Sword Roaring in the Sky

Chapter 313 Golden Life and Beautiful Water
As the pleasure boat reached the shore, Sun Yanwan watched the lake water ripple and suddenly realized, "Isn't this an earthquake?"
He hadn't personally experienced a natural disaster, but he had read countless reports. He hurriedly ordered everyone on the boat to disembark, abandon ship, and go ashore, thus relinquishing the two pleasure boats.

Just as they landed, there was a small hill nearby. Sun Yanwan led the group up the hill and saw that the turbid waves of Yanchi Lake suddenly rose up, as if a demon was causing trouble. The two smaller boats could not withstand the wind and waves and capsized on the spot. Several martial arts practitioners who were waiting for their friends on the boats fell into the lake and disappeared without much struggle.

The waves on Yanchi Lake grew larger and larger. Some people realized what was happening and hurriedly urged their boats to speed toward the shore, but most of them were too late. In an instant, more than ten boats were swallowed by the waves.

Although Sun Yanwan had watched various disaster documentaries online in her previous life, she had never actually witnessed such a shocking scene in person. Under such immense power of heaven and earth, personal martial arts skills were almost entirely useless.

He didn't know if he could escape this natural disaster with his martial arts skills.

However, if given a choice, Sun Yanwan would prefer to never know.

The water in Yanchi Lake rose continuously with the surging, turbid waves, and the lake surface had expanded by dozens of steps, submerging large areas of the fields and houses along the shore, and many trees along the shore were submerged up to waist height.

Those martial arts practitioners who managed to escape ashore used their lightness skills to flee frantically. Some leaped onto tall trees, others ran towards nearby high ground, and seven or eight even ran up the small hill where Sun Yanwan was.

These people were in a terrible state. When they saw that Sun Yanwan's group had many women, some of them immediately had an idea. Two of them came over and shouted, "Are you the sons and daughters of local officials?"

"Such a large flood must be dangerous. We are from a distinguished family and can protect you to a safe place."

Although Sun Yanwan was famous, not everyone knew him. He also brought too many female relatives with him. Apart from Yang Diao'er and Sun Lingdie, they were all maids and concubines of Elder Taishi and Xu Kaitian. He certainly didn't look like a martial arts person.

These two martial arts figures didn't look like disciples of prestigious schools; they seemed more like despicable villains. As for what they wanted to do, Sun Yanwan didn't care to know and simply sent one of the others out to deal with them.

Despite the Pegasus Gang member's repeated explanations that they didn't need help, the two men refused to back down and even raised their voices, shouting, "How dare you, mere servants, make decisions? Let the master come out and speak!"

Frustrated, Sun Yanwan used her extraordinary skill of striking pressure points in mid-air. With a casual flick of her wrist, she struck the pressure points on the legs of the two martial artists, causing their legs to buckle and they to collapse to the ground.

He said to his men, "Ask them what they want to do."

Several experienced members of the Tianma Gang went over and, after a little questioning, the two readily confessed. They had only wanted to kill the man and keep the woman for their own amusement, as well as rob her of some money, because the two looked like officials rather than martial artists.

The other people were not with these two. They were initially indignant that Sun Yanwan and the others had been captured for no reason, feeling that they were bullying others by taking advantage of their power. However, the martial art of striking pressure points in mid-air could only be performed by those with martial arts skills of the second or third rank or above, so they did not dare to come forward to speak up for justice.

After Sun Yanwan pressed them for answers, it turned out that these two were indeed no good. Once the good guys and bad guys were identified, these people actually became bolder, and one of them even came over to plead for them.

This man, showing some manners, cupped his hands and said, "Gentlemen, you are all distinguished and must be disciples of prestigious families. Although these two have despicable intentions, they have already realized their mistakes. Why not be magnanimous and forgive them, hoping they will correct their ways?"

Sun Yanwan rarely encountered such a person in his travels. Without wasting words with him, he knocked him down, broke his legs, and then ordered his men to throw the two troublemakers into the water, watching them disappear into the surging current.

His companions waited a long time before daring to come over and help the man away, keeping a safe distance from Sun Yanwan and the others.

Not long after, another group of people came up the hill. Seeing that Sun Yanwan's group had more people, they went to the other side. The two groups chatted briefly and then formed a group. By nightfall, the surrounding area was flooded, and it was unknown how far the water had submerged.

Sun Yanwan and the others were well-prepared. They lit a fire and prepared some food, which attracted frequent glances from the opposite side. Some people, unable to bear the hunger any longer, came over to ask if they could share some food and water.

Sun Yanwan did indeed take some, knowing that such a large flood could not last long.

Even if he couldn't retreat, as long as the waves didn't rise, he could still ride the waves with his lightness skill, so he wasn't too stingy with food.

At midnight, Sun Yanwan suddenly sensed some movement. She activated her Heavenly Vision and Earthly Hearing Technique and immediately discovered something in the southeast direction: something unknown emerged from the water.

Sun Yanwan gave Yang Diao'er a command and used his lightness skill to rush over, but as soon as he moved, the thing sensed it and dived back into the water.

Sun Yanwan's ability to see and hear the heavens and earth was not enough to observe the underwater situation in the dark.

Just as he was about to turn back, he heard a scream coming from the direction of another group of people. He hurriedly used his lightness skill to rush over, only to be horrified to find that all of them had been killed.

Sun Yanwan went over and looked around. All of these people had been hit in the chest with heavy blows, their bones and muscles broken. Such a fierce technique could be performed silently. The murderer's martial arts skills were unfathomable; he was at least a grandmaster.

Sun Yanwan immediately withdrew and returned to her own group, reminding Yang Diao'er and Sun Lingdie to be on high alert. After a night, nothing came near.

As dawn broke, Sun Yanwan noticed that the floodwaters had receded considerably. She glanced at the people again, feeling quite puzzled. Even if these people had enemies, they wouldn't just happen to run into each other like this. Besides, the person who made the move was highly skilled in martial arts and seemed to have a history of enmity with them.

Sun Yanwan recalled the thing that emerged from the water in the middle of the night and thought to herself, "Could something else possibly come out of the Golden Light Cave?"

"Although in theory, the Golden Light Cave should be a place of immortals, I have sensed many times that something is not quite normal inside."

The most important reason why Sun Yanwan didn't want to go down was that the Golden Light Cave he sensed was definitely not a proper place.

He pondered for a while and patiently waited until the afternoon, only to find that Yanchi Lake had expanded by nearly double. The water was shimmering and would not recede anytime soon, which was different from what he had expected. He could only use his lightness skill to ride the waves and go out to find a few boats that were still in good condition. He tried to bring them back and send the people out little by little.

After struggling until midnight, they finally reached a place without water. Sun Yanwan led the people back to the Taoist temple, but fortunately, because the temple was located halfway up the mountain and at a slightly higher elevation, it was not flooded.

After resting for a day, Sun Yanwan sent his men to inquire everywhere. In the afternoon, they learned that all four elders of the Hu family were dead, and the elders who had recently emerged from seclusion were also all dead. However, they could not find out who had done it.

The Hu family still has several hundred members, but the highest martial arts skill level among them is only second rank, and they don't even have first rank anymore.

(End of this chapter)