RIIDMDR chapter 67

 

Ting Chuan was fully focused on this race against time, but the sudden question caught him off guard. He froze for several seconds. After reacting, he felt both exasperated and amused.

“What if I am afraid? What if I am not?” Ting Chuan asked.

They were in a relatively low-lying position, the water’s resistance was too strong. They couldn’t run anymore, they could only go against the current upward. However, with the rising speed of the water, if they couldn’t reach higher ground, they would surely drown.

“The current is getting more and more rapid. If we get separated, don’t worry. The small array won’t take our lives. We’ll see each other after we leave the array.” Nan Xu’s heart was pounding, yet his words were different. It was unclear whether he was comforting Ting Chuan or himself.

He didn’t know if foxes feared water, but he knew that, as a human, he was surely afraid in this kind of natural disaster-like situation.

He didn’t want to say anything discouraging before anything had even happened. Looking around, all he could see was endless water, not even a piece of floating wood was in sight. His hands clenched tightly, he wasn’t aware of how nervous he was, but he was squeezing Ting Chuan’s hand so hard that it hurt.

“That raging wind couldn’t blow you away, so why fear this water scattering us?” Ting Chuan gripped his hand back, his voice calm as usual. This fox really didn’t seem afraid of water at all.

Perhaps influenced by Ting Chuan’s composure, Nan Xu’s rapidly pounding heart slowly slowed down.

They walked for nearly another half an hour, their pace slowing further. Unknowingly, the water had risen to their necks. Whether an illusion or not, Nan Xu felt the water was rising more slowly—perhaps most of the snow had already melted.

He walked with his head held high, not daring to lower it, even slightly. With each step, the waves struck his chin. Had he not stood firm, he would have been swept away by now. Being soaked in water was unpleasant, and with such forceful currents, he couldn’t understand why his feet felt rooted to the spot.

This thought made Nan Xu’s scalp tingle. “Could this mountain’s array awaken abilities from a past life? Could I have been a thousand-year-old tree demon in my previous life, growing roots underfoot and being unafraid of gales and unable to be washed away by water?”

This guess was reasonable enough to explain his current state. Before Ting Chuan could respond, Nan Xu continued: “Then can I float too? With my current height, won’t I suffocate in the water?”

Hearing this, Ting Chuan couldn’t follow Nan Xu’s way of thinking for a moment. Clearly, Nan Xu wasn’t thinking about past lives, he was terrified of the water in front of him. After all, with only his head above the surface and the water still rising, the psychological pressure was unbearable.

Before Ting Chuan could think of how to comfort him, a sudden downpour began. The previously gentle rising waters instantly surged violently and, in the blink of an eye, submerged their chins.

Nan Xu was filled with dread. The suffocating feeling of drowning consumed his mind, nearly driving him insane. He knew he couldn’t give in to fear, but he couldn’t control it.

Nan Xu felt the terror about to swallow him. His whole body trembled. When he sensed someone hugging him and calling his name, he pushed them away.

His inability to overcome his fear was his own weakness—how could he drag Ting Chuan into it?

He swallowed repeatedly, forcing himself to calm down. He had already accepted everything and was no longer afraid of life or death. So why was he instinctively struggling just by imagining the scene?

Nan Xu couldn’t explain it to himself. Ting Chuan was caught off guard and pushed several meters away. Ting Chuan saw Nan Xu standing still with his eyes shut tight. The water covered his nose and cut off his breath, yet Nan Xu seemed completely unaware. He was trapped and unmoving, frowning and shaking his head.

Ting Chuan fought the current toward Nan Xu. Seeing him like this, an image suddenly surfaced in Ting Chuan’s mind from more than three thousand years ago. At that time, the gravely injured Jing Yuan had just woken up and heard from him that the catastrophe in the demon realm had passed and that the little demon had already perished. Jing Yuan had suddenly leapt up and thrown everything within reach at him. His eyes were bloodshot and he was hysterical.

“What do you mean he perished? How did he perish? Why did you save me? If my life had ended, so be it—but how could you leave him in that disaster? With his limited cultivation, how could he protect himself? Did you see those endless mountain ranges? His body lies beneath them. He loved freedom above all else and hated restraint. Now, he will remain motionless for thousands of years.

……

Nan Xu had a very long dream. He couldn’t clearly recall what happened in it. He vaguely remembered being amidst water and fire. Sometimes he heard weapons clashing. Sometimes he heard cries that the sky was collapsing. He didn’t know what was happening, only that he was in unbearable pain and unable to move.

When Nan Xu woke up, he was lying, drenched, on a slope. The floodwaters had receded at some point, revealing the muddy ground beneath. Beside him was Ting Chuan, bedraggled and with a hand resting on his knee. He was sitting quietly, lost in thought.

“You saved me again.” Nan Xu lay there weak and smiled faintly with difficulty.

He hadn’t thought he would survive. At that moment, he rejected others’ closeness because he thought he would suffocate and die in the water.

“After I knocked you out, the water receded,” Ting Chuan said. “It didn’t take much effort.”

Nan Xu didn’t think much about the meaning of Ting Chuan’s words nor did he quite believe them. After all, if Ting Chuan was telling the truth, why wasn’t he still at the original spot, instead of on this high slope? He was grateful to have Ting Chuan with him yet also felt regretful, as he felt his problems had burdened Ting Chuan too much.

“I dragged you down. I never thought I would fear water this much,” Nan Xu said.

The sun above grew fiercer, scorching the land and causing the temperature to rise rapidly. It was likely shifting again. Both were exhausted and unwilling to move. Ting Chuan had discarded their backpack long ago when Nan Xu lost control. Looking out, they saw nothing but yellow earth and sand; there was nothing edible at all.

In barely half an hour, the water on their clothes was baked dry, going from severe winter to blazing summer. Their frostbitten faces began to peel under the heat—a fate few in the world would ever experience.

“There’s one chance left to use the house. Should we rest first or keep walking?” Nan Xu, too hot to lie still, guessed it must be over forty degrees Celsius.

“Let’s go first,” Ting Chuan said. “While we still have some strength.”

In truth, they had little strength left. However, the longer they delayed, the more difficult survival would be without water or food. The hut had no supplies, only shade. Nan Xu knew this, too, so he agreed to move on as well.

The yellow earth beneath their feet gradually turned to sand. There were no trees in sight. The farther they walked, the more it felt like the deserts Nan Xu had seen in pictures online.

After barely an hour of walking, his mouth was parched. His body’s water was constantly evaporating under the scorching sun.

He turned to look at Ting Chuan, whose face looked terrible. He was no longer just pale, he looked like he might faint at any moment.

Nan Xu had never seen Ting Chuan so fragile, as if he might collapse at a touch yet still forcing his legs forward mechanically. No wonder he had been silent this whole time.

After entering the array, Ting Chuan had lost his powers and was no different from a human. Nan Xu lost consciousness in the cold and lost his reason when submerged, but Ting Chuan persisted all along, doing much without Nan Xu knowing. No one is truly indestructible.

Nan Xu opened his system interface and was about to press the button for the temporary shelter when the person beside him suddenly collapsed. Instinctively, he reached out to catch him.

Ting Chuan was already half-conscious and didn’t know when he had lost his strength. His mind replayed the recent moments of carrying Nan Xu up from the water and hearing him murmur in his ear. Perhaps he had dreamed of that catastrophe, and those broken words were what Ting Chuan had once missed by turning away.

Three thousand years ago, he hadn’t heard that farewell. Three thousand years later, he finally heard the whispered “Take care.”

“Don’t be afraid,” Ting Chuan said.

Nan Xu held Ting Chuan, momentarily lost. After a few seconds, he used their last chance at shelter, pulling Ting Chuan inside. Cool air greeted them instantly. The temperature inside was nothing like the outside temperature. Examining Ting Chuan, Nan Xu figured that he hadn’t rested properly, had gotten heatstroke, and had lost his strength. But there was no water or food inside. Looking out at the blazing sun, Nan Xu gritted his teeth and went back outside.

“This entire mountain is mine, yet the array within is treating me so harshly.” Nan Xu thought to the system. “I only came to see and experience it as the master of this mountain. Why does it seem as though the array wants to devour me? Is your ownership fake, 006?”

He hadn’t suddenly fainted from the heat in the freezing cold. He’d never feared water, yet he had lost control in it. Was it the array, or was it him?

This time, the system responded quickly. The screen displayed the word “Real.”

As if afraid of being blamed if he was late, Nan Xu chuckled and quickened his pace. “Since the mountain is mine, the array is mine too. Why can’t I control it?”

The system played dead once again. Nan Xu wasn’t angry. He continued, “Can’t you give me an answer, or are you not allowed to?”

If anyone else were there, they would think Nan Xu had gone mad from his ordeals. But he knew he was clearheaded. He had seen that, although the array seemed harsh and impartial, it immediately ceased its assault every time he lost consciousness. Ting Chuan had likely noticed this too—that’s why he knocked him out when his emotions lost control.

Zhuyu Mountain had always favored him. Only his fear of the elements had made the weather harsher.

That was why, even before he fainted, Ting Chuan hadn’t forgotten to tell him, “Don’t be afraid.”