Floodwaters Breach the Dam

Two nights later.

Li Mo entered the Mystic Dream once more.

Just as before, he remained clear-headed and rational. His body in the manifested world and his shadow in the Mystic Dream had once again switched places, and his soul's perspective had reversed.

Li Mo stood upon the empty land in the form of a shadow, recalling what the hunter had said.

Over the past two days, more than once, he had considered whether he should throw away this strange book before he saw those supposedly indescribable horrors. Yet every time he wanted to do so, he could not help thinking that a large part of the reason he had completed his apprenticeship so quickly was the miraculous power brought by this book. Thus, he wavered and hesitated again and again, yet could never bear to discard it.

"Let's wait a little longer. At the very least, I need to see what those unspeakable horrors he mentioned actually are before making a decision."

Thinking this, Li Mo could not help but sigh.

With the mad hunter's warning, he was no longer as flustered as he had been when he entered the Mystic Dream last time. He began carefully observing everything here.

The ancient, desolate earth was utterly silent and empty.

Only the clouds in the sky rolled without end, telling him that this world had not yet died.

Standing upon this empty land, Li Mo felt incomparably lonely. This place was like an abandoned world, a forgotten world, with only him left in it.

A long while later.

Li Mo walked forward.

Yet this time, though he deliberately walked onward for a long time, he found no trace of medicinal herbs. This extinguished his desire to continue gaining inspiration for various herbs.

"Could it really be that what one thinks of by day, one dreams of by night?"

Li Mo tried to judge his present situation.

"Was it because I had read fewer medical books lately, so those medicinal herbs no longer appeared in my dreams? And because I had read Three-Way Swordplay too much, this change occurred?"

As he pondered this, he began recalling the contents of Three-Way Swordplay and tried practicing in his dream according to its three methods for strengthening the body and its thirty-six sword techniques.

First came Leap.

Li Mo gathered his breath where he stood and gave a low shout. His body shot up from the ground, and he easily leapt more than seven feet high. It was simply unbelievable.

According to Three-Way Swordplay.

To achieve this level of footwork, one needed at least three to five years of unwavering practice and had to reach the so-called minor mastery stage of martial arts. Yet in the Mystic Dream, Li Mo had attained it with ease. Next, he tested Backward Flash and Left-Right Sway, and both produced equally extraordinary results.

"Could it be because I am currently in a shadow body, with perfect exertion postures and the correct rhythm of breathing?"

Li Mo formed a guess in his heart. After thinking briefly, realization suddenly dawned on him.

According to Three-Way Swordplay, practitioners had to constantly train these three movement techniques, adjusting their breathing rhythm to its optimal state. Over time, this strengthened the body and improved health, while their agility would far surpass that of ordinary people. In other words, he could now use this method to master the proper breathing and exertion techniques. Once he woke in the morning, he only needed to recall his current training experience and use it as a point of reference.

In that case.

With correct experience repeatedly guiding him, if Li Mo wished to cultivate martial arts, the speed of his progress would surely be unimaginable.

He then began attempting the thirty-six sword techniques.

Beginners in martial arts could only memorize these basic sword techniques by rote. As for combining them with one another and using them flexibly, that was something for after reaching minor mastery.

Perhaps because Li Mo's body was likewise a shadow body at this moment, every basic sword technique he performed flowed in one breath. His movements were exceptionally precise, without the slightest sense of stiffness or difficulty.

If strengthening the body had to be done in reality, then forming flexible combinations after practicing the basic sword techniques could be accomplished entirely within the Mystic Dream. Since a shadow body had no limits from joints or physical form, he could freely improvise here and attempt all kinds of sword technique combinations.

After studying them carefully for some time, Li Mo's expression grew increasingly grave.

He seemed to have already seen the outcome: with the Mystic Dream's aid, his martial arts cultivation would rapidly succeed with ease.

"It seems the Mystic Box is a treasure where danger and opportunity coexist. It is filled with fatal temptation, making it hard to part with, yet the result may very well lead its holder into an abyss from which there is no redemption."

No one knew how long passed.

Li Mo slowly awoke and discovered that it was already daylight outside.

He slowly sat up from the bed. His mind was filled with all kinds of sword techniques, so after washing up simply, he began practicing Leap, Backward Flash, and Left-Right Sway in his room to verify the thoughts in his heart.

Li Mo's body in reality naturally could not be as light and graceful as his shadow in the Mystic Dream.

Yet just as Li Mo had expected, the shadow's breathing patterns and principles of exertion in the Mystic Dream could be brought into reality as experience, guiding him toward the proper direction for training.

If he continued cultivating along the correct path over time, he would surely advance by leaps and bounds.

After taking a deep breath, Li Mo fetched an oil-paper umbrella. Following the memories from the Mystic Dream, he assumed various sword technique postures. Although his movements were not very smooth and could not flow like drifting clouds and running water, every basic sword technique posture looked convincing. He did not look like someone practicing for the first time at all.

Li Mo was not delighted. Instead, he fell into thought.

"It truly seems that my frequent reading of Three-Way Swordplay lately caused some changes in the Mystic Dream. The Mystic Dream can not only affect cognition, but can also gradually affect my real-world self through special means."

Thinking this, Li Mo walked toward the front hall.

"Junior Disciple Li, morning."

"Morning..."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Before Li Mo could respond, hurried knocking from outside interrupted him. A herb gatherer who had spent the night at the medical hall yawned as he slowly opened the main doors. The instant he did, everyone was stunned.

The street outside was packed with people. They were villagers from nearby settlements, arriving in Hua'an Town like refugees, dragging their families along with them.

"What happened?"

Zuo Shu walked out from the front hall and onto the street, asking a bearded old man.

"Bai'an Dam burst last night. Those in the villages along the river who did not escape in time were swept away by the floodwaters. This flood is too great. Nothing like it has been seen in countless years. Many houses along both banks of the Tan River are gone."

As the old man spoke, his eyes immediately reddened.

The people of Jimin Hall fell silent.

Li Mo was shocked as well, but when he remembered that Shanbei Village stood on relatively high ground, he finally let out a breath of relief. He truly had to thank his ancestors for their foresight. They worshipped the mountain god of North Mountain rather than the river god of the Tan River. The roads might be harder to travel, the farmland poorer, and the crops fewer, but when floodwaters came, at least they could keep their lives.

"Grandpa, I'm scared."

A little girl of about seven or eight, thinly dressed, wept in the light rain.

As the old man comforted the girl, he said to Li Mo, "Her father and mother didn't manage to escape. They were swept away by the Tan River."

Li Mo saw fear, despair, and pleading in the old man's eyes. He nodded, then quickly ran to the back courtyard, brought out the Steamed Cakes and pickled vegetables left over from yesterday, and handed them to him.

"Thank you. For your great kindness and virtue, you will surely be blessed in the future."

Li Mo said nothing more. This was all he could do. He also noticed that as more and more refugees poured into town, the shops along both sides of the streets had begun closing one after another.

After the constables and runners assembled, they did their utmost to maintain order in the streets while organizing people to head to Bai'an Dam and repair the breach.

That day.

Jimin Hall was packed to the rafters, with patients constantly coming through its doors.

Li Mo had never seen such a scene. He did not even have time for breakfast. The authorities also began organizing local gentry and wealthy landowners to distribute porridge for disaster relief. Despair and fear seemed to show in everyone's eyes.

Late at night.

Li Mo was exhausted beyond measure. He collapsed onto his bed and immediately fell asleep.

Three days later.

The heavy rain still did not stop. Jimin Hall remained packed every day, and the medicinal herbs stored in the pharmacy gradually became insufficient. The three attending physicians frequently spoke in low voices, constantly shaking their heads and sighing.

The Traveling Doctors and medicine dispensers also felt deeply oppressed amid their exhaustion and toil.

At this moment.

Zuo Shu, who had gone out on rounds, returned to Jimin Hall. As he put away his umbrella, he let out a low sigh.

"I just heard that the River God Temple plans to hold a sacrifice, praying for the river god of the Tan River to stop the flood. They are even preparing to offer a boy and a girl as sacrifices to the river god. I heard that the villages along the river have raised quite a bit of silver, and even the disaster victims have donated money."

"What?"

Everyone was greatly shocked.

Before this place had joined Gan Kingdom, whenever droughts, floods, or other disasters struck, the so-called priestesses of the River God Temple would indeed preside over the custom of offering living sacrifices to the river god.

However, after Hua'an Town joined Gan Kingdom, the River God Temple on the Tan River, like the mountain god temple on North Mountain, had been abandoned for many years.

Furthermore, Hua'an Town had enjoyed favorable winds and timely rains in recent years. The authorities and local gentry had continually promoted rites and moral instruction, and the younger generation had almost never participated in such large sacrificial gatherings. Sacrificing living people was something that existed only in historical legends.

Who could have expected that after one great disaster, the old evil custom would rise from the ashes again?

Li Mo also found it somewhat hard to accept. Previously, everyone had competed to call themselves citizens of the Da Gan Kingdom, yet in such a short time, this place seemed to have returned to the chaos of its former lawless days.

Yet he could not help recalling the fear, despair, and helplessness in the eyes of those disaster victims.

Perhaps because of the Mystic Dream, whenever Li Mo recalled those gazes, he felt that the sky above Hua'an Town was filled with dense resentment.

It rolled and surged without end, brewing.

The black resentment seemed capable of corroding people's hearts, turning those once conservative cruel, those once simple and honest mad, and those once kind gentle people into beings devoid of reason. Everything twisted and warped because of fear. When so many helpless people gathered together, they would gradually lose their minds, wanting only to return to peaceful lives.

"Is chaos coming again?"

Old Man Feng looked at the growing number of refugees in the streets, who were gradually becoming restless. He seemed to recall something unpleasant and let out a sigh.

But at a time like this, all Jimin Hall could do was try its best to treat the sick, saving one more life whenever possible.

Thus, he ordered, "For the next few days, all of you had better stay sharp. No one is allowed to drop the ball! We are doctors. Every additional life we save earns us another measure of hidden virtue and reduces another measure of suffering for the people of Hua'an Town. Do you understand?"

"Yes!"

Encouraged by everyone at Jimin Hall, Li Mo also began a life of tirelessly going out on medical rounds day and night, fulfilling his duty as a doctor and doing his best to treat patients.

Another seven days passed in the blink of an eye.

Li Mo was so exhausted that his entire body felt muddled and dazed.

Fortunately, there were suddenly far fewer refugees in the streets today. It was said that they had all gone to the River God Temple to offer sacrifices and pray. For this, the River God Temple had prepared not only a boy and a girl, but also a great number of livestock—chickens, ducks, cattle, sheep, and the like—as offerings to the river god. Gongs, drums, suonas, and musicians were all present. The spectacle was astonishingly grand.

These days had truly been far too busy.

Everyone at Jimin Hall was exhausted to the point of seeing stars, and now that they finally had a brief moment of leisure, they half-closed their eyes in the front hall to rest.

Li Mo also leaned against the wall and dozed off.

At this moment.

An acquaintance entered the front hall. Li Mo turned to look, forced himself to perk up a little, and saw that it was Uncle Cai, who organized the young men of Shanbei Village to carry night soil into town and sell it to farmers from the various villages.

"Uncle Cai?"

Li Mo straightened up, trying his best to look more energetic as he approached Uncle Cai.

"Why are you here? Is everything alright in the village?"

"Oh, Little Mo. I came to get some medicine for rheumatism. It's an old problem. With all this rain lately, these legs of mine... sigh. The village is fine. Only several Zhao family households at the western end of the village were on lower ground and suffered from the disaster. Their houses were flooded, but fortunately, everyone escaped. That is a blessing amid misfortune."

Hearing this, Li Mo let out a breath of relief.

This was not too different from what he had expected. Before, it had only been a guess. Now that he had heard Uncle Cai say it himself, he was finally completely relieved.