calm, even carrying a trace of reassurance. "We have both cultivated into adepti; we are not that fragile."
"Then I'm going!" Fujin nodded forcefully and turned resolutely to leave.
But after taking just a few steps, an extremely terrible, ominous premonition suddenly seized her heart.
She hurriedly turned back, wanting to call out to that figure:
"Right! There is one more thing..."
However, the space behind her was empty. Changsheng's figure had already transformed into a stream of light, vanishing into the mountain forest.
Fujin stood frozen in place. She lowered her head dejectedly and said softly, in a voice almost audible only to herself:
"Thank you... for being willing to be my friend."
She seemed to be muttering to herself, yet also pouring out her worries to the air. "If Lingyuan comes back and can't find us..."
But she quickly shook her head vigorously, casting aside the chaotic thoughts, her eyes becoming firm once more. "No! Now is not the time to think about this!"
Without any further hesitation, Fujin immediately rushed to the pre-selected location, took out the Jade Votive used for the ritual, and swiftly ascended the west side of Mount Linghao.
From here, she could see the Bishui River taking a large bend below.
Fujin did not make any complex ritual preparations; she simply held a Jade Votive in her hands and infused her adeptal energy directly into it.
...
On the north side of Mount Mingyuan, the scene was one of earth-shattering destruction.
The top of the saddle of Mount Mingyuan had been forcefully sheared off!
The massive cross-section lay exposed, with mud and stones mixed with vegetation sliding down continuously, pouring into the reservoir area fed by the high waters of Fontaine above, dyeing the originally clear water body a turbid yellow-brown.
This yellow-brown torrent sprayed madly out along several huge gaps cleaved into the mountain body, forming several terrifying waterfalls of unprecedented scale, roaring as they crashed into the main channel of the Bishui River below!
The surging water mist permeated the valley, even forming an illusory and brilliant rainbow under the refraction of the sunlight, creating a bizarre contrast with this scene of destruction.
The maddened Archon had recovered her breath slightly.
She continued to hold that gem longsword high, hacking even more vigorously at the fragile points of the breach!
With every swing of the sword, massive mountain rocks shattered and flew. Some crashed back into the water body above, splashing waves to the sky, while more fell into the abyss below along with the waterfalls.
Just then, a streak of pure white light shot over. Changsheng revealed her form, blocking the path between the Archon and the mountain body without hesitation.
Adeptal energy condensed in her right hand, manifesting a gleaming sword.
Seeing the Archon's next strike about to land on a critical point of the mountain, Changsheng immediately flew forward, raising her sword to block!
Clang—!!!
A deafening sound of metal colliding exploded! Although she barely blocked this strike containing divine power, the Archon's absolute advantage in strength instantly shattered the sword in Changsheng's hand inch by inch, turning it into powder!
Changsheng discarded the broken sword without hesitation, her hands rapidly forming seals to unleash adeptal arts.
The surrounding water currents rose in response, transforming into several ferocious water tornadoes. Carrying the power to bind and impact, they swept toward the Archon!
However, the Archon merely swept her sword horizontally. Wherever the sword light passed, all the water tornadoes shattered and evaporated instantly like fragile glass! The shockwave blasted Changsheng dozens of meters away, causing her blood and energy to churn.
Changsheng forcibly suppressed her discomfort, stabilized her figure in mid-air, and successively unleashed several binding or interfering adeptal spells. Light shone brilliantly, and talismans fluttered through the air.
But in the face of the absolute disparity in power, all of this was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot; not a single spell could withstand the power of a casual strike from the Archon.
Finally, the Archon seemed annoyed by this constant interference. She extended her empty left hand and pressed down toward Changsheng seemingly casually in the void.
Bang!
An invisible giant force pressed down like a mountain. Changsheng did not even have time to complete the next hand seal before she was ruthlessly swatted from the air, crashing into the turbid river water below and kicking up a massive spray over ten meters high!
Having temporarily cleared the interference, the Archon hovered above the water once more, gripping the gem longsword with both hands and raising it high above her head.
A layer of dark divine power, heavy as substance and heart-palpitating, gathered madly toward the blade, causing the entire sword to emit a devastating light.
She let out a roar that did not sound human, used all her strength, and slashed the sword down violently!
Rumble—!!!
A huge crack appeared instantly on the already teetering mountain saddle. Immediately after, several thicker cracks spread out like a spiderweb!
The entire saddle was overwhelmed and looked as if it were about to fall apart completely!
At this critical moment!
Splash—!
From the river water below, a massive white figure suddenly broke through the surface!
Changsheng revealed her true form as a white snake—a colossal creature fully ten feet thick!
Her slender body, partially covered in lustrous white scales, drilled out of the water like a tough jade ribbon, while the greater part remained hidden underwater, its length unknown!
The giant snake, having revealed her true form, moved at a speed surpassing limits along the alignment of the collapsing saddle. She used her massive body to firmly wrap around the huge, cracking mountain rocks!
She frantically infused her own adeptal energy into the rocks, attempting to bond the cracks and delay the disintegration; at the same time, every muscle in her body tensed, exploding with all her strength to bind the fragmented rock body tightly together. She constructed a final barrier with her own flesh and blood, stubbornly blocking the monstrous floodwaters behind!
Seeing this, the madness in the Archon's eyes grew even more intense. She charged her power again and slashed down viciously once more!
Squelch—!
A sword light of matchless sharpness flashed past, and the giant snake's tough body was forcibly severed, cut in two!
The intense pain caused the snake's body to spasm instantly, but instead of letting go, she coiled even tighter!
The white snake that was Changsheng let out a silent hiss. Mobilizing her remaining adeptal energy, the flesh and blood at the break squirmed madly, actually forcibly rejoining the severed body and once again pinning the split mountain rocks firmly back in place!
The Archon did not pause, slashing down twice more in succession!
Two more terrifying, bone-deep wounds were added to the giant snake's body, but she continued in the same manner, burning her life and adeptal energy to bridge the trauma and secure the mountain rocks!
When the Archon charged up and slashed out the third sword, the giant snake finally reached her limit.
The adeptal light at the wounds dimmed, unable to bridge the gap any longer. Crimson blood sprayed out like a fountain, instantly dyeing a large area of the surrounding river water a shocking red!
The lower half of her body had already lost sensation and broken away from her control, yet it instinctively continued to exert force, pinning down the rubble without the slightest relaxation, as if welded to the mountain body!
The Archon seemed thoroughly enraged by this stubborn resistance. She raised the gem longsword, now a symbol of destruction, high with both hands again. This time, the gathered divine power was as heavy as dark clouds pressing down, and the light from the blade was too blinding to look at directly!
Roar—!
Accompanied by a roar that tore through the sky, she brought the giant sword crashing down! The blade vibrated, actually sending out five massive blades of light—invisible yet containing the power to tear everything apart—crisscrossing as they slashed toward the white snake, who was already a spent force!
Pfft—! Pfft—! Pfft—! ...
The muffled sounds of sharp blades slicing through flesh and bone rang out in succession!
Under this terrifying slash, the giant snake, which had already been cut in two, was severed into fully seven segments!
The massive snake body was no longer able to support itself. Segment by segment, it slowly unraveled, loosened, and fell...
Lost of its final binding, the already overwhelmed mountain saddle collapsed completely with an earth-shattering boom!
More than tens of thousands of tons of giant rocks mixed with mud rolled down with a rumble, smashing into the river valley below and kicking up waves that emptied the sky!
The flood finally lost all obstruction!
Accumulated for who knows how long, the massive volume of water from the high sea of Fontaine let out a deafening roar!
A wall of yellow-brown water, dozens of meters high, surged out from the breach with the momentum to topple mountains and overturn seas, destroying everything!
The sound was as if thousands of thunderclaps had exploded simultaneously; it was the earth itself wailing. The immense impact caused the entire ground to tremble violently.
Wherever the flood passed, rocks were ground to powder and trees were uprooted, as if to completely reshape the entire valley!
And that maddened Archon seemed to feel that this destructive water momentum was not fierce enough.
She roared, and her longsword expanded rapidly, transforming into a mountain-sized phantom.
She wielded this 'giant sword' like a deranged child using a giant ladle. Again and again, she frantically 'scooped' more of the vast water body from above downward, intensifying this flood disaster...
With her 'assistance,' the breach was torn even wider. More water poured down like the Milky Way falling in reverse. The flood peak became even more terrifying, the waves surged higher, roaring as they joined this carnival of destruction!
____
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