Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 447 Riverbed Stele
Upon hearing Zhong Ying's request, Lu Zheng asked, "Approximately where is it?"

Anyway, he was going to check the situation in the water, and if it was convenient, he might as well pull someone out while he was at it.

Zhong Ying turned her head slightly and said, "There's a broken bridge upstream, right there..."

Zhong Ying led the group along the riverbank, and soon they saw a wooden bridge standing in front of them.

Zhong Ying said, "When we discovered this secret place, the bridge was already broken. We don't know who destroyed it... We originally wanted to rebuild a new bridge over this river, but we found it very difficult to build."

"To cross the river, you have to use your skills to leap across the bridge. If your skills aren't up to par, you'll easily fall into the river..."

The narrowest part of this river is less than thirty feet wide; if it were outside, ordinary cultivators could easily cross it using their spells.

However, in this secret realm, the river possesses a special power, and even those who leap over it experience severe suppression.

Even cultivators at the third level must act with caution, otherwise, if they are careless and fall into the river, they will not be able to get out.

The group arrived on the broken bridge and, being within its boundaries, were not affected.

Zhong Ying pointed to a spot in the river, "It's right there, the location shouldn't have changed."

The Zhong family member who went there to investigate earlier never came back up.

The Zhong family tried to bail him out, but all their efforts were in vain.

Even if a rope-like magical artifact is used, it becomes extremely heavy once it comes into contact with water, and can even pull a person into the river.

Lu Zheng looked at the location, then went to the riverbank and slowly walked into the river.

Without the protection of his own water elemental source, Lu Zheng found that his legs were as if they had taken root, making it difficult to step out of the river and extremely troublesome to walk in the water, requiring a lot of effort.

Lu Zheng knew that his physique was even stronger than that of many cultivators in the fifth realm. Even he had difficulty moving around. If Zhong Ying and the others really entered the river, they probably wouldn't be able to get away.

After trying to move a few steps, Lu Zheng stopped wasting his energy and used the power of the source of water to envelop his body in the river, gradually sinking deeper into the river.

Before long, Lu Zheng disappeared from everyone's sight.

The river's unique characteristics prevented Zhong Ying and the others from using their divine sense to observe Lu Zheng's location.

Zhong Ying's eyes flashed with a strange light; she hadn't expected Lu Zheng to actually enter the water so easily.

Lu Zheng stepped into the river, his vision and divine sense were obstructed, but when he tried to use the source of water to explore his surroundings, he was able to clearly perceive the situation around him.

Below the river's surface, the current is gentle, and there are no insects, fish, or plants in the water; the bottom is only sand and stones.

Lu Zheng also tried to withdraw the primal power beneath his feet and found that he was standing on sand and stones without sinking into them.

That powerful suction seemed to disappear the moment I touched the riverbed.

However, once the feet leave the sand slightly, that force reappears, determined to keep the person underwater.

Suddenly, Lu Zheng glanced to the side and noticed a corpse lying not far away.

The body was not located where Zhong Ying had indicated, and the body's clothing looked somewhat ancient.

Lu Zheng guessed that it was probably a cultivator from outside who had stumbled here.

It's unclear when this person died here, but their face remains lifelike, though their expression is somewhat ferocious, suggesting they struggled painfully as they drowned in the river.

Lu Zheng walked over and found an identity plaque on the corpse; it belonged to a certain sect.

After some recollection, Lu Zheng vaguely remembered that this sect was recorded in a certain ancient book. It was a cultivation force that was active in the previous dynasty, but it had declined and died out hundreds of years ago.

The historical records do not provide detailed information about the specific history of this power.

Lu Zheng thought for a moment and tried to carry the corpse up, but found that he needed the power of the water's source to do so, otherwise he couldn't lift it at all.

Lu Zheng looked around again. There was more than just one corpse underwater. As far as he could see, there were several other bodies. Judging from their clothes, they were probably from different eras.

Lu Zheng was already expending a lot of energy moving around in the river, and if he were to retrieve so many corpses, it would take even more effort, which would be very time-consuming and energy-draining.

After thinking for a moment, Lu Zheng decided to first find the source of the river's anomaly and solve the problem at its root.

He moved slowly underwater, using his senses to explore his surroundings.

After a moment, Lu Zheng paused and lowered his head slightly.

There seemed to be something beneath him, emanating a peculiar aura.

Lu Zheng waved his right hand, using the unusual phenomenon of water to stir up the sand being dug up.

After expending a great deal of effort, Lu Zheng dug out a large pit.

In the pit, a stone tablet ten feet tall stood there, with two ancient and elegant characters on it: Ruoshui (弱水).

"How can this be……"

Lu Zheng looked at the large characters on the stone tablet with a look of surprise and doubt.

He was in the river and had a very clear sense of the water.

Although this river has some similarities to the legendary Weak Water, it is definitely not the real Weak Water.

Lu Zheng's eyes gleamed as he stared intently at the two large characters on the stone tablet.

Feeling the extraordinary Taoist charm emanating from these two large characters, Lu Zheng truly believed that these two characters had changed this river.

To transform an ordinary river into something with the characteristics of weak water using words—what kind of powerful being could master such a technique?

Looking at these two large characters, Lu Zheng felt that there was still a lot he needed to learn.

Seeing this, Lu Zheng stepped forward, placed one hand on the stone tablet, and sensed the power of the words on it. A gentle, water-like Daoist rhythm rippled outwards, and Lu Zheng personally felt its extraordinary nature.

However, he soon discovered that refining and absorbing this wisp of Daoist essence was not easy.

That wisp of Daoist energy existed within the stone tablet, completely unaffected by his influence, as stable as Mount Tai.

Lu Zheng pondered that perhaps his cultivation level was not high enough, and refining the stone tablet would take a lot of time and effort.

There are people waiting for him upstairs, and he can't stay here forever.

Therefore, Lu Zheng did not stay any longer, but went to find the bodies of the Zhong family members and brought them ashore.

Zhong Ying and the others were waiting on the shore when they were surprised to see Lu Zheng bring up a corpse so quickly.

When Zhong Ying saw the corpse that Lu Zheng brought up, her eyes lit up. It was an elder of their Zhong family.

"Thank you so much, you've worked hard..."

Zhong Ying quickly bowed and thanked him, then put the corpse away.

He then inquired, "Did you make any other discoveries underwater?"

Lu Zheng said unhurriedly, "There are still some corpses and a stone tablet down there. The abnormality of this river should be caused by that stone tablet..."

Lu Zheng didn't hide anything and recounted what he had seen.

Everyone was astonished to hear this, for the river's extraordinary nature actually stemmed from a stone tablet.

Who left this inscription that has such a terrifying effect?

A ripple of emotion stirred within Zhong Ying. Lu Zheng could have chosen to keep this a secret, yet he still revealed it. His open and honest actions were truly admirable.

However, this is a good thing for them. If the people they invite have no ulterior motives, they don't need to spend too much time on guarding against them.

It's understandable that he was being cynical, since neither side really knew each other, and who knew if they might turn against each other over finding some treasure.

Zhong Ying couldn't help but ask, "Do you have a way to bring that stone tablet out, or refine it?"

Lu Zheng said, "I'm not very confident; we need to spend time trying."

Then there's still some confidence... Upon hearing this, Zhong Ying was startled; this person's strength was probably much greater than his own.

Zhong Ying's mind raced, and she said, "Since outsiders have come here, let's explore the depths of the secret realm first. There's no rush here. We'll return and pass through here again after our journey. If you have the ability then, you can choose the stone tablet in the river as your reward."

Since the Zhong family has no way of obtaining the stone tablet in the river anyway, they might as well give Lu Zheng a promise so that Lu Zheng and the other person can help them explore this secret realm.

Upon hearing this, Lu Zheng remained calm and said, "We'll talk about it later."

Lu Zheng didn't pay much attention to this, after all, he had witnessed the scene of the sacred object coming to him before.

Lu Zheng wouldn't force anything he couldn't have.

Compared to the stone tablet, Lu Zheng was more curious about what other strange things this secret realm had to offer.

Zhong Ying nodded and said, "Shall we cross the river now?"

As she spoke, Zhong Ying's tone still carried a questioning tone towards Lu Zheng.

Zhong Ying clearly understood that whether this trip to the secret realm would go smoothly depended on these two.

"Master Zhong, just lead the way," Lu Zheng said with a slight smile.

Seeing this, Zhong Ying called everyone to go to the Broken Bridge.

Then, Zhong Ying took out an array plate and cast a spell there, preparing to try to cross the river.

Qingwan tilted her head and looked at Lu Zheng, asking, "How do we get there?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Zheng gently grabbed Qing Wan's shoulder, took a step, and shot off like an arrow, carrying Qing Wan towards the other side.

Without using any magic or techniques, relying solely on the strength of the body.

As the two soared through the air, they felt an overwhelming force pressing down upon them.

The two slowed down abruptly and plummeted downwards.

"boom……"

A muffled thud was heard, and Lu Zheng and Qing Wan landed heavily on the opposite bank of the river, without falling into the river.

"Is this okay?"

When Zhong Qing saw Lu Zheng and the other man crossing the river like this, his pupils couldn't help but shrink.

They all knew that crossing the river solely by physical strength required a considerable level of physical training; otherwise, they would be unable to withstand the invisible pressure.

Zhong Qing strongly doubted that Lu Zheng could surpass all of them simply by virtue of his physical strength.

Seeing that Lu Zheng and his companion crossed the river easily, the Zhong family members did not waste any time and soon reached the other side as well.

However, all this trouble took a toll on Zhong Ying, and she even used up a valuable array plate.

The Zhong family had been searching for this secret realm for many years, but they hadn't actually explored it many times. One of the reasons was that each time they opened the secret realm, moving around inside consumed a lot of spiritual resources.

The Zhong family can't afford such extravagance, and this place is somewhat dangerous. There aren't many strong members in the family, so they occasionally have to invite others to explore together.

(End of this chapter)