Collecting
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Within this Heavenly River, a violent and unparalleled impact erupted continuously, causing the river water, as heavy as a mountain, to surge and churn.
Although Zi Yan, who was fighting against the Heavenly River Spirit, had a tough time, she did not consume too much of her Spiritual Energy during the battle.
Because the Spiritual Energy within this Heavenly River is extremely abundant, she is able to absorb Spiritual Energy to recover herself while fighting.
The Spiritual Energy she expended with each swing of her sword was replenished by the Spirit Mist from the Heavenly River flowing into her meridians with each breath, like a leaky bucket placed in a river, replenishing whatever leaked out, always maintaining a balanced state.
This uniquely advantageous environment allowed her to use almost limitless Spiritual Energy to cope with the frenzied attacks of the Heavenly River Spirit.
The near-frenzied attacks from both sides continued for almost an incense stick's time before finally slowing down.
The light of the Heavenly River Spirit grew increasingly faint, from its initial blinding brilliance to flickering like a nearly burnt-out oil lamp.
Its speed has also slowed down considerably. It no longer charges and crashes wildly like a mad dog as before, but needs to pause for several breaths before it can launch an attack.
Clearly, its power was greatly depleted under such a frenzied attack.
Zi Yan didn't seem to be in particularly good condition either. Her breathing became slightly heavier, her chest heaving faster than usual, and sweat was streaming down her forehead, the beads of sweat sliding down her cheeks and gathering into drops on her chin.
Clearly, she had also expended a great deal of Spiritual Energy to cope with the terrifying attack from the Heavenly River Spirit.
Fortunately, her energy expenditure was far less than that of the Heavenly River Spirit. After persisting for several dozen more breaths, the ball of light finally gave up completely.
Buzzing. The Heavenly River Spirit vibrated continuously, but it clearly no longer possessed its previous imposing aura.
Its light flickered and dimmed for a moment, then suddenly it turned and fled.
The ball of light left a trail in the river as it sped towards the depths of the Heavenly River.
Clearly, it had realized how formidable the enemy before it was; if this continued, it would inevitably be captured due to excessive consumption of Spiritual Energy.
Although it is a form of energy, it clearly possesses some basic intelligence.
Where are you going?
However, having spent so much time fighting it, Zi Yan was clearly not going to let it escape so easily. She was prepared and suddenly struck. With a flick of her wrist, a Purple-Gold Dragon Claw shot out.
The dragon claw was about several feet in size, its entire body interwoven with purple and gold, and its five claws were as sharp as hooks. It roared out from in front of her palm, passed through the light barrier, and chased after the fleeing ball of light.
The dragon claw moved swiftly through the river, catching up with the Heavenly River Spirit in the blink of an eye, and suddenly clenched its five fingers, pulling it back fiercely.
The Heavenly River Spirit also struggled frantically, its light surging left and right in the dragon's claws, like a fish whose tail had been grabbed and was desperately thrashing about.
However, with this shift in power, its strength has long since diminished, and those struggling in the claws of the purple-gold dragon have become increasingly weak.
In the end, Zi Yan forcibly pulled it back, and it finally transformed into a beam of light about the size of an infant's fist, landing in Zi Yan's hand.
The Spiritual Energy condensed and formed a crystal-clear Crystal Stone in Zi Yan's hand.
The Crystal Stone was about the size of a baby's fist, with a warm and lustrous color. It was as if a river was flowing inside the Crystal Stone, and the water was slowly rotating inside the Crystal Stone, with each rotation emitting a pure and vast wave.
"Is this the True Body of the Heavenly River Spirit?" Zi Yan exclaimed in amazement as she looked at the Crystal Stone in her hand. This tiny stone had previously caused her such a mess.
Zi Yan then held the Crystal Stone in her palm and felt a warm, smooth sensation. The Spiritual Energy contained in that sensation was extremely pure and rich, like a concentrated spring of Spirit Spring flowing slowly in her palm.
She breathed a slight sigh of relief, picked up the Crystal Stone, and looked up at Lin Ming with a smile that was somewhat tired but exceptionally bright.
"The first one." She raised her chin, a hint of pride in her voice.
Seeing the Heavenly River Spirit that Zi Yan picked up, Lin Ming smiled, then his expression turned serious.
He silently considered every detail of the battle that had just taken place.
He was well aware of Zi Yan's strength: Tier 9 Supreme Perfection being with the Dragon-Phoenix Bloodline. Yet, just now, she had spent nearly the time it takes for an incense stick to burn in order to capture that Heavenly River Spirit, during which she had launched at least dozens of attacks.
Each attack from this Heavenly River Spirit is comparable to an offensive launched by a Tier 9 Peak expert. Moreover, being within the Heavenly River Spirit Heavenly River amplifies its power, making it even more terrifying.
This shows just how difficult it is to obtain the Heavenly River Baptism, as evidenced by the fact that it took Zi Yan so long to capture it.
Even the lowest-level Heavenly River Baptism requires at least thirty Heavenly River Spirit to activate. As for the perfect-level baptism, it requires as many as one hundred!
Lin Ming was calculating rapidly in his mind. However, just collecting one Heavenly River Spirit was already causing him such a great deal of energy depletion and taking such a long time.
Therefore, even if they spent the entire day capturing Heavenly River Spirit, they could only obtain less than ten Heavenly River Spirit at most.
To get thirty, it will take three or four days. To get a perfect Heavenly River Baptism, it will take at least ten days.
And this is assuming they can continuously find the Heavenly River Spirit. But where are there so many Heavenly River Spirit for them to keep finding them?
Those orbs of light wandered very sparsely in the Heavenly River. Sometimes you might not even encounter one even after going several miles. If you were unlucky, you might have to turn back to look for them.
So that would probably take even longer, maybe even ten days.
Under normal circumstances, Lin Ming would naturally not mind collecting the stars slowly. He had endured countless hardships and wasted countless hours along the way, so spending a few more days scooping stars from the Heavenly River was nothing.
However, the Heavenly River is currently sealed, and no one knows when the seal will close. If they are halfway through their quest and the seal suddenly closes, all their efforts will be in vain.
Therefore, just to be on the safe side, they had to complete the collection as quickly as possible and begin the baptism.
Lin Ming looked thoughtful, his dark, unfathomable eyes narrowing slightly, a faint light slowly swirling within them. After a moment, he raised his head and gazed into the distance.
At this moment, various lights and shadows could be seen constantly flashing by in the Heavenly River.
Those were all powerful figures from various factions who were trying to capture the Heavenly River Spirit. They rode in small boats with various colored tokens, chasing after those star-like orbs of light on the river.
But these powerful figures were all in a terrible state at this moment.
Faced with the exceptionally ferocious Heavenly River Spirit, most people, except for a very few strong individuals, were forced into perilous situations.
Those who wielded the White Wolf Token and Green Wolf Token fared even worse; their token boats were poorly protected, and their protective shields were often brought to the brink of shattering after being struck two or three times by the Heavenly River Spirit.
Some people finally managed to weaken one of the Heavenly River Spirit, and just as they were about to reel it in, another Heavenly River Spirit suddenly appeared from the side and collided with them. With the light shield shattered, they were overturned into the river along with their boats. If someone hadn't pulled them out, they would probably have been crushed into blood by the river on the spot.
Therefore, some powerful individuals had no choice but to join forces and begin a campaign of encirclement and suppression.
Lin Ming saw three teams gathering together not far away. Six or seven cultivators lined up their token boats side by side, connecting them with light shields to form a larger protective wall, and then joined forces to attack a Heavenly River Spirit.
However, this efficiency was even slower. The Spiritual Energy attributes of the six or seven cultivators were different, and their cooperation was bound to be bumpy. They would attack their own attacks while the other attacked their own. Often, just as one person's attack had repelled the Heavenly River Spirit, another person's attack would arrive Shanshan and hit empty air.
Moreover, the losses were extremely heavy. Under the siege, the Heavenly River Spirit went berserk and counterattacked, smashing two of the Green Wolf Token boats. The two people fell into the water on the spot. Although their companions risked their lives to pull them out, most of their Spiritual Energy had been eroded by the river water. They lay pale and slumped in their companions' boat, clearly having no strength left to fight.
After watching for a while, Lin Ming finally looked away and muttered, "We have to think of another way."
In the Heavenly River, Lin Ming and Zi Yan stood atop the Golden Dragon Token.
At this moment, Lin Ming looked at the bustling Heavenly River, his gaze sweeping over the disheveled cultivators and then at the figures in the distance still desperately chasing the Heavenly River Spirit, but he did not linger there any longer.
He simply shook his head slightly, then lightly stomped his foot, and the Golden Dragon Token beneath his feet emitted a deep dragon roar. The bow of the boat turned and sailed deeper into the Heavenly River.
Seeing this, Zi Yan immediately followed, her Golden Dragon Skiff close to Lin Ming's right side. The two dragon boats side by side cut through the milky white river water, leaving a long golden trail.
Because of the vast and boundless Spiritual Energy within the Heavenly River, there was a terrifying pressure from the Spiritual Energy.
The oppressive force surged in from all directions simultaneously, like an invisible hand pressing down the pressure of the entire river onto the intruder. The deeper one went, the stronger the Spiritual Energy pressure became.
Lin Ming could clearly feel that with each mile he went deeper, the surrounding water pressure increased. The Golden Dragon Token's protective shield beneath his feet slightly caved in under that pressure, emitting a low hum, like a gong being struck repeatedly by a heavy drum.
Ordinary disciple tokens simply cannot penetrate too deeply; those small boats with White Wolf Token and Green Wolf Token would likely be crushed to pieces at this depth, unable to withstand even a single breath.
Fortunately, they possessed the highest-level Golden Dragon Token. Under pressure, the Golden Dragon Phantom on the surface of the shield became even more condensed, and as it swam, it dissipated the crushing river water layer by layer, allowing them to swim freely in the Heavenly River.
As they ventured deeper into the Heavenly River, the number of people around them dwindled.
At first, groups of cultivators could be seen chasing the Heavenly River Spirit on the river surface. After going several miles deeper, they could only occasionally glimpse one or two lonely figures. Further in, those figures disappeared completely, and the entire river surface became empty and silent, with only the river water flowing slowly beneath their feet.
Finally, Lin Ming stopped after choosing a secluded spot.