Ebb Tide Gleaning

That night, all sounds had fallen silent at Listening Tide Courtyard.

The sound of the waves seemed somewhat clearer here than elsewhere, rhythmically striking the stone foundation outside the courtyard like a deep heartbeat.

A cold wind swept through the clusters of winter-hardy green bamboo in the courtyard, stirring up a faint rustle.

Chen Yuan had not fallen asleep. Sitting cross-legged on the couch in the Quiet Chamber, his mind was as still as water as he observed the ancient and mysterious Tidal Stele in his Sea of Consciousness.

The inscription on the stele was clearly reflected in his mind:

Tide Fortune: 100/100

Status: "Ebbing Tide" available

His Tide Luck Points had quietly reached full today.

Thinking it over, the recent generous gifts from his master, presents from his Senior Disciple Brothers and Senior Disciple Sisters, and the praise of his guests; his family's relief and the glory bestowed upon his lineage; his breakthrough in cultivation, officially becoming a personal disciple, his thoughts flowing freely, and his bright future... All these factors had combined to make his Tide Fortune accumulate far faster than expected.

This time, it was not a cultivation breakthrough brought by the "Rising Tide," but the "Ebbing Tide"—a mysterious opportunity to glean treasures.

Chen Yuan drew a deep breath, suppressing the anticipation and excitement in his heart. His will was heavy and unyielding as iron, and he touched the option to "activate the Ebbing Tide."

"Ebbing Tide."

As soon as the command was issued, the Tidal Stele suddenly released a deep hum. The ancient, abstruse patterns on its surface seemed to be activated by invisible water, flowing ceaselessly like ripples and radiating a deep, icy suction that seemed capable of swallowing light.

Chen Yuan felt his main consciousness gently peeled away by a mild yet irresistible force, cast into a fantastical passageway formed from countless distorted shadows, hazy water vapor, and shattered streams of light.

Unintelligible colors and fragments flashed past all around him at high speed. The sensations of time and space became blurred and strange here.

A violent sensation of weightlessness and a faint dizziness at the level of his soul struck him simultaneously. It seemed to last only an instant, yet also as if a long time had passed. Then the discomfort abruptly vanished, and his "vision" suddenly opened wide.

He discovered that he was "standing" upon a strange beach that words could not describe.

Beneath his feet was not real sand, but a dark "sea of sand" that flowed and glittered with countless tiny stars. Looking closely, each grain of "sand" seemed to be a miniature, frozen fragment of time and space, containing fragments of information that were difficult to decipher. Stepping on it brought a surreal chill and a granular sensation.

Before him stretched an endless sea, its color so deep it was almost black. It was calm enough to make one's heart tremble, like the most perfect Ink Jade mirror, reflecting a sky above that held no sun, moon, or stars—only endlessly swirling, magnificent auroras and twisted rosy clouds.

The play of light and shadow shifted unpredictably, breathtakingly magnificent yet carrying an eerie sense of detachment.

The air was filled with a cold, damp presence. After inhaling it, even his will felt a faint trace of refinement and a prickling pain.

Was this the Other Shore after the "Ebbing Tide"? A mysterious dimension where countless opportunities across time and space, along with unknown rare treasures, had sunk?

Chen Yuan focused his gaze. At the boundary between the mirrorlike "sea" and the flowing "beach," various scattered "sea goods" stranded on the "beach" gradually emerged as some invisible "tide" silently receded.

They lay at varying distances from his "foothold of consciousness." The nearest were only a few feet away, seemingly within reach, while the farthest nearly vanished at the edge of his vision, indistinct save for faint yet alluring halos of energy.

These "sea goods" came in all shapes and sizes. Most radiated faint halos, their colors sharply distinct, seemingly hinting at their quality and level.

Some of the nearest glowed the most dimly, almost gray-white. Their auras were so weak they were nearly annihilated. Most were broken shell-like objects without any luster, a few strands of dried seaweed, and even several pebbles that looked ordinary and showed no energy fluctuations at all.

A little farther away was a vast area of white halos. The light was somewhat brighter, but it still felt ordinary.

There seemed to be several ancient-style copper coins, a rusty knife, the phantom of a tattered paper book, and some metal fragments whose purpose could not be discerned.

Deeper in, dots of striking green halos began to appear. Their numbers had clearly dwindled, and the objects there looked far more refined.

He saw a coral-like object shaped like a deer antler that gave off a faint medicinal fragrance, the phantom of a rusty short blade whose inner sharpness was impossible to conceal, several tightly sealed Jade Bottles engraved with Runes, and even an Ancient Mirror covered in cracks.

For him at his current level, these already counted as quite decent gains.

Yet his gaze was involuntarily drawn to the profound blue radiance farther away!

They were like several fallen stars, radiating a tranquil yet powerful aura. It was the distinctive fluctuation of a higher-level power, far beyond anything green or white.

Straining his eyes into the distance, at the very limit of his vision, he could vaguely make out a point of even fainter yet incomparably noble Purple-Gold light. It flickered in and out, seeming almost like an illusion, yet it stirred the heart and was impossible to ignore.

He tried extending a thread of his will toward it with the utmost care. At once, he felt enormous resistance surge toward him, as though he were advancing against a raging undercurrent. Every inch his will moved forward became extraordinarily difficult, and the rate of consumption rose sharply. At this rate, his will would probably be exhausted before he had even covered half the distance.

He decisively withdrew his will and stopped reaching beyond his grasp. He had to find the best target that was feasible in reality.

At the same time, a clear understanding came from the Tidal Stele: he could retrieve these "sea goods" with his will, but their distance corresponded roughly to the difficulty of obtaining them and their value.

The farther his will extended, the more its consumption multiplied, and failure was possible. Once his will was exhausted or the retrieval failed, this opportunity would count as wasted. He had to act within his limits and choose wisely.

Chen Yuan's heart tightened. This was no simple treasure hunt, but a comprehensive trial of temperament, decisiveness, courage, and ability to bear risk.

Blindly pursuing the alluring supreme treasure in the distance might exhaust his mind and leave him returning empty-handed. Yet if he only collected ordinary objects nearby out of fear of risk, it would be a terrible waste, squandering this heaven-defying opportunity.

He drew a deep breath of the cold "air." His gaze grew calm and sharp, like an experienced fisherman examining the tidal flats revealed by the receding tide. He carefully assessed every possible target, calculating the consumption and success rate of extending his will.

He directly ignored the nearest gray-white objects.

Although the white area contained many items, they felt limited in value. Unless they lay along the way, they were not worth expending his will on deliberately.

His focus shifted to the green halo region and the even more alluring blue radiance.

The blue region was too far away, so he carefully examined the boundary between the blue and green regions.

There were fewer points of light here than in the purely green region, and they were farther away, but the difficulty of obtaining them should be slightly lower than that of the purely blue points.

Soon, he locked onto two unusual objects.

One was a small and exquisite Fish Skin Bag that emitted a gentle yet steady green light. Its style was extremely ancient, its scales fine and dense, and it gave off faint spatial fluctuations. It might be a storage treasure.

The other was a mass of strange Runes that constantly changed shape and radiated a profound blue light!

It resembled a mass of flowing deep-blue mist, its radiance flickering unpredictably. Its position happened to be at the edge of the blue region, as if it might at any moment be swept back into the deep-blue area by the "tide," or fall into the green region.

The two were close to each other, and it seemed possible to retrieve them simultaneously.

At that moment, a faint glimmer of white light, almost overlooked entirely, caught his attention from a shallow pit somewhat nearer by. It was a White Shell half-buried beneath the sand. Its light was not strong, and it looked utterly inconspicuous against the surrounding halos.

But its position was rather unusual. It happened to be not far in front of the green bag and blue Runes.

A daring thought surged into Chen Yuan's mind: If they lay along the same path, then while extending the path, he could "pick up" this nearby white object along the way at almost no additional cost. His main targets would be the seemingly extremely valuable blue Runes and green bag. If he succeeded, he would gain three things at once.

Opportunity was always sought amid danger! A sharp, blade-like decisiveness flashed through Chen Yuan's eyes. Prudence was certainly important, but with a heaven-shaking opportunity before him, sometimes he needed the heart to advance boldly and snatch chestnuts from the fire.

He immediately made his decision: the primary target was the blue Runes; the secondary target was the green bag. He would attempt to take the White Shell along the way. If things proved impossible, he would immediately abandon the others and devote all his strength to securing the blue Runes.

His will once again condensed to a high degree, like an invisible yet incomparably resilient thread. It precisely avoided the useless objects, passed over the tempting green points of light in the middle section, and stabbed without hesitation toward the edge of the blue region, aiming directly at the mass of ever-changing blue Runes.

The resistance came again, vast as a mountain. His will advanced with extreme difficulty.

Chen Yuan held his breath and focused his mind, compressing his will into an exceedingly fine and concentrated strand. With only a single thought in his heart, he steadfastly probed toward the target, his mental strength draining at an unprecedented rate.

Closer! Closer still! The mass of blue Runes seemed to sense the approach of an outside will. The speed at which it rolled and shifted suddenly accelerated, giving off a complex fluctuation that yearned to merge while carrying a trace of instinctive resistance. Its deep-blue light flashed rapidly.

Just as the main body of his will was about to touch the blue Runes, the thinnest strand he had split off moved like the most agile tail fin of a fish swimming through the sea. As it passed the shallow pit, it swept lightly and precisely, instantly curling up the half-buried White Shell.

"Take!" Chen Yuan let out a silent shout in his heart. His concentrated will suddenly wrapped around the icy-blue Runes and the small green bag beside them, capturing both of them firmly!

In an instant, a vast torrent—icy to the bone yet containing endless water profundities and the artistic conception of free transformation—surged back along the channel of his will, madly pouring into his consciousness. At the same time, two other slightly weaker but entirely different forces surged in as well.

Boom! The enormous streams of information and energy violently battered Chen Yuan's consciousness, making it tremble violently and nearly collapse in an instant. The feeling of exhaustion brought on by forcibly extending his will drowned him like a tide.

The next moment, that enormous force crudely "pushed" him out of the mysterious beach dimension.

"Urgh—!" In the room, Chen Yuan suddenly opened his eyes. His body jerked violently and toppled backward. Fine cold sweat instantly broke out across his forehead, his face pale as paper. Excruciating pain, as if countless steel needles were stabbing into him, erupted inside his head. His vision even went black in waves, and his mental strength was almost completely depleted.

He gasped for breath, his chest heaving violently. It took more than a dozen breaths before he could barely recover, but the fatigue deep within his Divine Soul refused to fade.

Yet after this utter exhaustion came an uncontrollable excitement and joy, erupting like a volcano!

He had succeeded! He could clearly feel that he had brought three things back from that mysterious beach!