Chapter 142 On Water

Xu Wenshan’s forehead broke out in a cold sweat immediately, and he asked, "Are the Dao hearts of other cultivators similar to yours?"

"The function of a Dao heart only gradually manifests upon reaching the Core Formation stage, but if one has yet to forge a Dao heart by the Nascent Soul stage, I fear breakthrough will be impossible for a lifetime. Therefore, most cultivators above the Core Formation stage possess a Dao heart, while those below do not necessarily have one. However, the Great Dao spans three thousand paths, and no two Dao hearts in the world are ever identical. As far as I know, I am still the only one who has cultivated the 'Highest Good' Dao heart."

Venerable Ruoshui looked rather proud as he said this. Secretly wiping away his sweat, Xu Wenshan thought to himself that it was fortunate only this single person possessed such a bizarre Dao heart; if the Immortal Alliance had even a few more like him, the entire world would likely collapse.

Xu Wenshan looked at the trembling little girl, then at the solemn-faced Daoist priest, finding the situation utterly troublesome. These two were equivalent to a pair of ticking time bombs; if he couldn't get rid of them, it would be very difficult for him to operate going forward.

Putting aside the Daoist, this young girl from the Yun family alone was a massive problem. Having lived unrestrained in Shaxian for so many days, Xu Wenshan relied on a single steadfast principle: "Offend the public authorities, but under no circumstances offend private entities." As for the property and interests of the Duke of Cai's household, he would inflict two parts of damage without hesitation if he could, but regarding private interests—such as the village chiefs and the soldiers—he would go to great lengths to win them over and never offend them.

The public authorities were public; he could offend them to the death, and apart from the Duke of Cai, no one would have any objections. But if he were to offend any private family, he could face the most ferocious retaliation.

Now, look at where he was. He had just offended the largest private family in the state of Cai.

How could this end well?

Weighing his words carefully, Xu Wenshan said, "Actually, water does not always flow downwards."

Ruoshui replied, "Are you trying to say that sometimes a few droplets of water cling to the walls? Others have used that argument against me before, but those are merely a few scattered drops. Failing to see the mighty current for a few stray droplets is incorrect."

"Not at all," Xu Wenshan said. "In fact, the flowing of water is not an intrinsic property of the water itself, but the result of external forces."

Ruoshui stated, "If one scoops up a handful of water and hurls it upward, naturally the water..."

"No, I am not talking about throwing water," Xu Wenshan interrupted. "Conditions permitting, water does not always flow downward."

Ruoshui's expression turned serious. "Prove it to me."

This matter concerned his Dao heart. If a Dao heart became unstable during a breakthrough, the cultivator would likely perish from a shattered Dao heart. Consequently, every practitioner would interrogate themselves a hundred times over when constructing their Dao heart, followed by another hundred rounds of questioning from others. Therefore, even if a mere mortal challenged his Dao heart, he would treat it with utmost seriousness.

Xu Wenshan thought for a moment and said, "I don't have the tools on hand, so I can't prove it right away... Well, I need a flexible, slender tube that is hollow in the middle." Halfway through his sentence, he suddenly remembered that the Daoist could even build a carriage; how could he not manufacture a simple straw?

Ruoshui chanted an incantation, and several vines flew in through the carriage window, weaving themselves into a tube in mid-air.

Holding the slender tube in his hand and marveling at the magic of it, Xu Wenshan took out his personal water flask, inserted one end of the tube into the water, and kept the other end outside. "Water does not always flow downward along the gradient. Look."

He bent the slender tube into the shape of a rainbow, and immediately, droplets of water began to flow out from the other end of the tube.

Ruoshui’s brow furrowed even deeper. He quickly snatched the tube from Xu Wenshan and tested it himself, only to find that the water indeed continued to flow through the rainbow-shaped tube and out the other side.

Xu Wenshan said, "You see, water does not always go down; otherwise, how could it pass through this rainbow-shaped tube? Under certain circumstances, it travels upward as well."

This was merely a common siphon phenomenon. As long as the other end of the tube was lower than the water level, the water would flow out of the tube due to atmospheric pressure. In Xu Wenshan's world, this was no more than an elementary school science experiment, but here, the Daoist had never witnessed it.

Xu Wenshan glibly explained, "So water doesn't always go down. Sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down; it has a mind of its own, and it's not always as base as you guys imagine..."

Ruoshui stood frozen in thought for a while. Xu Wenshan's nonsense had actually managed to fracture his Dao heart just a fraction.

This was a long-lost experience for him.

Ruoshui muttered, "Let me think about this for a moment, let me think about this..." With that, he froze into a rigid state and remained motionless.

Xu Wenshan waved his hand in front of the Daoist's eyes and made a funny face, but Ruoshui didn't even blink.

The scene filled Xu Wenshan with deep emotion. If cultivators above the Core Formation stage were all like this, he genuinely had no idea how the Immortal Alliance managed to maintain any semblance of normalcy until today.

Next, he turned his gaze toward Yun Shang.

Seeing Xu Wenshan staring at her, the young girl stammered, "If you dare to do anything bad to me... I, I won't let you off! The sons and daughters of Great Cai never fear..."

Xu Wenshan rubbed his aching head, thinking, *My dear girl, do you even know what that word implies?* Right now, given this girl's intelligence, the probability of letting her walk back home on her own and arriving safe and sound was basically zero.

He poked his head out of the carriage window and shouted, "Tiger Lei!"

Tiger Lei came trotting eagerly from the rear of the convoy and said, "Present!"

Xu Wenshan stared at Tiger Lei for a moment, deciding it was a bad idea. If he let this fellow escort the girl back, the poor girl would likely be driven half-mad on the journey. He changed his mind: "Not you. Call Da-zhuang Li over."

After a short while, Da-zhuang Li came running over. After a moment of thought, Xu Wenshan still felt it was inappropriate. If Da-zhuang Li were to escort the girl back, it might very well develop into the kind of plot where, a year later, Da-zhuang Li and this girl would flee to him carrying a newborn baby, claiming they were married and currently being hunted down by the entire Yun family.

Xu Wenshan told the men below, "Bring the enemy leader over."

Soldiers carrying the enemy commander brought Li Chenggang to the front of Xu Wenshan on a stretcher. The arrow embedded in his ribs had been gouged out with a knife by the people of Luhegou and washed with alcohol, but he was still clinging to life by a thread; a single bout of high fever could easily cost him his life.

Expecting him to deliver the girl back intact was out of the question, so Xu Wenshan hoped to extract some information from him instead.

"What kind of background does this Yun family have?"

Li Chenggang asked weakly from the stretcher, "Do you think I would betray intelligence to the enemy?"

Xu Wenshan replied very bluntly, "If I don't know this girl's identity, I won't know what etiquette to use when treating her. You wouldn't want the girl to suffer any psychological trauma while she's with me, would you? If she is mistreated here and eventually returns to the Yun family, I'm afraid neither you nor I will have an easy time of it."

Suppressing the resentment in his heart, Li Chenggang said, "Fine, I'll tell you everything."