Ou Yan's convoy traveled on for several more days. Though the sect elders sent to receive them had yet to arrive, elite disciples from the Lotus Escort Agency and Misty Sect outposts in the surrounding towns had come to assist, and Ou Yan's safety was considered secure. Aunt Qin then issued orders for disciples in the nearby areas to search along the river for Zhang Xiaohua, whether alive or dead. Anyone who found him would be richly rewarded. Thus, aside from those assigned other duties, everyone else searched downstream along the river.
Yet even on the seventh day, when Li Jian, Li the Second, and Liu Qingyang, Liu the Fifth, arrived from Pingyang City and met Ou Yan's carriage, there was still no news of Zhang Xiaohua.
Was Zhang Xiaohua dead, or alive?
That day, that night, at that moment, Zhang Xiaohua was struck squarely in the chest by the black-clad old man's palm and immediately lost consciousness. His body was sent flying, falling at an angle toward the riverbank. Zhang Xiaohua had been carrying Ou Yan toward the river to begin with, and the place where they fought was already not far from it. His small frame, combined with the old man's powerful palm strength, meant that although the blow did not directly send him into the river, only half his chest remained on the bank. The river was rushing fiercely at the time. Before long, the water swept over Zhang Xiaohua's legs and dragged him into the current. By the time He Tianshu searched his way there, Zhang Xiaohua had long since been carried who knew how far downstream.
It was Zhang Xiaohua's good fortune that the black-clad old man's palm strength had not been even half a degree stronger. Otherwise, Zhang Xiaohua would have gone straight down