So there really were lotus flowers in winter, and just as that little boy had said, they were actually beneath the water!
At this point, Yan Bo had no room to worry about anything else. He did not even stop to consider how absurd the little girl's words sounded. Almost instinctively, he swam desperately toward the lotus.
Behind Yan Bo, pursuers swam after him underwater, while the expert bounding across the boats' masts above the surface moved even faster.
For Yan Bo, life and death truly hung by a thread.
Splash, splash, splash.
The lotus ahead seemed to stir up a patch of spray. For some reason, the starlight and moonlight in that stretch of water seemed especially bright, standing out against the murky depths elsewhere. That was why Yan Bo could see the lotus from so far away underwater at night.
Had it been daytime, he might actually have struggled to make it out.
Though still some distance away, it looked remarkably clear. Ripples made the submerged lotus and its leaves sway gently. The two bare stalks must have held the Flower Buds the little boy had picked, while the one in the middle was the only lotus left!
As he paddled frantically, Yan Bo kept calculating the distance and timing. At one point, he suddenly kicked sideways to dodge.
Splash!
A white gleam plunged down from the surface, throwing up a fine spray, followed immediately by a splash.
The saber wielder dove headfirst into the water, blade in hand. Yan Bo barely avoided the strike, though it still left a deep wound running from his back to his shoulder. Blood gushed out, staining part of the river red, but Yan Bo kept swimming for his life.
Though his pursuers were surprised that Yan Bo had dodged the strike,