"Back in the day, I also encountered a Huo Yong. That guy was really troublesome.

I fought with him for over seventy days and killed him seventeen times.

I was exhausted, yet he still wasn’t completely dead.

It was only on the eighteenth time that I finally managed to finish him off, and then Yu came to cause trouble.

Dealing with one Huo Yong was enough of a headache; adding Yu just made it worse, so I left.

The guy you met, did he tell you his name?"

"He said he came from the Firebird Tribe."

"Never heard of it, probably a small tribe that was swallowed up."

Wen Yan extended his hand, drawing a pattern underwater.

"This is the mark on his face, he called it the Fire Feather Totem."

The Water Monarch looked at the totem and pondered for a moment.

"I’ve seen this totem before, on a witch. It’s a very old totem. Why would such an early Huo Yong appear now?"

"A sealing was undone." Wen Yan outlined the situation and mentioned that the Witch Priest had also appeared, affected by it.

"Ha..." The Water Monarch laughed out loud.

"What’s so funny?"

"Your troubles are getting bigger. It’s obvious that more than one seal was undone.

At least two were released for the Witch Priest’s bloodline to be activated.

Those guys love to complicate simple matters.

Every seal is connected to many other things.

The seal related to the imprisoned Huo Yong is certainly a big problem."

"Anything else?"

"How would I know? Those witch gods are so secretive, even stealing my discarded teeth. None of them are good news. If I had known earlier, I would’ve crushed some of those witches."

Seeing the shift in the Water Monarch’s tone, Wen Yan quietly retreated without a word.

"If there’s nothing else, forget it. I just remembered an urgent matter, so I’ll be heading off now. I’ll bring you some good wine next time."

Wen Yan retreated stealthily, and the next instant, saw a sudden wave in the water rushing towards him. He put his hand up to block, and the power of Xin Dao exploded, his blood boiling, transforming into water currents that swirled before him.

Wen Yan thought to himself, the Water Monarch is like a dog, always resorting to action at the slightest disagreement.

He shifted his mind, attempting a finer control, trying to deflect the forces. But the next moment, after diverting a large part, a streak of power hit him, and he spat out blood with a "waa" sound, leveraging the force to retreat rapidly until he disappeared from sight.

The Water Monarch lowered his hand, watched Wen Yan disappear, sensing the power Wen Yan had just unleashed, and chuckled.

"This guy is becoming increasingly peculiar. Such powerful blood energy—does he want to learn from us? Quite daring."

He stood up slowly, casually grabbing a large jar of wine, stuffing it into his mouth, chewing it along with the jar.

As the Water Monarch moved, the massive chains on him clanged, yet this time, the golden bell at his nose tip remained motionless.

The Water Monarch pouted and said.

"Why isn’t it moving this time? Move! If it doesn’t move, I’ll hit him to death right now."

The golden bell at his nose tip shook slightly but made no sound.

"You humans are hypocritical, at least Wen Yan’s a bit more genuinely hypocritical.

Guys like him are barely qualified to die by my hand.

If he ended up dead from messing around like your predecessors, it would be boring.

I won’t kill him, so what?"

The golden bell shook slightly again, and the Water Monarch laughed even more gleefully.

"Ha, I just like people like him, so what? It’s much better than being like those annoying witches. Only a body of flesh and blood can bear true power. I welcome it, and let’s see who can stop me!"

The Water Monarch muttered a few words alone at the bottom of the water, sensing that Wen Yan was about to leave the Huai River, and when the bell rang, he ignored it completely, merely flicking a finger to send out a ripple of water, which vanished.

Meanwhile, as Wen Yan was about to emerge from the water, he felt a highly changeable aura entering his body with an unstoppable force.

The next moment, Wen Yan felt that the aura merged into his blood energy, integrating into the water in his kidneys.

The aura shifted from soothing and calm to bone-chilling, then to fierce and domineering, continually changing, pulling at his blood energy, causing them to fluctuate and transform accordingly.

Suddenly, the steady force circulating in his body started to undulate, even under normal circumstances.

Wen Yan was bewildered, turning back to glance. What was the Water Monarch’s meaning?

"Due to unclear reasons, an unknown existence highly agrees with your development of blood energy power.

For unknown reasons, an unknown existence has granted you a blessing.

Received a touch of Huai Water True Intent.

Bearing this blessing, you can receive the blessing of not perishing by the Huai River."

"Calamity Protector Water Official Talisman progress increased by 5%, current progress 54%."

"Calamity Protector Water Official Talisman gained new effect: Pulse."

"Pulse: You can sense the pulse of the water flow, find resonance, and even align the rhythm of the pulse with other places (an additional hint from the unknown existence: you can use it to cultivate blood energy)."

Wen Yan frowned at the hint.

Unknown Water Monarch, huh?

This anonymity is so perfunctory.

Besides the Water Monarch, is there anyone else in the world who can give him a trace of Huai Water True Intent?

Alright, an unknown existence it shall be.

The Water Monarch’s peculiar temperament—he might not even have full control over himself.

Wen Yan thought about it and advised himself, it’s really unnecessary to bicker with someone who’s been imprisoned for thousands of years—it’s lucky they haven’t gone mad yet.

Looking at the "not perishing by the Huai River" effect, Wen Yan thought, perhaps this is the Water Monarch anonymously saying, I didn’t know you were so fragile. One touch and you’re injured. Remember to come back next time. I can ensure not to kill you, my word is my bond.

With the Water Monarch’s capricious nature, flipping sides and acting neurotically like nothing happened the next minute, he would never say such things face-to-face.

So instead, he said nothing and directly gave a blessing.

Wen Yan felt the fluctuations and pulses of power inside him beginning to align gradually with the beating of his heart and the flow of blood. He touched his chest, and truthfully, after spitting that mouthful of blood, he felt much better.

Now, he couldn’t quite tell if the Water Monarch noticed something wrong with his blood energy or just couldn’t resist giving him a beating.