Minor Flood Season, Yangtze River on Alert / Battle Against Flood Demons

When he got up early in the morning, faint dark circles had appeared under Lu Jun's eyes. He sighed. "I'm done for."

Knock, knock, knock!

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door of Jinyuan Apartment.

Lu Jun wondered who would be coming so early. At the same time, his older sister stepped out of the other room. She had just woken up and looked languid, one strap of her nightdress slipping off her smooth shoulder, revealing her delicate collarbones and rounded shoulder, pale and luminous.

She yawned. "Who is it?"

Lu Jun was naturally cautious. The Nebula of his Mind Element stirred, and his second-realm Mental Power spread out, sensing the Mind Lake of the person outside. He had offended quite a few people, after all, so he had to be careful about everything.

He hadn't come away from spending a day with Ding Yumian empty-handed. At the very least, he could now go a step further and distinguish between emotions like Killing Intent, hostility, and goodwill.

Only after sensing that the person outside was calm did Lu Jun relax. He stepped forward and opened the door, only to find a beautiful, dignified woman standing there. Her features were exquisite and pleasing to the eye, and her graceful figure was captivating.

He hesitated. "You are...?"

"Hello." The woman greeted him warmly. "I'm Mu Nujiao of the Mu Clan. Sorry for the intrusion."

So it was her. Lu Jun understood. She was a supporting character in the original story. A year from now, she would have reached first-level Intermediate Mage in two Elements. She was currently about his age and should already have Intermediate-level cultivation. In the early story, she focused on combat; later, her personality would change and she would go into education.

The Mu Family called her a beauty of celestial grace, and she was as battle-crazed as a demon.

Lu Mei heard them and came out of the room, frowning slightly. "What is it? Another recruitment pitch?"

In the days after Lu Jun had fought thousands of freshmen and fallen unconscious, many of the Great Noble Families in Magic City had come knocking to invite the siblings.

Civilians with cultivation and potential on that level were simply too rare. They all wanted to recruit them.

Lu Mei had turned them all down. If she'd really wanted to attach herself to a Great Noble Family, she would have joined one back in Bo City.

Mu Nujiao didn't take offense. She answered with easy grace, "That's right. I'm here on behalf of the Mu Family to recruit you."

At that, Lu Mei waved a hand. "Forget it. We're not interested."

"All right, no problem." Mu Nujiao didn't insist. Instead, she seemed to have come simply to complete a task, and left it at that.

Lu Mei and Lu Jun were both taken aback. In the past, recruiters from noble families had either been arrogant and condescending, or earnestly persuasive and deferential toward the talented. Some had even tried threats and bribes. But every one of them had made an effort to win them over, pressured by the powerful people behind them.

This was the first time they'd met someone who didn't care whether she failed.

"Surprised?" Mu Nujiao said with a bright smile. "Honestly, if my family hadn't told me to come, I wouldn't have. There's no point anyway. If you were interested in joining, the dozen or so families before us wouldn't have come away empty-handed. It's obvious you want to stand on your own."

She spoke unhurriedly. "By comparison, I'd rather stay friends with you. I have high hopes for your future. If you want to rent a Star River Magic Tool or buy a Star River Vein, you can talk to me."

"I can use my connections to help you get established. I imagine the Mu Family's friendship is something you could use."

Hearing Mu Nujiao say that, the two siblings nodded. It was much more comfortable dealing with someone who had that kind of attitude.

Lu Jun thought it was pretty good. No wonder the Mu Family was the one he liked best among the four great families in Magic City in the original story. The two Mu sisters were both capable and shrewd, with excellent people skills, and they didn't have any spoiled brats under their watch.

"Come to think of it," Mu Nujiao said, winking at Lu Jun, "I'm planning to take the entrance exam for Mingzhu University next academic year. That makes you my senior."

With his sister there, Lu Jun replied calmly, "What a coincidence."

Mu Nujiao was good at reading the room. She glanced at the two of them and smiled sweetly. "I won't keep you, then. Here's my card."

A moment later, she left a card and departed with easy confidence.

The siblings exchanged glances, then dismissed the little interruption and went back to their rooms to cultivate.

Chapter 84: The Minor Flood Season, Yangtze River on Alert

Three months passed in the blink of an eye, bringing them to the middle of the semester.

After the day Mu Nujiao had visited, Lu Jun started going to class as usual. His reputation attracted plenty of curious looks from other students, but as time went by, the excitement gradually died down.

The Great Noble Families and other major forces also stopped sending people to visit. They had clearly understood what the siblings intended.

Of course, no one had forgotten the night of the freshmen Beast Fighting Competition. They simply kept their wariness and admiration to themselves, and showed it in their actions.

As a result, Lu Jun's life at the academy was quite carefree.

For the past three months, Lu Jun had focused on cultivation and kept a low profile, waiting for the attention to fade. He had finally brought his Intermediate Magic in both the Mind and Curse Elements up to the same level of proficiency as his Metal and Water Elements. He could usually cast them in just two or three seconds.

During that time, he had met up with Ding Yumian two or three times. He used the pressure of her Mental Power to temper his will. The process was painful, but to his delight, his Mental Power really had grown noticeably, reaching the peak of the second realm.

By the time selection for the National Academy War began two years later, he might even reach the fourth realm of the Middle Realm, which would be equivalent to a Soul Seed and enough to put him among the top Advanced-level experts.

It was worth noting that when Ai Jiangtu, captain of that year's national team, first appeared, his mental cultivation was only at the fourth realm, and he was an Advanced-level Curse Mage.

And the Curse Element was only one part of Lu Jun's strength. He had three other Elements!

Today, he was cultivating as usual. He shifted his attention from the Mind and Curse Elements to the Water Element, aiming to break through to the second level.

Outside Jinyuan Apartment, a steady drizzle fell, and the ample moisture in the air made the surroundings very comfortable for Water Mages.

The rain wasn't heavy, no more than moderate at most—nothing like that night in Bo City.

The problem was that it had been raining for three days and three nights without stopping. It was highly unusual. Even though they were on the coast and had plenty of water, it was already November. Rainfall should have dropped significantly by then.

When Lu Jun finished meditating and stood up, he looked at the gloomy sky and frowned. He wasn't pleased just because the conditions were suitable for cultivation.

After all, it was already autumn, the season of harvest. If a persistent drizzle came down, farmers wouldn't be able to bring in their crops in time. It could be considered a Great Disaster.

Besides, even the city's excellent drainage system was beginning to struggle, and flooding was starting to appear. Anyone who could stay at home was avoiding going out.

Lu Jun turned on the television. A reporter was covering the major cities throughout the Yangtze River basin, where flooding of varying severity had caused heavy losses.

Experts believed a Monarch-level demon had been causing trouble in the Yangtze River. It was using the monsoon winds and the flood season to bring endless rain to the coastal regions, then using the rising tides to invade human territory.

That was what had caused the disaster. In short, the Demon Beast was taking advantage of the weather.

Lu Jun shook his head. Monarch-level demons were far beyond him. Someone else would handle it.

There was no mention of this disaster in the original story. That made sense, considering Mo Fan had been cultivating diligently that year, to the point that he barely paid attention to the world outside. His cultivation was also too low for him to get involved.

Over the past three months, Lu Jun had occasionally called Mo Fan, but the other man hadn't picked up. It seemed he was determined to achieve great mastery before returning to the academy to show off. Too bad he still had Lu Jun's legendary day-and-night streak to live down.

Creak~

Suddenly, the door opened. The crisp sound of boots followed, along with a wave of cold air.

Lu Mei came back holding an umbrella, a little damp from the rain. She took off her high boots and set them on the shoe rack, shook the water off her umbrella, then opened it and left it by the entrance to dry.

"How's the situation?" Lu Jun asked without turning around. "Did you get any information?"

His sister looked serious. "There are quite a few Demon Beast tribes appearing in the Huangpu River. Chongming Island also needs people to defend against the Sea Monsters, so they're short-handed. We don't need to go looking for information; the Hunter's Alliance is giving it out for free. They're going to call up civilian Mages."

Over the past few months, Lu Mei had been stuck at the limit of her progress with two Intermediate Elements. She needed a Star River Vein, and the lowest price was a hundred million. To be safe, she would need at least another ten million on top of that.

She was currently working as a city officer in Magic City. Including what she'd saved before, she had a total of eighty million, leaving a shortfall of several million.

The siblings had been looking for work hunting Demon Beasts in the wild for a while. They'd finally found a chance to get involved, and joining an official operation was obviously safer.

The Yangtze River flood season was a regular occurrence, usually lasting from May to October. During that time, Flood Demon tribes frequently encroached on both banks, and humans suppressed them.

This time, they were simply unlucky to have a minor flood season in November because of a shortage of manpower.

"Then we can do it. We're right by the Huangpu River anyway. The strongest ones that'll show up are probably Commander-level. That Monarch is in Jinling, a hundred thousand miles away. We'll be perfectly safe."

Lu Jun's eyes lit up. Because of the Black Vatican, he hadn't gone hunting Demon Beasts for a long time, and the Remnant Souls stored in his White Tiger Pendant hadn't increased at all.

Now that he'd mastered the Intermediate Magic of all four Elements, he was restless after staying indoors for so long and wanted to hone his skills.

Aside from raising his Metal Element's Primary Magic to level four, he also needed to improve his other three Elements.

He considered which Primary Magic to raise to level four next and chose Water Shield, to strengthen his defense and make sure nothing went wrong.

"When do we leave?"

"Now!"

Lu Mei changed into a new outfit in her room and tied her hair into a neat ponytail. She was brisk and decisive.

Lu Jun had originally thought of asking Ding Yumian along, but reconsidered and let the idea go. She relied entirely on her talent to improve and didn't need to temper herself in battle. Besides, it was better to keep the fact that she was a Mind Calamity hidden.

That way, Mo Fan and Qin Yuer were out in the open, Lu Jun was in the shadows, and Ding Yumian was hidden deepest of all. Their trump cards kept coming one after another.

Water Shield · Cycle.

Before they left, Lu Jun cast two Primary Magic spells. The siblings' Water Windbreakers, a shimmering blue, interwove around them and absorbed the rain. Not a drop of moisture touched them.

They braved the moderate rain, moving with Wind Orbit · Floating Shadow. In just over ten minutes, they reached the meeting point in the center of Magic City, not far from the Huangpu River that cut through the city.

In the distance, they saw multicolored spells roaring through the rain as Military Mages suppressed a Demon Beast tribe.

Hunters were arriving at the site one after another. There were about forty or fifty of them, all Intermediate Mages. The official representative waiting at the front was a member of the Adjudication Court. To their surprise, it was Tang Yue.

"Hi, long time no see."

The long-haired beauty had a curvaceous figure and a mature face full of charm. She greeted the siblings.

Lu Jun was taken aback. He asked, puzzled, "What are you doing here all the way from Hangzhou?"

"Ugh, do you think I want to be here?" Tang Yue sighed. "The Adjudication Court in Hangzhou is basically responsible for the entire southeast. We're like firefighters, rushing wherever there's trouble."

"I was supposed to be transferred to Jinling. When I saw your names on the submitted roster, I applied to join your operation."

As they spoke, Lu Mei and Lu Jun understood.

Tang Yue then looked at the dozens of Hunters who had arrived. There weren't many of them, but every one was an elite Intermediate Mage. With a High Mage leading them, they could even stand up to a Commander-level Demon Beast.

She said briskly, "There's no time to catch up. We're short on people, so we need to hurry and block a ferry crossing—the Songjiang tributary of the Huangpu River."

The main force was holding off the Commander-level Demon Beasts on the main river. They only had to deal with Demon Beasts below General-level that managed to slip through.

If the Super Mages in Magic City could be deployed, the problem would be much easier to resolve. But there was a cost to consider.

That cost wasn't the cost of manpower or hiring.

It was the cost of maintaining the entire system of rule. Human Mages were powerful as a whole. If you looked at just one Demon Beast race, they were the strongest group in the world.

But humans also occupied a vast amount of territory and were surrounded by Demon Beast Empires. Disasters happened countless times every year: the Yangtze River flood season, the East Sea pouring inland, Yellow River silt, sandstorms in the imperial capital, floods in the south, snow and ice in the north, and the Demon Beast invasions that came with them.

This was just one small incident among countless uprisings. There were all sorts of other disasters across the country, and manpower was stretched thin.

So when the cost of maintaining control exceeded a certain threshold, and the people at the top felt the strain or decided it wasn't worth it, they would consider abandoning an area. Bo City had been one such example, as had Jinlin City.

Chapter 85: The Great Battle Against the Flood Demons

Lu Jun knew that, given Magic City's importance, it had to be defended no matter how severe the attack. If the situation became dire, a Super Rank Great Mage would eventually step in. There was no doubt they'd be safe.

Besides, a group of Super Mages had already been organized in Jinling, where they'd laid a vast net to capture the Flood Demon Monarch. That was why they couldn't spare anyone for now.

Tang Yue didn't waste words. She led the group of elite Hunters to a reservoir dam. In the storm and gloomy weather, waves churned across the reservoir, and the dam shook incessantly.

The water's surface was pitch-black. Looking closely, it wasn't black at all; the color came from the mass of enormous crocodile-shaped shadows packed together. These were Huangpu Crocodile Demons, a tribe with several Commander-level members that had settled nearby.

The government had considered clearing them out, but the Huangpu connected to the Yangtze River system, and Demon Beasts could never be eradicated completely. After one tribe was wiped out, another would migrate in.

Rather than let a stronger tribe settle in, it was better to selectively leave a weaker tribe behind, since it was easier to control.

Using Demon Beasts to control Demon Beasts and maintaining ecological balance had always been the military's approach.

For instance, the main branch of the great crocodile demon tribe lived in the Yangtze River. It was said that their bloodline had been tempered to its peak in the form of an Sub-Dragon Monarch—the very Monarch causing this disturbance.

Provoked, the Huangpu Crocodile Demons had also launched an invasion, but the many water gates and dams stopped them from easily reaching the city.

The giant crocodiles in the lake were all built like dragons, their tails covered in steel-spike-like barbs. Their skin was so thick it looked as if they wore layers of hardened mud and steel. Even Servant-level ones were often eight or nine meters long.

The General-level ones were over ten meters long, more like small flood dragons. They also made up an unusually high proportion of the tribe: one in ten Servant-level Demons was a General-level. When they surfaced, they crowded the lake in such dense numbers that the water was almost invisible, their overlapping scales gleaming with a cold, dark sheen.

On top of that, Demon Beasts in the water were generally two or three times stronger than those on land. This wave would be hard to deal with.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The towering dam shook violently. Even its special, magic-forged material couldn't withstand the repeated impacts of immense force. Cracks appeared across its surface, and rubble flew everywhere.

A squad of more than ten Military Mages had taken up positions on the dam early on and were attacking with all kinds of spells. But they couldn't stop the surging crocodile horde. Their attacks vanished into the "Black Scale Tide" in an instant, so insignificant were they. From time to time, they also had to dodge the high-pressure water jets spat out by the Crocodile Demons.

The Military Mage in charge saw Tang Yue and said, exhausted, "You're here. Hurry and reinforce the dam. We can't let them break through. If they spread out along the river and get into the city through the sewers or into the villages and towns through little streams, they'll be much harder to handle."

Tang Yue frowned as she stood on the shaking dam, struggling to keep her balance.

Seeing the scene on the lake, the dozens of Hunters drew in sharp breaths. "There must be at least a thousand Crocodile Demons!"

An Intermediate-level soldier said, "They're clever. As soon as we start forming our Star Charts, they dive underwater, and most spells stop working."