"Why doesn't the weak water flow toward the stairs, or toward the first floor?" Qingzhu stood on the display case, looking up, and saw that the weak water was blocked by an invisible wall at the stair entrance, failing to pour down to the first floor. "The first and second floors are two separate spaces—don't let your visual perception deceive you," Alysia said seriously, her face grave. "I know, I know..." Qingzhu responded anxiously, merely expressing his inner turmoil. Qingzhu was the most worried of all, because the Yuan Shi Tian Zun had observed during his celestial observation that Qingzhu was being swallowed by black flowing water and would perish in this crisis. The five of them stood on the display case, gazing down, and saw the water level rising steadily, now reaching knee-deep. Fortunately, the exhibition hall was spacious, so the rise in water level was gradual. Huang Taiji straightened his posture, surveyed the hall as if calculating something, then focused intently on the Jade Pure Vessel for a moment before concluding, "We have thirty to forty minutes." "I didn't know your father was such a scholar," Zhang Yuanqing, a college student, remarked in surprise. Huang Taiqi nodded steadily, "My academic qualifications are higher than yours." Hearing that they still had ample time, Alysia exhaled slightly, then asked loudly, "How do we deal with the Weak Water?" As a Saint from the first region, the Weak Water was outside her area of expertise. "We need the Linqi Wood!" Zhang Yuanqing didn't hesitate to share the information: "Only Linqi Wood can float on the Weak Water. Otherwise, there's no other way—any evasive technique will fail immediately, and spiritual bodies cannot pass through." "Linqi Wood?" Qingzhu thought for a few seconds, his expression growing increasingly grave. "That's a master-level material. I've seen it in the materials catalog of the Hundred Blossom Assembly. Linqi Wood is quite rare, produced only in a few specific instances." He briefly described the characteristics of Linqi Wood. Xiao Yuan glanced around, analyzing, "Perhaps there's Linqi Wood in the display cases. Since there's Weak Water in the instances, there must be Linqi Wood somewhere." Alysia instinctively reached for her Wind Eye, only to recall that the Weak Water could sink everything—so she quietly abandoned the idea Fortunately, all of them were sages with sharp vision. The five of them divided their tasks and quickly reviewed all the artifacts, yet found no specimen matching Qingzhu's description of the Linmu. Huang Taidi shook his head, saying, "The records are absent, and the display cases cannot be opened. Even if the Linmu exists, we won't be able to access it." As the water level gradually rose, anxiety spread among the five. Xiao Yuan whispered, "Master Yuan, what do you suggest?" The other three turned to Zhang Yuanqing, the renowned genius known for his strategic prowess in completing quests. After a moment of thought, Zhang Yuanqing directed his gaze toward the western section of the hall, "Ask that one—it's the only artifact in the hall capable of communication and information exchange." "It's full of nonsense!" Qingzhu exclaimed in anger. Alysia disagreed, "I think it's a good idea. That tablet answers every question, and just now it mentioned that its responses alternate between true and false—starting with truth, then falsehood. That makes it easy to test. Among those ancient secrets, it's hard to tell which lines are true and which are false... Zhang Yuancheng shouted, "Mask, among these three men, who is the most handsome?" From the display case in the western corner, a deep, warm voice—old and cheerful—came from the clay mask: "That young man dressed in tattered clothes." Among the three, Huang Taiqi was the only one wearing tattered garments, and his appearance was quite ordinary. Zhang Yuancheng said, "That's a lie." Qingzhú nodded in agreement. Huang Taiqi remained silent. Zhang Yuancheng asked the same question again, and this time the answer was that Qingzhú was the most handsome. Zhang Yuancheng wasn't entirely convinced, but upon closely examining Qingzhú's refined and elegant features, he found himself slightly outshone. Qingzhú, a wood spirit with a strong reproductive drive, often enhances her appearance during courtship and evolution—just like Ling Jun. The next answer was also a falsehood... Zhang Yuancheng asked, "How do we resolve the weakness of the water throughout the hall?" He didn't ask where Linmu was, because obtaining Linmu could only keep them afloat on the weak water—it wouldn't truly solve the problem. They would still need to search for the key and face other crises. The voice of the clay mask came through: "Find Linmu, and that's it!" Zhang Yuanqing asked again: "How to resolve the weak water filling the entire hall?" The clay mask's response changed: "Acquire the Wine God's staff to reverse the purification vase and draw in the weak water!" The Wine God's staff? Alicia's eyes lit up. She pointed to the statue in the north, dressed in ancient Greek attire, saying: "It must be the staff held by the statue. In Greek mythology, the Wine God's staff is made of grapes and pine cones, symbolizing abundance." The wine-drinking profession can invert rules, turning what is negative into positive and what is reversed into what is right—yes, this is indeed the correct answer. Zhang Yuanqing then asked: "How to obtain the staff?" "Find Linmu, and that's it!" Once again, a false answer. He asked again and obtained the correct answer: "With the eyes of the Fire Dragon, one becomes immune to 'Chaos,' and thus remains unaffected by the powers of the Bacchus Staff." "How can one obtain the eyes of the Fire Dragon?" Zhang Yuanqing asked twice. The first response remained unchanged: "Acquire the Linmu." The second response was: "Pass the Fire Dragon's trial and evade three attacks of its flame breath." Evasive against flame breath? Zhang Yuanqing glanced at the room filled with weak water, then at the modest display case, which offered no room for movement. Beyond the difficulty of reaching the Fire Dragon due to the pervasive weak water, even the space beneath his feet would reduce him to ashes with a single breath of flame. Thus, Zhang Yuanqing asked how to evade the flame breath. The first response was: "Leap using the display case." The second response was: "Acquire the Linmu." For the first time, the previously incorrect Linmu answer now proved accurate. Zhang Yuanqing promptly asked: "How can one acquire the Linmu?" After eliminating the incorrect options, they received the correct response: "Break the third cabinet in the second row, retrieve the brush inside, and draw the Linmu." Thus, the method to resolve the副本 crisis was now clear: break a cabinet to obtain the brush, draw the Linmu, use the Linmu to pass the Fire Dragon trial and acquire the eye. Then, hold the eye and reach the Wine God's staff, reverse the Jade Qingpin to collect the weak water, thereby fully resolving the disaster. As for how to break the cabinet, Zhang Yuanqing learned that after the crisis was triggered, the cabinet's seal was automatically lifted, but the quest had one restriction—among the nine cultural relics, they could only select one, and they had only one opportunity to break a cabinet. However, a greater challenge emerged: how to obtain the brush? The cabinet housing the relic—the brush—was several meters away, and the weak water submerged everything, making even a downy feather difficult to lift. Subconsciously, Qingzhu turned to the clay mask and asked aloud, "How can we obtain the brush?" The clay mask replied, "I don't know." "Asked again, the answer remained the same. Circling back and forth, they were once again faced with the original question: how to float above the weak water? A dead end! A sense of despair spread through their minds. Previously, when they were forced onto display cases, they had never felt defeated—because the副本 never ended without a solution. But now, they truly felt it. They had missed the opportunity to break through. The correct sequence was to gather sufficient information before the weak water flooded the exhibition hall, obtain the solution from the clay masks, then break through the display cases to retrieve the brush. Once pushed onto the cases by the rising water, they would be trapped. Oh, what a cruel setting—the realm has designed such a scenario! Zhang Yuanqing settled into a seated position, rubbing his face vigorously. The others fell silent, their expressions somewhat disheartened. Could it be that I, the Prime Origin Celestial Sovereign, the Many-Storeyed Daoist, and the Supreme Master of Heaven, would meet my end in this killing-themed scenario today—without even the chance to take a photo and post it on my social media? He chuckled to himself, easing his growing anxiety. Zhang Yuanqing opened his inventory and the clan warehouse, scanning through his items one by one, seeking a solution. The sliding shoe? No—it's only usable on flat ground; here, it would just scoop into the weak water. The perfect human skin? Have the undead take the fall, and then I leap over? In theory, at the moment of takeoff, I'd already sink into the water. Jumping is a process—even if I move as fast as teleportation, that process still exists and can't be reduced to zero. And the "take the fall" opportunity only occurs once. At that moment, his gaze settled on an item long forgotten—a matchbox! "I've got it!" Zhang Yuanqing exclaimed, pulling out the matchbox with delight, and in the astonished and delighted eyes of the four others, he struck a match. "Ssshh!" The flame leapt up. Zhang Yuanqing whispered his wish: "I wish the third display cabinet in the second row to appear beneath me." The flame swelled and quickly consumed the surrounding area. At the next instant, within the display case beneath Zhang Yuanqing, the bronze creature artifact transformed into a brush coated in black lacquer. Alicia beamed with delight. Aside from her formidable combat prowess, she had been struck by a powerful blow—when Zhang Yuanqing delivered a punch that shattered the display case glass, the object, which had no offensive properties, simply came into her hands. The information retrieved wasn’t about the artifact itself, but rather standard item details. Zhang Yuanqing, drawing from his memory, sketched a small boat on the display cabinet, slightly arched at both ends, floating on Weak Water Lake within the zoo. A flash of light sent the boat springing free, transforming it into the two-meter-long vessel he remembered, the brush of creation dispersing into shimmering light particles. Almost knocked off the cabinet by the boat, Zhang Yuanqing quickly bent his torso to steady himself and pushed the boat into the water. He then leapt onto the boat, rowing with his oars to bring the others aboard. Qingzhu took the oar willingly, assuming responsibility for rowing. "Don't worry!" Zhang Yuanqing produced the Da Luo Xing Pan, placing it on his knee, saying, "I'll take a look at the stars." With knowledge of both the adversaries and the path to victory, the star-gazing technique revealed a much clearer picture. A qualified star official, especially after learning the lessons of the Weak Water crisis, felt compelled to gaze at the stars before every breath. He infused the power of the stars into the star chart, activating the stars and constellations upon it. Zhang Yuanqing closed his eyes. In the blurred image, he saw the giant dragon sculpture awaken, exhaling scorching breath that turned the wooden bamboo into charcoal. He saw the Yellow Taiji standing in front of everyone, forming a shield, scorched and wounded all over. He saw Alicia driven to flee the small boat, sinking into the weak water. He saw the little circle scream as she turned to ash.