The Kingdom of Long Continent

The rising sun illuminated the various high-rise buildings on both sides of the river.

Especially when the fog broke through, the bridge spanning the river was revealed.

The Yangtze River flows endlessly for thousands of miles.

Although the Yangtze River also has a dry season, in some sections the water flow will be much lower.

However, the river basin near Chu Tianshu's home, from small to large, has always had abundant and surging water.

During this season, many reeds along the riverbank have sprouted white flowers, and their leaves have turned yellowish-white.

For some reason, the tides near the reeds seemed unusually large today, with whirlpool-like giant waves crashing against the shore every now and then.

However, before it could actually reach the shore, the whirlpool spun back onto the river surface and headed straight for the center of the river.

There were at least a dozen waves and whirlpools coming and going.

A figure in a white training uniform was faintly visible underwater.

Chu Tianshu was not only wearing a thin white training uniform, but also cloth shoes.

But in the heavy underwater environment, he exerted all his strength, working at high speed every second, so that water could not penetrate his clothes and shoes.

On the contrary, the tranquil riverbed seemed to be awakened by the intrusion of this outsider.

Thousands upon thousands of river fish, shrimp, crabs, and water snakes roamed about, causing the algae to sway violently.

Chu Tianshu sprinted a hundred meters and struck out with his palm, then suddenly stirred the water flow and turned to strike behind him.

With his hands moving swiftly from fist to claw, he sucked up a huge rock from the riverbed and smashed it to pieces with a single palm strike.

While the turbid flow of stone dust surged forward.

He leaped up, higher than the turbid current, ran wildly to the front, then suddenly plunged down, turning and kicking the turbid current back.

The power of fists and palms, the internal energy Sword Intent, were released outwards without restraint, permeating all kinds of surging and chaotic waters.

His spiritual perception was also fully unleashed during this exhilarating martial arts training.

When he realized that a boat was approaching the area on the river, he suddenly started walking in circles on the riverbed.

In the blink of an eye, it seemed as if there were more than a dozen Chu Tianshu figures at the bottom of the river, all with their backs to the inside of the circle, using different techniques to strike outwards from the circle.

The force gently pushed it apart.

Although there were still Submerged Current at the bottom of the river, the strange phenomena on the surface of the river quickly subsided, the whirlpools faded, and the giant waves became slower and lower.

The white shadow moved swiftly in the water, quickly breaking through the surface, stepping onto the shore, and disappearing into the reeds.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Hah!"

Chu Tianshu circulated his internal energy with both hands, pressing them lightly against his dantian, and repeatedly regulated his breathing with deep, repetitive breaths.

His face, which had been flushed red after the intense exercise, gradually returned to its normal color.

Within the Mountain Collapse and Water Extinction Palm," there are two states: cultivating strength and engaging in battle.

When fighting in water, there are naturally ways to utilize the power of water.

When you're honing your strength underwater, instead of teaching you how to conserve energy, they'll teach you how to exert even more effort.

Borrowing the waves and force feedback of the great river, one can temper one's body.

Given Chu Tianshu's speed, the reaction force he experienced underwater was already considerable, especially considering he was using optimized techniques from the "Nine Springs Mountain Collapse Secret Hand".

After practicing intensely for an hour, even at his current level, he felt quite strained.

But it was precisely this strenuous effort that gave him a feeling of being more refreshed and cleansed throughout his body. Once he was freed from the pressure of the river, he felt as if he were about to Ascension.

The reeds swayed gently.

A two-headed snake was coiled around the thickest reed in the thicket.

The snake's tail gently coiled around the sword sheath.

The weight of the snake, combined with the sheathed longsword, caused the reed to bend slightly, swaying left and right, only swaying a little in the wind.

Chu Tianshu tilted his head and looked over, then laughed, "Didn't my sword hang itself on the reeds?"

Why are you rolling it up?

Bubai said solicitously, "We're worried it might not hang securely enough, so please help us reinforce it."

Xiao Zuo lowered his head and remained silent.

The Demon Blade's light was faint, and although extremely beautiful, only Xiao Zuo loved it.

But Sanqi (a traditional Chinese medicine) was something that both of the little ones loved very much.

The Sanqi contains the Weapon Soul, which has been nurtured and refined to this day, and it can truly regulate its own precious light.

When Bubai first saw Sanqi release its precious light, his eyes widened in amazement.

In his words, although they were quite knowledgeable and had appraised countless treasures, this was the first time they had ever seen a treasure with a true spirit.

Sanqi did not reject the small snake.

"I still don't understand what you mean by 'precious light'."

Chu Tianshu reached out and took the Sanqi, hanging it around his waist with a thin chain.

"The Sanqi's control over the release of its precious light is merely the control over its own power. But how exactly does the precious light of other treasures, which have neither Weapon Soul nor a human to drive it, operate?"

In recent days, besides practicing martial arts and memorizing secret manuals, Chu Tianshu has spent the rest of his time pondering this little snake.

The Five Elements Escape Arts and the ability to find and appraise treasures are both innate supernatural abilities of this little snake.

However, their Five Elements Escape Arts has only awakened Earth Escape and Water Escape so far.

Moreover, they must be of one mind to use it.

Chu Tianshu had them experiment repeatedly, and after observing them many times himself, he still couldn't figure it out at all.

However, observing the subtleties behind their use of escape techniques made Chu Tianshu feel that he might be able to use this to verify some of his own techniques.

Even if one's own techniques cannot achieve the effect of escape, they are more compatible with the earth and water elements.

As for the two-headed snake's talent in treasure hunting and appraisal...

After observing for a while, Chu Tianshu found nothing.

The little snake didn't understand these things either and couldn't answer.

"Us..."

Bubai more in mind. He had already realized that Chu Tianshu had a certain status among humans and meant no harm, so he was thinking of finding a backer for him.

Therefore, whenever Chu Tianshu asked a question, he would rack his brains and exhaust his knowledge.

Chu Tianshu found his expression amusing.

Xiao Zuo is simple-minded, polite, well-behaved, and easily shy, but she remains the same as she was at first sight, even after spending these days together.

Bubai and his mind is fickle. He may be arrogant at first, but he will quickly back down. Sometimes he will act obedient, and sometimes he will sigh.

That tiny snake face had such a rich array of expressions that it was practically a master of facial expressions.

It's much more fun than Xiao Zuo.

"Okay, I was just asking casually."

Chu Tianshu stretched out his left hand, condensed a greenish-blue droplet, and rubbed it on Bubai's head.

Bubai's expression relaxed, revealing a look of contentment.

This strange snake feeds on water and minerals.

The water droplets that Chu Tianshu condensed from the essence of the Sky-Spanning were also an excellent delicacy for them.

Strangely enough, they enjoy searching for and appraising treasures, and they like to sleep soundly next to the treasures, but they are also prone to getting bored with the old and seeking the new.

After several deep sleeps, they will go to seek new treasures, leaving the old things behind and not taking them with them.

It neither absorbs the precious light nor chews the precious objects.

But sleeping soundly beside treasures seems to provide them with a more effective source of growth than eating ordinary ores.

Chu Tianshu guessed that it might be because the aesthetic inspiration from contacting different treasures could stimulate their bloodline and continuously purify it.

The little snake left the reeds, coiled up Chu Tianshu's palm, and slithered onto his wrist, seemingly finding the watch on his wrist a little uncomfortable.

Chu Tianshu flipped his palm over, turning the two snake heads back so they could rest against the back of his hand.

"Hey, do you need a license to keep snakes?"

He suddenly remembered this matter.

Teacher Bai is the cat of the Golden Saber Martial Arts School; Sanqi's appearance is simply that of a sword.

However, if you want to keep a two-headed snake at home, you might actually need to get a permit.

Chu Tianshu walked through the reeds, rolling up his sleeves and turning on his wristwatch as he went.

After getting used to using this watch, he's now syncing it with his phone.

You can use this directly to connect to the group chat.

I just asked about snake-keeping permits in the group chat, Helai suddenly jumped in.

[Helai: Where did this snake come from? It's not from the same source as your secret manual, is it? Should we bring it in for examination and disinfection?]

[Chu Tianshu: Thanks for the invitation. This snake is just an ordinary creature from the Spirit Realm.]

[Helai: Okay, okay, I'll let them know about the documents and have them find someone to liaise with you.]

Your secret manual is really good. Previously, considering the stability of the situation, the information we officially released to the public mostly focused on how to Aperture Opening through practicing martial arts.

Firstly, practicing martial Aperture Opening can open up new insights and is therefore suitable for popularization. Secondly, if someone who practices martial arts commits a crime, it is easier to find clues.

However, once you reach a certain level in practicing internal martial arts, you either need to switch to internal energy cultivation or you need a huge amount of resources, which will weed out another group of people.

This Heart and Blood Martial Dao, which relies less on resources and can be seamlessly integrated with the original internal energy cultivation techniques, is perfect for future popularization efforts.

In my hometown, I heard that the earliest people to appear in ancient times were strongmen and shamans.

However, the path of the strongman, if pursued to higher levels, requires too many resources and is too barbaric. Later, with the advent of Qi cultivation, it withdrew from the mainstream.

Wizards developed into various schools of magic, and Qi cultivation also gave rise to countless techniques.

The strongmen are stuck in their old ways, and those who can break free from this inertia can easily switch to other methods. Therefore, not many people have sought new paths for the strongmen.

In the Great Tang world, I didn't encounter any internal energy cultivation methods.

The Heart and Blood Martial Dao, from its early stages, focuses on studying the properties of all things and using the feedback of force to temper the physical body. It does not have the drawback of relying too much on resources, which is the same as the body tempering in the main world.

"The path of the Giant Warrior might have some similarities with the ancient warriors back home, but even if they returned to their Weapon Soul Realm, they wouldn't have that many kinds of the Spirit Realm resources to squander."

"The ancient warriors, at least, enjoyed a period of prosperity; the giant warriors, from the very beginning, were destined to be a branch."

Chu Tianshu thought for a moment, then his gaze returned to his wristwatch.

Helai continued speaking, "[Didn't you report a seafood company owner a while ago?]"

[Chu Tianshu: You even know about such a trivial matter?]

Chu Tianshu frowned, realizing that things were not so simple.

Is it worth mentioning? Is the boss exceptionally capable?

It's impossible for a Taboo- level Spirit Realm creature to be brought up from Shencheng without a sound, right?

Currently, the only way to bring Taboo powerhouses from the Spirit Realm into reality is in war-torn regions, where Divine Sect have been accumulating power for a long time.

Those cases in the Golden Triangle, for example, involved warlords who used their vast wealth to set up rituals, and by sheer coincidence, some of whom were reincarnations of a Ghost Mother Clan, which enabled such events to occur.

[Helai: He's certainly not Taboo, but his strength is quite good.]

More importantly, his case is linked to a series of other cases.

Helai sent him several screenshots separately.

Chu Tianshu clicked on it and saw that it contained summaries of confessions from the Spirit Realm beings recently captured in Shencheng.

A dozen or so Spirit Realm beings who had taken human identities all called themselves members of the Fangfeng Clan and lived in the Long Continent Kingdom.

Fangfeng Clan is also recorded in ancient books.

In ancient times, Yu, as the supreme ruler, summoned the leaders of all the tribes under heaven to a meeting. The leader of the Fangfeng Clan failed to appear and was executed by Yu. His remains were sent back as a punishment, and the Fangfeng Clan was ordered to elect a new leader.

Later legends about the Fangfeng Clan contain many far-fetched and contrived elements.

They even mixed characteristics of other races, such as dinosaurs, Dragon Earl, and giant cyclops, into the records of the Fangfeng Clan.

In reality, Fangfeng Clan's original appearance and physique were very similar to those of real humans, and he had long since intermarried with humans.

Their distinctive feature is that their internal skeleton differs greatly from that of the human skeleton, and they have extra air pores in their wrists or under their ribs.

These pores enabled them to be skilled in music, chanting, and sensing the flow of wind.

Legend has it that the ancient people of Southeast China were inspired by the sight of the remains of the Fangfeng Clan, and they cut bamboo, drilled holes, and made musical instruments.

The problem is that when people say that Fangfeng Clan resembles humans, they are referring to a general resemblance in the species, not their specific appearance.

The dozen or so Spirit Realm beings captured now all look exactly like the people they impersonated.

In terms of personality and behavior, they are like the reflection of the missing person.

This doesn't seem like a simple coincidence at all.

According to their testimonies, Long Continent Kingdom was a piece of land that stretched from the vast land to the sea.

Although it is a vast area, much larger than the actual Shencheng, it has developed rapidly over the past century.

Many major changes seem to subtly echo those in Shencheng.

Nearly a century ago, a thick fog enveloped Long Continent and the surrounding shallow waters, making it difficult to enter or leave, and over time, it developed into a separate kingdom...

"More than a month ago, a dense fog arose at sea, and subsequently, the fog appeared to be scattered in all directions..."

Chu Tianshu's gaze was focused on this statement.

Those dozen or so Fangfeng Clan all slipped and fell in the fog, entering reality and taking the place of the missing.

[Helai: I entered the Spirit Realm and flew from the plantation towards that direction. The fog was indeed much thinner, but I could only enter in my soul form, which weakened my senses, so I still had difficulty finding my way.]

Can you enter the Spirit Realm? I'll carry you there and see if we can find a way to enter Long Continent to investigate.

(End of this chapter)