Drumming the retreat

He suppressed his vital breath to the bare minimum, slowing even his pulse and heartbeat to a crawl. At the same time, he abandoned any resistance against the river’s force, letting the water carry him wherever it wished, drifting downstream.

The Lord of the Horizontal River sped to the spot where he had fallen in, his demonic essence sweeping in all directions, freezing the surrounding waters.

But Li Miao had already floated dozens of yards away with the current.

“Hmm, where did he go?”

The Lord of the Horizontal River came up empty, hastily spreading the sensory power from his eight sharp legs in an attempt to locate Li Miao.

He was a green crab who had cultivated into a demon, yet not transformed into a human form, still bound to his crab body’s limitations. The sight of a crab was worse than most creatures, relying entirely on the sensory abilities of his legs to perceive his surroundings. If it were a regular living target, he could easily detect it, but Li Miao had actively concealed his breath, making it hard to find.

Li Miao had drifted several dozen yards downstream. The Lord of the Horizontal River could vaguely sense he was heading further down the river, but couldn’t pinpoint his location, so he could only swim along in pursuit.

Drifting with the current, Li Miao squinted, utilizing the faint starlight above to make out the massive shadow pursuing him, and cursed inwardly.

“If I get caught in the water, it’ll be certain death,” he thought.

At this moment, he had no decisive treasures left. The only artifact that could contend with a demon at the Return-to-Origin realm—the "Magnetic Cannon"—had already been given to Ji Lingyu. His strongest move was but a single all-out strike with his Sacred Starbody.

He had already tried it just now—his full-force strike could only repel the Lord of the Horizontal River’s treasure, barely sufficient for self-preservation, let alone killing his foe.

“What now? Am I to perish here in the river, becoming food for a monster?”

The gigantic shadow was closing in, and in mere breaths would catch up to him.

Seeing the shadow drawing within twenty yards, Li Miao had no other option. He retrieved a fist-sized cosmic crystal from his microcosmos and hurled it toward the shadow, hoping to divert the crab demon’s attention.

This item was coveted even by the Sunflame Master of the Profound Realm, so it must prove effective.

Indeed.

The cosmic crystal appeared, and its immense energy instantly drew the Lord of the Horizontal River’s attention.

The giant crab swung its demonic pincers, sending out a wave of blue light that froze the river water.

“Hm? Not that cultivator—what is this thing?”

The Lord of the Horizontal River caught the ice block, and his small eyes peered at the dazzling sky-blue water gem frozen within, a hint of confusion in his gaze.

The cosmic crystal’s energy far surpassed that of a peak Return-to-Origin demon, comparable to a Profound Realm master. Otherwise, it could not have served as the Magnetic Cannon’s core, nor unleashed such destructive force.

Such a massive bundle of energy appearing before him stunned the Lord of the Horizontal River, making him almost forget his hunt for Li Miao.

By the time he came to his senses, Li Miao had already drifted a great distance, escaping his sensory range.

“What a cunning human!”

The Lord of the Horizontal River clutched the frozen cosmic crystal, cursing in frustration.

Yet, having obtained such a mystical treasure, his desire to pursue his prey waned. Seeing Li Miao had fled far, he abandoned the chase, turning his attention to the cosmic crystal instead.

“What a strange thing—neither a spirit stone nor a magic artifact.”

He did not recognize "immortal jade"; the treasure clamped in his pincers was a mystery, but he knew it must be valuable.

After inspecting it twice without discovering its secrets, he muttered, “I’ll take it back to the lair and study it with the children. For now, I’ll devour those humans aboard the ship to fill my belly.” With a swirl of river water, he surfaced.

Upstream, the vessel was carried by ice blocks, spinning and drifting along the river.

The Lord of the Horizontal River smiled cruelly and surged forward.

Li Miao had diverted the demon’s attention with a cosmic crystal, but dared not relax. He continued to suppress his breath, drifting with the current, fearing discovery.

Holding his breath, he tumbled underwater, unwittingly drifting far.

Focusing his sight, he ensured the shadow was nowhere in view before finally exhaling in relief.

“I escaped, at last.”

“But I wonder if Liang Jun and the others survived.”

A pang of guilt gnawed at Li Miao’s heart.

An hour ago, he had promised to protect the people on board from bandits and pirates at Tianmen Gorge. Yet now, faced with such a formidable demon, he had abandoned them.

Unable to find him, the Lord of the Horizontal River would likely turn back to vent his wrath on those people; Liang Jun and the others would hardly escape death.

“Alas. When I am stronger, I’ll return for that giant crab and avenge you,” Li Miao silently vowed.

The force of the river nearly pushed him to the bottom.

He had no idea how deep Cangyun River ran, and with murky waters, he could no longer see the starlight above—only darkness all around, unable to see his own hand.

Li Miao felt sand and gravel brushing past him uncomfortably and decided to break away from the current, surfacing.

No sooner had he risen a little than—thud!—he struck a stone.

“Eh? What’s going on?”

His head bumped, not painful, but rather vexing.

Tonight’s luck was truly abysmal: a demon blocking the way, and even stones refusing to let him pass.

No light around, unable to see what lay overhead. Reaching out, he found a flat slab of stone, inexplicably blocking his path.

Li Miao felt around and discovered the stone slab was quite large, and grew puzzled.

“Let’s find a light source.”

He happened to have some handy expedition tools in his microcosmos ring, and took out a standard “everbright lamp tube.” The surroundings brightened.

As water flowed ahead and he stayed at the riverbed, swathes of sand and debris moved with the current.

Under the gentle white light, Li Miao saw his surroundings clearly.

What blocked his ascent was not merely a stone slab, but a long stone wall.

He now found himself in a deep corridor, with stone walls above and on both sides, mud below, river water filling the passage and pushing him forward.

“How strange—a tunnel beneath deep water?”

Li Miao wondered.

Judging by the grime covering the stone walls, it seemed to have existed for many years.

He glanced back. With the gentle white light, he could tell he wasn’t far from the tunnel’s entrance; he could leave by swimming against the current.

But curiosity outweighed his urge to escape.

Might something special be hidden deep within this passage?

The tunnel was unfathomably deep, and the lamp only illuminated two or three yards through the murky river water.

After some hesitation, curiosity prevailed, and he pushed off, drifting deeper into the corridor.

Fish, shrimp, and water insects scattered at his approach, stirring up cloudy currents.

The passage sloped downward; the deeper he went, the more silt piled up, narrowing the space.

After a while, he sensed a faint spiritual fluctuation ahead and sped up.

Closing in, he found an intelligent river shrimp, nearly as thick as a thigh, but with low cultivation—about the third layer of Qi Refinement.

Shrimp demons, once awakened, possessed some intelligence. Sensing Li Miao’s aura, it fled deeper in terror.

Li Miao followed leisurely. Soon, another aura appeared ahead—a water snake spirit, comparable to a fifth layer Qi Refinement cultivator.

The shrimp encountered the snake, and with a companion, stopped fleeing. The two minor spirits approached, summoning weak demonic force to attack.

A water arrow and a mouthful of venom shot through the river at Li Miao. He casually struck forward, dispersing both attacks, and with residual force, smashed both spirits.

Unable to dodge, the two were crushed, their spiritual energy dissipating into the mud.

Having dispatched them, Li Miao mused, “With monsters active here, could this be a demon’s lair?”

The thought made him consider retreating.

After all, he had just been battered by the Lord of the Horizontal River; if he blundered into another demon’s den, trouble would surely follow.

But then he reconsidered. That demon crab was enormous—even without counting its eight spiked legs, the back shell alone was over three yards wide.

This corridor was barely seven feet across; unless the crab could shrink, it couldn’t enter.

If it wasn’t a demon’s lair, what was the tunnel’s purpose?

It was clearly man-made; for it to appear under the river, there were two possibilities:

One, the builders—be they humans or demons—lived underwater, and this was their road home.

Two, the passage was originally above ground, but over countless years, the land changed, and the structure sank, becoming part of the riverbed—vanishing from the world’s sight.

Li Miao favored the second theory.

After brief hesitation, he pressed on.

Soon, he encountered a fork: the tunnel split left and right.

Both paths seemed identical. He marked the junction, then entered the right-hand passage.

Not long after, he met another spirit.

This time, a barrel-sized clam demon, about sixth layer Qi Refinement, whose temperament was foul. When she saw Li Miao, she spat a pink bubble at him.

The bubble contained a toxin that slowed humans—a troublesome attack.

But the gap in strength was vast; Li Miao shattered the bubble with a casual strike, breaking the clam’s shell as well.

The clam wasn’t dead yet. She was quite intelligent, knowing she was outmatched. Panic-stricken, she spat out several pigeon-egg-sized blue pearls as an offering, hoping to trade treasure for her life.

Li Miao had no fondness for monsters, ignored her plea, crushed the clam, scooped up the pearls, and tossed them into his microcosmos, continuing on.

The passage went on and on; he had swum hundreds of yards, yet still saw no end.

After a bit more swimming, another fork appeared—this time three branches, leading in different directions.

Li Miao marked his path and pressed forward.

Stronger auras emerged ahead: three fish spirits, two at seventh layer Qi Refinement, one at eighth.

The trio clustered together, conversing; Li Miao’s arrival immediately provoked hostility, and they lashed out with their tails.

For such low-level monsters, ignorant of nurturing their natal treasures, Li Miao had no concern. He struck, crushing all three.

“Will this never end?”

He’d traveled so far without finding the end, and the monsters grew stronger, testing his patience.

But after dispatching the fish spirits, he met no further monsters—only a maze of branching paths, trying to mislead him.

Relying on intuition, he selected a route and pressed on. After more than a quarter hour, an exit appeared ahead.

“Is this it?” He sped toward the outlet.

Emerging from the passage, the water suddenly quickened. He looked around and realized he was back at the riverbed.

He’d wandered all that time, only to take the wrong path!

“This secret passage must have another exit. I’ll try again.”

Unwilling to give up, Li Miao dove back into the corridor.

He had spent a long time underwater, but with genetic energy in his body, breathing posed no issue.

Returning to the passage, he swam in the original direction, following his marks and carefully noting changes in water speed and clarity, methodically exploring each path.

Through persistent effort, after nearly half an hour, the water in the tunnel gradually calmed and cleared, the silt and sand vanishing, revealing blue stone slabs below.

“This must be the right way,” Li Miao thought.

If the water stayed turbulent and murky, he’d still be under Cangyun River, unchanged.

But now, he felt certain he’d left the riverbed behind, even delving six or seven miles toward the shore, moving underground.

Climbing a sloping stone floor, the water curtain suddenly vanished, and his view opened wide.

This time, he had arrived.

With a splash, Li Miao leaped from the water onto solid ground.

Faint spiritual and demonic energy filled the air. He quickly scanned his surroundings: an empty cavern, with only a few dilapidated statues and a battered stone gate.

The humanoid statues showed their age—some missing arms, others heads or weapons, all dust-covered and unrecognizable.

The stone gate fared little better; though tightly closed, its center was smashed open, leaving a gap two feet wide—rendering it useless, easily traversed by anyone.