knife

Chapter 563 A Startling Moment

Jiang Qian raised both hands, grabbed Li Dachui's shoulders, and pushed herself down, her head landing on Li Dachui's chest.

At this moment, the petulance she felt earlier had vanished without a trace, and the shyness that belonged to a woman finally surged uncontrollably into her heart, her face flushed red, and her body burning hot.

I just felt incredibly hot.

Looking up at Li Dachui, I saw him raise one hand, fiddle with it a few times, and then the part on his head that had been opened closed silently again.

Surprisingly, the tube wasn't dark inside; instead, it emitted a soft light. Jiang Qian pressed her face against Li Dachui's chest and turned her head to the side, only to be surprised to find that she could actually see what was happening outside. The sides of the tube were transparent.

She heard a very faint buzzing sound.
Seeing the outer hatch open,

Then water suddenly gushed in.

"gone!"

Jiang Qian heard Li Dachui's voice and then felt the tube being pushed violently by something, causing it to dart out.

The surroundings turned completely black.

"Are we walking on the bottom of the river?" Jiang Qian asked in a trembling voice. She had never experienced anything like this before.

"Of course!" Li Dachui raised both hands and poked at a panel above his head. "Want to see the scenery at the bottom of the river?"

"What do you think?"

“There are lights outside!” Li Dachui laughed. “If you want to see them, I can turn on the lights outside. Of course, this is adding insult to injury with our limited energy, but it doesn’t matter. We have enough left to get out of the Cloud Mist Mountain area and onto the shore. There are towering mountains on both sides, and your men can’t keep up with me!”

"At this point, they're probably still holding out outside that ship, completely unaware that we've already come out!"

"Indeed, this is a dimensional reduction attack!" Li Dachui laughed and turned on the outside lights.

The tributary itself has clear water, but because it is deep enough, the water looks somewhat bluish-black. When the lights are turned on, the scenery within a few feet around is immediately visible.

Bathed in light, the underwater world transformed into a kaleidoscope of colors. Green seaweed danced with the waves, and the stones, shells, and vegetation seemed to glow with vibrant hues. The light shimmered and danced with the current, creating a dreamlike scene. Beside the rapidly moving tube, various fish, large and small, swam about. Jiang Qian even spotted an enormous fish, larger than the tube itself, which, upon spotting them, lashed out at them with its tail, its menacing teeth suggesting it intended to swallow the entire tube whole.

However, no matter how fast it swims, it can't outrun this tube.

In the blink of an eye, the giant fish was left far behind.

Jiang Qian gazed greedily at the underwater world. Even the Empress Dowager, a master of innate cultivation, had never had the chance to appreciate the underwater scenery like this before!

At that moment, she even forgot that their current situation was rather awkward.

The beeping sound in her ears brought Jiang Qian back to reality.

She turned her head, rested her chin on Li Dachui's chest, and glanced upwards: "What's wrong?"

"Power depletion! This is an alarm!" Li Dachui said. "I need to open the escape pod door, otherwise, without power, we won't be able to open this thing and we'll suffocate inside."

"Still underwater!" Jiang Qian exclaimed.

“Yes, underwater, without energy, this thing can’t move or float, it’ll sink! But I estimate it should be more than ten miles away from Cloud Mist Mountain now.” Li Dachui smiled and raised his hand to press on the panel above his head.

The hatch above slowly opened, and river water immediately poured in.

"Go!" Li Dachui grabbed Jiang Qian with one arm and slid out of the cabin. Then he punched the bottom of the cabin with his fist. With a whoosh, the cabin shot straight into the water like an arrow and with a hiss, most of it was stuck in the riverbed.

Then, with a powerful kick, it rose towards the river surface like a giant hammer.

Looking down at Jiang Qian in his arms, who was keeping her eyes and mouth closed and her face was already flushed red, Li Dachui suddenly realized that the woman in his arms had lost all her power and was no longer the innate master she used to be.

She is now a weak woman with no strength to even kill a chicken, but at the bottom of this river, she could be deadly.

The flow of Qi from heaven and earth circulated and entered Jiang Qian's body.
Jiang Qian's face, which had been turning purple from holding her breath, finally calmed down.

The blue star within her body immediately became active. The Qi of Heaven and Earth that Li Dachui transferred into Jiang Qian's body transformed into countless blue sparks upon contact with the blue star, which then circulated within Jiang Qian's body. When these sparks returned to Li Dachui's body, they naturally transformed back into Qi of Heaven and Earth.

After these several cycles, Jiang Qian could clearly feel that the Phoenix Flame within her body had grown considerably stronger than when she was on the mountain.

She now hopes that Li Dachui can continue to hold her hand like this, so that the Qi of Heaven and Earth can flow continuously within their bodies, thus shortening her recovery time.

But a moment later, they reached the shore. Li Dachui took Jiang Qian's hand and walked up the riverbank step by step.

"How does it feel?" Li Dachui asked with a smile. "I finally experienced what it's like to be on the verge of death!" Jiang Qian replied.

"I've gotten so used to you being a strong person that I forgot about your current situation!"

"Habit? I'm like this because of you!" Jiang Qian retorted angrily.

Li Dachui laughed heartily, then turned to look at Jiang Qian, his eyes widening in disbelief. Jiang Qian's clothes were completely soaked at the bottom of the river.

Jiang Qian was dressed in loose-fitting clothes, her garments fluttering in the wind, making her appear like an immortal descending to earth.

However, her wet clothes clung tightly to her body. Since it was hot and she was dressed lightly, mostly in gauze, the wetness revealed Jiang Qian's graceful figure.

No wonder it feels so soft when squeezed into the tube now.

Feeling Li Dachui's gaze, Jiang Qian turned away embarrassedly, trying to shake off Li Dachui's hand.

Li Dachui realized what was happening, chuckled to himself, and countless blue sparks flew up, swirling around Jiang Qian and completely enveloping her.

When the sparks subsided again, Jiang Qian's clothes had dried completely, and with a gust of river breeze, she once again looked like an ethereal, otherworldly immortal.

"Where do we go now?" Standing on the river embankment, looking back at the distant Yunwu Mountain, it was just a hazy shadow.

"Let's go to Gaochao Village. Ke Wuji is there waiting to meet me!" Li Dachui said. "But I'm not very familiar with this area, and I don't know where Gaochao Village is. Let's find someone to ask first!"

"I know!"

"How do you know that?"

"Because I grew up in this area!" Jiang Qian said.

Ke Wuji was naturally very familiar with the area around Yunwu Mountain, but he still found this mission quite difficult.

Think about it, Li Dachui really angered Jiang Qian.

Ke Wuji had experienced firsthand the methods that woman used.

"Elder, look!" Chen Wan pointed at the river and exclaimed.

Ke Wuji's heart sank slightly. On the river, countless sails were rising up the river, and a large flag with the character "Chen" fluttering among them indicated who was leading this naval force.

"Chen Yan!" Ke Wuji gasped. "He has finally sided with Xiang Ying and Xiong Yi! Now that they're here, they're naturally here to block Jiang Qian's navy at Yunwu Mountain."

"Elder, so it seems that Xiang Ying and his coup d'état has succeeded!" Chen Wan exclaimed with delight, "Protector Li has achieved his goal!"

"It has been achieved, but I'm wondering how the Protector-General will extricate himself once the news reaches Cloud Mist Mountain?"

“The Protector-General has his own way of doing things!” Chen Wan said. “He’s a master of the Innate Realm, what can’t he do!”

“Jiang Qian is also a master of the Innate Realm!” Ke Wuji said worriedly, “There are so many masters in our sect at Cloud Mist Mountain, and they all support Jiang Qian!”

These words made Chen Wan worry.

"Let's go back. Now all we can do is wait!" Ke Wuji said. "Perhaps when we return, the young master will already be waiting for us!"

The so-called Gaochao Village is a small village with only a dozen or so households.

However, in such a mountainous area, it is already quite good that there are more than a dozen households living together. The house where Ke Wuji is staying is even further away from those houses, standing alone halfway up the mountain.

There was still some distance between the three thatched huts when Ke Wuji saw a person standing on a big tree in front of the hut, with his hands behind his back, admiring the mountain scenery. Looking at that figure, who else could it be but Li Dachui?

Ke Wuji was overjoyed and rushed over.

"Protector, you're back?"

"You're back!" Li Dachui looked at Ke Wuji and smiled, "Elder Ke, you've worked hard."

"It's not hard work, it's the Protector who has worked hard!" Ke Wuji chuckled, then suddenly turned his head and saw a woman standing on the threshold of the thatched hut, looking at him with a half-smile.

"Jiang Qian!" Ke Wuji jumped up in surprise.

Chen Wan, who arrived later, spotted Jiang Qian first, and her exclamation was truly deafening!
(End of this chapter)