The rain kept pouring, fat drops hammering the surface of the water and bursting into a dense web of ripples.
Large sections of the high slope began to collapse. Chunks of mud mixed with broken stones thundered into the water, sending waves splashing against the legs of those nearest the edge and making them shiver from the cold.
The slope grew narrower and more slippery by the second. The people on it had no choice but to crowd toward the middle, shoulder to shoulder.
All around them, the world had long since become an endless sea.
As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but water—the murky, yellow flood spreading toward the horizon. Dead branches, broken logs, and shattered doors bobbed up and down on the surface. Every so often, half of an animal’s corpse would drift past, its pale belly turned upward, before being swept away by the waves.
The treetops and rooftops that had once been faintly visible were now nowhere to be seen.
The water continued to rise, inch by inch.
It had already reached the calves of many people.
At last, someone could hold on no longer.
An old man slipped and collapsed into the muddy water. It immediately rose to his waist, yet he no longer had the strength to struggle. He merely tilted his head back as rain battered his aged face.
“It’s over… It’s all over…” he murmured, his voice nearly drowned out by the rain.
The people beside him hurried to pull him up.
But the moment one of them bent down, his feet slipped as well, and the two of them tumbled into the water together. They thrashed about and swallowed several mouthfuls of muddy water before the people around them finally hauled them back up.
Mud and rainwater coated every face. Their eyes were bloodshot, and no one could tell whether the liquid running down their cheeks was water or tears.
Just as despair was about to swallow them whole—
The densely clouded sky suddenly brightened.
A sacred white light tore through the heavens, as though a pair of invisible hands had parted the sky from the center.
The torrential rain came to an abrupt halt.
Millions of raindrops of every size hung motionless in midair, crystal clear, like countless amber droplets frozen in time.
Then—
A gigantic lily of the valley appeared out of thin air, blooming high above the clouds. Its layers of petals were translucent as jade, and faint golden radiance flowed along their edges.
Everyone stared at the sight, forgetting to breathe.
The flower was so enormous that it covered half the sky. Even the raging flood fell silent in that moment.
At the heart of the flower, a figure slowly emerged.
She wore white robes whiter than snow, her skirt billowing like clouds.
The Goddess stood upon the petals. Her long hair was unbound, streaming in the wind, every strand tipped with a faint glow.
Her face was obscured by a veil, revealing only a pair of cool, clear eyes. She looked down at the people immersed in the flood, her gaze distant yet compassionate.
“Heaven has sent disaster, and all living beings suffer. Since I cultivate the Way of All Creation, how could I stand by and watch them endure such agony?”
With those words, She raised a hand and lightly tapped the air with one finger.
In the next instant, threads of golden light rose from Her palm and flew toward the desperate people on the high slope.
Wherever the golden light passed, the flood was silently forced back.
The people stranded on the slope stared blankly as warm golden orbs enveloped them, the bitter cold vanishing in an instant.
It was not only the people who were saved. Many surviving animals were also enclosed in identical golden spheres.
The moment the golden light surrounded them, the soaked clothes clinging to everyone’s bodies became dry, carrying a gentle warmth.
The little animals shook their fur, sending droplets pattering to the ground and revealing the soft, fluffy coats beneath.
“Divine Lady…”
Shen Jue stood inside one of the spheres, gazing up at the Divine Lady. Tears glimmered uncontrollably in his reddened eyes.
The Divine Lady raised Her delicate hand and swept back Her wide sleeve. The golden spheres surrounding the people began to move.
They trembled lightly at first, then steadily and slowly floated upward, breaking free from the muddy slope that was on the verge of being swallowed and rising away from the surging flood below.
“We’re… We’re flying…”
A man’s eyes widened to their fullest extent, reflecting the golden light filling the sky and the increasingly distant water below.
In no time, countless golden spheres rose one after another from the surface of the flood, like lanterns in the heavens ignited all at once.
[Shen Jue’s Shock Value +100]
[Pei Du’s Shock Value +100]
[Zhang San’s Shock Value +100]
[…]
[Current Shock Value: 63,660,000]
The Landscape Map’s effect was temporary. Before it wore off, Yun Shu had to deal with the flood below. Only then could she truly save the people and animals caught in the disaster.
She opened the system interface without even glancing at the rapidly climbing shock value and swiftly switched to the Return Array.
The time she had spent waiting had allowed the Return Array’s cooldown to end. It was the perfect moment to put it to use.
High above Wuling City—
A gigantic gate suddenly appeared.
The gate towered a hundred zhang into the sky, its entire structure carved from white jade. Ancient, intricate patterns covered the lintel, winding around blooming wisteria flowers. At its center was a space that seemed to contain flowing stars.
After activating the Return Array, Yun Shu found the Water-Guiding Talisman she had purchased from the unscrupulous merchant of the Cultivation System for ten million shock points and tossed it through the wisteria gate, allowing it to transport the floodwaters to a place suffering from drought.
A powerful suction force surged from within the gate.
The flood below paused, then began to flow backward.
Countless tons of murky yellow water transformed into dragons of water that spiraled into the sky with earth-shaking momentum, pouring into the wisteria gate.
The water level fell at a speed visible to the naked eye. The boundless flood receded inch by inch, revealing submerged streets, collapsed houses, and crooked trees.
The people inside the golden spheres were too stunned to speak.
The wisteria gate swallowed the final torrent, then slammed shut. It transformed into a streak of light and vanished deep into the clouds.
[Shen Jue’s Shock Value +100]
[Pei Du’s Shock Value +100]
[Zhang San’s Shock Value +100]
[…]
[Current Shock Value: 66,000,000]
Yun Shu waved her sleeve once more.
The golden spheres suspended throughout the sky, as if supported by an invisible breeze, slowly descended toward the ground.
The instant they touched down, the spheres dissolved into specks of golden light and faded away. The people inside set their feet on solid ground. Some staggered, only to be caught by those beside them.
The little animals scattered as soon as they landed, shaking out their fluffy coats and leaving trails of pawprints in the mud.
At the same time—
The rain stopped, and the dark clouds gradually dispersed.
Long-awaited sunlight poured down upon the devastated Wuling City and every person within it.
“The Divine Lady is merciful…” The people wept openly, their eyes filled with the relief of having survived a catastrophe.
Yun Shu, however, was not nearly so optimistic.
She knew very well that the Lord God’s methods for taming her were nothing more than this: first, crush her mercilessly, drive her into utter despair, shatter her confidence and pride, and make her believe she was nothing at all. Then give her just enough of an opportunity to rise again, repeating the process until the sharp edges of her character had been worn away and she willingly worked for it.
Therefore, this natural disaster was definitely not over yet.
But since she had chosen to save these people, she had naturally already thought of how to deal with what came next.
Who would be training whom in the end was still anyone’s guess.
