The legend begins with becoming a white deer.

Qinghe Town is gone.

It was swallowed up in one gulp by the overwhelming flood.

A turbid wave, several meters high, crashed and smashed through the stone archway at the town entrance, carrying broken wood, rubble, and livestock that couldn't escape in time, and swept across the entire street.

The mud-brick houses crumbled into mud when the floodwaters hit, and the brick and tile houses couldn't hold up for long either. The floodwaters slammed against the walls with a dull thud, the plaster peeled off in patches, and then the entire wall collapsed with a roar, splashing up yellow waves several meters high.

Some people were swept away by the flood in an instant before they even had a chance to cry for help.

Someone ran barefoot uphill, but tripped over the rushing water and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.

At this moment, the entire town of Qinghe is nothing but a vast expanse of yellow water.

The Shi family of eight huddled on the roof of their two-story house, soaked to the bone and shivering.

The floodwaters were less than half a meter from the roof, and the waves crashed against the eaves again and again, splashing water carrying mud and the stench of decay.

Looking around, the once familiar streets, shops, and stages are all submerged underwater, with only a few rooftops and treetops peeking out from the surface, like isolated islands that could be swallowed up at any moment.

Overturned furniture and torn clothing float on the water, and occasionally swollen human figures rise and fall with the waves.

"father……"

The second son, Shi Yunzhou, spoke in a trembling voice, pointing to the slowly tilting roof beams not far away: "That's Wang the Butcher's house..."

Shi Yan remained silent.

He had lived in Qinghe Town for decades and had seen droughts and locust plagues, but he had never seen such a devastating flood.

His withered hands gripped the cracked tile tightly, his knuckles frighteningly white, and his cloudy eyes were filled with shock and utter bewilderment.

The place where generations of ancestors had lived was gone overnight.

"What should we do, Dad?"

The eldest daughter-in-law held her youngest daughter in her arms, her voice hoarse from crying.

"Without food or water, how long can we last on this rooftop?"

"How about we swim to the hills to the east?"

The eldest son, Shi Huaishan, gritted his teeth and suggested, "That area is the highest; maybe some of our fellow villagers are already there."

"No!"

Shi Yan interrupted sharply, his voice filled with undisguised fear: "Didn't you see the three Li brothers just now? Three of the best swimmers jumped in to save the child on the other side, and a wave came and all four of them were gone, not even a shadow of them resurfaced."

The rooftop fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone remembers what just happened.

Five minutes earlier, the three Li brothers saw the child struggling in the water and jumped in without thinking. However, the power of the flood was far beyond their imagination. They couldn't even get three steps closer to the child before they were swept into the whirlpool.

"So we're just going to wait here to die?" Shi Huaishan growled unwillingly.

No one answered.

Wait for the water to recede?

Nobody knows how long the water will rise or how long it will take to recede.

Try leaving?

That's no different from jumping down and committing suicide.

A family of eight was trapped on this tiny rooftop, watching the surging, turbid waves below, the shadow of death closing in inch by inch, and they could grasp at nothing but despair.

Just then, the house beneath their feet suddenly shook.

"Click—"

A piercing cracking sound tore through the rain as the southwest corner of the house finally collapsed completely under the relentless onslaught of the floodwaters.

"careful"

Shi Yan roared, but it was too late.

A corner of the roof collapsed with a crash from the wall. Little Stone, the four-year-old grandson who was standing on the edge, slipped and fell straight into the floodwaters with a sharp cry.

"Little stone!"

Shi Yunzhou's eyes were bloodshot, and he was about to jump down.

"return"

Shi Yan lunged forward and hugged his waist tightly, pulling him back with all his might, his fingernails digging into his son's flesh.

"Dad, let me go! That's my son!"

Shi Yunzhou struggled frantically, his voice hoarse from screaming, tears mingling with the muddy water as they streamed down his face.

"You'll die anyway if you go down there."

Shi Yan roared, his eyes red and his voice trembling uncontrollably.

"Do you want our whole family to die here?"

Shi Yunzhou's wife slumped onto the roof tiles, watching her son thrashing in the water, and let out a heart-wrenching wail: "My son... Little Stone... My little Stone..."

Everyone else turned their faces away, unable to bear watching any longer.

The little stone's tiny body rose and fell in the waves, swallowed a few mouthfuls of muddy water, and its cries grew weaker and weaker until it was completely swallowed up by the roar of the flood and swept further and further away.

Shi Yan closed his eyes, tears streaming down his face.

He had witnessed countless partings and deaths, but never before had he felt so powerless, forced to watch helplessly as his own grandson was swallowed by the flood, without even the chance to reach out and help him.

Just when everyone was in despair, a white shadow suddenly swept past from the distant mist.

It was as fast as lightning.

No one could see what it was. They only saw the white shadow skimming across the water and rushing to Little Stone's side in an instant. Then, to everyone's stunned gaze, it lowered its head and gently bit Little Stone's collar with its mouth.

"It's a fairy deer!"

Shi Yan's eyes widened suddenly.

He recognized Qi Ji.

With a small stone in his mouth, Qi Ji turned and ran towards the roof without pausing.

With his [Spirit Foot] activated, the deer's hooves trod on the raging floodwaters as if they were solid ground. The waves, powerful enough to overturn houses, only caused Qi Ji to sway slightly, not enough to sweep him into the water.

In just a few steps, Qi Ji arrived at the rooftop.

With a gentle flick of his head, he placed the small stone steadily on the tile.

"Little Stone"

Shi Yunzhou's wife rushed over, hugged her son tightly, and wept with joy.

Little Stone choked on some water and trembled with fear, but fortunately he was not seriously injured.

The Shi family was completely dumbfounded, standing there in a daze, their minds blank.

Just then, the white deer raised its head, looked at Shi Yan, and let out a soft cry.

"Yo—"

The sound was clear and melodious, like jade stones striking each other.

Shi Yan was startled; this was the fourth time he had seen Qi Ji.

The first time, he fell off a cliff and miraculously survived, but was about to be devoured by wolves when Qi Ji appeared and saved him, carrying him back to Qinghe Town.

The second time, he brought his two sons and witnessed Qi Ji kill the tiger, which shocked him.

The third time, more than two months ago, was to repay Qi Ji for giving them a tiger. He and his two sons carried three large baskets of fresh fruit into the mountains as a thank-you gift to Qi Ji.

Although it wasn't a rare medicine, Qi Ji felt very comfortable after taking it that time.

This was the fourth time he had seen Qi Ji.

Although Shi Yan had long known that this white deer was extraordinary, he never expected that it could move freely in such a fierce flood and rescue people as easily as taking candy from a baby.

Shi Yan could no longer hold back and knelt down in front of Bai Lu with a "plop".

"Lord Immortal Deer"

He choked back tears, his forehead slamming heavily against the cold roof tiles: "Thank you for saving my grandson. Please, please have mercy! There are still many people trapped in the water in town, including the elderly and children. Please save them!"

Shi Huaishan, Shi Yunzhou, and the others immediately reacted and knelt down, kowtowing repeatedly to Qi Ji.

Qi Ji looked at the family kneeling on the ground and tilted his head.

Being kind to others, accumulating a good reputation, and obtaining legendary spiritual points—this was something he had always wanted to do. Otherwise, he wouldn't have come to Qinghe Town. Shi Yan didn't need to ask him; Qi Ji would have done it all himself.

"Yo"

Qi Ji called out softly, then turned and jumped back into the floodwaters.

The white figure weaved through the yellow, turbid waves and quickly disappeared into the distant mist.

Shi Yan knelt on the roof, gazing in the direction the white deer had vanished, his hands clasped together, praying incessantly...