Chapter 1426: Mountain and Sea

After the feast at the Huangliang Terrace, Jiang Wang and Zuo Guangshu had not stepped out of the Duke's mansion.Each day was spent cultivating, sparring, and conditioning.Their sole aim was to enter the Mountain Sea Realm in the most perfect state.To Jiang Wang's delight, the Duke of Huai would occasionally spare time to lecture.From the Great Qi Butcher to Senior Guan Yan, from the Grand Imperial Censor Yi Xingchen to the Duke of Huai of Great Chu, Jiang Wang, who had "eaten from a hundred families" in cultivation, was very adept at utilizing such opportunities.Earlier, to complete his foundations, he had frequently sought guidance from friends like Chong Xuan Sheng, Li Longchuan, and Zuo Guangshu, and there was no issue with being unable to ask.It was only as his strength soared that these friends gradually could no longer provide much assistance...More often, it was through continuous battles that he self-examined, seeking his own problems for improvement.For Jiang Wang, such days of guidance from powerful individuals were like a starving person finally feasting endlessly, the happiness immeasurable.In such beautiful times, they finally welcomed the sixteenth day of the second month, the opening day of the Mountain Sea Realm.The two sat facing each other in Zuo Guangshu's study.The Duke of Huai's mansion was one of the safest places in Chu, so they didn't need to worry about matters after exiting the Mountain Sea Realm.The Nine Chapters Jade Wall, inscribed with the "Ode to the Orange," was held in Zuo Guangshu's hand, silently awaiting the arrival of the moment."Who were you originally planning to ask for assistance?" Jiang Wang suddenly asked.Zuo Guangshu looked up: "Why do you ask that?""Just thought of it, so I asked casually.""It was a heaven's favorite from Evening Drum Academy. Sufficient compensation was given, Brother Jiang need not worry.""I'm not worried... How much was given?"Zuo Guangshu: ...As they spoke, the Nine Chapters Jade Wall in Zuo Guangshu's hand suddenly blazed with light.This light, under Zuo Guangshu's intentional control, also enveloped Jiang Wang.The light circled, precisely enclosing the two individuals.It then extended on its own, forming a cylindrical light column.Jiang Wang and Zuo Guangshu became like people inside a罩 (zhào - cover/shield).What was originally brilliant white light suddenly transformed into myriad colors. Countless fragments of scenery flowed around them, but it was impossible to discern what they depicted, appearing bizarre and kaleidoscopic.Then, with a flicker, they vanished from the study.The old Duke, also in the Duke's mansion, sat in his study, looked up at the window outside, and pondered.Within the bizarre and kaleidoscopic light column, Zuo Guangshu loudly asked: "Do you know what a mountain sea is?""What..."Jiang Wang only managed to utter two words before the scenery before his eyes abruptly changed, and his ears were already filled with the sound of tides!Splash!A boundless sea.An endless expanse of azure.Jiang Wang had seen the sea; his annihilated soul resided on the Edge of the Sky Terrace, and his name still circulated among the nearby islands.But the sea he saw before him now was immeasurably vast, endlessly distant.It made the nearby sea seem cramped in comparison.The seawater was clear, revealing schools of fish and coral, a rich and colorful underwater world.The surface of the sea was azure, like an endless mirror.And the sky...Looking up at the sky, the heavens stretched for ten thousand li with smoke and mist, like a painting scroll unfurled.Floating mountains, one after another, stretched into the smoke and mist, appearing and disappearing at the edge of vision."This is the mountain sea!"Zuo Guangshu was enveloped in pale blue smoke, floating in the air, his voice revealing undeniable shock.Jiang Wang, by his side, also activated his Windless Smoke Armor, covering himself in fiery red smoke armor, instantly neutralizing the terrifying profound heavy force within the Mountain Sea Realm.Indeed, the entire view was filled with mountains and seas.Zuo Guangshu asked: "You were famous overseas; how does the sea there compare to here?""The nearby sea is not as vast as here. As for the Boundless Sea, that is beyond the Maze Realm; I haven't seen it yet. However, the environment there should be very harsh, not as beautiful as here," Jiang Wang replied while surveying the surroundings.Zuo Guangshu slowly descended, his feet treading on the surface of the sea, utilizing the power of water to quickly grasp the surrounding environment.Sensing the elemental force here, Jiang Wang subtly adjusted his muscle state, striving to adapt to the rules of the Mountain Sea Realm as quickly as possible, saying: "You said you wouldn't know what you needed until you entered the Mountain Sea Realm. Do you know now?""Legend has it that Huang Weizhen left everything of his here. His secret of Divine Presence, his Nine Phoenix Chapters, his wealth, his ultimate techniques... That is why so many people flock here."Zuo Guangshu closed his eyes, slowly speaking: "I don't know yet what will appear this time... but of course, what I want most is the Nine Phoenix Chapters."Everyone has their own "true," which cannot be conveyed through language, recorded in writing, nor be the same as others. Therefore, even if the Dao of Insight into the True could be preserved, its benefit to later generations is not so great. Above Insight into the True, needless to say, is even more so.As the beginning of the Upper Three Realms, the Divine Presence Realm is a leap in the essence of life, directly breaking the innate lifespan limit.Huang Weizhen's secret of Divine Presence was the most valuable cultivation experience he could leave behind.Hearing what Zuo Guangshu said, Jiang Wang thought he would be looking forward to Huang Weizhen's secret of Divine Presence, but to his surprise, it was the Nine Phoenix Chapters.He couldn't help but say: "I've heard you talk about the Nine Phoenix Chapters for a long time, but I still don't know what the Nine Phoenix Chapters are.""This is a cultivation technique, a token, and a divine ability. Or rather, it is the key to unlocking the Nine Phoenix divine ability. I'm not sure about the specifics. I only know that the previous practitioner of this technique must have died for it to reappear somewhere." Zuo Guangshu explained: "So this divine ability is unique."Cultivation technique, token, divine ability?Jiang Wang had never heard of such a thing.Just at this moment, he suddenly felt a sense of danger, and instantly activated his Sound Hearing Immortal State.Zuo Guangshu, who had been relying on the River Earl's divine ability to probe the environment, grasped the information faster than him. He reached out, grabbed him, and the two directly sank into the water.Within the seawater, an elliptical water shield naturally formed, concealing them within.Thanks to Zuo Guangshu's profound understanding of the element of water, this water shield was almost one with the seawater, making it difficult to detect any abnormality.Its defensive power was almost nil; its greatest function was to help them merge into this sea area.The Windless Smoke Armor on both of them also dissipated at the first moment. Zuo Guangshu had repeatedly claimed that he wasn't short of yuan stones and would maintain the Windless Smoke Armor throughout to always stay in optimal condition... Apparently, he had forgotten to consider situations like the present, where concealment was necessary.The Windless Smoke Armor was useful, yes, but a bit too ostentatious.In the next moment, a sound came "greeting" into Jiang Wang's ears—Under the Sound Hearing Immortal State, myriad sounds came greeting, like officials bowing to their ruler.But this sound was practically like coming to rebel and usurp the throne, shaking Jiang Wang's Sound Hearing Immortal State almost to dispersion. He did indeed actively retract it.It was a cry extremely similar to that of a mandarin duck.Yet, a terrifying majesty was contained within it, and the strength of the one crying could almost be imagined.Absolutely not something he could handle in his current state!Entering the Mountain Sea Realm and immediately encountering such a terrifying existence, was it extreme luck, or were such fearsome exotic beasts ubiquitous within the Mountain Sea Realm?Establishing a secret realm that those above Divine Presence could not enter, and then having such terrifying exotic beasts exist within. Was Huang Weizhen truly not committing murder?The terrifying pressure rapidly approached. Jiang Wang, peering through the water shield integrated into the sea, looked up.He saw a grotesque, strange-looking colossal creature, about twenty zhang in size, with a fish body and bird wings, gliding past at a low altitude.Was this a large fish with wings? Or a bird with the body of a large fish?Jiang Wang couldn't tell, only sensing from the terrifying oppressive feeling that this was at least an exotic beast with strength at the Divine Presence level.Entering the Mountain Sea Realm and immediately encountering Divine Presence!This made Jiang Master Jiang's boast of sweeping through the Mountain Sea Realm seem utterly absurd.At this moment, he could only hide within the water shield created by Zuo Guangshu, observing the exotic beast with him in utter silence, without a single superfluous movement.He saw—The fish-bodied, bird-winged exotic beast flew low, suddenly opening its mouth. Its mouth was filled with sharp teeth, like crisscrossing blades. And the moment it opened its mouth, the entire nearby sea area became turbulent.Rumble!Swallowing everything.It was as if the entire sea area had flipped over, an incalculable amount of seawater, carrying everything in the sea like fish, shrimp, crabs, and shellfish... all rushed into its gigantic mouth.The sky was low, the clouds were heavy, the exotic beast was like swallowing the sea!You even felt as if it was going to drink this entire sea dry in one gulp.The entire sea area, covered by this terrifying power, showed a huge funnel... That was actually a surging torrent!The water shield where Zuo Guangshu and Jiang Wang were hidden was naturally also caught within, and within the range of the terrifying suction force, there was a feeling that they could be pulled away at any moment.If they entered the belly of this exotic beast, wouldn't that be disastrous?It was likely they would never have a chance to get out again.Jiang Wang glanced at Zuo Guangshu, his hand already on his sword, asking with his eyes if Zuo Guangshu could hold on.If not, the first battle in the Mountain Sea Realm would have to be here, against this exotic beast.Although it was certainly impossible to win, Jiang Wang was somewhat confident in his ability to harass it and escape. At that time, he would just use the Recollection Secret Technique to reunite with Zuo Guangshu.Zuo Guangshu shook his head.Concentrating fully, he felt the water, grasping its power.He circulated his River Earl divine ability, laboriously manipulating the protective water shield, preventing it from being swallowed along with the vast amount of seawater, while also not creating too much resistance to attract the attention of the exotic beast to them, these two small shrimp.This kind of precise control was where the most energy was consumed.Not much time had actually passed, but it felt exceptionally long due to the terrifying power of that exotic beast.Even Jiang Wang had already seen the fine beads of sweat on Zuo Guangshu's forehead...Fortunately, this time the swallowing finally ceased.The fish-bodied, bird-winged exotic beast closed its mouth, and the huge azure "funnel" formed by the gathered seawater disappeared.Then its fish lips parted.Whoosh whoosh whoosh!From between its teeth, seawater jetted downwards with a terrifying screech, like javelins! The sky-filling "seawater javelins" fell into the sea, creating ripples everywhere in this sea area.Puncturing this sea mirror everywhere!A small fish happened to be swimming above the water shield concealing the two individuals, and was instantly pierced by a falling "seawater javelin"!Blood mist dispersed, obscuring the view.In the entire sea area, countless "escaped" lives suffered devastating blows at this moment.They had narrowly escaped the exotic beast's swallowing, but were killed by the stream of water it casually spat out.The azure sea area gradually turned red.Jiang Wang meticulously controlled the water element, dispersing the blood mist near the water shield to gain a wider view. Although his water control was far inferior to Zuo Guangshu's, doing these small things was not a problem.But at the same moment—Suddenly, a "seawater javelin" pierced the water shield, penetrating Zuo Guangshu's right forearm!Blood spread in the water shield.Anger instantly flared in Jiang Wang's eyes, but Zuo Guangshu held him back with his gaze."Brother, don't move."He moved his lips, saying this with his lip shape.To remain integrated with the environment under the pressure of that exotic beast and in such turbulent conditions in this sea area.He had already exerted all his strength, unable to even spare the energy for telepathic communication.When that "seawater javelin" struck, Jiang Wang had overlooked it, but he, who controlled the River Earl's divine ability, certainly would not miss the trajectory of this "seawater javelin" in the seawater.It wasn't that he couldn't dodge, but once he dodged, the natural relationship between the water shield and this sea area would be broken, his River Earl divine ability's influence would no longer be effective, which would inevitably lead to—The exotic beast seeing them at a glance!This fish-bodied, bird-winged exotic beast had a strength level not inferior to a Divine Presence cultivator.At this time, it was merely feeding normally and had not noticed them, these two small fish.If it really came to the point where Jiang Wang had to draw his sword to divert it, danger would be inevitable.And he was unwilling.Jiang Wang was silent.After a while, another "seawater javelin" shot into the water shield.This time, Jiang Wang was paying full attention, reactivating his Sound Hearing Immortal State, raising a finger, and lightly touching that "seawater javelin"—to avoid affecting Zuo Guangshu's efforts to merge into the sea environment, the power he used was also very small.His Dao essence almost condensed at his fingertip.The "seawater javelin" collided with his finger, constantly impacting and constantly dissolving.Its power was disintegrated, its sound annihilated.Finally, it dissipated almost silently.Only a drop of blood remained on his fingertip, injured due to not perfectly controlling the force.But it was also the last drop.In the time that followed, "seawater javelins" still shot down, but Jiang Wang merely raised his fingers lightly, his ten fingers like plucking a zither, leaping over Zuo Guangshu's head, shoulders...Each time, he just managed to catch the "seawater javelin," and precisely annihilated it without making any sound.This fish-bodied, bird-winged exotic beast had swallowed too much seawater, and the "seawater javelins" shooting down from between its sharp teeth continued for a full half an hour before stopping.Then it chewed the fish remaining in its mouth with a large gulp, flapped its wings, and flew up, creating invisible ripples at a low altitude. The terrifying air pressure caused a depression on the surface of the sea, which took a while to recover.This terrifying exotic beast, with a single ordinary meal, almost annihilated this sea area.But it finally left.Jiang Wang breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, truly fearing that if it continued, Zuo Guangshu would not be able to hold on.To maintain the effort of blending into the environment for a full half an hour under the pressure of a Divine Presence level exotic beast, the consumption was imaginable.Zuo Guangshu then grinned, a hint of youthful pride: "This Dao technique I researched isn't bad, is it?"Jiang Wang, while tending to the wound on his right arm, didn't hesitate to praise: "It is indeed miraculously skillful, naturally perfect!"It was a pity that he was lifting the sedan chair, but Zuo Guangshu wasn't."I'll do it myself," Zuo Guangshu pushed Jiang Wang's hand away, demonstrating what a healing Dao technique was to Brother Jiang. With just one hand, he swiftly and almost perfectly dealt with the wound.