All Heavens: A Role-Playing System Starting from Tianlong

Chapter 86 Riding the Waves Eastward

After Li Qiushui finished speaking, she turned and left.

Zhang Cheng watched her departing figure, then turned his gaze away and called out to the outside, "Xiao Yu, bring the disciples from Coconut Flower Island up here."

Xiao Yu responded from outside and quickly led the people from Coconut Flower Island closer.

Zhang Cheng, familiar with the process, removed the life-and-death talismans from each of them.

The following text appeared before my eyes: [Lv3 Lone Wolf 56% → Lv3 Lone Wolf 63%]

The group of people from the Thirty-Six Caves and Seventy-Two Islands seemed to be treated as a whole by the system.

When the other islands' life and death talismans were removed a few days ago, there was no progress gain. It wasn't until the last batch arrived today that the settlement was completed all at once.

Zhang Cheng silently calculated in his mind.

He killed quite a few people in Luoyang over the past seven days, including many skilled ones, yet his progress only increased by one point. However, removing the Life and Death Talismans from the island lords increased his progress by seven percent.

Sure enough, even minor characters in the original work, as long as they have a name, can provide substantial rewards.

He snapped out of his thoughts, sent everyone off from Coconut Flower Island, and went to the wooden house to find Granny Tong and Li Qiushui.

Inside the wooden house, only Granny Tong was practicing her boxing. Zhang Cheng leaned against the doorframe, waiting for her to finish her stance.

After finishing her set of punches, the old woman slowly stopped and looked at him.

"Sister Wu, where is Sister Li?"

"She borrowed the palace vulture from me; I don't know who she went to deliver a message to."

After speaking, Granny Tong looked at Zhang Cheng suspiciously: "She's been acting strangely ever since she came back. You didn't do anything bad with her after I left, did you?"

Zhang Cheng just stared at her speechlessly. Tong Lao felt a little uneasy under his gaze, but she forced herself to meet his eyes.

The two stared at each other for a long time. Finally, the old woman couldn't hold back any longer.

"Alright, alright, Grandma was just joking." She paused, then asked, "But I've only ever seen her so out of sorts when it came to my junior brother. What exactly happened?"

Zhang Cheng shook his head.

"You should ask Sister Li about this yourself. It's not appropriate for me to gossip about you behind your back."

The old woman snorted but didn't press the matter.

Zhang Cheng got back to business: "Now that the life-or-death talismans on the last island have been removed, I'm preparing to set off for Suzhou soon. Sister Li will be traveling with me. What about you, Sister Wu?"

The old woman replied matter-of-factly, "Of course I'll travel with you."

Zhang Cheng wasn't surprised: "What about these Lingjiu Palace disciples? Should we let them return to Tianshan on their own?"

The old woman pondered for a moment: "The world has been in turmoil lately because of you, and I'm a little worried about letting them go on their own."

Taking them along would only slow down our journey. Let's leave them in this valley for now.

Since it's just the three of us, traveling straight ahead, even traversing mountains and rivers, is no problem. With the spirit as our connection, we can return anytime if anything happens.

She looked at Zhang Cheng: "Of course, if you have any other better ideas, Grandma would like to hear them."

Zhang Cheng naturally had no objection to this.

So the old woman called Xiao Yu and the others in and gave them some instructions. Then she took Zhang Cheng up the mountain to find Li Qiushui.

When the two of them arrived, Li Qiushui was releasing a vulture on the mountaintop.

Several gray birds of prey circled on the mountaintop, flapping their wings and soaring high before quickly disappearing into the clouds.

Hearing footsteps behind her, Li Qiushui turned around. "Sect Leader, Senior Sister, you've come at the right time. I've taken care of everything here and am ready to depart at any moment."

The old woman glanced at the several eagles circling in the sky, her brows furrowing slightly: "Why did you release so many in one go?"

Li Qiushui remained calm: "I'll first send a message to my subordinates in Suzhou to make preparations. That way, we'll avoid some trouble when we arrive."

The old woman nodded, which was taken as an agreement with this explanation.

The three of them had little to pack and headed east after leaving the Valley of the Deaf and Mute.

With their cultivation levels, the three could travel in a straight line. Mountains and swamps that ordinary people would have to detour over, they could cross directly.

The journey that would take an ordinary person more than ten days to complete on horseback was compressed into a single day by the three of them.

By evening, they had arrived at Huainan West Road. As night fell, the three of them did not rest and continued their journey towards Suzhou.

The next morning, the three of them walked to the Yangtze River.

The river is wide and the current is rapid; the opposite bank cannot be seen at a glance.

Granny Tong and Li Qiushui were preparing to cut some wood nearby to make a simple raft.

Zhang Cheng glanced at the river and suddenly said, "No need for that."

Before he finished speaking, he scooped them up, one in each hand, around their waists.

Before the old woman could finish speaking, he had already led her onto the river.

Zhang Cheng, protected by the immunity to terrain penalties granted by [Grasshopper], traversed the river surface as if it were flat ground.

He lightly touched the water with his toes, and quickly traversed more than three miles of river surface without causing any ripples.

Once they reached the other side, Zhang Cheng put the two of them down. The first thing Tong Lao did upon landing was to stomp hard on his foot.

"Hiss—" Although Zhang Cheng wasn't in pain, he knew he had to put on an act to save face for the old lady.

The old woman glared at him angrily: "Next time, inform me before you act! Don't be so rude, do you hear me?"

Zhang Cheng nodded repeatedly, agreeing wholeheartedly.

The old woman snorted and then suddenly asked, "In the past, Bodhidharma crossed the river on a reed, but he was all alone."

"You were able to carry the two of us across the water, which is even more impressive than Bodhidharma."

Her gaze fell on Zhang Cheng: "What's the name of this light-body skill?"

"Sister Wu," Zhang Cheng said somewhat awkwardly, "would you believe me if I said this wasn't some kind of light-body skill, but rather that I recited a water-repelling incantation before going into the water?"

Hearing this, the old woman became somewhat annoyed: "If you don't want to talk about it, then don't. Why make up an excuse to fool your grandmother?"

"Senior Sister, I do believe what the Sect Leader said," Li Qiushui suddenly interjected.

She turned to Zhang Cheng: "I wonder if the sect leader could come to the river and receive a blow from me? That way, my senior sister can see it clearly."

Zhang Cheng nodded and stepped back onto the river.

Li Qiushui channeled her power into the White Rainbow Palm and unleashed a palm strike.

The palm strike shot out, but suddenly changed direction mid-air, soaring straight into the sky. Then it paused at its highest point, descending down upon Zhang Cheng's head.

Zhang Cheng used his strength to raise his hand and receive the palm strike. The remaining force flowed from his feet into the river, creating several columns of water that shot into the sky.

The river surface churned, splashing water everywhere. But Zhang Cheng remained firmly standing in the middle of the river, completely still.

The old woman was dumbfounded.

In her mind, even if she could temporarily stand firm on the river surface using her lightness skill, she would definitely not be able to stand still after being struck from above.

"He—this—how is this possible?" Tong Lao pointed at Zhang Cheng in the middle of the river, momentarily speechless.

She turned her head abruptly to look at Li Qiushui. "You knew all along?"

Li Qiushui sighed. "This is the first time I've ever seen anything like it. But when the sect leader was healing us before, didn't you notice anything unusual, senior sister?"

>