Chapter 2289: 全民寻踪

A customer happened to walk in, heard the conversation, and shook his head repeatedly. "What's the use of just digging through the mountain? You need to strike directly at the heart of the enemy, get into those bastards' cave, and teach them a lesson!"

Dong Rui, who had been quietly eating fish balls, looked up when he heard this. "So the government and the Bingyuan Division are fools who don't know how to strike at the heart of the enemy, and only you do? Then tell us, where exactly is the immortal's dwelling, and where should we strike?"

"..." The customer stammered, "How would I know that? I'm just a common person; I don't have great powers. That's for the authorities to investigate! Don't they have so many powerful immortals who should have that ability?"

A regular customer nearby scoffed, "You just open your mouth, and you expect others to run their legs off?"

Just as the customer was about to glare, a man dressed as a hunter put down his soup bowl and said, "I just returned from Mount Xunyang. My team of seven or eight people hasn't been hunting roe deer or wild boars these past few days; we've been specifically searching for the entrance to the Qixia Sect's mountain gate!"

Dong Rui rolled his eyes. "Isn't that like finding a needle in a haystack? Can you actually find it?"

"How could just a few of us do it? But with more people, hehe, who knows what might happen," the hunter chuckled. "We move around Mount Xunyang, going to every nook and cranny, and we run into many other people. When we ask around, they're all looking for the entrance too!"

The customer was incredulous: "Aren't you afraid of dying? What if you really run into the Qixia Sect, and they just crush all of you to death with one finger?"

"There were already so many demon sects and immortal sects in the mountains, and they didn't kill us. That means it's not our time to die. If the Qixia Sect wants to crush us, they first have to come out. They can't hurt anyone while hiding in a rat hole," the hunter said, chuckling as he rubbed the back of his head. "It's not just Mount Xunyang anymore; I hear people are searching in groups in Mount Guye and Mount Rui too. They all say they'll report it to the authorities immediately if they find anything. Dragon God Lord taught us that heaven helps those who help themselves. If we help the government more, perhaps we can catch the Qixia Sect sooner!"

Everyone agreed, "Exactly, exactly! That Qixia Sect thinks it's above everyone else, daring to cause trouble in our Wei'an City. Once their home cave is dug out, let's see if they can still brazenly flaunt their power!"

He Lingchuan and Dong Rui exchanged a glance, both feeling a bit helpless.

These guys were truly fearless novices, standing on the land of a great nation and showing no reverence for an ancient immortal sect. Entering the mountains directly to find the entrance was one thing; if they didn't find it, so be it. But if they stumbled upon it by chance, it would truly be a deadly disaster.

At this moment, the shop owner chuckled, coming out with a large ladle: "Don't be so fiery, come, come, more soup! Three coppers per bowl."

Everyone grumbled loudly: "More soup costs money?"

"Normally it's free, but now, drinking soup or water is like drinking money," the owner declared righteously. "If the Luo River doesn't get water soon, a bowl of soup will cost more than three coppers in a few days!"

As soon as he finished speaking, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled in the clouds above.

The shop owner looked up and gasped, "Dragon God!"

Indeed, in the clouds illuminated by lightning, a faint, ethereal dragon shadow was vaguely visible, gracefully stretching out.

Just over ten breaths later, torrential rain poured down from the sky.

Everyone cheered, "The Dragon God has brought rain!"

Without needing any official reminder, residents all over the city quickly brought out their pots, bowls, basins, and tubs to collect the rain. The scene was as grand as when they collected the Emperor's Nectar in years past.

This was life-giving water, and who knew how long this drought would last.

The shop was busy, so He Lingchuan and Dong Rui paid for their meal and quietly left.

This timely rain was invoked by Wei'an City using elemental power to temporarily alleviate the city's urgent crisis. Although the Luo River's upstream flow had been cut off, the surrounding forests were lush, and after these few rainfalls, some water would also gather in the riverbed.

Of course, invoking rain also depended on the celestial conditions. If the air was too dry, it couldn't be achieved.

As they left the city, they encountered one team after another fetching water. Emperor Jiuyou had already ordered that residents' water supply be prioritized, and Liu Qingdao even brought several storage rings of astonishing capacity.

These precious items had to be powered by mystic crystals. In ancient times and the early medieval period, they were used to transport military supplies. Though their capacity was vast, their energy consumption was also astonishing, making them not easily used. Now, deploying them for emergency water transport for Wei'an City was essentially trading mystic crystals for clean water and money for time. From a cost perspective, it was extremely uneconomical.

However, this was Emperor Jiuyou's command, and no one dared to object.

After his trip into the city, He Lingchuan's expression also grew more serious. He said to Liu Qingdao:

"This problem needs to be solved quickly; we can't drag it on any longer."

With Cangyan's capabilities, it wasn't impossible to supply water to Wei'an's citizens; it was merely a matter of what means to employ and what price to pay. However, continuing to supply water in such a forced manner would, firstly, be too costly, and secondly, the prolonged inability to restore river water supply would damage the Dragon God's reputation.

How could a dignified great nation like Cangyan be so easily manipulated by a single immortal sect?

Furthermore, the citizens of Wei'an City were eagerly awaiting, just hoping for the Dragon God to teach the Qixia Sect a harsh lesson.

This kind of unquestioning confidence and expectation also placed pressure on the authorities.

Liu Qingdao immediately said, "Some herbalists reported seeing green light flashing on Mount Xunyang about ten days ago when they went into the mountains to gather herbs. Two demons also reported occasionally seeing green light when flying over Mount Xunyang, which was thirteen or fourteen days ago in the evening."

He paused for a moment: "I've cross-referenced the Heavenly Centipede's testimony; it left its dwelling fourteen days ago."

He Lingchuan nodded: "The Qixia Sect has been holed up in their cave watching the broadcast, and by now, they should be feeling a chill in their hearts. It's time."

At this time, Wei'an City was still diligently digging through the mountain, attempting to open a waterway from Ice River to Luo River. The number of golden-armored divine generals working on site had increased to six, and more than ten burly demons with excellent digging and tunneling skills had also joined the excavation force, working tirelessly.

Unexpectedly, the most efficient workers on site were a nest of fire ants. They had been summoned by a decree from Emperor Jiuyou from the Copper Tooth Cave in the west. The entire colony consisted of over three thousand ants, the smallest of which was larger than a donkey. The worker ants dug with astonishing speed, truly living up to the "Copper Tooth" reputation, and their coordination was exceptionally high.

If it were an ordinary large mountain, five or seven more would have been dug through by them already.

This strange mountain, however, was still barely holding out.

But anyone with a keen eye could see that its growth and healing speed had noticeably slowed down.

Both sides were engaged in a war of attrition.

Seeing the situation on the mountain, the Qixia Sect couldn't sit still.

Only three days had passed! Where did the Cangyan Nation manage to recruit so many skilled excavators from?

Moreover, they had learned their lesson and no longer burrowed in to harass the devourer's core; instead, they simply kept digging to deplete its energy. Although this method was slower, it was very safe.

Otherwise, the golden core possessed many instinctive divine abilities for self-preservation, enough to give the unsuspecting Cangyan experts a severe beating.

The devourer's core had ample energy supply. Yuan Xilin had originally estimated that this would cut off Wei'an City's water supply for at least three to five months.

Now, however, it suddenly faced the threat of water cutoff, with millions of people facing thirst for over a hundred days, possibly up to half a year. Digging temporary wells would be too late, and the impending losses and chaos were hard to estimate.