“Let’s go!”
“Return, neither wind nor rain, neither joy nor sorrow!”
“Listen, the Taiping Jing scroll I took is buried beneath the shrine of the mountain god. Only one of the three scrolls is missing. Please, find the last one… fulfill my wish!” Geshuanwa was still shouting hoarsely behind him, but Liu Dashao ignored him completely, slowly walking away and leaving Geshuanwa only with a gray silhouette. The dream that had long flowed into Geshuanwa’s blood was torn apart, crushed, and repeatedly trampled until it was utterly destroyed.
Below the cliff, the wave had passed, but the water level continued to rise. By the time they had finished speaking, it had already reached Fan Debiao’s knees.
Fan Debiao was the first to react. He let out a yelp and scrambled upward, quickly climbing up beside them. He said, “Damn it, Dashao, do you know what’s going on? Why did the flood come out of nowhere?”
In fact, Liu Dashao had already figured it out when the first wave hit. However, he hadn’t had the chance to explain before the next waves left him unable to even open his mouth. He shouted loudly, “In my opinion, this place is half underwater and half above. We didn’t check the terrain when we arrived, but behind this ridge must have been a river. The explosion’s force was too strong—it blew through the rock wall, causing the water to rush in. Judging from the earlier wave, that river must be quite large.”
Fan Debiao nodded and said, “So that’s why we saw water seeping through the rock wall when we arrived. It must have been from that river.”
Liu Dashao nodded in agreement.
As the two were talking, Daguo and the others climbed up as well. Daguo said urgently, “We need to move quickly—the water is about to catch up with us.”
Hearing Daguo’s words, Liu Dashao looked down and saw that the water level had risen even more, and its speed had increased. Without even a moment to be surprised, he started climbing upward with all his strength.
After climbing for about four or five minutes, Fan Debiao shouted that he couldn’t go on and asked for a break. Daguo looked down and saw that they were about twenty meters above the water—there was no way the flood could catch up with them anytime soon. He told everyone to rest briefly but to keep an eye on the water level.
Resting on the cliff face was exhausting, so Liu Dashao found a foothold to catch his breath. Suddenly, an idea struck him—he remembered the map on the silk painting showed the mountain’s terrain, and there had been no river marked. It seemed a bit of a stretch to call this water a river.
As Liu Dashao was about to ask Daguo for his thoughts, he suddenly heard the sound of trickling water. Everyone was drawn by the sound. Jackson pointed at the cave in the cliff wall and said, “Look! The sound is coming from there!”
At Jackson’s words, everyone followed his finger and saw small streams of water spewing from multiple spots on the wall. It was clearly a side effect of the earlier explosion. At that moment, Liu Dashao’s only hope was that the opposite cliff wouldn’t collapse entirely, or they’d all be done for.
Suddenly, Fan Debiao shouted, “Look! There’s something on the water!”
At Fan Debiao’s shout, everyone’s nerves tensed again. They followed his pointing finger and saw a red object wriggling on the surface. Suddenly, it leapt out of the water and clung to the cliff wall. At first glance, it was none other than that “zongzi” (undead corpse)!
The creature had changed—it was now thin and emaciated, bright red all over, with long claws on its hands and feet. Liu Dashao recognized it because its head remained unchanged, still the size of a basketball. Instead of being blown to ashes by the explosion, it had mutated into something even more terrifying. The sight of it made Liu Dashao’s scalp tingle and his head feel like it was about to explode. The creature turned its head toward the group, pushed off with its legs, and charged straight at them.
Just when the rising water had already put them in a difficult situation, now this “zongzi” had appeared—truly, the things you fear most always seem to come true.
This was no time to rest—escaping for their lives was the priority. Liu Dashao looked up and saw that Fan Debiao and Jackson had already climbed far ahead. He cursed inwardly, “Damn it! Weren’t you just saying you were out of strength? Now danger comes and you run faster than a rabbit!”
The creature was incredibly fast. It quickly caught up and was about to reach Liu Dashao’s feet. Liu Dashao was so shocked he couldn’t help but scream and climbed upward with all his might.
Suddenly, a red flash zipped past Liu Dashao, nearly making him lose his grip and fall. He looked up, surprised to see the creature had bypassed him and was now heading straight for Fan Debiao. Liu Dashao was puzzled—why hadn’t the creature targeted him?
Liu Dashao shouted, “Fan Debiao, watch out! That zongzi is coming for you!”
When Fan Debiao heard Liu Dashao’s warning, he looked down and shouted, “Holy crap!” before scrambling upward with all his strength. No matter how fast Fan Debiao climbed, he couldn’t match the creature’s speed. Within a second or two, it had caught up. Fan Debiao turned his head and let out a scream, but before he could react, the creature lunged. Fan Debiao twisted his body sideways, narrowly dodging the attack. The creature missed, turned around, and prepared to strike again. But Fan Debiao quickly climbed upward, moving so fast his backpack slipped off and fell directly onto Liu Dashao.
Suddenly, a loud “boom” came from behind. Liu Dashao turned his head and saw a tsunami-like wave surging toward them. Even the creature hesitated for a moment in shock, but the wave didn’t hit it. Instead, it crashed onto the water’s surface, instantly creating a massive whirlpool that began pulling everything on the surface into it.
Liu Dashao realized this must be the result of the underground palace’s structure—the water was draining too quickly, creating the whirlpool. At least for now, the water level seemed to have stopped rising, but he couldn’t be sure it wouldn’t rise again. Without hesitation, Liu Dashao slung Fan Debiao’s backpack over his shoulder and resumed climbing.
Just as he started climbing again, he saw the creature charging straight at him. Liu Dashao was puzzled—why had it ignored him before but now targeted him again? A sudden thought struck him—could it be that something in Fan Debiao’s backpack was what the creature wanted?
He quickly unzipped the backpack and immediately understood. The “Human Scroll” of the Taiping Jing was still inside Fan Debiao’s pack—was the creature here to steal it? Liu Dashao quickly devised a plan.
Without thinking twice, he closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and threw the backpack straight into the whirlpool. Just as he had suspected, the creature was indeed after the scroll. As soon as Liu Dashao threw the pack, the creature pushed off with its legs and dove into the whirlpool after it, disappearing into the swirling water, its limbs and head appearing and vanishing as it was torn apart.
A wave of relief washed over him as he caught his breath on the cliff wall, finally recovering a bit of strength. Just then, Fan Debiao shouted from above, “Dashao, climb faster!”
At Fan Debiao’s shout, Liu Dashao realized the water level must be rising again, meaning the whirlpool was approaching. If he got sucked in, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Liu Dashao looked up and confirmed his fear. Without looking back, he pushed himself to climb as hard as he could. The others followed suit, climbing desperately.
After about two minutes, Liu Dashao estimated they were about ten meters from the top, while the others were about five meters ahead. He took a deep breath, preparing for one final push—he had to make it to survive.
Just as Liu Dashao inhaled deeply, he suddenly felt a chill on his foot. He looked down—bad news! The whirlpool had reached his foot and was rapidly climbing upward. Without hesitation, he kept climbing.
The whirlpool’s speed didn’t slow—it only accelerated. Every time Liu Dashao climbed a section upward, the water would catch up with his other foot. He tried to climb faster, but he had already reached his limit. Panic surged through him.
Looking up, he saw that the others had already reached the top and were watching anxiously. Fan Debiao shouted furiously, “Dashao, hurry up! The whirlpool is catching you!”
Liu Dashao tried to stay calm and replied, “Don’t worry. I’ve lived a legendary life—I won’t die here!”
With that, he climbed furiously upward. The whirlpool continued its relentless pursuit.
The situation remained tense as Liu Dashao drew closer and closer to the top—three meters, two meters, one meter. He was almost there. As Fan Debiao saw Liu Dashao approaching, he reached out to pull him up. Liu Dashao extended his left hand to meet him, but suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his right arm. “Damn it! Did my wound reopen?” His whole body shuddered, and he fell backward. His mind went blank, and faintly, he seemed to see the Black and White Impermanents approaching.
Suddenly, something struck him from behind. The impact sent his insides churning, his head spinning, and a wave of nausea washed over him, as if his skull were about to explode. His vision darkened, and he lost consciousness.
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