Above the clouds.

Wang Ping calmly gazed down at the lively funeral banquet below. His feelings for his parents in this life existed only in memory, yet that same memory made his current composure feel like an act.

"It’s as if they deliberately chose to leave when I wasn’t here, to keep me from seeing them off one last time," Wang Ping murmured his thoughts aloud.

"You’re always overthinking things," Yu Lian whispered in response.

Wang Ping said no more, simply watching the lively residence below in silence. As day turned to night, the bustling home gradually fell quiet.

Everything returned to normal. Children still played in the residence’s backyard, but they were different children now.

For most people, the old woman’s death was a perfectly normal event, just a small episode in the course of their lives.

Wang Ping landed before his mother’s new grave. He knelt and performed a deep kowtow, then studied the tombstone for a long moment before channeling his True Essence and flying toward Qianmu Mountain.

...

The Small Courtyard on the Back Mountain.

After listening to Wang Ping’s account of his summons by the Xiao Shan Lord, Yu Cheng Taoist pondered for a long while before saying, "You did very well." That was all he said.

Wang Ping bowed and took his leave. Once outside the small courtyard, he channeled his True Essence and sped toward Sanhe Prefecture. While still a hundred li away, Wang Ping saw dark clouds and a Thunder Tribulation brewing in the sky. Below, the vast land was already submerged, a veritable Water Country.

"The energy in this Thunder Tribulation is more terrifying than that of an Entering Cultivator! He hasn’t even reached that realm yet, how can he possibly withstand it?" Sensing the tribulation’s might, Yu Lian shrank down and burrowed into Wang Ping’s sleeve, poking out only her small head.

"The tribulation’s power will weaken as it descends. It’s the same principle as a Heavenly Gate Technique."

After replying, Wang Ping activated the Spirit Gathering Array on his body, assimilating the surrounding Spiritual Qi into Wood Spirit. In the next instant, his flight speed more than doubled, and he no longer produced any deafening sonic booms. It was as if he had completely merged with the space around him.

「A quarter of an hour later.」

Wang Ping arrived beside the deep pool within Sanhe Prefecture. The once-calm pool was now a mass of surging waves; the rampaging Spiritual Energy had activated all the Water Spirit Qi in the area.

Liu Chang had now transformed into a monstrous creature some thirty feet long, his body a bizarre hybrid of a crocodile and a loach, covered in black scales. This thirty-foot body was thrashing in the water, and every twist and turn pulled upon the area’s Water Spirit Qi.

"This *Water Journey* ritual looks so dangerous," Yu Lian commented.

Her words had barely faded when Guangxuan appeared at Wang Ping’s side. The feathers of the Spirit Bird on his shoulder glowed with an impossible vibrancy, automatically warding off the surrounding rain.

"Will this downpour affect Sanhe Prefecture?" Wang Ping asked.

"It will have some effect, but I’ve already evacuated the villages along the route. Once this year passes, vast tracts of fertile farmland will appear on both banks of the river he journeys through."

"That’s good."

"Right, I haven’t congratulated you yet. Patrol Envoy is a fine position. I imagine the Daoist Scripture Hall won’t be mediating anymore, will they? From now on, Wenhai can only hide out in Lou County or run back to his master on Mozhou Road."

Wang Ping nodded. Staring at the deep pool below, he asked, "What have you found out about the Single Saber Sect?"

Guangxuan replied with some uncertainty, "There are rumors. It seems Wenhai promised to refine an Earth Vein Spiritual Artifact for the Single Saber Sect to help their Sect Leader break through to the Third Realm."

Upon hearing this, Wang Ping couldn’t help but recall what Hu Qianqian had previously told him: that Wenhai was using the flesh and blood of the Demon Race to process Earth Vein Spiritual Objects.

SKREEE!

From within the murky pool, Liu Chang’s misshapen body tilted its head to the sky and let out a dragon-like roar. It then whipped up a twenty-foot-high wave, sweeping toward a tributary to the east.

The *Water Journey* had begun...

As his body entered the river channel, thin, clearly visible threads composed of Water Spirit Qi formed between the waves. These threads lashed out at Liu Chang’s enormous body. Though they seemed flimsy and weak, the threads of Water Spirit Qi struck him like sharp blades. Each lash left a mark on his Scale Armor and simultaneously abraded the Qi Sea within him.

In the blink of an eye, his body was covered in bloody wounds.

And this was only the beginning.

"It seems the Heaven and Earth Rules are rejecting a deformed being like him," Yu Lian remarked, causing the Spirit Bird beside her to erupt in a series of "CHIRPS."

Neither Wang Ping nor Guangxuan commented, and so the topic ended there.

SKREEE!

It was impossible to tell if Liu Chang’s long cry was from pain or a furious curse against the unfair heavens. By the time he had traversed the first section of the river, most of his Scale Armor had been stripped away. However, thanks to the dense Water Spirit Qi, new scales were already growing back at a visible rate.

Unfortunately, the new Scale Armor was just as quickly scraped away. It truly seemed this world had no place for such a monstrous being.

Just then, Liu Chang’s massive body breached the churning surface of the water, his head aimed at the overcast sky. A savage ferocity was plain to see in his yellowed eyes, but beneath it lay the grim resolve of one prepared to die.

The current rainy season in Sanhe Prefecture was the best opportunity for his *Water Journey*. If he failed this time, he would never get another chance.

With another long cry, Liu Chang found a burst of strength from nowhere, and the speed of his *Water Journey* suddenly doubled. This, in turn, doubled the rate at which his body was being damaged. His Qi Sea wobbled precariously amid the flashing Water Spirit Qi, and the Spirit Veins clinging to his very bones felt as if they were about to shatter.

But within Half an Hour, his speed dropped, becoming even slower than before.

「One day later.」

Liu Chang’s wound-riddled body finally made it through the second stretch of the river. The dark clouds overhead showed no signs of thinning, and the Water Spirit Qi was even denser than before. He still had two more sections of the river to cross before reaching the sea.

If he could just cross those two sections, he would succeed.

CRACK-BOOM!

The tremendous crash startled even Wang Ping’s soul.

It was the Thunder Tribulation!

It struck the already incredibly weak Liu Chang directly.

"Is it not giving him even a sliver of a chance?" Guangxuan murmured, beginning to pity Liu Chang below.

Struck by the Thunder Tribulation, Liu Chang lay motionless, seemingly devoid of life. The waves he had churned up gradually subsided, but the dark clouds remained. The deadly threads of Water Spirit Qi still lingered, as if intent on dismembering his body.

After a quiet quarter of an hour, Liu Chang finally stirred. Pain made him writhe in the water, but his listless eyes slowly filled with determination. Then, he once again began churning the waves and pressing forward...

「Three more days passed.」

As Liu Chang’s scar-covered body painstakingly neared the final stretch of the river, the sky began to brew another Thunder Tribulation. This time, even Wang Ping’s brow furrowed.

"It’s a shame we can’t help him," Guangxuan sighed.

He was right. One could only rely on oneself for the *Water Journey*. Outside help was not only ineffective, it would actually increase the ordeal’s difficulty.

In the river, Liu Chang glanced up at the sky. It was impossible to know what was going through his mind, but he continued to press forward without the slightest hesitation...

CRACK-BOOM!

The Thunder Tribulation showed no mercy as it fell once more.

This time, a Tongming Protective Shield formed over Liu Chang’s massive body. It distorted the Celestial Thunder before shattering it completely.

But both Wang Ping and Guangxuan frowned slightly.

Yu Lian said in shock, "He’s using his own Spirit Vein! That’s a Cultivator’s lifeline!"

Guangxuan added, "And the crucial part is, there’s still one more stretch of river waiting for him..."

Wang Ping, however, was even more shocked. After observing the Array that had formed around the Thunder Tribulation, his glowing interface panel had actually reacted...