Chapter 619: Fleeting Between Heaven and Earth

Jagged rocks stood scattered everywhere.

Greenish Rong algae squeezed out from between the rocks, spreading and creeping outward.

In the center.

Three flat, massive stones formed a " Jiong "-shaped frame; Long Long Binglin and Long Yao sat cross-legged, ten zhang apart, one in front, one behind.

Liang Qu sat within, breathing in deeply and exhaling slowly.

Inside the Ze Ding, the blue sea gradually receded; countless light patterns shimmered and interwove along the vessel's walls.

Pain arose from the spine, growing fiercer and fiercer.

But compared to the previous two times, whether due to increased tolerance or genuine lessened agony, Liang Qu produced only a light sheen of sweat, his brows slightly furrowed, utterly free of the searing, full-body torment he had endured before.

Only for a single instant did the pain spike abruptly, piercing Liang Qu's spirit into Jianghuai Daze.

A moment of lost focus.

The scene shifted instantly.

Day and night reversed.

Towering mountains loomed, pine trees stood straight and tall.

Clouds and mist flowed and churned above and below.

The scene before him was deeply familiar—he had experienced it once before during the first emergence of the Yinglong pattern; he still became a wisp of ethereal qi, rising slowly, gliding lightly across the sky, passing over mountains, rivers, great marshes, and open fields.

From day to night, from the deep sea to towering peaks.

But this time was different: as Liang Qu soared across the sky and looked down, the earth groaned and sank, cracking open; clear springs gushed forth from beneath, and with each breath, transformed into a vast azure river, thousands upon thousands of carp leaping from its surface.

Countless tiny figures, clad in garments like crimson silk, their arms bound with colorful ribbons, danced an unknown dance, bowing in prayer.

"With the tail... draw the river..."

Sudden enlightenment arose.

Within his body.

His spine glowed with brilliant golden light.

A third golden pattern slowly emerged, intertwining with the previous two.

Where the light enveloped, thirty-six meridians twisted like serpents, regrowing anew.

The Sanqiao of Heaven, Earth, and Man gradually transformed...

The change occurred in silence.

In the quiet depths of the water.

Long Yao opened her eyes; strands of hair beside her ears flowed forward.

She glanced around.

All the water algae swaying upward bent low, bowing forward, as if an invisible vortex spun around the Elder.

In her peripheral vision.

A figure waved.

Opposite her, Long Long Binglin flicked his hand outward; Long Yao pondered briefly, then understood, stepping backward.

Until she was a hundred zhang away.

She halted.

Sunlight diffused; the semi-transparent water gradually took form.

They coiled, wound, raised their heads...

Centered on Liang Qu, countless faint, shimmering water-vein dragons floated and circled; from certain angles of light and shadow, one could even see the dragons' scales!

【Pattern Emerges: Yinglong, Roaming the Zhouyou Liuxu, Level: Three】

【Roaming the Zhouyou Liuxu, Drawing the River with the Tail】

【Gained River's Favor: 0.06】

【River's Favor: 5.2161】

Drawing the River with the Tail...

Liang Qu closed his eyes, made no exertion, yet rose into the air.

He stepped forward.

He walked.

Wherever he trod, the ground slowly sank, cracking open soundlessly to either side.

Long Long Binglin frowned deeply.

To fling a man away, you must first strike him with a punch; to create a depression in the earth, you must stomp with full force.

Yet as Liang Qu passed, no destruction or outpouring of power was felt—the depressions appeared naturally.

As if they had always been there.

The Elder had merely lifted a veil, revealing what lay beneath.

As he pondered...

Long Long Binglin suddenly saw a Cang dragon detach from Liang Qu's side and slowly glide into the depression.

He suddenly understood, and extended his index finger, sensing the flow within the winding depression.

Radically different flow speed!

A river!

There was a riverbed, a constraint, a direction of flow.

Though small—only two or three chi wide—it was undeniably a river!

Its direction matched Liang Qu's forward movement!

A divine skill?

Vortex waterways, water movement, conjuring a river from nothing...

He recalled carefully.

The water-based divine skills on the Four Elders were countless. Born divine?

A single word surfaced in Long Long Binglin's mind.

Splash.

The water dispersed.

The intense pain gradually faded; bones and sinews cracked and popped.

Liang Qu opened his eyes; flames burned fiercely within; boundless power surged and pulsed through every inch of his body.

A thought stirred.

Water dragons rolled; the earth trembled.

The entire underwater realm erupted in thunderous roars; mud and sand flew everywhere; countless fish panicked and scattered.

He clenched his five fingers; mud and sand within a half-li radius instantly clung to the ground, as if the upheaval had never occurred.

Dozens of li away, the Jiao people's Great Qian Brother Quan Linghan trembled in fear, unaware of what had happened.

Even greater changes lay beyond mere power.

He turned his gaze inward.

The Nine Orbs of Stars hung high.

The arrangement of the thirty-six meridians subtly shifted—wider, larger, more majestic.

No longer like three bridges—they resembled three coiled Cang dragons!

Dragon of Man, Dragon of Earth, Dragon of Heaven?

Whether the Wan Sheng Wansheng Baoyuan or the Jiang Long Fu Hu Jin Gang Gong, both flowed without obstruction, even smoother than before.

A remarkably unexpected transformation.

The three additional small meridians...

Were gone.

Liang Qu suddenly realized.

No.

Not gone.

But unnecessary!

The Wan Sheng Wansheng Baoyuan and Jiang Long Fu Hu Jin Gang Gong, practiced together, had required three extra small meridians to open.

The Cang dragons wound through, fully incorporating the new Sanqiao, achieving perfect harmony!

All blood and qi circled once through the meridians, transforming into pure power that surged into limbs and bones, nurturing his entire body—his vitality had increased by at least several times over!

Quantitative change triggered qualitative transformation.

The third Yinglong pattern's effect was far stronger than he had imagined!

He communed with the Ze Ding.

【Master: Liang Qu】

【Refined Ze Spirit: Water King Monkey (Purple) (Fusion: 2%)】

【Ze Spirit's Favor: Wu Dao Tong Shen, Third Layer (River Lord Emperor); Yinglong Pattern: Third Layer; Tian Wu Yuwen: First Layer】

【Essence of Water Marsh: 17,000】

【Fusion increased, Heaven and Earth's Favor, River's Favor +0.036】

【River's Favor: 5.2521】

The appearance of the third Yinglong pattern triggered a chain reaction in the thirty-six meridians, requiring massive blood qi consumption.

Liang Qu instinctively poured water essence into the fusion rate.

One hundred thirty-seven thousand water essence vanished in an instant—twelve thousand entirely—while the fusion rate rose to two percent, granting an additional sliver of favor.

Fortunate.

Worth it.

Liang Qu preferred to maintain his water essence at a level above fifty to sixty thousand.

This way, whether evolving water beasts or generating spiritual fish, he could ensure sufficient reserves even during emergencies.

Investing in fusion was the royal path—certainly no cause for regret.

The Jiao tribe was a great treasure trove; so far, he had only acquired forty-nine Jiao tears, yet many more resources remained to be mined. With proper management, he wouldn't need long to surpass the safety threshold again.

As for 【Draw Tail to Paint a River】, its elegance was high, but creating great rivers and lakes was currently impossible—at best, a small stream a few meters wide, and even that required defying natural flow: from west to east, from low to high, dissolving quickly.

The small river he had just stepped out of was less than a meter wide, its current already unstable.

The future is promising!

"You truly look like a Water God."

Liang Qu closed his eyes and sank his spirit to feel the violent expansion of perception.

With favor, 【Drive the River】, and 【Transform Spirit】 all reinforcing him, the volume of water he controlled reached an terrifying level—flooding any town would be no challenge!

The most crucial part.

Wander the Six Emptinesses!

【Draw Tail to Paint a River】 was still immature; 【Wander the Six Emptinesses】 was entirely different.

Rise onto the river's surface.

Thick mist churned.

Liang Qu stepped forward into the white mist—it gradually enveloped him, yet before his foot touched the water, his sole halted its descent.

His heart pounded.

The thick mist rolled and spread, layer upon layer growing, as if forming a staircase of white jade.

One step, two steps, three steps—he ascended the staircase step by step!

"Walking on emptiness?"

Brother Quan Brother Quan Linghan's pupils dilated sharply.