Dragon Boat Secret Realm 15: Liquid Spirit Stones

The next day, Su Qing and Jiang Xiaocao followed the tattered map, diving beneath Qiuming Island.

The seabed was eerily calm, with no visible currents or spiritual energy fluctuations. Without the map, Su Qing would never have found the ruins.

The entrance was camouflaged, enveloped by vibrant five-colored coral and thick seaweed, blending seamlessly with the environment. Only close inspection revealed it.

Su Qing noticed the entrance’s coral was brighter and smoother than the surrounding ones, lacking the wear and holes of older growth.

This coral was likely new.

Someone had cleared the entrance and entered the ruins before.

For matters concerning plants—even seabed ones—Jiang Xiaocao was the expert. Underwater, they communicated via divine sense.

Su Qing asked, **[Can you tell how long this coral has been growing?]**

Jiang Xiaocao touched the coral’s surface, confirming, **[About two hundred years.]**

So, someone had entered over two hundred years ago.

Tianhu Society’s information wasn’t entirely baseless—there might be something valuable down here.

With her wooden fish for emergency escapes, Su Qing felt confident. After exchanging a glance with Jiang Xiaocao, they slipped past the coral and seaweed into the entrance.

It was pitch-black inside. Su Qing used a night pearl for light, moving cautiously.
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The passage, nearly a kilometer long, was heavily damaged, leading to Qiuming Island’s core. Su Qing studied the walls, noting severe water erosion and collapse, likely from violent rain or flooding.

The passage was quiet, lacking the traps she expected, but also devoid of spiritual energy. Without spiritual energy, no treasures could form.

At about six hundred meters, Jiang Xiaocao noticed, **[Su Qing, there’s a fourth-tier restriction here, but it’s been destroyed and is useless now.]**

Su Qing nodded. **[As we thought—someone’s been here.]**

Restrictions were common in the cultivation world, but fourth-tier ones were rare, suggesting the ruins held something valuable, prompting the owner to set barriers.

Two hundred meters further, they found a fifth-tier restriction, also forcibly broken.

Su Qing was puzzled. Breaking a fifth-tier restriction required immense power.

As they continued, she was stunned to find a sixth-tier restriction, followed closely by a seventh-tier one just ten meters later.

This unremarkable passage held four high-tier restrictions, all destroyed.

What kind of power could do this?

The Dragon Boat Secret Realm had never allowed cultivators above Foundation Establishment. A Foundation Establishment cultivator couldn’t break these restrictions. That left two possibilities: either they had a rare high-tier treasure specifically for breaking restrictions, or the restrictions were broken from the inside.

A Foundation Establishment-accessible treasure capable of breaking high-tier restrictions was unlikely, making internal sabotage more plausible.

If something had broken free from within, the ruins were likely safe now.

After confirming safety with their senses, Su Qing and Jiang Xiaocao passed the seventh-tier restriction into the ruins’ core, Su Qing gripping her wooden fish, ready to teleport if needed.

The interior was a vast circular hall, nearly half the size of Qiuming Island, with seven towering carved stone pillars, each a hundred meters tall and ten meters wide. Intricate patterns adorned them, exuding an inviolable aura. Thick chains, inscribed with obscure golden runes, wrapped around each pillar, wider than Su Qing’s body.

This was a spiritless zone, a seabed prison. The four high-tier restrictions, spirit-sealing pillars, and rune-covered God-Binding Chains were designed to confine something.

Originally, the chains converged at the hall’s center, restraining a massive entity. Now, only dangling chains remained. From their traces, Su Qing deduced the captive was as large as a small island.

Whatever it was, it had escaped two hundred years ago, rendering these measures useless. How it broke free was terrifying to consider.

A spiritless zone couldn’t produce treasures. If anything was left, it would be the spirit-sealing stones or God-Binding Chains.

But both were high-tier, claimed items, beyond their reach.

…

They retraced their steps and left. Only later did Su Qing notice something odd—her two wooden fish had turned gray.

Checking her storage bag, the other three had also changed.

She now had five gray wooden fish.

Jiang Xiaocao realized, “High-tier spatial energy unconsciously erodes lower-tier spaces, corrupting the teleportation.”

His senior, Orange King, had similar abilities, and Jiang Xiaocao had learned about spatial beasts. He deduced, “The creature imprisoned here likely had spatial abilities. It probably escaped the God-Binding Chains via spatial teleportation.”

Su Qing tested the fish. They still teleported, but only to the spiritless ruins.

Not ideal, but acceptable.

The ruins were safe. If she faced danger, teleporting there wasn’t bad. Unfortunately, they couldn’t use the fish for travel anymore—she’d have to go on foot.

…

In a hidden Qiuming Island cave, Blood Thorn Flower slowly opened her eyes. In her last battle for the demonic bone, she was gravely injured, dropping from Foundation Establishment to Qi Refining, forcing her to hide and heal.

Her fellow evil cultivators were dead or wounded, useless.

Unable to act herself, she deliberately leaked the ruins’ existence to Tianhu Society. The tip, from the black market, was unverified and potentially dangerous.

She let those fools scout for her. Once they explored, she’d use soul-searching to extract their findings, saving her the risk of exploring injured.

Whether they became idiots or fools after soul-searching didn’t concern her. Righteous disciples wouldn’t care about these thugs either.

Blood Thorn Flower thought her plan foolproof. Over a month since leaking the tip, it was time to collect.

She used the Face-Pinching Technique to craft a plain face, donned a minor sect’s robes, and, ensuring no flaws, left the cave for Tianhu Society’s camp.

Their spiritual marks, planted by her, were traceable within a hundred li—she’d find them even if they fled with loot.

At the cave’s exit, she sensed the marks at the island’s edge. Smirking faintly, she anticipated her haul.

The ruins were vast and heavily restricted, likely holding treasures. Tianhu Society’s weaklings couldn’t retrieve much, but mapping the path would justify their deaths.

The island wasn’t crowded. Seeing sanctimonious righteous disciples made her sick, but her injuries prevented her usual killing sprees, souring her mood.

At the island’s edge, only coconut trees and noisy monkeys greeted her. Their racket worsened her mood, tempting her to kill one for blood.

But the second-tier monkey king and its troop were too much for her injured state. She grudgingly looked away, searching for Tianhu Society.
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She’d make them suffer when she found them.

“Strange, the marks are right here,” she muttered, frowning. “Where are they?”

So long, and still incompetent.

Approaching closer, still no sign of them, she grew murderous. Then, the monkeys’ screeching drew her gaze upward, and she froze.

Even her ruthless, worldly mind blanked.

Why were five people—exactly five, bearing her spiritual marks—picking coconuts under monkey supervision?

Who else but Tianhu Society?

Furious and incredulous, she stared. Useless idiots, enslaved by monkeys! Evil cultivators wouldn’t stoop so low—humanity’s disgrace!

She wanted to kill them on the spot but met the monkey king’s gaze.

It sat up, shaking its coconut juice threateningly: these were its slaves, don’t interfere.

Blood Thorn Flower gritted her teeth and left.

…

Su Qing sailed her spiritual boat toward Dragon Scale Island.

She’d arrived at Qiuming Island alone; she left with Jiang Xiaocao and two unfinished coconuts.

Jiang Xiaocao initially didn’t want the Gold Spirit Pearl, but learning Su Qing had a Water Spirit Pearl, he kept it, eager to join her for the Dragon Boat Trial. Alone, he feared the sea, but with a friend, he was excited.

Su Qing understood—everything was better with friends. She recalled her own excitement before school trips.

A month and a half later, they reached Dragon Scale Island.

Named for its position as the “heart scale” of a dragon-shaped island chain, with Forging Gold, Qingmu, Pure Water, Huoxi, and Earth Breath Islands as its claws, Dragon Scale Island was massive.

Su Qing’s first impression: so many people.

It felt like the entire secret realm’s cultivators were here. Unlike Qiuming Island’s lone wanderers, most traveled in groups of two or three from the same sect.

Crowds bred factions. After a lap around the island, Su Qing and Jiang Xiaocao identified three main camps: Yanyi Sect in the east, Hefeng Sect in the west, and Sword Sect with Medicine King Valley in the north-center, with smaller sects and rogue cultivator alliances near Sword Sect.

Sword Sect had the most people, but Yanyi and Hefeng Sects had superior disciples—elite roots and mid-to-late Qi Refining cultivation, making them formidable.

No faction dominated, creating a tense stalemate.

Su Qing thought: *Dragon Scale Island’s just an island, yet it’s split into three distinct powers. Unbelievable.*
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At Sword Sect’s camp, she gained new perspective.

Away from Sword Sect for so long, she’d forgotten its internal divisions. Each faction—Pill Gate, Artifact Gate, Body Gate, Array Gate, Beast Gate, and Talisman Gate—rivaled the others.

Pill Gate, wealthy, isolated others. Artifact Gate coveted Pill Gate’s resources over forge disputes. Body Gate, the poorest, had no financial clout and clashed with Array Gate. Array Gate, often from noble backgrounds, subtly disdained others. Beast Gate focused inward, bonding with spirit beasts, socially withdrawn. Talisman Gate, the perennial nice guy, got along with all but deeply with none.

On Dragon Scale Island, Sword Sect’s factions camped separately.

Body Gate claimed a small area.

Jiang Xiaocao, friendless in Artifact Gate, joined Su Qing at Body Gate’s camp. Her friends were his friends, mostly Body Gate members.

To settle in, wealthier factions used spatial artifacts—compact outside, spacious inside, like portable living rooms or even mansions. These ensured comfort anywhere.

Body Gate, poor, lacked such artifacts. If someone had one, peers would pile in, cramming ten to a room, ruining any comfort.

Most lived in wooden shelters built from island materials, topped with rainproof leaves. Body Gate cultivators were rugged—sleeping in rain was “body refining.” A shelter was luxury enough.

The camp’s center had a flowing spring for water and a pile of wood and fire crystal stones for communal use, replenished after use.

It was midday, but the camp was empty.

Puzzled, Su Qing wondered if everyone was training.

She and Jiang Xiaocao gathered wood, building shelters. Halfway through, a muddy, exhausted Body Gate team returned, brimming with excitement.

One spotted Su Qing, shouting, “Su Qing?”

Su Qing smiled. “Chen Minjing.”

Chen Minjing had grown taller in under two years, her skin tanned, her demeanor relaxed, free of past restraint—a sign of thriving. Her cultivation had reached fifth-layer Qi Refining.

She waved to her team. “Go ahead, I’ll catch up with my friend.”

Reunited, their excitement led to overlapping chatter.

“You’ve grown taller, Su Qing, and your cultivation’s up!”

“Minjing, you’ve grown half a palm at least!”

Laughing, they stumbled through awkward exchanges before settling into normal conversation.

“I *have* grown taller,” Su Qing declared, delighted—it was the best news recently. She knew she could still grow.

Smirking, she said, “That’s nothing. Check my muscles.”

Rolling up her sleeves, she flexed her arms, honed from wielding the Manqing Sword. Her strength was impressive.

Body cultivators understood each other. Chen Minjing squeezed Su Qing’s arm, then her own, conceding Su Qing’s were firmer.

Getting a body cultivator to admit another’s superiority was tough, even for kind-hearted Chen Minjing, who struggled to praise outright.

Reluctantly, she said, “I train daily, eat Fierce Erosion Grass constantly—how’s your effect better?”

Su Qing, using Nine Heavens Spirit Grass instead, had superior results but kept quiet in the crowd. “I tweaked my spirit plant mix. I’ll share some later.”

Chen Minjing hated owing favors but had something to offer. “On Qing’an Island, I got a body-refining technique. I’ve used it for half a year—it’s effective. Come to my shelter later to study it.”

Su Qing agreed eagerly.

Only then did Chen Minjing notice Jiang Xiaocao, who’d listened quietly. She’d seen him but focused on Su Qing. Feeling rude, she addressed him.

Jiang Xiaocao didn’t mind, asking hopefully, “Have I grown taller?”

Chen Minjing studied him, shaking her head. “No, you’re the same as before.”

It was true—Su Qing had noticed Jiang Xiaocao hadn’t grown, his face still boyishly rounded, likely due to plant spirits’ slow growth. Some took centuries or millennia to mature; his real age was probably shocking.

Disappointed, Jiang Xiaocao stood taller. “Look again?”

No use—he hadn’t grown. Su Qing, now taller, consoled, “You’re fine as is.”

Chen Minjing, also taller, echoed, “Yeah, like this.”

The tall comforting the short was only fair.

After catching up, Chen Minjing shared Dragon Scale Island news. It wasn’t secret, so she was direct. “There’s a liquid underground, maybe ore fluid or a mutated spirit spring. We call it spirit liquid. It’s rich in spiritual energy, comparable to spirit stones, perfect for cultivation.”

Major sects organized teams to mine it. Chen Minjing’s team managed a large mine.

Not all areas yielded spirit liquid, making existing mines valuable, requiring constant guarding to prevent theft by other sects.

During their watch, extracted liquid was theirs. The supply was ample, with no conflicts yet, likely sustainable for a while.

Inviting Su Qing, she said, “Our team’s short-handed. Want to join us tomorrow?”

With Tang Yueling and Tian Ning not yet arrived, Su Qing agreed.

The next day, she joined Chen Minjing’s team at the mine. Jiang Xiaocao, tired from travel, stayed to rest.

At the mine, Su Qing felt the dense spiritual energy, confirming Chen Minjing’s claims. The liquid’s potency rivaled spirit stones.

It might truly be a liquid spirit stone.