Azure Origin Water Grass

Beneath the muddy river water,

all was dim.

Shen Changchuan's figure searched and investigated the riverbed in every direction.

The torrential rains that had lasted nearly a month had swept up mud and sand upstream and carried it into the river, turning its once-clear waters incomparably murky.

This greatly obstructed Shen Changchuan's vision at the bottom of the river.

Fortunately, the Spirit Eye Technique, perfected to 100% progress, granted Shen Changchuan eyesight far beyond the ordinary,

as well as keen senses for spiritual qi and demonic qi. Otherwise, he could forget about searching for any Spirit Items beneath this river.

Shen Changchuan searched the uneven riverbed patch by patch.

Occasionally, large broken branches, leaves, and other debris swept past him, carried by the surging current.

From time to time, he could see large fish darting through it.

There was also water grass swaying in the current, still stubbornly growing on the riverbed despite the floodwaters of the Rainy Season.

Yet,

half an hour passed.

Shen Changchuan had searched nearly a long stretch of the riverbed, but found nothing at all.

There was not even a trace of spiritual qi or spiritual light.

It was as though there were no Heavenly Treasures here at all.

"Could I have guessed wrong? Perhaps that Crocodile Demon did not become this way because of some Heavenly Treasure, but because it possessed some powerful bloodline inheritance, allowing it to master so many spells and possess intelligence beyond ordinary Demon Beasts?"

By the riverbank,

Shen Changchuan, who had found nothing after so long, temporarily stopped searching. He went ashore and sat cross-legged by the bank to recover his mana.

Yet he felt somewhat frustrated.

Thinking back on the fruitless half-hour he had spent searching the riverbed,

Shen Changchuan could not help but furrow his brow slightly.

It was not as though he had gained absolutely nothing.

At the very least, he had become familiar with the terrain beneath the river.

He had also discovered that the Great Bay River possessed rather abundant water-vein essence.

Within the silt on the riverbed, quite a bit of "sediment" had accumulated, formed from the fusion of water-vein essence and earth-vein essence.

This "sediment" should greatly benefit the growth of Spirit Grain.

If he could dredge it up and use it to increase Spirit Grain yields, it would count as a considerable fortune.

But the problem was,

this had nothing whatsoever to do with Shen Changchuan's original goal!

What he had wanted to find from the beginning was not sedimentary silt, but a spiritual treasure connected to the Crocodile Demon!

Yet half an hour of fruitless searching

forced Shen Changchuan to doubt his own speculation.

"No!"

"The water-vein essence in this river is not bad, and there is plenty of sediment on the riverbed. In a river like this, even if there are not many quasi-Spirit Items like Spirit Grain, there should at least be one or two!"

"But there are none in this river! Even the water grass seems somewhat scarce!"

"This isn't normal!"

Shen Changchuan suddenly thought of this, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

Something was strange!

He decided to keep looking.

Thus,

once the mana within him had fully recovered,

Shen Changchuan entered the river once more.

This time,

he expanded the scope of his search, inching through increasingly distant areas.

Finally,

hard work did not fail the determined.

A quarter of an hour later,

when Shen Changchuan reached a deeper part of the riverbed,

under the vision of the Spirit Eye Technique, he finally saw a flickering glow of spiritual qi within a hidden dark cave in a sunken trench some distance away!

"Found it!"

Shen Changchuan's face brightened with joy.

He swam toward that dark cave.

However, Shen Changchuan was not so overwhelmed by joy that he cast aside his vigilance.

He first stopped outside and carefully observed the surroundings. Only after confirming there was no danger did he cautiously enter to investigate.

The dark cave was not deep.

It looked like a bridge tunnel built in the depths of the riverbed.

"Hm?"

There seemed to be traces of artificial excavation all around. Shen Changchuan's gaze sharpened.

Yet after a careful inspection,

he found nothing more.

What he could confirm was that this place appeared to have been expanded from a natural dark cave some ten or twenty years ago. Faint traces of Formation remnants seemed to have been left behind.

As well as marks left here by the Crocodile Demon.

It seemed that

this truly was the Crocodile Demon's lair!

Joy rose in Shen Changchuan's heart.

He did not continue observing and instead swam deeper into the dark cave.

Very soon,

Shen Changchuan stopped.

His gaze fixed ahead.

At the end of the dark cave, beneath the dim riverbed, grew a spiritual herb covered in faint blue ethereal light, with spiritual qi gathering thickly around it!

Shen Changchuan swam to the water grass, widened his eyes, and examined every blade and every inch of its veins beneath the vision of the Spirit Eye Technique.

"This is... Azure Origin Water Grass?!"

Shen Changchuan recognized the spiritual herb

and could not help crying out.

This thing

had been recorded in the miscellaneous books he had read during those two and a half years at Shen Family Manor!

It was an exceedingly precious Heavenly Treasure that had only the slightest chance of growing where water-vein essence was abundant!

How precious was it?

Its value surpassed even all Twelve Mu Spirit Field in Great Bay Village combined!

Its effect

was to use abundant water-origin power to temper one's body, thereby slightly improving one's cultivation aptitude.

It could also, to a certain extent,

strengthen the power of one's divine soul!

Without question,

either one of these two effects

was enough to send its value soaring!

"There's something this good beneath the riverbed. No wonder that Crocodile Demon was so intelligent and had mastered several Innate Spells!"

His earlier doubts were completely answered at this moment.

Demon Beasts coexisted with Heavenly Treasures.

When the Azure Origin Water Grass drew in and expelled water-vein essence, releasing the spiritual essence of heaven and earth, the demon beast could gain immense benefits from it.

Perhaps this was precisely what had made that Crocodile Demon so extraordinary.

At this moment, Shen Changchuan's heart was filled with delight.

For the appearance of this Azure Origin Water Grass was no different from a windfall falling from the heavens for him!

"Unfortunately, it's still at the seedling stage. It would have been better if it were mature. Mature Azure Origin Water Grass would only be more effective!"

After carefully admiring the incomparably precious Azure Origin Water Grass,

Shen Changchuan greedily thought to himself, never satisfied enough.

If it were mature Azure Origin Water Grass,

its value could soar another tenfold, or even a hundredfold!

Still, even as a seedling, it was an enormous harvest for Shen Changchuan.

Moreover, the water-vein essence of the Great Bay River likely could not support mature Azure Origin Water Grass at all.

Shen Changchuan could only suppress his excess greed.

With great satisfaction, he took a jade box from his robes

and carefully harvested the Azure Origin Water Grass, sealing it within the jade box.

Although this Azure Origin Water Grass was immensely valuable,

countless great cultivation clans and aristocratic families on the open market were willing to pay heavily for such Heavenly Treasures, using them to cleanse and refine the cultivation aptitudes of their direct descendants.

Shen Changchuan did not intend to sell it.

The reason was simple.

The Azure Origin Water Grass was too valuable,

so valuable that a tiny ant at the Qi Gathering Fourth Level like him simply could not protect it.

Even if he sold it for a large sum of Spirit Stones, without sufficient strength to protect them, they would sooner or later belong to someone else.

Not to mention the First Madam in the rear courtyard of Shen Family Manor.

Forget it.

He would lose out a little,

but at least once it was in his stomach, it would be safe.

After returning, Shen Changchuan planned to swallow and refine it directly, turning it into a foundation that belonged to him alone.

He carefully put away the jade box containing the sealed Azure Origin Water Grass.

Shen Changchuan prepared to leave.

Yet at that moment,

as though possessed by a ghost, he swept the surroundings of the Azure Origin Water Grass with the Spirit Eye Technique.

It had merely been a casual check to see whether he had missed anything,

but it truly allowed him to discover something unusual.

Under the perfected Spirit Eye Technique, the soil on the riverbed was basically the color of wood ash.

That was the reflection of earth-vein qi beneath the Spirit Eye Technique's vision.

However,

within the pale gray soil behind the Azure Origin Water Grass, there was a square, neat blank area about the size of a book!

"What is that?"

Shen Changchuan swam over in confusion

and cautiously began digging beneath it.

After digging about a foot down,

a wooden casket made from black wood appeared before Shen Changchuan.

Using a Golden Needle to cast the Golden Thorn Technique, he carefully unlocked the bronze lock on the wooden casket.

He carefully opened the casket.

Inside, Shen Changchuan saw a palm-sized White Jade Token, entirely white, resting silently within.

He picked up the token.

Around its edges were carved layers upon layers of intricate patterns.

And at the center of its front,

a large character was engraved: "Elephant."