Chapter 157: Chapter 157

“Now… there’s no use for it anymore.”

Shen Xiuhan fell silent.

He heard what lay beneath the words, and he understood why Zuo Muxian had suddenly given the Pure-Source Dark-Essence Body-Forging Pill to Momo.

Nothing more than… seeing someone who stirred old memories.

Shen Xiuhan had the sense not to press. He sat quietly in the cabin.

The black-canopied boat glided on in silence, only the sound of oars dipping into water.

Roughly two hours later, the old boatman stopped rowing. His aged voice drifted in on the night wind.

“We’re here, sirs.”

Both men pushed aside the bamboo curtain and stepped out of the cabin.

Night wind carried the tang of water-weeds and a thread of chill, hitting them full in the face.

This was the southwestern edge of Yunyi Island, facing toward Changshui County.

Dongyi Island — Chenjian Wu’s stronghold — lay due north, separated by open water. The Ji clan’s patrol guards rarely ventured into these waters.

The bank was choked with reeds and rank grass. Even the boardwalk had fallen into disrepair — listing, half-submerged, its pilings furred with moss.

Once both men had leapt ashore, the old boatman pocketed his silver and, without a word, turned his oar and poled into a nearby shallows to moor and wait as agreed.

Shen Xiuhan and Zuo Muxian exchanged a glance, then each activated his movement art and skimmed across the lake surface in silence.

Shen Xiuhan used Startled Swan, Roaming Dragon — his figure drifting and elusive, each footfall raising no more than a faint ripple, not even startling the fish feeding in the dark.

Zuo Muxian’s footwork was subtler still. He walked with unhurried ease, an invisible cushion of force beneath his soles, his robes untouched by a single drop.

Side by side they crossed the water. In less than the time to drink a cup of tea, the silhouette of Dongyi Island emerged from the night.

The watchtowers blazed with light, fire-baskets burning fiercely on their peaks.

Along the shore and across the water, squads of bandit sentries prowled with torches. The clink of scabbards, murmured exchanges, and the occasional burst of coarse laughter all carried faintly over the surface.

Shen Xiuhan stopped behind a reef that jutted into the lake. He craned forward to gauge the distance, then cocked an ear to the sounds, and murmured:

“This is far enough.”

Zuo Muxian alighted soundlessly on another reef. One brow rose as he looked at Shen Xiuhan with surprise.

They were still nearly two li of open water from Dongyi Island.

The lake was broad and featureless — no cover whatsoever. Even the patrolling sentries were no more than specks from here, let alone the people on the island.

He paused, then couldn’t help asking in a low voice:

“Isn’t this a bit far? Are you sure?”

Shen Xiuhan gave a slight nod, his tone flat but certain.

“It’s enough.”

Zuo Muxian opened his mouth, then closed it. He didn’t ask again — but inside, bewilderment churned.

What manner of technique could draw a man out of hiding from several li away?

Even as the Chief Disciple of Zhaixing Sect’s headmaster lineage, he couldn’t begin to fathom it.

Because this was a divine-power art.

And the most arcane technique Shen Xiuhan currently possessed.

Shen Xiuhan scanned left and right, then leapt onto a larger reef — its flat top smooth as a millstone, just wide enough for one person to sit cross-legged.

He straightened his robe, faced Dongyi Island, and slowly settled down.

The Sea-Overturning Pearl, tucked inside his shirt, glowed faintly blue even through cloth and fabric — pulsing in the darkness like a jewel resting on the ocean floor.

Shen Xiuhan closed his eyes. Hands on his knees, palms up, five fingers spread like a lotus in bloom.

He drew a deep breath, expelled every stray thought, and began cycling the art.

Thousand Lakes Fishing!

The moment the arcane pathways activated, an invisible wave rippled outward from his center, expanding in every direction without a sound.

But the wave had barely traveled a zhang before the Sea-Overturning Pearl in his shirt drank it in completely — not a trace of disturbance left behind.

In the next instant —

The spirit artifact — the Abyssal-Dark Peak inheritance of Diaohailou — erupted into violent trembling.

The vibration traveled from Shen Xiuhan’s chest outward.

At first it was faint, like a second heartbeat. Then it grew — fiercer and fiercer — until his robe-front shook, emitting a deep, resonant hum, as though an ancient leviathan were stirring from its sleep.

A wave of force surged from the Sea-Overturning Pearl — dozens of times more powerful than Thousand Lakes Fishing alone.

Azure radiance blazed.

It enveloped Shen Xiuhan entirely. The light condensed into a pillar that shot straight into the night sky, flashing once and vanishing — like a blue divine sword piercing the heavens.

Zuo Muxian’s pupils contracted. His folded arms dropped to his sides, unbidden. Inside, astonishment crashed through him.

‘What… what kind of technique is this…’

The aura contained in that pillar of light had made even him — a Transforming Strength master — feel a tremor in his heart.

Not because of raw power.

Because of its essence — that ineffable profundity, that sense of touching the very source-laws of heaven and earth. It stirred in him the same reverence he felt only when facing his sect’s most senior elders.

This was the Sea-Overturning Pearl’s third and most heaven-defying wonder.

【While wielding this spirit artifact, all water-element arts and techniques are elevated beyond the practitioner’s own realm, allowing the release of the next tier’s secret-art might.】

The tier above Thousand Lakes Fishing was a secret art that only an Astral Strength practitioner could cultivate…

Dragon Gate Pulling!

The moment the art activated, its arcane effects flooded into Shen Xiuhan’s mind.

Hazy yet unmistakable — as though an invisible hand were unfolding every mystery of this secret art before his eyes.

This subordinate art of the Stream-Side Elder divine power had been created by the ancient mighty one, the True Lord Overturning-Sea.

Its name was drawn from the legend of the carp leaping the dragon gate, and its effect was analogous.

To the one ensnared by the art, a sense would arise — unbidden, overwhelming — that a colossal opportunity was descending upon them. Their spirit would be seized, their judgment clouded, their resolve shattered.

And the caster, pulling on that thread of greed and delusion, could puppeteer the target like a marionette — making them do whatever the caster wished.

If Thousand Lakes Fishing was the art of angling for treasure fish and relics beneath the water —

Then Dragon Gate Pulling was the art of angling for people.

The hook wasn’t baited with worms. It was baited with the human heart.

Azure radiance intensified. Shen Xiuhan sat with eyes shut, fine beads of sweat gathering at his brow, sliding down the ridge of his nose and dripping onto his blue robe, blooming into small dark stains.

His brow was creased, his lips pressed tight — clearly bearing no small burden.

Dragon Gate Pulling consumed dozens of times more force than Thousand Lakes Fishing.

This was a secret art that only an Astral Strength practitioner should be able to deploy. Even with the Sea-Overturning Pearl forcing the issue, the strain on Shen Xiuhan was immense.

Inside him, the four open apertures — Taichong, Guanyuan, Tinggong, Mingmen — pumped force without cease, channeling it along specific meridians into the Sea-Overturning Pearl.

He could feel it clearly: the force in his apertures was draining at a terrifying rate — like a dam with its gates flung wide, water rushing out, never to return.

In mere breaths, a quarter of his reserves had vanished.

And the drain was still accelerating.