Chapter 63: Innate Skill

The water crashed against the stone wall, the roaring sound filling his ears seeming to transform into the skull's ferocious grin.

It was eerily unsettling.

The space was too cramped, barely two or three square meters; entering it meant pressing one's face directly against the skull.

Liang Qu crouched down, finding no inscriptions, only observing that the bones were crystal-clear like jade, far from ordinary, and that every bone in the body was shattered, indicating anything but a natural death.

He had no idea how long the figure had been dead.

Ordinary people typically turn to skeletons within three hundred days, even faster in damp environments, but martial artists fell outside the category of ordinary folk; Liang Qu had never seen the system elaborate on decomposition times for different realms, leaving him with nothing to compare against.

The Tianshui Centipede slithered to a thick leg bone and emerged from a hole within it.

"Are you saying you ate what was inside the bones?"

Liang Qu picked up a leg bone, finding it completely hollow, and suddenly understood.

The corpse had rotted away entirely before Bai Awei arrived, ligaments included; only the vines holding them together prevented the skeleton from falling apart, meaning Bai Awei had only managed to eat some powdery substance from inside the bones.

Whether out of fear that Liang Qu would leave or because his intrusion disturbed the delicate balance between the vines and the corpse, the skull, originally suspended by vines, suddenly fell, scattering the entire skeleton and revealing the rock wall behind it.

By the faint light, Liang Qu immediately spotted characters beneath the vines; though most were blurred beyond recognition, a small portion remained legible.

"I am a Vanguard General of the Great Great Qian Navy... defeated... unable to resist, severely wounded, drifted here... ashamed before the Imperial Grace, I end myself here."

A Vanguard General from the former Great Great Qian dynasty?

He must have died quite some time ago, at least sixty years.

But drifting here...

Could there be a battlefield ruin nearby?

Although disappointed that it wasn't a martial arts manual, the information revealed was not entirely useless.

At a battlefield ruin, there should surely be great generals; while dreaming of Dragon-Yao was unrealistic, Guardian or Entering True Elephant types should exist, and their armor and weapons couldn't have been poor, right?

Fine weapons sinking into water and remaining unrotted for a century was normal, especially for naval forces.

He needed to pay attention to this.

Liang Qu filed the matter away in his heart; he had once considered searching for treasures like sunken ships to make a quick fortune.

But the Jianghuai wilderness was too vast, Yixing Market's shoreline held little value, and there were no decent ships nearby, only fishing boats rotted into mud.

Even if they existed, they were hard to find; with modern radar and detectors so advanced, locating such things was already incredibly difficult.

For him alone, plus a few water beasts, it would be even harder.

But with a battlefield covering such a large area, perhaps there was some hope.

"Forget it; although you gave me nothing, this old master has a kind heart. I'll take you out later and bury you beneath my lotus field, letting you rest in peace."

Liang Qu clapped his hands; resting in peace meant decomposition, and decomposing anywhere was the same.

Which family's grave doesn't grow grass?

Growing grass was a good sign, indicating strong earth energy and favorable feng shui; growing precious plants would be even more remarkable, doubling the prosperity.

He just needed to fence off a specific plot; the lotus roots growing there afterward would serve solely as rewards for the Four Beasts.

Although there was practically no issue, psychologically he still felt a bit uneasy about eating them himself.

Sliding back out through the rock crevice, Liang Qu used a stone shard to cut the Water Ganoderma, leaving only the rootstock so it could continue growing.

Holding the stone knife, Liang Qu hesitated for a long while, cutting off one-third, then splitting that third in half, and halving it again.

One-sixth would serve as the reward for Immobile, while the remaining two twelfths would go to Fat Catfish and Fist.

As for the newly joined Bai Awei, seeing the leftover rootstock made his heart ache.

So much had already been eaten by the Tianshui Centipede; what was there left to divide?

After dividing the Water Ganoderma, they consumed it raw.

Despite its name, Water Ganoderma was not hard like wood like ordinary Ganoderma; its texture resembled mushrooms more.

【Essence of the Water Marsh +21.6】

Phew, refreshing!

Liang Qu felt invigorated; the unit value of the Water Ganoderma was higher than even the large crab roe he had eaten before.

Undoubtedly, it would be used again to increase fusion progress; once complete, he would be only thirty points away from fully merging with the Refined Refined Ze Ling!

He wondered what the cyan-colored Refined Refined Ze Ling would look like?

Joy arose in Liang Qu's heart, and his stomach began to warm as the energy of the Water Ganoderma surged; disregarding further thought, he immediately began cultivating.

Half an hour later, Liang Qu, whose entire body was red as a cooked shrimp, exhaled a puff of white vapor and stretched his muscles and bones.

The qi and blood in his chest had reached two inches in thickness and one foot in length; growing another half-inch would allow him to begin refining his flesh.

It could be said he was blooming on both water and land, advancing on both fronts.

Once the River God Sacrifice was finished, he would visit the martial arts hall to find Cao Shixiong Hu and shore up his biggest weakness—fighting techniques—becoming a truly brave martial artist capable of combat, rather than one with mere physical strength.

Furthermore, nearly ten days had passed; Cao Shixiong Lu's weapon forging should have reached a fever pitch, so it was time to see how it was progressing.

Anticipating the future, Liang Qu saw the Marsh Cauldron in his mind suddenly blaze with light.

【Water Monkey Refined Refined Ze Ling fusion exceeds half; innate skill comprehended—Water Leap. With the river's favor, it can evolve into a divine ability—Traveling a Thousand Li on Water.】

Liang Qu was overjoyed; his premonition had come true—crossing the halfway point in fusion indeed triggered a mutation!

A stroke of luck brought a wonderful sensation surging into Liang Qu's heart; he jumped into the water, activating that marvelous feeling.

In an instant, the surrounding water environment underwent drastic changes.

The water ahead seemed to vanish, water resistance disappearing entirely, while the currents on both sides and even behind him acted like giant hands supporting his body, pushing him forward.

The surroundings blurred rapidly; regaining his senses, Liang Qu slammed hard against the rock wall at the tunnel's corner.

"Cough!"

Liang Qu choked on a mouthful of water and hurriedly climbed back into the stone cave.

Water Leap was actually a stamina-consuming movement skill!

After using it, about one-fifth of his stamina vanished instantly, allowing him to cross a distance of ten meters and crash into the rock wall before his nerves could even react.

So, if Water Leap was fully activated, could he teleport fifty meters underwater?

Liang Qu's heart pounded as he looked again at the so-called divine ability—Traveling a Thousand Li on Water.

It couldn't be literal, could it? Traveling a thousand li in the blink of an eye?

That would be too incredible; wouldn't that mean touring Beihai in the morning and Cangwu by evening?

The concept of River Favor also became clear for the first time; previously, it had merely hung on the Marsh Cauldron panel, and Liang Qu had never known its purpose or how to obtain it.

Now he finally understood its use, though how to acquire it remained a complete mystery, leaving him scratching his head in frustration.

Perhaps his strength was still insufficient, preventing him from reaching the level where River Favor mattered.

After all, judging by the name, making a river favor oneself certainly couldn't be achieved through minor efforts.

Temporarily suppressing his excitement, Liang Qu checked his other abilities; Water Manipulation had increased by another three hundred, reaching eight hundred jin, a leapfrog improvement.

He then checked on the two beasts.

Immobile needed only twenty-eight points to evolve, Fat Catfish required thirty-two, and there was no need to check Fist; it was a distant hope, though reaching adulthood would make it formidable.

Wait, why didn't the numbers add up?

Liang Qu froze; he vaguely remembered it requiring over forty points last time he checked.

One Water Ganoderma essence was worth around thirty points; even with cutting errors, it shouldn't reduce Immobile's requirement by ten points, especially since it only ate one-sixth, calculating to merely five points.

Was it natural growth?

Pondering for a long while yielded no answers, so Liang Qu could only attribute it to that.

Regardless, reducing the evolution points required was a good thing.

Liang Qu took one last look at the stone cave; it was an excellent shelter, not too far from the lotus field, and could serve as a base to be gradually renovated in the future.

Before that, he needed to move the skeleton out and bury it in the lotus field, otherwise it was too unsettling.

How could one tolerate others sleeping soundly beside one's bed, even if they were just white bones!

After finishing this task, Liang Qu had recovered much of his stamina and attempted a full version of Water Leap.

Supported by the water currents with resistance gone, fifty meters passed in an instant; his stamina seemed instantly drained, leaving him completely exhausted without even the strength to paddle, forcing Liang Qu to urgently have Immobile lift him onto the awning boat.

It seemed he must use this cautiously in combat, otherwise he would easily become fish on the chopping block.

Having figured out the skill, Liang Qu rested for a while, took Bai Awei with him, and returned to sleep.