Everyone prostrated on the ground, still expressing their gratitude to the Divine Lady for saving their lives, when the ground began to shake violently in the next second. The earthquake came without warning, just like the previous flood.
Rumble—
A dull, heavy roar rumbled up from deep underground.
The soil on the muddy ground, which had just been loosened by the floodwaters, instantly cracked open into hideous gashes. The fissures widened rapidly, the dark chasms resembling the gaping maws of giant beasts.
“This... this is the earth dragon turning over!”
Screams shattered the peace of surviving the disaster.
Shen Jue raised his head in horror.
The remaining eastern walls of Wuling City, which had not yet fully collapsed, came crashing down under the impact of the tremors. Countless broken bricks cascaded down, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
Yun Shu looked down slightly at Wuling City, a dark glint flickering in her cool, clear eyes.
The Great God had indeed resorted to this trick.
The flood had barely receded before an earthquake struck, as if eager to carve the words “Heaven wills your destruction” into everyone's hearts.
“Run! Run north! It hasn't cracked over there yet!” The crowd stumbled and scrambled across the shaking ground.
Some fell, their knees scraping against the gravel, but they paid no heed to the pain, crawling forward on all fours.
Others dragged their limping companions, stumbling as they squeezed into the crowd surging northward.
Shen Jue spotted a child of seven or eight crying hysterically on the ground, terrified by the sudden anomaly. A crack had opened right beside the child, looking as though they could fall in at any moment.
Without a second thought, he lunged forward, scooped the child up from the edge of the crack with one hand, and ran toward the north.
“Divine Lady... Divine Lady...” Cradled in Shen Jue's arms, the child looked up with teary eyes at the snow-white figure in the sky, stretching out a small hand as hard as they could.
The tiny fingers grasped at the empty air, as if trying to catch a distant, unreachable light.
Yun Shu hovered in midair, her sleeves fluttering in the wind. The halo at the hem of her skirt flickered under the dust rising from below.
She slowly extended her hand and opened her fingers. A palm-sized bell lay in her palm.
The bell was entirely silver-white. With a gentle shake, it emitted an incredibly soft sound, like melting snow dripping into a clear spring on a distant mountain.
With the ring of the bell, the entire world fell completely silent.
Those who had just been crying and fleeing now lay scattered across the muddy ground and piles of rocks. Their faces were relaxed, and their breathing was steady and peaceful.
Yun Shu withdrew her hand. The Dream-Entering Bell flew back to her palm, turning into a streak of silver light before vanishing into her sleeve.
Her gaze swept over the sleeping crowd below. After a brief pause, she raised her head and looked up at the sky, which was once again filling with dark clouds.
“Great God,” she spoke. Her voice was not loud, yet it pierced clearly through the clouds, reaching straight into the highest heavens. “I know you can hear me. Can we talk?”
High in the sky, the lead-gray clouds began to churn, as if in response to her words.
Yun Shu noticed that the ground beneath her had also gradually stabilized, and the cracks had stopped expanding. Feeling reassured, her expression grew even more composed. “Our goal is the same—we both want to turn this book world into reality. There is no need for you to target me like this.”
“Besides, if you push me too far, I will kill the male lead right now, and you will get nothing.” Her tone remained calm and unhurried. “Turning a book world into reality cannot be an easy task, can it? You are already halfway to success. Wouldn't it be a shame to let it all go to waste?”
“Of course, if you want to test whether I actually dare to kill the male lead, feel free to try.”
There was a long silence.
Suddenly, the cracks in the ground closed.
Yun Shu knew that the Great God had likely temporarily abandoned his plan to use natural disasters to force her into submission.
This was thanks to what the little fox had told her before—that the Great God could not enter the book world. Otherwise, her tactic of holding the male lead hostage to command the Great God probably would not have worked.
However, this tactic likely would not buy her much time.
She still had to seize the moment to reclaim the south and unify the Central Plains. Then, she would introduce everything she had prepared to accelerate the development of this world, giving them the ability to resist various natural disasters so they would not be so passive.
...
The next morning.
The first ray of morning light shone at an angle through the breach in the ruined eastern wall, falling upon the people lying on the ground.
Among the tangled heaps of people near the city gate, someone's eyelids fluttered, and they slowly opened their eyes.
The first to wake up was a soldier in his early twenties. He propped up his upper body with his hands and looked around blankly.
His mind felt like mush, and the events of yesterday were a blurry, indistinct memory.
“Why am I sleeping here?” he muttered to himself.
Beside him, Shen Jue also woke up. When he opened his eyes, he was still tightly holding the child in his arms.
The child was lying on his chest, small hands clutching his collar, sleeping with flushed cheeks.
He looked down, momentarily dazed.
Then, he gently set the child down from his arms and quietly sat up.
The surrounding people woke up one after another. Gathering in a circle, they chattered animatedly about yesterday's events.
“I clearly remember the ground shaking violently. I tripped, and then I blacked out.”
Someone slapped their thigh, suddenly remembering something. “Before I fell asleep, I think I heard the Divine Lady speaking. She said she was going back to the Heavenly Palace with someone for something...”
“The Heavenly Sovereign?”
“Yes! It seemed to be the Heavenly Sovereign! The Divine Lady told the Heavenly Sovereign to stop making things difficult for us mortals and to direct everything at her instead. I heard that much through my daze.”
“Yes, yes, I heard it too! The Divine Lady went back to the Heavenly Palace with the Heavenly Sovereign just to protect us!”
The more they spoke, the more convinced they became that this was exactly what had happened. They nodded in agreement, their eyes turning red once more.
“Will the Divine Lady be alright?”
“Don't talk nonsense. The Divine Lady is so powerful; she will definitely be fine. She will be fine...”
The person began to sob softly as they spoke.
Shen Jue walked over, clenching his fists tightly. “What is the use of crying?! The Divine Lady protected us; we cannot let her efforts go to waste! If the city has collapsed, we will rebuild it! If the roads are broken, we will repair them!”
“Yes! Rebuild it!”
“Wuling City cannot just disappear like this!” The crowd scrambled to their feet, patting the dust and dirt off their clothes.
Some went to move the broken wooden planks and beams scattered on the ground, some cleared the intersections blocked by rubble, and others helped the injured to sit in clean spots...
Everyone did what they could.
Pei Du watched this scene with mixed emotions. “General Shen, right now, even the Zhenbei Army has no food supplies left. How can we provide relief for so many refugees?”
Shen Jue fell silent for a moment before speaking. “Let us find General Feng and the others first before making any plans.”
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