Yun Shu lowered her eyes.
She acted with meticulous detail, trembling when she should, and looking up when she should. The expression of twenty percent weakness and eighty percent cold detachment on her face was perfectly balanced.
The seawater continuously churned beneath her feet, and the storm swirled around her while she stood right in the eye of the wind.
As she absorbed more and more of the storm's power, the golden specks of light on her fish tail grew increasingly numerous.
From a distance, it looked as though she were shedding golden blood.
“Zhuzhu... No... Don't save me!”
The blue whale let out a heart-wrenching, sorrowful cry.
Its massive body struggled desperately to nudge forward, scraping new bloody gashes onto its already burned skin.
But it couldn't care less about that.
The little fox had just knocked out the uncontrollable factor, Shen Jue.
The next second, it saw the scene.
The injured blue whale was wriggling and scraping itself against the volcanic rocks. Sensing that something was wrong, the little fox threw caution to the wind and dashed like a sprinter from the tower boat toward the blue whale without stopping.
“Silly fish! Stop moving!” it roared.
“My host is perfectly fine! She's saving you!”
The blue whale couldn't understand.
Nor did it recognize the system in its human form.
It only saw its good friend, the one who gave it candy, currently enveloped right in the center of a world-destroying storm.
“I... I don't hurt... Don't save me!” It whimpered, resting its massive head against the reef. Bloody tears welled up from its giant eyes, splashing drop by drop into the seawater.
“Zhuzhu hurts... Zhuzhu hurts... Don't save...”
Seeing that the blue whale was completely unreceptive, the system had no choice but to switch back to its little fox skin before saying to it, “Silly fish, look closely. It's me, Xiao Funi! Would I ever lie to you?”
“Xiao Funi?” This time, the blue whale recognized the system. It looked pleadingly at the little fox. “Zhuzhu hurts so much...”
“Shushu doesn't hurt.”
The little fox was completely out of options.
“Shushu is just acting. She isn't really hurt. Don't go over there and make trouble for her. Just lie here quietly!”
“Otherwise, Shushu and I will never come to the sea to play with you again, and we won't give you any more candy!”
The blue whale blinked its eyes. “Xiao Funi, don't be mad at me. We are good friends. I will be good.”
It obediently lay back down and didn't move a muscle.
The little fox originally wanted to scold the blue whale a bit more, but noticing that its tail had been burned by the magma to the point where the bone was exposed, it swallowed its words and said nothing.
It couldn't bicker with a silly fish.
That would only make it look silly too.
Just as the blue whale quieted down, the crowd of believers on the tower boat began desperately throwing themselves against the wall of light protecting them.
Feng Chunya was at the forefront.
“Divine Lady, please let me out! I don't want to be protected by you anymore. I want to help you!!!”
With reddened eyes, she punched the wall of light again and again. Even though her hands were beaten bloody and raw, she refused to stop.
On the deck, there was a young soldier.
He was only about seventeen or eighteen, with a face that still retained a hint of childish innocence. His eyes were bloodshot as he repeatedly threw himself against the golden wall of light, only to be bounced back, yet he kept getting back up.
“I don't want to hide behind the Divine Lady anymore! I can fight! I can bear this for the Divine Lady! Let me out!”
He bashed his head until it bled, yet the wall of light remained completely motionless, without even a single mark left on it.
Beside him, an older soldier grabbed the young soldier's arm, trying to drag him away from the wall of light.
“Let go! Let me go!” the young soldier roared hysterically, tears mixing with the blood that smeared his face. “The Divine Lady is suffering in that storm for the sake of all living beings in the mortal realm! And we are just standing here watching? What is this?! What on earth is this?!”
No one answered him.
Because no one knew how to answer.
Inside the wall of light, row after row of soldiers knelt on the deck, their foreheads pressed against the golden barrier.
They clenched their fists, gripped their sword hilts, and held onto anything they could grasp, their veins bulging.
Yet, none of them could break out.
The thin golden wall of light was like an insurmountable chasm, separating them from their deity on opposite sides of life and death.
“Divine Lady...” Feng Chunya wept uncontrollably. “Please return to the Heavenly Palace. The mortal realm is not worth it...”
How could they possibly deserve such profound love?
Perhaps they should never have begged the Divine Lady to stay. If She hadn't entangled Herself with mortal karma, how could someone as powerful as the Divine Lady suffer heavenly punishment time and again just to resolve natural disasters for the mortal realm?
It was they who had dragged the Divine Lady down...
Seeing this, the little fox hurriedly ran to warn Yun Shu.
“Host, stop the angst!”
It said helplessly, “Feng Chunya and the others are worried to death—literally, they are really about to die of worry!”
Thankfully, her host was incredibly smart to have it knock out Shen Jue. Otherwise, if that guy had witnessed this heartbreaking scene, wouldn't his Favorability have instantly maxed out and sent her host packing?
Yun Shu couldn't see clearly what was happening on the tower boat, but she believed the system wouldn't make things up.
Therefore, she accelerated her absorption of the storm's power.
Before long, the storm completely dissipated.
The clear sky stretched out once more, and the sunlight cast rainbow-like pillars of light that angled down into the sea.
Sensing that the life essence she had just converted from the storm's power was continuously draining, and to ensure that all the injured marine creatures could receive it, Yun Shu had to swim around. Her silver-white hair cascaded behind her, her ear fins were as thin as cicada wings, and her water-blue dress drifted through the ocean currents like smoke and mist.
With every flick of her tail, her gorgeous fish tail carved a beautiful arc through the water. Countless specks of light showered down from her dazzling scales, as if crushed stars were being scattered into the ocean.
Those star-like specks of light did not dissipate. Instead, they slowly drifted down, landing on the scorched volcanic walls and the dying marine creatures.
As the life essence entered their bodies, those marine creatures instantly transformed from a near-death state to being lively and full of energy.
Especially the blue whale; if the little fox hadn't instructed it not to move, it probably would have already swum over to snuggle with Yun Shu.
Now that the marine creatures were all healed, Yun Shu figured that since she was already wearing the Tide of All Things Set, she might as well use the skill of her formation piece, the Myriad Tides Life-Breath Formation, along with her set skills.
Then, a miracle occurred once more.
Moss and lichen sprouted anew on the reefs, empty shells closed and opened as fresh clam meat grew back at a visible rate, and even ancient algae poked new shoots out from the crevices of the rocks...
A scene of all creation flourishing was displayed across the seabed.
Yun Shu continued to swim forward.
Only when she drew close to the Abyssal Tower Boat did she clearly see the thoroughly dispirited Feng Chunya and the others on the deck.
She turned her head to look at the little fox, who had followed her over.
“How did they get injured?” she asked.
The little fox told her, “Host, they were trying to break out of the Abyssal Tower Boat's protective barrier just now to help you.”
Yun Shu fell silent for a moment.
Once again, she had underestimated the influence she, as the Divine Lady, had over these believers. It seemed she couldn't act out scenes of receiving heavenly punishment in the future. This time, she had only acted on a whim, taking advantage of the situation.
It was indeed a bit thoughtless of her.
Rate on N.U.
