Chapter 28 – The Wind Calamity of Heaven and Earth

“Boss, this doesn’t seem right.” Sun Zhang felt a pang of reluctance upon hearing this. “We spent a fortune acquiring that courtyard specifically to bribe Steward Qian. How can we just hand it over to this kid so cheaply?”

“Even if we were going to give it to him, we should at least wait until he’s helped us secure the fleet.”

The young woman in yellow shot Sun Zhang a look of annoyance. “Just go do as you’re told. If we wait until then, I’m afraid a mere courtyard won’t be enough to satisfy him.”

Sun Zhang grumbled under his breath for a bit, but ultimately didn’t dare disobey his boss’s orders. He obediently delivered the property deed to Li Fan.

Li Fan didn’t refuse. He had nothing much to pack, so he moved into the small courtyard on East Street that very day.

Compared to the slums outside the city, the surroundings here were incomparably better.

Officials from Glazed Glass Manor were stationed at the alley entrance, responsible for maintaining security. The courtyard was also far more spacious than his previous dwelling—three main rooms with two wing rooms on each side. Though not particularly large, it was more than enough for Li Fan alone.

He declined the several serving girls that the Heavenly Treasure House subsequently sent over, and from then on settled in quietly, waiting for the fleet’s next voyage.

Li Fan had originally thought it wouldn’t be long, but an unexpected disaster made the prospect of setting sail indefinitely remote.

The wind calamity had arrived!

Previously, Li Fan had heard the people of Glazed Glass Island mention “wind calamity” many times in their conversations, but he had never paid it much mind.

He assumed it would be like the typhoons and hurricanes he’d seen before transmigrating—just a bigger storm, nothing more.

But when the wind calamity truly arrived, Li Fan realized he had been terribly wrong!

That day, Li Fan was at home practicing the Mo as usual when he suddenly heard a series of urgent sounds from outside.

Strange, piercing noises circled above the island, quickly spreading across the entirety of Glazed Glass Island.

“Get home, quickly! The wind calamity is coming!”

“May the immortal masters protect us! May the immortal masters protect us!”

“Mother, where are you? Come home now!”

…

The island was thrown into chaos, with panicked, terrified cries echoing everywhere. Li Fan was momentarily bewildered.

Then, he saw a blue barrier of light appear in the sky above Glazed Glass Island.

The barrier was like an overturned giant bowl, spanning the entire island and enveloping everything within it.

“The island protection formation has been activated—there is no need to panic! Stay in your homes and do not go outside!” A clear female voice appeared alongside the barrier, instantly reaching every corner of the island.

“The immortal masters are merciful!”

Listening to the cries rising from all around, Li Fan looked up and carefully observed the island protection formation.

Blue radiance flowed across it, sealing the island’s interior from the outside world.

Characters that Li Fan didn’t recognize occasionally flickered across the surface of the barrier, looking profoundly mysterious.

A howling like the wailing of ghosts gradually arose. The wind had come!

Ripples spread across the barrier in layer upon layer, blocking the gale entirely.

Within the barrier, not a single breeze stirred. All was calm and peaceful.

Then the sky unleashed a torrential downpour.

Raindrops fell so densely they seemed to form solid lines, bombarding the barrier.

Rings of ripples pulsed across the barrier’s surface, keeping the deluge completely at bay.

Outside was raging wind and rain; inside the barrier, all was still.

“So this is what immortal methods can do?”

Li Fan marveled inwardly.

Though he had already witnessed the city-destroying power wielded by Kou Hong and Daoxuanzi, seeing this island protection formation still left Li Fan’s heart itching with longing and admiration.

The fierce wind and rain persisted for the better part of an hour.

The rain gradually subsided, and the howling wind slowly quieted.

Just as Li Fan thought the wind calamity was about to pass, he suddenly noticed something was wrong.

Not only had the sky not cleared—it had grown even darker.

Countless dark clouds appeared from nowhere, layer upon layer, seemingly without end, pressing down from above.

In an instant, the world was plunged into utter darkness.

The thick clouds seemed close enough to touch, as if within arm’s reach.

The clouds seemed to be brewing something. Glazed Glass Island fell into a brief silence.

The silence was shattered almost immediately.

“BOOM!”

A thunderous explosion detonated right beside Li Fan’s ears.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Deafening blasts erupted simultaneously from every direction, rolling on without cease.

Like an endless symphony, they reverberated between heaven and earth.

Engulfed in this overwhelming cacophony, Li Fan felt dizzy and disoriented, stars dancing before his eyes. His chest felt as though a massive slab of stone was pressing down on it, making it difficult to breathe. When he touched his nose, he found blood streaming freely.

Li Fan was alarmed. He was about to flee back inside for shelter when the ground beneath his feet suddenly began to shake violently.

The world spun around him, and Li Fan quickly lost his balance, falling to the ground.

As if something were striking it relentlessly, the earth trembled without stopping.

Li Fan looked up, and what he saw nearly stopped his breathing.

A wall of water so tall its height was beyond reckoning filled his entire field of vision. Driven by the howling wind, it bore down on Glazed Glass Island with the unstoppable force of an avalanche, towering above, crushing everything in its path!

The titanic wave was about to crash down in the blink of an eye, burying all life beneath it.

Li Fan couldn’t help but raise his hands instinctively to shield himself.

“BOOM!”

The colossal wave slammed against the blue barrier.

The barrier warped and distorted, seeming on the verge of shattering.

But after a surge of blue light, the barrier returned to normal.

Like a rock standing firm against the crashing surf, unyielding before the waves.

Its failure to swallow Glazed Glass Island seemed to enrage the sea itself.

Wave after monstrous wave came crashing in, one after another, without end.

Glazed Glass Island was truly like a fragile sapling swaying in a storm, seemingly about to be torn to shreds at any moment.

In many instants, the island was completely submerged beneath the seawater.

Li Fan almost believed this life was about to end right then and there.

Fortunately, the island protection formation proved even more reliable than he had imagined, holding firm without breaking.

The towering waves continued their assault, never relenting.

This apocalyptic scene left Li Fan nearly senseless.

He didn’t know how long he drifted in that daze before the waves finally began to subside.

But they merely subsided—they did not stop.

The wind calamity arrived swiftly but departed slowly.

Amid wind and rain, day and night were indistinguishable.

Li Fan felt that a full two or three days had passed before the calamity finally retreated.

“We thank the immortal masters!”

The surviving islanders knelt on the ground, weeping with gratitude.

Then, through the islanders’ animated discussions, Li Fan received news that shook him even more deeply.

The wind calamity that Glazed Glass Island had just endured was actually a relatively minor one.

The wind calamity fifteen years ago had been several times more powerful.

Back then, even the island protection formation could barely hold, and had been forced to shrink its area of coverage.

As a result, after the calamity passed, the areas left unprotected by the formation had been completely scoured away.

Glazed Glass Island had been reduced to only a third of its original size.

In the decade-plus since that calamity, Glazed Glass Island had gathered displaced refugees from everywhere, and only gradually recovered its vitality.

“The wind calamity… so this is what the wind calamity truly is…”

Li Fan was shaken to his core.

The might of heaven and earth was terrifying beyond imagination!