Tang Xi finally reached the riverbank. Sweat trickled down her forehead, and her breathing was slightly unsteady. Half of her energy had been ed, even with the Cycle of Elements verting energy from other sources into fire spiritual energy. The chase had been intense.

  As soon as she arrived, she deactivated the [Phoenix Wings]. Her presence seemed to startle some animals drinking nearby, and they scattered in fear. She then turned her attention to the river.

  The current appeared calm on the surface, but Tang Xi khere was much more beh that false serenity. This river, located he Clear Waters Mountain Range, was well known among the locals and hunters. It was treacherous, and if one wasn't careful, they would pay with their life.

  It was hundreds of meters wide—broad enough that the boars chasing her wouldn't be able to cross easily. And, from what she knew, deep enough to swallow any careless creature.

  — "Now I just o cross safely."

  Tang Xi took a deep breath.

  She recalled one of her father's gifts.

  With a quick thought, she delved her sciousness into her spatial ring and found a spiritual boat—a wooden object that, outside the river, barely reached half her height.

  She held it firmly and threw it onto the water.

  The moment it touched the surface, the boat instantly expanded, growing to a suitable size for the journey.

  Tang Xi boarded with a light leap and pced a few spiritual stones into the boat's propulsion array. As soon as the energy was absorbed, the boat began moving, gliding smoothly over the water toward the opposite shore.

  Her gaze remained sharp.

  If somethio attack her, now was the perfeent.

  But nothing happened.

  The river remained calm. Only the sound of the current, the wildlife in the surrounding forest, and the distant noises of her pursuers filled the air. Some aquatic creatures were visible within the river.

  And, mier, Tang Xi reached the opposite bank.

  Only when she jumped off the boat, feeling solid grouh her feet, did she hear the loud snapping of branches from the other side.

  Her pursuers had finally reached the riverbank.

  She turned and, for the first time, saw them clearly.

  A group of ten Cloud-Furred Boars.

  They were rge and muscur, their red eyes burning with rage. Their sharp tusks gleamed uhe setting sun.

  However, their speed had worked against them.

  The leading boars couldn't stop in time. One by ohey plunged directly into the river.

  The impact was loud, startling the fish that fled in fear.

  Water spshed in all dires as the animals momentarily sank. But as soon as they resurfaced, their survival instincts kicked in.

  They thrashed desperately, swimming against the current, trying to return to the shore they had e from. The fury in their eyes was gone, repced by raw fear—they seemed to realize, only now, that they had made a fatal mistake.

  Tang Xi observed closely.

  And then, it happened.

  One of the boars, the one farthest from the group, was suddenly dragged uer. Blood surfaced moments ter.

  — "There they are..."

  The remaining boars panicked.

  They thrashed harder. Swam faster. Anything to escape the water.

  And, one by ohey mao return to the shore.

  They shook their drenched bodies, panting heavily, and roared in fury at the area where their panion had disappeared. But they seemed to know there was nothing they could do.

  Then, their attention turned back to Tang Xi, their roars filled with rage.

  — "They fear what's in the river… but they haven't fotten their grudge against me. Do I look like an easy fruit to them?" — she thought.

  Tang Xi simply watched them, her gaze cold and slightly annoyed.

  She had chosen this river by ce… but upon notig its depth, she realized she had just gotten lucky.

  She recalled the versations her father had about a treacherous creature that lived in this river—ohat was sidered a delica the city.

  And she thought about the predators lurking in the river's deepest parts.

  Dark Rock Piranhas.

  They were patient, ing, silent hunters.

  They remai the riverbed, waiting.

  They didn't attack just anything. They didn't chase random movements.

  They waited.

  If they sehe fresh flesh of a non-marine creature ier, they would remain still… until the prey was too far from the shore.

  And when they finally struck, it was already too te.

  The prey would be dragged to the depths and devoured within seds.

  Tang Xi khis and would never make the mistake of swimming across or risking falling into the river by other means.

  But the boars…

  Even if they instinctively k was dangerous, their fury clouded their judgment, making them reckless.

  And now, the river was no longer a barrier.

  It was a death trap.

  Tang Xi exhaled in relief.

  Her inal pn had simply been to use the river to buy time—enough to herself and ge clothes, erasing any blood traces the boars had been using to track her.

  But the river had turned out to be her greatest ally.

  She cast o g the drenched boars oher side.

  They stared back at her with fierce but hesitant eyes.

  They wouldn't cross the river.

  Aug_N7052