Black Tortoise Companion Beast, the Thirsty Wood Spirit Root

A yellow Flying Paper Crane drifted downstream.

Two people stood atop it.

One was Li Sancai.

The other was Xu Changqing.

As they flew farther and farther away, a vast, dense forest suddenly appeared ahead.

Deep, rumbling roars echoed from within the forest from time to time.

Li Sancai pointed in that direction and introduced it. "Beyond this forest lies Beast Spirit Valley. If you need anything in the future, you can venture deeper from this direction."

"Alright." Hearing this, Xu Changqing gave it another look.

They continued onward for about the time it took to burn an incense stick.

Suddenly, the terrain around them changed, becoming a chain of rolling peaks and ridges.

Enormous pits could be seen opening across the ground from time to time.

Some were shallow.

Others were bottomless.

The metal spiritual energy in the air gradually grew denser.

There was even a faint scent of rust mixed within it.

Li Sancai continued, "Foundry Peak is right above our heads. Be careful when passing through—scrap artifacts occasionally fall from above. Don't let one smash into you."

Xu Changqing looked up, yet he could not see the so-called Foundry Peak at all. Unable to resist, he joked, "Shouldn't we be wearing helmets, then?"

Li Sancai paused, not quite understanding, but he still waved his hand. "That won't be necessary. When scrap artifacts fall, they make a commotion. You can hear them from far away."

The moment he finished speaking, a shrill "whoosh" suddenly came from ahead.

Immediately afterward, the two saw a blazing fireball plummet from the sky.

It was too far away for them to discern its exact size.

Yet they could still feel a wave of heat sweeping toward them from afar.

Both of them had Wood Spirit Roots, so they felt extremely uncomfortable.

Ordinarily, they should definitely have stayed far away from something like this.

Yet Xu Changqing discovered that quite a few people were actually drawing close.

Li Sancai explained, "Those people are Earth Spirit Root disciples from the Earth Vein. They sometimes look for heavy scrap artifacts to temper their bodies.

"Or they take them to the Rogue Cultivator Market outside to sell. There are Rogue Cultivators there who specialize in collecting garbage from top sects like ours."

"No wonder they crawled out of those pits." Xu Changqing finally understood.

For the next stretch of time—or rather, the next stretch of distance—

they were practically shrouded beneath Foundry Peak.

Fireballs fell from the sky every so often.

Some were huge.

Some were small.

But regardless of their size, Earth Spirit Root disciples scrambled to seize them.

Relying on the Flying Paper Crane, Xu Changqing and Li Sancai spent a long time before finally leaving the area behind.

The road ahead was comparatively normal.

There were either open fields.

Or grasslands.

As they continued drawing nearer, Xu Changqing noticed that streams, rivers, and marshes around them gradually became more numerous.

At first, it was not particularly obvious, and they only caught sight of them now and then.

But before long, shimmering waters were everywhere.

All sorts of tributaries emerged in abundance.

The water spiritual energy in the air grew increasingly dense.

After another ten-odd minutes or so—

countless tributaries suddenly began converging.

In the end, they formed an incomparably vast lake before them.

But strangely, the water was black.

And near the center of the lake, an unusual pavilion floated in the air.

It had nine floors in total.

Each floor was at least five meters high.

Ripples periodically spread across its surface.

Great fish could even be seen leaping out.

This seemed to be... a nine-story pavilion made of water.

Li Sancai said, "We've arrived at Water-Control Pavilion."

Xu Changqing swallowed before managing to speak after a long while. "Senior Brother, could Water-Control Pavilion actually be made of water?"

Li Sancai said nothing and merely nodded lightly.

As the two continued drawing closer—

more and more Flying Paper Cranes appeared.

Some were incomparably huge.

More than ten people stood atop them.

Others were tiny.

They could only accommodate one person sitting cross-legged.

But there were not only paper cranes. There were many other flying tools as well.

Such as ships, boats, shuttles, and spirit beasts.

Xu Changqing even spotted a blood-red banner fluttering in the wind.

Just as the two were about to approach Water-Control Pavilion—

the lake water below suddenly began churning for no apparent reason.

The air—or perhaps this entire space—was trembling.

This made many flying tools extremely unstable, causing them to sway without end.

The water spiritual energy in the air grew increasingly chaotic, making one's hair stand on end.

Everyone looked down, and their faces changed drastically.

A massive, ferocious snake head burst from the water, dragging behind it a yellow serpent body over a hundred zhang long.

A pair of enormous fleshy wings sat just beneath its head.

The instant they spread open in the air, they blotted out the sky and covered the earth.

A vast area was instantly plunged into utter darkness.

Its terrifying aura made people feel as though they had fallen into an icy abyss.

Xu Changqing hurriedly shouted, "Senior Brother, what do we do?"

Li Sancai struggled to control the Flying Paper Crane and forcibly steadied it before answering, "Don't panic. A Black Tortoise is suppressed beneath Water-Control Pavilion, and this Soaring Serpent is its Companion Beast.

"Once the Black Tortoise falls asleep, the Soaring Serpent comes out to stir up wind and waves.

"But don't forget—this is Water-Control Pavilion's territory."

Sure enough, the moment his words fell—

the black Water-Control Pavilion ahead suddenly shook.

Immediately after, enormous yellow spirit talismans flew out one after another.

Xu Changqing looked up and found that the contents of the talismans were obscure and incomprehensible.

The characters did not look like characters, and the symbols did not look like symbols.

Yet linked together, they radiated a heart-palpitating energy.

In an instant, nine massive yellow spirit talismans swept toward the Soaring Serpent that was about to stir up wind and waves.

They gave it no time or chance to resist.

Streams of dazzling azure spiritual light burst forth, rapidly weaving together.

In the blink of an eye, they formed a net that covered the heavens, trapping the hundred-zhang-long yellow serpent inside.

Although the Soaring Serpent struggled incessantly, making the net woven from spiritual light emit continuous sizzling sounds, it did not cause any substantial damage.

Before long, the great serpent was forcibly pressed back into the pitch-black lake.

The sense of crisis had come quickly and gone just as quickly.

"It gets active every summer!"

"Why can't they suppress this Soaring Serpent completely?"

"I heard that either the Black Tortoise or the Soaring Serpent must be awake—they can't sleep at the same time!"

Complaints rose from all around.

Seeing that everything truly was fine, Xu Changqing's suspended heart finally settled.

Then, under Li Sancai's control, the Flying Paper Crane gradually approached the first floor of Water-Control Pavilion.

The instant Xu Changqing landed, a "squelch" of water sounded beneath his feet.

It was not solid earth at all, but still black water.

Yet strangely, he could not sink into it. Instead, it possessed a peculiar buoyancy.

Li Sancai reminded him, "Every floor of Water-Control Pavilion has its purpose. The first floor mainly issues missions to official Water Spirit Root disciples.

"My cousin's birthday banquet is on the third floor. Let's go."

Xu Changqing quickly followed, surveying the surroundings with a curious expression.

Water-Control Pavilion was anything but small. It felt as though it was silently expanding.

Upon entering the first floor, he discovered an interior space comparable to a public square.

Many Water Spirit Root disciples could be seen.

There were men and women.

The old and the young.

After entering, Xu Changqing felt something very peculiar.

His body seemed as though it wanted to grow and develop.

He did not ask Li Sancai, because it was easy enough to understand.

The sensation of development was likely closely related to his Spiritual Root.

Water nourished wood, and Water Spirit Root disciples were everywhere here.

Moreover, the water spiritual energy was exceptionally dense.

All these factors combined, making his Wood Spirit Root especially "thirsty"!