Invincible Starts From Dao Fruit
Chapter 119 - 96 Lishui Seal! [2nd Update, Seeking Monthly Pass!]

Chapter 119: Chapter 96 Lishui Seal! [2nd Update, Seeking Monthly Pass!]

A flash.

Three days passed.

During this period, each night, vegetation spread madly across the mountains and plains.

And each night grew worse than the last.

On the first night, only buds sprouted and leaves grew. On the second night, flora thrived in abundance. By the third night, trees grew taller. By the fourth night, flowers blanketed the ground, and seeds drifted on the wind.

The farmland cultivated by the people, the official roads connecting the counties, and the small paths between villages and market towns were all overtaken by trees.

Even within the cities, in every corner, crack, and crevice of walls and bricks, vegetation grew unchecked.

In just three days and four nights, it seemed as though the world was reverting to an ancient, barbaric wilderness.

The people across ten counties were thrown into panic and unease.

The Martial Alliance descended into chaos, and fear spread among the ranks.

Fortunately, the organization was well-structured and systems were firmly in place.

Chen Jichuan worked to soothe Mu Junxiong, Wang Quan, and Xue Zhong, the trio of leaders who, in turn, calmed the officials of the Three Mountains and Six Ministries. These officials passed reassurance down the chain, barely keeping the situation under control.

Yet, in the face of the unknown, everyone remained gripped by dread, unable to find peace even for a day.

Chen Jichuan couldn’t afford to be distracted. The transformations in the world were far beyond human control; the only thing he could do was focus on improving himself, hoping to have greater strength for self-preservation when faced with even bigger upheavals.

His attention remained fixed on the Lishui Water Mansion.

...

Lishui South Bank.

North of Yangshuo County.

Three days had passed, and the Lishui Water Mansion had been swept forty miles downstream, moving from the Lingchuan County river segment to the Yangshuo County river segment.

Chen Jichuan predicted its location and set up a Dharma Platform.

On this very night.

The night was enchanting, filled with the fragrance of vegetation.

A paper figure pushed open the door and entered the hall, ascending the steps.

Chen Jichuan, standing on the south bank, stepped onto the altar and began the ritual once more.

First, he performed the "Sealing Hundred Mouths Technique."

"Wuu~ wuu~"

The civil servant adorned in a jade belt and purple robe couldn’t open his mouth, rendered incapable of speaking eloquently like a flowing river.

"Who goes there? State your name!"

Two military generals stepped forward, striking the ground with their iron halberd and long spear, shouting in demand.

Chen Jichuan didn’t bother with using the "Iron Loach Technique" again. Instead, he stepped into the Gang Step formation, chanting:

"Sky whirls, earth spins, ancestral master proclaims the decree, Master Chehou bestows upon his disciple the slipperiness of the Slippery Oil Mountain, thirty-three thousand slippery oils across time. With a finger pointed at one mountain, the mountain becomes slippery, as if a flood dragon glides through nine rapids. Whether in combat or motion, one cannot stay still; mountains slip up and down. Following my master’s guidance, the slipperiness increases the longer the fight, bending through curves upon curves. My master taught me the Slippery Oil Mountain. Point up to slide to the heavens, point down to return to the edge; move and slip till tomorrow. I call upon the Southern Dipper Six Stars and the Beidou Seven Stars. By the commanding order of Pharaoh Immortal Master, hasten as the command!"

The spell concluded.

"Aiya!"

The two military generals suddenly found the ground beneath their feet slippery, stumbling and swaying, unable to keep their footing.

The impregnable fortress was instantly breached.

"Go!"

Chen Jichuan, with no time for celebration, ordered the paper figure to charge forward directly toward the silver-haired elder in the golden crown and yellow robe beneath the Yellow Luo Umbrella.

His feet carried him swiftly.

In just a few steps, he was before his target.

Chen Jichuan held his breath and concentrated.

But at this moment, as the paper figure passed a crowd of military generals and civil servants to approach the elder, its form suddenly shrank, reverting to the size of a doll. Then, dimming again, it returned to its original paper figure form.

It had reverted to its true self.

"What’s—this?"

Chen Jichuan frowned deeply, a wave of helplessness washing over him.

Up until now, the methods of the civil servants and military generals were observable and solvable.

But this silver-haired elder remained calm and motionless, showing no signs of mystical power, yet the paper figure was just forced back to its true self as soon as it approached?

Even for someone like Chen Jichuan, he couldn’t discern what kind of mystical skill this was.

No clues to follow, how could he possibly break the spell?

"Must I go in person?"

Chen Jichuan pondered for a moment before a thought struck him.

Acting on his idea immediately, he left the Five Ghosts and paper figures to watch over the Water Mansion. He himself dashed toward Yangshuo County, climbing walls and leaping across rooftops to break into the prison and abduct two death-row prisoners before returning to the Lishui South Bank.

He threw them onto the ground.

"Thank you, hero!"

"Thank you for saving us, great hero!"

Zhang Hu and Zhao Jiu knelt in gratitude, bowing repeatedly to Chen Jichuan, both trembling in shock and joy.

Both men were from Yangshuo County. A few days ago, Zhang Hu had murdered a shoemaker in a fit of rage over ill-fitting shoes, while Zhao Jiu, a man overcome by his desires and poverty, had committed the atrocity of breaking into a home to defile a woman after failing to find a wife at the age of thirty.

According to the Martial Alliance’s laws, such crimes warranted exile to the Black Prison for death servitude.

Death servitude—labor until death.

The term limit was as short as six years, beyond which, if one wasn’t dead, they’d be immediately dragged out for execution.

Zhang Hu and Zhao Jiu, while detained, were scheduled for transport to the Black Prison days earlier. But due to the recent upheaval and widespread fear, the transfer had been delayed.

Both felt a mix of unease and faint relief, though despair still lingered in their hearts.

They never anticipated that a hero would descend from the heavens tonight and rescue them from their cells, leaving them overjoyed.

"Thank you, hero!"

"Thank you, hero!"

Zhang Hu and Zhao Jiu knelt and kowtowed, overwhelmed with gratitude toward Chen Jichuan.

"Save you?"

Chen Jichuan sneered at the two, kicking them over.

"Hero?"

Zhang Hu and Zhao Jiu, knocked to the ground, looked up at Chen Jichuan in confusion.

Why kick them without reason?

A pang of foreboding gripped their hearts.

Chen Jichuan paid them no attention.

He silently recited an incantation, beginning:

"Tighten the body, tighten the body, the spell strap follows the body, the tightening spell wrapped firmly on the wicked people’s skulls—

and immediately their heads split with blindness and pain. Call upon Tang Sanzang from the Western Heaven, bring forth Guanyin from the southern shores; Heavenly Spirit, Earthly Spirit, tighten with the descending order. By the Southern Dipper Six Stars, the Beidou Seven Stars, I invoke the command of Lord Lao Zi of the Great Monad!"

As the spell concluded, a golden light flashed.

On Zhang Hu and Zhao Jiu’s heads, a tightening band suddenly appeared. Chen Jichuan continued his chant—

"Ahhh!"

"Aaaaahhhhhh!"

The two screamed in agony, collapsing to the ground as they smashed their heads against stone, wishing to bash themselves into death. Snot, tears, even urine and feces poured out, painting a truly hideous scene.

"Disgusting creatures!"

Chen Jichuan sneered at their unsightly state, but still stopped the incantation quickly.

The "Tightening Spell" he cultivated was not as potent as those granted by Guanyin nor used against the Great Sage, but for mere mortals, it was unbearable.

A few more moments, and they might’ve died from the pain alone.

"Later, when you dive into the water, find the hall door, push it open, and follow the stone steps forward until you reach the silver-bearded old man. Push him, and it’s done."

"Once it’s over, I’ll set you free."

"Understand?"

Looking at the two sweat-soaked, dazed figures, Chen Jichuan repeated the instructions twice more until they nodded hastily.

"You go first," Chen Jichuan directed Zhao Jiu.

"At once, sir!"

"At once, sir!"

Shivering, Zhao Jiu climbed down the embankment and entered the freezing water.

The icy cold nearly killed him.

But with the tightening band weighing on his mind and Yama himself overseeing him onshore, Zhao Jiu dared not attempt escape. Following the path marked by the paper figure, he opened the palace door.

The sequence repeated again.

Civil servants went silent.

Military generals slipped and fell.

A frightened Zhao Jiu made his way past the crowd, reaching the elder. Awed by the elder’s imposing presence, he froze, unable to reach out and push him.

And at this critical moment—

Boom!

A mighty pressure descended, forcing Zhao Jiu to his knees.

Looking up, he saw only the elder wave his sleeve, and a massive seal dropped in front of Zhao Jiu. The hall echoed with a deafening, ponderous sound.

The eastern civil servants.

The western military generals.

And even the elder beneath the Yellow Luo Umbrella—all vanished in that instant.

The hall now stood empty.

And utterly silent.

"Is this—"

"The Water God Dragon King?"

Eyes wide, Zhao Jiu held the Dragon Carving Seal in his trembling hands. Turning it over, he saw several large words engraved upon it.

Zhao Jiu couldn’t read, but he knew instinctively that this was no ordinary treasure, perhaps even the official seal of a deity.

Greed bloomed in his heart. Holding the seal, his eyes darted about, plotting how to claim it for himself.

Just then—

"Ah!"

"It hurts, hurts, hurts!"

Tormented by the tightening band, Zhao Jiu’s greed and schemes were driven from his mind as quickly as they’d come.

Bam, bam, bam!

He threw himself to the ground, whining and crying: "Hero! Immortal! Please take back your divine powers!"

The pain receded.

A cold, indifferent voice reached his ears: "Bring it over!"

Already terrified out of his wits, Zhao Jiu dared not hesitate. Crawling out of the hall with the seal in hand, he brought it back to the shore.

...

"The Lishui Seal?"

Chen Jichuan decapitated the two corpses and hurled them into the river, dispersing their souls before taking the seal for closer inspection.

The seal bore a carved dragon, its four sides etched with imagery of seasonal rain, mortal suffering, and the myriad facets of human existence. At its base, the inscription read "Lishui Seal."

Unable to decipher its intricacies, Chen Jichuan activated the ’Insight Skill’—

[Magical Treasure: Lishui Seal]

[Level: Low Grade]

[Description: The official seal of the Lishui Water Mansion’s Lord, representing dominion over Lishui. Enables communication with water veins. Refining this seal grants mastery over the mansion and control of seasonal rain along the Lishui’s banks. Borrowing the power of heaven and earth can aid cultivation. Includes the Water Mansion’s absolute skill, "Water Classics."]

...

"It’s really mine now?"

Chen Jichuan held the "Lishui Seal," feeling an inexplicable unease.

Magical treasures are rare.

Inheritances even harder to come by.

Yet, within a little over a month, he had first acquired the "Yuanchen Sword" and learned the absolute skill "Sword Map" of the Ten Thousand Sword Sect. Now, he had obtained the "Lishui Seal," which also encompassed the "Water Classics," the Water Mansion’s ultimate skill.

From beginning to end—

It all seemed too easy.

"Shouldn’t treasures like these require conflicts between dozens of masters, scheming at every turn, life-or-death struggles, and a climactic battle with rivers of blood before landing in my hands?"

Holding the "Lishui Seal," Chen Jichuan felt unsettled.

Such is human nature.

The harder something is to obtain, the more one desires it.

When something comes too easily, suspicion takes hold.

Chen Jichuan, reflecting back on the sequence of events—

Realized that neither discovering nor exploring the mansion was straightforward.

For example, locating the Water Mansion.

He had managed to pinpoint its location using the Circular Light Skill to interrogate the heavens. Without this skill, even a Ninth Grade Grandmaster would struggle to find the mansion unless by sheer luck while accompanying Lishui.

As for exploring the mansion.

While it seemed simple, the process was fraught with hurdles.

Without the paper figures, the "Sealing Hundred Mouths Technique," and the "Slippery Oil Mountain Method," even if he personally entered, bypassing the barriers created by the civil servants and military generals without using the Yuanchen Sword would have been nearly impossible.

Even so,

he lost seven paper figures along the way.

Thinking of it this way—

It wasn’t as easy as it seemed.

Chen Jichuan sorted through his thoughts, feeling more at ease.

As long as the "Lishui Seal" had come into his possession through "great effort and hardship," there was nothing to worry about.

With his heart now steady—

Chen Jichuan’s gaze fell again on the "Lishui Seal," unable to contain the joy blossoming in his heart: "Mastering the Water Mansion and controlling the Lishui’s seasonal rains. Borrowing the power of the heavens and earth for cultivation."

The Lishui Seal’s offensive capabilities might be lacking, but in terms of mystical properties, it surpassed even the Yuanchen Sword.

"A truly marvelous treasure!"

Chen Jichuan beamed with uncontrollable delight, holding the seal in one hand and the sword in the other, grinning from ear to ear.

...