Chapter 516: Saving People at the Bottom of the Rift, the End of the Great Battle

"Hmm, seems I forgot something?"

Zhou You suddenly remembered something and stopped in his tracks.

Right, when he set out from Fucheng, he had people with him, yet now he was all alone.

Were Zuo Lv and Lan Chengxiu still alive? Zhou You immediately pulled up the map; two specially marked green triangles were huddled in a remote corner.

Before parting ways with the two, he had specifically marked them on the 3D map so that no matter how far apart they were, they wouldn't lose each other.

Hmm, there were a few other green dots near Zuo Lv and the other, likely the martial artists traveling with them.

The problem was, these green dots had been staying in the same spot for a very long time; what on earth had happened? Under normal circumstances, the battlefield changed in an instant, and neither enemy nor ally was likely to linger in one place for too long.

Unless they were corpses...

But corpses would never appear on the map; regardless of whether they were red dots or green dots, they would be erased from the map immediately upon death.

Zhou You felt it was quite strange; he looked around to get his bearings and followed the map's guidance to find Zuo Lv and Lan Chengxiu.

A massive rift that had suddenly appeared on the flat ground split the crust in two; looking down, it was a bottomless abyss, pitch-black and endless.

In fact, there was no rift here originally; it had been a flat, open plain.

The culprit behind the rift was the aftermath of a clash between a Strong Martial Artist and a Great Shaman who had passed through this area.

Conservatively estimated, the rift was several thousand meters long, with the widest sections being several dozen meters and the narrowest being seven or eight meters.

Whether man or beast, falling in would surely be swallowed by the bottomless abyss; for those with good luck...

Zhou You looked down; the rift was winding, and there were uneven protrusions and rocks below; falling onto them would at least result in being smashed to pieces.

The map showed that Zuo Lv and Lan Chengxiu were in this area of the rift.

He had just checked the surroundings and there wasn't a single living soul; the answer was obvious.

They were inside the rift.

It was hard to say whether these two were lucky or unlucky.

If you call it lucky! They slipped and fell into the rift, avoiding the brutal slaughter between the martial artists and the shaman-folk, surviving until Zhou You came to find them.

If you call it unlucky! The rift saw no daylight, with nothing to eat or drink; trapped until now and still alive, they were likely so plagued by Hunger they were ready to eat rocks.

Zhou You clapped his hands together, activated the Iron Feather battle robe, leaped forward, and descended into the depths of the rift.

The airflow beneath him was stronger than expected; the bottom of the rift seemed to lead to a world of its own, as there was actually wind blowing up.

He spiraled downward, slowly descending as he approached the direction of the green dots.

"Baa!"

Descending to about a hundred meters, he saw a brown goat on the steep cliff wall, trying to jump upward.

Zhou You slapped the goat to death and carried it on his back; when he found the people later, he would have to treat them to meat, and here it was.

Descending further, the light grew significantly dimmer, and water droplets began to seep from the faulted rocks.

Seeing this, Zhou You breathed a sigh of relief; as long as there was water to drink, they could at least hold on for a while longer.

"Zuo Lv, Lan Chengxiu, make a sound if you hear me! I've come to pick you up!"

The voice traveled far with the wind, bringing echoes deep within the rift and adding a sense of eeriness.

"Someone is calling us!"

Zuo Lv was bleary-eyed; he was so weak from hunger he could barely move his limbs, and he nudged Lan Chengxiu beside him, "It sounds like the Pavilion Master to me; has he come to save us?"

"Save your strength; the Pavilion Master can't fly, even if he knew we were here, he couldn't get down."

Lan Chengxiu advised him, "Sleep more, save your energy; maybe you'll dream of meat falling from the sky."

At a depth of over a thousand meters from the flat ground, a platform suddenly jutted out from the rift, with living people lying scattered about.

The martial masters lying around were all limp from hunger, and some were squinting as they licked the water droplets seeping from the rock wall. They had been trapped here for a long time; relying on their tough bodies, they hadn't starved to death yet, but lacking food and water, even iron-willed men couldn't hold on, and they could only sleep day and night to conserve energy.

Their greatest hope was for a giant bird to fall from the sky, for them to catch it, tie it with a rope, and have it carry everyone up to the surface.

Of course, this kind of situation only appeared in dreams.

When Lan Chengxiu mentioned that dreaming could bring falling meat, several martial masters swallowed their saliva upon hearing it.

"Lan Chengxiu, I'll take your word for it; I'm going to go dream now."

Qin Lie chuckled.

The atmosphere on the platform revived slightly, no longer as deathly still as before.

This hard-won vitality would also be worn away by the long Hunger and waiting, until true death arrived.

However, the wonder of the vast world lies in the fact that miracles happen every moment.

And look...

Thud! Something fell from the sky, crashing onto the platform, and the smell of blood rushed toward them.

They hadn't even fallen asleep yet, but they were dreaming; after the dust settled, a goat that had been smashed to a pulp appeared on the ground.

Before they could react, Zhou You descended from the sky, kicking up a large cloud of dust, "All alive? That's good."

Zuo Lv, Lan Chengxiu, and other old acquaintances like Qin Lie were so moved that tears streamed down their faces the moment they saw Zhou You.

A moment later...

On the flat ground beside the rift, the goat was roasted over a fire; surrounding the campfire, the surviving martial masters gorged themselves, swallowing dry rations in large mouthfuls and drinking wine heartily.

Zhou You had two large hammers strapped to his back, quietly listening as Zuo Lv and the others took turns describing the situation.

They had been driven mad by hunger while trapped at the bottom of the valley; their mouths chewed and swallowed constantly, and it took great effort for them to spare a moment to say a word or two.

As it turned out, the battle between the two Strong Martial Artists had happened to engulf their area, causing the earth to shake and the soil layers to tear apart.

They had managed to avoid the deadly aftermath falling from the sky, but they couldn't avoid the crustal collapse caused by the collision and counter-shock.

Beneath the feet of Qin Lie and the others was a slowly expanding crack; they slipped and fell to the bottom of the valley, and as the crack expanded into a rift, they tumbled all the way down, and by the time they realized what had happened, they were already trapped a thousand meters below.

"Pavilion Master, if you hadn't lent a helping hand, we definitely would have starved to death at the bottom of the valley."

Zuo Lv suddenly realized, "Since when could you fly?"

Zhou You patted the two large hammers behind his back, "Just a stroke of luck."

The implication was that the large hammers, the Flying Battle Robe, and other treasures were all obtained on the battlefield, and their origins were clear.

"We have been trapped for a long time, our dry rations are all eaten, and we don't know how many days have passed; what is the current situation of the war?"

Qin Lie, Yang Kuoqiong, and several other Martial Masters asked.

Zhou You pondered for a moment.

The current situation was different from when the war had just begun; both sides had suffered heavy casualties, and with the defection of Wu Luoye and the large-scale retreat of the Wu people, the battle lines had become clear one by one, and the chaotic situation was gone forever.

Zhou You found two Disciples to regroup with, knowing that this battle was nearing its end and it was time to go home.

"Pack up, let's go find the Fucheng Martial Guild to regroup."

They belonged to the Martial Guild camp, and now it was time to find their companions.

Zhou You also wanted to see Yan Shan, who had already broken through to the Strong Martial realm; this legendary figure was the biggest winner of this great war.

Several days later, the Fucheng Martial Guild sent out a summons, calling for all surviving martial artists to rush to the designated location to assemble.

On the road, they saw several waves of Fucheng martial artists in succession, all of whom were rushing to the destination after receiving the news.

(End of this chapter)