It turned out that all these experiences had been inextricably linked to my grandfather.
In my eyes, he had once been nothing more than an ordinary old mountain patrolman who claimed he had been a street punk with dyed yellow hair on the Shanghai Bund in his youth. I never imagined he had such an identity and background, or that he had been paving the way for me ever since I was born.
Thinking back to this trip home, Grandpa had told me to enter Water Gorge and break through my shackles.
It was as if he had already arranged every step I would take.
As I was lost in thought, Xiao Yu suddenly spoke:
"Jiang Ning, your cultivation has improved quite a bit since the last time I saw you!"
Only then did I come back to my senses.
I smiled and nodded.
"Yeah. I went back to my hometown for the New Year. Grandpa had me enter a place called Water Gorge near our hometown. There were many wandering ghosts imprisoned there, as well as a strange blackish-purple flower and a Ba Kingdom altar.
"I spent three days and three nights there before breaking through my bottleneck.
"At the same time, the Tiger-Patterned Black Yue that the Secret Bureau had Fu Wang deliver to me also turned blackish-purple.
"By the way, Xiao Yu, Blazing Fire said that Dark Axe was a sacred relic. What is its origin?"
As the high shaman priestess of the Ancient Ba Kingdom during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, Xiao Yu surely knew about these things.
After listening, Xiao Yu did not hide anything from me.
She said directly:
"The Water Gorge you mentioned should be the Water Evil Forbidden Land where evil spirits are imprisoned.
"The five elements cannot flourish there. Any evil