Carefree Path of Dreams

Ever since he had met Luo Zhu, Fang Yuan started to explore further and began to make friends with a few spirits.

To be labelled as a spirit, they had to have a hardy physical body and had to be spiritually aware.

Fang Yuan would not eat these creatures. Instead, he would befriend them and gather information from them.

He still preferred the big green fish with strong energy but spiritually unaware of what was happening.

After his eating spree, he had grown to as long as 3 metres and as he swam, waves swept above him. He was a bully in the region.

If this place was a small lake or river, he could create chaos and might even be respected as a Water Dragon King.

Of course, there were many powerful creatures in Qi Lake and the little cultivation of his was only average.

"Another one!"

As he swam in the lake, his body glowed black. He would no longer pay attention to smaller fishes.

"My body is surging with elemental force. If I swallow another spirit, I can surely achieve the 3rd Transformation!"

Normal fishes would not be able to train up so quickly.

"Do I really need to attack those spirits? If I do, I’ll have to kill them in one bite must hide from others, otherwise, trouble would come looking for me..."

It was alright for Fang Yuan to eat the other normal fishes to cultivate himself. However, it was considered overboard if he were to eat the creatures with spiritual awareness.

Considering his ability now, he still did not have the power to go against the unspoken rule of not attacking creatures with spiritual awareness.

As he swam and looked out for potential targets, he unknowingly arrived at where Luo Zhu was.

With his spiritual will, he scanned the surroundings and suddenly became enraged. With the flick of his tail, he rushed over.

"You indecent thing, hand the pearl over!"

In front, Luo Zhu refused to open her clam, and there was a soft crying voice of a little girl.

Outside, there was a ferocious sawtooth fish bigger than Fang Yuan’s current size. He had a slim body and a swordlike mouth filled with teeth as sharp as a saw. There were spikes on its tail as well and a Yin Spirit the shape of a middle-aged man was above it. "Hand it over! If you do not, I’ll break your shell open and destroy you!"

He was extremely quick and as he swam behind Luo Zhu, he aimed before charging at her with full speed.

"Bang!"

After a huge tremor, there was a big hole in her shell and Luo Zhu was wailing loudly.

"How dare you!"

Although it was only normal for the strong to eat the weak, Fang Yuan was Luo Zhu’s friend and he had to help her.

Seeing the sawtooth fish attempting to charge at her again, Fang Yuan rushed out and rammed into his stomach, biting it with his sharp teeth.

"Kacha!"

He had cultivated his sharp teeth. For the purpose of biting and digestion, he had strengthened it, and it was as hard as metal. Immediately, there was an open wound in the sawtooth fish’s stomach, as Fang Yuan bit a piece of flesh from him.

"Ah... How dare you!"

As the middle-aged man screamed, his Yin Spirit returned to his body, and the sawtooth fish appeared more ferocious than ever.

"Water spear!"

As his spiritual will shook, two swirling water spears appeared and penetrated through the sawtooth’s wound, destroying his insides.

"This is impossible..."

A wave of thought came from the eyes of the sawtooth fish.

Although they were about the same size, the sawtooth fish was a natural predator and would have the advantage over normal fishes like carps.

Never would he have thought that this black carp was a mutated fish!

With a feeling of unjust, the sawtooth fish continued to rush forward instead of retreating and was ready to fight for his life with Fang Yuan.

"Haha, do you think I’ll be afraid of you?!"

Fang Yuan knew his strengths and was aware that he was the strongest among all creatures in the local region. He wouldn’t be afraid of even the biggest creatures. With the flick of his tail, he smacked the sawtooth fish and followed up with a bite, pulling of flesh with every mouth.

"Brother, please spare me! Spare me!"

After their exchange, the sawtooth fish was at a disadvantage and was under Fang Yuan’s total control. There was nothing he could do to release himself and could only reveal himself as a Yin Spirit to beg for his life.

"Hmph, since you intend to harm my friend, I cannot let you go!"

Fang Yuan exclaimed as he rolled his eyes. Finally, he bit onto the head of the sawtooth fish.

"Ah..."

The middle-aged man exclaimed as his spirit attempted to escape.

Although he had lost his physical body and that the Yin Spirit would slowly die with it, he would still have a slight chance of survival if fate allows.

Of course, Fang Yuan would not let him survive. Quickly, he released his Yin Spirit as well and fired a water arrow at him, destroying his Yin Spirit.

"This is god given!"

Looking at the huge sawtooth fish corpse, Fang Yuan quickly gobbled him up in happiness.

He was only halfway done but he could feel a warm surge of energy breaking through something in his body.

On his stats window, the figures changed:

"Name: Fang Yuan

Race: [Black Carp (66 Years)]

Essence: 12

Spirit: 12

Magic: 12

Profession: ???

Cultivation: ???

Technique: [Nine Steps of Dragon Transformation Formula (3rd Transformation)], [Water Controlling Technique (Grade 2)]

Skill: [Medicine (Level 3)], [Botany (Level 5)]"

"Indeed, I’m at the 3rd Transformation! Could the 66 Years refer to my cultivation level? That my abilities are comparable to a water spirit that has cultivated for 66 years?"

Fang Yuan was deep in his thoughts as he looked at his stats window.

"Brother!"

As the clam opened, Luo Zuo invited Fang Yuan over.

"Didn’t I tell you not to let anyone see that pearl of yours? Look at what happened!"

Fang Yuan was in a good mood as he stroked the little girl’s forehead.

"I’ve learnt!"

Luo Zhu tugged at Fang Yuan’s sleeves as she examined him with curiosity. "Eh? Brother, when did you change your appearance? You have a beard as well!"

"This is a transformation. With enough spiritual energy, I would be able to start the next stage of condensing!"

Fang Yuan’s Yin Spirit examined his own body as well.

His body was originally larger but now, it had become shortened. This was due to the fact that the energy in his body had been purified.

Even so, his glittering scales and longer whiskers made him looked more experienced and powerful. More importantly, his water-type skills had improved.

"In the Nine Steps of Dragon Transformation Formula, the first three transformations would be to form the basics. It would be difficult to achieve a breakthrough to the 4th Transformation!"

Looking at his black carp body, he was lost in his thoughts.

In the Nine Steps of Dragon Transformation Formula, there was a difficulty in the 4th Transformation. It was called ’Carp Leaping Over the Dragon’s Gate’.

This would involve his physical body changing, which was a huge thing.

After all, with the body of a carp, he could at most be a demon in a river. Only by leaping over the Dragon’s Gate and gaining the properties of a dragon could there be a future for him.

"To think about it, I was fortunate enough to possess this black carp, since it is related to dragons. That way, I would have the affinity to become a dragon! If I were to possess a crab or shrimp, I would really cry."

"Kacha!"

At this moment, there was the sound of an explosion on the surface of the river. Purple lightning struck down like pillars of heaven.

This was a different threat from before, and Fang Yuan was stunned.

"This is..."

Without caring about Luo Zhu, Fang Yuan quickly floated to the surface of the lake.

As he arrived on top, he witnessed dark clouds covering the sun and moon. Lightning flashed down towards the centre of the lake.

’This is the power of the heavens!’

No matter how many times he had seen this before, it would strike fear into him every single time.

"The Water God is finally going to experience the tribulation!"

As a wave of water spread across the surface of the lake, many spirits floated up as well and were all shocked as they witnessed the lightning.

No matter how many creatures there were, all of them could only hide like Fang Yuan. There were only a few who were able to release their Yin Spirit, and even Luo Zhu could not do it.

There was an old creature with a white beard sighing.

Beside him, there was a well-built man with a black face and brute spiritual aura.

"Brother Gui, Brother Zhu!"

Fang Yuan greeted them.

Both of them quickly returned a greeting. "Congratulations, Brother Fang, on your improvements in cultivation!"

Fang Yuan knew the both of them. They were the spirits nearby. Before he had made the breakthrough, he had even thought about eating them.

The white-bearded creature was Gui Zhong, a green-haired tortoise. He was the oldest among all of them and was around a thousand years old. Brother Zhu, on the other hand, was a crocodile and was similar to Fang Yuan in a sense where he also trained up by eating other animals.

At this point in time, as the three of them looked at the lightning crackle down, they appeared extremely solemn.

"Water God’s tribulation?"

Fang Yuan acted as though he was confused. "Please explain."

"Ah..."

Gui Zhong sighed. "The Water God of Qi Lake was originally a green python. Although he had the properties of a dragon and had once ruled over an area, he was ultimately not a dragon!"

"After a hundred years, a snake would transform into a python, and after another five hundred years, the python would finally transform into a dragon... Ah, the Water God has painstakingly trained for five hundred years and has good karma. However, to become a dragon, it still has to undergo a lightning tribulation! Not just that, he will have to undergo a human tribulation as well, and I’m not sure if the Water God will be able to make it through..."

Fang Yuan remained silent.

The few hundred mile radii of the Qi Lake and the presence of the Water God would surely attract a lot of attention from everywhere.

"Previously, the Water God had made used of his good karma to delay his tribulation. Who knows if he had cleared his human tribulation as well... He can no longer delay it and with the lightning, he had to face it squarely..."

As soon as Gui Zhong finished his sentence, a purple streak of lightning crackled across the sky, engulfing the entire sky in a white glow like a pillar from the heavens.

In the middle of the lightning, there was a black shadow roaring.

"Roar!"

Suddenly, there was a powerful dragon’s roar.

All the spiritual energy in the vicinity of Qi Lake quickly gathered around the black shadow.

"Good!"

Witnessing this, Gui Zhong was jubilant. "With his good karma and the help from the spiritual energy around the lake, he is likely to make it!"

Just as he ended, a few streaks of black smoke rushed towards the Water God with much hostility.

It was evident that some of the black streaks of smoke were from the powerful demons in Qi Lake as they rushed up to disrupt the transference of spiritual energy to the Water God.

"Rumble!"

As the final lightning struck down, the silhouette of a dragon was struck and a pitiful dragon’s roar was heard in the minds of every creature living in the lake.

"Water God..."

Gui Zhong was stunned. Seeing a water dragon falling down and breaking into two parts as black smoke surrounded it, he was speechless.

"Hehe... hehe..."

At the side, the crocodile gave a snicker with a hint of worry. After all, he also had properties of a dragon and he could end up like the Water God!