Guarding the River of Time

Chapter 436 - 426: Storm Approaching, the Chessboard Emerges

[Congratulations to the host, for completing a major causal task, triggering descent, and increasing river affinity by 5%!]

As the system announcement rang out, Su Mu suddenly looked up, finding himself standing above the river channel.

Standing in this unfamiliar body of water, looking ahead, he saw nothing but the dark river channel, making everything that just happened feel like a dream.

He then introspected his own sea of consciousness and found that his cultivation had returned, and not only that..... his aura suddenly elevated a level!

Slaying Dao Seventh Realm?!

He had directly soared from the Slaying Dao First Realm all the way to the Slaying Dao Seventh Realm!

A full six minor realms.

He recalled soaking in that peculiar hot spring, after which his body underwent a mysterious transformation, and after leaving that small world that obscured his cultivation, his cultivation skyrocketed.

Opening the attribute panel, he found that his river affinity had become eighty-five percent.

This was the first time the system had directly rewarded him with river affinity.

This time, his cultivation surged, and the refining progress also received a substantial boost, resulting in abundant gains!

Though it was somewhat perilous...

Under the power of rules of that world, it directly made him imperceptible to his cultivation, how advanced must that power of law be.

....

Su Mu’s divine sense spread out, covering the surroundings, extending far without finding a trace of that "small world."

However, he could sense that the small world existed and was right on this river, only..... it was too well and deeply concealed, unable to be found for the time being.

He didn’t want to look for it, only feeling that the world was very strange, especially that white-clothed woman, who was mysterious and gave him a very dangerous feeling.

...

That night.

Su Mu continued with his fourth reincarnation dream realm.

For some reason, this time the reincarnation dream realm proceeded very smoothly and was considered completed satisfactorily, as the stone bridge in his sea of consciousness became even more solidified.

....

Early the next morning, Su Mu went out again.

Lately, the river was unusually calm, after spending half a day outside, there were basically no incidents, and he couldn’t even pick up any stranded small fish or shrimp, and the weeds by the river were growing much slower.

In the past, overnight, some water areas would grow a lot of weeds, bringing at least a few hundred favor points in income.

Now, looking around, the river channel was clean, the water was clear, the ecological environment was good, and the fish in the river swam freely...

Of course, this was also because Su Mu maintained it very well, as his strength deepened, his water control divine technique became stronger, and his speed in handling situations was faster, allowing him to inspect hundreds of tributary waters in one day.

.....

Soon, Su Mu arrived at one tributary water body, finding its river water very clean.

He walked all the way to the end and discovered that the "pollution source" he had arranged had disappeared.

What happened?

He expanded his divine sense, in this tributary water body, Su Mu had placed a large black carp.

That large black carp would constantly pollute this tributary, which was Su Mu’s unconventional method to accelerate the refining progress.

Periodically, Su Mu would come to purify, earning favor points while ensuring that this tributary’s ecological environment would not continually worsen.

Last month it was fine, why was it missing this month?

Moreover, to prevent the large black carp from escaping, he had deliberately left a mark on it.

Su Mu activated his cultivation technique to sense that mark, which was no longer in this tributary, he could sense it, but it was very faint, only giving a general direction.

....

He didn’t rush to chase after it but went to the next location.

Here in this tributary, a large black lobster had been placed in the water, but now... it was also gone!

Like this, Su Mu checked a total of twenty water areas, finding that all the "pollution sources" he had arranged had disappeared.

Except for that large black coffin, no other "pollution source" was spared!

Suddenly, Su Mu’s anger flared up.

This was a very important part of Su Mu’s favor point income for the month; if he just regularly purified once a month, even though the effect was diminishing, at least there was a bottom-line income of fifty thousand favor points per month.

But now, only that red-haired old man in the large black coffin was left.

....

Soon, Su Mu arrived at a more secluded water area, where there was a small island.

Su Mu deftly stepped onto the island.

He walked towards the depths of the island and arrived in front of a small wooden house.

At this moment, in the courtyard of the wooden house, an old man with red hair was chopping firewood, while nearby a clay stove with a fireplace was boiling a pot of tea.

Seeing Su Mu’s arrival, the red-haired old man put down the axe in his hand and greeted him with a smile: "Brother Su, have a seat in the courtyard."

Since Su Mu would come to purify this water area once a month, the two had struck a deal, and to some extent, they were considered partners.

As time went on, the two became quite familiar with each other.

.....

After sitting down, the red-haired old man poured Su Mu a cup of tea.

Su Mu took a gentle sip and asked straightforwardly, "I came today to ask you about something."

Upon hearing this, the red-haired old man’s expression noticeably changed.

"Brother Su, please wait for a moment."

Saying this, the red-haired old man stood up, took out three oddly-shaped black stones from his sleeve, and with a wave of his large hand, the three black stones landed at three positions around the small courtyard.

The next second, a transparent array covered the entire small wooden house.

"What is this?"

Su Mu inquired.

This array isolated their auras, meaning it would isolate the content of their upcoming conversation.

....

"Brother Su, there’s something I want to discuss with you, I might have to move." After much hesitation, the red-haired old man finally spoke up.

He had long expected Su Mu to come find him, so for the past few days, he had been wrestling with the decision of whether or not to make this move.

....

"Why?"

"I haven’t driven you away, why would you move all of a sudden?"

Su Mu noticed the abnormality in the red-haired old man, could he have encountered some problem here as well?

"Brother Su, staying here would only burden you."

The red-haired old man spoke softly.

Because he had found that he no longer had the qualifications or capability to continue working under Su Mu.

....

Upon hearing this, Su Mu furrowed his brows deeply and asked, "Has someone been here?"

Hearing this, the red-haired old man did not hide anything and nodded his head.

"Who?"

Su Mu faintly sensed something and asked.

As soon as he finished speaking.

The red-haired old man did not answer directly but slowly took out a white fish bone from his sleeve.

The moment Su Mu saw this white fish bone, his pupils suddenly constricted.