Heaven and Earth Have Wind Calamities

Heaven and Earth Have Wind Calamities

"Shopkeeper, isn't this a bit much?" Sun Zhang felt a pang of heartache. "We paid a fortune for that courtyard, planning to use it to bribe Steward Qian. How could we just let this brat have it for so cheap?"

"Even if we're giving it to him, shouldn't we wait until he helps us take down the fleet?"

The woman in yellow shot Sun Zhang a glare. "Just go when I tell you to. If we wait until then, I'm afraid a tiny courtyard won't be enough to send him away."

Sun Zhang muttered a few words under his breath, but in the end, he did not dare disobey his shopkeeper's orders. He obediently delivered the deed to Li Fan.

Li Fan did not refuse. He had little to pack anyway, so he moved into the East Street Courtyard that very day.

Compared to the slums outside the city, the surroundings here were better by more than a little.

Officials from Liuli Prefecture stood watch at the mouth of the alley, responsible for maintaining order and security. The small courtyard was also far more spacious than his previous dwelling, with three main rooms and two side rooms on each side. Though it was not particularly large, it was more than enough for Li Fan alone.

Li Fan declined the few maids Heaven's Treasure Pavilion sent over afterward. From then on, he settled there and quietly waited for the fleet's next voyage.

Li Fan had originally thought it would not take long. Who could have known that an unexpected upheaval would push the date of departure far into the distance?

The Wind Calamity had arrived!

Li Fan had heard the people of Liuli Island mention Wind Calamities many times before, but he had never paid them much mind.

He had thought they were, at most, like the typhoons and hurricanes he had seen before crossing over—nothing more than larger storms.

But when the Wind Calamity truly arrived, Li Fan realized just how terribly wrong he had been!

That day, Li Fan was at home, practicing the Profound Yellow Heart Cleansing Mantra as usual, when he suddenly heard bursts of urgent noise from outside.

Strange, shrill sounds circled endlessly through the skies above the island, quickly spreading across all of Liuli Island.

"Get home, quickly! The Wind Calamity is coming!"

"Immortal masters, bless us! Immortal masters, bless us!"

"Mother, where are you? Come home quickly!"

The island instantly fell into chaos. Panicked, terrified cries rang out everywhere, leaving Li Fan confused for a moment.

Then, he suddenly saw a blue curtain of light appear in the skies above Liuli Island.

Like a gigantic bowl turned upside down, the curtain stretched across the entire island, covering everything within.

"The Island Protection Array has been activated. Do not panic! Stay inside your homes. No one is to go out!" A clear female voice appeared alongside the curtain of light, spreading across the island in an instant.

"The immortal masters are merciful!"

Listening to the cries rising and falling all around him, Li Fan raised his head and carefully studied the Island Protection Array.

Blue radiance flowed across it, cutting off the inside of the island from the outside.

From time to time, characters Li Fan did not recognize faintly surfaced upon the curtain of light, looking profoundly mysterious.

A howling like ghosts weeping gradually rose. The wind had come! Layer upon layer of ripples spread across the curtain, blocking every gust of the gale.

Yet within the curtain, not even a thread of wind could be felt. Everything remained calm.

Then torrential rain began to fall from the sky.

The countless raindrops were so dense they nearly formed lines, battering against the curtain of light.

Circles of ripples spread across it, shutting out the pounding downpour completely.

Outside lay raging wind and rain; within the curtain, all was tranquil.

So this is the means of immortals?

Li Fan silently praised it.

Though he had already witnessed Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi's methods, capable of destroying an entire city at a stroke, the Island Protection Array still made his heart itch with unbearable yearning.

The wind and rain continued for over half an hour.

The rain gradually eased, and the sound of the wind slowly weakened as well.

Just as Li Fan thought the Wind Calamity was about to pass, he suddenly noticed something was wrong.

Not only did the sky fail to clear, it grew even darker.

Countless black clouds appeared from nowhere, layer upon layer, as if they would never end, pressing down toward the world below.

In the blink of an eye, heaven and earth became pitch-black.

The thick black clouds seemed close enough to touch.

As though the clouds were brewing something, Liuli Island fell into brief silence.

The silence was swiftly shattered.

"Boom!"

A thunderous explosion erupted beside Li Fan's ears.

Boom, boom, boom! Explosive crashes like thunder rang out from every direction at once, unceasing and continuous.

Like a symphony without end, they echoed endlessly between heaven and earth.

Amid that overwhelming sound, Li Fan felt dizzy and saw stars dancing before his eyes. It was as though a huge slab of stone pressed against his chest, making it hard to breathe. When he touched his nose, blood was already streaming out without stop.

Li Fan was horrified. Just as he was about to flee back inside, he suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet shake violently.

With heaven and earth spinning around him, Li Fan quickly lost his balance and fell to the ground.

As though something were battering it without cease, the earth trembled again and again.

Li Fan looked up and saw a sight that nearly stopped his breathing.

A wall of water of unimaginable height filled his entire vision. Swept onward by the wild winds, it bore down upon Liuli Island from above with the force of withered weeds and rotten wood being crushed! In the blink of an eye, the towering waves were about to crash down and bury every living thing below.

Li Fan could not help raising his arm instinctively to shield himself.

"Boom!"

The gigantic wave slammed into the blue curtain of light.

The curtain twisted violently, as though it were about to shatter at any moment.

But after a surge of blue light swept through it, the curtain returned to normal.

Like a rock by the sea, it stood firm amid the crashing waves.

Failing to swallow Liuli Island seemed to have enraged the sea.

Wave after wave came crashing in, one after another.

Liuli Island was truly like a tiny sapling swaying in wind and rain, as though it could be torn to pieces at any moment.

There were many moments when Liuli Island was even completely submerged beneath the seawater.

Li Fan nearly felt that this world would end just like that.

Fortunately, the Island Protection Array proved even more reliable than he had imagined. It endured without breaking.

Towering waves crashed down without end.

The apocalyptic scene left Li Fan almost dazed.

He did not know how long he remained in that muddled state before the massive waves finally began to subside.

But they only subsided somewhat.

The Wind Calamity came swiftly, but departed slowly.

Amid the wind and rain, day and night were impossible to distinguish.

Li Fan felt that a full two or three days had passed before the Wind Calamity finally receded.

"Thank you, immortal masters!"

The surviving islanders knelt upon the ground, weeping bitterly.

Amid the islanders' chattering discussions, Li Fan learned news that chilled him even more.

The Wind Calamity Liuli Island had suffered this time was considered relatively small.

The Wind Calamity fifteen years ago had been several times more powerful than this one.

Back then, even the Island Protection Array had nearly failed to hold. They had been forced to shrink the area under its protection.

Thus, after the Wind Calamity passed, every area that had not been protected by the array was shaved away by the disaster.

Liuli Island's area was reduced to only one-third of its original size.

For more than a decade after that Wind Calamity, Liuli Island gathered refugees from all over before it slowly recovered its strength.

"Wind Calamity... so this is what a Wind Calamity is..."

Li Fan was shaken to the core.

The might of heaven and earth was terrifying to such a degree!