Madmen don't keep diaries

Chapter 456 455 Stirring Up Trouble
Fang Youliu woke up at noon.

As soon as he opened his eyes, Feng Xiuhu urged him to set off.

Fang Youliu was still confused, so he asked Feng Xiuhu what had happened and whether the ferry crossing was open.

Feng Xiuhu patted his chest and told him that he was worth two people in one, and that he had already taken care of things while Fang Youliu was sleeping.

Fang Youliu was skeptical, but Feng Xiuhu urged him on, so he had no choice but to drive the carriage to a secluded place, turn it into a horse-head boat, and then have Shunzi carry it to the shore.

Believe it or not, we didn't encounter any obstacles on our way to the ferry.

The crowd that had been confronting each other on the shore that morning had dispersed, and Fang Youliu looked around and found that many people were staring at this side.

Their eyes all looked strange, and many of them had smiles on their faces, but none of them went up to cause trouble.

But that smile looked more like a malicious sneer.

Fang Youliu was puzzled, but had no one to ask. Looking back, he saw that Feng Xiuhu and Shunzi had already pushed the boat into the water.

Urged on by Feng Xiuhu, the three boarded the boat one by one.

As usual, Fang Youliu sat at the very front and steered the ship. Just as they were about to set off, a voice suddenly called out from above, "Your Excellency, I wish you a smooth journey."

Looking up, I saw someone leaning out from the deck of the large ship moored nearby.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be the elegant and refined mute Jin.

Feng Xiuhu returned the greeting with a cupped hand: "Thank you for your kind words."

The mute Jin nodded slightly and smiled, "I haven't yet asked your name."

"Ma Er".

Feng Xiuhu introduced himself, his attitude neither warm nor cold.

The three men pedaled, and the horse-headed boat moved forward.

There are certainly reasons for choosing this location to build the bridge.

Tianpu River, as one of the three major rivers, is not as turbulent and dangerous as Heishui River, but it is also far less peaceful than Anlong River.

Where the water veins pass, the river channels are winding and the width changes frequently. In addition, the riverbeds are extremely deep and the shapes are complex, so turbulent currents often form eddies.

The current location is the section of the river with the most stable current and the shallowest channel in the surrounding area, which is why the bridge site was chosen without any other consideration.

The reason why the river becomes calm here is because of the Golden Causeway City.

Jindi City is located on the north bank, which is higher than the south bank. So, long ago, people built an arc-shaped dike on the river-facing side of Jindi City. The dike greatly slowed down the water flow, which is how the flood was successfully controlled.

"How do you know this?"

Feng Xiuhu asked.

Fang Youliu replied: "Constant's journal contains records of this. He was very interested in humanities, so he did a lot of research on that dam."

Feng Xiuhu then said, "Look at them, they're all from our academy. Constance has a deep understanding of history, while you only know how to gossip all day long."

Fang Youliu said, "Understanding the past helps us reflect on ourselves, but understanding the present also broadens our horizons. No one is inferior to anyone else."

Feng Xiuhu poked him on the back of the head with his finger: "You've even learned to talk back now, spouting all sorts of little道理 (principles/truths). I'll expel you when we get back to the academy."

Fang Youliu gave a helpless sneer: "You've been talking nonsense so much that you've started to believe it yourself—do you really think you're the dean?"

Before the words were finished, the horse-head boat suddenly shook.

They were almost in the middle of the river, and there was only their lonely boat on the water.

Shunzi instinctively gripped the sides of the boat, asking anxiously, "What happened?"

Fang Youliu peered at the water's surface and said, "It looks like waves are forming."

Feng Xiuhu turned to look around; the water was perfectly calm. That sudden tremor, however, seemed abrupt.

Just then, waves suddenly rose up beneath the boat, causing the horse-head boat to rock from side to side.

There are six people who are now unsettled – once could be a coincidence, but twice must be suspicious.

Suddenly, Shunzi shouted, "Big brother! There are people behind us!"

There was a big river right behind them, so how could there be anyone there?
Feng Xiuhu and Fang Youliu both turned around to look—

Several figures appeared as if walking on flat ground, riding the waves. They wore long robes with black backgrounds and blue patterns, and their weapons resembled long swords, which were jet black and straight, yet without any points or blades.

"Jiangliu Temple!"

Fang Youliu exclaimed in surprise.

Feng Xiuhu asked, "You know him?"

Fang pointed at the weapon in the newcomer's hand: "That's a water measuring ruler, the kind of tool Jiang Liu Temple uses. Who else could it be but them?"

Before Feng Xiuhu could even realize what was happening, Fang Youliu asked again, "How did you offend them?"

Feng Xiuhu retorted, dissatisfied, "How can you be so sure it's me? Couldn't it be Shunzi?"

Shunzi quickly denied it: "I didn't cause any trouble!"

Feng Xiuhu also shook his head: "I don't have any either."

He didn't—strictly speaking, he only offended the tax collector.

Unfortunately, Fang Youliu didn't believe it, but now was not the time to divide the blame. The Jiangliu Temple cultivators had already surrounded the horse-head boat. They made hand seals and took their positions, and the originally calm river surface suddenly became restless.

As the waves surged, each surge more powerful than the last, no matter how exquisite or wondrous the horse-head boat was, it was still just a small boat, rising and falling with each ripple of the water.

Shunzi was shaken so badly that his stomach churned and his face turned ashen. He grabbed his hunting rifle and pulled the trigger on one of the men.

boom!
Flames spewed out, and a thick curtain of water rose in front of the cultivator, instantly causing bullets to lose their momentum when they hit it.

Clearly, these people knew that Shunzi had firearms before they arrived, so they all kept a certain distance and were on guard.

"Damn it!"

Shunzi cursed loudly, leaped to the stern using the gunwale, and stomped down, shouting, "Suppress!"

The horse-head boat immediately became much more stable, like a solid rock in the water, remaining calm and still despite the waves crashing against it.

The leader of the cultivators was quite surprised and couldn't help but glance at Shunzi a few more times.

With a sudden change of his technique, two jets of water surged up, their swirling motion resembling two drills, striking at Shunzi from both sides.

A straight flush is unavoidable; the only option is to tough it out.

But he wasn't standing on solid ground—Shunzi thought that a mere stream of water couldn't possibly have much power.
But when the water jet hits you, you realize how wrong you were.

The spinning water jet was rapid and powerful, and when it hit him, it was already heavy, but Shunzi gritted his teeth and endured it without moving an inch. However, the water jet did not dissipate after the impact. It seemed to have a life of its own and intertwined with Shunzi, enveloping him completely.

Shunzi panicked immediately. He couldn't breathe in the water, and his movements felt sluggish. He could no longer maintain his suppressive power and frantically tried to escape.

Fortunately, Feng Xiuhu reacted quickly. When he realized something was wrong, he immediately grabbed his cane and turned around to chop down on Shunzi.

The water curtain surrounding Shunzi was like butter being cut by a hot knife, instantly split in two and turned into ordinary water droplets.

This tactic drew the attention of the spellcaster—just a moment ago, he clearly felt his connection to the spell being severed.

To be precise, it's not "cut off," but rather "cover up."

This is a characteristic of the fog.

(End of this chapter)