"Shopkeeper, this isn't right," Sun Zhang said, feeling a pinch of reluctance. "We paid a hefty sum to acquire that courtyard, intending to use it as a bribe for Manager Qian. How can we let this kid get it so cheap?"
"Even if we really give it to him, we should at least wait until after he helps us secure the fleet."
The yellow-robed woman shot Sun Zhang a disdainful look. "Just go if I tell you to go. By the time that happens, I'm afraid a meager courtyard won't be enough to satisfy him."
Sun Zhang muttered a few complaints under his breath, but ultimately did not dare disobey his shopkeeper's orders, obediently delivering the property deed into Li Fan's hands.
Li Fan did not decline. With hardly anything to pack, he moved into the small courtyard on East Street that very day.
Compared to the slums outside the city, the surroundings here were incomparably better.
At the mouth of the alley, official personnel from Liuli Mansion were on duty to maintain law and order. The courtyard was also far more spacious than his previous quarters, boasting three main rooms and two wing rooms on each side. While not exceedingly large, it was more than enough for Li Fan living alone.
Declining several maidservants Tianbao Pavilion sent over afterward, Li Fan settled down, quietly awaiting the fleet's next voyage.
Li Fan had originally thought it would not take long, but an unexpected upheaval postponed the voyage indefinitely.
The wind calamity had arrived!
Before this, Li Fan had heard people on Liuli Island mention the wind calamity countless times in conversation, but he had never paid it much mind.
He had assumed it would be like the typhoons and hurricanes he had seen before transmigrating—nothing more than a somewhat larger storm.
Yet when the wind calamity truly arrived, Li Fan realized just how terribly mistaken he was!
On this day, Li Fan was at home practicing the Xuanhuang Mind-Clearing Incantation as usual when he suddenly heard sharp, hurried sounds coming from outside.
A strange, shrill screech hovered endlessly above the island, quickly spreading throughout all of Liuli Island.
"Hurry home! The wind calamity is coming!"
"Bless us, immortal masters, bless us!"
"Mother, where are you?! Hurry home!"
...
The island instantly fell into utter chaos, filled with panicked, terrified cries on every side. Li Fan was at a loss for a moment.
Suddenly, he saw a blue curtain of light appear in the sky above Liuli Island.
Like an inverted giant bowl, the light barrier spanned the entire island, enveloping everything within.
"The Island-Protecting Grand Formation has been activated. Do not panic! Stay in your homes and do not venture outside!" A crisp female voice rang out along with the light barrier, reverberating across the island in an instant.
"Merciful immortal masters!"
Hearing the cries rising and falling all around him, Li Fan looked up, carefully observing the Island-Protecting Grand Formation.
Blue radiance flowed across it, cutting off the island from the outside world.
Unfamiliar runes flickered faintly upon the light barrier from time to time, appearing extraordinarily profound and mystical.
A howling like the weeping of ghosts gradually arose. The wind had arrived!
Ripples spread across the barrier, blocking the gale completely.
Within the barrier, not a single gust stirred; all was serene and calm.
Torrential rain began pouring from the sky.
Dense raindrops fell in sheets, slamming against the curtain of light.
Rings of ripples echoed across the barrier, shutting out the downpour entirely.
Outside raged a tempest of wind and rain; inside, the air was tranquil and still.
"Are these the methods of immortals?"
Li Fan marveled silently.
Though he had already witnessed Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi display power capable of wiping out an entire city at whim, seeing this Island-Protecting Grand Formation still made his heart itch with boundless longing.
The gale and downpour raged for over an hour.
The rain gradually ceased, and the howling of the wind quieted down.
Just when Li Fan thought the wind calamity was about to pass, he suddenly noticed something amiss.
Not only did the sky fail to clear, but it grew even darker.
Countless dark clouds gathered from who knew where, pressing down layer upon layer in an endless shroud.
In the blink of an eye, the world turned pitch-black.
The thick, heavy clouds felt right before his eyes, within arm's reach.
As if the dark clouds were brewing something sinister, Liuli Island fell into a brief, eerie silence.
The silence was swiftly shattered.
Boom!
A thunderous roar detonated beside Li Fan's ears.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
Deafening, thunderous roars erupted simultaneously from all directions, unending.
Like an endless symphony, they echoed ceaselessly between heaven and earth.
Engulfed in this colossal din, Li Fan felt dizzy, seeing stars before his eyes. His chest felt crushed beneath a massive slab of stone, making it hard to breathe. Reaching up to touch his face, he found blood streaming continuously from his nose.
Shaken with horror, Li Fan was about to retreat into the house for shelter when he suddenly felt the ground violently trembling beneath his feet.
With his world spinning, Li Fan lost his balance and fell to the ground.
As though being struck repeatedly by some immense force, the earth shuddered unceasingly.
Li Fan looked up, witnessing a scene that took his breath away.
A wall of water of unimaginable height filled his entire vision. Swept up by the ferocious gale, it came crashing down upon Liuli Island with unstoppable, overwhelming force!
The monstrous tidal wave was about to crash down in an instant, burying all life below.
Li Fan could not help but raise his hand in an instinctive effort to shield himself.
Boom!
The colossal wave crashed violently against the blue curtain of light.
The barrier twisted and warped, looking as though it might shatter at any second.
Yet after a swirl of blue light, the barrier returned to normal.
Like a seaside boulder, it stood firm amidst the crashing waves.
Failing to swallow Liuli Island seemed to have infuriated the ocean.
Wave upon wave struck in relentless succession.
Liuli Island was like a frail sapling swaying in the storm, threatening to be torn to shreds at any moment.
At numerous moments, Liuli Island was completely submerged beneath the seawater.
It made Li Fan feel as though this lifetime was about to come to an abrupt end.
Fortunately, the Island-Protecting Grand Formation proved even sturdier than imagined, holding firm without breaking.
The monstrous waves battered relentlessly, without end.
This cataclysmic, apocalyptic scene left Li Fan utterly dazed.
In such a daze, he had no idea how much time passed before the massive waves finally began to subside.
Yet they had merely subsided.
The wind calamity had come swiftly, but departed slowly.
Amidst the howling storm, day and night blurred together.
Li Fan felt that a full two to three days had passed before the wind calamity finally receded.
"Our deepest thanks to the immortal masters!"
The surviving islanders knelt upon the ground, weeping tears of gratitude.
From the clamor of the islanders' chatter, Li Fan learned a piece of news that shocked him even more.
The wind calamity Liuli Island had just weathered was actually on the smaller side.
The wind calamity fifteen years ago had been several times more powerful than this one.
Back then, even the Island-Protecting Grand Formation could barely hold, forced to shrink its protective radius.
Consequently, after the calamity passed, every part of the island left outside the formation's shelter had been completely sheared away.
Liuli Island's land area had been reduced to just a third of its original size.
Only after over a decade of taking in refugees from all over did Liuli Island slowly recover its vitality.
"A wind calamity... So this is what a wind calamity is..."
Li Fan was shaken to the core.
The might of heaven and earth was truly this terrifying!
Chapter 28