During the Qin Dynasty, he was in charge of the net.

What do people do before they die?

Li Ji had pondered this question many times. He had been in danger many times, but he never gave up on how to escape.

But in this death row cell, Li Ji found that he couldn't do anything.

This was a desperate situation that even the royal family of Baiyue could not escape; it was completely sealed off, and the lava beneath their feet was constantly rising.

While death may not seem immediate, the agony before death is far more agonizing.

The only hope lies in the Baiyue script on the right-hand stone wall.

This is a unique secret technique recorded by the Baiyue royal family, which disappeared many years ago.

The name "Yue Snake Transformation into a Dragon Technique" was given to him by Ling Ji before her death.

The Yue snake, also known as the scale snake or water snake, is said in ancient legends to transform into a jiao (a type of dragon) after five hundred years, and then into a dragon after another five hundred years.

However, the prerequisite for cultivating this secret technique is to possess the bloodline of the Mingshui royal family and to use a large amount of fire rain agate as an aid.

Li Ji cannot be forged.

But at this moment, Li Ji sat cross-legged in front of this Baiyue secret technique, no longer thinking about anything else.

Li Ji decided to try to cultivate this secret technique unique to the Mingshui tribe.

It's not for going out.

Rather, it was to make Ling Ji's death more meaningful.

He is incapable of cultivation, so he is destined to be trapped here and die.

However, Ling Ji delayed the lava for him for a moment by sacrificing herself. If he used this time to wait for death, wouldn't that be a betrayal of Ling Ji?

Li Ji couldn't answer the question; he silently recalled Ling Ji's words in his mind:

The ancient lineage of the Baiyue people traces its origins to the Ming River.

Blood is used to carry the seal, qi is used to nourish the form, and yin is used to nourish the mechanism of creation.

Defying nature's natural processes, stealing the power of the waterways.

......

Through three trials and nine tribulations, success means soaring through the abyss and riding the mist, while failure means bones rotting and becoming a curse.

According to Li Ji's understanding:

This method allows practitioners to activate the rare Yue Snake bloodline within their bodies, and then transform their dantian to master the power of the Ming Water, thereby gaining a stronger physique and the ability to control water.

To master this secret technique, one must overcome three obstacles.

The first hurdle is to awaken the dormant Yue Snake bloodline within the cultivator's body, thereby sensing the power of the Ming Water and transforming ordinary true qi into Ming Water true qi.

Those with thin bloodlines have weak senses and may not even be able to enter the gate.

Li Ji was neither a Baiyue person nor of the Mingshui royal bloodline, so he should have been unable to get past this hurdle no matter what.

However, upon Li Ji's attempt, he sensed a trace of extremely faint yet exceptionally pure special essence blood within his body.

However, his essence blood was different from what was recorded on the stone wall. The stone wall described it as light blue and slightly turbid, while Li Ji sensed that his essence blood was also light blue, but quite clear and not turbid.

Li Ji didn't care about these slight differences at the moment. He guided the essence blood towards the dantian.

The dantian gate was easily opened by this wisp of essence blood, which then transformed into Li Ji's dantian, causing an earth-shattering change in an instant.

Originally, Li Ji's dantian was like a clear pond, but after the essence blood of the Teng Snake merged into his dantian, the pond turned into a lake, and the water quality changed from clear to dark and heavy.

At the same time, Li Ji's body temperature suddenly dropped, the surrounding air became humid and cold, and his breath carried a faint white mist.

I actually passed the first hurdle!

Li Ji couldn't understand it. In his previous life, he was just an ordinary person, and the original body he was in before transmigrating was just an abandoned orphan. How could he sense the royal bloodline?

Although he passed the first checkpoint easily, Li Ji felt no joy.

The fact that each of the three passes is more difficult than the last, and that this death cell has always existed, shows that almost no Mingshui people have succeeded.

After Li Ji mastered the True Qi of the Dark Water, he arrived at the second pass.

The second hurdle lies in accumulation and explosive power. It requires repeated impacts with pure Netherworld Qi to broaden the body's meridians, enabling the body to withstand greater Netherworld power in the future.

The impact was like being in a boiling deep sea, with violent forces burning and forging the body, causing extreme pain.

The royal family of the Mingshui Kingdom always keeps Fire Rain Agate on hand, using its unique energy of water and fire to alleviate the tearing and burning sensation of Mingshui True Qi on the meridians, and to more effectively guide Mingshui True Qi to attack the barriers, achieving twice the result with half the effort.

Li Ji did not possess the Fire Rain Agate, so he could only rely entirely on his own Nether Water True Qi to impact his meridians.

Without the aid of Fire Rain Agate, this Netherworld True Qi is relatively rough and more difficult to control.

Each impact from Li Ji brought excruciating pain and a burning sensation as if his meridians were about to burst.

After numerous attempts, not only did he make no progress, but his meridians were damaged, his blood and qi were boiling, and he was on the verge of collapse.

At this point, Li Ji should give up, otherwise he might die from ruptured meridians before he even perished in the molten lava.

Despite the damage to his meridians and the physical pain, Li Ji remained calm.

For him, what difference did it make whether he died first or last, whether he died from lava or from failing in his training?

He could accept dying from lava, and he could also accept dying from a failed training session.

Dying from a failed training session is not in vain for Ling Ji's sacrifice, which is more meaningful than dying in lava.

As Li Ji's attempts to cultivate failed time and time passed quickly, more than two hours had gone by since he began cultivating.

The molten lava below had been spreading rapidly without anyone noticing, and was now only three feet away from the platform where Li Ji was located.

Blood trickled from Li Ji's mouth, but he ignored it, focusing solely on closing his eyes and activating his meridians.

The fifth attempt, however, also failed.

Even if the members of the Mingshui royal family relied on the Fire Rain Agate, they might not succeed. His attempt to rely solely on his own strength was bound to fail.

Even so, Li Ji still decided to launch one last attack on the meridians.

The reason this was the last time was because the Ming Shui True Qi in Li Ji's dantian had weakened considerably, and his fragile meridians could no longer withstand any more impact.

With unwavering focus, Li Ji launched his final assault.

However, on Li Ji's chest, which he had never noticed before, a horn-shaped jade pendant emitted a faint glow.

Normally, the horn-shaped jade pendant is hidden deep in Li Ji's heart, and others would only mistake it for a pink birthmark.

At this moment, the birthmark illuminated Li Ji's chest, and this was the first time the horn-shaped jade pendant showed its supernatural properties!

In the past, the horn-shaped jade pendant only occasionally served as a warning when Li Ji was in the most danger, but it had never done so before.

Li Ji was so focused on breaking through the second barrier that he didn't notice the unusual appearance of the horn-shaped jade pendant.

The glow emitted by the horn-shaped jade pendant was bright and soft, and in the blink of an eye it covered the entire circular stone chamber. As the light flickered, it seemed to be resonating with something.

Slowly, the lava beneath Li Ji's feet began to bubble and gurgle.

The lava broke open, and a huge fire rain agate emerged from it, then quietly hovered around Li Ji.

Then another fiery red agate emerged, and after a few breaths, a total of five fiery agates appeared from the molten lava.

Among them, there was a fire rain agate, which, although the smallest, seemed to have a snake swimming inside, and was extremely beautiful.

This is no longer fire rain agate, but fire rain chalcedony, an extremely rare and exquisite variety found in fire rain agate mines.

The Fire Rain Jade and the four enormous Fire Rain Agates did not appear out of thin air. They were brought here by a member of the Mingshui royal family who was nearing the end of his life many years ago. However, he failed to comprehend the secret technique and left the Fire Rain Agates behind.

Unexpectedly, many years later, it reappeared in the world due to the resonance of that horn-shaped jade pendant!