“Impressive!” Lady Li whispered.
The magical power of this burly man in green was clearly no less than that of the Lushui River God, and the River God’s own cultivation was on par with Chu Jin.
The Lushui River God narrowed his eyes. “Where did this expert come from?”
The burly man in green kept probing, yet he could not break the flowing-water formation centred on the old turtle and supported by Zhu Yushan. From the current situation, the two sides were evenly matched and locked in a stalemate.
In the end, victory would depend on who possessed the stronger hidden trump card, or who would first fail to hold out and reveal a flaw.
“We must hurry and rescue Yushan!” Li Hanyu said urgently, turning to Lu Zheng. “Brother Lu, can you tell where this place is?”
“I should be able to.” Lu Zheng nodded, casting a spell to control the view. He slowly pulled the image back, exiting the underground cavern, and discovered that it was actually a fairly large subterranean space.
“Where is this?” The Lushui River God could not help frowning. Then the mirror flashed, and the underground space instantly vanished, replaced by a pitch-black water channel.
“Where are they?”
“What is going on?”
Li Hanyu and Lady Li looked at each other in dismay.
“This is…”
Lu Zheng and the Lushui River God exchanged a glance.
“A grotto-heaven paradise?”
“A small secret realm?”
Lady Li suddenly understood. “A small secret realm? No wonder Hanyu could not find him earlier.”
The Lushui River God looked in astonishment at the precious mirror in Lu Zheng’s hand. He had not expected the mirror to be able to peer through the barrier between worlds and see inside a grotto-heaven.
Truth be told, Lu Zheng had not expected it either. He had never tried before.
Controlling the view, he moved along the dark water channel outwards. Very soon they emerged from the channel into the open water outside.
“This is the Lushui!” the River God declared.
Lu Zheng manoeuvred the mirror to break through the surface. At once he saw verdant banks on both sides, and not far away stood a cliff that looked just like an eagle’s beak.
“Eagle Beak Cliff. It is about seventy li from here, on a tributary of the Lushui,” the River God said at once.
“Father!” Li Hanyu turned to the Lushui River God.
The River God nodded, walked to the door, and pulled it open. “Vice-Prefect Luo!”
“Your humble servant is here!”
Luo Wensheng instantly appeared in the doorway, clearly having waited there all along.
“Gather the water soldiers and bring a complete set of Primordial Water Array flags. Follow me into battle!”
“Yes, my lord!”
Luo Wensheng bowed deeply, then turned and left without delay.
The River God looked back at the others. “I will go and don my armour. Hanyu, stay with your mother…”
“I am going too!” Li Hanyu declared.
Lu Zheng cupped his hands with a smile. “Brother Zhu and I are the closest of friends. Please reserve a place for me in the formation, River God.”
Hearing this, the River God secretly breathed a sigh of relief and returned the salute with a smile. “With my worthy nephew joining us, victory is assured!”
The River God had never seen Lu Zheng fight, but both his wife and daughter had told him about Lu Zheng’s sparring matches with Ao Qi and Yan Hongxia.
Ao Qi was a dragon princess who had cultivated for over a hundred years and possessed extraordinary talent, while Yan Hongxia was a sword immortal who had fused with an ancient sword immortal’s sword pellet.
Since Lu Zheng had gained the upper hand against them in those bouts, the River God knew full well that Lu Zheng was now stronger than himself.
With him taking the field, they might even be able to finish off that burly man in green for good.
…
Very soon, the Lushui River God emerged from the rear hall fully armoured.
On his head he wore a crimson dragon devouring-heaven helmet, on his body a suit of crimson carp-scale armour, around his waist a golden jade brocade coiling-silk belt, on his feet black cloud-treading sea boots, and in his hands he carried a dragon-headed guandao. His three long strands of beard fluttered, his gaze was sharp, and water-type spiritual energy swirled around him in perfect unity, stirring waves of watery vapour. He looked every inch a great general of the aquatic tribes.
“My lord!” Luo Wensheng’s voice rang out from beyond the door at just the right moment. “Three hundred water soldiers are assembled on the drill ground and ready to depart at any time.”
“Set out!”
“Yes, my lord!”
…
Lady Li remained at the River God Mansion. Lu Zheng and Li Hanyu followed on either side of the Lushui River God, with the three generals of the mansion behind them and three hundred aquatic soldiers bringing up the rear.
Quite the grand procession!
However, those water soldiers did not look particularly formidable. Some had fish heads, others shrimp heads, and their cultivation was only twenty or thirty years at most. Lu Zheng felt that a few of his Greater Yin Five-Thunder Talismans could wipe them all out. Was it really all right to bring them into battle?
“Brother Lu, do not worry. The three hundred water soldiers are not meant to fight the enemy head-on. Once the Primordial Water Grand Array is set up, their main purpose is to weaken the opponent’s control over water, strengthen our own control, restrict the enemy, and assist us,” Li Hanyu explained. “Moreover, the grand array can combine their strength to protect themselves, so its defence is not weak.”
So they were bringing along support troops who could protect themselves and buff the main combatants. Lu Zheng understood instantly.
In practice, the ones who would actually fight would probably be the River God himself, with Li Hanyu providing some assistance. The three generals, despite having over a hundred years of cultivation, might find it hard to even join the battle.
The party travelled northwest along the Lushui, soon reaching the tributary. They turned into it, proceeded to the area near Eagle Beak Cliff, and located the pitch-black water channel beneath the tributary.
“It is here!”
The River God saw it clearly. This was the very channel that had appeared in the mirror earlier.
“Who would have thought there was a small secret realm hidden in the Lushui, and no one from previous generations ever discovered it!”
“My lord, the channel is too narrow. Only two people can enter side by side,” one of the snake generals reported.
The River God nodded. “I will take the lead. The rest of you follow.”
“Yes, my lord!”
The River God entered first, with Lu Zheng and Li Hanyu close behind. The three generals and three hundred water soldiers came after.
“The water in this channel is flowing. It is not a dead end.”
Then they stopped at the end of the channel, because the water inside simply vanished without explanation.
The secret realm!
The secret realm was right in front of them, yet the River God could not sense it.
Lu Zheng carefully extended his perception and could only faintly detect something unusual.
“The gateway is not here?” the River God asked with a frown.
“It is here, under the water, extremely well concealed. No wonder it was never discovered,” Lu Zheng said thoughtfully.
Hearing this, the River God once more sent out his divine sense. Only then did he vaguely detect a ripple in space.
“This gateway is so cleverly hidden…”
Since they had located the entrance, opening this portal between worlds was not difficult for someone of the River God’s strength.
Holding his dragon-headed guandao reversed, the River God reached out and grasped. Demonic power surged, and very soon he pulled a portal into visible form in the main world.
At once, the water in the channel began flowing faster, rushing rapidly into the portal.
“Go!”
The River God cast a spell to stabilise the portal, his eyes flashed, and he stepped through first.
Lu Zheng followed. The instant he crossed the threshold, his vision blurred, and he arrived in another realm, the underground secret realm.
Everything before him was pitch black, without light or shadow. He could only release his divine sense to perceive a vast space ahead, with several water channels and tunnels leading in all directions.
At that very moment, perhaps sensing that the secret realm had been opened from the outside, the burly man in green burst out from one of the water channels.
Seeing the group, his gaze turned fierce. Without a word, he attacked. A torrent of water surged forth with murderous intent, forming the shape of a prehistoric giant crocodile that opened its huge jaws and lunged to swallow them whole.
