s The Qinjiang Weir was constructed by the peerless Ice Ancestor Li Bing, a mighty cultivator from the dynasty before the previous one. In those ancient years, the Ice Ancestor Li Bing cultivated here, refining his divine soul to the pinnacle of might. In the cultivation world, who among those capable of being revered as an Ancestor is simple? With a mere thought from the peerlessly icy Ice Ancestor Li Bing, his divine sense could encompass ten provinces. Yet now, the leader of the Three Demon Beasts of the Minjiang River, the Water Ape King, has occupied this place and wreaks havoc here. And one of the nine breaches in the Qinjiang Weir is right here.

Lu Yuan arrived on his sword, and seeing sixty to seventy cultivators gathered, he felt a sense of strangeness. Logically, there should only be one team stationed at the Qinjiang Weir; why were there four teams here now? Could it be that people from other locations had repaired their breaches and rushed here? Lu Yuan had guessed correctly. Among the nine breaches in the Divine Soul River, setting aside the simplest one at Dudu River and the most difficult one at Black Water River’s Half-Jiao, there were seven other locations. Of those seven, four were relatively simple, and three were of moderate difficulty. Naturally, some teams had finished repairing their respective breaches in those other places and converged here at the Qinjiang Weir. Gathered this way, they had amassed three additional teams, making a total of four teams present, including the one originally assigned to the Qinjiang Weir. This concentration of four teams was the reason for the sixty to seventy cultivators present. Lu Yuan’s group was the fifth team heading towards the Qinjiang Weir.

Listening to their discussions, Lu Yuan sensed that the Qinjiang Weir was proving unexpectedly difficult to assault, which struck him as odd. A cultivator beside him inquired, "Which faction do you belong to?" Lu Yuan naturally replied, "We were originally assigned to repair the breach at the Leshan Giant Buddha. We have finished that task and came here to see if we could offer any assistance." "The one at the Leshan Giant Buddha?" Hearing Lu Yuan's answer, the surrounding cultivators all turned to look. Not only did they turn, but their gazes held profound astonishment. Lu Yuan felt a wave of bewilderment. Was the situation at the Leshan Giant Buddha that strange?

What Lu Yuan didn't know was that among these four teams, the leader of one was Li Dao, a cultivator at the Sixth Level of Longevity from the Heavenly Mystery Immortal Sect. The Heavenly Mystery Immortal Sect was one of the seven mid-tier righteous immortal sects, specializing in stealing heavenly secrets and divination—a rare and peculiar sect in the cultivation world. Li Dao, originating from such a sect, indeed possessed considerable abilities.

It turned out that this Li Dao had once performed a divination regarding the Divine Soul River. Do not doubt that not every divination yields the exact truth; even members of the Heavenly Mystery Immortal Sect could only occasionally foresee fragments of reality. After performing this divination, Li Dao discovered that there were three major sticking points within the Divine Soul River.

The first major difficulty was naturally the Half-Jiao at the Black Water River—the most dangerous spot, known to all. Thus, all cultivators at the Seventh Level of Longevity had naturally congregated there. The second difficulty was this Qinjiang Weir, where the leader of the Three Demon Beasts of the Minjiang, the Water Ape King, was causing trouble. The third difficulty was the Leshan Giant Buddha. Under normal circumstances, the Leshan Giant Buddha should have been an easy task. However, Li Dao’s calculation revealed an anomaly there, shifting its difficulty from simple to moderate. If a few cultivators at the Sixth Level of Longevity had gone there, the problem could have been resolved. But maddeningly, only Ning Zizhen, a Sixth Level of Longevity cultivator, was assigned there. Therefore, Li Dao concluded that Ning Zizhen would perish at the Leshan Giant Buddha, and that team would either be completely wiped out or suffer near annihilation.

Who would have anticipated that after Li Dao of the Heavenly Mystery Immortal Sect made this deduction, the team at the Leshan Giant Buddha would not only repair the breach but also dispatch members to assist at the Qinjiang Weir? How could this not cause astonishment? Consequently, when Lu Yuan announced his origin from the Leshan Giant Buddha, everyone was surprised and shocked, fixing their gaze upon Lu Yuan and his entourage.

There were now five teams gathered on this section of the cliff face. The five captains had converged in one spot.

The captain of the first team was naturally the original leader tasked with assaulting the Qinjiang Weir. His name was Sun Dingyin, a handsome middle-aged man with a faint, carefully trimmed beard. He cultivated at the peak of the Sixth Level of Longevity. Sun Dingyin specialized in the Sound Soul Stillness Killing Sword Technique, one of the Six Great Ultimate Swords of Mount Qingcheng—a method that attacked using sound waves. This type of attack possessed incredible divine power, existing ambiguously between swordplay and spellcraft. It was only accepted by the Mount Qingcheng Immortal Sect; if someone from the Mount Hua Immortal Sect had invented such a technique, they would likely have been deemed heretical.

The captain of the second team was Shi Yingyue from the Sword Sect of Mount Hua, who had arrived to assist. Shi Yingyue was a Daoist nun with considerable beauty, though her demeanor was frosty. She also cultivated at the peak of the Sixth Level of Longevity, appearing as cold and unyielding as a block of ice iron. She led nineteen individuals to aid the effort.

The captain of the third team was Li Dao from the Heavenly Mystery Immortal Sect. Li Dao sported a beard that made him resemble a fortune-teller who might trick naive village girls, and he too was at the Sixth Level of Longevity. He brought fourteen people to help.

The captain of the fourth team was Yu Jizi from the South Sea Immortal Sect, also a cultivator at the Sixth Level of Longevity. His Daoist name carried an air of ethereal quality, yet the man himself was thin and brittle, radiating a cold, relentless killing intent that continuously swirled around him. He led sixteen people in assistance.

The captain of the fifth team was naturally Lu Yuan himself, bringing ten people with him to the Qinjiang Weir.

The other four captains regarded Lu Yuan with a certain scrutiny. Lu Yuan's fame in the Jin Kingdom was considerable; it was impossible for them not to have heard of him. They listened as Lu Yuan recounted his mission. The existence of the Fiery Qilin, a Sixth Level of Longevity demon beast at the Leshan Giant Buddha, was truly unexpected. It explained why Li Dao of the Heavenly Mystery Immortal Sect had calculated the difficulty there to have surpassed the initially simple assessment and reached the moderate level. It made sense why Ning Zizhen, a cultivator at the Sixth Level of Longevity, was lost there.

However, the fact that Ning Zizhen, a Sixth Level of Longevity expert, had fallen at the Leshan Giant Buddha, yet a mere Lu Yuan, who appeared to be a relatively unseasoned newcomer with shallow cultivation, had managed to slay the Fiery Qilin, defied everyone’s expectations. Thus, they all regarded him with suspicion.

For instance, Shi Yingyue, the captain of the second team, was eager to test him. Being from the Sword Sect, she had already heard that the tenth-generation sword master of her sect had been defeated by Lu Yuan of the Sword Qi Sect. How could the Sword Sect, whose sword mastery was paramount in all of Jin, be outmatched by a disciple from the seemingly unconventional Sword Qi Sect?

The third captain, Li Dao, was immensely curious. Lu Yuan was entirely absent from his divinations—fascinating, truly fascinating, he mused, stroking his goatee.

Yu Jizi of the fourth team coldly assessed Lu Yuan. This junior must be formidable. Moreover, the Master of the South Sea Immortal Sect, Yan Er, had famously proclaimed a decisive battle with Lu Yuan in four hundred and twenty years. Yu Jizi wished to gauge Lu Yuan’s strength first. In an instant, three out of the four captains present showed significant interest in Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan felt helpless.

Sun Dingyin, the captain of the first team, gently cleared his throat. "Currently, the Water Ape King occupies the Qinjiang Weir, and he has acquired one of the Ice Ancestor's artifacts—the Number One Water Token. This token's grade is immeasurably high. If not for the weakening effect of ten millennia passing, its power would be even more terrifying."

"This Water Token can summon boundless waters, using the Qinjiang Weir as its origin point to bombard us. These surging waves, amplified by the Water Token, transform into Three-Ring Heavy Water. An assault of Three-Ring Heavy Water alone is terrifying enough."

"Furthermore, all other aquatic monsters in the Divine Soul River must obey its command, relentlessly attacking us within this Three-Ring Heavy Water."

"Under such an assault, we cannot even reach the Qinjiang Weir; we can only suffer continuous losses in personnel."

"As for the Water Ape King himself, he wields a staff. It is rumored he inherited some techniques from the ancient Great Sage Equal to Heaven, making him exceedingly formidable."

"Hence, the Qinjiang Weir is exceptionally difficult to breach." After briefly explaining the situation, the other three captains, who were already aware of the current state of affairs, nodded. Lu Yuan, upon hearing the explanation, roughly understood the problem: the immediate obstacle was reaching the Weir itself, which necessitated passing through the Three-Ring Heavy Water.

The five captains began to deliberate. Sun Dingyin asked, "The four of us have already discussed this extensively without finding a good solution. We wonder if Junior Martial Nephew Lu has any insights?"

Lu Yuan smiled. "As for me, if you ask me to drink or fight a duel, I can do it. But when it comes to strategy or deliberation, I am utterly clueless. You gentlemen should decide."

Sun Dingyin had intended to test Lu Yuan’s ability to handle administrative matters. Hearing Lu Yuan’s reply, he couldn't help but chuckle wryly. It seemed Lu Yuan’s skill in handling affairs was indeed lacking. But then he reconsidered: Lu Yuan’s apparent indifference to everything, his singular focus on the sword, coupled with the rumor of his supreme sword dao talent and lack of distracting concerns—it explained how he achieved such cultivation at a young age.

The five captains deliberated for a long time but failed to devise a viable plan.

However, through their discussion, Lu Yuan gleaned some crucial information: first, the Water Ape King must possess a Divine Soul Crystal, and the other resolved Demon Beasts of the Minjiang, though less powerful than the Water Ape King, must also possess Divine Soul Crystals. Second, the Water Ape King likely held several artifacts belonging to the peerless Ice Ancestor Li Bing; the Number One Water Token was merely one of them.

Time slipped by, and the group still could not settle on a method.

Lu Yuan, indifferent to their stalemate, found a spot on the rocks and began his cultivation, focusing as always on tempering his divine soul and increasing his magical power, hoping to reach the Fifth Level of Longevity soon, the realm where he could command dual swords, which would significantly boost his combat strength.

As night fell, the moon hung like a hook.