Legend Management Bureau Chapter 396

[ … words ]

He Suoyi sprinted through the forest without looking back. He wove past one mid-air rift after another, twisting and leaping forward while figures from entirely different eras constantly burst from the temporal tears.

Du Yu chased after him like a madman, clutching an axe.

He Suoyi was heavily injured. His heart meridian had been severed, rendering him no different from a mortal, but Du Yu knew that if he failed to kill him here, none of this would end.

If He Suoyi was allowed time to recover and regroup, this “prosperous era” would truly fall perfectly into his hands.

He Suoyi darted around a massive tree, and Du Yu pursued him relentlessly.

Unexpectedly, the old bastard had hidden behind the trunk. Gripping a thick branch he had snatched from the ground, he swung it viciously at Du Yu.

Du Yu furrowed his brow and raised his axe to block, but the sheer force of the impact still knocked him to the ground.

The moment Du Yu hit the dirt, He Suoyi made a prompt decision. He immediately mounted Du Yu, wrestling to snatch the axe from his grip.

However, Du Yu was young and strong. He maintained a death grip on the axe and refused to let go, simultaneously driving a fierce punch straight into He Suoyi’s head.

Du Yu seized the opportunity to scramble up and pin He Suoyi beneath him. All around them, onlookers were steadily gathering.

They wore clothes from various historical dynasties and spoke in entirely different regional accents:

“Young man! Cease this violence! You must respect the elderly as you would your own kin!”

“Should we call the cops? Let’s record it first, just in case. Maybe it’s just a thug who got old.”

Gritting his teeth, Du Yu locked his hands around He Suoyi’s throat in a death grip, completely deaf to the chatter of the crowd.

He Suoyi’s face turned beet red as his hands desperately patted the ground, searching for something.

His fingers finally caught the edge of a spatial rift on the ground, and he began to feverishly claw at the tear.

A moment later, the rift expanded. The ground shattered beneath them, and the two plunged straight down.

Incredibly, beneath the rift lay an ocean of seawater, swallowing them both in an instant.

Du Yu forced his eyes open and hurriedly held his breath. When he looked up, the rift they had just fallen through had vanished without a trace. There was nothing but endless seawater above them; it felt as though they were sinking into the pitch-black depths of the ocean floor.

What shocked Du Yu even more was a confrontation happening not far away between two groups of “people.” They all had human torsos and fish tails, but half of them were dressed in Eastern garments while the other half wore Western clothing.

‘Jiaoren and Mermaids…?’ Du Yu realized the situation was dire. The chaos was no longer limited to the Chinese timeline; even Western historical and mythical figures were being dragged in by the invading rifts.

He turned his head and spotted He Suoyi floating a short distance away. Du Yu swam over and delivered a kick to He Suoyi’s chest, but unfortunately, the water resistance sapped all the strength from his strike.

The two began to grapple underwater. After a mere dozen seconds of struggling, Du Yu felt his lungs begin to burn.

The sudden lack of oxygen, combined with the intense physical exertion, made his head spin dizzily.

He Suoyi was faring no better. He was convulsing with silent coughs, having already choked down several mouthfuls of seawater.

Du Yu knew that even if He Suoyi drowned right here, he still had no way to escape this pitch-black ocean himself.

Just as the two were on the verge of drowning, a dull, rhythmic thudding—Bang-bang—echoed from nearby.

A moment later, a new rift materialized in the water. Grasping at it like a drowning man clutching a lifeline, Du Yu hurriedly swam over and wrenched the rift wide open.

“Gah!”

Spotting a glimmer of light, Du Yu leaped out of the tear, tumbling into what looked like an ancient courtyard.

He took several massive gulps of air. Without a second thought, he immediately spun around to block He Suoyi from following him.

He had managed to escape, but He Suoyi absolutely could not be allowed to follow. That pitch-black seabed was the perfect resting place for that old bastard.

Yet, when Du Yu turned around, he found that directly behind him sat nothing but a shattered water vat.

“Sima Junshi, you’re so smart! You actually thought of smashing the vat!” a group of children shouted nearby. “But why is the person you saved a grown-up?”

The crack in the water vat began to rapidly expand, and a massive surge of water started brewing from within.

Du Yu immediately whipped his head around and roared at the children, “It’s dangerous! Run!!”

The moment the words left his mouth, a torrential surge of seawater blasted out from the cracked vat. It instantly flooded the entire courtyard, smashed the main gates open, and poured directly into the street.

Du Yu and the children were tossed wildly by the raging current. Amidst the chaos, Du Yu distinctly saw He Suoyi being washed out alongside the flood.

Before Du Yu could even scramble to his feet, a young man’s voice rang out from the roof beams. “With the seawater running so rampant, let me propose a game to the seven of you. I can cross this water without a boat, without so much as dampening a single thread of my clothes. Would anyone care to join me?”

With that, the man tossed his precious sword forward. The moment the blade touched the water, it expanded massively in size. The young man stepped onto it, riding the waves effortlessly.

Another portly man let out a hearty laugh. “Keeping our clothes dry? What’s so difficult about that?”

Following the young man’s example, he hurled his massive fan out, letting it unfurl flat against the water’s surface. The portly man hopped aboard and lay down, drifting along with utmost leisure.

A fairy covered her mouth with a soft giggle. She retrieved a lotus flower from her waist and tossed it out, then lightly stepped forward, gliding through the air to land upon it.

Not wanting to be outdone, the remaining five joined in. Some threw out a flute, others a walking stick, and one even released a small donkey.

The eight individuals all displayed their unique, magical abilities as they rode the turbulent waves.

Caught in the torrential flood, Du Yu found it impossible to keep his footing. As he was swept away in a panic, he collided with various objects, leaving his body aching terribly.

He Suoyi managed to find a shallow spot and clambered up from the ground. Coughing up blood, he sprinted forward, making a beeline for the rooms within the courtyard.

Du Yu gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand. He knew that if he didn’t stick to He Suoyi like glue, he could lose track of him at any second.

And if he lost him this time, he would never be able to find him again.

Trying to locate He Suoyi in a random point across the past, present, and future would be like searching for a needle in a cosmic haystack.

He Suoyi shoved open an antique door in front of him, but the interior belonged to an adobe mud-brick house. Inside sat three men who looked like farmers, puffing on dry tobacco. Their clothes resembled the style of the 1970s or 1980s. Clutching carrying poles and hoes, they looked as though they were bracing for an enemy attack.

Du Yu sprinted after him with huge strides, slamming his body into the door and bursting it open the exact moment He Suoyi tried to shut it.

The three men in the room stared with wide eyes, startled by He Suoyi’s sudden appearance.

The “person” before them had disheveled hair and a hunched posture. He was drenched to the bone and completely covered in blood. How could he even be considered human?

One of the men extended a trembling finger at He Suoyi and shrieked in terror, “Look! A water monkey!! I told you guys! The river around here has man-eating water monkeys!!”

He Suoyi completely ignored the three men. After rapidly scanning the room, he spotted a dilapidated little door leading to a bedroom and immediately lunged toward it.

Du Yu hesitated for only a fraction of a second before bellowing at the top of his lungs, “Quick, grab him! Don’t let that water monkey escape!!”