Insights Amid the River

Worthy indeed of Monkey King Wine brewed from a mid-grade Human Tier Mystic Moon Fruit,

just a single mouthful

had, within a short time, refined into vast Spiritual Power within his dantian,

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

"Good!"

Zhang Qingyuan's face lit up with delight.

In truth, after eating that fifty-year-old Quasi-Entry Grade Spirit Peach a few 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 settled his mind to cultivate and meditate for ten days to Half a Month,

he would have been able to break through.

But now,

a single mouthful of Monkey King Wine had erased that small bottleneck, saving him Half a Month of Kung Fu. Naturally, Zhang Qingyuan was delighted.

At that moment,

Rumble!!!

All of a sudden,

a peal of thunder came 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 pitch-black cloud cover made the sky above seem as though it were pressing down,

close enough to touch.

The clouds churned violently, like a thousand troops and ten thousand horses galloping forth, rolling swiftly overhead through the high altitude.

"It's going to rain!"

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

Sure enough,

not long after,

Rumble!!!

a bolt of Thunder burst apart amid the black clouds, illuminating heaven and earth!

Immediately afterward, raindrops,

began falling from the sky,

sparse at first, then increasingly urgent, mingling with the howling wind and turning into a Sudden Storm!

Beneath the downpour,

upon the river,

rain struck the Water Surface, splashing up a vast expanse of white. There were no boats or travelers around, nor any Living Thing.

Between heaven and earth, there was only Zhang Qingyuan,

standing alone amid the boundless landscape of mountains and waters,

empty and desolate!

Zhang Qingyuan stood still at the heart of the river, raising his head to gaze at the sky. His eyes were distant, as if he felt the universe's vastness. Though heaven and earth were broad and boundless, he alone remained solitary and desolate.

In that instant,

upon the river's heart amid the torrential rain, touched by the might of heaven and earth, he entered a Mysterious and Profound state!

Zhang Qingyuan remained at the heart of the river,

closing his eyes,

maintaining a motionless posture amid the storm.

The sound of wind, the sound of rain, and the rumbling thunder from overhead intertwined and echoed between heaven and earth,

reflecting themselves in his mind with unprecedented clarity.

Under the stifling, lonely oppression of heaven and earth,

a surge of frustration suddenly welled up in his heart.

Yet that feeling of frustration did not last long.

At a certain moment,

within his abdomen,

the wine vapors from that mouthful of Monkey King Wine he had swallowed earlier surged upward, like a warm blaze rising from his dantian. Its rich intoxication flooded into his mind.

Suddenly, a surge of heroic spirit arose within him,

and even that wisp of frustration that had welled up became fuel for that heroic spirit, blazing fiercely!

"Sword, come!!!"

With a thunderous shout,

like Thunder exploding,

a frigid gleam revolved In the Void, and the clear Silver Shadow had already appeared in Zhang Qingyuan's hand.

Zhang Qingyuan looked up at the Sky Vault.

Splash! Splash! Splash!!!

The torrential rain drifting down 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 sharply,

his voice like clashing metal and iron.

At the heart of the river,

Zhang Qingyuan suddenly moved.

The Silver Shadow in his hand seemed to merge with his suddenly unobstructed Essence, Qi, and Spirit. Snow-bright Sword Light tore through layer upon layer of rain curtains like a bolt of silk, coiling skyward like a Flood Dragon!

Within this wondrous state of heaven and earth,

Zhang Qingyuan's spiritual sense reflected heaven and earth,

entering a wondrous realm of clarity and ethereality!

The Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles,

completely blossomed in Zhang Qingyuan's hands!

Though it was clearly an ordinary Basic Sword Technique, in Zhang Qingyuan's hands at this moment, it continued the insights he had failed to elevate That day,

and beneath the comprehension granted by this special environment,

rose another level!

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

Turning decay into magic!

The blade of Silver Shadow quaked wildly like startled lightning, emitting a humming cry. It seemed to faintly echo Zhang Qingyuan, transforming into continuous streams of Sword Light that tore through the air!

Wind and rain intensified,

the River Water reversed,

and within a radius of ten zhang, layer upon layer of rainwater seemed drawn by this Sword Momentum. It was as though a silver Flood Dragon had risen from the river's heart, overturning mountains and seas, stirring the rain curtain of heaven and earth into rolling turmoil!

Had an ordinary mortal passed through here in a boat, they would probably have immediately knelt at the bow and kowtowed, crying that immortals and gods had descended into the world!

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

He thought of nothing,

wanted nothing,

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

Deep within his mind,

lines of text upon the Proficiency Panel were frantically scrolling past:

[You comprehended the mysteries of heaven and earth and grasped the momentum of wind and rain. With your State of Mind in harmony, your fourth-layer Water Essence Art 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 comprehended the mysteries of heaven and earth and grasped the momentum of wind and rain. With your State of Mind in harmony, 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 momentum of heaven and earth,

Zhang Qingyuan's Essence, Qi, and Spirit had all fused together. That faint Spiritual Mechanism in the unseen depths caused the fourth-layer Water Essence Art to begin merging with the Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles, blooming with brilliant and dazzling fruits!

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

all three were present.

The lingering aftertaste of Zhang Qingyuan's swordsmanship insight from when he slaughtered the Demon Monkey Pack had yet to be fully digested,

and that remnant trace of Spiritual Mechanism,

like a spark, was ignited in an instant.

Beneath Zhang Qingyuan's State of Mind as he comprehended the mysteries of heaven and earth's rain momentum, it blazed fiercely, ultimately becoming nourishment for the advancement of his swordsmanship!

Again and again, he practiced the forms,

and both the proficiency of the Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles and the Water Essence Art rapidly increased.

Carried away by the moment,

he transformed into a sword-light Flood Dragon,

tumbling across the storm-lashed river, sweeping up droplets that filled the sky. Sword Qi gathered into a long dragon and shot downstream in a surging rush!