I desperately clawed through the water, kicking as forcefully as I could to propel myself toward the surface. Even back in both timelines, I was a terrible swimmer. I could float, and I wasn"t afraid of the water, but my swimming instructors were p.i.s.sed off at me always dog-paddling instead of doing proper b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke or freestyle.

Hey, if it worked, it worked. Why should I care if dog-paddlng was ugly and embarra.s.sing? As long as I didn"t drown, it achieved the purpose of keeping me alive and my head above the water.

To be clear, I wasn"t panicking. I knew that panicking would cause me to drown. Forcing myself to stay calm, I kicked in a manner that replicated the movements my instructor taught me as best as I could remember, but I was never able to reach the surface. I calmly swept my arms across, like how I was taught, but no matter how high I went, I was never able to reach the surface.

Then I realized that I couldn"t see any surface. It was water everywhere. And the water extended for what seemed like an infinite length above.

"Glub…!"

d.a.m.n it…my consciousness was rapidly fading. I was already unable to see much beyond five meters in front of me, the edges of my vision clouded by darkness.

This was an illusion, right? Then why did it feel so real? I knew it was an illusion, yet my body was insisting that this was a very real, physical phenomenon. That I was really drowning. Even when I closed my eyes, I could still feel the water pressing against me, the moisture that saturated everywhere around me.

Not good…at this rate, I"ll really drown!

I couldn"t believe I was unable to break out of the illusion. This was on a higher tier than the Sea of Fire in the Nascent Soul Stage pract.i.tioner"s tomb. Even if I tried to extend my Heaven and Earth sense out, I was unable to detect anything. The qi was everywhere, a literal sea of qi that submerged and threatened to drown me.

Wait…didn"t the qi mean this whole thing was real? Then when did I get underwater? I was pretty sure I was on the plaza before this. Did I get teleported here? Was this under the plaza? That couldn"t be – I should be able to see the plaza above if that was the case, but there was no sign of the surface anywhere!

Yet, my senses were telling me this was no illusion. I was beginning to doubt if this was an illusion. If it was an illusion, then it was one that was on a completely different level from anything I had faced before.

"Ugh…"

The darkness at the edge of my vision had reached the center of my eyes now. And my movements were growing weaker. My legs were losing their strength. Even though I was holding my breath to prevent myself from swallowing water, I was sinking and not floating.

Wait…that meant the water was not real. If this was real water, then I would naturally float. Yet I was sinking even though I was doing the normal stuff to float, like holding my breath and staying calm. The human body was filled with air, so naturally it would float in water because it possessed a natural buoyancy. Usually people drowned because they panicked and thrashed about too much, which caused a displacement in water, which then rushed in to fill the s.p.a.ces the drowning person opened up around him. Well, there were other factors too, such as an immense tidal wave sweeping you away and weighing you down with sheer pressure.

Or something. Obviously I was not an expert in drowning. I only knew the basics from my instructor.

There was something unnatural about this water. Perhaps it was a Spirit Formation, a trap to drown its victims. Then the question was…how did I fall into this trap? When did I end up in here? Was the Spirit Engraved Pillar b.o.o.by-trapped? If so, then why did the trap only activate now and not when I was communing with the Spirit Engraved Pillar all those weeks ago?

Those questions were academic in any case. My consciousness was rapidly fading, my limbs had grown leaden and I was no longer able to move them. I felt a sensation of sinking, and water was gushing into my nose and water. I needed oxygen, and I needed it now…but my lungs were being filled with nothing but water despite my best efforts to keep them out.

I was going to drown.

But this isn"t right!

If this was an illusion, then it shouldn"t affect me. Illusions were cla.s.sified as spiritual or qi attacks. My Snow Aegis should have protected me from the attack, should have stopped any illusion from reaching my mind and affecting me.

Then how was I affected by this illusionary attack? Was it real then? Was it really not an illusion but a physical phenomenon?

Even so, my Snow Aegis would protect me from physical and qi attacks from the material world as well. I would never have ended up in this situation if my Snow Aegis functioned properly and shielded me from this!

Then there was only one explanation. This wasn"t an attack, or at least my Snow Aegis did not recognize it as one. Either way, it was of scant comfort to me. At the rate things were going, I was going to drown regardless of whether this was intended to hurt me or not.

d.a.m.n it!

"Pathetic."

"?!"

My eyes flew open when I heard the voice. That sounded like Master. Yet, when I glanced around, I couldn"t see anyone. Nothing but fish, algae and marine life around me. And of course the darkness that was encroaching upon my vision.

"Ugh…"

Bubbles billowed out of my mouth as I slowly sank toward the bottomless depths of the illusionary river.

Of course Master wouldn"t be here…

"Have you not learned anything from what I taught you?"

Master"s voice again. I wasn"t sure what he was talking about, and it was pointless in any case. I wouldn"t be able to…

Oh, wait. Now I remembered. Master did teach me martial arts. Not just any martial arts, but mystical ones with qi and stuff. And qi was basically magic.

If so…

My eyes opened wider and I unleashed the qi from inside my body. The water around me immediately froze.

But I was not merely encasing myself in ice. Wrapping myself in a qi bubble, I found that I was able to breathe once again. Gulpling large amounts of air into my lungs greedily, I almost fell – except that there wasn"t any ground to fall on, only water 360 degree around me – while gasping and heaving. Steadying my breathing after a while, I glanced around, my vision clearing up, but as usual, I didn"t see anyone. Just fish and plants.

There was no sign of Master, and I no longer heard his voice. Was that a hallucination as well? My subconscious taking the voice of my master to save me while I was in mortal danger? Or did his ghost leave, satisfied now that I was alive?

"What am I thinking, didn"t he go and get reincarnated already? How can his ghost still be around?" I muttered to myself, shaking my head. More importantly, I should find out where I was, and how to get out of here.

There was no clue, no hint, nothing. Just fish, water and plants. Looking up, down, left and right, I couldn"t find anything that would lead to a way out. Instead, I felt increasing despair when I realized there was no way out.

I was trapped in an eternal ocean, with no surface or bottom, a vast body of water that stretched for infinity. I might as well be in outer s.p.a.ce.

Closing my eyes, I reached out with my Heaven and Earth senses, but felt nothing but water qi everywhere. As I suspected, I was trapped inside an infinite s.p.a.ce that stretched on forever. I was enclosed in an ocean of qi, with no way of getting out.

"There has to be some sort of trick," I muttered, feeling frustrated. d.a.m.n it. Not being a genius was so troublesome. If I was Qin Lie or Li Fu Chen or one of the usual xianxia protagonists, I bet I would have broken out of this formation without a sweat, but as a completely ordinary guy. Even if I did this the hard way, I might still find myself trapped within this ocean forever.

That was a scary thought.

"Calm down," I told myself, trying not to hyperventilate. "There has to be a way out of here. If there is a way in, there definitely has to be a way out."

Besides, the Spirit Engraved Pillar sucked me into this formation for a reason. It must want something from me. As long as I could figure it out, I would be able to escape this formation, and get a ton of protagonist benefits while at it.

I glanced around again, but once more I saw nothing that could help my situation. Just more fish and plants…

Wait…fish?

Taking a moment to observe the fish, I began to pick out individual differences. Yeah, I had noticed the difference earlier, but I had been too engrossed in trying to find the surface or an exit. I had completely overlooked the fish and plants while probing around for the surface and trying to get a feel for the distance.

In the first place, I had been a.s.suming that this whole thing was an illsion and had dismissed the fish and plants as not real. That was stupid of me.

So if I treat the fish as living organisms…

Suddenly, Elder Hai and Tang Qi Hong"s words sprang back to my mind. About how the Spirit Diagram was a living ecosystem. An environment in itself. If that was the case, then I should be treating the fish as separate from the water.

And just as I suspected, the fish had their own qi. Each of them were different, individual organisms with their own qi signatures and lifeforces.

This is no longer on the level of an illusion…

My research groupmates were right. The river, fish and aquatic plants were all part of a single ecosystem. Surrounded by such vibrant life and an amazing variety of plants and fish, I understood how real the environment was.

In other words, that meant I had somehow gotten inside the Spirit Diagram. This was the Spirit Diagram as manifested in reality. Not just a mere representation or an image, but the actual concept of the Spirit Diagram…

No, diagram was no longer the correct word. This was basically a Spirit World, or at the very least, a Spirit Environment. A self-contained world, with its own ecosystem and everything.

And I had been drawn inside it for some reason. Maybe I wasn"t the only one. Perhaps all the other research group members were sucked inside like I was. I prayed that they wouldn"t drown and they would find a way to survive by conjuring an air qi bubble like I did. Perhaps I didn"t have to worry about them as I might be the only one drawn into this Spirit World. If that was the case, then I was selected because I was the one who triggered the response in the Spirit Engraved Pillar. I didn"t like feeling special, but that would guarantee the safety of the others. I would rather I brave the dangers myself than expose any of my sect mates to unnecessary risk.

After all, I was the one who suggested the idea of leading a group and I was the one who triggered a response in the Spirit Engraved Pillar. If anything happened to the others, it would be my responsibility, and a heavy one at that.

In any case, there was no point worrying about that now. Either they were trapped like me inside this Spirit World, or they weren"t. Either way, I would only find out once I escaped this Spirit World. My priority should be to find an exit.

No. my priority was to comprehend the true meaning behind the Spirit Diagram. Not only would I be able to perfectly replicate it once I got out, I was certain that would be the only route of escape for me. Both goals were linked. By finding out the true meaning of the Spirit Diagram – no, Spirit World – I would be able to get out of here.

"So I know the fish are real, and not merely an illusion. What"s next?"

As I was asking myself the question, I noticed one of the fish looking at me. It was flapping its fins somehow, hovering in the water, its lidless eyes staring at me unblinkingly. It would have been creepy if I hadn"t known what sort of creatures fish were. Of course they didn"t have eyelids.

The fish caught my gaze, and then it turned and swam away. As if realizing that I wasn"t following, it stopped after a few meters – quite a distance for someone as short and tiny as it – and turned to stare at me again.

This time, I got the hint. The fish wanted me to follow it. As I swam (dog-paddled, more like it, but hey, that still counts as swimming, right?) toward the fish my gla.s.ses magnified its form to tell me more. It was a bright orange, looking like the goldfish I won in a street fair or night market. You know, the ones where they set up booths and stores, and there was one where you"re supposed to catch goldfishes with little nets? I had one when I was a kid, to my mom"s chagrin, but my dad was happy enough to buy a fish tank for me to keep the goldfish in it. I remembered my brother and I adding more fish, from guppies to a couple of angelfish, but that was beside the point.

So yeah, that was a goldfish. I recognized it as a goldfish.

Catching up with the goldfish, I saw the little guy turn and swim away. It might be tiny, but I was pretty slow because of my tiring way of dog-paddling. Yeah, it was pathetic, but there was a reason why I hated swimming. I was never good at it, and I couldn"t be bothered to get good at it. It just wasn"t my thing, you know?

The goldfish was patient, though, often stopping to wait for me. After what seemed like hours of swimming, I finally caught sight of what appeared to be our destination.

"Hey…isn"t that…?"

My jaw dropped when I saw the thing from a distance. A palace reared into view, its majestic architecture stretching for what looked like miles. East Asian-styled towers that wouldn"t look out of place in ancient China or j.a.pan, towering over vast compounds. And within the pearly white walls, courtyards of beautifully grown aquatic flowers bloomed in myriad colors, gently swaying with the flow.

For a moment, I was suddenly reminded of the Dragon King"s Palace from j.a.panese folklore. The legend of Urashima Taro, which everyone should know. Well, for those who don"t, it basically involved a poor fisherman who saved a turtle, and was rewarded by being allowed to visit the Dragon King"s palace. In some versions of the folktale, Taro married the Dragon King"s daughter, the sea princess, and in other versions he was just invited to a fancy banquet. But regardless of what version, what remained consistent was that after spending a few days (three days in most of the versions) in the palace, Taro began to miss home. So he begged the Dragon Princess, Otohime, to let him return home in the surface. She reluctantly agreed, and when he reached the beach, he realized that during his brief stay in the palace, many years (some say a few hundred) had pa.s.sed in the surface and everyone he knew was long dead. To top it off, he couldn"t return to the Dragon King"s Palace underwater.

Too long, didn"t read? It sucks to be Urashima Taro. Poor dude.

Anyway, I fervently prayed that I wouldn"t end up like him. You know, spend a few days here, and then return to the real world, only to find that a couple of centuries had pa.s.sed. I would rather see my family and friends again than have fun in the palace…or learn the mysteries of the Spirit Diagram. The reason why I was doing this was for my friends and family, so losing them just for the comprehension of the Spirit Diagram wasn"t worth it. I would rather return emptyhanded to my family and friends than to enjoy a luxurious stay here and become a master Spirit Engraver (which was never my ambition to begin with, anyway).

Don"t mistake the means for the ends.

The goldfish continued on, unaware of my thoughts. I followed it in my clumsy manner of dog-paddling, and suddenly found myself at the entrance, where two dragon guards stood. They had dragon heads and green scales, but were humanoid. Meaning they were standing on two legs (if you could be considered "standing" underwater, that is), and had arms. Clawed, scaly fingers held spears, and they were standing rigidly in disciplined postures, their tails tense and unmoving. They stared at me unblinkingly with their yellow, reptilian eyes, and crossed their spears to bar me entry.

The goldfish stopped in front of them and gestured with their fins, but they appeared unmoved, merely curling their jaws into ferocious snarls. To its credit, the goldfish was unintimidated and continued pressing them with its silent gestures.

Well, it would be difficult to talk underwater, after all.

No sooner had the thought crossed my mind when a rich voice cut across the water.

"It"s fine. Let them in. I"ve been expecting them."

A man in golden and white robes drifted through the courtyard, surrounded by occasional bubbles. He looked as if he was in his fifties, with dark hair and a handsome face lined by age. But I was pretty sure he was much, much older than sixty. Several times older, in fact. There was a wisdom about him that spoke of agelessness.

This guy was an immortal (or xian, to be exact).

"What are you two doing? You"re being rude to my guests."

The man"s voice was sharp now, possessing an edge almost akin to a sword, and even I flinched. The two dragon guards glanced at each other, and then reluctantly withdrew their spears and bowed their heads apologetically and respectfully. The goldfsh ignored them and sped past the gates and into the courtyard.

I hesitated a little, but when the golden robed man greeted me with a friendly smile and beckoned me with a wave of his hand, I swam through as well.

"h.e.l.lo, young man," the middle-aged man greeted me affably. "I"ve been expecting you."

"Who are you?" I blurted out, forgetting my manners. Instead of being offended, the middle-aged man"s smile spread and he extended both hands warmly.

"Me? I am the Dragon King, Long Shen."