Chapter 132: The Chain of Lotus

“The monster is coming in. Be careful.” Liu Zhongguo set down his wineglass and spoke while staring outside.

The moment his voice faded, there came a loud bang. A violent gust tore every window in the hall from its frame and flung them away.

With the windows no longer offering any protection, all the tables inside were swept into the air, whirling wildly. Several of them nearly crashed into me.

What kind of monster was this? How could it be so powerful?

Watching the tables spin endlessly through the air, I immediately grew tense.

“Form up!” Liu Zhongguo called out lightly, without the slightest trace of panic.

The fishermen wearing bamboo hats rose one after another. I counted them: twelve in all, not including Liu Zhongguo.

The twelve men formed a circle and removed the hats from their heads, holding them before their chests. Only then could I see what they looked like. They were all young men in their twenties, each with a close-cropped haircut, resembling soldiers.

It was coming!

Barely three or four seconds after the fishermen had formed their formation, a great wind thick with the stench of aquatic weeds came surging toward us. It carried rotten fish and decaying shrimp with it, crashing forward like a collapsing mountain range.

I saw that the foul fish were still alive, and that each had a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth. A single bite from one of them would likely cost a person half his life, even if it did not kill him outright.

Just as the mass of rotten fish and shrimp was about to reach us, the twelve fishermen struck at once, hurling the bamboo hats from their hands.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The twelve hats spun back and forth through the air, crossing and weaving among one another. Somehow, they knocked every one of the foul fish and shrimp to the ground. The creatures fell everywhere, still twitching and flopping. Besides fish and shrimp, there were countless shellfish as well—in short, everything that lived in the water.

For several minutes, the assault continued. At last, every aquatic creature had been beaten down onto the floor and fallen still, while the hats flew back into the hands of the close-cropped fishermen.

I was truly dumbfounded this time. I had thought Chen Yetian was already astonishing, but after witnessing the skill of these twelve fishermen, I realized that every one of them was at least his equal—not to mention Liu Zhongguo, who stood at the level of a Grand Preceptor.

The thing outside was formidable, but it had no idea that the people inside were even more monstrous.

Gurgle!

The monster outside had been thoroughly enraged. Beyond the windows, countless foul-smelling aquatic vines writhed like the tentacles of giant octopuses. They heaved the tables and chairs aside and wormed their way toward us through the front windows.

The sight of those tentacle-like weeds made my scalp prickle. Once they wrapped around someone, escape would be almost impossible.

The twelve fishermen hurled their hats out once again. The twelve bamboo hats flew like razor-sharp discs. At first, I thought they would slice the tendrils apart.

But the instant the hats touched the weeds, the vines suddenly swelled and multiplied. Branches sprouted from the main stalks, wrapping around the hats in a flash. An immense force crushed the hats to pieces, scattering splinters of bamboo across the floor.

Only then did I realize that the seemingly invincible weapons were nothing more than ordinary woven bamboo hats.

This was bad.

Seeing how ferocious the weeds were, I turned toward Liu Zhongguo.

He showed no fear whatsoever. Instead, a mocking smile appeared on his face as he said calmly, “I gave it a chance to leave, but it refused. Drag that monster outside in and let us see what it is.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the twelve fishermen lifted their coarse hemp garments, revealing chains wrapped around their waists. A sickle was attached to the end of each chain.

These weapons were called chain sickles.

The twelve men drew them from their waists and swung them through the air several times before casting them outward.

Twelve chain sickles tore through the air and slashed toward the surging aquatic weeds.

With a sharp ripping sound, the aggressive vines filling the hall were severed into several pieces. Pools of green liquid, reeking of fish, spilled onto the floor and stained it green in an instant.

“Roar!”

The thing outside let out an agonized howl. The remaining tendrils, sensing the pain, withdrew like a receding tide, attempting to flee.

“Now you want to run? Too late.” Liu Zhongguo gazed at the retreating weeds and ordered the fishermen, “Pull it back.”

The twelve chains were flung out again, this time wrapping directly around the tendrils. The harder the weeds struggled, the tighter the chains became.

Then all twelve men pulled together.

With a thunderous crash, the monster outside was dragged into the hall and hurled onto a ruined table. When I finally saw the creature bound by the chain sickles, my mouth fell open in astonishment.

I had expected the thing outside to be a monster made of aquatic weeds, or perhaps an enchanted toad.

But it was neither.