The kappa froze for a moment, then suddenly spoke: "I can give you a rarer, more precious spirit herb—but you must leave this place."

"Oh? Let's have a look, then!" Wei Zhao said with keen interest.

At that, the kappa turned and headed for the river. When Wei Zhao reached out to block its path, it said, "The spirit herb is in the river."

"Fine. But if you dare deceive me, I'll blow up this river and raze your little herb garden to the ground," Wei Zhao warned. Truth be told, he did not trust the kappa one bit—though there was little cause for worry; with the kappa's paltry strength, even letting the tiger back into the mountains would hardly matter.

The kappa carefully skirted around Wei Zhao, and only once it had safely returned to the river did it breathe a sigh of relief. Watching Wei Zhao, still standing right where he was, its eyes darted and rolled. Had it not been for that warning just now, it might well have simply hidden itself away and never come out—but that would not do now.

If it truly provoked Wei Zhao, blowing up the river and destroying the herb garden would be the least of it. If, by some mischance, it drew out its master and ruined its master's grand design, then it would be well and truly finished—ten lives would not be enough to die.

Sure enough, before long it surfaced again on the river, both hands raised aloft bearing a tiny pearl, as limpid and flawless as clear river water, glowing with a intoxicating faint radiance like a night-luminous pearl. One look was enough to tell it was no ordinary thing.

"Take this water pearl and leave this place at once, human," the kappa said, holding the little pearl up.

"Bring it here to me." Wei Zhao's tone was utterly flat, yet brooked no argument.

The kappa hesitated. It plainly did not wish to leave the river water—away from it, it would feel terribly unsafe, especially with a dangerous human cultivator like Wei Zhao to face. But it had no choice. If it dared say a single word of refusal, there was no telling what Wei Zhao might do next, and it simply could not bear such consequences.

In the end the kappa obediently came over and handed the water pearl to Wei Zhao. The moment Wei Zhao took it, he gave a small start—he had assumed that, like any other pearl, it must be hard; to his surprise, it was soft to the touch, a genuine droplet of water, merely wrapped on the outside in a natural film of clear, transparent membrane.

"What use is this thing?" Wei Zhao asked, somewhat curious. After several years roaming far and wide across Cloud Terrace Island, he could claim no small breadth of experience, yet he had never seen a water pearl like this. Still, he had an eye for such things: he could sense that this pearl was indeed no simple matter. Merely holding it in his hand made his whole body feel fresh and clear.

"The water pearl clears the heart and calms the spirit. Its chief use is to heal and nourish the divine consciousness—if one's consciousness is injured, taking it will restore one to normal in the shortest of time," the kappa explained, plainly and without omission.

"Is that true?" Wei Zhao was delighted to hear it. No wonder it felt so refreshing in his hand—so it was meant specifically for healing the divine consciousness. And he must not forget that he was currently in the Primordial Spirit form; to him, this thing was nothing less than a first-rate tonic.

With this water pearl in hand, Wei Zhao's confidence swelled at once. Injury to the Primordial Spirit, after all, was a serious matter; should he suffer any grave wound, his meager self-healing ability would be all but useless.

Just as his last injury had been healed almost entirely by relying on the Starmist Charcoal—and after months upon months of ceaseless use, the Starmist Charcoal's consciousness energy had been drained down to very little. Should he be gravely wounded once more, whether he could recover smoothly was now very much in doubt; it might well end in the collapse of his Primordial Spirit.

Lately Wei Zhao had been fretting over exactly this. Maintaining the Primordial Spirit form required a constant drain of consciousness energy, and the Starmist Charcoal was now his sole source of it. Once it was entirely spent, the day of his return to Cloud Terrace Island would not be far off. Before this, that would not have mattered—but now Leng Leng and the others were all here in this perilous ancient trial ground. How could he return with peace of mind?

Fortunately, what remained of the Starmist Charcoal's consciousness energy could still sustain him for a while. But there was one crucial precondition: he must not be injured. Should he be wounded, the consciousness energy needed to heal would be no small sum—a thousand, ten thousand times what ordinary maintenance required, at the very least. The little the Starmist Charcoal had left could not withstand any such massive drain.

This was thanks in large part to Wei Zhao's abundance of self-preservation measures, and to his having worked out the half-Primordial Spirit state and the Primordial Spirit state—methods that bordered on insoluble. Setting all else aside, gravely wounding Wei Zhao was no easy feat nowadays; even an existence like the brain-eating worm could not manage it. That was precisely why the Starmist Charcoal had lasted this long. Otherwise, had he been injured every few days, its consciousness energy would long since have run dry.

Yet in this perilous ancient trial ground, accidents happened at every moment. Even Wei Zhao could not guarantee that he would never be wounded. And if he were, and the Starmist Charcoal's remaining consciousness energy proved wholly insufficient—what then?

Now the water pearl the kappa had produced gave him a glimmer of hope. True, it was far less versatile than the Starmist Charcoal, which could supply consciousness energy at all times. But if it could truly heal the divine consciousness as the kappa claimed, then it would at least settle one of his chief worries—at the very least, he need not live in such dread of injury.

"Of course it's true. There—I've given you my very finest treasure, so be off with you now, human," the kappa urged. To its mind, producing the water pearl was already a breach of the rules; if Wei Zhao lingered here and its master discovered him, the consequences were unthinkable.

Wei Zhao put the water pearl away, and suddenly the corner of his mouth curved upward: "Did I ever say I was leaving this place?"

"You dare go back on your word! Despicable, shameless human!" The kappa was frantic in an instant. It had gone to every length to drive Wei Zhao off quickly, even sacrificing the water pearl for the purpose—and who could have imagined Wei Zhao would show such a face? Humans were ever despicable and shameless; that saying was indeed no lie!

"Hey, hey, hey—watch what you say; you must be responsible for your words. Let's be precise: when exactly did I ever say that if you gave me the water pearl, I would leave this place?" Wei Zhao said, looking at it.

"Nngh…" The kappa tilted its head and thought and thought, but for the life of it could not find a rebuttal—because Wei Zhao truly had never said any such thing from beginning to end. It had been nothing but its own wishful thinking.

"How about this: you give me a few more water pearls, and I'll be off at once. I give you my word—my word is my bond, and my promise is as good as gold," Wei Zhao said immediately. Water pearls, after all, were the more the better; with only one, would it not be spent after a single injury? (To be continued.)