Above the Yunmeng Marsh, a Luo Fish suddenly awoke with a bewildered expression. After a moment, it glanced around and saw another Drought Snake struggling to wake up beside it.
"Dead?"
"Dead!"
"How did you die?"
"I transformed into a mouse, and as soon as I appeared, I was in the jaws of a wild wolf…" The Drought Snake struggled a bit, wanting to tell the truth but afraid of being laughed at, so it exaggerated a little, blaming it on bad luck.
Well, it didn't appear in the wolf's mouth; it was just too cold. It saw a cave and went in, only to find six or seven wild wolves inside.
"How did you die?"
The Luo Fish became furious! Flapping its wings and grinding its teeth, it said, "I transformed into a toad, fell into a patch of marsh water, and just as I was thinking of stepping on the broken ice to get ashore and find a place to hibernate for another two months, I was stepped on and killed by a lone goose."
Are you insane? You're a herbivorous bird, why step on me? A once-in-ten-thousand-years opportunity wasted like this! I didn't even live for a quarter of an hour, how could my potential improve?!
…
On the branches by the marsh, sparrows fluttered chaotically.
Su He was somewhat angry; these wings were too disobedient! Flapping the same way as the sparrows, they could fly but he couldn't, instead startling a group of small animals hibernating for the winter. Jumping, flapping, falling… Su He repeated the process. Unable to manipulate water or ascend directly to the sky, he felt very unaccustomed. Swans were supposed to be good at flying; he might just lower their average. Shaking off a toad corpse from his foot, Su He continued to practice. What was a toad doing out of hibernation this season? Spread wings, flap! Flap again! And then… charge! Su He's body suddenly shot forward, flapping his wings and stepping on the broken ice, he plunged into the marsh water, and a grey wolf plopped into the water behind him, struggling to climb back ashore.
The swan floated in the marsh water and began to honk. He was so engrossed in practice that he felt a crisis approaching from behind, that familiar aura, that familiar sense of danger—it was a wolf! This sense of crisis was too familiar. Su He flapped his wings and swam far away, turning to look at the grey wolf that had climbed ashore, shivering from the cold. You look foolish, don't you? I can swim! Can't fly with wings, can't swim with claws? Do you think my time as a turtle was for nothing? Wolves can swim too, but in this season, at this temperature, you'll freeze to death. Su He jumped onto a piece of floating ice, honked at the grey wolf for a while, and the wolf shook off the ice water, swam back and forth by the water a few times, but couldn't do anything to the swan on the ice, and finally ran away with its tail between its legs. Soaked through, who knows if it could survive the day.
This had nothing to do with Su He; he once again vibrated his wings, trying to jump up and attempt to fly. He was pulled down as soon as he jumped up, and when he looked down, he saw a pair of red feet stuck to the floating ice. The principle was probably like licking iron in winter? But it was already February, and the yang energy was rising; the eastern sun leaped out, and Su He was only trapped for a moment before he pulled his feet free and flapped his wings back to shore. Then, he froze.
What kind of strength is that! You should have been bitten to death by a wild wolf! Connecting the conversations of the two Drought Snakes, it seems that if you die, your consciousness will return to your body! Su He thought for a moment and plunged his head into the cold marsh water. Drowning himself, returning to his body. Su He's head was submerged in the marsh water, waiting for death to come. The cold marsh water choked into the back of his head through his nostrils, and Su He coughed and struggled out, coughing more and more water into his lungs, his vision blurred, and he couldn't see anything. Only a buzzing in his ears, not knowing if it was the wind or his brain ringing.
While his consciousness was blurred here, there were signs of awakening in his body. Inside, his True Blood was like a dragon, with sailboats lined up on it, each carrying a star to various parts of the body. The stars emitted medicinal power. This was the Elixir from Bai Ling, which was now truly taking effect. Su He looked at the stars and a hint of enlightenment rose—his sister had actually given him a hint, a little video every day, experimenting bit by bit on how to generate the fetal membrane in the inner world. Wasn't that the biggest hint?
At this moment, on the brink of death, he had two choices: his consciousness could return to his true body and open the heavens himself, or all his consciousness could merge into the body of the swan, seal the memories, and let the heavenly-opening artifact open the heavens autonomously. The former could open the strongest first layer of heaven, while the latter would have infinite possibilities. But to reach the level of the former, who knows how many years it would take. But Dragon Turtle was not short on time. A thousand years, ten thousand years, were but a flick of the fingers. A jolt from the cold water, and Su He knew what to do.
With a thought, all consciousness left the body—this was not an out-of-body experience, Divine Beasts couldn't do that. The soul was still in the flesh. To make an analogy, it was like dreaming, the dream was where the consciousness shrank, sleeping in the body on the bed, without consciousness.
By the marsh water, the swan flapped its wings and jumped up. From the bottom of his heart, he called out urgently: "Cuihua!"
"What for?" The toad's tone was poor. The master really shouldn't be kept, happily counting the gains of the past few days, and now he was called over with this annoying name.
"Go find the Princess, ask her to make a pair of Soul-Separating Pills for me—Uncle Luo's recipe!"
"?" The toad jumped up: "Is Yaya in trouble?" That was the Elixir that Feng Yaya needed to eat after transforming into a beast, used to seal memories. When it left, Su Huanian had already started making the Elixir. A sword cultivator making Elixirs, it sounded unreliable.
"No, it's for myself," Su He replied.
The toad was stunned for a moment: "You want to practice transforming into a beast? Stop joking! Divine Beasts can't transform!"
"I want to open the heavens!"
The toad fell silent. Although it had not participated in Su He's cultivation, it did not mean it was unaware. Su He was enticed by those images. Dragon Turtle had decided to let the heavenly-opening artifact open the heavens on its own, eh, the inner world is condensing the fetal membrane. After a while, it said: "Okay!"
Dragon Turtle had already set his path, so there was no need to stop him, just fully support him! The toad tiptoed, looking around, but didn't see Ji Feixue.
However, Ji Feixue's ethereal voice came from behind: "Are you looking for me?"
The toad was startled, turned its head to see her, and silently took out a bunch of spirit stones, elemental crystals, and various materials.
"What, you want to bribe me to change your master, come to Yunmeng Marsh to be the Prime Minister?" This little frog has been very active lately, the Prime Minister of the Hundreds of Beasts, quite a big deal!
The toad was rarely embarrassed, pinching its belly and twisting: "Well, can you help me refine an Elixir?"
Ji Feixue glanced at the belongings the toad had taken out and chuckled: "Sure, what Elixir do you want to refine?" This stuff, she had seen the lowest appearance fee in hundreds of thousands of years.
"Soul-Separating Pill." As the toad spoke, it took out a jade slip, pressed it against its forehead, a recipe imprinted in the jade slip, and handed it to Ji Feixue.
Ji Feixue lightly tapped her finger, and everything became clear. The rough style of this Elixir recipe was obviously the handiwork of the Dragon Turtle clan. Was this to seal memories? But it wasn't to seal the memories of the body, but the memories of the consciousness. What were Su He and Bai Ling doing? Just now, Dragon Turtle's consciousness awakened for a moment, and then all consciousness left in an instant, completely transforming into a beast. At this moment, the constant hexagram inside Dragon Turtle's body was completely ecstatic, and the sixty-four hexagrams inside the realm bead had turned into a whirlwind. At this rate, in four or five months at most, the heavenly-opening artifact would open the heavens autonomously. Yet at this time, Dragon Turtle's consciousness left the body and wanted to seal the memories. Could it be just for the autonomous opening of the heavens? Ji Feixue wanted to ask, but this was someone else's cultivation secret, not good to inquire. She would quietly check Su He's body, also because of that Elixir. This was the first time she refined an Elixir without knowing its effectiveness, and as an Elixir master, she had to be responsible—limited responsibility, if someone else ate it, even if they died, it had nothing to do with her.
"Come find me for the Elixir in two hours," Ji Feixue said, and her body turned into foam and disappeared.
The toad was relieved.
…
Su He flapped his wings and ran along the shore, jumping and leaping. He flew out three zhang and then fell to the ground.
Since he had decided on the direction to open the heavens, he had to be fully prepared, at least to live long enough. He couldn't let the witch open the heavens there, and then he died here, and his consciousness ran back to cause trouble, could he? To live long, he had to fully master the basic skills of the swan. Su He flew again, slightly further than three zhang, and fell to the ground. Good, there was progress compared to just now. It turns out it's easier to learn to fly against the wind! Su He tried again and again, and halfway through, he passed a mouse hole, and after a lot of effort, he borrowed a bunch of grains from the field mouse. He ate very full! It had been a long time since he tasted the sweetness of vegetarian food. When he was a grass turtle, he also ate water hyacinths, duckweeds, and the like, but they were not as delicious as fish and shrimp. Especially this time, borrowing grain without the field mouse's consent, the dice fell, and for the first time in a long time, a six was thrown, still of quality! The taste was even sweeter, but it was just ordinary grain. The grains were plump, not like wild ones.
Flapping and gliding, when the sun was three poles high, Su He could already circle in the sky. After all, his consciousness was strong, although he had just acquired the body of a swan, but with two hours to familiarize himself with the body, learn to fly, and take the time to eat a meal, it wasn't too difficult. A few miles away, there were several houses and fields. There were people indeed! Su He stayed a few more minutes away from the village. At this time of year, people were scarier than beasts!
…
Two hours passed in a hurry, and the toad looked back at Dragon Turtle with its head tilted.
"Are you still online?" After a while, the toad thought of this phrase.
Dragon Turtle's eyes were tightly closed and did not respond. The consciousness was not there, so what kind of trick are you playing, why is there a glow rising from your body? Are you leveling up while AFK? The toad leaped into Su He's body and saw the constant hexagram going crazy, the origin pouring into the realm bead like it was free. Was this a normal state, or was it going to be a deviation? It's not going to open the heavens now, is it? That Turtle hasn't even taken the Soul-Separating Pill yet! The toad jumped out of Su He's body, looked around, and saw Ji Feixue standing under the Dragon Gate. It flashed beside Ji Feixue, opened its mouth to inform her of Su He's condition.
Ji Feixue put a finger to her lips. "Shh!" She whispered, "Don't worry about Dragon Turtle's cultivation, it's fine."
The mighty are indeed mighty; before it even spoke, the other party already knew everything, but saw Ji Feixue take out an Elixir from her pouch and flick it towards the east. The Elixir broke through space and landed directly at the feet of the swan.
The toad was stunned, then understood, and said to Su He in his heart: "The delivery has arrived, sign for it!"
Su He was startled; the service was really thoughtful. He honked a few times towards the west, nodding slightly to express his gratitude. Although there were thousands of mountains and rivers between Yunmeng Marsh and here, and countless mundane kingdoms, they surely couldn't block Ji Feixue's sight. Although the Princess was a demoness in behavior, her cultivation level was unquestionable.
Ji Feixue chuckled, looked down at the toad, and became even happier: "Since Daoist Luo promised the Dragon Turtle, it's time for my Mysterious Realm to take you in."
The toad was stunned; it knew the original reason for Su He to participate in the Dragon God Festival was because the person in front of him promised to let Su He enter her Mysterious Realm, a newly born Mysterious Realm, which could better study the reality of the world. But now Su He's foundation was established, even the heavenly-opening artifact had been condensed, just short of accumulation. Accumulate to the limit and the first layer of heaven could be opened at any moment.
A newly born Mysterious Realm, not needed anymore. The toad was about to politely decline when a fiery red fox walked out beside Ji Feixue, looking like an ordinary red fox, but giving off an elegant and proud feeling, a soul beast master, Ji Feixue a peerless beauty in the human world, this fox was also extremely beautiful. Able to create a Mysterious Realm, this fox was at least a ninth-grade soul beast. The toad felt somewhat uneasy.
The red fox came out, its eyes teasing, and seemed to want to pat the toad's head, and the toad bowed its head to cooperate. Then, the fox pressed a paw on its head and pressed down hard, and the toad immediately face-planted into the ground and disappeared.
Jumping up and cursing, the scenery around him was completely different. This was a lake, with small islands in the lake, densely packed, dividing the lake into a web-like river.
This was the Mysterious Realm, Ji Feixue's Mysterious Realm, what was its name…
The toad thought for a moment: "Qianjiang?" As soon as the words were spoken, there was no sound, nor was it like the roar of a beast in the Mountain and Sea Mysterious Realm, but the words floated in the lower left of his vision. Like Su He's Bright Mirror Divine Ability, or like—the chat window in the online games in Su He's memory. The chat window kept jumping with dialogue.
Can Shen Daoist: "Fellow Daoists, did anyone go to Fairy Ji's Dragon God Festival?"
Qianqianzi: "Can Shen senior, I'm here, but I arrived late, the Dragon God Festival had already started when I got there, there was a big battle in the River of Light, which made me late entering the Mysterious Wasteland. Senior, do you need me to do anything?"
Cuihua: "Qianjiang?" Cuihua's confusion turned into text in the chat window.
Can Shen Daoist: "Qianqianzi, help me ask Fairy Ji, after the Dragon God Festival, will the auction for the Body-Protecting Golden Lotus take place? If it's auctioned, can you keep two for me? No need for too big, half a zhang is fine." He had an experiment that needed the assistance of the Body-Protecting Golden Lotus.
Qianqianzi: "Okay, Can Shen senior, but I don't know where Sister Ji went, she was just in front of the Dragon Gate, and now I can't find her. There was an ugly toad looking for her just now, I don't know what for."
Cuihua: "…" Are you polite? Who's the toad? I'm a Void Frog! Speaking of appearance, I'm closer to a tree frog, how many cultivators have skin like mine?Qiānqiānzi: "Eh? A new Daoist friend? Your name is quite unique, but I've never heard of it. Where do you cultivate? You should come to Central Island, it's convenient for discussing the Dao." Only Sister Ji can recruit people into Qianjiang, and those who are recruited are well-known and can be called Daoist friends. The path of cultivation is long, and having one more Daoist friend is indeed a blessing in life. Before anyone else could send a welcoming message, the toad had already spoken in the chat window.
Cuìhuā: "The Fairy need not mind me, I'm just an ugly toad."
Qiānqiānzi: "…" This was awkward, she didn't know how to respond!
Chìmù: "…"
Jūn Lán: "…"
Nán Míng Zhēnrén: "…"
…A row of ellipses in the chat area.
Qiānqiānzi: "Daoist friend, please don't take offense, I spoke without thinking. Are you still at the Dragon God Festival? I will come in person to apologize." It's not good to leave a bad impression on a Daoist friend before even meeting them! To apologize, should I prepare some gifts? If the other party is really a toad… Do toads eat bees? She has a hive of six-star Xuan Bees, would it be sincere to offer them as an apology?
Cuìhuā: "No need, I'm already in Qianjiang… What kind of broken rule is this? Why does it show the real name?"
Qiānqiānzi: "Eh? A soul beast?" Only soul beasts can enter the Xuan Realm in their true form. She was too far away just now, only glanced briefly and didn't look carefully. That toad is actually a soul beast?
Qiānqiānzi: "Cuìhuā, who is your master? Why don't you speak?"
Cuìhuā: "…" After a moment of speechlessness, it said: "Don't call me Cuìhuā! My master is Dragon Turtle Su He, who is currently transforming and can't come in."
Kūsōng Dàorén: "!!!"
Jūn Lán: "!!!"
Zhàn Xiū: "!!!"
Cānchén Dàorén: "Dragon Turtle? Divine Beast? Dragon Turtle Su He… Is it that being who just crossed the Tribulation?"
The toad looked at the row of exclamation marks. Whether it was that Dragon Turtle or not, these fellows were quite slick with their punctuation—no, it wasn't them using punctuation, but rather, after expressing similar emotions, the Xuan Realm automatically generated such symbols in the chat window. A Xuan Realm that has crossed over? The thought itself was absurd, and the toad scoffed at its own idea. Is this what's called emotional resonance? When civilizations develop, a fascinating phenomenon often occurs—synchronization! In two completely unrelated regions, different people will almost simultaneously invent similar things. Cultivation techniques, weapons, tools… it's generally like this!
The toad hopped up and looked towards the center of Qianjiang, where a large island was situated. Cultivators were gathered in small groups, originally chatting and discussing the Dao. Now, they all looked in its direction. The words they spoke during their discussions did not appear in the chat area but formed bubbles above their heads with jumping text. Regional chat, casual face-to-face conversations… Indeed, thoughts are interconnected! They should immediately pull Su He into this! This way of chatting, he's familiar with it!