Da Shuang and Xiao Shuang were people invited by Lin Qing’er; they were her closest childhood friends. After returning, Lin Qing’er asked Xiao Shuang to spare no effort in helping Shui Miao establish his own company. Xiao Shuang, loyal and righteous, went all out to assist Shui Miao and even specially brought in a top-notch talent she admired—a beautiful, highly capable woman from Taiwan who was skilled in everything: Lin Chi-ling.
But this Lin Chi-ling was not that Lin Chi-ling.
In fact, this Lin Chi-ling wasn’t really invited by Xiao Shuang at all, but rather sent by Lin Qing’er’s father, Old Master Lin.
Old Master Lin was an eccentric man. Whoever wanted to become his son-in-law had to endure his cruel trials.
His tests were bizarre and heartless.
Only those with extraordinary luck or special qualities could possibly survive his three trials.
The first time, Old Master Lin sent He Zhen to take over the hotel, but He Zhen was caught—his failure was complete and utter.
The second time, he sent assassins to investigate Shui Miao. They discovered that Shui Miao was upright and hadn’t touched the hotel’s money, which ended up with the two assassins captured by the police, never to return.
After these two complete failures, Old Master Lin began to think that Shui Miao might actually have some skill, although much of it was likely due to luck. Therefore, he deployed his final test—his ace, Lin Chi-ling. Old Master Lin made a deal with his daughter Lin Qing’er: if Shui Miao could survive this final test, he would agree to let Shui Miao become his son-in-law. However, during this time, Lin Qing’er could not contact Shui Miao or leave Taiwan to return to the mainland.
Unaware of all this, Xiao Shuang believed everything was the result of her own persuasion.
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In the dark stone cave at the bottom of the dry well, time passed without sunlight.
Shui Miao’s phone had long since run out of battery and couldn’t be turned on.
During these days, Shui Miao had been cultivating energy nonstop, fully immersed in his state. He absorbed the spiritual energy from the Five Elements Disc into his body, refining it repeatedly before absorbing it again, cycling through this process countless times. Finally, there was a slight sign of transformation within his internal spiritual energy! It was a very strange feeling—he could actually see his spiritual energy transforming, turning into a faint mist-like form.
Could this… be the legendary inner vision?
Shui Miao’s heart trembled with excitement as he carefully observed the transformation of his spiritual energy internally. In his dantian, all types of spiritual energy swirled together, and in the center, the mist-like substance was increasing. Although he didn’t know what to call this substance, Shui Miao knew it had transformed from spiritual energy—in other words, it contained all forms of spiritual energy!
About half an hour later, all of Shui Miao’s spiritual energy had transformed into this mist-like substance, roughly the size of an egg.
“Hmm?”
Immediately after, Shui Miao noticed that the egg-sized misty mass sprouted countless root-like tendrils that spread toward various parts of his body. Wherever they passed, a light, floating sensation followed. Soon, these tendrils filled the entire area below his neck, making him feel as though his lower body had vanished, turning into drifting mist.
The misty mass, having extended some tendrils, had now shrunk to the size of a ping-pong ball.
Then, countless tendrils slowly crept upward toward his neck…
When they reached his mouth, Shui Miao could clearly distinguish the taste in his saliva. Because he hadn’t eaten for many days and had been cultivating energy in spring water, his saliva now tasted as sweet as the water.
When the tendrils reached his nose, Shui Miao could clearly smell many different scents. Below the cave, the strongest were the essences of earth and water, but upon closer inspection, he could even detect traces of other elemental energies mixed in the air. Of course, there was also the foul stench left by the monsters.
“Buzz…”
After a ringing sound in his ears, many sounds grew louder. Faintly, he could even hear Li Lan and the others speaking more than 150 meters above!
Then came a cool sensation in his eyes. Shui Miao knew that his vision must have transformed under the effect of this misty substance.
Having transformed his sense of taste, smell, hearing, and vision, the remaining misty mass surged toward his brain!
Then, an unprecedented sensation occurred…
Vivid memories flooded Shui Miao’s mind—people he had met, words he had heard, all his past experiences became crystal clear, rapidly flashing through his mind. Finally, his thoughts became sharp and agile, and worldly matters seemed suddenly simple. It was as if he had gained decades, even centuries of experience in an instant. Looking back at his previous actions, he found them laughably naive. It was as if he had transcended the mundane world and become an immortal being!
Then came cultivation, spiritual energy, and techniques—many things he had previously only vaguely understood. For some unknown reason, everything suddenly made perfect sense!
“What is going on? Could it be that I am about to become an immortal?”
After experiencing these strange phenomena, Shui Miao felt his soul seemingly leave his body and rapidly ascend. With his eyes closed, his mind’s eye opened, revealing endless clouds and even the stars in the sky…
Unconsciously, a word surfaced in Shui Miao’s mind: Immortal Energy!
Could it be that this misty substance was actually Immortal Energy, transformed from spiritual energy!?
Shui Miao was both shocked and delighted, uncertain yet instinctively convinced that he had truly gained Immortal Energy.
“Boom!”
Suddenly, Shui Miao heard a thunderous sound. Looking up, he saw a massive heavenly gate opening a crack in the clouds. A torrent of misty Immortal Energy poured down from the gap, directly merging into his body. As the last bit of misty Immortal Energy in his dantian rotated, the energy kept increasing!
“Immortal Energy!”
“I’ve gained Immortal Energy!!”
Shui Miao was filled with excitement. Then his mind cleared, and his entire being instantly returned to reality.
Shui Miao suddenly opened his eyes and found that he could clearly see tiny grains of sand ten meters away! He focused his mind and looked inward at his dantian, only to discover that the misty ball of Immortal Energy, previously the size of a ping-pong ball, had now shrunk to the size of a grain of rice. No wonder he couldn’t shake open the heavenly gate—it was due to insufficient Immortal Energy.
“I must continue cultivating…”
Shui Miao quickly grabbed the Five Elements Disc, wanting to absorb more spiritual energy. However, he found that the spiritual energy he absorbed from the disc could no longer increase his Immortal Energy cultivation at all.
To enhance his Immortal Energy, he had no choice but to wait for the slow trickle of Immortal Energy pouring down from the heavenly gate.
Shui Miao calmed his mind and carefully observed his dantian. Judging by the rate at which Immortal Energy was flowing in from the heavenly gate, it would take at least several days to restore it to the size of a soybean. Such a slow rate was frustrating. To recover to the size of an egg would take months or even a year!
If he then used the accumulated Immortal Energy to shake open the heavenly gate further, he would likely gain even more Immortal Energy infusion.
At this rate, it might take decades to fully open the heavenly gate!
To speed things up, he would need a major opportunity.
Shui Miao slowly stood up and found his body incredibly light. Looking at himself, he not only had regained his original form but had become even thinner.
Suddenly, Shui Miao looked up at the crack in the rock and leapt upward like a monkey in the forest, moving at a speed he couldn’t believe. Following the crack, he could see clearly without any light. The crack was deep and long, leading who-knows-where. Shui Miao quickly darted through it. Soon, he saw many pink little flowers growing inside the crevice. Ahead, there was a strong moisture in the air, with a continuous dripping sound.
The pink flowers emitted a faint, strange fragrance. After inhaling a little, Shui Miao felt a surge of desire rise in his body. With a thought, he circulated the Immortal Energy in his dantian and quickly regained his composure.
This must be the aphrodisiac poison that Li Lan and Wang Xiaomi had been affected by.
Strange—why would such a plant be growing here?
Could it have been deliberately planted?
Shui Miao’s eyes flickered, instantly concluding that there must be more surprises within this crack. He quickly continued deeper…
Not far ahead was a damp, dripping stone cave. It was large inside, filled with many pink flowers. Besides the flowers, there were also many tiny flying insects similar to fireflies. Shui Miao reached out and grabbed one. The little bug was fierce, biting Shui Miao’s palm hard. He immediately felt numbness spreading from his hand up his arm, but under the effect of his internal Immortal Energy, the numbness quickly receded.
“These flying insects are dangerously venomous. Thank goodness Li Lan and the others didn’t come this far, or they might not have made it back.”
Shui Miao was puzzled—who had placed these insects here? What rare treasures could be hidden within this crack?
Quickly passing through the insect-infested area, Shui Miao saw an upward-sloping crack and followed it…
After walking for a few minutes, Shui Miao noticed a stone door on the side of the crack—it was man-made!
The stone door was tightly closed, with a stone wolf statue at its entrance.
Suspecting traps, Shui Miao didn’t act rashly but instead observed carefully. As he watched, he closed his eyes and let his soul leave his body, dashing straight into the stone door.
Inside, Shui Miao was stunned. There were no treasures at all—only deadly traps.
“What a malicious design!”
Shui Miao’s soul returned to his body, his heart pounding. Setting up such deadly traps deep within this crack was no ordinary feat. What shocking secret was hidden within?
Thus, Shui Miao continued walking upward through the crack for a while.
Gradually, the water energy became stronger. Shui Miao once again sent his soul out to investigate and discovered that the massive stone slab ahead was actually the bottom of the southern river in Jing Shui Village!
“How could this be? Did I take the wrong path?”
Shui Miao wanted to continue using his Immortal Energy to search further, but he noticed that the energy in his dantian had diminished significantly—it was now only half the size of a grain of rice.
“Forget it! I should return first. When my Immortal Energy is fully restored, I can come back to explore further.” Shui Miao felt reluctant but had no choice. With insufficient Immortal Energy, continuing recklessly might trap him in a life-threatening situation. He needed to conserve the remaining energy and return to the surface first. Although his Immortal Energy was decreasing, he was relieved to sense that the heavenly gate, somewhere unknown, was still continuously pouring in more energy. As long as he didn’t overuse it, his Immortal Energy would recover significantly over time.
Shui Miao retraced his steps, placed the Five Elements Disc into his backpack, and activated the ascension switch, returning to the surface.
At this time on the surface, it was deep into the night.
Shui Miao closed the door and looked toward the neighboring room—his little monster had already been taken away by his uncle, Director Zhang.
Just as Shui Miao stepped out of the room, he saw Li Lan and Wang Xiaomi coming out from the greenhouse, heading straight toward him.
They had installed cameras in the room. As soon as Shui Miao emerged from the dry well, Li Lan knew and immediately woke up Wang Xiaomi.
“Shui Miao, you’re finally out—you’ve been down there for thirteen whole days!”
“You must be starving. Let me go prepare something for you right now…”
Both Wang Xiaomi and Li Lan were excited. Seeing that Shui Miao had become thinner but still looked energetic, with sharp, piercing eyes, they knew he must have made a major breakthrough in his cultivation.
“Thank you both for your concern, but I’m not hungry at all. Everyone should be resting now. You two go back to sleep. Don’t worry about me. If anything happens, call me on my phone tomorrow during the day.”
With a slight smile, Shui Miao turned and strode quickly toward the main road, moving at an astonishing speed.
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