Insight in the River

As expected of Monkey King Wine brewed from a Human Tier Middle Grade Mystic Moon Fruit,

just a single sip

was refined in his dantian into surging spiritual power within a short time,

driving his Spirit Essence like a raging flood through his meridians, circulating through his body. Even Zhang Qingyuan's minor bottleneck before the Mid Spirit Essence Realm was smashed through in one stroke, allowing him to enter the Spirit Essence Realm Seventh Level Late Stage!

"Good!"

Zhang Qingyuan was overjoyed.

In truth, after eating that fifty-year-old Quasi-Entry Grade Spirit Peach several days ago, Zhang Qingyuan had already faintly sensed that he was on the verge of a breakthrough.

As long as he returned to the sect and calmed his mind to cultivate and meditate for ten days to half a month,

he would be able to break through.

But now,

a single sip of Monkey King Wine had erased that minor bottleneck, saving him half a month. Naturally, Zhang Qingyuan was delighted.

At that moment,

Rumble!!!

All of a sudden,

a clap of thunder sounded from the sky.

Zhang Qingyuan raised his head to look upward.

At some unknown point,

Dark clouds had already spread across and blanketed the entire sky. The black mass of clouds made the heavens above seem as though they were pressing down,

close enough to touch.

The clouds churned violently, like a galloping army of a thousand horses and ten thousand men, sweeping and rolling across the sky overhead at tremendous speed.

"It's going to rain!"

Feeling the stifling heaviness that came before a storm, Zhang Qingyuan came to a realization.

Sure enough,

not long afterward,

Rumble!!!

A bolt of thunder exploded amid the pitch-black clouds, illuminating heaven and earth!

Then, drop by drop, rainwater

fell from the sky.

At first, it was sparse and scattered, but it soon grew ever more urgent, mixed with the howling wind and turning into a sudden storm!

Beneath the ****,

On the river,

rain struck the water surface and splashed up into a vast sheet of white. There were no boats, no travelers, and no living thing anywhere around.

Between heaven and earth, there was only Zhang Qingyuan,

standing alone amid the boundless landscape,

empty and desolate!

Zhang Qingyuan stood still in the middle of the river and looked up at the sky, his gaze distant. As if he felt the universe was vast and bleak, heaven and earth broad and limitless, yet only he himself remained alone, solitary amid that boundless desolation.

At that instant,

upon the rain-lashed heart of the river, stirred by the might of heaven and earth, he entered a state that was mysterious and profound!

Zhang Qingyuan remained in the middle of the river.

He closed his eyes,

maintaining a motionless posture amid the torrential rain.

The sounds of wind and rain, along with the rumbling thunder in the heavens overhead, intertwined and echoed throughout heaven and earth,

reflecting in his mind with unprecedented clarity.

Under the oppressive loneliness of that heavy world,

a feeling of gloom suddenly rose within his heart.

Yet that gloomy air did not linger for long.

At a certain moment,

deep within his abdomen,

the wine fumes from that sip of Monkey King Wine surged upward, like a warm blaze rising from his dantian, while a rich intoxication flooded his mind.

All at once, a heroic spirit arose within him,

and even that trace of gloom became fuel for that heroic spirit, blazing fiercely!

"Sword, come!!!"

With a thunderous shout,

like thunder exploding,

a sharp gleam circled through the void, and the clear Silver Shadow was already in Zhang Qingyuan's hand.

Zhang Qingyuan gazed up at the sky vault.

Splash! Splash! Splash!!!

The drifting rain around him suddenly streamed upward in reverse. The curtain of rain filling the sky actually parted at that moment, forming a Vacuum Field several zhang around Zhang Qingyuan!

"Ha ha! What a fine rainstorm!"

He laughed aloud, his voice

like clashing gold and iron.

There in the middle of the river,

Zhang Qingyuan suddenly moved.

The Silver Shadow in his hand seemed to merge with his suddenly unblocked Essence, Qi, and Spirit. Brilliant Sword Light, like a strip of white silk, tore through layer after layer of rain curtain, coiling skyward like a Flood Dragon!

Within that wondrous state of heaven and earth,

Zhang Qingyuan's spiritual sense reflected the world,

entering a limpid, ethereal, mysterious realm!

The Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles

fully bloomed in Zhang Qingyuan's hands!

Though it was clearly an utterly ordinary Basic Sword Technique, in Zhang Qingyuan's hands at this moment, it continued the insight he had gained that day when he had failed to advance,

and beneath the enlightenment born of this special environment,

it rose another level!

The originally unremarkable Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles became extraordinarily profound in Zhang Qingyuan's hands at this moment!

Turning decay into magic!

The Silver Shadow's blade trembled like startled thunder, emitting a resonant hum as though faintly answering Zhang Qingyuan's call, transforming into continuous streams of Sword Light that tore through the air!

Wind and rain raged,

the river water reversed,

and within a radius of ten zhang, layer upon layer of rain seemed to be drawn by that Sword Momentum. It was as though a silver Flood Dragon had risen from the heart of the river, Overturning Mountains and Seas as it stirred the rain curtain of heaven and earth into rolling waves!

Had any mortal happened to pass by in a boat, they would probably not have immediately knelt at the prow, kowtowing and crying that an immortal god had descended into the world!

At this time, Zhang Qingyuan's mind was utterly clear.

He thought of nothing,

wanted nothing,

and merely followed that feeling as he swung his sword On the River, raising tides that filled the sky, as if he had merged into the boundless Sword Light.

Deep within his mind,

line after line of text flashed wildly across the Proficiency Panel:

[You observed and comprehended the mysteries of heaven and earth, grasping the momentum of wind and rain. As your state of mind aligned, your Water Essence Art Fourth Layer and Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles began to merge and coordinate. Your Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles proficiency +5, cultivation method Water Essence Art proficiency +1]

[You observed and comprehended the mysteries of heaven and earth, grasping the momentum of wind and rain. As your state of mind aligned, your Water Essence Art and Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles began to merge and coordinate. Your Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles proficiency +3, cultivation method Water Essence Art proficiency +1]

[Your Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles proficiency +4, cultivation method Water Essence Art proficiency +1]

This time, amid the rain of heaven and earth,

Zhang Qingyuan's Essence, Qi, and Spirit had all merged into one. That faint Spiritual Mechanism in the unseen began to fuse the Water Essence Art Fourth Layer with the Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles, blooming into brilliant and resplendent fruit!

The right time, the right place, and the right people—

all three were present.

The lingering aftertaste of Zhang Qingyuan's swordsmanship insights from when he had slain the Demon Monkey Pack had yet to be fully digested.

That remaining trace of Spiritual Mechanism

was like a spark igniting in an instant.

Under the state of mind with which Zhang Qingyuan contemplated the mysteries of heaven and earth's rain, it burned fiercely, until it was all transformed into nourishment for the improvement of his swordsmanship!

Again and again, he practiced,

and both the proficiency of the Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles and that of the Water Essence Art rose at a rapid pace.

Carried away by the moment,

he transformed into a Flood Dragon of Sword Light,

tumbling over the rainstorm-swollen river, sweeping up droplets that filled the sky. Sword Qi gathered into a long dragon and hurtled toward the downstream, racing away!