“Oh? So, you had a history like that?”
“No wonder, you’re that concerned with your little sister.”
As the cave becomes more crowded, Long Hua frowns, as he looks to the entrance.
Even now, there are still weapon spirits making an attempt to enter.
“…”
Straining his ears, Long Hua narrows his eyes, and in the next instance—
“Uh?!”
“Aaaaahhh!!!”
Shrieks of terror went off, and as if a giant’s hand had come in from the side, the weapon spirits who were outside of the cave, or near it vanished from sight.
*Guuuuuuuuu!!!!!* as water rushes in from the entrance, the entirety of the cave trembles—with bits of crystal stalagmite falling from the ceiling.
“Ah!”
“What the hell!”
A number of these stalagmites end up landing on someone, causing curses and shouts to be thrown around.
However, if they were able to see the outside world right now—none of them would think to complain about some minor wounds that can be mended with some bandages.
………
Outside of the cave, where dark clouds loom over the skies, snow falls from above.
The force of the ongoing high-tides ends up tearing a vast number of trees that are on the island out of the earth; prior to pushing them forward—smashing them onto the side of the mountain, producing the escalating tremors.
As for the trees that didn’t end up smashing onto the side of the mountain, they might have ended up hitting a few weapon spirits that were outside of the cave, or in the least damaging case, they ended up being dragged off into the seas.
………
Back in the cave—
“Hey, look at the entrance! At this rate, this cave is going to get flooded!”
“Dammit, we should have just scaled the mountain instead of coming in here!”
“With how little time we had, you wouldn’t have climbed far!”
All eyes turned to the cave’s entrance that had water pouring in.
“Tch, quit your whining, and get started on blocking the entrance!”
Getting off the moistened ground, Ye Chen approaches the entrance.
“You heard the colonel, quit being lazy!”
Joining him midway is Teng Hao.
As various individuals get to work on blocking the entrance—mainly by smashing the chamber’s walls; and using the large chunks of rocks that have been broken off to construct a barrier, the rushing waters are eventually slowed.
Stolen novel; please report.
“…”
With the situation under control, Dan Hong turns to an officer, and asks—
“…How many of us are left—counting all factions?”
“Probably less than 300, sir.”
For the most part, almost all members of the Ashen River Hall had survived, along with the Moon Guards. The vast majority that died due to not being able to make it into the cave are made up of the various Guilds.
*Guuuuuuu………* momentarily, the tremors caused by the high tides cease—allowing everyone to heave a sigh of relief.
………
“…Ugh.”
Having been washed up ashore, Lin Yu Heng is the first to climb out of the junk ship’s cabin with a pale complexion.
“…This is going to cost quite a bit to repair………”
Assessing the damage, Lin Yu Heng sees that all three of the ship’s masts have been torn off—meaning, it is no longer capable of sailing unless spirit Qi is provided.
“Ugh, this is as bad as my first hangover…”
“…”
Emerging from the cabin soon after were Qing Ming Yang and Xia Ri’er, neither of whom looked any better than Lin Yu Heng.
“…”
Looking at the frost covered grounds, while snow falls from above, Lin Yu Heng frowns—before turning around and storing the damaged ship away.
“…”
Raising his head, and scanning the ruined landscape, Qing Ming Yang sees numerous holes in the ground, where trees had been.
“You think…? It was a 100,000-year-old weapon spirit?”
Towards Qing Ming Yang’s question, Lin Yu Heng nods, and replies—
“…Very likely.”
Hearing this, Xia Ri’er asks—
“…Surnamed Lin, you think we could…-?”
“If the Immortal Sealing Chain is destroyed, maybe.”
A gleam emanates from the three’s eyes.
Weapon spirits of this age range are not common. And if such a weapon spirit were to be encountered and subdued, the weapon produced from its subjugation would definitely not be weak.
Risks will naturally be associated with attempting to subdue a 100,000-year-old weapon spirit; however, with the three of them working together, the danger levels can be kept to a minimum.
Simultaneously, the three drew a plain cloak out of their storage pouches, and wrapped themselves in it to ward off the biting cold.
“For now, let’s just find some place to hide for a bit. Wouldn’t want to run into a pack of weapon spirits in our current state…”
“Un.”
“Agreed.”
Agreeing with Lin Yu Heng, Qing Ming Yang and Xia Ri’er nods.
………
Gulping down a mouthful of cherry blossom wine, Long Hua heaves a sigh.
By now, more than eight hours should have passed since they had trapped themselves in this cave.
“…”
Looking around, only to see weapon spirits shivering left and right, Long Hua finds this situation rather comical, as he thought—
(The fact that these weapon spirits can feel hunger, and suffer from the harshness of the environment itself… The deceptive ability of this world’s laws is quite impressive.)
“L-Long-laoban…”
“Hm?”
Raising his head, Long Hua sees a familiar young lady—with long blue hair tied into a tail, shivering in front of him.
With her being dressed in a loose white jacket over a black shirt under these cold circumstances, she sticks out like a sore thumb.
“You’re…?”
“S-Shen Le, y-you got a spare jacket that I can have?”
“Ah, the girl, who is a part of the squad—that the major, who surnamed Ye is closed to, is in charge of. So, why are you asking me?”
“Word on the street is, you’re rich.”
Raising an eye, Long Hua asks—
“Did word on the street also tell you that I don’t like being begged to?”
“C’mon, you’ve got to have one or two jackets that I can have, right? I’ve already asked just about everyone I know…”
Heaving a sigh, Long Hua takes out a brown winter coat from his storage pouch, and just as Shen Le is about to grab it, the former pulls it away from her, and remarks—
“Surnamed Shen, there’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world.”
“How much you want? I’ll tell you this ahead of time, but I don’t have a single change on me.”
“…That’s not exactly something to be proud of.”
“I can pay you back after I become a city lord.”
The fact that Shen Le is about to make such a bold claim with such a serious light in her eyes—even at a time like this, Long Hua feels awfully impressed.
“Young girl, you’re a real dreamer.”
Tossing the coat at Shen Le, Long Hua adds—
“Hmm, as for payment, I’ll get back to you on that.”
Catching the coat, and putting it on, Shen Le replies—
“Alright. Also, shouldn’t you be giving a coat to your maid as well?”
“…”
Glancing at Tian Cheng—who is maintaining her usual expressionless face, Long Hua takes out a silver-colored coat, and tosses it to her.