Torrential Waters

Back at Heavenly Path Mountain, the sect elders had descended into a state of chaos. They were yelling emotionally and talking over one another, trying to convince the others that their own plan was the superior course of action.

This all started earlier that morning, soon after Yaan and his group departed into the Northern wilderness for the day's hunting trip.

A messenger arrived in the sect from the adjacent Thunder Steel Mountain, the location of the Thunder Sword School. The Thunder Sword School was the most recently established group in the Greenwood Mountain Range and had a decent relationship with the Heavenly Path Sect.

The founder of the Thunder Sword School was actually a previous member of the Swift Sword School, but he left his school after challenging the headmaster to a dual and losing. From there, he established his own rival sword school. Since the Heavenly Path Sect was often at odds with the Swift Sword School, they naturally became close with the Thunder Sword School, which was established by a deserter of their enemy.

Shockingly, the messenger came to request aid from the Heavenly Path Sect…because a sudden beast tide had surrounded Thunder Steel Mountain! Learning that their neighbour was encountering a beast tide at the exact same time as them sent the sect elders into a panic.

There was no way that these were two separate, unrelated beast tides…this news suggested that they had severely underestimated the scale of this beast tide.

The Thunder Sword School's scouts were nearly all slaughtered during their excursion, but the one remaining survivor managed to report back that a Rank 5 cricket king beast was leading the assault.

Two Rank 5 beasts leading two separate attacks, this was simply too much for it to be a coincidence.

Nobody dared to imagine it, but this situation suggested a horrifying possibility…that an even stronger beast was leading a joint attack against the two mountains!

When the elders realised this, they immediately wanted to send an envoy to the mountain to their West, Fire Dragon Mountain, home to the Fire Dragon Sect. The Fire Dragon Sect was their greatest enemy, but in the face of this monstrous calamity, their feud could be ignored. When they were faced with the threat of total annihilation, how could anyone still care about some petty squabble?

Just as the Thunder Sword School envoy was sent off, another piece of dire news came in. The beast tide coming down from the Northern wilderness had suddenly increased in intensity, taking the lower strength groups by surprise and resulting in massive casualties! The elders were unable to sit around after hearing that their disciples were in danger, immediately rushing into the Northern wilderness to execute a hasty rescue mission.

Great Elder Wan also joined in on this.

"Why do I feel so nervous? Is it because he is my greatest hope for reaching the Origin Soul Realm…? No, this anxiety goes beyond that, it's as if I actually care for him…but he's a demon, a sect member only as a cover…sigh, I really don't know anymore…" Great Elder Wan muttered to himself as hints of confusion and hesitation flashed across his face.

**********

In his crazed and panicked escape from the Rank 2 ape beast, Yaan ended up falling from a cliff, with a sheer, terrifying drop.

Each time their group ventured into the Northern wilderness, they would go a bit further, exploring new, unknown territory. As such, Yaan had no idea that he would encounter such a huge cliff in this place.

The sensation of falling and rapidly accelerating down towards the distant ground, was very new to him, in the worst way possible. For a couple of seconds, he could only thrash about in panic, before his rational mind subdued his fear and he acted properly.

Yaan quickly span his body around, adjusting himself mid-air such that his feet were pointing downwards. As his heart raced rapidly, he squinted down in the direction of his descent, trying to see the distant ground.

"Yaan!"

"Eh?"

He only now became aware of Rui's voice. She had been calling out to him ever since he was hit by the gorilla, but until now, he had been too disoriented, his mind in disarray. Now that his mind had sobered up, he heard her calm yet urgent voice.

"Stab your sword into the cliff to slow your descent."

Yaan's eyes brightened at her suggestion. He grabbed onto his sword and removed it from the sheath, then stabbed with his full strength into the chalky cliff face. He only just managed to reach the cliff with the tip of his sword, but he was unable to fully penetrate the rock. Instead, he ended up pushing himself back even further away from the rocky wall, causing him to helplessly roll backwards through the air!

"There's a river below, straighten your body and enter the water feet first." Seeing that the plan had failed, Rui didn't panic but instead changed her instructions to reflect the next best course of action.

Yaan awkwardly turned himself as he fell, just in time to see the rapidly approaching blue surface.

Splash!

A tremendous force assaulted his body, squeezing his organs and forcing the air out from his lungs. Had he not strengthened his body to the Peak 1-Star Realm, then this force would have knocked him unconscious instantaneously.

Even with his strengthened body, Yaan's mind became dazed. A few seconds later, he regained his mental faculties. When he realised that he was underwater, he hurriedly paddled up towards the surface.

He splashed about in an agitated frenzy, as he was pushed by the water currents further downstream.

"Yaan, don't panic, swim across to the riverbank on your right."

"I…*cough*…can't swim…"

Even Rui was taken back when he said this. She had to remind herself that Yaan was just a child from a small rural village, it made sense that he had never been taught to swim.

He followed her instructions, painfully making his way towards the riverbank whilst swallowing mouthful after mouthful of river water.

"Hah…hah…hah…"

After finally reaching dry land, Yaan gasped for breath and collapsed onto his back. His breathing remained laboured and ragged for some time, he took a few minutes to recover his strength.

He sat up and stared at the river, then frowned as he raised his gaze and saw the two hundred foot tall cliff on the other side of the rapidly flowing body of water.

"This…did I actually go past the sect territory boundary?" Yaan recounted the information he had learned regarding the sect's outer territories and how the Northern border was defined by a thin river located just beyond a small cliff.

"What thin river and small cliff, this cliff is over two hundred feet tall, and the river is a hundred feet wide!"

"For Spirit Core Realm cultivators like those 'great elders', flying across this river and cliff is a small matter, so they see these features as small." Rui pointed out.

"It's still the largest river and cliff I've ever seen…" Yaan muttered.

"Your world view is still narrow."

Ignoring Rui's words, Yaan picked himself up and looked around. He was stood on a sandy bank beside the river, with the Northern wilderness extending for an unknown distance behind him, and the river in front of him.

"How should I get back?"

If he wanted to return to the sect, then he would first need to cross back over the river. Unfortunately, he had already been washed quite far down stream. If he re-entered the violent waters, he would be thrown into the same pitiful state as before, tossed around by the strong current.

To begin with, Yaan decided to walk back the way he came along the riverbank, retracing the distance that he had travelled when the river swept him downstream.

Yaan felt wary as he travelled, not just because he was alone, but also because he lost his sword when he fell into the river. Without a weapon, he could only rely on his physical body and his Innate Qi to fend off any beasts. This was far from ideal.

"Eh, what's that?"

After walking for ten minutes, Yaan paused with a frown. He strained his ears, then turned towards the direction of the forest.

Thud…thud…thud…

A continuous thudding sound could be heard from the wilderness, causing Yaan to raise his guard. However, the sounds were clearly distant, so for some time, he just stared into the forest uncertainly.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The strange sounds increased in volume, frequency and intensity, until it no longer sounded like a distant echo, but violent thunder encompassing the entire forest.

"Yaan, dive into the river!" For whatever reason, Rui sounded even more urgent than when he was faced with the Rank 2 gorilla!

"Huh?! But I can't swim!"

"There's a wave of beasts approaching, if you don't hide in the river then you will die. Dive below the surface and hold your breath!"

"Damnit!" Yaan cursed his bad luck, but he still did as Rui instructed. Even though she was telling him to do something dangerous, she had helped him through various difficult situations until now, so he trusted her to some extent.

Splash!

Immediately after Yaan vanished below the surface of the water, a beast that looked like a gigantic bronze bull emerged from the forest line.

Following this bull, dozens of similar looking bulls appeared, one after the other. Within less than a minute, hundreds of these same beasts shot out from the wilderness, then slowed their charge as they approached the river side, seemingly waiting for something.

"Squark!" The bulls all looked up towards a dark crow that flew above their heads arrogantly, before diving into the river as if following its orders.

Yaan didn't see any of this, but he felt a bull's hooves slam into his body and push him into the riverbed. He barely managed to stop himself from choking out all of the air from his lungs, and after this painful experience, he tried to stay as close to the river bed as possible. Unfortunately, the bulls were too large, so he still found himself being trampled ceaselessly.

Thankfully, none of these strikes were fatal, but he was quite badly battered and bruised after five minutes.

As a 1-Star Realm and Qi Gathering Realm fiend, he could hold his breath for over five minutes without issue, even in a tense situation. He forced himself to hold out for as long as possible, only coming up for breath after seven minutes.

Yaan pushed himself to the surface, then scrambled awkwardly towards the river bank once again. Unfortunately, the current had picked up, forcing him back down below the surface before he could reach dry land.

He tumbled about helplessly as his body was slammed into jagged boulders below the water. Gradually, he was driven towards the centre of the river.

The flow of water was chaotic and Yaan was thrown about like a rag-doll for an entire hour. By the time he managed to drag himself out from the river, he was so exhausted that he passed out almost immediately.

He was unconscious, alone, and many miles downstream, far away from his original point of entry.