The Gold Embryo Acquired, Secrets of the Ice Road

His eyes were half closed. Rather than extending his divine sense outward, he drew it all inward, sinking it into his dantian.

As Brother Xia said, the trick lies in one word: merge.

Chu Bai silently repeated it to himself.

In his perception, the ceaselessly surging Warmwater River beside him was no longer merely flowing water, but a mighty dragon formed from countless minute particles of spiritual power.

The scorching heat of earthfire and the chill of the cold springs did not remain sharply divided within this river. Instead, their constant collisions and entanglements produced a delicate, shifting equilibrium.

Follow the current. Borrow its strength to turn it back upon itself.

Following the method of the Swimming Dragon Water-Splitting Art, Chu Bai tried slowly pushing the exceedingly pure threads of water-phase spiritual power, "filtered" through his shackles, toward the surface of his body.

An extremely faint, pale blue film of light, almost invisible to the naked eye, began appearing across his skin.

At first, this film was highly unstable, like a dying candle in the wind, flickering in and out as Chu Bai walked.

The first day.

Chu Bai walked thirty li along the riverbank.

He did not hurry into the water. Instead, like an observer, he measured the current's speed with his footsteps and felt the warmth and chill of its moisture against his skin.

Whenever a river breeze swept waves against the rocks on the bank, he stopped to study how the water broke apart and gathered again.

He discovered that water had no fixed shape, yet followed constant principles.

The waves striking the rocks appeared to be a clash of force against force. In truth, at the instant of contact, the water automatically followed the rock's contours, dispersing its force and wrapping around it before finally delivering