Chapter 655: Tall and Sturdy Son of a Good Family

BOOM!

BOOM!

Muffled thunder exploded, shaking the entire river surface.

A blood dragon coiled upward, fangs bared and claws outstretched, soaring through the sky.

The travelers on the river could not tell whether the crimson hue staining the water came from the sunset or from the cultivator breaking through.

The young lords gaped with open mouths.

They were no country bumpkins unfamiliar with wolf smoke entering the Hunting Tiger, yet they had never imagined a breakthrough could be so mighty and thunderous!

Xu Xu Yue stepped back three paces, extended his thumb to measure—the blood smoke from Liang Qu during the Huangzhou Great Hunt had reached over thirty zhang; now, measured again, it had more than doubled, exceeding fifty zhang!

Young master, you are truly a divine being!

Countless boats drew near to watch, gazing in wonder.

Lan Lan Jicai raised his arm and shouted: "Gentlemen, fifty li ahead lies Jishuitan—enter Jishuitan, and great rewards await, great rewards await!"

"Enter the pond! Enter the pond!"

The blue-robed man with a square cap bellowed.

The imperial capital is now within sight; if the tower ship enters Jishuitan, it will stir the entire capital!

This is the festival season, when nations come to pay tribute—perfect timing to proclaim the Holy Emperor's divine might!

The soldiers aboard the tower ship grasped the significance, their spirits soaring.

Time waits for no one—this is the moment to earn merit!

PLOP!

Long Long Binglin and Yang Xu said nothing, stripped off their clothes, and dove into the water to support the treasure ship from below.

Xu Xu Yue and the others descended into the cabin, seized the oars from the soldiers, and rowed with all their strength.

Wings unfolded on both sides of the tower ship.

River dolphins thrashed their tails vigorously, gliding forward in a mighty surge.

At the bow.

The soldier waved the signal flag, ordering all river vessels to clear the way; yet a foolish youth, either too panicked or simply clueless, refused to yield and instead cut directly across the river's center.

The soldier hastily signaled, commanding a course correction.

Lan Lan Jicai gripped his goatee, then clamped his hand on the youth's shoulder.

"Ram into it!"

Before the words had fully left his mouth, there was no time to evade.

CRASH!

The bow shattered, armor plates exploding and flying outward.

The entire river-crossing vessel was severed midships, its two ends rising high as it slowly sank; the Golden Leaf Treasure Ship remained unscathed, slicing cleanly through.

How could an ordinary pleasure boat compare to a treasure ship?

The young lords and ladies on deck tumbled into the water, drenched and cursing loudly.

"Without cause, you rammed our boat—this will be reported to the court!"

PUFF!

The river dolphin spat a jet of water, drenching the shouting young lord and sending him tumbling into the river.

Seeing the Golden Leaf Ship's sheer dominance, the larger vessels farther away dared not provoke it and swiftly veered aside.

"Could he truly be a member of the imperial clan?"

Liu Liu Qiaosheng and Song Song Jili exchanged glances, silently speculating.

To enter the Hunting Tiger at barely twenty, accompanied by such grandeur, certainly speaks of extraordinary talent—but if he were not imperial blood, would such a spectacle not be excessive?

WHOOSH!

On the Altar of Heaven, Liang Qu sat cross-legged, unmoving, his entire body trembling as if seized by convulsions.

His spiritual essence merged with his blood and qi, like cold water poured onto scorching oil—igniting a roaring inferno that seared his body and soul!

Pain!

Agony!

A common man could not withstand it; to attempt this rashly would surely result in instant spiritual annihilation and bodily incineration!

"No wonder wolf smoke entering the Hunting Tiger demands capturing a sliver of fused spiritual light—if you miss it, you die on the spot; even if you survive, your primordial energy is shattered."

He turned his gaze inward.

Three great dragons coiled and writhed; his vision pierced through their bodies, revealing every major and minor meridian—dragon tendons and dragon bones all writhing, and between the Chong and Heart Meridians, a semi-transparent membrane began forming.

To build a house, to plant a divine art, one must first cast the walls!

Liang Qu emptied his mind, recalling the sensation of Heaven and Man as One, continuously circulating his blood and qi, mobilizing his spiritual essence, forcing the two to meet and fuse.

It was like forging two different steels into one—temperature, hammering, and skill were all indispensable.

Lose control of any detail, and not only would you fail to forge strong steel, but even the original two flawless plates would intermingle impurities and twist into useless scrap.

Fortunately, having experienced Heaven and Man as One, Liang Qu was already a master blacksmith.

The contact surfaces of the two steel plates slowly fused.

……

Jiang Feng drifted gently.

His sinews and bones trembled softly, his blood surging like tides and oceans.

Liang Qu sank into solitary meditation, unaware of the outside world, utterly immersed in the fusion.

He was breaking through by imperial decree, beneath the imperial capital—if anyone dared interfere and succeeded, the Great Shun could not bear the weight of being the world's first.

A moment passed.

The first wondrous qi of fused spiritual essence and blood emerged—the blood pillar of wolf smoke surged again, rising beyond fifty zhang!

Many large vessels followed closely, straining to catch up and enter Jishuitan; seeing this, they erupted in cries of astonishment.

"It's rising again!"

"He's starting to break through!"

"What? Starting to break through? Didn't he already break through?"

"Strange—how could he have fifty zhang before even breaking through? Is he even human?"

"Sixty! No, over sixty!"

"What a vast land, how many talents emerge!"

"I wonder if he's betrothed?"

On the river, within painted pleasure boats, songbirds trilled and dancers swayed, surrounded by a circle of beauties.

The guests here today differed greatly from those of Great Shun, dressed in strange attire, their speech thick with foreign accents.

Envoys from small nations set down their cups, silently watching the treasure ship drift past, each inwardly awed.

Great Shun was like a blazing sun, its radiance bathing all, making men sweat profusely and their throats parched.

Just as all watched, some rejoicing, some fearful, some jealous—

ZZZZ~

The blood pillar surged from over sixty zhang to over eighty zhang!

Every heart knew what this sudden change meant.

No need to say.

Only one possibility remained.

Success!

Magnificent!

Almost the instant the blood pillar shot upward, the river rang with the roar of surging waves, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, echoing endlessly.

Lan Lan Jicai's spirits soared; he dipped his brush in ink and wrote with wild, dragon-like strokes, his passion as turbulent as the river's waves.

His colleagues all began writing at once.

"Our dynasty now has a Hunting Tiger at eighteen—far surpassing Yuan Yuan Yuwen! Does this not prove our civil and military glory exceeds even the founding Emperor?"

"Omen! Auspicious sign!"

"Heaven blesses Great Shun! Heaven blesses Great Shun!"

Outside the tower ship.

From pleasure boats, merchant ships, cargo vessels, countless people emerged from their cabins, their figures overlapping on the decks.

"A breakthrough of eighty zhang—rare in history."

"To witness this with my own eyes—what a fortune in three lifetimes."

"We're nearly at Jishuitan—will His Majesty see it?"

On all manner of vessels, chatter abounded.

Whoever the breakthrougher was, today had broadened everyone's horizons.

HUH!

A sword exhaled white mist.

Liang Qu looked inward once more.

Between the Chong and Heart Meridians, walls had risen—the Hunting Tiger was complete!

Blood nourishes the spirit, the spirit nourishes blood—in endless, self-sustaining cycle!

No wonder Shou Hu could kill with a single glare, striking fear into the hearts of all who met his gaze—most of it owed to the fusion of the divine soul.

With the divine soul fused to his blood and qi, Liang Qu's body no longer held mere blood and qi, but a more mysterious true qi!

But this was clearly not the end of his breakthrough today!

One begets two.

The Shou Hu realm requires six walls to complete one floor; now, planting the seed of a divine art is called the Lower Realm.

Thus,

He closed his eyes and focused again.

Only moments later, the blood pillar rose once more, reaching over ninety zhang!

Whoosh~

"Could this be the second wall?"

"It must be! Otherwise, how could such surging blood and qi be wasted?"

"Not breaking through until over fifty zhang is rare, yet still normal—but a third wall is unlikely…"

Liang Qu knew nothing of the outside chatter; had he heard, he would have deeply agreed, for as he began forming the third wall, he faced a thorny problem.

Insufficient blood and qi!

Yet Liang Qu never fought unprepared!

Teta Kai!

A flicker of thought.

Teta Kai dropped to all fours, dashed into the kitchen, and returned with two long trays, one in each paw.

Steamed Treasure Fish lay across them!

Four rare treasure fish obtained from the sea merchants!

Remove all clean bones, extract every venomous spine and poison sac, leaving only the most succulent flesh!

All who witnessed this were astonished.

"Eat now, replenish now?"

"One surge, then decline, then exhaustion—even if an elixir enters the belly, it must be digested and absorbed, transformed into 'essence'—is this useful?"

"Could it be a special constitution?"

Realm breakthroughs rely entirely on one's own accumulated 'essence'; swallowing treasures at the last moment to force a breakthrough cannot possibly be transformed in time—this is no different from charging into the Four Gates on a galloping horse.

But the essence of water marshes is different!

The essence acts upon the Refined Refined Ze Ling, which then returns the nourishment as Liang Qu's own 'essence'!

Two bites down.

【Water Marsh Essence +】

【Water Marsh Essence +】

What powerful treasure fish!

One fish alone contained twenty to thirty thousand essence!

Liang Qu's pupils trembled slightly.

After four fish were swallowed, his blood and qi surged wildly; the blue tide within the Marsh Cauldron rose high.

【Water Marsh Essence: 124,000】

No hesitation.

One hundred twenty-four thousand essence poured entirely into the Refined Refined Ze Ling!

【Cauldron Master: Liang Qu】

【Refining Refined Refined Ze Ling: Water King Ape (Purple) (Fusion Rate: 2% ↑)】

Blood and qi surged again through every limb and bone!

One final surge!

Hum!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Golden Leaf Treasure Boat, with overwhelming momentum, smashed through the large vessel at the rivermouth and hurled Liang Qu straight into the flooded pond.

Boom!

The grand vessel shuddered violently, waves crashing and scattering.

An incomparably vast torrent of essence shot skyward, thick as a pillar, piercing through layers of clouds!

Everyone stood frozen, staring upward in awe.

"How high?"

"A hundred… a hundred zhang!"

"A hundred zhang!"

At the summit of Wangyue Tower.

The Holy Emperor slammed his hand on the railing.

"What a fine, upright young man."

(End of Chapter)