155. Underwater Immortal Estate

With everyone harboring their own hidden thoughts, a day passed.

In the end, Fu Yuanqing heeded Xu Zheng's advice. He could not afford to waste ten days or half a month.

Before departing, they made thorough preparations. The entire cavern was searched and cleared to ensure there was nothing left that could threaten their lives. Then, finding a relatively safe spot, they set up a defensive array to protect themselves and left behind a supply of medicinal pills for the others to consume upon regaining consciousness.

"Let's go." Leaving behind a sound-transmission talisman on Gu Hao's person, Fu Yuanqing stood up.

The four of them left via the waterway; the demon cultivator had long since vanished without a trace.

Duan Feiyu cast out his divine sense to confirm there was no danger in the immediate vicinity, and the four of them employed sword-nurtured flight, pushing their speed to the absolute limit.

Fu Yuanqing's estimation was remarkably accurate. Within a fraction of a day, they came to a halt above a calm expanse of the sea.

"Senior Brother Yuan, this couldn't possibly be the place, could it?" Xu Zheng raised an eyebrow doubtfully.

Fu Yuanqing retrieved an aged animal-skin booklet, flipped through it to find the relevant page, and nodded. "This is the place."

Seeing the booklet, Xu Zheng's expression turned somewhat unfriendly. He gave a cold hum and said nothing.

Seeing this, Fu Yuanqing remarked, "Junior Brother Xu, are you still holding a grudge? Even if this Secret Treasure Record were in your possession, you wouldn't have the time to come out treasure hunting, would you?"

"Are you trying to make excuses for yourself?" Xu Zheng tilted his head back, casting a cold, haughty glance.

Fu Yuanqing chuckled and shook his head. "Years have passed, but your temperament hasn't changed at all."

"Down below... it looks like reef rocks." Duan Feiyu chimed in at the opportune moment.

Dragged back to the matter at hand, Fu Yuanqing said, "It seems that as too much time has passed, the island here has been submerged by the sea."

"Then the hidden estate..."

"Rest assured, Junior Brother Duan," Fu Yuanqing put away the booklet, "How could an expert's hidden estate lack defensive arrays?"

With that, he put away his flying sword and plunged into the sea with a dull splash.

Xu Zheng and Duan Feiyu exchanged a glance, then followed right behind.

Seeing this, Lingyu trailed after them.

Not long after diving underwater, they spotted protruding fragments of rubble still bearing traces of vegetation. It appeared this had once been a small island.

Fu Yuanqing circled the area a few times before leading them deeper down, finally coming to a halt before a flat, massive boulder.

Aside from talismanic arts, Lingyu had little knowledge of other miscellaneous disciplines. Array formations, in particular, required a foundation in Yin-Yang numerology and could certainly not be mastered overnight. Therefore, she could only sense fluctuations of spiritual energy coming from behind the gigantic boulder.

Fu Yuanqing had made ample preparations. He quickly deployed array flags at various spots in the water and then activated the array, using an array to break an array.

A muffled sound echoed underwater. The massive boulder shattered apart, revealing a pitch-black cave entrance. Seawater surged continuously around the mouth of the cave, yet was perpetually held back from flooding inward.

Fu Yuanqing nodded at the others and squeezed in first, followed closely by Xu Zheng. Duan Feiyu signaled for Lingyu to enter before him, and then followed her in.

The moment they stepped into the cave, a wave of humid air washed over them. Lingyu let out a long breath.

This so-called hidden estate was ingeniously laid out. Despite being sealed for so long, the air carried not the slightest trace of a stagnant or rotting smell; instead, it felt fresh and pleasant.

The four of them each cast spells to dry their clothing. Just as Fu Yuanqing took the lead and prepared to venture deeper inside, Lingyu spoke up. "Wait."

The three of them halted and turned to look at her.

Lingyu casually tossed her slightly damp hair back behind her. Her movements carried a forthright and crisp masculinity as she looked at the three of them. "Fellow Daoists, the reasons why I came here should be clear in your minds."

Of course it was clear. If she hadn't been so unlucky as to stumble into their internal conflict and coincidentally recognize Fu Yuanqing, she would probably have already returned to White Deer Nunnery by now.

Fu Yuanqing nodded in understanding. "Fellow Daoist Cheng, please state whatever conditions you may have."

Lingyu shook her head. "Some things are better made clear beforehand."

"You mean..."

"Fellow Daoist Fu, what you are looking for is none of my concern, and how Fellow Daoist Xu intends to act is likewise none of my business. However, since you dragged me into this affair, we must make it clear: what position do I actually hold in all this?"

"..." Fu Yuanqing understood her meaning. His first reaction was to look at Xu Zheng. "Junior Brother Xu, what are your thoughts?"

Xu Zheng let out a cold snort. "It is merely a minor hidden estate; surely there is no need to divide the spoils beforehand, is there?"

Lingyu's eyes flicked. To a young master like Xu Zheng, such a thing was naturally unnecessary. He could casually give away high-grade magical treasures, a display of wealth that was extraordinary, to say the least.

Fu Yuanqing chuckled. "Junior Brother Xu is indeed generous; it seems I was overthinking things." After a brief moment of contemplation, he said, "Fellow Daoist Cheng, Junior Brother Duan, I shall take one item first, and then the three of us will divide the remainder equally. How does that sound?"

Lingyu had never embarked on joint expeditions with others, but she was familiar with the basic rules. Fu Yuanqing's method of division was very generous, likely because Xu Zheng was present and he wished to avoid complications.

Duan Feiyu glanced at Xu Zheng, smiled, and nodded. "Then many thanks, Senior Brother Yuan."

Lingyu had no objections either and nodded in agreement. "In that case, Fellow Daoist Fu regards me as a companion."

"Naturally." Fu Yuanqing answered without the slightest hesitation.

"Very well, I understand." As long as Fu Yuanqing did not cross any lines, she would fulfill her duties as a companion—consider it a courtesy for his generosity. However, should he step even slightly out of bounds, she would not blame him when she settled all her accounts, old and new, at once!

Fu Yuanqing smiled with relaxed relief, turned to look at Xu Zheng, and added, "Of course, should Junior Brother Xu take a fancy to anything, feel free to take it. I presume neither Junior Brother Duan nor Fellow Daoist Cheng would object."

Xu Zheng's expression darkened slightly, and he let out a cold hum.

Lingyu could not help but smile inwardly. She could roughly guess what Xu Zheng was thinking; Fu Yuanqing using those words to cut off his escape route was perhaps overly petty.

With the preliminary division of spoils concluded, the four of them walked in silence along the dim tunnel. In the underwater grotto, absolute silence reigned, save for the soft, rustling echoes of their footsteps.

After the time it took for a stick of incense to burn, the view ahead suddenly opened up, bathed in bright daylight.

Lingyu finally understood why the air inside the sealed underwater grotto was so fresh. This was an herb garden, some ten mu in size, where rare minerals replaced natural sunlight, and complex arrays had been set up to create a sealed miniature world. Exotic flowers and rare herbs covered the ground in a riot of vibrant colors, vying with one another in beauty. Blossoms the size of rice bowls and thick, robust stalks radiated medicinal Qi, brimming with vitality.

"Could the master of this place be an alchemist?" Lingyu muttered softly as she gazed upon these spiritual herbs.

She had once tended to a herb garden for Wei Wuyang and could roughly recognize these specimens; almost all of them were rare varieties that generally would not be cultivated by anyone other than an alchemist.

"Indeed, the master of this hidden estate was known a thousand years ago as the Medicine King." Fu Yuanqing carefully scrutinized the arrays here, his brows furrowing slightly. "Strange. The Secret Treasure Record states that this hidden estate was discovered three hundred years ago by someone, yet the arrays show not the slightest trace of damage, and all the spiritual herbs are at least three hundred years old?"

Estimating the age of spiritual herbs was not Lingyu's strong suit, but judging by Fu Yuanqing's reaction, there should be no mistake. She therefore asked, "Since this hidden estate was discovered long ago, wouldn't everything have been divided up already? Why would Fellow Daoist Fu still wish to come here?"

Fu Yuanqing explained, "Fellow Daoist Cheng has probably rarely engaged in treasure hunting and exploration, so you are unaware of the crucial points. Not all hidden estates are completely looted the first time they are discovered. Take this hidden estate, for example; its master possessed supreme mastery over array formations, making it difficult to fully breach. Furthermore, since he was an alchemist and possessed a herb garden, there is an unwritten convention among cultivators: when encountering a herb garden, one leaves behind the relatively younger herbs. In this way, you leave a retreat path for others, and likewise a retreat path for yourself."

"...So that's how it is." She truly hadn't expected that the business of treasure hunting and exploration harbored such unwritten rules.

"What is the point of all this talk? Do you even have the capability to break the array here?" Xu Zheng interrupted coldly, sounding somewhat impatient.

Fu Yuanqing, however, did not get angry and instead explained, "The array here cannot be broken. Once broken, this underwater hidden estate will be flooded, and at that point, this herb garden will be destroyed."

"Does Senior Brother Yuan have a way, then?" Duan Feiyu chimed in.

"I do have a way, but it requires the cooperation of you all." Fu Yuanqing looked at them.

Lingyu said, "Fellow Daoist Fu, you might as well get on with it promptly. Since they've followed you all this way, would these two refuse?"

Thinking that made sense, Fu Yuanqing immediately said, "Wait a moment."

Lingyu watched as he produced a pile of items—leaving aside standard array flags and array disks, there were also odd, misshapen objects such as measuring rulers and compasses. After a series of measurements, he selected specific positions, arranged the miscellaneous items according to a strict pattern, and even drew an array diagram.

By the time he finished, half an hour had passed.

Fu Yuanqing straightened up and let out a long breath. "These items cost me a considerable amount of wealth. Just to select one more item than the two of you, I've truly taken a huge loss!"

Xu Zheng let out a cold hmph. "Being able to stand right here makes you fortunate enough already!"

Fu Yuanqing nodded in agreement. "Quite right. I must thank Junior Brother Xu for sparing me."

Xu Zheng fell silent.

"Fellow Daoist Cheng," Fu Yuanqing turned to call Lingyu, pointing to a specific spot, "I must trouble you to stand here."

Lingyu raised no objection and stepped onto the designated spot.

"Junior Brother Duan, stand here. As for this spot, I must trouble Junior Brother Xu." Having assigned the positions, Fu Yuanqing stepped into the center. "Earlier, I sought out a grandmaster of arrays in the Star Luo Sea and consulted him on how to crack the array here. That grandmaster said that if one wishes to enter without destroying the array, the only way is to temporarily alter the Five Elements and Yin-Yang within it. Such alteration is merely temporary; once the time expires, the array will revert to its original state. Therefore, we have only a single day."

"To alter the Five Elements and Yin-Yang ultimately requires using external force to forcibly twist them. All of you need only infuse your true essence into the array diagram beneath your feet to activate it."

The three of them nodded in understanding. Duan Feiyu asked, "Can we begin?"

"Begin." Fu Yuanqing flicked his arm, summoned his spiritual sword, and channeled his true essence into it, utilizing the sword Qi to feed it smoothly into the array diagram beneath his feet.

The other three followed suit. Naturally, they could have poured their true essence in directly, but as sword cultivators, the assistance of sword Qi made the flow of true essence far more fluid.

The array diagram lit up at a visible speed, the infused true essence of the four individuals causing a rippling, water-like luminescence to flow across its surface. This process persisted for a long time, until the true essence within the four of them was nearly depleted, and the luminescence reached its absolute limit.

"Stop!" Fu Yuanqing shouted. With a wave of his hand, a set of pre-prepared array flags fell precisely at the feet of the others and right into the very center of the array diagram.

A muffled rumble echoed, and the entire herb garden began to distort.