# 1376
Chapter 1377: I Am Li Kengqiang
A flash of night arrived at the building shadows along the Huangpu River. A moment later, Lin Qiye stepped out from within.
His gaze swept across the surroundings and quickly found Cao Yuan standing on the deck of a ferry, drifting slowly with the current.
Cao Yuan had somehow obtained a set of police officer's clothing, cradling the Straight Blade wrapped in black cloth in his arms. He looked not the least bit like a police officer—in fact, he resembled a fearsome thug. Those sharp eyes of his surveyed the riverbank, seemingly searching for something.
Suddenly, his gaze landed on Lin Qiye by the river, and he froze for a moment.
"Lao Cao!" Lin Qiye waved at him.
The ferry carrying Cao Yuan rapidly approached the riverbank where Lin Qiye stood. Without caring about the stares of others, Lin Qiye simply vaulted over the railing with one hand, tumbling down and triggering a chorus of startled cries from the people on shore.
Lin Qiye landed steadily on the deck and asked with confusion:
"Lao Cao, what are you doing here?"
"Preventing anyone from throwing things into the river." Cao Yuan sighed helplessly. "I don't have Baili Pangpang's '万物缴械' ability, so I can't disarm whatever liquid the Church of the Ancient Gods has at the first moment. So I disguised myself as a police officer and had this ferry carry me along the river for patrols. That way, if anyone throws something down, I can at least draw my blade in time on the water's surface and intercept it directly."
Lin Qiye nodded. "Found anything unusual?"
"Nothing so far." Cao Yuan hesitated, then added, "Though the waves on this river are much fiercer than before."
Lin Qiye was startled. He looked down and noticed that the waters of the Huangpu River flowing through Huaihai City were churning and surging relentlessly—far more violent than an ordinary current. But strangely, there was clearly no wind on the river surface.
"So Baili Pangpang's intuition was right. Keep watch here, I'll go take a look below."
"Sure."
As soon as Lin Qiye finished speaking, his figure flickered and he plunged directly into the surging river.
The water churned as Lin Qiye continued descending into the river. The murky water made visibility extremely poor at the bottom—even Lin Qiye, without being able to use spiritual perception, could only see clearly within ten meters around him.
Down in the water, Lin Qiye's brow furrowed slightly.
The Huangpu River flowing through Huaihai City was too vast. Without being able to use spiritual perception, figuring out the situation at the bottom would require considerable time... At this rate, it would be difficult to make any progress.
Lin Qiye pressed his hand against the water, and numerous brilliant magic arrays unfurled. Sea beasts emerged from the arrays, dispersing in all directions to sweep through the river currents.
Lin Qiye perched atop a lanternfish. Its dim light pushed back the surrounding water, allowing him to breathe freely at the riverbed as well.
With time being insufficient, summoning a large number of sea beasts for a blanket search was the best option. Moreover, Lin Qiye summoned them using orthodox summoning magic—even if the Commanders saw it, they would only marvel at the magic's wonder without discovering the existence of the Asylum of the Gods.
Lin Qiye's figure moved through the dim riverbed. After an unknown duration, a dull thudding sound echoed from the depths of the distant water.
Immediately after, one sea beast attendant's life force entered a dying state and was forcibly recalled to the hospital.
There!
A glint flashed in Lin Qiye's eyes. He controlled the lanternfish beneath him to rush toward the direction of the sound at maximum speed!
The lanternfish's light pushed back the river water, illuminating a corner of the昏暗 riverbed. As he approached, a shadow in the distance gradually took shape.
This shadow was roughly the size of a three-story villa, crouching at the bottom of the Huangpu River. The faint light illuminated one corner of it—the silhouette of some kind of mythical beast. Its snow-white skin surface bore layers of faint golden patterns.
"This is..." Lin Qiye's eyes narrowed slightly.
Before he could approach closer for a better look, the surrounding water was violently compressed!
The river water frantically poured toward the front of the massive shadow. A figure gripping a Sky-Piercer Halberd stood like a boulder on the riverbed sand and stones. As the Sky-Piercer Halberd slashed through the air, a savage high-pressure water blade compressed into a blade of water, instantly flying toward Lin Qiye's face!
A sense of crisis surged in Lin Qiye's heart.
That thin water blade surging from the riverbed was composed of several tons of river water compressed together. Such terrifying compression had practically shattered the original physical structure of the water molecules, rearranged them completely, transcending the category of "water" entirely.
Lin Qiye didn't doubt for a moment that if this strike landed on land, it could easily blast apart a mountain peak... And to casually slash out an attack of this caliber, one had to be at least at the Klein level.
There was actually someone at the bottom of the Huangpu River?
Was it the Church of the Ancient Gods?
Lin Qiye didn't dare block it head-on. He flickered like a streak of night. The White Slash unsheathed, his form entering a state of nothingness. When he reappeared, he was already before the figure gripping the Sky-Piercer Halberd.
CLANG—!!
The snow-white blade clashed against the heavy Sky-Piercer Halberd. The dull, heavy sound reverberated through the churning currents, and the terrifying force briefly forced the water around them into a vacuum zone.
Lin Qiye's eyes narrowed. A brilliant golden radiance bloomed from beneath his feet as the light of the Mortal Divine Realm enveloped both the figure before him and the mythical beast's shadow behind.
Borrowing that golden glow, Lin Qiye finally saw the full form of that mythical beast.
It was a four-legged giant beast, entirely snow-white. Its skin surface was flowing with faint golden patterns. A pair of white antlers resembling elk bones extended from the top of its head, nearly two stories tall—a magnificent sight from afar.
This giant beast crouched among the riverbed sands and stones. Its highly distended belly rose and fell急促ly, and with each breath, the surrounding currents churned violently, as if boiling. The Huangpu River water was being frantically stirred.
Lin Qiye stared at that distended belly,愣了片刻, and asked in astonishment:
"Bai Ze?"
WHOOSH—!!
A swift water blade grazed past Lin Qiye's nose. Had Lin Qiye been a fraction of a second slower in his reaction, he would now be a headless corpse.
Lin Qiye turned his head to look. A middle-aged man in a Chinese tunic suit, gripping a Sky-Piercer Halberd, was gazing at him with an ice-cold expression. A murderous intent burned fiercely in his eyes.
Seeing the Sky-Piercer Halberd forged from the same material as the Star Blade, Lin Qiye seemed to realize something:
"You're Night Watch?"
"Great Xia Night Watch, Squad 007 Captain, Tang Mingxuan." The middle-aged man's low voice reached Lin Qiye's ears. He raised the Sky-Piercer Halberd and darted through the water like lightning,
"You Church of the Ancient Gods scumbags, die!"
"Wait!" Lin Qiye frantically dodged Tang Mingxuan's attacks while his mind raced at incredible speed.
Suddenly, as if struck by inspiration, he blurted out:
"I'm Li Kengqiang!"
The heavy Sky-Piercer Halberd froze motionless in the water current!