CHAPTER 110 (3): COMPLETE ACCIDENT

"Let's keep going. All those at the front, keep your cloaks in your hands so you can use them as fans at the first sign of any poisonous smoke. After the smoke has been dispersed, immediately discard or burn your cloaks and replace it with another. From now on, if an enemy can be taken out from a distance, then all of you are strictly prohibited from engaging them in close-quarters combat!"

Fang Che had learned many hard lessons from the people of the poison hall in his past life, and he knew that extreme caution had to be taken.

With that, everyone continued onward, smoothing out difficult terrain, clearing away rubble, and burning bodies.

Along the way, they were attacked thrice more by people from the poison hall, but thanks to Fang Che's leadership, no further casualties or injuries were suffered.

While clearing away a collapsed cliff, Fang Che suddenly heard a faint buzzing sound that immediately caught his attention.

"Everyone, stop!" he hurriedly yelled, and everyone immediately stopped what they were doing.

"What's that sound?" someone asked.

Fang Che took off his cloak as a wary look appeared on his face.

"Be on your guard, everyone! Regardless of what it is, don't let it..."

Right as he was speaking a dark cloud suddenly descended from the heavens.

"Don't move!" Fang Che roared as he spread his cloak open, then rushed directly at the dark cloud, enveloping it with his cloak before spinning around and hurling it far away.

The cloak was sent flying for several thousand feet, and only then did everyone detect a sickly sweet aroma in the air.

Immediately thereafter, a vast purple cloud appeared overhead, casting a massive shadow over the landscape, and it was flying right after the cloak that Fang Che had hurled way.

It was a swarm of super bees, every single one of which was the size of two fists.

"Crystalline Purple Bees!" Yuan Jingjiang exclaimed as his entire body instantly became drenched in cold sweat.

Crystalline Purple Bees were among the most venomous bees in the world, and a single sting could kill even an Emperor.

If it weren't for Fang Che's quick reactions in disposing of that huge blob of honey, everyone would've surely been completely decimated by these bees!

***

Fang Che descended back down to the ground, then watched with a contemplative expression as the swarm of Crystalline Purple Bees flew away into the distance.

"Let's skip this area for now and continue onward at full speed. We'll clean up this place on our way back. Even a small swarm of straggling Crystalline Purple Bees would be too much for us to handle, so we have to get out of here. Please lead the way, Hall Master Yuan. The one that threw the honey at us definitely isn't far away, so be on your guard."

Yuan Jingjiang did as he was told, limping along from the front like a cripple due to the mismatching heights of the soles of his shoes.

The sounds of a battle quickly rang out up ahead, and it was clear that the enemy had been caught off guard by how swiftly the threat of the Crystalline Purple Bees had been nullified.

Yuan Jingjiang had run straight into the enemy, and it presented an opportunity for him to vent his fury. None of the seventeen enemies up ahead were able to get away, and all of them were cut down by Yuan Jingjiang's blade before being incinerated into ashes.

However, the entire time, Fang Che remained in deep thought, seemingly completely disinterested in the outcome of the battle.

No one dared to disturb him, and they could only continue to forge ahead in silence while constantly looking out for potential hazards.

Before long, they arrived at a forest that had been completely set ablaze, making further forward progress impossible.

There was molten lava flowing over the ground, giving off incredible heat, and it was still burning with flames as it flowed into a village down below, inundating the entire village in a fiery, molten tomb.

"That village is beyond saving," Fang Che sighed. "There's no need to burn the bodies inside, either. The molten lava will destroy everything."

Sullen looks appeared on everyone's faces at this sobering thought.

"The main problem that we're facing now is that this path is inaccessible to us with all this lava in the way," Fang Che said with tightly furrowed brows. "This is the volcano that's erupting the most violently, and it's completely cut off where we are from where we want to go.

“There's another volcano on the other side, but the two volcanoes are situated quite far apart from each other, so there must still be many survivors waiting to be rescued in the area between the two volcanoes. If we can't get through here, then the survivors will eventually succumb to the heat."

"Perhaps they may have already been evacuated through some other route," Jing Xiuyun suggested in an optimistic manner.

"Perhaps, but we have to always be prepared for the worst," Fang Che said. "Even if it turns out that all of our efforts are wasted, and that everyone has already been evacuated by the time we get there, it will all have been worth it."

"Administrator Fang is right!"

A consensus was quickly reached, but the problem still remained: how were they going to remove all of this lava?

***

Right at this moment, a clear voice rang out from a distant mountain summit.

"Are there Protectionists at the foot of the mountain?"

"Yes!" Yuan Jingjiang hurriedly called out in response. "Yuan Jingjiang of the White Cloud Prefecture Hall of Protectionists pays his respects to his seniors!"

"You're from the White Cloud Prefecture? I'm impressed you got here so quickly. All of you, get back for now."

The voice was rather familiar to Fang Che.

Is that Water God Xiao Tianshui?

Everyone hurriedly stepped back from the burning forest, and they saw a flash of light on the mountain summit, followed by an earth-shattering commotion.

Immediately thereafter, a cloud of mist rose up like a mushroom cloud, and an almighty geyser of spring water abruptly erupted into the heavens from the mountain summit.

The geyser of water was several dozen feet thick, and it rose up to an altitude of several hundred feet before crashing down in an almighty downpour.

Loud sizzling sounds rang out in all directions as the molten lava was rapidly cooled, and huge plumes of water vapor rose up into the air, raising an enormous cloud of mist over the entire area.

The suffocating heat began to rapidly abate as more and more water erupted into the sky, presenting a spectacular sight to behold.

Looking on from afar, one could see countless rainbows all over the mountain from the foot to the summit.

"As expected of Senior Xiao Tianshui! No one else could draw so much water out of the summit of a recently erupted volcano!" Yuan Jingjiang praised with a look of awe and reverence in his eyes.

"It's not just Senior Xiao here. That streak of swordlight just now indicates that Senior Bing Qianshan is also present," Fang Che said. "Senior Xiao can use his special cultivation arts to draw all of the underground water in the area to this place, but he wouldn't be able to split the earth to release all of the water."

"Sometimes I truly feel like they're gods among mortals, working miracles that we can barely even comprehend," Yuan Jingjiang said with a wry smile, and everyone nodded fervently in agreement.

Indeed, in their eyes, the likes of Xiao Tianshui, Bing Qianshan, and Xue Fuxiao were no different from deities.

***

Meanwhile, Fang Che was thinking about something else, and right at this moment, his eyes suddenly lit up as he hurriedly turned to Yuan Jingjiang and said, "Hall Master Yuan, I can't project my voice enough to have it be heard from this distance. Can you call out to Master Bing Qianshan to come and see us? I have something important to report!"

Yuan Jingjiang was stunned by this request.

You want me to call Bing Qianshan to come and see us?! Do you realize that I'm just a lowly battle hall master?!

Fang Che could see the hesitation in Yuan Jingjiang's eyes, and he insisted, "It's urgent, Hall Master Yuan! Time is of the essence! Don't worry about attracting any enemies. If Senior Xiao and Senior Bing are here, then all of the enemies in the area would've surely already fled."

Yuan Jingjiang gritted his teeth, then took a deep breath, yet right as he was about to call out, his chest deflated like a balloon as he shook his head and said, "I... I can't do it... I'm too scared..."

"Useless!" Fang Che snapped in exasperation.

With Yuan Jingjiang refusing to help, he could only draw upon his cultivation base with all his might before yelling, "Is Master Bing Qianshan there? I have an important matter to report!"

However, the commotion from the reaction between such massive volumes of water and molten lava was extremely loud, and Fang Che didn't know if Bing Qianshan would be able to hear him from the distant mountain summit.

Sure enough, even after yelling a few times, he received no response.

Fang Che wasn't able to sufficiently amplify his voice with his limited cultivation base.

"Yuan Jingjiang! Yell for Master Bing right now! That's an order!" Fang Che snapped.

Yuan Jingjiang was sweating profusely, and after taking a few deep breaths, he was finally able to muster up enough courage.

"Is Master Bing Qianshan there? I have something important to..."

His voice abruptly trailed off as a white-robed figure appeared before him without any warning, observing him with a cold expression.

Yuan Jingjiang instantly shuddered as he greeted, "Yuan Jingjiang of the White Cloud Prefecture Hall of Protectionists pays his respects to Master Bing."

He immediately realized that Bing Qianshan had actually heard Fang Che and was already on the way here.

Yin Jingjiang just so happened to yell out with all his might right as Bing Qianshan was about to arrive, essentially screaming directly into the latter's face.

The thought of what he had just done instantly had him trembling in fear.

If he were to incur the wrath of Bing Qianshan, then he would be as good as dead!