Seeing Han Suyin not making any movements, her eyes remaining closed, Pei Jinglan snorted. In his mind, she was having one of those fits again. She would return to her senses soon enough.
His gaze slid back to his group.
"Four on beast duty. Two on herb duty. Those who participate earn a share of the spirit herb."
Hands rose in scattered confidence. Others stayed still, either lazy or unwilling to do anything that looked like labor. They had come to fight, not haul ropes like dockworkers.
Pei Jinglan counted. Five.
One short.
Then, from the back, a slender hand lifted. The fingers were pale and neat, skin smooth as polished jade, untouched by callus or grit.
The nearby disciples noticed immediately.
"Junior Sister Qin, it's only a kelp herb. Let the rough work fall to us."
"If you want a share, I'll take your spot. Why dirty your hands?"
More voices joined, eager to curry favor.
"I'll earn it myself." Qin Xueyi's chin lifted.
"Enough." Pei Jinglan's voice made everyone fall silent.
"Qin Xueyi, and someone else, to my left. The rest of you, to my right. Those not participating, step back."
People shuffled into place. Pei Jinglan waited until everyone stood where he wanted them. "My left is group one. Beast duty." His gaze moved to the right. "My right is group two. Herb duty."
"At the bottom lies a kelp-type spirit herb. With the issue being the Blackwater Crocodile guarding it."
His eyes turned to the corpse.
"This is the bait. I'll drag it upstream and toss it in. Group one will hold the line and pull."
Then he lifted another rope, this one ending in a crude iron hook.
"Group two. One of you will cast this. Let it sink. Hook the kelp low, near its base. Once it catches, pull and extract."
"I'll remain at the bank. If I say hold, you stop pulling and loosen your grip. If I say pull, you haul. Any questions?"
No one spoke. The plan was simple. Efficient.
Pei Jinglan grabbed the corpse by the collar, and dragged it upstream. When he judged the distance enough, he drew his blade and opened several shallow cuts along the body. Blood seeped out, dark ribbons sliding into the current.
With a single motion, he flung the corpse into the middle of the river.
Then he returned and made a small gesture.
"Group one. Begin."
The rope tightened. Disciples braced and started pulling slowly, letting the bait drift down toward the kelp zone. Pei Jinglan watched the surface without blinking.
Then the water bulged.
Something that looked like a log shot forward so fast his eyes almost missed it. Jaws clamped onto the corpse's leg.
"Hold."
Group one loosened at once, letting the bark-wrapped rope take the strain.
The Blackwater Crocodile twisted, its body snapping into a violent death roll. The line went rigid, the tension humming through the trunk and into the ground. Even with the wrap, the pull was savage enough to make the disciples' arms jolt. If they had been holding it tight, they would have been yanked forward like sacks.
The roll ended.
"Pull."
Group one hauled in a steady rhythm. The crocodile refused to release its prey, teeth locked harder, and in its stubborn hunger it let itself be dragged away.
Pei Jinglan's gaze slid to group two. "Now."
The disciple beside Qin Xueyi snatched the hooked rope and cast it out.
The hook struck stone.
He cursed and yanked, freeing it, then threw again, and this time hitting its target. He nodded to Qin Xueyi.
Qin Xueyi immediately grabbed the other end. Qi surged into her limbs, reinforcing her stance. Together they pulled.
Below the surface, the kelp began to come loose. Green strands shifted upward, faintly luminous in the water.
Something inside the crocodile seemed to tug at its mind.
It released the corpse as if it had never mattered and shot back toward the kelp line, terrifyingly fast.
Pei Jinglan's eyes narrowed. "One let go!"
The disciple obeyed instantly.
Qin Xueyi was a fraction too slow. The next instant the rope went rigid in the crocodile's jaws, and the violent pull tore her from the shore. She hit the water with a scream and a burst of spray.
Pei Jinglan didn't rush after her. His mind measured distance, speed, risk.
Then cold swept past him.
He was stunned when he saw Han Suyin plunge in without hesitation.
The disciples barely had time to react before Pei Jinglan suddenly dove in too, and a third splash churned the water.
Underwater, the world turned into dim green chaos.
The crocodile's attention shifted the moment the kelp slackened. New prey had arrived.
Qin Xueyi flailed upward, lungs burning. A shadow rushed at her. She turned and saw a mouth full of teeth closing in, close enough that the river itself seemed to recoil.
Her eyes squeezed shut, but the expected pain never came.
Instead, the water shifted, and she was wrenched sideways. Arms locked around her, hauling her away.
She opened her eyes and was stunned, her face suddenly too hot even in the icy water.
Han Suyin wasn't looking at her. Her gaze was fixed ahead.
The crocodile had bitten down on a sword that had been jammed sideways into its mouth. Ice spread along the blade, sealing it against teeth and flesh, forcing its jaws to remain partially open.
It thrashed.
But a Qi Condensation spirit beast did not stay restrained for long.
With a violent snap, it crushed the sword. The broken halves sank away like dead fish.
Han Suyin's knew they didn't have time to swim up. Not with the it that close.
A water arrow streaked through the water and struck the crocodile's head. Scales rattled. The beast flinched, more annoyed than injured.
Then an arm wrapped around Han Suyin's waist and yanked her upward so hard the water blurred.
Pei Jinglan dragged them both toward the surface with Qin Xueyi still in Han Suyin's hold.
They broke the surface in a mess of coughing and gasping.
For one ridiculous heartbeat, the three of them hung there in a chained mess: Han holding Qin Xueyi, Pei Jinglan holding Han Suyin, Qin Xueyi holding onto Han Suyin, all drenched and sputtering.
Then the river punished them for pausing.
The Crocodile began to spin in a wide circle.
The water twisted. Current tightened. A whirlpool formed and started dragging everything toward its center.
It wasn't trying to bite now.
It was trying to drown.
From farther back, Yue Rin watched, heart hammering.
She knew that even if her cultivation were intact, she still wouldn't be able to do anything meaningful in this moment.
But then her eyes caught something else.
The spirit herb line.
It was still there, still tugging faintly beneath the surface.
She rushed in before grabbing the rope with both hands.
The line snapped taut, alive with force, fighting her like a trapped beast. Her arms shook. Her breath hitched.
She couldn't pull it alone.
So she shouted.
"Pull the herb line!" Her throat burned. "Drag the kelp up and it will get distracted!"
Nearby cultivators froze.
Then memory clicked into place.
Six people lunged forward and grabbed the rope beside Yue Rin. Another moved closer to the bank, eyes locked on the river.
"Pull!" he barked. "Together!"
They hauled.
The kelp rose in long, slick strands. A clean herbal scent burst into the air.
The spinning crocodile hesitated.
Then its head snapped toward the kelp line a second time. It abandoned the whirlpool's pull and surged toward the rope, determined to reclaim what was being stolen.
The whirlpool loosened.
That single breath was enough.
Pei Jinglan hauled Han Suyin and Qin Xueyi onto the shore.
Beside them, the watcher's eyes widened. "Let go!"
Hands released the rope immediately.
The kelp line whipped forward, ripped straight into the river, vanishing beneath the surface as if it had never existed.
A moment later, three drenched figures staggered on the bank, coughing and dripping.
Disciples rushed toward Pei Jinglan and Qin Xueyi, voices overlapping with frantic concern.
Yue Rin ignored them. She moved straight to Han Suyin.
"If you are tired you can lean on me."
Han Suyin looked down at Yue Rin's shoulder like she was weighing it. She didn't feel drained enough to need help, but still shifted her weight anyway, letting Yue Rin take some of it.
"Your clothes."
Yue Rin didn't care about them getting wet and led her away
They had barely taken two steps when Pei Jinglan's voice cut across the shore.
"Stop, Han Suyin!"