Beneath the turbid river water,
it was a world of gloom.
Shen Changchuan searched high and low along the riverbed.
Nearly a month of continuous rain had stirred up mud and sand upstream, turning the once-clear river incredibly murky.
As a result, Shen Changchuan's vision was severely limited at the bottom of the river.
Fortunately, the Spiritual Eye Technique he had mastered to Perfection gave Shen Changchuan vision that far surpassed the ordinary, as well as a keen perception of Spiritual Qi or Demon Qi. Otherwise, he could forget about finding any Spiritual Objects on this riverbed.
Shen Changchuan searched the uneven riverbed section by section.
Occasionally, large, broken branches and leaves swept past him in the surging current.
From time to time, he could see large fish darting about.
He also saw resilient waterweeds swaying on the riverbed, having survived the powerful floods of the rainy season.
However,
after an hour, Shen Changchuan had searched a long stretch of the riverbed and still come up empty-handed.
There wasn't even a trace of Spiritual Qi or a spiritual glow,
as if there were no Heavenly and Earthly Treasures there at all.
'Could I have been wrong? Maybe the Crocodile Demon didn't have a Heavenly and Earthly Treasure. Maybe it just possessed some powerful, inherited bloodline, which would explain how it mastered so many types of Magic and why its intelligence and spiritual awareness surpassed that of ordinary Demon Beasts.'
On the riverbank,
having found nothing after a long search, Shen Changchuan climbed ashore and sat meditating to recover his Magical Power.
He couldn't help but feel frustrated.
Thinking back on the fruitless hour spent searching the riverbed,
Shen Changchuan couldn't help but frown.
'Then again, it wasn't a complete waste of time.'
'At least I got to familiarize myself with the terrain of the riverbed,'
'and I discovered that this Dawan River has fairly abundant Water Vein Essence Qi.'
'The silt on the riverbed has accumulated a good deal of 'sediment,' a combination of Water Vein Essence Qi and Earth Vein Essence Qi.'
'This 'sediment' should be quite beneficial for the growth of Spirit Grain.'
'If I could dredge it up and increase the Spirit Grain yield, it would be a small fortune.'
But the problem was,
this had nothing to do with Shen Changchuan's original goal!
'I wasn't looking for silty sediment; I was looking for a Heaven and Earth Spiritual Object related to the Crocodile Demon!'
But an hour of searching had yielded nothing,
forcing Shen Changchuan to doubt his own theory.
'No, that's not right!'
'The Water Vein Essence Qi in the river isn't bad, and there's plenty of sediment on the bottom. A river like this should have at least one or two lesser Spiritual Objects, like the Spirit Grain, even if not a whole lot!'
'But there aren't any! In fact, even the waterweeds seem a bit scarce!'
'That's not normal!'
As this realization struck him, Shen Changchuan's eyes narrowed.
'Something is strange!'
He decided to continue looking.
And so,
once his Magical Power was fully restored,
Shen Changchuan entered the river again.
This time,
he expanded his search, moving farther out and combing the area inch by inch.
Finally,
his persistence paid off.
A quarter of an hour later,
as Shen Changchuan ventured into a deeper part of the riverbed,
his Spiritual Eye Technique caught a glimmer of light. There, in a sunken trench not far away, the shimmering light of Spiritual Qi emanated from a hidden cave!
'Found it!'
A look of delight washed over Shen Changchuan's face.
He swam toward the hidden cave.
However, Shen Changchuan didn't let the joy go to his head; he remained cautious.
He stopped to carefully observe the area outside. Only after confirming that there was no danger did he cautiously enter.
The hidden cave wasn't deep;
it looked like the arch of a bridge built on the riverbed.
'Hmm?'
There appeared to be signs of artificial excavation, and Shen Changchuan's gaze sharpened.
However, after careful observation,
he didn't find anything else of note.
He could only confirm that someone had likely widened a natural cave here ten to twenty years ago. There also seemed to be faint traces of a dilapidated Array.
There were also marks left by the Crocodile Demon.
It looked like,
'This really was the Crocodile Demon's lair!'
Shen Changchuan was overjoyed.
Without further observation, he swam deeper into the cave.
Soon,
Shen Changchuan came to a halt.
His gaze fixed on what lay before him.
At the end of the cave, growing in the gloom of the riverbed, was a Spirit Grass. Its entire body shimmered with a faint, blue phosphorescence, and Spiritual Qi pooled densely around it.
Shen Changchuan swam up to the plant, his eyes wide. With his Spiritual Eye Technique, he examined every single leaf, every tiny vein.
'This is... Cyan Essence Water Grass?!'
Shen Changchuan recognized the Spirit Grass,
and couldn't help but cry out in astonishment.
'This thing...'
'I read about this in one of the miscellaneous books during my two and a half years at the Shen Family Mansion!'
'It's an extremely precious Heaven and Earth Spiritual Object that has only a minuscule chance of growing, and only in places with abundant Water Vein Essence Qi!'
'Just how precious is it?'
'The combined value of all twelve acres of Spirit Fields in Dawan Village probably couldn't match this single stalk of Cyan Essence Water Grass!'
'Its purpose...'
'...is to temper a person's body with its abundant Water Elemental Power, slightly enhancing their Cultivation Talent.'
'And it can even strengthen one's Power of the Divine Soul to a certain degree!'
'Without a doubt,'
'either of those two effects'
'is enough to make its value skyrocket!'
'To think something this good was at the bottom of the river! No wonder that Crocodile Demon was so intelligent and had mastered multiple types of Talent Magic!'
His earlier questions were now completely answered.
A Demon Beast living in symbiosis with a Heaven and Earth Spiritual Object
would gain considerable benefits as the Cyan Essence Water Grass processed Water Vein Essence Qi and released the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism.
Perhaps that was precisely what made the Crocodile Demon so unusual.
At this moment, Shen Changchuan's heart was filled with elation.
For him, the appearance of this Cyan Essence Water Grass was an unexpected windfall.
'It's a pity it's still just a seedling. If only it were mature... a mature Cyan Essence Water Grass would be even more potent!'
After observing the incredibly precious Cyan Essence Water Grass for a moment,
Shen Changchuan thought with a touch of greed.
'If this were a mature Cyan Essence Water Grass,'
'its value would be ten or even a hundred times greater!'
Still, even as a seedling, it was an immense gain for Shen Changchuan.
'Besides, the Dawan River's Water Vein Essence Qi probably couldn't support a mature Cyan Essence Water Grass anyway.'
Shen Changchuan had no choice but to suppress his bout of greed.
Gleefully, he took out a Jade Box from his robes,
and carefully harvested the Cyan Essence Water Grass, sealing it inside.
Although the Cyan Essence Water Grass was extremely valuable, and countless major Immortal Cultivation Families would pay a fortune for such a Heaven and Earth Spiritual Object to refine the Cultivation Talent of their Direct Lineage Descendants,
Shen Changchuan had no intention of selling it.
'The reason was simple.'
'The Cyan Essence Water Grass was too valuable,'
'so valuable that a 'small ant' like me, merely at the Qi Introduction Fourth Layer, couldn't possibly hold onto it.'
'Even if I sold it for a huge sum of Spirit Stones, without the strength to protect that wealth, it would eventually fall into someone else's hands.'
'And that's not to mention the 'great lady' in the rear courtyard of the Shen Family Mansion...'
'Forget it.'
'I'd be taking a loss, financially,'
'but it's better to secure what I have.'
Shen Changchuan planned to consume and begin its Refinement as soon as he returned, turning it into a part of his own power.
He tucked the Jade Box containing the sealed Cyan Essence Water Grass securely away.
Shen Changchuan prepared to leave.
But at this moment,
on a whim, he swept the area where the Cyan Essence Water Grass had been with his Spiritual Eye Technique.
It was just a casual glance to check if he had missed anything,
but it led him to a startling discovery.
Through his perfected Spiritual Eye Technique, Shen Changchuan saw that the riverbed soil was mostly the color of wood ash.
This was the glow of Earth Vein Qi as seen by his Spiritual Eye Technique.
However,
against the pale gray backdrop of the soil behind where the Cyan Essence Water Grass had been, there was a perfectly square, book-sized blank spot!
'What's that?'
Puzzled, Shen Changchuan swam over,
and began to dig down carefully.
After digging down about a foot,
a black wooden box appeared before Shen Changchuan's eyes.
Using his Golden Needle with the Golden Needle Technique, he carefully picked the box's Bronze Lock.
He cautiously opened the box.
Inside, Shen Changchuan saw a palm-sized, pure White Jade Token lying quietly.
He picked up the Token.
Its edges were carved with intricate, overlapping patterns.
And in the center of its face,
was a single, large, carved character: "Elephant."