"Water monster? What kind of water monster?" Nanfeng asked doubtfully.
"The water monster hides under the ice and no one has ever seen it." After eating Nanfeng's steamed buns, the middle-aged man wanted to give something in return, "Dragon and snake will hibernate in winter, so they shouldn't hide under the ice and eat people and do evil. I guess The water monster should be some kind of big fish. During the day, they can see us walking on the ice. Once they see a human figure, they will break through the ice and drag the person into the water."
"Besides here, are there water monsters elsewhere?" Nanfeng asked.
The middle-aged man shook his head, "There are most of them here, and there are fewer upstream and downstream. However, the water there is strong and the ice floes are very thin and cannot be stepped on. If you want to cross the river, you can only use this area."
Nanfeng nodded, then asked, "They won't attack us when we cross the river at night?"
"They have been hiding under the water. Even crossing the river at night is not safe. However, they cannot see clearly at night and are not as accurate as they are in dragging people into the water during the day." said the middle-aged man.
Nanfeng didn't ask again. Just as the middle-aged man said, it was not safe to cross the river at night. To put it bluntly, you still had to rely on luck.
After eating the steamed buns, Nanfeng walked downstream and found a sheltered slope from the lower reaches to huddle up and rest. He had been traveling very hard in the previous period and had to take time to rest before crossing the river.
In the evening, Nanfeng woke up, turned over and sat up, looked around, and found many people gathered by the river. Most of these people carried bedding on their backs and carried their belongings in their hands, waiting to cross the ice after dark.
Nanfeng did not go to a place with many people, but went downstream again. Those people gathered together so that they could take care of each other if something happened. But in this case, no one could help if something happened. When you are busy, instead of getting together, it is better to be alone, so that the goal will be smaller.
There are many people with the same mentality as him, but they are not as close to the downstream as Nanfeng. The reason why Nanfeng dares to approach the thin ice area with fast currents is because he is thin and weighs very little.
There are advantages and disadvantages to choosing a thin ice area to cross the river. The disadvantage is that the ice surface is in danger of breaking. The advantage is that the water monster will not stay in places with fast currents. He was able to make such a decisive decision thanks to Tian Yuanzi's dying teachings. Everything has its pros and cons. Don't be greedy and expect to get all the good things. As long as the pros outweigh the cons, you can do it.
Before going on the ice, Nanfeng thought about all the possible situations in his mind. What method should he use to move forward, should he walk or run? What should I do if I slip and fall? What if there are cracks in the ice
After nightfall, some people tentatively stepped onto the ice. Once they started, the people behind them immediately followed. Nanfeng did not wait on the shore and stepped onto the ice with his bedding on his back.
Nanfeng used the trot. The ice surface was five or six miles wide. Walking was too slow, but running too fast could easily lead to slipping. The trot was the most suitable.
While trotting, Nanfeng tilted his head and looked at the crowd upstream. The crowd crossing the river was noisy and chaotic. Many people lost their feet and fell. Those behind would also fall if they couldn't dodge and hit them. However, although the scene was chaotic, no one fell into it. Ice cave.
Soon, all the people gathered by the river stepped onto the ice. At this time, Nanfeng was in a relatively forward position, and he had always maintained a forward position. It was wisest to stay away from the crowd and narrow the target.
Although hundreds of people stepped onto the ice, no one was attacked by the water monster. Just when Nanfeng thought that the water monster was not in the water, he suddenly discovered that the ice surface upstream near the north bank began to collapse, with many collapses, even points. Into pieces.
"Oops, the water monster is going to cut off everyone's escape." Nan Feng was horrified.
At this time, it was already very dark and the light was unclear, so the water monsters could not attack a specific target, so they adopted another attack method, cutting off the retreat and taking the blame.
It's useless to simply cut off the way back. You also have to block the way forward. In this way, everyone on the ice becomes a turtle in a jar.
Sensing the danger, Nan Feng increased his speed. After the water monster blocked the back path, it would block the way from the front. Before that, he had to leave the middle area.
But what he didn't expect was that there were far more water monsters under the ice than he imagined. Blocking the way back and blocking the way out were done at the same time. While many ice caves behind were connected into one piece, the same monsters appeared in front. Case.
The crevice in the ice where the water monster blocked everyone's progress was very close to the south shore. Nanfeng made an urgent calculation and found that it was impossible to rush through before the ice surface completely cracked.
Others on the ice also noticed this, and the crowd began to panic, running back and forth, left and right.
Nan Feng also panicked, but he did not spin around on the ice like others, but continued to run forward. No matter whether he ran forward or backward, there was a possibility of survival, but he was spinning around on the ice. Death is certain.
After the two groups of water monsters opened two long cracks in the ice from east to west, they then began to cut through the ice from upstream and downstream. Since the south wind was located very low, the horizontal cracks in the downstream could not encompass him. Among them, it split to the north from a dozen steps away from his west side.
Due to the close distance, Nanfeng saw the appearance of the water monster. When the water monster hit the ice, a black and gray head was exposed. It was very similar to a fish head, but much larger than the fish head. The exposed head alone was the size of a millstone. .
Nanfeng suppressed the fear in his heart and ran forward in fear.
After the seamless ice surface was cut, the ice surface in the middle area began to sway and tilt. Due to the large area, the tilt speed was very slow. At first, everyone could barely stand, but as the tilt increased, the people on the ice began to tilt. Started slipping and falling into the water.
The water monsters under the water seemed to think that there were too few people falling into the water, and began to rush towards the cut ice floe. There were many water monsters, and the ice surface quickly fell into pieces after being hit. People fell into the water one after another, shouting and screaming. Terrifying.
Nanfeng didn't dare to look back, he was afraid that his legs and feet would become weak after seeing that scene.
After he stepped onto the beach on the south bank dripping with sweat, Nanfeng dared to turn around and look back. Although the light was dim, he could still see that the river, which was several miles wide, was dyed red with blood. People who had fallen into the water and a large number of debris were floating in it. Many of them had abnormal body shapes. The huge round-headed black fish rolled and made waves in the water, biting and devouring it greedily.
After looking at it for a few times, Nanfeng no longer looked at the bloody scene. Looking around, he found that only seven or eight people reached the south bank, including him, and the remaining people all fell into the water.
Nanfeng wanted to help those people, but he could do nothing but turn around and leave.
Before climbing up the sand dunes on the south bank, a green figure flew past from south to north. Nanfeng turned his head and looked back, only to see a Taoist priest wearing a green robe flying quickly from the air towards the water where the water monster was causing trouble.
Before anyone arrived, the long sword behind him had already been unsheathed. He drew his sword in the air and attacked the round-headed black fish that was biting people below from a distance.
The long sword used by this Taoist was far away from the black fish in the water. The long sword itself did not touch the black fish, but a long sword-shaped breath came out from the front of the long sword. The sword-shaped breath was lavender. Although the sword breath was weak, it was extremely sharp. Then, the huge black fish's head disappeared instantly.
After killing a black fish, the Qingyi Taoist reached down with his left hand, grabbed a person from the water, and threw him onto the ice downstream...