The Terrifying Water Arrows

Seeing the pale blue glow flickering across Luo Yunji's body whenever Zhang Xiaofan touched him, Tian Linger knew he was all right. Relieved, she then saw that no matter how Zhang Xiaofan tried to approach him, her little junior brother never left his original position, while Zhang Xiaofan kept getting bounced away.

After thinking for a moment, Tian Linger summoned the red sash tied around her waist. It was the magical treasure Su Ru had given her after she broke through to the fourth level of the Taiji Mystic Purity Dao, called the "Amber Vermilion Silk."

She controlled the Amber Vermilion Silk, preparing to pull Luo Yunji out of the lake.

Whether it was because of the magical treasure or some other unknown reason, the pale blue glow, which had shown no strong reaction to Zhang Xiaofan's approach earlier, suddenly blazed brightly. It not only knocked away the Amber Vermilion Silk under Tian Linger's control, but also summoned a Water Arrow that shot toward her.

Tian Linger hurriedly dodged. She had assumed it was merely a weak Water Arrow, but when it struck the Black-Joint Bamboo behind her, snapping an entire clump of bamboo, her face instantly turned deathly pale.

But it was not over yet!

The blue light around Luo Yunji in the lake still shone brilliantly, while more Water Arrows slowly gathered above the center of the lake, their arrowheads all aimed at her.

Tian Linger was frightened!

The power displayed by that previous Water Arrow had made her keenly aware that she could not withstand it. Even with a magical treasure, she might be able to block one or two, but she could not possibly evade the dozen or so Water Arrows slowly taking shape over the lake by herself.

"L-little junior brother, stop playing around!" Tian Linger stared at the gradually forming Water Arrows above the lake and burst into tears from fright.

"S-senior sister! Wh-what are we supposed to do now?" Zhang Xiaofan had also seen the destructive power of that earlier Water Arrow. Now, seeing even more Water Arrows all aimed at Tian Linger, he was so terrified that he had no idea what to do.

Just as the two of them were terrified, a yellow figure flashed through the forest and vanished, as swift as lightning in the night.

"S-senior sister! Y-you can dodge them, right?" Zhang Xiaofan asked in a low, choked voice.

"I-I don't know! I-I'm scared! I can't dodge them! Father! Mother! Hurry and save me! Waaah!" Tian Linger cried at the top of her lungs, terrified out of her wits. Yet she did not dare lower her guard, and could only barely compose herself as she controlled the Amber Vermilion Silk, warily guarding against the Water Arrows above the center of the lake.

Although the Water Arrows had already formed, they did not immediately attack Tian Linger. Even so, she did not dare move an inch. Zhang Xiaofan had never encountered such a situation before and was even more afraid to move, unconsciously lightening his breathing as well.

In the end, Tian Linger could no longer hold out. She shifted her feet, and the end of the Amber Vermilion Silk drifted slightly. In an instant, a dense series of "Whoosh! Whoosh!" sounds exploded through the air as over a dozen Water Arrows shot toward her.

After being tense for so long and too afraid to move, her body had already gone somewhat numb. When those Water Arrows suddenly attacked without warning, she could not move her body nimbly in time.

Tian Linger closed her eyes in despair and cried out loudly, "Father! Mother!"

"Who dares bully Tian Buyi's daughter on Big Bamboo Peak?!" At that critical moment, Tian Buyi's short, stout figure suddenly appeared before Tian Linger.

With a domineering sweep of his right hand, he summoned his magical treasure, Scarlet Flame. With a single strike, he severed all the Water Arrows, turning them into mist that dispersed into the air.

"Waaah! Father! I was scared to death!" Seeing Tian Buyi before her, Tian Linger clung to his large belly and wailed in lingering fear.

"Good girl! Don't be afraid! Tell Father, who bullied you?" Seeing his daughter cry so sorrowfully, Tian Buyi's expression turned frighteningly grim, as though he might choose someone to devour at any moment.

"Master!" Several figures then descended from the sky.

It turned out that when Big Yellow saw Tian Linger in danger, he immediately ran back to find Tian Buyi.

Tian Buyi had raised Big Yellow since he was small, for more than a hundred years, and they had long developed an understanding. Seeing Big Yellow warn him of danger, and knowing that Big Yellow had followed his daughter and the others to the Back Mountain that morning, Tian Buyi immediately used his magic to ride his treasure toward the Back Mountain. That was when he witnessed the perilous scene from before. As for the other disciples, hearing Big Yellow's frantic barking and seeing their master flash away in haste toward the Back Mountain, they too followed out of concern.

"What happened?" Seeing her daughter crying so hard and her face pale with fright, Su Ru hurriedly pulled her over and held her in her arms as she looked at Tian Buyi and asked.

"Master!" While everyone's attention was on Tian Linger, Zhang Xiaofan, who was still swimming in the lake, saw more Water Arrows forming above the water and hurriedly cried out a warning.

"What is that?"

Seeing the dense mass of Water Arrows appearing out of thin air above the lake, Sixth Senior Brother cried out in astonishment.

"What exactly is going on?" Because of the angle, the huge boulder by the spring blocked Zhang Xiaofan and Luo Yunji from view, so Tian Buyi and the others had no idea how those Water Arrows had formed.

"It... it's little junior brother!" Zhang Xiaofan shouted from behind the huge boulder.

"What nonsense are you talking about?!" Tian Buyi flew into a rage. Following the voice, he leaped onto the huge boulder and saw Zhang Xiaofan in the lake, along with his youngest disciple glowing with blue light.

"What happened to him?" Tian Buyi was still very concerned for this youngest disciple he had watched grow up.

"L-little junior brother is... is sleeping!" Zhang Xiaofan answered honestly.

"Bullshit! You call this sleeping?!" Tian Buyi roared, feeling as though his intelligence had been insulted.

The others also leaped onto the huge boulder one after another. Seeing the scene in the water—the little junior brother still asleep as he floated at the center of the lake, and Zhang Xiaofan beside him with a panicked expression—they did not know whether to laugh or cry.

But when they saw the blue glow around their little junior brother Luo Yunji connected to the Water Arrows overhead, they all instantly became unsettled.

"Could it be that Junior Sister used the wrong method to wake little junior brother?" Sixth Senior Brother guessed.

"I didn't! I was chopping bamboo when I heard Junior Brother Xiaofan shouting for help, so I ran over. Then I saw little junior brother floating on the lake, and Junior Brother Xiaofan couldn't touch him, so I wanted to use the Amber Vermilion Silk to pull Little Fatty up. Who knew that before it even touched him, I was attacked by Water Arrows!" After speaking, Tian Linger pointed at a clump of bamboo not far away that had been destroyed by the Water Arrows.

"Junior Sister, do you mean that when Seventh Junior Brother touched little junior brother earlier, he wasn't attacked by Water Arrows? It was only when you tried to save him with a magical treasure that you were attacked?" He Dazhi raised an eyebrow and asked.

"Yes!" Tian Linger thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Master, let's put away our magical treasures and try." He Dazhi frowned as he looked at the nearly hundred fully formed Water Arrows above the center of the lake.

"How can we do that? Fourth Senior Brother, can't you see there are nearly a hundred Water Arrows over there?" Second Senior Brother hurriedly stopped him.

"Listen to me first! Summoning our magical treasures only takes an instant, so it won't matter!"

Seeing how confident his fourth disciple was, Tian Buyi was the first to put away Scarlet Flame. The others with magical treasures followed suit. Yet everyone became even more vigilant toward the Water Arrows over the lake, ready to summon their treasures at once if anything changed, so they could defend and rescue the others.

Astonishingly, the moment the magical treasures were put away, the hundred formed Water Arrows in the air vanished out of thin air, turning into mist that drifted above the lake like fog and rain.