Chapter 1414: Hunter and Prey

“You guys didn’t see that giant wave?” Zu An exclaimed in surprise.

“What giant wave?” the three women replied, feeling even more confused.

Yu Yanluo shook her head and said, “We only saw that you were getting farther and farther from shore. Then, a thick fog spread out and covered everything, and you disappeared into it.”

Zu An was dumbstruck. He hadn’t expected that to be what they saw on their end. Next, he gave them a rough explanation of what had happened; the three women’s expressions all changed when they heard how dangerous it was.

“Were you hurt?” Yu Yanluo asked. She quickly inspected Zu An, while the two other women also looked at him nervously. They hadn’t known it was that dangerous, which was why they had assumed that he wasn’t injured at all when they saw he hadn’t been bitten by the monster.

Zu An shrugged and said, “I’m really fine. I was just a bit shaken up, but I’m thick-skinned and recovered quickly.”

Yan Xuehen let go of his wrist and said, “Your energies are a bit turbulent, but your life force is still strong. Your regenerative ability really is great.” She suddenly recalled his endless stamina and couldn’t help but blush.

Yun Jianyue was a bit puzzled. She asked, “Stone cold woman, what is your face getting all red for?” She had noticed that Yan Xuehen’s face had been turning red a bit too often recently.

“My face is not red at all,” Yan Xuehen said guiltily in denial, and quickly changed the topic. “Right, what do you think about what Ah Zu just said?”

Sure enough, Yun Jianyue’s attention shifted and she said, “There are two possibilities. The first is that for some unknown reason, Little An was influenced by something, such as some poison in the mist that made him experience an illusion…”

Zu An shook his head and said, “That was definitely not an illusion. I’m certain of that. Furthermore, with my constitution, being poisoned isn’t easy at all.”

“In that case, it can only be the other possibility, which is that the Weak Water was brought about by the will of the world. It isn’t something truly tangible, similar to our domains. Based on what you just explained, that was just to stop you from crossing the Weak Water,” Yun Jianyue said with a grave expression.

“Right,” Yan Xuehen said with a nod. “This explains why, even though we could clearly see that there was a river on that mountain, it was wider than a sea when we tried to cross it. If I am not mistaken, even if you had enough strength to break through that giant wave, there would never be an end in sight no matter how long you flew for.”

“Can something like that exist?” Zu An asked, stunned. “Is there a solution to this then?”

Yan Xuehen shook her head and said, “Not unless your strength can exceed the will of this world and break free from the natural laws, or you find the sliver of life.”

“Sliver of life?” Yu Yanluo asked in confusion.

Yun Jianyue explained, “If we look at the well-known fifty great daos, forty-nine overflow from the heavens, but one path of life remains. There are no dangerous situations without any way out, because that would be meaningless. Right now, we should give up on crossing this Weak Water and should instead find the way out.”

As she listened, Yu Yanluo felt overwhelmed with admiration and ashamed of her inferiority. As expected of grandmasters, their knowledge was far above her own.

Zu An thought of something and exclaimed, “The Yayu!”

The grandmasters nodded and replied, “That was what we were thinking of too. Not even a feather can float in this Weak Water, and yet this Yayu can move through it freely. That is clearly something strange and should be a tip for us.”

Zu An suddenly made the connection and said, “It looks as if this is the first trial of the path Shun spoke of. There’s just one problem right now. That guy is hiding in the Weak Water. Will we be able to deal with it?”

Yu Yanluo suggested, “Ah Zu, aren’t you close to water? You can try in the shallows of the coast, and see if you can enter the water.”

If Zu An could do that, things would become much easier whether they had to face the Yayu or not.

“Okay!” Zu An replied with a nod.

That was what he’d had in mind too. He hadn’t dared to try anything when he was in the midst of the river, as he had been scared that he wouldn’t be able to get back up if he fell. However, the shore was so shallow that even if something unexpected happened, he would probably be able to deal with it.

He walked over to the water, intending  to give it a try, but the three women immediately urged him to fully recover first. He shook his head and said, “My regenerative ability is strong. My injuries have already mostly healed, so I should give it a try first.”

The three women saw that they couldn't convince him, so they could only agree. However, they had one request, which was that there had to be defensive measures in place.

“This water is so shallow, is there a need for that?” Zu An asked, looking at the water that was less than two feet deep. He didn’t feel that it was necessary.

Yun Jianyue shook her head and said, “What you see might not necessarily be the case. When we looked at it from the mountaintop, the river looked normal, but things were very different when we came closer.”

When he heard that, Zu An was convinced. Thus, it was time to decide what kind of protective measures to use.

The others’ gazes shifted to Yan Xuehen, leaving her embarrassed and anxious. She exclaimed, “What are you looking at me for?!”

Yun Jianyue tugged at her waistband with a big smile, saying, “We want to use your waistband, of course.”

Yan Xuehen’s face heated up. She protested, “It is not as if you guys don’t have any. Just give him yours!”

“Sigh, but ours don’t have your waistband’s amazing ability. You’ve already saved him once anyway, so it’s not a big deal to use it again,” Yun Jianyue said while pulling on the waistband.

“Ah! Stop moving!” Yan Xuehen cried.

She knew Yun Jianyue was just joking, but she still felt guilty. After all, it was related to Zu An’s safety, so in the end, she still removed her waistband and wrapped it around his waist. She held the other end in her hand, saying, “If there is anything strange, tug on this band. I will immediately pull you out.”

Zu An nodded toward her with a smile. His expression was something only the two of them understood.

Meanwhile, Yan Xuehen’s heart rate quickened. This guy really was daring! He actually dared to tease her in front of the others!

Zu An quickly arrived on the shore. As he felt cautious, he didn’t immediately enter the water, but instead cupped his hands to take some of it. There was no poison in the water; apart from being ice-cold, it didn’t feel that different from normal water. After testing that out, he then jumped into the shallow waters close to the shore.

However, his expression immediately changed when he entered, as he felt his body become even heavier than a steelyard weight. Additionally, a mysterious force seemed to be dragging him deeper beneath the water.

The women on the shore were shocked. They saw that Zu An had lost his center of gravity and was about to fall. Yan Xuehen quickly tugged the waistband backward, but it quickly slackened. As it happened, the waistband had become extremely frail in the place where it touched the water, and it snapped the moment she used even a little strength to pull on it.

“Ah Zu!”

“Little An!”

Yu Yanluo and Yun Jianyue cried out in alarm. Yan Xuehen felt as if her soul had left her body. She had clearly said that she wanted to distance herself from him, and yet in this instant, she felt as if she were losing her most important thing.

However, she was only stunned for a moment, and she quickly flew toward the water. Yun Jianyue and Yu Yanluo also moved at the same moment, but they didn’t have much hope at all. The Weak Water was just too strange. They really didn’t feel that there was much hope of saving him.

Suddenly, a bright red silken cloth flew out of the water, but it was still a fair distance away from the women. However, Yan Xuehen was quick to react. With a flip of her wrist, she sent the remaining half of the waistband around her wrist out to wrap around the red silk. She gave it a strong pull, dragging a sorry-looking figure out of the water. Who else could it be but Zu An?

“Ah Zu!” Yu Yanluo exclaimed in happiness and surprise.

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Yan Xuehen also sighed in relief. At that instant, she felt as if she had lost something great, but then regained it.

However, before Zu An could feel relieved, his expression changed. He cried, “Be careful!”

A monster with the head of a dragon and the body of a cat suddenly leaped out of the water, biting down on Zu An.

“You came at the perfect time!” Zu An exclaimed. He had already been prepared. If he had still made the same mistake after suffering bitterly once already, he would really be worthless.

He took out the Universe Ring. The band enlarged magically, then smashed into the Yayu’s head loudly.

The Yayu’s head rang from the force. Just the fact that its head hadn’t exploded into a bloody paste immediately proved that it was quite strong. When it saw the three women who were glaring at it like prey, it immediately realized that they weren’t good targets to provoke. It seemed to have changed from hunter to prey. As such, it turned at the waist, intending to enter the water again.

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