After forming the gate, the two dragons calmly hovered midair. Their eyes were blank and expressionless, but except for this one small imperfection, they seemed almost lifelike.

It was Song Shuhang's first time seeing such an incredible scene, and he had been completely entranced by it. Although he knew that Venerable White was very strong, the latter had rarely used much of his strength in front of him. Therefore, each time Venerable White revealed a small fraction of his power, Song Shuhang would gasp in astonishment—stepping into the void and rising high in the sky as all the materials accordingly rose into the air, fusing and turning into dragons… it was such an incredible scene! If you were to hit on a girl with this move, wouldn't that be a guaranteed success?

In the air, Venerable White gently stretched his finger and pointed at the gate formed by the two dragons.

Song Shuhang could faintly feel the power of 'illusory reality' come from Venerable White's finger. It was the same power he felt when entering the desert and meeting the young man in green clothes riding a white horse. The only difference was that it was concentrated on his finger instead of being unleashed in the surrounding area.

Venerable White pointed toward the gate!

In the next moment, the eyes of the two dragons lit up. Venerable White's finger was like the touch that brought the work of art to life, making the two dragons truly lifelike.

At this time, Yu Jiaojiao's ten-meter-long body started to shrink until it reached the length of two meters. This was the real size of her body. While trying to jump through the shapeshifting dragon gate, assuming one's original shape would give the best results.

"I must succeed," Yu Jiaojiao muttered to herself.

At this time, Song Shuhang could faintly induce Yu Jiaojiao's nervousness through the drop of blood essence. He felt as though his heartbeat was synchronized with that of Yu Jiaojiao. He could feel her nervousness and her pulsating heart.

In the air, Venerable White said, "Shuhang, stand where you are and don't move. You mustn't disturb Yu Jiaojiao while she tries to break through the dragon gate. You just have to stand there and rely on the drop of blood essence to feel whatever she's feeling and learn from that."

"I understand," Song Shuhang said with a nod—he secretly heaved a sigh of relief after knowing that he didn't have to jump through the dragon gate together with Yu Jiaojiao.

"Yu Jiaojiao, get ready," Venerable White said as he withdrew his finger from the two dragons forming the gate.

In the next moment, an extremely pure spiritual energy burst forth from the gate. It was obviously a very thin stream of spiritual energy, but after coming out of the gate, it suddenly transformed into a big waterfall!

The water rushed down toward Yu Jiaojiao...

Song Shuhang blinked a few times. This waterfall was much smaller than what he had imagined. It was even smaller than the waterfall he'd faced yesterday when Senior White transformed him into a small golden fish with his 'real illusion'.

If the waterfall was only this big, Yu Jiaojiao shouldn't have too many problems sailing against the water and jumping through the gate, right? After all, she had the bloodline of a flood dragon and the strength of someone at the peak of the Third Stage.

So… is this waterfall hiding something else too? Song Shuhang thought to himself.

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Just as he was in deep thoughts, Song Shuhang saw Yu Jiaojiao firmly anchor her legs to the ground. She didn't move forward while waiting for the water to reach her. Instead, she firmly stood in place, preparing to welcome the waterfall.

In the next moment...

"Splash!" The water clashed against Yu Jiaojiao's body with a large splashing sound, covering an area of several meters around her in the process.

The strange thing was that besides the water that came in contact with Yu Jiaojiao's body, the rest of the water that hit the ground, Song Shuhang, Doudou, and Guoguo changed into fog, disappearing without traces.

Apparently, it was only Yu Jiaojiao that bore the pressure. Under the strength of the waterfall, her body was crushed to the ground, and her four legs deeply sank into the earth!

"Crack, crack~" Song Shuhang could hear the crackling sound of bones come from her body.

'Is the pressure of the waterfall this big?' Song Shuhang was puzzled… just as he was in deep thoughts, the drop of blood essence inside his body transmitted Yu Jiaojiao's experience to this mind.

In the next moment, he felt as though he was carrying a weight of several tons on his back. His entire body leaned forward, gluing itself to the ground as if it was being crushed.

In truth, Song Shuhang's body wasn't bearing any load. He was merely experiencing the same things as Yu Jiaojiao and his body unconsciously reacted, making him lean against the ground.

'Scary… it's just a small waterfall, but each drop of water seems as heavy as a drop of liquid iron. Being hit by this water feels the same as being hit by a barrage of fists. With so much water coming down, no wonder Yu Jiaojiao had to go all-out just to resist the impact,' Song Shuhang thought to himself.

That was the reason she didn't rush forward before the water could reach her and stood in place, preparing herself to bear the pressure of the waterfall. If she hadn't done that, she would have ended up in an even more tragical state.

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Around five seconds later, Yu Jiaojiao somewhat adapted to the pressure of the waterfall. She propped herself up on her four legs and slowly started to straighten her body.

Monster qi exploded and shrouded her body, protecting her.

In the next moment, she emitted a dragon cry and her body rose toward the sky, slowly going against the stream.

"Incredible!" Song Shuhang gasped in admiration while lying on the ground.

He also straightened his heavy back and slowly crawled from the ground, looking at the scene of Yu Jiaojiao facing the waterfall of the dragon gate without blinking.

When he saw Yu Jiaojiao slowly going against the stream, Song Shuhang felt and grasped through the drop of blood essence the feeling of breaking through the water.

This precious experience was bound to completely change Song Shuhang's approach when trying to jump through his own dragon gate, giving him more assurance to break through the final bottleneck of the First Stage.

'Unless something unexpected happens, Yu Jiaojiao should be able to go against the stream and jump through the dragon gate by relying on her physical strength alone. Afterward, she'll change into a half-human and half-fish form, right?' Song Shuhang thought to himself.

But just as this thought flashed through his mind, drastic changes appeared in the waterfall.

Balls of lightning appeared out of nowhere and started to attack Yu Jiaojiao. These balls of lightning appeared very suddenly, not giving her any time to react.

It was the water-type tribulation thunder… those balls of lightning were part of the heavenly tribulation! The shapeshifting dragon gate wasn't only a lucky opportunity, it was also the 'heavenly tribulation' Yu Jiaojiao had to face in order to break through the Fourth Stage Realm.

The tribulation thunder was extremely powerful, and as soon as it hit Yu Jiaojiao, it seriously injured her.

A dense layer of fish scales with astonishing defensive power covered her entire body, but in front of the tribulation thunder, it was ripped apart like a piece of paper. Even the skin below the scales was badly burned by the balls of lightning.

Yu Jiaojiao's flesh and blood, as well as her fish scales, were washed away under the heavy water of the dragon gate, dying the entire waterfall red!

The unbearable pain of having one's body scorched and lacerated as well part of the skin washed away by the water was transmitted to Song Shuhang.

"Ouch!" Song Shuhang took a deep breath… F*ck, so painful!!

Under the waterfall, Yu Jiaojiao emitted another dragon cry. Although the waterfall had been dyed red with her blood, she didn't take as much as half a step backward—if you were to take a single step back while under the massive waterfall, you would be immediately washed down.

Not advancing meant falling back. If she were to take a step back, it was over!

Yu Jiaojiao clenched her teeth. Since she couldn't retreat, she could only advance!

Advance! Advance! Advance!

At this time, she activated her innate skill, and a brand-new layer of fish scales started to grow beneath her badly mangled skin...

The skill was somewhat similar to the ability to shed one's skin. When your skin was heavily injured, you could turn that layer of injured skin into a layer of defense that you could later shed off. The only problem was that you would feel an indescribable pain while using this skill, as though your skin was being scraped off with a blade.

"ROAR~" Yu Jiaojiao emitted another dragon cry—originally, she was roaring to bolster her courage, but this time, she was calling out due to the unbearable pain.

She shot a glance at the upper part of the waterfall… in that place, even larger and stronger balls of lightning were waiting for her!

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Beneath the waterfall, Song Shuhang complexion was deathly pale. First the powerful impact with the waterfall, then the pain of being scorched by those balls of lightning, then the pain of having your mangled skin washed away by the water, and now the pain of having your skin peeled off… Song Shuhang felt all this, without a single exception, through the drop of blood essence.

How is this experiencing the fish leaping over the dragon gate?! This is like experiencing a collection of 108 different tortures!

Amidst the pain, without him even noticing, the qi and blood energy inside his five apertures started to link together, changing into a small dragon gate.

On the outside, Song Shuhang was still experiencing the jump through the shapeshifting dragon gate together with Yu Jiaojiao.

But on the inside, he had started to unknowingly face the last bottleneck of the First Stage Realm—the jump through the dragon gate!

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In China.

A six-winged white crane grasped a phone with the GPS activated with one leg, and a cosmos bag with the other.

"According to the address fellow daoist Yellow Mountain gave me, Fairy Lychee's immortal cave should be here." The six-winged white crane descended to the ground, landing before an immortal cave covered in old vines.

It was a place that mortals were unable to find. Only cultivators could possibly come here.

After descending to the ground, the white crane assumed the appearance of an angel. This crane was precisely our True Monarch White Crane who was currently delivering the boxes for Senior White.

True Monarch White Crane arrived in front of the immortal cave and started to rhythmically knock on the door, just like True Monarch Yellow Mountain told it to.

Soon after, Fairy Lychee's pleasing voice echoed from the inside. "Which fellow daoist is it?"

"Fairy Lychee? It's me, White Crane! I'm an old friend of True Monarch Yellow Mountain, and I've come here to deliver a package!" True Monarch White Crane called out and said...