Supported by tree branches, Old Woman Li was gently rocked like she was in a cradle, and quickly reached the top of the tall tree canopy.
"The tree... the tree moved?!" The villagers were dumbfounded.
Those baobab trees, once regarded as "demonic trees" by the people, now seemed to be alive, their roots twisting like giant hands, lifting the villagers who had fallen into the water one by one and placing them steadily on their broad canopies.
"Splash!" The floodwaters surged in, but these giant trees defied the waves and went upstream!
Even more horrifying, the tree branches submerged in the water were writhing like throats, frantically swallowing the floodwaters. Each gulp lowered the water level in the vicinity, revealing the submerged rooftops.
Their roots absorbed water frantically, and their trunks expanded at a visible speed, actually carving out a path to survival in the flood!
"Mountain Goddess, Mountain Goddess!" The child in Wang Dali's arms stopped crying, opened his eyes wide and looked at this scene, and kept murmuring to himself in a childish voice.
"Hold on tight!" Wang Dali hugged the two children tightly, and the three of them sat in the fork of the tree canopy. The children's little hands gripped the bark tightly, their eyes still filled with tears, but they had stopped crying.
Below them, a dozen tree roots, like the fingers of a giant, weaved nimbly, constantly pulling struggling villagers from the raging torrent.
They felt as if the giant tree beneath them was like a giant ship cutting through the waves, and wherever it passed, the floodwaters mysteriously receded, as if forcibly contained by some force.
In the distance, several officials who hadn't managed to escape stared in disbelief at everything.
"This...this tree has become a spirit?!"
“No, this isn’t a spirit…” one of them murmured, “This is the blessing of the Mountain Goddess…”
It turns out this really is a precious tree, and now it has become an ark in the flood!
If only they hadn't run away beforehand, they would have gone with the villagers! The two constables were filled with regret, but it was too late, for the raging floodwaters swept in.
The people sitting on the canopy of the demon tree turned their heads and saw the two constables who had been only concerned with their own escape on horseback were now floating and sinking in the torrent.
Their horses had already been swept away. One of them clung desperately to a piece of driftwood, his official hat long gone. The other was in even worse shape; his brocade official robes were caught on tree branches, and he was rolling around in the water like a rag doll.
"Help...help..." The bailiff in the brocade robe reached out his hand and just then saw Wang Dali sitting in the tree canopy.
"I regret it! I regret it!" a constable shouted with his last breath, before being swept away by a wave and sinking into the water.
"Sir, catch this!" An old man handed over a branch, but the only surviving constable tried to grab it, only to find it was too far away.
The giant demonic tree completely ignored him, instead carrying the villagers against the current, racing desperately towards safe high ground.
The people on the tree canopy clung tightly to the branches, looking down at the raging floodwaters with both fear and awe.
"The Mountain Goddess...is truly protecting us..." Old Li trembled as he stroked the tree bark, tears mingling with the rain.
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