Immortality and cultivation: Heaven rewards diligence, and success is inevitable.

With a flick of his wrist, Feng Yiran conjured a golden sword pellet that appeared out of thin air and landed in his hand.

With a flash of sword light, the three ice crystal snakes at the front were cut in two.

The snake writhed on the ground, its blue blood flowing everywhere.

But more snakes surged up.

Shui Lingxi stepped forward.

She didn't use any magical artifacts, but instead formed hand seals and chanted incantations.

The small beast on her shoulder jumped down and grew larger in the air. This time it became even larger than before, reaching a length of two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters), its body almost filling half of the stone chamber.

Silver stripes appeared on its fur, like some kind of ancient runes, shimmering in the blue light.

"The Realm of Water Spirits"

Shui Lingxi opened her arms, and blue true essence surged from her body, merging with the light on the spirit beast.

A blue halo spread out from beneath her feet, and wherever the halo passed, the water elemental energy in the air became thick and tangible.

The ice crystal snake rushed into the aura's range, its speed decreasing drastically.

They seemed to be swimming in water, but the water suddenly turned into glue, and it took a huge amount of effort to move forward even an inch.

The blue water toad was also affected.

They jumped half as high, and when they landed, they were no longer agile, but as clumsy as stones.

This move is the divine power cultivated by Shui Lingxi, the Water Spirit Domain.

"Now," Shui Lingxi said.

Her spirit beast opened its mouth and spat out a beam of icy blue light.

The beam of light swept across, freezing the four ice crystal snakes into ice sculptures, which then shattered into ice blocks on the ground.

The spirit beast sprayed again, three more times.

But the blue water toad was not frozen.

The bumps on their backs split open, spurting out a bright green venom.

The venom dispersed in the air, turning into a green mist that drifted towards the four people.

Wherever the fog passed, it corroded the ground, creating small pits and making a hissing sound.

"Poisonous fog." Shui Lingxi frowned. "Hold your breath."

All four of them held their breath and stepped back.

But the poisonous fog spread very quickly, filling most of the stone chamber in the blink of an eye.

Jiang Shi took out the water-stabilizing pearl.

A deep blue bead rose from his palm, shining brightly.

"Water, come!"

He activated the "Gui Water Transformation Qi Technique" to mobilize the water spirit energy in the stone chamber.

The Water-Stabilizing Pearl drew upon the water elemental energy, condensing it into a thick water curtain in front of the four people.

The toxic mist collided with the water curtain and was absorbed by the water.

The water curtain turned green, but the poisonous fog did not penetrate it.

Jiang Shi then activated the Water-Stabilizing Pearl, causing the water curtain to expand outwards and push the poisonous fog back.

The green toads were poisoned by the mist; the green vapor seeped into their own goiters, causing them to emit piercing croaks, and their bodies began to... .

Shui Lingxi seized the opportunity.

Her spirit beast unleashed another beam of ice, this time hitting a blue water toad directly.

The toad was frozen, fell from the sky, and crashed to the ground, breaking into pieces.

Seeing that things were not going well, the other two toads turned around and tried to escape.

Jiang Shi could not let them escape.

He pointed his finger, and the light from the water droplet shone onto the ground.

Under his control, the water elemental energy in the stone chamber condensed into two water hands, which grabbed the toad's hind legs.

The toad struggled, but the water's hand tightened its grip.

The spirit beasts of Shuilingxi added two more ice beams, freezing the remaining two toads into ice blocks as well.

Seeing that their leader was dead, the ice crystal snakes began to scatter and flee.

Feng Yiran chased after them, his sword flashing repeatedly, and he killed the last few.

The stone chamber fell silent.

The ground was littered with fragments of ice crystal snake corpses and ice blocks from toads, and blue blood and green venom mixed together, emitting a pungent odor.

Shui Lingxi put away the spirit beast, and the little beast turned back into its fluffy form and jumped back onto her shoulder.

It rubbed against the stream like it was being affectionate and cute, as if trying to curry favor.

Here, the water elemental energy is very strong, and the companion spirit beasts of the Water Spirit Stream have become much more powerful.

Shui Lingxi took out a pill and tossed it to the little beast as a reward.

On the other side, Jiang Shi walked to the stone platform and continued searching.

There are many good things in the crystal cabinet.

The jade bottles contained pills, including a low-grade third-rank Rejuvenation Pill and a bottle of Antidote Pills.

Jiang Shi distributed the pills, one for each person.

Inside a crystal cabinet were several pieces of blue ore—mysterious ice crystals, a mid-grade third-rank mineral that could be used to refine water-based magical artifacts.

Jiang Shi then divided the ore equally among everyone.

There was also a stone tablet in a cabinet, which contained a map of the Water Realm.

Jiang Shi used his spiritual sense to probe the map and memorize it.

"I've found a way out." He opened his eyes.

"The teleportation array is to the east, not far from here. But the way there you have to pass the nest of the Mystic Water Turtle."

"Can't we get around it?" Feng Yiran asked.

"The map shows only one road. The Black Water Turtle's nest is on that only road."

The four remained silent for a moment.

Shui Lingxi patted the head of the little beast on her shoulder: "Rest for a while and recover your true energy."

Although Shui Lingxi didn't consume much, Feng Yiran definitely needed to recover.

Jiang Shi thought for a moment and said, "Then let's rest for an hour. I can use this time to study the Five Elements Return to Origin Technique. In case we encounter the Mysterious Water Turtle on the way, having another method is always better than having none."

He sat cross-legged, took out the stone tablet, and began to study it.

An hour later, he opened his eyes.

With his destiny in hand, he quickly mastered the Five Elements Return to Origin Technique. Although it was only the beginning, he was already able to quickly switch true essence attributes in battle, making him more composed in dealing with attacks of different attributes.

"Let's go." Jiang Shi stood up.

The little animal led the way.

This time it moved very fast, the map was in its head, and it didn't hesitate at any turn.

After passing through several corridors, light appeared ahead.

It wasn't the light from a luminous pearl, but natural light—a soft, blue light, like sunlight seen through seawater.

At the end of the passage was a wide expanse of water.

There were no barriers, no palaces, only water.

Endless water.

"The teleportation array is underwater, and the Xuan Shui Turtle's nest is also underwater. We need to dive down."

Shui Lingxi walked to the edge and looked down.

The water was very deep, and the bottom was invisible. Occasionally, a light would flash in the darkness, but it was impossible to tell whether it was a fish or something else.

Her spirit beast jumped into the water, swam around once, then surfaced and called out to her a few times.

"It says there's no danger underwater," Shui Lingxi said. "The Xuan Shui turtle is still sleeping, at least not yet awake. But it's not sleeping deeply and could wake up at any time."

Jiang Shi took out the Water-Stabilizing Pearl and infused it with his true essence. The pearl lit up with a deep blue light, and a layer of water enveloped the four of them.

Shui Lingxi also took out her token, and the blue light merged into the water curtain, reinforcing the protection.

"Walk."

The four people jumped into the water.

The water was cold, but the curtain of water droplets blocked out the chill.

The little animal led the way, its body growing larger in the water as it swam swiftly, like a blue fish.

It was pitch black all around, with only the blue light from the fixed water droplets illuminating a few feet ahead.

Occasionally, a school of fish would swim by, their silver scales shimmering in the light like shooting stars.

The little animal suddenly stopped.

Its ears stood up and its tail was taut.

It turned and glanced at Shui Lingxi, then called out.

Shui Lingxi's expression changed.

"It says the Xuan Shui turtle has opened its eyes."