Immortal Journey of the Mortal Path

The sapphire-green pool was bottomless, with a chill drifting across its surface, hemmed in by mountains and scattered with strange stones. This was the Jade Pool, spanning a hundred yards. At this moment, in its icy, bone-piercing waters, a youth of sixteen or seventeen, clad in a plain blue robe and unremarkable in appearance, was suspended twenty yards below the surface. With his mind clear and breath steady, he practiced the "Wave Technique," drawing scattered threads of spiritual energy from the water, which entered his body one by one.

This youth was named Ge Qian. He was not relying on any spell, but solely on his understanding and intuition of water—its buoyancy and pressure. Ge Qian suspended himself in the water with its buoyancy and steadied his form with its pressure, all the while absorbing the scant water spiritual energy. If he truly were a genius, he would effortlessly command water's forces, but in truth, he was nothing of the sort. To reach this level, Ge Qian had spent three years—since he entered the sect at fourteen, he had always cultivated in this manner, progressing from a single yard to twenty, gradually letting his body adapt to the water's pressure. Yet he could not stay submerged too long; three hours was the limit before the oxygen in his lungs was depleted.

Typically, Ge Qian surfaced for air after two hours, resting to leave himself some margin, lest he drown before mastering his technique. Two hours passed quickly. Ge Qian opened his eyes and sighed inwardly. Ninety attempts in half a year, each ending in fa