Heaven-Sent Calamity Cannot Be Erased

As the Bright Light Formation began to circulate, the murky miasma that had filled the city's streets and alleys was soon swept away without a trace.

All infected residents were gathered up, isolated, and treated. A disaster that had been on the verge of erupting was thus quietly extinguished before it could take shape.

The people of Cold Mountain, experiencing the mysteries of the Bright Light Formation firsthand for the first time, were naturally overwhelmed with gratitude at first. Cries of "Our wise and just lord!" rang throughout the city.

But good times did not last.

For some reason, the Bright Light Formation's various other wondrous functions soon became known across the entire city.

Thus...

"What? They want the formation's cooling effect activated?"

Fang Xun stood before the hall, staring at the huge crowd of petitioners kneeling outside the county yamen gates, scarcely believing his ears.

"These unruly commoners!"

Fang Xun laughed in fury and immediately ordered, "Wu Kuang, drive every last one of these ungrateful wretches away! Anyone who dares gather again to cause trouble will be arrested and thrown into prison, then shown the full weight of the law!"

"Yes!" With a grim killing aura on his face, Wu Kuang immediately led his constables outside.

Before long, waves of wails and screams rose from beyond the county yamen.

Fang Xun's face remained as cold as frost. "Outrageous! They actually dare haggle with me! Keeping the purification effect active for them is already a tremendous act of mercy on my part, yet they still dream of asking for more..."

At that moment, it was as though a bolt of lightning split the fog apart. Fang Xun's brows suddenly drew tight.

In that flash of sparks, he seemed to have caught hold of something.

Yet before he could think further, that fleeting spark of inspiration vanished like spring snow melting away. No matter how hard he focused and retraced his thoughts, he could not recover even a trace of it.

An inexplicable layer of irritation and unease settled over Fang Xun's heart.

Only when he strolled into the rear residence with his hands clasped behind his back and saw Huan'er's innocent smile did the agitation in his heart gradually subside.

The one nursing Huan'er now was a wet nurse he had hired at great expense.

As for that foolish woman Yu Niang, she had repeatedly pestered him about marriage and status without knowing her place, so he had long since confined her in secret.

Looking at Huan'er on the bed, stretching out his soft little arms and babbling for a hug, Fang Xun shed his stern dignity. Smiling broadly, he swept the child into his arms.

"Huan'er, watch as your father secures you a splendid future!"

Early the next morning, the great Bright Light Formation began to flow with light once more.

A cool, refreshing breath descended slowly over the entire city like sweet rain.

The people of Cold Mountain, who had long suffered beneath the scorching summer heat, finally tasted long-lost cool comfort.

The fury and resentment that had hung over Cold Mountain County were forcibly suppressed by that chill, and the tense situation throughout the city eased considerably as well.

The endless quarrels and brawls in the streets ceased. Everyone greedily savored this rare peace.

Naturally, they did not forget to once again cry out in unison, praising County Magistrate Fang's wisdom.

Yet few noticed that, while forcibly maintaining both the "purification" and "cooling" effects, the protective barrier hanging over the city was becoming ever more transparent and fragile.

Three days later, on the fourteenth day of the sixth month.

Under the banner of completely resolving the flood disaster, Fang Xun led the Black-Armored Army out of the city in full view of all.

He did not return until nightfall, bringing with him exhilarating news.

The water level in the silt-clogged inner lakes around Cold Mountain had begun to fall drastically. By this estimate, no more than ten-odd days remained before the flood disaster was completely over.

When the city's people heard the news, they became even more jubilant.

On the fifteenth and sixteenth days of the sixth month, Fang Xun led the Black-Armored Army out for two consecutive days to clear the stagnant waters.

The results were remarkable. The waterline that had once loomed black and heavy over everyone's heads had actually fallen to merely several feet above the city wall's battlements.

After being trapped for so many days, the people of Cold Mountain finally saw daylight again.

The eighteenth day of the sixth month.

Fang Xun went out as usual.

To speed up the drainage, he even took most of the constables with him this time.

The morning was calm and uneventful. Throughout the city's streets and alleys, the excited murmurs of people who had survived a catastrophe drifted from time to time.

Three in the afternoon.

"Who goes there?!"

Furious shouts exploded before the Cold Mountain County yamen.

A burly figure wrapped in fierce Killing Intent shot out from the end of the long street, charging straight at the county yamen gates!

The constables left behind immediately treated him as a formidable enemy. Golden light flashed around the yamen as the Bright Light defensive formation silently activated.

The attacking figure neither dodged nor retreated. In his hands, he held a pair of enormous warhammers.

He stomped hard with both feet and launched himself into the air. His massive body spun midair, and the two mountain-sized hammers, carrying the force of a thousand tons, crashed down one after the other.

Boom! Boom!

With two earthshaking blasts, the ground throughout Cold Mountain County shuddered as though unable to bear the strain. Violent ripples instantly spread across the Bright Light Formation's protective barrier, continuously dissipating the impact of that tremendous force.

But with every shock, its radiance grew dimmer, as if it might collapse at any moment.

The burly figure did not pause after the first strike. His following attacks came like a raging storm. Those terrifyingly heavy warhammers moved in his hands as lightly as toys molded from clay, swinging without the slightest sluggishness.

Under the relentless bombardment, terrifying afterimages even linked together in midair.

Bang!

Moments later, the county yamen's defensive formation was actually smashed apart!

The burly figure burst through, turning into a streak as he raced straight toward the rear residence.

He seemed intimately familiar with the yamen's internal layout. Without taking a single wrong turn, he soon arrived outside the room where Fang Xun's son, Huan'er, was staying.

The faint sound of an infant crying could still be heard from inside.

The target was right before him.

Yet at that moment, the burly figure suddenly stopped.

Everything had gone too smoothly on the way in, and a trace of unease flashed through his heart.

He instinctively tightened his grip on the twin hammers.

The door ahead suddenly flew open.

The burly figure's pupils contracted sharply, for the one who stepped out was Fang Xun, who had supposedly left that morning!

Fang Xun was no longer wearing a county magistrate's official robes. He had changed into a suit of heavy silver armor.

He sneered. "With a little trick, I lured you right in. Let's see where you can run today!"

"Take him down!"

At Fang Xun's furious roar, teams of heavily armored Black-Armored Army soldiers and hardened constables suddenly surged from the previously silent side rooms and annexes like a tide.

In the blink of an eye, they had surrounded the burly figure so tightly that not even water could seep through.

Trapped in desperate circumstances, the burly figure showed only a brief flicker of panic. It was quickly swallowed by overwhelming battle intent.

"You want to capture me? You bunch of clay chickens and porcelain dogs aren't worthy!"

A scarlet bloodlight suddenly surged into his eyes. Amid a series of explosive cracks from his bones, his already tower-like body abruptly grew and swelled by more than another size in an instant!

Compared with everyone around him, he now looked like a giant descended upon the world.

"The Master did not speak of strange powers, chaos, spirits, or gods!"

Fang Xun's expression turned solemn as he chanted in a low voice. At the same time, he used his hand as a brush and wrote in the air.

The instant his words fell, it was as though an invisible shackle descended upon the burly figure.

Visible to the naked eye, the large man seemed to be pinned beneath a mountain. His body abruptly sank.

"Excellent! Come, fight!"

Even under such crushing pressure, he seemed wholly unaffected. Instead, he turned defense into offense and lunged toward Fang Xun on his own initiative!

"That's quite a commotion." Li Shun hid in his own residence, watching the tremendous roars that occasionally came from the county yamen not far away.

"That person who just stormed the county yamen..."

"Why does he look somewhat like Xiong Jin?" Li Shun stroked his chin.

Just as he was pondering this in secret—

"Still trying to run? Bright Light Formation, seal him!"

With Fang Xun's furious shout, the Bright Light Formation around the county yamen suddenly blazed brilliantly, becoming almost tangible.

But correspondingly...

The formation's protection that had originally covered the entire outer perimeter of Cold Mountain City immediately became as thin and fragile as cicada wings.

The surging floodwaters that had been kept outside all this time finally found a fatal gap.

A boundless ocean poured back in.

It came from the heavens.