Chapter 418: I Departed Quietly, Just as I Arrived Quietly

"Let's go!"

Even though they felt reluctant, Zhang Xingyu and Tang Yunxi still left the Drainage Lake hand in hand.

Before departing the lake bottom, with a grab‑everything mentality, Zhang Xingyu used his storage ring to gather all the broken bricks from the lake floor.

Tang Yunxi smiled brightly at him, her eyes full of tender affection.

She thought: Zhang Xingyu is being insanely stingy; to save enough bride price to marry her, he won't even let go of these scraps.

Outside the Drainage Lake, on the beach.

Gu Yuyiao stared anxiously at the surface of the Drainage Lake.

Zhang Xingyu and Tang Yunxi have been diving in the lake for thirty days; after thirty days with no return, they were likely dead.

If not for the senior brothers and sisters blocking her, she would have jumped in to save them.

Gu Yuyiao felt guilty.

Why? Why jump into the lake?

Even being trapped on an island wouldn't drive one to jump into the lake to commit suicide!

Could it be that Zhang Xingyu truly doesn't want to see me?

Glug, glug, the lake water made a clear sound.

Gu Yuyiao stared at the surface, silently praying: "Zhang Xingyu, come out quickly, you come out quickly. If you don't want to marry me, if you insist on being with Tang Yunxi, I can at most let you be."

Glug, glug, strings of sparkling bubbles rose to the surface, reflecting brilliant colors under the sunlight.

Unfortunately, the beauty lasted only a moment.

Gu Yuyiao stared absentmindedly at those bursting brilliant bubbles, two clear tears silently slipping from the corners of her eyes.

At that moment, the lake surface splashed with two clear sounds, and two heads emerged from the water simultaneously.

Gu Yuyiao wept with joy: "Zhang Xingyu, you finally came back!"

When Zhang Xingyu returned to the beach, he was warmly welcomed by the Tianya Sea Pavilion disciples.

"Junior Brother Zhang, what's beneath the Drainage Lake?"

"Junior Brother Zhang, why did you take so long?"

"Junior Brother Zhang, I thought you wouldn't return."

Zhang Xingyu patiently explained to each of them, and the surrounding Tianya Sea Pavilion disciples let out startled exclamations.

"What, there's a Dao Gate below, and a secret realm inside!"

"What, the farmer inside treats a true dragon like an eel and grills it?"

"Come on, let's go inside, maybe we can get some treasure."

"Plop, plop, plop!" Water splashed everywhere.

The surrounding Tianya Sea Pavilion disciples leapt into the Drainage Lake.

Gu Yuyiao didn't go; she just stared blankly with her big Cazilan eyes at Zhang Xingyu and Tang Yunxi.

Zhang Xingyu and Tang Yunxi held hands and sat down on the beach. They had swum upward over a thousand meters, which really drained their stamina.

Zhang Xingyu sat on the beach, reached out and pulled a gold brick he had retrieved from the lake bottom.

The gold brick was palm‑sized, square, and extremely heavy in his hand. Zhang Xingyu estimated it weighed over a hundred jin.

The gold brick bore a winding pattern; at first glance it seemed ordinary, but when he enveloped it with his divine sense, the pattern twisted like a snake. Simultaneously, thunderous rumblings echoed in his mind.

He withdrew his divine sense and inspected the divine courtyard. Within the courtyard, Brother Chun hung high, orange‑red light illuminating the boundless divine sea. In the divine sea, waves rippled, a blue lotus swayed with the wind, a golden cloud floated mid‑air, and silver‑white lightning periodically struck down.

Brother's divine sea seemed to have expanded again. This thought puzzled Zhang Xingyu. How did I come to use the word "again"?

Zhang Xingyu put away the gold brick in his hand and, with a flick, took out another one.

This gold brick was similar in size and material to the previous one, but it was missing a corner, and its pattern was incomplete.

Zhang Xingyu thought for a moment, then buried his head in the storage ring, rummaging for a while, and finally found a small piece among the pile of bricks.

This small gold brick was also broken, and its fracture matched perfectly with the earlier piece.

He stitched the two bricks together seamlessly, then used his divine sense to envelop the pattern on the bricks.

"Boom!" The thunder roared again.

Zhang Xingyu seemed deep in thought.

He sank his divine sense into the divine courtyard again. In the sky above the divine sea, the golden cloud indeed bore another silver lightning.

"Xingyu, what are you doing with these worthless bricks?"

"Yunxi, I've discovered a secret…"

Zhang Xingyu told Tang Yunxi of his discovery, but Tang Yunxi wore an incredulous expression.

"Try it, if you try you'll know, right?"

Tang Yunxi nodded. She knew that Zhang Xingyu wouldn't deceive her on such matters.

She released her divine sense, but the brick remained a brick, the pattern remained a pattern, showing no reaction, like a lifeless object.

She gently shook her head.

But she wasn't regretful. She knew this was Zhang Xingyu's destiny. She was glad that Zhang Xingyu could obtain his destiny.

"This is your destiny!" she laughed.

Zhang Xingyu nodded. Destiny is a mysterious thing, usually unique. Everyone has their own destiny, more or less, big or small, and it cannot be forced.

He gently squeezed Tang Yunxi's hand, then bent over to continue fiddling with the pile of broken bricks he had retrieved from the Drainage Lake.

In less than a quarter of an hour, he scanned the entire pile of bricks with his divine sense.

Two hundred twelve bricks yielded one hundred nine patterns, producing one hundred nine silver‑white lightning bolts.

He didn't know what these lightning‑forming patterns were, but they were certainly extraordinary.

After putting away the last brick, he waved his hand and summoned the golden cloud hovering over the divine sea.

The clouds answered the summons and emerged.

It flew out from Zhang Xingyu's forehead and swiftly rose into the sky.

The higher it flew, the larger it grew, until it completely covered the sky above the sand reef.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Silver‑white bolts of lightning kept striking from the clouds, turning the area within dozens of miles around the sand reef into a world of thunder.

At the same time, golden broken bricks flew out one after another from the storage ring. They automatically linked together from Zhang Xingyu's feet, extending and enlarging as they went. In less than a quarter of an hour, the golden bridge rose from the sand reef, stretched into the void, and vanished into the flashing, lightning‑filled clouds.

Zhang Xingyu stared dumbfounded.

Tang Yunxi was speechless and wide‑eyed.

Gu Yuyiao stood there as still as a wooden chicken.

Wind Whisper, who had just stuck her head out of the lagoon, and the disciples of the Sea Pavilion stood frozen on the spot.

After a long while, the group finally turned back.

Zhang Xingyu looked toward Wind Whisper in the center of the lagoon.

Very sturdy, very arched, very close‑fitting.

People say that nothing tempts more than a lotus emerging from water.

He steadied his mind and, without a trace, wiped the crimson from under his nose: "Wind Fairy, have you found anything beneath the lagoon?"

Wind Whisper gently shook her head: "There's nothing down there—just seawater, only seawater. The stone gate you mentioned doesn't exist at all."

Zhang Xingyu was embarrassed. "Your RP value is insufficient; who can be blamed?"

Wind Whisper didn't linger with Zhang Xingyu; she looked up at the stunned Gu Yuyiao on the shore: "Junior sister, where did this golden bridge come from?"

Gu Yuyiao glanced at her senior sister, then at Zhang Xingyu, before answering: "It flew out from Zhang Xingyu's storage ring."

From the storage ring? Could it be an artifact?

Wind Whisper, unable to dry the water on her body, hurried to Zhang Xingyu's side: "Junior brother Zhang, is this golden bridge your artifact?"

Zhang Xingyu gave no reply. His nose was sour, and blood dripped out again unwillingly.

Seeing Zhang Xingyu remain silent, Wind Whisper asked again: "Junior brother Zhang, what's the story with this golden bridge?"

At that moment, a sudden sound of swallowing came from behind her. She turned toward it, and in the pupils of the junior brothers' nostrils hung two long red dragons.

"Ah!"

Wind Whisper finally realized something was wrong.

At the same time, a sharp pain shot from Zhang Xingyu's waist.

Ah, Tang Yunxi's little brat again pinched the soft flesh at his waist.

A quarter of an hour later.

The group bid farewell to the sand reef and stepped onto the golden bridge.

Looking back, the sand reef floated like a golden lotus in the shimmering divine sea.

Farewell, sand reef.

Farewell, unknown elder brother.

Quietly I depart, just as I quietly arrived; I wave my sleeves, taking no cloud with me.