Perfectly Reasonable

"The Water Palace!"

On the cliff above the Gaoyou Water Palace, King Jiangdu saw a whirlpool forming, and the faint outline of another world seemed to emerge from the water, which delighted him.

He simply removed his clothes, exhaled deeply, and a crimson glow of Qi and Blood enveloped his body.

As the gilded halberd in his hand began to warm slightly, he threw it with all his might.

While bows and arrows are effective for long-range shooting, they are undoubtedly more powerful at close range, within tens of meters.

No matter what dragon kings or water monsters are below, his halberd will cut them in half upon impact.

With the fierce power of the gilded halberd clearing the way, King Jiangdu followed closely behind and leaped down.

The cliff several meters high had no effect on him, especially since there was water below.

"Brothers, protect the King!"

The commander of the guards who was closely following the King of Jiangdu shouted, and he and his twelve personal guards jumped down together.

Like dumplings being dropped into boiling water, numerous splashes of water leaped out, and the figures disappeared again in a short time.

Should I go down or not?

Gongsun Hong looked around, then at the torches and campfire embers on the ground, now reduced to black ash.

He felt it was unsafe to go into the water, but this cliff was no safe place either.

Without the King of Jiangdu and his personal guards, he was all alone, unable to even find someone to hold off him for a moment.

"Let's give it our all!"

Thinking of the King of Jiangdu and others who were supporting him ahead, and considering Dong Zhongshu and Dong Zhongshu guarantee, Gongsun Hong couldn't help but feel that his future depended on this one leap.

If he could excavate the underwater palace, rescue Dong Zhongshu, and drive away the Dragon King, his base of influence would be secured.

"The common people don't fight with officials, and a dragon crossing the river doesn't contend with a local snake. If you insist on showing off your power, someone will surely come to deal with you in the future!"

He muttered a few words to himself, then threw a stone into the water and jumped in.

Whether it was King Jiangdu's weapon that broke through the water first, or his throwing of stones, both could reduce the damage caused by leaping into the water from a great height.

Gongsun Hong jumped into the water and felt a certain power surging within the murky limewater.

Normally, he broke the surface tension of the water, and entering the water from this height should have been easy, even if the water below turned into lime water.

But at that moment, he felt as if he had jumped from a cliff onto flat ground, and the violent recoil almost made him vomit blood.

Before even exploring the underwater palace or fighting the water demons, Gongsun Hong felt that he had lost one-fifth of his life.

For someone who spends most of his life in the water, this situation was very unusual.

After entering the water, Gongsun Hong looked around carefully before diving to the bottom.

Something's not right!

Gongsun Hong looked around for a few seconds, but he didn't sense any danger. However, he encountered something unusual.

This contradictory situation caused Gongsun Hong to frown repeatedly.

However, the King of Jiangdu rushed ahead to dive into the underwater palace, which undoubtedly eliminated the danger, and the twelve followers behind him further shared the risk.

Gongsun Hong couldn't understand it at all. He stepped on the waves, which kept rolling, and only his knees and below were submerged.

While inspecting the water for any possible anomalies, Gongsun Hong suddenly felt as if his foot was being pulled heavily, and he was then dragged into the water.

"Hey!"

As the familiar feeling of restraint came, Gongsun Hong couldn't help but quickly use his Divine Ability Realm Law Power to cleanse his body and break the spell. Then, he made a spell with his fingers and pointed downwards.

If the water ropes binding him before were like ropes, the water ropes currently binding his feet are like a clump of hair that can be torn apart.

As the continuous stream of Law Power washed over him, Gongsun Hong felt the binding force under his feet greatly decrease. Unlike when he encountered the Water Dragon King before, he was no longer completely unable to move. By the time the water blade in his hand fell, the binding force under his feet had completely loosened.

However, minor accidents during the battle were unavoidable. Suddenly pulled underwater, Gongsun Hong choked on two mouthfuls of lime water while struggling.

Drinking a couple of sips of lime water won't kill you, but it will feel terrible.

Gongsun Hong reached down and grabbed, and when he did, he found a clump of drifting water plants in his hand.

"Who?"

Gongsun Hong gripped the water plants, feeling an overwhelming sense of crisis.

"The King of Jiangdu is here! You water demons, retreat at once!" Gongsun Hong shouted. "As the saying goes, a powerful dragon doesn't fight with a local snake. Release Zhongshu, and we can pretend this never happened. Otherwise, your future fate is unpredictable!"

Gongsun Hong shouted twice, and when he sensed it again, he felt that the feeling of unease had lessened.

When a burly man, his face flushed, surfaced to breathe, and then dove back underwater with a sudden plunge, Gongsun Hong felt much more at ease.

He quickly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and then dived into the water.

Compared to the strong men who bravely and forcefully dived into the whirlpool to reach the glimmer of light, Gongsun Hong entered the water like a fish.

The strong man dived into the water first, while Gongsun Hong continued to dive and had already reached the other side.

Upon entering again, Gongsun Hong saw that the gate of the Gaoyou Water Mansion in the Ninth Route had been opened, and water was flowing into the water mansion. It then flowed into the underground passage from the two stone fish outside the water mansion that spouted water.

The water palace was brightly lit, with seventy-two luminous pearls hanging high, and pavilions and towers also present.

King Jiangdu and his entourage had only been inside the Water Palace for a short while and were still standing at the palace gate.

Inside the Water Palace, Dong Zhongshu sat by a pool, drinking water by himself. Only after everyone else had entered did Dong Zhongshu rise with a look of delight.

"Your Majesty, you have finally arrived!"

Dong Zhongshu cried out.

"Mr. Dong, are you alright?"

King Jiangdu was taken aback, and his guards looked around, some glancing at Dong Zhongshu's body.

"With the help of Dongfang Shuo, we found the Water Palace, but unfortunately we mistakenly entered it and found it difficult to get out. Fortunately, Ciqing found the King and came to help us, which allowed us to break the restrictions on this Water Palace," Dong Zhongshu said.

"But I didn't do anything!"

King Jiangdu scratched his head, then swept his gilded halberd across the area before finally stepping inside after confirming that he hadn't encountered anything dangerous.

The structure of the Gaoyou Water Palace is similar to that of the Huaihe River Water Palace, but it is much cleaner and brighter than the dilapidated Huaihe River Water Palace.

"You lot, don't touch those two stonefish!"

Recalling his experience at the Huai River Water Palace, the King of Jiangdu couldn't help but admonish his personal guards.

"Mr. Dong, you've entered this underwater palace. Have you discovered anything?" King Jiangdu asked eagerly. "Did you see any dragons?"

"If there were dragons, I wouldn't have lived this long," Dong Zhongshu laughed. "There's only one river crab here that became a demon, and we even cut off one of its large pincers. It's been too afraid to come and cause us any trouble ever since!"

"Hey, the crab demon you're talking about, is that guy with pincers this big?!"

King Jiangdu gestured to indicate the size of the large pincers that had been shot and retrieved the previous night, which made Dong Zhongshu nod repeatedly.

"A crab only has two large claws. The gentleman chopped one off, and I shot off the other. Now it's without its weapon," King Jiangdu calculated simply. "It can no longer do evil!"

"So it was Your Majesty who severed the crab demon's pincers! No wonder the water palace's restrictions were reopened. It must have been unable to control the water palace anymore, forcing it to abandon this place and let Your Majesty in!"

Dong Zhongshu was overjoyed and kept discussing with the King of Jiangdu, looking as if he had just escaped with his life.

This left Gongsun Hong, who was standing at the back, speechless, completely bewildered as to how things had turned out this way.

There was clearly a Water Dragon King here, yet the other party bound him and Dong Zhongshu and imprisoned them for more than ten days.

In the water dungeon, they also saw the four Dragon Kings of the East Sea, West Sea, South Sea, and North Sea.

Zhang Xuezhou was also treated by these dragon kings for more than ten days.

In the end, it turned out that a crab demon had taken over everything.

Gongsun Hong felt that this was very unreasonable, and what he had experienced was not some crab demon causing trouble.

However, when asked to clarify the facts, Gongsun Hong could not produce any evidence.

More importantly, his credibility was far inferior to that of Dong Zhongshu. Without irrefutable evidence, everything would obviously be based on what Dong Zhongshu said.

The crab demon who was scapegoated lost two of its large pincers, and everything seemed to make sense now.

This made Gongsun Hong feel as if everything was a dream, and that life was like a child's game.