The light of the night pearl shine inside the Nine Frozen Springs, yet Chen Ming saw almost nothing but water shrouded in silence.

  Chen Ming sensed the cold but didn’t feel it, as his water cultivation method wasn’t low at all. Rather, he felt so damn comfortable.

  Chen Ming turned to Zhuo Qingyao, who was using the body’s energy to resist the cold, “How is it, cold?”


  “Barely. Master, don’t you cultivate a water cultivation method of fiends? If you can turn into that form, no spiritual power will be wasted to resist the cold. I can also sit on your back so I don’t need to use my energy.”


  Chen Ming did some thinking, But my water cultivation method of the fiend race is from Old Turtle!

  Do I have to turn into a bastard(1)?

  I won’t look good at all.

  Chen Ming’s eyebrow twitched, “I refuse!”


  Zhuo Qingyao upturned her watery jade eyes at Chen Ming, the silence louder than any words.

  “Your doe eyes won’t work! I refuse!”


  Zhuo Qingyao pulled his sleeve, “Master, you’re the best!”


  “Master, is this how you treat family?”


  “Master, you have a take responsibility now that I’m your disciple!”


  Is this the real Zhuo Qingyao? Sure enough, now that the other three ain’t here she doesn’t need to act like a head senior sister!

  Fairy Zi Xia, among others, looked over with strange eyes. Chen Ming couldn’t let this go on, ’cause if he did, he believed they would think this was a breach of ethics between Master and disciple, “Fine fine, I’ll change, alright?”


  With a large splash, a ten-foot-long black turtle appeared before Zhuo Qingyao. The water around him didn’t touch from him since this was the innate skill of this race.

  Zhuo Qingyao touched his shell with one hand then lightly jumped on it. But when she kneeled, he suddenly felt that this wasn’t right, How come I feel two soft things on my back. Uh, what are they?

  Chen Ming turned for a look, only to see Zhuo Qingyao’s perky and round balls of softness.

  Chen Ming’s incredibly thick-skin went red, feeling utter shame from turning into a black turtle, “Master, what’s wrong?”


  “Nothing, stay still!”


  Controlling the water with his claws and tail, Chen Ming took a nice stroll through the Nine Frozen Springs’s waters. Even if he was a turtle, he was quite swift!

  Fairy Zi Xia advanced for a while, then checked her team, only to find a problem. Where did that Daoist run off to? She only saw Zhuo Qingyao meekly kneeling on a turtle, an especially fast swimming turtle. Her eyes brightened at this, “Where did you get that turtle mount? Oh, what about your Master?”


  Zhuo Qingyao pointed at Chen Ming under her derriere, when the one in question said, “What is it? Is there a treasure in front?”


  Fairy Zi Xia covered her dainty mouth, That elegant youngster with lofty poise is a fiend? And a turtle at that? “I just refuse to believe a turtle can take such a dignified and refined form!”


  Chen Ming rolled his eyes, “Get lost!”


  Fairy Zi Xia hid her faint laughter, This guy is too intriguing. She found this side of him quite cute.

  Fairy Zi Xia said, “Alright, I won’t make fun of you. How can we find any treasure when we went for only this long? Snow Mountain Sect’s people already cleared the safe areas of any Soul Returning Water.”


  Chen Ming nodded, True, with this being their territory, their own disciples must have picked these spots clean. Fairy Zi Xia had a sudden audacious thought, “Right, since you carry one person, might as well take two. What do you say if……”


  Chen Ming interrupted her with a wave of his claw, “Stop right there! If you go down this road, we won’t be friends! Right, do you know what place has the Soul Returning Water?”


  “No, when it comes to fate, who can say when it’ll come?”


  “Then I’ll just go ahead and divine!”


  “You alchemists can also foretell?”


  “Humph, easy as pie. Impart your wealth and glory onto me, and I shall impart the will of heaven onto you. With the Yin and Yang as support from this boundless universe, the sides of the coins shall lead the way!”


  Chen Ming fished ten copper coins with his two small claws and threw them in the water, caught them, and peeked, “The ten coins are all tails. Heads represent heaven while tails earth. This entails that we need to descend. Wait, my own fortune can’t be divined. As long as you all go down, you shall find treasures!”


  Fairy Zi Xia regarded Chen Ming like a freak, “You can really divine?”


  “Be at ease, I do have an ounce of skill as a diviner. As long as I know your signs, I can even find out what color is that birthmark on your butt!”


  Fairy Zi Xia’s face burned red hot, changing the subject, “Alright, since you said down, then that’s where we’ll go.”


  Shit, didn’t I just made stuff up? Do you mean to tell me I have a godly potential?

  They had no way of knowing how long have they been descending in this endless darkness. At least had the Snow Mountain Sect’s night pearls, who not only lit their way but also helped to find directions.

  Aquatic plants appeared before them, tens of zhangs long and moving with the water flow. Chen Ming snapped his claws and moved with great speed past a cultivator, “Eh? What did I just saw? It looked like a turtle, but how can a turtle be that fast? I must be seeing things.”


  As he went deeper among the plants, Chen Ming sensed how the cold grew denser. Fairy Zi Xia took a look around and said, “It looks promising. Plants mean life, and where there’s life, death also gathers, giving birth to Soul Returning Water.”


  Fairy Zi Xia said, “Now that we’re here, everyone can go their way to try their fate. But don’t wander too far.”


  When it came to trying one’s fate, it was best to not stay together, to avoid any mishaps.

  Chen Ming flapped his claws as he darted through the water, and said to Fairy Zi Xia behind him, “Didn’t you say we should separate?”


  “Your cultivations are too low, so I will watch over you in case of danger.”


  “Then what about scouting for treasures?”


  “It’s all based on strength. The strongest will have the most treasures!”


  Chen Ming rolled his eyes, “Are all women devils? Just who is stronger? You, a Dao Comprehending realm cultivator, or us, a Dao Initiation realm and a Dao Sense realm cultivators?”


  (1) It has double meaning in Chinese. It is also a turtle and an insult.