Boom!
Thunder roared, and the rain intensified.
It was as if the sky had torn open a huge hole, rain pouring down in buckets, churning within the canyon until it was indistinguishable from spray or mist.
"Be careful, hurry inside!"
Li Yan reached out to grab a ship worker and with a little effort, he hoisted him into the air and onto the plank walkway.
The plank walkway was slippery and with the mist swirling, even the ship worker who was used to big winds and waves had to hunch over and use the stone walls for support to crawl into the cave.
Li Yan then glanced down the slope to make sure no one was left behind before he turned and followed into the stone cave.
On the cave walls, there were inscriptions from various scholars and poets of different dynasties, many familiar nas among them, though sadly weathered.
This place was precisely the Sanyou Cave.
They had waited below for a while, not attacked by the river monster again, but with the disappearance of all passing boats and the increasing rain, they had no choice but to climb up the steep slopes.
Fortunately, above them was the famous Sanyou Cave.
With the rain too heavy, they had to seek refuge inside.
Once inside the cave, Li Yan was already soaked through, each step he took squished, leaving water prints on the ground.
Inside the cave, the atmosphere was sowhat oppressive.
Sha Lifei was checking the baggage, and despite being wrapped in oilcloth, so of the contents were already waterlogged, especially the package containing the firearms.
Looking at the slit in the oilcloth cut by the rocks, Sha Lifei had an ugly look on his face, but he didn’t dare to take it out for inspection because Village Chief Yuan was present...
Village Chief Yuan also had a grim expression, his previous smile gone. He glanced at the nearby prow and said coldly, "Has a water monster ever appeared in the Xiling Gorge before?"
The ship’s prow, although he had saved his life, was disheartened by the destruction of his wooden boat, his livelihood, and said with a trembling voice, "Last sumr, there was a water monster causing trouble, suppressed and killed by the Taixuan Orthodox Sect during a ritual. Since then, there has been no incident."
"If I had known about this creature, I wouldn’t have dared to enter the gorge."
"Daoist, here."
Li Yan took out the money sword from his bosom and handed it to Wang Daoxuan.
Wang Daoxuan sighed with relief and quickly took it, this thing being his most valuable magic artifact; he hadn’t expected to recover it.
Li Yan then turned to Village Chief Yuan and said solemnly, "The appearance of this river monster is strange, with no warning, and its tail is even chained with a copper chain."
Village Chief Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly, "Does Young Hero Li an that soone is controlling the river monster to cause trouble?"
"Not necessarily."
Wang Daoxuan took out the compass again, and as he watched the needle swing erratically, he said, "The earth’s energy here is suddenly disturbed, and the Yangtze River is one of the Dragon Veins; tampering here is no small matter and would surely cause a big commotion."
"Also, that chain is ancient and has fused with the fish tail, which suggests this river monster has not been young, only recently breaking free from its chain."
Li Yan recalled sothing and nodded in agreent, "The Daoist makes sense; I also discovered that there were iron spears embedded in the river monster, rusted and decayed, which indicates it had been subdued."
"What puzzles is, if there was the power to subdue it, why not kill it?"
There are many beings that cannot be killed, only suppressed.
For example, the Drought Demon dug up in Qinling by the Taixuan Orthodox Sect had absorbed too much Yin Evil Qi; killing it would have poisoned the land for miles, so it could only be suppressed, eroding it slowly with the earth’s energy or Innate Astral Qi.
The Corpse Soldiers of the Zhu Family Castle were the sa, suppressing them for years until they beca nothing more than a fouled Yin Evil Qi, which could be released with proper thods.
But this river monster was not among those.
Such a demon with Dao could not only be killed to use its bones and scales for magic artifacts, but its Demon Soul could also be subdued and refined into soldiers.
Wang Daoxuan shook his head, "The Daoist has no idea."
Speaking, he glanced at the compass in his hand, "Maybe it’s related to the abnormal disturbance of the earth’s energy. If we find the source, we can find the answer."
Village Chief Yuan, on the other hand, remained silent.
This ti he had really hit a streak of bad luck; originally his forces were already depleted, hoping to make a great accomplishnt to give more consolation money to his brothers.
But things went south from the start, running into this situation.
Li Yan mused, turning to Village Chief Yuan and asking, "Village Chief Yuan, what do you think we should do now?"
Village Chief Yuan sighed, "The river monster reigns, and Xiling Gorge will likely be impassable for a while. If you wish to continue to Zigui County, you can wait for the rain to stop and then take the mountain path."
Li Yan squinted slightly, "You’re not going, Village Chief?"
"No longer."
Village Chief Yuan looked out at the rain and mist outside the cave, his eyes sowhat vacant, "Many of my n have died, and even the firearms are lost, once the rain stops, I will return to Yichang City to take responsibility."
Clearly, he had lost all motivation.
Li Yan had nothing more to say.
Who would have thought that they would suddenly encounter a monster causing trouble? It was just bad luck.
Of course, they still had to move on.
The matter at Erbei Bay, if not handled properly, would leave them ashad to remain in Yichang, let alone obtain resources from the City God Temple.
Thinking of this, Li Yan said, "Uncle Sha, Brother Lv San, Daoist, rest early. As soon as the rain clears, we’ll leave."
"Okay, I’ll start a fire."
Sha Lifei nodded, summoning Lv San to help.
The "Sanyou Cave," though frequented by many scholars and tourists, had not beco a tourist area as it had in Li Yan’s previous life.
There were plenty of branches blown down by the mountain winds in the cave, as well as firewood left by those tourists.
The ship workers also got up to help, and soon a bonfire was lit; everyone gathered around the fire to dry their clothes, and Sha Lifei also shared the dry food from the luggage with them.
At this mont, the sky was growing dark, and under the shadowy cliff, the flickering of the bonfire provided a bit of warmth to everyone.
As for Li Yan, after propping his clothes by the fire, he stripped to the waist and stood at the entrance of the cave.
Li Yan gazed quietly into the misty rain outside, lost in thought.
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