After making a pact of three agreements, the Water Python cast a restriction on Jiang Yuebai and soared into the sky. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Jiang Yuebai searched herself but felt nothing unusual; the flow of Spiritual Energy was normal, and the storage bracelet and ring functioned as expected, everything was normal.

"Did it really let me roam free? So easy to deal with? Or did it simply look down on me?"

Standing up, Jiang Yuebai brushed off the grass bits from her clothes and surveyed her surroundings. Behind her lay the great lake, shrouded in thick mist, with hints of rainbow colors within, concealing something mysterious.

Surrounding forests and overlapping distant mountains made it look quite vast.

Jiang Yuebai quickly explored the area, only to discover with disappointment that she could only penetrate about a hundred miles into the eastern forest; other areas were blocked by restrictions, confining her movements to this highland meadow and forest.

Even though the combined area of the meadow and forest was already larger than her Huaxi Valley, Jiang Yuebai still felt like she was imprisoned.

She thought of sitting by the lake, but as soon as she approached it, a massive array of complex golden characters appeared mid-air, forcefully pushing her back.

For an instant, Jiang Yuebai seemed to see similar golden characters flashing in her Sea of Consciousness.

"Is that the Dragon Clan restriction imposed by the Water Python?" Jiang Yuebai pondered with a hand on her cheek.

She had seen such restrictions in the Array Dao Notes given to her by True Monarch Fuyi; they were more complex than arrays, exclusive to the Demon Clan’s methods, and the Human Clan could only decode them to glean some useful insights for Array Dao learning.

For the Human Clan to learn restrictions, they must achieve Divinity Transformation, nurturing a Primordial Spirit from the Nascent Soul to wield the Demon Clan’s power to invoke Heaven and Earth’s Power with the Divine Soul.

Restrictions are stronger than arrays, easier to deploy, yet much harder to learn.

Hard?

Jiang Yuebai felt invigorated!

She wasn’t allowed near the lake? She was determined to soak her feet in it!

Roar~~

The Water Python returned, and Jiang Yuebai quickly sat obediently on the grass, assuming a posture of absorbing the Sun and Moon Essence.

The Water Python landed heavily, opening its mouth.

Jiang Yuebai stared wide-eyed and hastily crawled away.

Splash! ~

Dozens of bloody Demon Cores came crashing down, steaming, with bits of flesh.

The Water Python smacked its dragon’s mouth, looking disdainful, as if these low-level Demon Cores sullied its noble dragon’s mouth.

Jiang Yuebai jumped up, shouting, "Can’t you spit these elsewhere instead of on my head every time? What kind of habit is that?!"

Roar!!!

Jiang Yuebai was knocked over by the shockwave, watching as the Water Python soared into the sky, circling mightily before diving into the lake and disappearing.

Amid the swirling clouds above the lake, Jiang Yuebai seemed to glimpse the corner of a multicolored glazed archway, soon concealed again by the mist.

This lake surely hid mysteries within it, she had to get in and soak her feet!

The Water Python stopped bothering her. Jiang Yuebai looked at the scattered Demon Cores on the ground, scratching her head, feeling bewildered.

She sat on the grass, not even bothering to pick up the Demon Cores strewn around.

In the days that followed, she had to suppress the speed of her Cloud Mushroom Grass Bloodline’s enhancement, but she couldn’t let the Water Python see no progress, as only notable improvement in medicinal strength would make it diligently provide her resources.

Jiang Yuebai thought for a moment, her eyes lit up.

With a foolish smile, she picked up a Demon Core and began purifying and absorbing it.

*

The Water Python slept for more than half a month; upon waking, it intended to roll over and sleep again but suddenly remembered it had a Little Immortal Ganoderma to look after, immediately popping its dragon head out from the bottom of the lake to look around.

Glancing around, the dragon was dumbfounded; above, below, left, and right, it was indeed its dragon’s nest, but...

The entire meadow had been turned into fields, divided into different areas by fences, filled with various seedlings.

In the center of each area stood an intimidating Eight-Armed Wooden Puppet, creaking as it swung its arms, conjuring clouds and rain.

A wooden house appeared on the edge of the eastern woods. Its Little Immortal Ganoderma was sitting in front of it, knocking on wood rhythmically.

Not cultivating?

Roar!!

The Water Python shot into the sky, crashing down in front of the wooden house, trampling a large portion of the Spiritual Field, roaring furiously at Jiang Yuebai.

With wild winds swirling, the roof of Jiang Yuebai’s wooden house almost got blown away, and upon seeing the seedlings she’d painstakingly grafted crushed under the dragon’s claw, her face fell, preemptively scolding the dragon.

"You’re too much! I’ve been diligently absorbing plant essence every day, and even the Little Ganoderma you trimmed off has grown back so much..."

Jiang Yuebai leaned her head closer, pointing emphatically at the noticeably larger Little Ganoderma.

"...And yet you come out here just to roar at me, trampling my Spiritual Field! Do you realize these plants are my sustenance, meant to mature me quickly? You’ve ruined it all!"

The Water Python, hearing this, swiftly retracted its claws and raised its tail.

"You’re still stepping on it! Don’t move!"

The massive figure of the Water Python made things chaotic; at her shout, one of its claws froze in midair, unsure what to do.

"Can’t you transform into a human form with your cultivation level to communicate with me? Your constant roaring forces me to guess."

The Water Python lifted its dragon head arrogantly, showing complete disdain for transforming into a human.

Jiang Yuebai sighed, "You ruined my Spiritual Field, and now I won’t be able to eat anything for days. I finished all the Demon Cores, you need to find more for me."

"Also, the Immortal Ganoderma Clan has long followed the Human Clan’s ancient sages, naturally fond of reading and learning, which fills the Immortal Ganoderma with spiritual fullness and enhances its medicinal power. Get me some books to read. I want to learn your Dragon Clan’s text and language to facilitate communication."

Exhaling two streams of white breath in frustration, the Water Python glanced at the noticeably larger Little Ganoderma atop her head and held back the urge!

Roar!!

The Water Python soared away, and Jiang Yuebai stretched her neck to watch it depart, then quickly dashed to the lakeside.

These past few days, she had been studying the restriction imprinted by the Water Python in her Sea of Consciousness. Based on True Monarch Fuyi’s notes, the "Thousand Leaves All Things Hand" method for invoking Heaven and Earth’s Power, and Human Clan’s Rune Literature theory, she had gleaned some understanding.

Approaching the lake, at the moment when the restriction was triggered, the three pairs of Leaf Hands in her Sea of Consciousness moved simultaneously, stirring and focusing the Heaven and Earth Power to charge at the weakest point of the restriction.

Bang!

The enormous counterforce flung Jiang Yuebai away, landing heavily in her Spiritual Field, her Sea of Consciousness throbbing with pain.

However, the restriction seemed to dim a bit, invigorating Jiang Yuebai as she wiped the blood from her lips and stood up.

"Let’s try again!"

Bam!

"Again!"

Bam!

"Once more—damn!"

Bam!

Jiang Yuebai felt nearly shattered from the impact; the restriction in her Sea of Consciousness was both a shackle and a protection, painful yet non-injurious.

"All methods must originate from the same source. There’s a fundamental link between Demon Clan’s restrictions and Human Clan’s talismanic magic. However, not knowing the Dragon Clan’s script or the structure of restriction symbols means I can’t pinpoint the key elements; more reading is essential."

As she was catching her breath, preparing to continue, a disturbance from the horizon caught Jiang Yuebai’s attention. She saw the Water Python crashing in, blood emanating from several new wounds on its back, huffing heavily.

Jiang Yuebai was taken aback; as the king of the Dragon Palace, was it possible it encountered something that injured it?

The Water Python opened its mouth, spilling dozens of Demon Cores and a heap of books and Jade Scrolls, collapsing onto the ground, panting heavily. Jiang Yuebai dared to approach.

"What did you encounter out there?"

Just then, a low, oppressive flute melody drifted from beyond, and Jiang Yuebai’s pupils contracted.

Roar!!

The Water Python howled, its body twisting wildly. Jiang Yuebai hurriedly backed away, watching as the flute melody tormented the Water Python, its wounds emitting streams of crimson smoke.

Jiang Yuebai instantly realized that it was that persistent fellow outside, a mere Early-Stage Golden Core cultivator, yet he managed to injure the Water Python?

Moreover, his flute music was making the Water Python increasingly frenzied and uncontrollable.

An idea flashed through Jiang Yuebai’s mind as the Green Jade Bamboo Flute flew into her hands. She placed it to her lips and forcefully played the melody of ’Qingxin’ to calm the mind and spirit.