I Am Your Natural Enemy

To be honest, ever since someone first told Wen Yan that the Thirteenth Ancestor had offended the Yellow River God terribly back then, advising him to stay away from the Yellow River and, by the way, other water systems too, he had been rehearsing the worst-case scenario in his mind.

Before obtaining the Calamity Protector Water Official Talisman, the greatest threat was drowning, because a body of flesh and blood needs to breathe air, and in the water, the opponent didn’t need to do anything; the harm inherent to the environment alone was overwhelming.

As he gained more and more abilities over time, he would continue his rehearsals out of boredom.

He had rehearsed such situations in his mind before.

When not just one person told him so, he naturally avoided it when he could in everyday situations, embracing the principle that less trouble is better than more.

But for situations where avoidance was impossible, he had to think in advance; one of the most typical scenarios he had imagined was being dragged into the Yellow River system, unable to get ashore, and what to do in a hostile environment. He even consulted his elders about it.

He thought a lot, and finally, there came a time when his preparation came in handy.

He shook the gray cloth with one hand, trying to lengthen it and climb ashore, but the distance on both sides seemed to be constantly extending. The more he tried to approach, the more impossible it became, as if the river formed its own system.

Wen Yan tried it slightly, and unsurprisingly, without any hesitation, he simply took out his phone, checked his location and the nearby map, and immediately transformed the gray cloth into a swimming fish, carrying him downstream.

He didn’t care who was affecting the river course; he just wanted to escape first. As the contemporary Scorching Sun, he wasn’t crazy enough to fight those little water gods of the Yellow River system on their home turf, as he was clearly outclassed.

He didn’t know if the Yellow River God had awakened, but given the situation now, even if the Yellow River God hadn’t awakened, something would find a way to trap him in the Yellow River.

Previously, there were people running to the Water Monarch to fan the flames, and Wen Yan wasn’t naive enough to think no one would come to the Yellow River to stir up hatred against him.

His identity as the contemporary Scorching Sun was surely no secret to those who should know.

Since he couldn’t get ashore from this riverbank, continuing to waste time and increase power was akin to shouting ”I’m here.” After sending a message to the Scorching Sun Department, he started moving downstream.

The force here couldn’t directly act on him; the opponent could only control the course of the river.

But no matter how the opponent manipulates it, they can’t stop the unstoppable force of the rushing currents.

The left and right banks were inaccessible, but upstream and downstream were certainly viable options.

Wen Yan was carried by the gray cloth, swiftly traversing through the water, heading southward.

In the Divine Land, every slightly stable era mandates water management as a major issue on the rulers’ desks, consuming substantial resources and necessitating constant attention.

By now, among these adjacent major water systems, complete independence hardly exists. Tributaries, canals, irrigation channels, and so forth construct an immense and intricate water network among them.

From the Gulf over two thousand years ago to the later Beijing-Hangzhou, there have always been man-made rivers.

Wen Yan fled decisively; in this Yellow River tributary, the force obstructing him provided no hindrance to his downstream or upstream journey.

He sped through swiftly, not noticing anything pursuing him yet, but the force preventing him from getting ashore persisted.

After swiftly traversing for over ten minutes, he finally sensed a change in the force; the river water began to surge with waves, the water flow started to change, tearing and tumbling, the banks becoming increasingly distant, the river surface expanding wider.

However, no matter how it changed, this river still surged relentlessly downwards, a natural force even the Water God couldn’t alter.

Wen Yan didn’t care what the opponent did; he followed the natural flow, knowing that even if the Yellow River God appeared in person and could slay him on the spot, he couldn’t stop such a grand force singlehandedly.

The variations in force grew larger, but he pressed on, ignoring it, following the tributary southward. When the Scorching Sun Department’s helicopter appeared, Wen Yan had already entered an artificial river through the tributary.

Even entering here, the great force of the rivers persisted, the surrounding river water still surging, underneath transforming into undercurrents, whirling around Wen Yan’s body, seemingly trying to drag him to the bottom, trapping him here.

At this moment, the water force abruptly paused, a vast and razor-sharp consciousness emerged; merely by gazing at Wen Yan, he felt what it means to have a prickly sensation on his back, making his whole body uncomfortable.

The water force changed drastically in an instant, becoming complex and violent, the riverbed’s sand swept up, transforming into a muddy torrent, sticky and highly obstructive, the water like a soft giant hand, enveloping and dragging him, trying to reverse his direction.

Sensing this scene, Wen Yan immediately realized his earlier conjecture was correct: the one manipulating the water force earlier couldn’t have been the Yellow River God.

It should be something else in the river, possibly a little water god of this tributary, or perhaps some demon or water ghost.

Now, this was likely a technique of the Yellow River God.

Wen Yan held back a long while, using no flamboyant powers, and now he immediately bestowed the gray cloth with the blessing of the Explosive Great Sun.

On the gray cloth, a red light flashed, immediately propelling Wen Yan’s body out of the sticky muddy torrent, like a runaway horse, zipping across the water surface at breakneck speed.