When Tie Ci rushed to the embankment, her heart instantly went cold.

Most of the Xiao family guards who had been watching the shed had already withdrawn. The shed at the original digging location was gone, and the oilcloth was tangled around several thin bamboo poles, constantly being washed by water and breaking with crackling sounds. The water surface was stained with muddy red, and a headless corpse floated on it. The corpse seemed to be caught on something and hadn’t been washed away, bobbing up and down stiffly in the water.

The embankment continued to collapse, the breach gradually widening. Amid the horrified cries of the common people following behind, Tie Ci jumped into the water without hesitation.

She headed straight for that corpse. In the black night, nothing could be seen clearly. That surge of anxiety and fear seemed to have also transformed into the water rushing downstream at this moment, filling her chest and making her suffocate.

In the darkness, all things were chaotic, only her face was deathly pale.

She rushed to the headless corpse and, ignoring the nauseating sight of the bloody, whitish flesh at the neck opening, hugged that section of body and pulled it out, then nearly collapsed weakly in the water.

A current pushed from behind, almost sweeping Tie Ci away. She grabbed the sharp edge of broken stones by the embankment and held her body firm, barely escaping that wave of impact.

Rain continued overhead, the sky was deep and vast, turbid waves roared all around with violent thunder. Broken stones and mud from the embankment breach kept silently collapsing. Everything before her eyes was like a frame from a disaster silent film, and she was in the midst of it, seeing no friends or family.

The stones of the embankment were swept away by the current in moments. She let go and drifted with the water.

She had to keep searching.

But with this upstream flood release, a person could be swept several li in the blink of an eye. If she was a step slow, she would be much too late. In the dark night on water, how could she search?

In her heart she understood that as long as nothing unexpected had happened at the time, this water shouldn’t be enough to drown Feiyu and the others, but Gu Xiaoxiao couldn’t swim.

Someone on shore screamed in agony: “Heaven! Heaven! They really did breach the embankment!”

Someone shouted loudly: “Hurry back and notify people at home!”

Someone cried: “Too late! Too late!”

Tie Ci heard none of these calls. She just mechanically went through the motions—diving down, swimming for a while, then surfacing, disappointedly wiping her face.

Wet and dripping, endless water.

When she surfaced again, something suddenly grabbed her leg. She thought it was debris from the bottom and kicked hard, but heard a laugh saying, “Such strength!”

That voice was like celestial music to her ears. She whipped around and first saw Feiyu’s face, also soaking wet but even more beautiful for it. Then behind her, she saw the faces of Second Senior Brother, Dan Shuang, Chi Xue, and Gu Xiaoxiao, like grasshoppers on a string, all neatly strung together.

The enormous joy made stars explode before her eyes, but her throat instantly choked up.

…

Time rewinds to half a quarter-hour earlier, the moment the river water poured in.

The current quickly knocked down everyone—those confronting each other, those digging, those outsiders numbly digging. They didn’t even have time to cry out. Only shovel tips and a hand were seen flashing in the wave crests before disappearing.

Someone screamed. A large patch of red spread through the river water. A head suddenly crashed over and was suddenly swept away—it was a shovel torn loose by the river water, no telling whose head it had struck.

Eighth Master Xiao was also screaming. At such a moment, Dan Shuang actually didn’t let go of him. The instant she looked up and saw the crystal wall of water falling, she exerted force with her five fingers, ruthlessly stabbing into Eighth Master Xiao’s flesh, her fingers jamming between his bones. Eighth Master Xiao’s screams no longer sounded human. He was a favored illegitimate son of the Xiao family’s second branch—when had he ever suffered such agony?

However, Dan Shuang’s judgment was correct. For him to dare come to the embankment at this time, he naturally had something to rely on. When the flood came, something at his waist popped out countless cowhide bladders. At the same time, Dan Shuang also found long hooked ropes on his person.

Among their own people present, except for Second Senior Brother and Li Zhi, most had accurate judgment. Most rushed toward Eighth Master Xiao. When Feiyu lunged forward, she was unusually kind enough to pull Second Senior Brother along. Dan Shuang threw out the rope, and everyone grabbed hold.

In just these few movements, everyone was swept down several zhang. Dan Shuang threw out the hooked rope, caught an old tree by the water’s edge, and everyone hung from it in a string.

Only Li Zhi and Tong Rushi were missing. Everyone looked around in all directions. Dan Shuang suddenly said, “Over there!”

She pointed to a very distant spot where several heads bobbed up from the wave crests, moving away at great speed, though it was impossible to tell who was who.

Chi Xue knew Dan Shuang had exceptional eyesight, especially good at seeing far distances. Though people with natural talents were already rare nowadays, they still existed. However, because the Tie clan had given natural talents an imperial coloring, families and individuals in the world who still had such abilities generally didn’t publicize them, to avoid inviting trouble.

Looking at that direction, it was toward the shore. Since they had been rescued, everyone no longer worried about them—there wasn’t much friendship to begin with.

Then everyone saw someone plunging downstream. In the dark night, that person swam extremely fast. Before everyone could see clearly, Feiyu had already definitively said it was Ye Shiba and hooked her with her leg.

After Tie Ci had looked over everyone and learned that Li Zhi and Tong Rushi should also have been saved, she felt relieved. At this moment she was full of energy. Glancing at the string of grasshoppers, she saw the lead one was someone she didn’t recognize. Though disheveled, his luxurious clothing was still visible. After asking his identity, she looked toward the embankment in the distance. Though the breach was still continuously widening, groups of people stood on both sides—one group was common people trying to block the breach, while the other group was Xiao family people. They kept retreating while craning their necks to look this way, loudly shouting “Eighth Master! Eighth Master!” Their cries were mournful, yet not one dared enter the water.

Tie Ci saw at a glance that those must be Eighth Master Xiao’s attendants. With the responsibility of protecting their master, they dared not leave, yet dared not go rescue him either.

She looked at the embankment. The breach had just been dug open and wasn’t too long yet—it could still be saved. If they gave up now, the water would definitely wash away the entire section of embankment, and the downstream losses would be incalculable.

Her eyes shifted, and Feiyu could guess her thoughts. She nodded toward Eighth Master Xiao. Tie Ci nodded, Feiyu smiled, and said, “I’ll send you over.” Raising her arm, she threw with a whoosh, hurling Tie Ci toward the innermost area.

Tie Ci landed and grabbed Eighth Master Xiao. Feiyu and Dan Shuang also swam over. The three of them surrounded Eighth Master Xiao and swam against the current, forcibly reaching near the embankment.

Second Senior Brother and Chi Xue, bringing Gu Xiaoxiao, also followed. The common people standing guard there saw someone swimming over and hurriedly threw down ropes. Tie Ci took the rope, tied it tightly around Eighth Master Xiao’s waist, threw the other end onto the embankment, and said, “Find more rope, connect them one by one to lengthen the rope, then tie it to a safe place on shore. Guarantee this rope doesn’t break, and I’ll have a way to save your village! Quick!”

Her voice rang out clear and sharp in the night. Everyone instinctively followed her commands, frantically connecting ropes. Eighth Master Xiao roared, “What are you doing!”

Tie Ci completely ignored him and shouted to the opposite shore, “If you want your master’s life, go over there and carry all the sandbags over here. When the breach is blocked, that’s when we’ll release him!”

Eighth Master Xiao opened his mouth to shout something when a wave came over, nearly knocking him underwater. He struggled desperately underwater, grabbed someone’s foot, and held on for dear life. The foot’s owner contemptuously kicked his hand away.

After quite a while, just when Tie Ci calculated he was about to drown, she pulled him out with a splash and shouted again, “Keep dawdling and your master will have been killed by you later. Wait for the Xiao family’s revenge!”

That side finally moved, running to carry sandbags. The embankment had originally been piled with many sandbags for show, pretending to make repairs, but actually to raise the dam body behind that layer of oilcloth. Now the common people on this side also reacted, many running to carry sandbags that hadn’t been washed away yet. Many more jumped into the water, and nearby households also came running, bringing bamboo mats and wooden boards.

Time was urgent. Tie Ci looked at the sky and water conditions and said, “Dan Shuang, watch him!”

Her figure flashed.

The next instant she was at the embankment edge where many sandbags were piled, also the furthest from everyone.

Tie Ci grabbed one in each hand, carried two more on her back, then flashed again.

Teleporting was a very mystical feeling—as if moving through fog, with slight dizziness in the brain. Tie Ci had originally thought increased weight wouldn’t affect it, but when she flashed back, she landed heavily in the water and nearly lost the sandbags to the current.

She couldn’t worry about that and quickly flashed back again. Another trip, and again she couldn’t control the wobble, nearly throwing out her back.

On the third trip, Feiyu came up to catch her and asked, “Does carrying people affect you?”

Tie Ci thought about it. Carrying people was different from bearing weight—you just needed to hold onto them. She nodded.

Feiyu grabbed her. “Take me with you!”

The next instant, both were at the embankment’s edge. Feiyu herself carried four bags while only letting Tie Ci carry one bag and hold one.

The two held hands tightly and returned to the embankment. After putting down the sandbags, they quickly flashed back again.

Their efficiency and speed was worth ten trips by others.

Except for Eighth Master Xiao still in the water and Dan Shuang guarding him, everyone else connected their waists with rope, shouldered bags, and entered the water. The Xiao family servants were on one end, the common people on this end. Sandbags piled up on shore and were passed hand to hand and shoulder to shoulder. Everyone faced upstream, using their bodies to block the rolling river current. With urgent rain overhead, waists immersed in river water, backs against chaotic tides, completely soaked and covered in mud, they shouted work songs. At first the sandbags were washed away as soon as they were placed, so they transported more and blocked again, until those sandbags bit by bit built up the embankment.

More and more people gathered on shore, frantically transporting like ants. Tie Ci and Feiyu were like two lead ants, flashing back and forth, occasionally having to fish out people who had fallen into the water.

Even Chi Xue, who usually feared getting dirty, was moving things with her bare hands. Gu Xiaoxiao, whose body wasn’t strong, also didn’t hold an umbrella, running among the crowd, coordinating manpower and calculating the most efficient transport and filling methods.

In the river tide, under cold rain, the long embankment formed by human bodies slowly closed from both sides.

Second Senior Brother watched silently for a while, then also took off his expensive calfskin boots and went down.

Someone shouted in the wind and rain, “Who dug the river embankment!”

Dan Shuang answered, “The Xiao family tricked outsiders into digging it. They do all the evil deeds themselves but still want scapegoats!”

Eighth Master Xiao angrily said, “Nonsense! We came to provide rescue. When did we ever trick outsiders? Quickly pull me up and I can let bygones be bygones…”

Dan Shuang punched him so hard his head jerked heavily to one side.

“Your people said earlier that outsiders dug the embankment, and now you want to deny it? Since outsiders dug the embankment, there surely weren’t as many of them as you with your numbers and power. Why didn’t you stop them then, but ran to report to the village elders instead? Those outsiders were eager to travel—why would they sneak around digging embankments on such a stormy day? Weren’t they afraid of being washed away? Or were they seeking group suicide?”

The injured young man on the embankment shouted loudly, “It was him! That day I accidentally overheard him discussing with his subordinates, saying the fields were going to be flooded and they needed to breach the embankment for flood release. If I hadn’t escaped quickly, they would have beaten me to death that day!”

Immediately, hot-tempered common people threw stones from their hands at Eighth Master Xiao. He quickly ducked his head and dared not speak again.

The Xiao family side was obviously making slow progress. Dan Shuang pushed Eighth Master Xiao’s head underwater and held it there until he was nearly suffocating before pulling him out, sneering, “I’ll treat him to a drink every half quarter-hour. Take your time dawdling!”

The Xiao family had to speed up. After all, every delay would be counted against them in the future.

Tie Ci had already flashed back and forth countless times. In the darkness with many people and urgent matters, no one looked up to see her flashing. Feiyu suddenly pressed her hand and said, “Enough! Rest a bit!”

Tie Ci was already soaked through. Only she knew that wasn’t just rainwater. Her face was deathly pale, black hair stuck to her neck, lips almost colorless. At this moment her internal organs felt completely empty, her true qi drifting and unsteady, uncomfortably adrift. Faintly, a current flowed backward and downward, stirring restlessly.

She had this feeling every time she fell into extreme danger or exhausted her true power.

She looked up at the great embankment and said softly, “It’s fine, almost done.”

When she flashed back again, her footing was unsteady and she stumbled.

Feiyu grabbed her hand.

Tie Ci looked down and saw a young man. Something emerged from behind him, faintly revealing a sharp point, being pushed by water toward his back.

In a flash, Tie Ci was already behind the young man. She raised her hand and pushed. The object scraped past her hand, bringing up a streak of blood.

It was a stone washed down by water, sharp at the tip. If it had really hit that young man, it probably could have broken his back.

The young man sensed something wrong and turned back. Seeing Tie Ci’s hand torn and bloody, the sharp stone scraping past her waist, he was so shocked he froze in the water.

Tie Ci didn’t mind. She showed him how to tie a sandbag with straps around his waist—it could both stabilize his form and prevent collisions with objects in the water—then went up the embankment.

As soon as her foot touched ground, she swayed.

Just then, earth-shaking cheers erupted from the water.

The breach was sealed.

The mud-covered common people embraced each other ecstatically, pounding each other’s shoulders. Behind them was the now-tamed river tide, before them the river embankment raised high once again. They cried and laughed with abandon at the boundary between life and death, the river water beneath them mixed with this entire night’s tears and sweat.

Dan Shuang and Chi Xue embraced each other. Two young women who had followed the Crown Princess since childhood, entering and leaving the palace, experiencing political storms where every move was momentous, had never imagined that today they would be moved to tears by the cheers of mere common people, for a mere long embankment.

Second Senior Brother also embraced someone beside him, forgetting his straight uniform. He had thought he was hugging Gu Xiaoxiao, but when they separated he discovered it was a middle-aged robust woman.

Tie Ci and Feiyu looked at each other and smiled.

Dawn was approaching, the rain was lessening, and light scattered down through gaps in the layered clouds.

Clear skies seemed about to arrive.