The voice in his sea of consciousness was gentle, and it lingered in his ears for a long time without dissipating.
Ye Zichen woke from his attempt at enlightenment and looked around his surroundings in confusion, but he saw no sign of the speaker. However, their words had shown him the light.
It was true: this was indeed the Sea of Innocence.
The entire city was surrounded by the waters of the sea of innocence. If you wanted a place where the power of water flourished, you’d come here.
Water and fire were incompatible.
If you contemplated fire here, the vast waters were sure to suppress it. You’d have to work twice as hard, and your results would be inferior.
Before going into seclusion, Ye Zichen didn’t even consider that. He just thought that fire ought to be the easiest to make headway with. Little did he know, he’d gone down the wrong path.
“Please, senior, show me the right path.” Ye Zichen cupped his fists and stared, eyes flashing, into the empty skies.
To his surprise, the expert who’d just advised him merely chuckled. “I’m afraid I’ll have to pass. Any other time, I’d naturally explain in detail, but we don’t have that much time left.”
“Then, Senior…”
“I’m here to lend you a hand!”
Water!
A vast, enormous stretch of water!
Vast swathes of water appeared suddenly in Ye Zichen’s consciousness. As it fell from the skies, it extinguished the sea of flames. Soon, everything was enveloped in surging, turbulent waves.
Ye Zichen had never seen such surging, powerful water intent in his life.
But it was the sheer majesty of the waters that showed him the way forward, as if he’d been enlightened.
“Water encompasses all things. It is both auspicious and inauspicious.”
“The great waters nourish all living things, and without it, all life will perish. But great waters are a calamity as well. Floods are heartless, and can destroy both cities and nations.”
“How to proceed with his enlightenment, what choice he makes, is entirely up to him. I just don’t know which path he’ll choose to walk down.” The voice had yet to disappear from Ye Zichen’s sea of consciousness, but he was so immersed in contemplation that he didn’t hear it.
The meaning of water.
Was this the true meaning of water?
The surging flood was insurmountable, overwhelmingly forceful. It could break through dams and drown an entire city, crush buildings, collapse walls, rip towering trees up by the roots….
What kind of destructive power was this?
But in the blink of an eye, the scene around him changed. What he saw now was a dried out riverbank, dried up husks of leaves, and scorched, cracked earth.
The remaining fish struggled, but without water, only death was waiting for them.
The scorching sun baked the earth, evaporating every last drop of water. This was the exact opposite of the surging flood he’d just witnessed.
“Come, O Rain.”
Ye Zichen was right in the middle of this, and he knew what he ought to do. He muttered an incantation, and rain fell from the clear, sunny skies.
Limp, dehydrated deer struggled to open their eyes. Wilted flowers and grasses gradually straightened their stalks.
The dying fish of the riverbed struggled with renewed vigor, as if they’d seized onto their last thread of hope.
Gradually, the waters nourished the cracked earth, and a faint trickle appeared in the dried out riverbed.
The parched, devastated world of moments ago was nowhere to be seen. Soon, he saw a gentle trickle of water, fragrant grasses, and chirping birds.
The elk drank from the stream, and at the bottom of its clear waters, fish darted too and fro.
The sun was bright and clear.
The scene was auspicious as far as the eye could see.
The Sea of Innocence.
Whoosh!
The skies were clear for ten thousand miles, yet they suddenly began to drizzle. Pu Jingwan was currently seated on a tree trunk eating snacks, but she immediately jumped off and created a barrier before continuing to eat. Once it was in place, she completely disregarded the sudden rainfall.
The other rulers standing guard instinctively blocked off the rain. None of them liked the feeling of getting soaked.
But when the drizzle hit the ground, they saw the surrounding grasses flourish before their eyes.
This scene wasn’t limited to Innocence City. The rain enveloped the entire Sea of Innocence, and countless ocean beasts jumped for joy above the waves.
It spread to the Northwestern Divine Mountain, to the Northeast, then down to the Southwest and Southeast.
It traveled further, to the Yao Realm’s Southern and Northern Kingdoms.
It even spread to the Demon Realm.
This downpour covered the entire Upper Three Realms. It was a rain of rebirth, and beneath its waters, even the barren deserts were tinged with hints of fresh greenery.
Countless top experts looked at this rain of rebirth, like a coming spring. All of them thought much the same thing…
“He achieved mastery of water, but to think he’d comprehend auspicious rain!” Venerate Spirit Treasure glanced at the room Ye Zichen was cultivating in and chuckled. Normally, when someone achieved mastery over rain, they gained enlightenment into water’s fiercer aspects.
That is to say, flooding.
The Sea of Innocence’s Ocean Emperor had gained enlightenment into water’s more dangerous aspects. That was why, when he stood over the waters of the Sea of Innocence and summoned the rain, soft and gentle water transformed into the sharpest of weapons.
The result of Ye Zichen’s secluded cultivation made Venerate Spirit Treasure grin despite himself. “It’s not so unreasonable that the Emperor Star chose you after all!”
Water, at the end of the day, existed to nourish all living things.
Between auspicious water and water of destruction, who wouldn’t choose the former?
Although no one else knew it, back in Ye Zichen’s sea of consciousness, the expert who’d helped him before spoke up once more. “Auspicious rain.”
Ye Zichen was still immersed in his inner world, watching this gentle, auspicious scene unfold. When he heard that voice, it startled him out of his reverie.
“I apologize for interrupting your enlightenment…”
There was nothing more irritating than someone interrupting your enlightenment, but when Ye Zichen realized it was the same senior who’d helped him, he wasn’t annoyed in the slightest.
If not for this expert, he might have still been struggling with fire to no avail.
Even if he’d realized that water was more prevalent here on his own, without this senior’s help, he couldn’t have possibly gained such profound enlightenment.
“Senior, you truly turned me around. If not for you, I might not have made any progress at all.”
“You gained enlightenment into auspicious rain. It’s clear that you are kind by nature, that you hold compassion for all living things,” said the voice.
“Auspicious waters?” Ye Zichen froze, stunned for a moment. “It’s true that I was just watching an auspicious scene unfold, but I just saw a parched, barren landscape, and before that, a surging flood.”
“You saw waters of disaster too?” The expert seemed startled, but before long, Ye Zichen heard him laugh. “What was your impression?”
“Water can both nourish and destroy all things,” said Ye Zichen.
“Indeed.” The expert chuckled. “You can likely tell that of the five elements, thunder is the most destructive, but when used to destroy, floodwaters are the most difficult to block. You simultaneously gained enlightenment into water’s destructive and auspicious aspects. You’ve really made me see you in a whole new light. How you use the true meaning of water going forward is up to you. It’s just as you say; water can save people, but it can destroy them too.”
“I’ll carve those words into my heart.” Ye Zichen cupped his fists. “Might I ask your title, Senior? If not for your guidance, I really don’t know what I would have done.”
“There’s no need for you to know my title,” said the voice. “All you need to know is that I’ve already helped you twice. When the time comes for you to repay me, don’t disappoint me.”
“Senior, you…”
Ye Zichen suddenly thought of something. If he weren’t mistaken, this was the very same expert who’d helped him back in the Yao Realm.
“Heh, let’s end this here. I’ll come looking for you on that new Divine Mountain of yours soon!”
