Li Cha had just floated above the pool when countless streams shot out from its depths, spraying indiscriminately at Li Cha and his group. "Return." At that single word, all the water streams were restrained, calmed, and flowed back into the pool.
"Rise." Li Cha stood above the deep pool and softly uttered a word, raising his palm toward the dark green surface. The waters that had lain dormant for ages suddenly began to boil! This was no ordinary churning. The entire pool was like a colossal dragon awakened from slumber, roaring and surging in response to his hand, breaking free of the pool's confines and soaring into the sky.
"Part." Another word of command. In an instant, the towering curtain of water was cleaved apart by an invisible force, revealing a vast passage leading directly to the bottom of the pool. Water stood like sheer cliffs on either side of the passage, still rushing fiercely yet unable to close together. At the bottom of the pool, a massive creature came into view. It had the body of a tortoise, its shell covered in profound patterns, but its head was a savage dragon's head. A violent aura shrouded its entire body. At that moment, its dragon eyes were filled with ferocity, and its furious roar made the rocks around the pool tremble and even crack with spiderweb-like fissures.
"Seize." Li Cha shouted another word and clenched his outstretched hand downward. The enormous body, nearly a thousand zhang long, was caught by an invisible force and slowly lifted into the air. Its short dragon claws pedaled frantically, making for a rather comical sight.
"So it was you!" At the sight of the Dragon Tortoise, realization flashed through Li Cha's eyes. He recalled what he had learned in his previous life. Baxia, one of the Nine Sons of the Dragon, possessed boundless strength but was renowned for his mild temperament and fondness for bearing stone tablets. He was utterly unlike the irritable creature before him. His cultivation had already reached the Peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm. No wonder Li Cha's two disciples had suffered at his hands.
"Young brat! Who are you, to dare show such disrespect to this ancestor?!" Baxia struggled with all his might and roared. His dragon cry was filled with fury and a trace of barely concealed fear. He could feel that the force binding him was as vast as a sea of stars and unfathomably deep.
"Haha, young brat?" Li Cha gave a soft laugh, though there was a chill in it. "Baxia, this ancestor has lived longer than even your father, Ancestral Dragon. You dare call me a young brat?" His tone abruptly turned stern. "Hmph! You're courting death!"
Before his words had even faded, Li Cha's clenched hand tightened slightly. A series of teeth-grinding cracking sounds rang out, as though a colossal mill of heaven and earth were crushing a stubborn stone. Baxia's thick tortoise shell, which could withstand strikes from ordinary Innate Spirit Treasures, actually split with dense cracks beneath Li Cha's distant grasp!
"Ah—! Stop! Senior, spare my life! I was wrong! This junior knows his mistake!" Baxia was instantly terrified out of his wits. Endless pressure squeezed him from every direction, acting not only upon his shell but penetrating deep into his bones, making him truly feel death drawing near. He had no doubt that if the other party exerted even a little more force, his powerful body would completely collapse, and he would go join Ancestral Dragon.
"Wrong?" Li Cha stopped, studying the trembling Baxia with interest. The pressure eased somewhat, though it was not completely withdrawn. "Then tell me: what is so extraordinary beneath these waters that a dragon son would lurk here?"
He did not dare conceal anything and hurriedly replied, "Reporting to Senior, there is indeed an ownerless grotto-heaven beneath the water, called the Ren Water Grotto-Heaven. Within it grows an Innate Spiritual Root—the Purple Firmament Tea Tree. The clear Dao aura emitted by this tree can ease the turmoil in this junior's soul and the killing intent filling his heart, both caused by Karma entangling him. After Father God entered the sea eye to suppress the water veins of the Primordial Wilderness, this junior came here and relied on the Spiritual Root's power to maintain a Clear Mind. There was originally a monkey inside the grotto-heaven..." As he spoke, Baxia shot Wu Zhiqi a furious glare. "Not only did he casually pluck the tea leaves, he even tried to shake the Spiritual Root itself, throwing the grotto-heaven into unrest. In my rage, I threw him out and sealed the entrance. Then I saw him again today..."
Wu Zhiqi brandished the Primordial Iron Staff in his hand and glared back without showing any weakness, baring his teeth and pulling faces in open provocation. Baxia was suspended in midair and could not move his body, so he could only glare viciously at Wu Zhiqi. Fury blazed in his dragon eyes. If he had not been restrained, he would likely have already pounced on him.
"I see." Li Cha nodded slightly, having sorted out the sequence of events. "What are your plans for the future? This Purple Firmament Tea Tree has an affinity with me. I will take it away shortly."
"This..." A trace of struggle and despair flashed through Baxia's dragon eyes. After hesitating for a moment, he still forced himself to plead, "Senior possesses boundless abilities. It is only proper for you to take the mother tree. But... could you show mercy and leave this junior a sapling? This junior truly cannot do without this tree." Without the Purple Firmament Tea Tree to suppress it, he did not dare imagine what the boundless Karma would torment him into becoming.
"Leave you a sapling?" Li Cha's gaze was sharp as he looked at Baxia. "Fine. But are you sure that the meager Dao aura emitted by a single sapling can suppress the immense Karma the Dragon Clan has accumulated through the ages within your body?"
Baxia lowered his massive dragon head, his voice filled with bitterness and helplessness. "Senior sees clearly... but... what other choice do I have?! Though the Primordial Wilderness is vast, there are very few things capable of purifying Karma. This junior can only cling to life through this..."
"Then follow me instead." Li Cha's tone was calm, yet carried an unquestionable force. "The little bit of Karma in your body is nothing much to this ancestor."
"What?!" Baxia raised his head, his dragon eyes widening round as he could scarcely believe his ears. "Really? My lord... does my lord truly mean this?!" Purifying Karma was something even Ancestral Dragon had been unable to accomplish, yet this mysterious being before him spoke of it so lightly?
"This ancestor cannot be bothered to deceive a junior like you." Li Cha smiled faintly and said no more. With a thought, he activated the Great Dao Merit as vast as a sea within his body and separated a thread as fine as a hair. Though this strand of Golden Light of Merit was tiny, it contained a supreme aura of utmost holiness, invulnerability to all laws, and an ability to ward off all evil. The golden light slipped into Baxia's enormous body like a swimming dragon.
"Ah—!"
Baxia's entire body shook violently as he released a long cry utterly different from his earlier agonized howl, one filled with comfort and liberation. The strand of Golden Light of Merit did not increase his strength in any way. Yet like sunlight melting snow, it dissolved and purified the dark red Karma clinging to him like gangrene in the bone! An unprecedented sense of ease and clarity spread from the depths of his soul. The dense blood-red color in his eyes rapidly faded at a visible rate, revealing much clearer amber dragon pupils.
Sensing the change in Baxia's soul, Li Cha's lips curled slightly. He withdrew his power and released Baxia from his restraint.
Baxia's massive body floated in midair as he shook his huge dragon head. Feeling the Karma within him lessen, he looked at Li Cha again, his gaze full of gratitude and reverence. He lowered his enormous dragon head, his voice more submissive than ever before. "Baxia... thanks Senior for the grace of remaking me! I am willing to follow at Senior's side and serve at your command. Even death ten thousand times would not make me regret it!"
"Come. Lead the way. Let us take a look at this Ren Water Grotto-Heaven." Li Cha waved a hand, his tone calm.
"Yes! Please follow me, Senior!" Baxia did not dare delay and immediately led the way. He circulated his power, parting the pool waters that had not yet fully fallen, and led Li Cha's group toward a hidden vortex of spiritual light at the bottom of the pool.
"This is... the Myriad Streams Return to Sea Formation?" Li Cha's gaze swept over the vortex of spiritual light and the countless profound runes concealed in the surrounding waters. He immediately recognized the formation's origins. This formation had been one of the Dragon Clan's protective grand formations during its heyday, possessing boundless power. It was said that it could only be successfully established with the Dragon Clan's supreme treasure, the top-grade Innate Spirit Treasure Four Seas Bottle, as its core. Though the formation before him was not large in scale, it possessed an imposing presence. Amid the misty water vapor, faint phantoms of the Four Seas rose and fell. Its Dao aura seemed naturally formed, proving it was anything but ordinary.
When Baxia saw Li Cha recognize the formation at a glance, the reverence in his heart deepened. He respectfully replied, "Senior's discerning eye is truly unmatched. It is indeed the Myriad Streams Return to Sea Formation. This lowly one has studied some of the Dragon Clan's inherited formations. After the Dragon Clan went into seclusion, the Four Seas Bottle, our clan's treasured artifact, was temporarily entrusted to my care. Relying on this treasure, this junior set up the formation to guard this dwelling and prevent outside disturbances."
"Not bad. As expected of the Dragon Clan's secret protective formation, it has some merit." Li Cha stood with his hands behind his back and observed it with great interest for a moment. With his formation mastery having reached perfection, a single glance allowed him to perceive most of the formation's operating paths and spiritual power nodes. He also gained a clear understanding of its power—if an ordinary early-stage Quasi-Saint entered this formation without a way to break it or some special opportunity, they would likely be trapped by the endless water-vein laws that gathered the force of all streams returning to the abyss. Even if they escaped, they would not get away unscathed.
After seeing that Li Cha had finished observing, Baxia did not dare make him wait any longer. He quickly formed hand seals and activated the Four Seas Bottle within the formation. The vortex of spiritual light trembled slightly, while the hidden surrounding runes lit up one after another and entered the Four Seas Bottle. Baxia voluntarily dispelled the formation, revealing a gate of light behind it that rippled with dense Innate Ren Water essence. Four ancient Dao characters were written above the gate—"Ren Water Grotto-Heaven."
The group stepped inside. Within the grotto-heaven was a naturally elegant and tranquil scene. The sky was a soft curtain of watery blue light, while damp spiritual soil lay beneath their feet. The most eye-catching sight was the tea tree at the center of the grotto-heaven, over a hundred zhang tall. The entire tree was pale violet, its branches and leaves lush. Every tea leaf seemed carved from the purest amethyst, with hazy rosy light and profound Dao patterns flowing through its veins. When the breeze passed, its branches and leaves swayed, producing crisp and pleasant Dao chimes while releasing a strange tea fragrance that intoxicated the soul and cleared the mind. It was the mid-grade Innate Spiritual Root—the Purple Firmament Tea Tree.
Beneath the tea tree was not soil, but a small, crystal-clear pool. The water within was no ordinary water either. It was Innate Ren Water, supremely yin and gentle, yet brimming with inexhaustible vitality! This divine water gushed from the tea tree's roots in trickling streams, nourishing the Purple Firmament Tea before slowly flowing into the pool, cycling endlessly. As a result, the water-element spiritual qi throughout the grotto-heaven was so dense it was nearly tangible, and even breathing made one feel as though their cultivation had advanced.
"Innate Ren Water! Excellent, truly excellent!" A satisfied smile appeared on Li Cha's face. "Not only is there the Innate Spiritual Root, Purple Firmament Tea, there is also Innate Ren Water that nourishes all things. This Ren Water Grotto-Heaven is indeed a rare blessed land. It should belong to my Yunhua Lineage."
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