Chapter 700: Chapter 363: Divine Bird Broken-Winged! Xuanming Loses His Boat, Daoist Jade Girl Arrives Riding a Dragon!

Endless turmoil, not stopping for a moment, inevitably leads to mental exhaustion. Li Xian steps into the lake area to escape, truly forced by necessity. He experiences the vastness of heaven and earth, accompanied by endless dangers. His yearning for Martial Arts deepens constantly.

"Ahead lies the Mysterious Mountain Range of Tiger Cry Ridge, behind is Dongran Lake. If the chance arises, I will explore the secrets within the lake one day."

Li Xian rows the boat for another day, eats dry rations, and drinks clear water. Suddenly he sees an island. Though he has a map, he does not know his exact location. He immediately circles the island for inspection and seeing no great danger, stops the boat and lands on the island.

Li Xian ponders, "This floating iron boat is my lifeline. Docked by the shore, I feel uneasy, as the lake conditions are unpredictable. If this boat is lost, I will be in trouble!"

At once, he shouldered the boat. Full of Qi Power, extremely heedless. He cherishes the floating iron boat dearly. He plucks four strands of hair and plants them at spots near the shore. Then, he carries the boat deeper into the island.

Also fearing pursuit, he exhibits the characteristics of "Snow Stepping" and "Light Skill", even while shouldering the iron boat, leaving not a single footprint. The island is marshy, home to ferocious creatures like tigers, leopards, and armored crocodile fish.

Li Xian has no desire to cook, finds a tall tree, and wedges the floating iron boat against the trunk. Then lies in the boat to rest. He consumes simple dry rations and clear water, then exhales clear Qi, purging all impurities from his body.

［Five Viscera Avoiding Dross and Gathering Yang Scripture Skill Level +1］

He manipulates impurities, practices Five Viscera Avoiding Dross and Gathering Yang Scripture, restoring his exhaustion. Then turns to practice "Only I have a Heart Skill" for an hour. Now the full moon is high, it is precisely midnight.

Li Xian sighs: "I wonder how Sister Liuli is doing. Escaping the Water Altar, it’s ultimately a good thing for her." He retrieves a "Peach Blossom Bow" from the boat’s compartment, feeling nostalgic: "My life is like duckweed, the time spent at Cyan Ox Residence, was it peaceful and joyful? The Jianghu turmoil, for the rest of my life, similar peaceful days, how many are left? Perhaps they’ve already been used up."

He quietly hums a tune, finding amusement even when in peril. Suddenly sees several "Yellow Stone Trees", the best kind of wood to make bows and arrows. He prepared fully before escaping, and is not short of arrows. But better to have more than less, still energized, he chops the trees down leisurely, carving them into arrows.

Around the fifth watch of the night.

Li Xian suddenly stops his actions; noise comes from the southeast direction. A wooden boat docks by the shore, a figure stumbles down. It is Nangong Xuanming.

He lies by the coast, panting heavily, eyes sunken, looking extremely exhausted and fatigued. Though his Martial Arts Cultivation is strong, able to defeat Li Xian when dueling solo, his ability to preempt dangers, resist tide of snakes, miasma, and handle risks, does not surpass Li Xian.

Now he has lost his way, experienced multiple life-and-death situations, narrowly escaping each, with no intent to pursue Li Xian further, only wishing to return and regroup at the Water Altar. He feels deep regret: "I arrived at the Water Altar with the boat, although facing several crises, they were overcome jointly, and thus their difficulty seemed trivial. I underestimated these crises. Zhao Ranran was right..."

Li Xian suddenly has a clever thought, quietly leaves the island. Retrieves "Flower Rope" from the compartment, silently wrangles the fishing boat, gently pulling it away from the island. Then destroys the fishing boat.

Li Xian thinks: "By the time he discovers it tomorrow, the boat will have been ruined. To navigate the waters, he will need to build a raft himself. Such lake conditions as Dongran Lake, a raft won’t last for more than a few miles before becoming useless. Despite your noble lineage, Dongran Lake won’t care. No matter your brilliance, without a boat, it’s hard to traverse this lake."

Escaping quietly through the night, this selfish and profitable scheme carries a great deal of proficiency.

Thus, after another two days of escape, various dangers, challenges are resolved, avoided, and withstood. Li Xian believes the pursuers can no longer find him and focuses his attention on defending against lake threats.

While sailing, he divides his focus, observing the lake environment, comparing with his map, attempting to identify his location. Spending over half a day, he sketches several circles on the map, guessing he is within one of them.

Suddenly thunder roars, torrential rain pours. Li Xian promptly rolls up the map, muttering: "The weather of Dongran Lake is like a wife’s temperament. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, very hard to serve."

With no shelter from the rain, he simply lets the rain cleanse his body. Lying in the boat, head held high, observing the sky. The dark clouds are very somber. Li Xian suddenly sits up, eyes focused on the dark clouds. Sees a gigantic creature stirring within, causing the clouds to churn.

Li Xian sighs: "This is... a dragon!"

A dragon head emerges from the clouds, its scales golden yellow, emitting dazzling Golden Light. Superior to "Elder Dragon Ao Mo" by several measures. Li Xian exclaims: "There truly is dragon traces in Dongran Lake!... No, wait!"

He sees the golden dragon flying towards him, a woman standing on the dragon’s head, with a lotus-flower hairpin, it is Zhao Ranran!