The Wind and Wave Power was everywhere.

The key was learning how to control this Potential Energy and use it skillfully.

On the Canal, Guo Wei had demonstrated Potential Power for Chu Lingguang. Chu Lingguang had also previously discussed Potential Power with Feng Junyi on a boat, and had finally grasped the Wind and Wave Power in the mountain forest.

Guo Wei had Chu Lingguang go to the Canal to try and combine the Wind and Wave Power with his Zhenyuan Technique to rapidly replenish his Dantian Qi Sea Power. His main hope was that Chu Lingguang could achieve a swift epiphany in a familiar environment.

Fortunately, Baiyang County was located within South City’s territory.

Traveling at full speed, they could reach it in about two days. To help Chu Lingguang become an expert at the Qi Sea Perfection realm, Guo Wei brought him and Hei Hu to South City, where they stayed at Master Yan’s home.

Before setting out, Chu Lingguang made a trip to Zhang Family Gully. He had a meal at Mrs. Chu of the Zhang Family’s house, bought a few sets of clothes for his two younger male cousins, and left some money for Zhang Linghua.

On the Canal, Chu Lingguang sat in a small fishing boat, drifting downstream with the current. He was the only one aboard.

WHOOSH!

Chu Lingguang swept his Long Spear, which was enveloped in the Wind and Wave Power. The Nine-foot Tyrant Spear thundered as it grew heavy and dense, as if a single strike could bring down thousands, or even tens of thousands, of catties of force.

Unfortunately, the Wind and Wave Power clung to the Long Spear, seemingly inseparable. Chu Lingguang could only make his Dantian Qi Sea Power resonate with the Wind and Wave Power to achieve a Double Potential Energy Superposition.

For the time being, he was unable to combine the Wind and Wave Power with his Zhenyuan Technique to rapidly replenish his Qi Sea Power. This would require time and accumulated effort, not to mention wholehearted cultivation. Nothing could be rushed.

The small fishing boat had drifted an unknown distance. Seeing that it was getting late, Chu Lingguang began rowing the boat back upstream.

The South City Canal was bustling with an endless stream of merchant ships and Song Boats. The vessels on the water formed a long line like a dragon, converging from upstream and downstream to dock at the pier or depart from it.

The sky grew dim. Chu Lingguang rowed his small fishing boat upstream, navigating through the narrow gap between three Song Boats, each over a hundred meters long and three or four stories high.

The boats were alive with the sound of song and dance. On the decks, beautiful women and talented scholars laughed and chattered, sparking Chu Lingguang’s imagination.

As the top-ranked individual in South City and the prime candidate for the Northern Territory Trial Ground, Chu Lingguang had fantasized more than once about carousing with famous courtesans on a Song Boat. He dreamed of a profoundly learned maiden who would compose a poem for him, leaving behind a legendary tale on the Canal.

But alas, the laughter on the boats had nothing to do with him, and the scent of rouge and powder from either side felt utterly alien. Chu Lingguang could only row faster, quickly passing through the narrow gap between the vessels.

WHOOSH!

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind swept across the Canal, and the current grew turbulent. The headwind blocked his path, making Chu Lingguang’s small fishing boat seem as if it were standing still.

With his Primitive Power and mastery of Qi Sea Great Success, breaking through the strong wind wasn’t difficult. But as the gales swept down from upstream and funneled through the narrow space between the large boats, the wind speed rose sharply.

An invisible force, like a surge of Qi Sea Power, pressed down hard on Chu Lingguang.

Chu Lingguang couldn’t help but row faster, trying to break through the gales. Under his immense Qi Power, the small fishing boat surged upstream. The scholars and beauties on the Song Boats watched as the young man rowed furiously. His little fishing boat pushed against the strong headwind and turbulent river, and though its speed was slow, it advanced at a steady pace.

"If I could make this force my own," Chu Lingguang muttered to himself, "wouldn’t my little boat shoot forward like an arrow from a bow?"

"Hey, little brother, ditch the fishing boat! Come up and have a drink with us."

"He’s just a little fisherman. Where would he get the money to come aboard for drinks and women?"

"As long as he’s willing to toss that little boat, I’ll treat him to a full day of drinking."

"Come on up, little brother! From now on, I’ll buy all the fish you catch." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

...

Seeing a young man rowing so desperately just to squeeze past them, some of the scholars and beauties on both sides couldn’t help but jeer and holler.

Some even offered to pay for Chu Lingguang to come aboard for drinks and entertainment.

But Chu Lingguang acted as if he hadn’t heard a thing. The thought from just now had sparked an idea. He stared at the oar in his hands, recalling something Guo Wei had once said: a true Spear Master is not confined by form. A chopstick can be a spear, and so can a finger.

’All this time, I’ve always used a proper Long Spear to execute my Spear Technique,’ he thought. ’First, it was the Iron Spear, then the Lightning Spear, and now the Nine-foot Tyrant Spear.’

He looked at the oar in his hands. ’Other than its shape, how is it any different from a Long Spear?’ Treating it as his Nine-foot Tyrant Spear, he instinctively roused the Wind and Wave Power as he rowed.

GURGLE!

A whirlpool formed on the water’s surface where the oar plunged in.

Using the oar, Chu Lingguang executed the first of the Basic Thirteen Spear Techniques: the Cyan Dragon Emerges from Water Linked Spear.

His previous side-to-side rowing motion transformed into a series of continuous taps on the water’s surface.

"Hahaha!"

"The little brother is getting angry."

The scholars and beauties on the Song Boats on either side thought Chu Lingguang had lost his temper and was throwing a tantrum.

But at that moment, a surge of Wind and Wave Power rapidly formed on the oar. The strong headwind sweeping down from upstream seemed to weaken. The small fishing boat, which had been on the verge of being uncontrollably swept downstream, was suddenly propelled forward by the force from the oar. Just as it drifted to the stern of the Song Boats, it shot upstream again, even faster than before.

Furthermore, Chu Lingguang’s movements with the oar had become far more effortless than before.

He released a fluctuation of his Spiritual Sense.

He could clearly feel that he was able to release the Wind and Wave Power through the oar, creating whirlpools on the water’s surface. But the Wind and Wave Power came not only from downstream, but also from upstream.