The sound of rushing water echoed against the stone walls, the noise almost transforming into the eerie laughter of a skeleton.
It was unsettling.
The space was cramped, no more than a few square meters, and entering it felt like coming face-to-face with death itself.
Liang Qu crouched down, scanning the area.
There were no inscriptions or writings to be found, only a skeleton with bones as smooth and translucent as jade.
This was no ordinary person.
The bones were all broken, indicating that this was no natural death.
How long had this person been dead? Ordinary people decompose into skeletons within about three hundred days, faster in damp environments.
But martial artists were not ordinary people.
Liang Qu had never come across any systematic study on how long it took for martial artists of different realms to decompose, so he had no frame of reference.
A Heavenly Water Centipede wriggled over to a thick leg bone and crawled out from a hole in it.
"Are you saying you ate what was inside the bone?" Liang Qu picked up the leg bone and found it hollow.
He suddenly understood.
The flesh had long since rotted away before Ah Wei arrived, and even the ligaments between the bones had decayed.
The skeleton had only remained intact because it was held together by vines.
Ah Wei had only managed to eat some powdery residue from inside the bones.
As if sensing Liang Qu's intention to leave, or perhaps because his presence had disturbed the delicate balance between the vines and the skeleton, the skull, which had been hanging from the vines, suddenly fell.
The entire skeleton collapsed, revealing the stone wall behind it.
In the dim light, Liang Qu spotted some faint writing beneath the vines.
Most of it was illegible, but a few words were still discernible.
"I, a vanguard general of the Great Qian Dynasty's naval forces, was defeated and unable to resist. Severely wounded, I drifted here... I have failed the emperor's grace and thus end my life here."
A vanguard general from the Great Qian Dynasty? That meant this person had been dead for at least sixty years.
But the mention of drifting here made Liang Qu wonder—was there a battlefield nearby? He was disappointed that this wasn't some martial arts manual, but the information wasn't entirely useless.
Battlefields usually had high-ranking officers, right? He didn't dare hope for a Flood Dragon, but surely there were Tiger Hunters or Perfect Manifestation experts? Their armor and weapons couldn't have been ordinary.
Good weapons submerged in water could remain intact for centuries, especially those from naval forces.
This was worth looking into.
Liang Qu made a mental note of this.
He had once dreamed of finding sunken treasures, like shipwrecks, to make a fortune.
But the Jianghuai Marshlands were vast, and Righteous Prosperity City wasn't a particularly valuable port.
The nearby waters only had fishing boats that had long since turned to mud.
Even if there were treasures, they'd be hard to find.
Modern radar and detectors were advanced, yet even they struggled to locate such things.
With just him and a few water beasts, it would be even harder.
But a battlefield? That was a larger area, and there might be some hope.
"Ah, well. Even though you didn't leave me anything, I'll do you a favor and bury you in my lotus field. Let you rest in peace," Liang Qu said, patting the skeleton.
Resting in peace was all about decomposition, and decomposition happened everywhere.
Who didn't have weeds growing on their grave? Weeds were a good sign—it meant the land was fertile and the feng shui was strong.
If treasure plants grew there, it would be even better—a double blessing.
He'd just have to cordon off a section of the field and reserve the lotus roots that grew there as rewards for his four beasts.
Though there was nothing wrong with eating them himself, it still felt a bit... off.
Sliding back out through the crevice, Liang Qu used a stone shard to cut off a piece of the Water Ganoderma, leaving the root intact so it could regrow.
He hesitated for a moment, then divided the piece into smaller portions.
One-sixth would go to The Immovable, and the remaining two twelfths would be rewards for Fat Catfish and Fist.
As for the newly joined Ah Wei, seeing the remaining roots made Liang Qu's heart ache.
So much had already been eaten by the Heavenly Water Centipede—what was left to divide?
After dividing the Water Ganoderma, Liang Qu ate his portion raw.
Despite its name, Water Ganoderma wasn't as hard as regular ganoderma; it had a texture more like mushrooms.
[Water Essence +21.6]
Ah, refreshing! Liang Qu felt a surge of energy.
The Water Ganoderma was even more valuable than the crab roe he'd eaten before.
Without hesitation, he used the essence to boost his fusion rate.
After this boost, he was only thirty points away from fully merging with the Marsh Spirit! He wondered what the Green Spirit Marsh Monkey would look like.
As his stomach warmed with the energy from the Water Ganoderma, he couldn't dwell on it for long.
He immediately began his training.
Half an hour later, Liang Qu, red as a boiled shrimp, exhaled a puff of white steam and stretched his limbs.
The energy in his chest had grown to two inches in diameter and a foot in length.
Just half an inch more, and he could begin tempering his flesh.
It was like flourishing on both land and water, progressing steadily on both fronts.
Once the River God Sacrifice was over, he'd head to the martial hall to find Senior Brother Hu and shore up his weakest combat skills.
He wanted to become a true, battle-ready martial artist, not just someone with a strong body.
Besides, it had been nearly ten days since he last checked on Senior Brother Lu's weapon forging.
It was probably reaching its final stages, and he was eager to see how it was coming along.
As Liang Qu looked forward to the future, the Marsh Cauldron in his mind suddenly glowed brightly.
**[Water Monkey Marsh Spirit fusion has surpassed 50%.
Innate Skill unlocked—Water Leap.
With sufficient River Affinity, it may evolve into the divine ability—Water Traveling a Thousand Miles.]**
Liang Qu was ecstatic.
His premonition had come true—surpassing the halfway point in fusion had indeed triggered a transformation! A strange sensation washed over him, and he jumped into the water, activating the new skill.
Instantly, the water around him changed dramatically.
The resistance in front of him vanished, while the currents on either side and behind him felt like giant hands pushing him forward.
The scenery blurred, and before he knew it, Liang Qu slammed into a corner of the stone wall.
"Cough!" Choking on water from the pain, Liang Qu quickly scrambled back into the stone cave.
Water Leap turned out to be a stamina-draining movement skill! Using it drained a portion of his stamina in an instant, and before his nerves could even react, he had crossed ten meters and crashed into the wall.
Estimating the stamina cost, it seemed he could use Water Leap to instantly traverse fifty meters in water.
Liang Qu's heart raced as he thought about the divine ability—Water Traveling a Thousand Miles.
Could it really mean traveling a thousand miles in an instant? That would be incredible—like traveling from the North Sea to the distant mountains in a single day! The concept of River Affinity became clearer to him.
It had always been a vague term on the Marsh Cauldron's interface, and he had never known its purpose or how to obtain it.
Now he at least knew its use, though he still had no idea how to gain it.
Perhaps his current strength wasn't enough to reach that level.
After all, gaining the favor of a river surely required more than small feats.
Suppressing his excitement for now, Liang Qu checked his other abilities.
His water manipulation had increased by three hundred, reaching eight hundred pounds—a massive leap.
He then checked on his two beasts.
The Immovable only needed twenty-eight more points to evolve, while Fat Catfish needed thirty-two.
Fist was still a long way off, but it would be formidable once it reached adulthood.
Wait, something didn't add up.
Liang Qu frowned.
He vaguely remembered that The Immovable had needed over forty points last time.
A single Water Ganoderma was worth around thirty points, and even with cutting errors, it shouldn't have reduced The Immovable's requirement by ten points.
It had only eaten one-sixth, which should have only accounted for five points.
Was this natural growth? After some thought, Liang Qu could only conclude that it must be.
Regardless, reducing the evolution points was a good thing.
Taking one last look at the stone cave, Liang Qu decided it would make an excellent hideout.
It wasn't too far from his lotus field, and he could slowly turn it into a base.
But first, he needed to move the skeleton and bury it in the lotus field.
He couldn't stand the thought of sleeping near bones.
His resting place was no place for others to linger, not even skeletons!
After finishing the task, Liang Qu's stamina had mostly recovered.
He decided to test a full-powered Water Leap.
The water lifted him, resistance vanished, and in an instant, he traversed fifty meters.
His stamina was drained in a flash, leaving him utterly exhausted.
He could barely even paddle, so he had The Immovable carry him back to the black canopy boat.
It seemed he'd have to use this skill sparingly in battle, or he'd end up as easy prey.
Having figured out his new skill, Liang Qu rested for a while before heading back with Ah Wei to get some sleep.
(End of Chapter)