My wife is the stand-in.

The heroes gathered by the river and advanced in an orderly fashion toward the first line of defense.

Amanosaki, Li Junzi, Busujima Saeko, and the other strongest warriors in the fleet walked closest to the main river, a little further away from the main force. Their small group was responsible for facing any potential threats.

The kingfish that washes ashore, or some other evil spirit or heretic.

Lin Shuyu strongly desires to be with Amanosaki and enjoy the same honor as Busujima Saeko—the honor of fighting on the battlefield with her lover.

But Amanosaki refused.

Saeko Busujima, who was following him, wore a light ceramic armor covering her entire body, with three ceramic steel Tang swords stuck in her body. Because of Jingdezhen, most of the weapons used by the swordsmen here are mixed with bone extracts from evil spirits and heretics. Even if ordinary people hold them, they can cause some damage to ordinary evil spirits.

The Tang sword is the ancestor of the Japanese samurai sword. Since the Hongdu branch did not have a samurai sword, Saeko Busujima chose this weapon.

These items are there to protect her from attacks by ordinary monster fish. If the situation becomes complicated, Amanosaki will sacrifice her fame and have another powerful personality take over.

That's why Saeko Busujima was able to stay with the team.

As for Lin Shuyu herself, she was escorted by the army to a safer location on the mountain to help out at the command post on the cliff. Before leaving, Lin Shuyu only said to stay in touch and share all instructions with her to prevent being sent as cannon fodder.

The road to the first line of defense was not easy. There were checkpoints everywhere and high-tech equipment everywhere. Under the protection of barbed wire and watchtowers, they were aiming at the downstream area.

Artillery positions composed of unmanned turrets.

These turrets, coldly pointing towards the center of the river, stood calmly bathed in the torrential rain that had almost washed away the humus layer on the bank and made the river water murky.

It resembles human rational thinking, but everyone knows that beneath this cold rationality lies an explosive anger.

Amanosaki looked at the military equipment. He only knew that these turrets were operated remotely by artillerymen, with expensive intelligent equipment replacing manual labor. In the distance, soldiers with machine guns stood ready.

After crossing the convex bank where the river bends, everyone paused in their tracks.

An explosion, a complete and utter explosion, like a New Year's celebration, with flashing lights blooming like flowers on the river's surface.

That was the full firepower of the Wudang heroes, sweeping away the four-clawed scaled fish that were trying to bite through the reinforced glass fibers.

Under the searchlight, the turbid river water hundreds of meters away appears as a large expanse of iron-blue and twisted, churning lines here.

There were also ripped limbs and bloody flesh.

The strong smell of gunpowder masked the stench of blood, making it difficult for everyone to breathe.

Further away, the area was completely submerged in the spray of the explosion, with only yellowish smoke visible.

You can vaguely see countless swirling bright yellow hues flashing by in the river, like the Dragon King throwing a noisy, mesmerizing party in his crystal palace.

Further along the shore, on the cliffs and mountains, large artillery positions in safe locations were firing at an angle.

The drone took off despite the bad weather, quickly skimmed across the river, dropped bombs, and then flew to the temporary helipad on the opposite bank.

A man covered from head to toe in dust and black gunpowder, his rugged face a filthy mess, obscuring all traces of flesh.

"Is that Mr. Amanosaki from behind?!"

The person who arrived exclaimed in a surprised voice.

"Yes!" Amanosaki responded loudly, "What's the situation now?"

The crew of the other ship roared, "What are we lowly knights supposed to do with an artillery barrage of this scale?!"

The explosions at the scene were so loud that he could only use this method to transmit his voice.

Moreover, as time went on, the explosions grew louder and louder, and everyone noticed that the river water, which had been obscured by dark clouds and turned black, was showing crazy, distorted patterns in the hazy rain.

That was a sign that a large number of four-clawed scaled fish were crowding in front of the blockade line, and some of them had been pushed out of the water.

Everyone realized that the enemy was becoming increasingly frantic.

The automated gun emplacements on the shore were activated from their dormant state, and the soldiers began urging their troops to leave their defensive zone as soon as possible.

Once the automatic turret is activated, no one can stay by the river; anyone who approaches the turret will be considered a heretic or evil spirit.

In fact, if it weren't for the low trees on the shore partially shielding them from the strong winds, this team wouldn't have been able to stand here safely, and would have even needed to bend over to march along the slippery, muddy mountain path.

The impact of typhoon weather is widespread. Even though it has not yet reached the Hongdu branch, a mature tropical cyclone can still affect land hundreds of kilometers away.

"Not here!" The swordsman walked in, and everyone could see that he was actually wearing white clothes and was a swordsman from a branch of Wudang.

The Wudang branch's chivalrous man, panting, wiped his face and fanned himself with his clothes. Amanosaki noticed that the inside of his robes was covered with specially made pen pockets... or rather, missile pockets.

But now all the equipment is used up.

"We can hold out here. The government has mobilized a lot of firepower to support us, and the troops are also in place. But fighting here indefinitely is not a solution."

The swordsman collapsed to the ground, panting, "This damn smoke, I feel like my lungs are going to turn black after just one night."

After he finished speaking, he saw that everyone was staring at him with grim faces, without saying a word.

"Okay, okay, I shouldn't have joked." He spread his hands. "The Hongdu branch and the higher-ups both hope that the defense line can be pushed forward further. It will be difficult for the five defense lines to withstand the upcoming storm."

"We're going to push it? Have they gone mad?" someone complained.

This time is different from the past. In the past, the battles were mainly fought by martial arts heroes. Special operations can give full play to the abilities of martial arts heroes.

But everyone was terrified by this intense bombardment that concentrated an excessive amount of artillery fire in the relatively narrow river.

"The idea is to have the heroes form a strike team to intercept the fish at multiple points along the tributaries, misleading them into the tributaries and reducing the pressure on the main stream."

This plan sounds plausible.

Time was precious, so after inquiring about the exact handover location, everyone hurried on their way.

Amanosaki walked at the front of the group, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly. He felt something was off. It seemed that his and the team's actions were not quite right.

But in an emergency, everyone is responsible for the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people. In the rush, there is no time to think things through, even if there are doubts.

After rushing through the torrential rain for more than 20 minutes, the group finally arrived at the first tributary where it flows into the main river.

However, there were already chivalrous heroes here diverting the fish disaster.

Upon closer inspection, Amanosaki saw that the figure at the center of the enormous fireball suspended on the river was exactly the same as the [Yehuo Bhikkhuni] who fought fiercely against Guishuiyin in the [Sanjiang Hall] back then. However, compared to that bald little girl, this nun looked much older.

She looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old, with her eyebrows and eyes already fully developed. At this moment, she held a vajra pestle, and her body emitted fire lotuses. Amidst her majestic presence, she also possessed a woman's charm.

Behind her, dozens of heavy armed helicopters, stabilized by their own weight in the wind, tilted towards a certain spot on the river. The artillery positions on the cliff opened fire with a roar, and shells pierced the darkness like shooting stars across the sky.

Chapter 182: The Sun Palace Emperor

Hundreds of people stood neatly on the riverbank, their every move exuding a seasoned discipline that was hard not to notice.

Immediately, a knight-errant threw a bag of seeds over from a distance. As soon as the bag landed, countless roots sprouted, and dozens of soft stems, saturated with the moisture from the soil, stood tall and twisted into a mouth shape.

"Which unit are you from, and why are you running around on the battlefield?"

Everyone glanced at Amanosaki, who seemed hesitant to speak. Immediately, a swordsman with several large tattoos on his body and primitive tattoo-like patterns on his forehead clasped his hands in a fist salute.

"I am Zeng Aman, the captain of the Four-Clawed Scaled Fish Extermination Team of the Qianmiao Branch. These are my colleagues from the expedition team. Near the defensive line, we met a knight from the Wudang Branch. He relayed the government's battle plan and asked us to come and support them to share the burden."

The voice hesitated for a few seconds, then said readily, "I'll go ask the [Emperor of the Sun Palace] for instructions. Please, everyone, do not move anything. The automatic turrets are not blind!"

A dozen seconds later, the artificial sun suspended in the air went out. Only then did Amanosaki notice a spherical hole in the sky, surrounded by water vapor evaporated by the high temperature, which clung to the mountainside like fog.

'That hollow space is the range of her manifested flames, isn't it?' Saeko Busujima looked up, her eyes filled with surprise and uncertainty. 'I remember the flames of the [Karmic Fire Bhikkhuni] can melt steel. This person, in both ability and appearance, looks a lot like that legal loli...'

Amanosaki nodded solemnly, silently replying, "They should be related, but this one's skill level is truly far superior. She confined all the intense heat of the flames within the sphere; we're less than a hundred meters away, yet we don't feel any heat at all."

Amanosaki wasn't familiar with the name "Emperor of the Hiyomiya," but Saeko Busujima knew it.

This stems from her current status as a descendant of a prominent Japanese family.

As is well known, two major religious sects prevail in Japan: the indigenous Shintoism and the imported Buddhism. Buddhism was so prevalent that it even led to the establishment of local territories and the rise of powerful local rulers during the early to mid-Sengoku period. It even gave rise to the peculiar Ikko-shu sect, which was able to mobilize its followers to expel daimyo (feudal lords).

Therefore, thanks to Saeko Busujima's knowledge, Amanosaki learned that the chivalrous name of this young nun actually referred to the Twenty-Four Devas of Buddhism.

Among them, the Sun Palace Emperor is a deity residing in the Sun Palace. He is the fire god in the mythology of the Mauryan Dynasty, and his name is transliterated as Surya.

Yes, that's the name of Karna's father in Fate/Extra. In China, the Sun Emperor is also known as the incarnation of Guanyin Bodhisattva. He is the representative of the Fire Authority among the Twenty-Four Devas and holds a very high religious status.

Nozaki wasn't interested in knowing exactly which twenty-four heavens there were, but through Saeko Busujima, he learned that he had already come into contact with the twenty-four heavens.

The name "Idaten" in the 2021 anime series "The Peaceful Generation" refers to one of the Twenty-Four Devas.

As the two were talking, a beautiful young woman with the chivalrous name "Emperor of the Sun Palace" descended on clouds of flames, wearing a simple long robe.

Her striking features made her so captivating that even with a shaved head and a monk's cap, men couldn't take their eyes off her.

"You must be Amanosaki?" The nun smiled at Amanosaki, bowed slightly, and said in a grateful tone, "I have to thank you for your help with my sister's matter."

They are sisters, and they do resemble the Tatsumaki and Fubuki sisters from One-Punch Man. However, this girl doesn't have Fubuki's figure, but her temperament is even better.

But when she looked up, the gentle expression on her face vanished, replaced by a serious one: "You say you received a mission to divert the four-clawed scale fish, but do you have any official instructions from above?"

Amanosaki's face darkened, and Busujima Saeko exclaimed "Ah!" and slapped her forehead in frustration.

Zeng Aman shook her head: "No, but the operation order came from the command center. Surely the Wudang heroes wouldn't lie to us for the sake of credit? As for disguise, that's even more impossible. We were on the front lines at the time. If the evil forces had come in, they would have been discovered the moment they entered!"

"Alright, then let me ask you again, have you confirmed with the commander of your position?" The Emperor's voice grew increasingly serious.

"No... no." Zeng Aman's voice was much softer, lacking confidence.

However, a chivalrous figure in the crowd said, "When we received the news, the four-clawed fish in the river had rioted, and the army was busy suppressing them. They told us to leave quickly, but there was no time at all!"

The Emperor of the Sun Palace looked up to the sky and sighed, "You've been deceived!"

"This operation plan was designated by the headquarters, and there is indeed an intention to divert the monster fish. However, this is a matter of national importance. Each tributary will be led by two branch-level heroes. How could we possibly make things difficult for you and let you take on such a thorny task?"

Amanosaki turned to everyone and shouted, "Gentlemen, look at your headphones! Whose are still working?"

Then everyone realized that their headphones had stopped working at some point.

These are military supplies; they're fine even if they're submerged in water. Even if some are damaged, it's impossible for the equipment of hundreds of people to come to a complete standstill.

It wasn't until the Emperor pointed out the trap that Amanosaki suddenly remembered that Lin Shuyu had said before they parted that they should stay in touch and share instructions, and that she would help relay messages. But the team had been traveling for so long, and there was no sound in the earpieces. Neither he nor anyone else had suggested checking the instructions with their superiors.

It was as if everyone had forgotten about it.

Seeing everyone's uncertain expressions, some of whom looked annoyed, Saeko Busujima clasped her hands in a fist salute to the young nun who was hanging there:

“Great hero, I’ve felt uneasy on my way here, but every time I think about it, other distracting thoughts pop up and disturb my mind, as if I’m possessed.”

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.

"Yes! Now that I think about it, I had the thought twice on the way here, and then I started to feel the urge to pee, thinking I should get here as soon as possible to take care of it."

"Damn! This really is some kind of heretical sect!?"

Zeng Aman's expression changed drastically: "That guy's face was covered in dust, so you couldn't see his features, but he was clearly human-shaped, so he must be a heretic. He was wearing clothes that he had taken from some knight-errant, and he even managed to fool the artillery positions... He tricked us into coming here, so the place we were supposed to go to will no longer have support!"