The Miraculous Sleep-Talking

"What's going on?" Second Senior Brother Wu Dayi turned in surprise to look at Fourth Senior Brother He Dazhi.

"Junior Sister already said it. Before she summoned her magic treasure, no Water Arrows attacked her or Seventh Junior Brother. The Water Arrows only attacked her after she summoned it. And didn't you notice? Seventh Junior Brother had been there all along, yet not a single Water Arrow targeted him. So..." He Dazhi explained slowly.

"So the Water Arrows only attack people with magic treasures?" Sixth Senior Brother stared at He Dazhi in disbelief.

He Dazhi nodded, then shook his head. "It should be those capable of attacking, or perhaps..." He Dazhi looked at Zhang Xiaofan in the lake and stroked his chin. "Perhaps cultivators with spiritual power?"

"Have these Water Arrows become sentient or something? They can even choose their own targets?" Third Senior Brother found it quite strange, though he did not quite believe it.

"This should be related to Little Junior Brother." Seeing Luo Yunji still sleeping soundly in the middle of the lake, He Dazhi made a helplessly amused guess.

"Little Junior Brother?"

"Right! Hurry and get Little Junior Brother out of there!" Looking at Little Junior Brother still floating in the lake like a corpse, Sixth Senior Brother hurriedly reminded them.

"I'm afraid... it won't be easy!" Fourth Senior Brother frowned as he watched Luo Yunji floating in the water.

"Fourth, do you think those Water Arrows that appeared out of nowhere were caused by Little Ji?" Su Ru caught something else in his words.

"Most likely." He Dazhi rubbed his temples.

"You brat! All you do is make trouble for me!" Tian Buyi gritted his teeth in irritation. "Dazhi! What do you think we should do now?"

"Perhaps we can only wait for Little Junior Brother to wake up on his own." He Dazhi had never encountered anything like this before and truly had no idea how to resolve it.

"Xiaofan! Come up first!" Seeing Zhang Xiaofan still soaking in the lake, too afraid to move at all, Su Ru called to him with concern.

"I-I can move now?" Zhang Xiaofan asked uncertainly, looking toward the people onshore.

"It's fine! Come up!" He Dazhi replied with a smile.

Zhang Xiaofan let out a sigh of relief and slowly paddled forward. When no Water Arrows appeared, he gradually sped up and swam toward the shore.

"You all right?" Song Daren stepped forward and placed a hand on Zhang Xiaofan's shoulder. After a burst of white steam, Zhang Xiaofan discovered in surprise that his clothes had dried in that brief moment.

"Thank you, Eldest Senior Brother!"

"What's there to thank? We're family!" Song Daren said with a laugh, rubbing Zhang Xiaofan's head.

"By the way! Little Junior Brother seemed to have been talking the whole time." As everyone pondered how to get him ashore, Zhang Xiaofan quietly told Fourth Senior Brother beside him.

"Oh? What was he saying?" He Dazhi perked up. At this point, every clue was important.

"Something about Weak Water... and something about the Dao. I didn't really understand it." Zhang Xiaofan scratched his head sheepishly.

"The Dao?!" That word was a highly sensitive one in the cultivation world.

"Is Little Junior Brother still talking now?" He Dazhi looked at Luo Yunji in the center of the lake with great interest. Perhaps Master's guess had been right. Little Junior Brother had been cultivating all along; he simply did not know it himself.

"Yes! He keeps repeating that passage! I just can't hear it very clearly." Seeing that his clue seemed to be of some use, Zhang Xiaofan hurriedly nodded.

After hearing this, He Dazhi immediately set off. Using an incantation, he stepped across the surface of the water toward Little Junior Brother.

As everyone watched him slowly approach step by step, they assumed he was testing whether the Water Arrows were a counterattack against those with hostile intent or merely a response to all spiritual power.

"Dazhi has a solution?" Seeing He Dazhi take action, everyone looked at him curiously. Tian Buyi also muttered to himself in curiosity.

"I don't know. I only told Fourth Senior Brother that Little Junior Brother was talking in his sleep, and then Fourth Senior Brother went over."

"What sleep-talk?" Tian Buyi only asked casually.

"It seemed to be something about the 'Dao.'" Zhang Xiaofan answered uncertainly.

"The Dao!" Everyone stared at Zhang Xiaofan in astonishment. When he nodded blankly, they hurriedly turned to look at Fourth Senior Brother, who was now crouching on the lake's surface with his ear tilted toward Little Junior Brother's sleep-talk, their faces full of anticipation.

"Buyi, could your guess have been right?" Su Ru had already soothed her daughter. Hearing everyone's conversation with Zhang Xiaofan, she looked at Tian Buyi with delighted surprise.

"Perhaps."

"The highest goodness is like water. Water benefits all things yet does not contend. Because it does not contend, it is without fault. It dwells where all others disdain, and thus comes close to the Dao."

Boom! He Dazhi, who had been stuck at the fourth level of the Taiji Mystic Purity Dao for many years, finally broke through after clearly hearing a passage of Luo Yunji's sleep-talk, stepping into the fifth level of the Taiji Mystic Purity Dao.

"He broke through just like that?" Everyone onshore stared in utter disbelief at He Dazhi, who was suspended above the lake with his eyes closed in meditation. They did not know what to say to express how they felt.

"Fourth Senior Brother really should have moved farther away! I want to hear Little Junior Brother's sleep-talk too! Maybe I could break through the third level and reach the fourth!" Sixth Senior Brother looked enviously at the breakthrough-bound He Dazhi and muttered to himself.

"Wait. Dazhi has been stuck at the fourth level for many years. Now that he has suddenly attained enlightenment, his breakthrough will naturally come quickly. Once he finishes, all of you can go over and try." Tian Buyi was in high spirits at seeing another of his disciples reach the fifth level. As for the Water Arrows attacking him earlier, he decided not to pursue the matter with his precious little disciple.

Now, he only hoped that his little disciple would sleep a little longer, preferably until everyone had made a breakthrough before waking up.

Everyone waited for a full half hour before He Dazhi, looking delighted and refreshed, strode over the rippling water toward the people onshore.

"How was it?" Tian Buyi looked at his fourth disciple with undisguised approval.

He Dazhi nodded and bowed deeply. "I broke through! Master, let the other brothers try as well." His face was full of joy. Breaking through a cultivation bottleneck that had held him back for years was naturally cause for celebration.

"Go!" Tian Buyi waved his hand, and the five disciples who had been waiting behind him hurriedly cast their techniques and stepped over the waves toward Luo Yunji, who was still asleep in the center of the lake.

They were all extremely careful along the way, afraid of waking the little fellow and losing this opportunity for no reason.

"The highest goodness is like water. Water benefits all things yet does not contend. Because it does not contend, it is without fault. It dwells where all others disdain, and thus comes close to the Dao. In dwelling, it excels at location; in heart, it excels at depth; in dealing with others, it excels at kindness; in speech, it excels at sincerity; in governance, it excels at order; in affairs, it excels at capability; in action, it excels at timing. Because it does not contend, it is without fault."

The five listened carefully for quite some time before hearing all of Luo Yunji's sleep-talk. Second, Third, Fifth, and Sixth Senior Brothers, who had been stuck at the third level of the Taiji Mystic Purity Dao for decades, felt something stir within them. Their previously dim Sea of Consciousness seemed to be split by a flash of lightning, brightening slightly. As they listened to Little Junior Brother's voice, the lightning grew increasingly frequent until it tore through the darkness, filling their Sea of Consciousness with a dazzling radiance.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Four muffled thunderclaps rang out as the four of them broke through at almost the exact same instant.

The four sat cross-legged in a circle on the lake's surface, their expressions serene.

But those four successive booms jolted Luo Yunji awake. When he realized he was in the water, he failed to react for a moment. He immediately sank beneath the surface and, amid a series of "glug glug" sounds, went under.