It slithered away in haste, just as swiftly as it had arrived, leaving behind nothing but a pool of slime.
A gust of wind blew off the lake, chilling the crowd to the bone.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Uncle Wu summoned someone over and whispered a few quick words in his ear.
The man nodded, turned, darted into the crowd, and vanished.
"Uncle Wu?" Cen Boqing snapped back to his senses, looking left and right. "Uncle Wu!"
Uncle Wu hurried over to his side.
"Back to the manor!" Cen Boqing turned and walked straight back. "Back to the manor at once, hurry!"
Commoners were still crying out in alarm and retreating. Magistrate Tian's legs went limp, and he nearly collapsed to the ground, his mind screaming that he was finished, completely finished.
The esteemed Inspector from Lingxu City had been... s-s-swallowed by a monster in broad daylight?
If something happened to Zhongsun Mou on his turf, how was he going to answer to his superiors?
The bailiffs even dug around in the sand for a while to show they had done their best before returning to report:
"Your Honor, the monster got away!"
***
A long-poled axe breached the water and chopped straight toward He Lingchuan's waist, aiming to cleave him in two.
Even after breaking the surface, the gangqi on the axe remained concentrated without dispersing. He Lingchuan had no leverage underwater and could hardly dodge; had the strike landed cleanly, he truly would have been severed into two halves—top and bottom.
Evidently, the murky water he had kicked up had failed to blind Fan Sheng.
Little did he know that before setting off in pursuit, Zhongsun Mou had given Fan Sheng a small vial of liquid medicine. Applying a few drops to the eyes allowed clear vision underwater without interference from murkiness, lasting for a quarter of an hour.
Underwater light and visibility shifted constantly; aquatic demons had countless ways to cope with it.
In fact, even when He Lingchuan swam twenty feet away thinking he was safe, Fan Sheng had been tracking him on the water's surface like a shadow, relentless in pursuit.
Fan Sheng had stepped off the underside of the boat and stood directly upon the water.
The moment the soles of his feet touched the water's surface, a faint blue light radiated outward.
From then on, he could walk across the water as if on solid ground, without the slightest fear of sinking—unless he deliberately dug his toes or heels deep into the water.
Both jiaoren and sea-patrolling yakshas possessed this ability, known as "Wave Treading." Knowing that Fan Sheng was going to hunt down He Xiao, Zhongsun Mou had temporarily lent this method to him, good for about two double-hours.
Fan Sheng had originally wielded a short-handled hand axe, but this magic artifact could lengthen according to its master's will, extending its haft up to eight feet so that it could be swung on horseback or plunged into the water to hack down targets.
Fan Sheng's strike surged with murderous aura. Before the blade even touched the lake, an indentation formed on the water's surface; when the blow came down, six neat gashes actually appeared where the axe landed, covering an area twenty feet across!
Swinging his axe to sever the water itself, even the lake was cleaved apart in an instant—and across a broad area, precisely to ensure the slippery brat had no chance to employ misdirection or sleight of hand.
Under such an assault, how could He Lingchuan underwater emerge unscathed?
The edge cleaved through his waist; several piranhas swarming around him were even slaughtered, blood staining the water red.
The display was truly formidable.
Naturally, the phenomenon of "severing water" lasted only an instant before the lake rushed back together to close the gap.
Once again, Fan Sheng furrowed his thick brows.
Why "once again"? Because there was still no sensation of sinking into flesh and bone.
This was the second time.
Last time, during their fight outside the Tongfu Inn, he had slit He Lingchuan's throat, yet that had been nothing more than an illusory afterimage while his foe blinked behind him.
Such a combat technique... looked very much like "Sacrifice the Plum to Preserve the Peach"!
Before Fan Sheng could ponder it further, he spun around to guard against a strike from behind.
Sure enough, with a loud splash from behind, the severed boat missing its stern came crashing down right toward his head.
Fan Sheng naturally had no fear of such a blunt attack. However, his height was under eight feet, still well within the bounds of a normal human, so a boat that large hurtling at him easily blocked his line of sight.
By the time Fan Sheng split the shattered vessel in two with a flying axe strike, the sound of tearing air came from behind his head, masked and faint amidst the rushing wind of the flying wreckage.
With his divine sense expanded as though he had eyes in the back of his head, Fan Sheng backhanded his other axe upward, knocking the concealed weapons away.
They were four or five sharp red needles, shorter than a pinky finger and of unknown material, aiming for his upper, middle, and lower vitals from viciously tricky angles.
The moment Fan Sheng batted them aside, a roughly spherical object shot out from the wall of lotus leaves, whistling straight for his face. Measuring about four feet in diameter, it resembled an unyielding boulder.
Getting smashed by it would certainly lead to no good end, not to mention that as this round object plunged downward, its body suddenly expanded, thrusting out eight legs as if aiming to latch straight onto Fan Sheng's face!
Just a few breaths ago, Fan Sheng had ambushed He Lingchuan in the water with concealed projectiles before pressing in close.
Now the scene replayed itself, only with the roles reversed.
No matter how skilled and daring Fan Sheng was, he did not dare let this thing latch onto his face, leaving him no choice but to stride backward.
The creature landed on the water's surface, also moving as if on solid ground, eight legs scuttling furiously as it lunged at him.
Only then did Fan Sheng see clearly: the thing was actually a giant spider, standing over four feet tall on its legs!
Its specialized mouthparts possessed two pairs of protruding, serrated fangs that usually folded beneath its abdomen, snapping out suddenly when attacking like the forelegs of a praying mantis.
The slash was fast as lightning. Even when Fan Sheng parried it, he felt the impact heavy and full of immense force. Just as he deflected two strikes, over a dozen streams of light-green liquid suddenly hissed from the serrations of its fangs, spraying straight toward his face.
This caught him completely off guard.
Then again, venomous fang-strikes were natural talents for many demon beasts.
Fortunately, he had gangqi and origin power shielding his body; only a few stray drops splattered onto his face, stinging so sharply that he shuddered.
The stuff was horrifyingly corrosive; had he taken the full brunt of it, his face would have melted away.
Gritting his teeth, Fan Sheng forced the spider back with two axe strikes. The creature knew how to advance, retreat, attack, and defend rather than charging blindly, but under Fan Sheng's ferocious onslaught, one of its legs was still chopped off.
He still remembered his true target was He Lingchuan; even while attacking, he swept his divine sense around, yet found no trace of the youth.
From the side shot another four or five red needles, followed immediately by a mass of white, sticky gunk cascading down toward his head.
Only then did Fan Sheng realize that two more spiders were hiding within the wall of lotus leaves!
One was stout and rotund, its chelicerae and legs thicker than watermelons; whenever it shook a leg, sharp needles fired toward him.
Yet owing to its substantial weight, it lacked agility, leaping forward only by stepping on driftwood and floating debris on the water.
The one casting the web was a smaller spider, less than a third the size of its two companions, skulking sneakily among the lotus leaves and refusing to come out into the open.
Where had these three demons come from?
The local demonic birds and beasts should all have been driven out of the Lotus Palace by the marsh spirit!
Did He Xiao arrange this?
Then this was a trap! A chill ran through Fan Sheng's heart.
His chops carried a slowing frost technique; after clashing with him for two rounds, the joints of both large spiders grew stiff with cold, losing their prior agility.
Against wild monsters, origin power still conferred a decisive advantage.
With several crisp hacks, he severed a few more spider legs, prompting the two large beasts to hiss in pain.
Who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, the severed legs transformed into finger-length spiderlings, quietly creeping up to cling to his thighs!
Would this never end?
Fan Sheng found a split second to crush two of them, intensely irritated by the fight.
Where on earth was the real target, He Lingchuan, hiding!
Right at that moment, the spider in the lotus thicket spewed webbing for a second time.
And a double burst at that.
The webbing was exceptionally sticky, yet carried no inherent damage, rendering origin power ineffective against it. Worse, it behaved like superglue, a tremendous nuisance whenever he tried to tear it free. The web Fan Sheng had been splashed with earlier was still stuck to him, so the instant the corner of his eye caught sight of incoming webbing, he sprang sideways.
He managed to dodge the little projectile, but an absurdly massive net plummeted from the heavens, sweeping him and the two spiders up in a single catch!
Fan Sheng was shocked. Craning his neck frantically, he discovered that at some point, a gold-armored bronze automaton had risen behind him to his flank, hands still widespread after casting something!
Standing fifteen feet tall, the bronze automaton found the water not even up to its knees. Standing firmly on the lakebed, it cast a colossal net over Fan Sheng.
Yes, what it had thrown was a complete, intact net.
Its mesh was fine, yet its surface area was enormous, covering almost the entire stretch of these narrow waters.
Caught unprepared, Fan Sheng had no time to leap clear before the net descended like an overwhelming canopy, draping over him completely.
In immediate succession, the gold-armored bronze automaton yanked, reeled, and twisted, scooping the dignified vice commander of the Tongxin Guard right into the net!
Fan Sheng wrenched backward with all his might.
How abundant his true energy was! On level ground, even the bronze automaton might not have wrestled him down. Unfortunately, this was Chao Lake. Formidable though Fan Sheng was, he lacked combat experience on water; his heel instinctively kicked back with force—
With a loud splash, he plunged into the water, kicking up a massive spray.
The enhancement of "Wave Treading" was instantly broken by his stomp.
Thus, the automaton's subsequent motions to cinch the net went exceptionally smoothly.
Furious, Fan Sheng swung his axe to hack at the net.
Yet the net was exceedingly supple and resilient. When the axe blade struck, it met empty slack and sinking give, offering no firm resistance; only after several heavy chops could he sever a single strand.
This was the very net He Lingchuan had used back on the Three Hearts Plain to catch the Emperor's Flowing Dew, crafted from cloud brocade hand-woven by Zhu Erniang herself. Not only was it remarkably strong and finely woven, but its intricate weave also absorbed and dispersed force to the greatest possible extent.
Even with origin power infusing his attacks, if Fan Sheng wished to rip through Zhu Erniang's painstaking craftsmanship with brute force alone, he would need far more effort than that.
How could the gold-armored bronze automaton give him such a chance? With a forceful wring, like twisting a towel, it bound him tightly within the net, wrapping another two layers around him inside and out.
The motion was practiced and fluid, clearly the result of plenty of rehearsal.
Fan Sheng did not even have the room to reach out and brace the net, let alone swing his axe!
Not to mention that trapped inside the net with him were two spiders, relentlessly jabbing at his eyes, squirting venom at him, and stabbing at his vitals.
At such close quarters, Fan Sheng was bound so tightly he couldn't even raise his elbows, let alone wield his axe. The two spiders, on the other hand, had several legs between them and two sets of venomous fangs with which to strike!
In such a cramped space where maneuvering was impossible, the spiders held the distinct advantage in offense.
Just fending off the dirty tricks of these two treacherous pests left him hard-pressed and scrambling; where could he find any spare strength to slice through the net?
With a couple more twists of the great net, Fan Sheng was wound into a cocoon, bound three layers deep inside and out.
Only now did a figure leap onto the forearm of the gold-armored bronze automaton: He Lingchuan.
He had intended to strike a dashing pose, except a demon piranha was clamped onto his hair, thrashing its tail with frantic slaps.
He Lingchuan yanked it off in one pull and tossed it onto Fan Sheng, then flicked his saber tip upward to rest against the vice commander's throat.
"Master Fan, do you want to die now, or do you want to live?" He couldn't even be bothered with pleasantries anymore.
To the victor go the spoils, after all—an unshakeable truth since time immemorial.
Chapter 508