Volume One: The Emperor’s Sword Chapter 58: A Perfect Hunt

What was that?

As Yun Que tried to take a closer look, that golden thread-like thing had already disappeared beneath the surface of the water, vanishing without a trace.

The rushing river grew ever more turbulent, as if a vague unease floated upon its waves.

Yun Que felt it necessary to warn his senior sister.

But before he could speak, a golden pomfret demon fish suddenly burst from the water, lunging straight toward the wooden boat!

Yun Que reacted swiftly, dodging easily to the side and evading the attack.

Wu Dachuan, realizing it was a demon beast—the golden pomfret—hurriedly scrambled far away, terrified of being caught up in the chaos.

Only Luo Xiaoyu stood there foolishly, holding her fishing net, too slow to react.

The golden pomfret twisted and flicked its tail in midair, about to leap clear over the wooden boat.

By some strange coincidence,

As the fierce fish soared over the boat, it dove directly into Luo Xiaoyu’s net.

“Aaaah!”

With a scream, Luo Xiaoyu’s slight frame was pulled into the river by the great fish. She forgot to let go, and was dragged swiftly away by the golden pomfret.

Wu Dachuan was stunned, then horrified.

Falling into the river because of a silver pomfret was no big deal—at worst, you’d end up bedridden for a few days with some bumps and a mouthful of river water.

But a golden pomfret was a first-rank demon beast!

It could eat people!

One golden fish after another leapt from the river’s surface, chaos erupting on the boat bridge. Xue Ziyi was overwhelmed, unable to protect everyone at once.

Luo Xiaoyu was being dragged farther and farther away.

Yun Que leaped from the wooden boat, skimming across the river as if on solid ground, chasing after her.

His astonishing water-walking feat left Wu Dachuan gaping, speechless with shock.

In truth, Yun Que couldn’t walk on water at all.

He’d submerged two flying swords beneath the surface in advance, keeping them just at water level. Each time he stepped down, his foot landed squarely on a blade—appearing to others as if he walked upon water.

With so many onlookers, at least water-walking could be explained as some advanced lightness skill—whereas sword-riding would immediately give him away.

Luckily, the situation was chaotic. Though Yun Que’s technique was remarkable, few noticed; everyone was too busy scrambling for shore, fleeing the golden pomfrets to care about anything else.

Because he acted so quickly, Yun Que soon caught up to Luo Xiaoyu.

With a well-timed step, his underwater flying sword shot out at full speed, piercing straight through the golden pomfret.

He grabbed Luo Xiaoyu and brought her to the riverbank.

Once ashore, Yun Que noticed the weight in his hand was heavier than expected—not at all like Luo Xiaoyu’s own.

He turned to see her sniffling, teary-eyed, with a silver pomfret still clamped to her right hand.

It turned out that in the chaos of being dragged along, she had been bitten by a silver pomfret as well.

“You finally caught one,” Yun Que teased.

“I never want to do this again,” Luo Xiaoyu whimpered, nearly in tears. Blood oozed faintly from her fingers.

The silver pomfret bit down hard, only letting go after Yun Que gave it two sharp knocks.

By rights, since Luo Xiaoyu was being dragged by a golden pomfret, ordinary silver pomfrets shouldn’t have dared come near.

But for some reason, this one not only approached a demon beast, but bit down on Luo Xiaoyu as if terrified.

Terrified...

That thought struck Yun Que—hadn’t the golden pomfret that leapt onto the boat looked frightened as well?

A first-rank demon beast would never leave the water or leap out to catch prey so recklessly.

Yun Que’s gaze darkened.

He recalled a natural phenomenon—fish leaping from the water most often did so to escape predators!

Something in the river had frightened even the first-rank golden pomfret demon fish!

He had to warn his senior sister at once.

Yun Que turned back. In order to save Luo Xiaoyu, he’d ended up far from the boat bridge—almost out of sight. The roar of the river here was loud; any shouts would never reach the others.

“How’s your hand? Is it serious?” Yun Que asked, pointing at Luo Xiaoyu’s injury.

“It’s nothing! I can bandage it myself—I have medicine!” Luo Xiaoyu quickly hid her wounded hand up her sleeve, avoiding his gaze as she took off her little pack. Bottles and jars clinked inside.

“Stay away from the river,” Yun Que advised, then turned to leave.

As he did, he noticed the silver pomfret that had bitten Luo Xiaoyu—its scales had begun to turn black.

There was no time to worry about a dead fish. Yun Que raced back toward the boat bridge.

With the help of his senior sister and Ma Yong and Niu Bucai, most of the disciples had already evacuated the bridge, leaving only a handful behind.

These few had originally been assigned to the midpoint of the bridge—unlucky, as they were farther from shore.

Fortunately, they were now nearly at the riverbank, just about to leave the danger zone.

“Senior sister! There’s something dangerous in the river!”

As soon as Yun Que called out, a huge wave surged from the river. A row of wooden boats was lifted nearly two stories high before crashing down with a thunderous splash.

The rescued disciples saw it all and paled in terror.

Had they still been on the boats, they’d have sunk to the bottom by now!

Three disciples remained on one of the boats. By the time the wave reached them, its force had lessened—they only rocked violently, the boat not shattering, escaping disaster by a hair’s breadth.

After the wave, the river fell eerily calm—a brief, ominous peace before the storm.

Everyone knew: such a small river should never produce waves like that.

That monstrous surge could only have been caused by something churning up the water from below!

And whatever could stir the river so was far more terrifying than the first-rank golden pomfret demon fish.

The last three disciples on the boat were growing desperate, ready to throw caution to the wind and swim for shore.

They were barely two boat-lengths away—an easy climb to safety.

Only on dry land did they feel secure.

“Don’t move!”

Xue Ziyi’s voice rang out in a commanding tone, quashing their urge to jump.

At the same moment, a powerful surge of spiritual energy radiated from her flying sword.

She had pushed her blade’s power to its utmost.

Tense as a drawn bow, Xue Ziyi watched the water like a hawk, prepared for the worst.

Beside her, Ma Yong and Niu Bucai also sensed the danger, each summoning their flying swords in readiness.

In the oppressive silence, the water suddenly churned.

Splash!

A golden pomfret burst from the surface, leaping high above the heads of the three on the boat.

It soared incredibly high, enormous in size, twisting and flicking like a dragon breaching the gate, scattering droplets like a fine rain.

All three looked up at once—and in that instant, just beneath where the golden pomfret had jumped, a shadow appeared.

Splash!

The river boiled, surging in all directions, as a massive creature shot from the depths!

It was a golden giant python—thicker than a barrel, with fangs that glinted coldly in the sunlight. Its gaping maw, black as an abyss, opened wide and swallowed the leaping golden pomfret whole!

In that instant, the golden python performed a perfect hunt before the disciples’ stunned eyes.

Splash!

Its head crashed into the water behind the boat, while its tail still trailed beneath the bow.

Before their eyes, above the boat, it seemed as if a golden rainbow had appeared—strange and perilous.

The three disciples were scared out of their wits!

A python that could devour a first-rank demon fish in one gulp could just as easily swallow sword disciples alive, let alone mere servants.

So it was a serpent—Yun Que recognized in that moment the truth of what he’d glimpsed earlier.

The golden thread that had fallen from the upstream cliff was in fact this very golden python!

A deep wariness flickered in Xue Ziyi’s eyes, the spiritual energy swirling around her reaching its peak.

She spoke in a low, fear-filled voice:

“A third-rank demon beast—the Golden Flood Python...”