The river surged and spread, but Tang Lin didn't notice it at all. After all, it was originally already at his knee level. Now that it had yet to cover his knees, it really didn't feel like much to someone of Tang Lin's size. However, after this level, it was a very crucial plot twist for the world of The Storm Riders.
In the world of The Storm Riders, the Leshan Buddha was the beginning and the end of many stories. This was because the inside of the Buddha was a hollowed-out karst cave, and in this karst cave lived a powerful divine beast, Fire Qilin.
The two main characters in The Storm Riders, be it manga or movies, had many connections with Fire Qilin.
In the manga, Nie Feng inherited the bloodline of Fire Qilin from the Nie ancestors. He would go berserk at any time. In the movie, Nie Feng relied on the Blood Bodhi that was watered by the Fire Qilin's blood to greatly increase his power and defeat Xiong Ba.
Regardless of whether it was manga or movie, the other protagonist, Bu Jingyun, had changed into a Qilin Arm. That's right, this was the origin of the original Qilin Arm. It was not the kind of 'Qilin Arm' single men developed from training alone at home.
When the water level reached the knees of the Leshan Buddha, flames would come out of the Soaring Cloud Cave above the Buddha statue. That was because Fire Qilin could not stand the water vapor spreading out from below and needed to come out to take a breather.
Unfortunately, Nie Renwang only knew about this legend, but he did not know the reason behind it. Tang Lin knew even less about it. After all, The Storm Riders movie itself was older than him. It was not bad for him to even know about Xiong Ba and the Qilin Arm.
Therefore, when Fire Qilin's roar suddenly appeared, Nie Renwang and Tang Lin were stunned.
Fire emerged from the top of the Buddha statue and quickly spread. Fire Qilin rushed out of the Buddha statue. Nie Renwang innocently stood in front of Fire Qilin and was the first to bear the brunt of the fire.
Although Fire Qilin was called a divine beast, it was actually extremely violent. When it saw Nie Renwang, it roared and pounced at him. This Fire Qilin was extremely fast, and in no way inferior to the speed of a martial arts master using the Qinggong technique.
Poor Nie Renwang's attention was mostly focused on Tang Lin, so he couldn't react in time to Fire Qilin's sneak attack. There was only enough time for the Snow Saber to block a blow from the sharp fiery claws of Fire Qilin, thus avoiding the terrible fate of disembowelment, but he didn't notice that his foot was grabbed by Fire Qilin's other claw.
Nie Renwang felt a burning sensation, as if his leg had been thoroughly burnt. He lost his balance after being dragged by the divine beast. For a martial arts expert, an unstable lower body meant a complete failure. Nie Renwang was thus dragged into the Soaring Cloud Cave by Fire Qilin.
It was not until Nie Renwang disappeared that Tang Lin reacted. The person who summoned him was gone just like that?
"What's going on? Don't tell me the mission has failed?" Tang Lin hurriedly dug out the entrance of the Soaring Cloud Cave.
His fingers reached inside and shattered a big part of the entrance, but they were stuck before he could reach half a finger deep. It was not a straight hollow inside the cave, there are hundreds of twists and turns.
"The client died right after I was summoned here. How is this an easy level?" Tang Lin said unhappily.
Unless the entire Leshan Buddha was destroyed, Tang Lin wouldn't be able to save Nie Renwang.
However, he did not know how long it would take to dismantle the Buddha statue. Tang Lin was afraid that there wouldn't even be many bones left by then, let alone Nie Renwang who might be killed if he was not careful during the demolition.
Tang Lin opened his chest pocket and looked down at Ororo.
The dark-skinned girl had been leaning on the edge of the pocket and had seen everything. When she saw Tang Lin's gaze, she didn't even need him to say, "No! Not a chance! (No, don't even think about it!)"
Ororo was not a fool. She got giddy just from watching the battle between Xiong Ba and Nie Renwang. Even such a powerful "mutant" couldn't stop that fire-breathing beast. If she jumped in to save him, she would be courting death!
The terms of their cooperation was clear, she would only provide a certain amount of assistance, and it definitely did not include tempting fate.
Tang Lin thought about it and did not force Ororo. It was not easy to raise a minion, and she was quite a pretty girl. He couldn't bear to send her to her death.
At this moment, there was a desperate hoarse voice.
"Dad!"
A child who was barely ten years old climbed onto the head of the Buddha statue and ran towards the Soaring Cloud Cave while crying. This was one of the main characters of The Storm Riders, Nie Feng.
How could Tang Lin let him die? He was still thinking that Nie Feng can fulfill Nie Renwang's death wish if he died. Hence, Tang Lin immediately inserted his finger into the entrance of the Soaring Cloud Cave and blocked it.
Nie Feng rushed to Tang Lin's finger and punched it crazily with his small fists, but Tang Lin did not even feel an itch. This child had yet to seriously practice martial arts and was no different from an ordinary person.
"Nie Feng, don't be rash. I'll think of a way to save your father," Tang Lin advised.
The young Nie Feng raised his head and glanced at the giant before continuing to hammer his fingers.
Sorry, this Mandarin pronunciation was too standard. Nie Feng didn't understand.
What the f*ck? That's why it's such an important national policy to popularize Mandarin throughout the country!
Tang Lin racked his brains to recall Master Zhou's movie lines. Then, he said to Nie Feng in very poor Cantonese, "Young man, calm down!"
Nie Feng finally understood. He was shocked at first, then he said loudly to Tang Lin, "Can you help me save my father?!"
It was difficult to speak Cantonese, but Tang Lin could still understand most of it by guessing. Of course, Tang Lin would not refuse Nie Feng's request, so he nodded at Nie Feng and said, "You… stand aside."
Originally, he should have said, "Stay clear." However, Tang Lin really did not remember this sentence and could only switch back to Mandarin. However, Tang Lin added a hand gesture and pointed into the distance. Nie Feng was also a clever child. He quickly understood Tang Lin and hurriedly ran far away.
Tang Lin looked into the entrance of the Soaring Cloud Cave. It was pitch-black. He didn't know where Fire Qilin had taken Nie Feng.
After thinking for a moment, Tang Lin said to Nie Feng, "Does your father know…"
In the end, Tang Lin was stuck and could only gesture a dog crawl to replace the word swimming.
Nie Feng understood and quickly nodded. "Yes! My father is very good at swimming!"
Tang Lin understood what he meant. After getting the answer he wanted, he took off his backpack and took out a huge water bottle. He opened the lid and poured water into the Soaring Cloud Cave. There was a liter of cold water inside the bottle. It was one of the pieces of equipment that Tang Lin had prepared for himself.
From Nie Feng's perspective, it was as if a waterfall had appeared out of thin air. The torrential water poured into the entrance of the Soaring Cloud Cave. In just a few seconds, the bottle was empty. Tang Lin leaned his ear over and seemed to hear the roar of Fire Qilin from inside, but it was still a little far away.
"Looks like it's still not enough," Tang Lin muttered to himself. Then, he pressed the bottle into the river at his feet.
A huge vortex appeared on the river, and even the surging waves could not cover it. After filling half the bottle, Tang Lin began to fill the cave with water again. After repeating it three times, Tang Lin heard the sound of flowing water change. The karst cave in the Buddha statue was probably about to be filled.
Just as he was about to refill another bottle, he heard a roar. A swift red shadow flew out of the Soaring Cloud Cave.
Fire Qilin was finally forced out by Tang Lin. Not only that, but Nie Renwang was riding on Fire Qilin's back. He grabbed Fire Qilin's horn with one hand and the Snow Saber with the other and slashed Fire Qilin's neck with all his might.