After leaving Longevity Mountain, Li Wuyang and Xuan flew westward on streaks of light. In less than half a day, they had reached the territory of the Flowing Sand River.
Before them stretched a torrent of black water, muddy waves crashing into the sky. It spanned eight hundred li, reaching from horizon to horizon. Yin winds howled, and a stench assailed their noses. Countless withered bones and corpses bobbed upon the river's surface, while resentment condensed and refused to disperse. The river contained weak water; not even a goose feather could float upon it, and no living creature could cross. It was precisely the deadly place of which it was said, "Eight hundred li of the Flowing Sand Realm, three thousand fathoms of weak water deep. Goose feathers cannot float, and reed blossoms sink straight to the bottom."
The two descended from the clouds and concealed themselves behind a cluster of jagged rocks along the riverbank. Xuan closed her eyes and focused. Moon God's Tear hovered above her brow, its clear radiance spreading like ripples and silently seeping into the riverbed. Li Wuyang, meanwhile, activated his Reincarnation Authority. Chaos swirled in his eyes as he observed the karma and fate of this land.
"The resentment is profound, and the murderous aura has condensed. Countless drowned water ghosts wail day and night." Xuan spoke softly. Within her Moonlight Sensing, every detail of the riverbed was revealed. "But there is indeed something strange in the depths. The Aura of Annihilation is tangled with the baleful resentment, forming a natural barrier. Ordinary divine senses cannot penetrate it. The entrance to the earth-vein passage that Senior Zhen Yuanzi mentioned lies three hundred li east of the river's center, a thousand fathoms below the water, beneath the eye of a whirlpool."
Li Wuyang nodded. Through