Wen Li and her group appeared before the stone tablet by the lake.
She stepped forward and wiped away the moss and dirt on the stone tablet, revealing the words “Cangxian Lake.” Behind her, no one dared to utter a word.
The rogue cultivators hiding among the group fixed their gazes on those words, subtle glints flashing in their eyes.
Wen Li took a step back and looked at the crowd. “This is the source of Cangxian Lake. Do you know... the intention behind the name ‘Cangxian’—Hiding Immortals?”
Wang Xianlin's brow furrowed as he felt the atmosphere grow increasingly eerie. He noticed the completely clueless expressions of the Zhaixing Sect disciples, contrasted with the calm composure of the newly joined rogue cultivators who had been eager to march toward Cangxian Lake all along.
Instinct told him something was terribly wrong. He slowly shuffled his feet toward the far right, where the gap offered the easiest route of escape.
Yet in the next second—
...
Wen Li met his gaze with cool, clear eyes. She tilted her head with a chilling smile, her pupils pitch-black and terrifyingly calm.
“So you noticed. Too late.”
“...!”
A wave of icy chill surged from the soles of Wang Xianlin's feet up his spine to his scalp.
Without a second thought, he launched himself into the air, throwing down an explosive talisman.
Boom!
“Ah!” Panic erupted in the crowd. Realizing something was amiss, the sect disciples instantly scattered to flee.
Meanwhile, the lurking rogue cultivators abruptly changed direction and rushed toward the lake instead.
Yet, against all expectations—
Wen Li watched it all with icy composure. Hovering in midair, her hands spun into fluid hand seals. An eerie blue light instantly spread out, carrying a massive surge of spiritual energy as a beam shot straight up into the sky.
“I went through so much trouble to bring you all here, weren't you supposed to travel with me? Why run?” Time to collect the protection fee.
Her pale ink-colored pupils narrowed as a cold golden glint flickered within them.
Rumble!
Upon reaching a height of several hundred meters, the beam instantly scattered and expanded like a fishing net, descending rapidly to lock down the perimeter. It closed into a giant tripod-bell enclosure, slicing through any trees standing in its way!
Bang!
In less than three seconds, the array was complete.
“Ah!! Let me go!”
“No, I want to leave! Wen Li! I have no grudge against you and pose no threat to you, let me go!”
Every fleeing cultivator was trapped inside. Wen Li and Xie Tinglan landed on top of the tripod-bell enclosure, looking down condescendingly at the turtles trapped in a jar who glared back in fury.
“Wen Li, do you really intend to make an enemy of Cangling Kingdom?! We are all the rising stars of Cangling Kingdom! If you kill us, there is no way you will leave here alive in a month!” Wang Xianlin was among those trapped beneath.
Wen Li's expression remained entirely devoid of warmth. “Rising stars of Cangling Kingdom... Do you truly think the three sects intended for you to leave here alive after letting you enter?”
The faces of the three sects' disciples, led by Wang Xianlin, paled instantly.
“What do you mean by that?!”
Disliking explanations to fools, Wen Li flew up and drifted over the lake's surface alongside Xie Tinglan.
Together, they cast a spell, shrinking the hundred-meter tripod-bell enclosure down to five meters in height, compressing everyone together inside.
“Wen Li! What are you doing?!”
“Wen Li, are you trying to drown us?! You'll die a horrible death!”
Wen Li slowly shifted the tripod-bell over the center of the lake. Hearing their curses, her expression grew increasingly gentle.
Rumble! She tapped her fingertip downward.
Plop—
The tripod-bell plunged instantly into the lake bed. Tens of zhang of lake water surged up into a massive wave, throwing fish onto the dry ground.
...
The world beneath Cangxian Lake.
“What... is this?”
Sitting on the ground, Yao Dai's pupils shrank as a blinding white light—laced with faint hints of bluish-green—reflected across her face.
Hundreds of meters ahead stood a towering, gigantic tree whose top was lost to sight. Its trunk was so thick it would take at least ten people joining hands to encircle it, and even the outermost branches were as thick as four fists combined.
Lush foliage blotted out the sky, while mottled white spiritual light radiated from its entire body. Pieces of shredded cloth resembling clothing were embedded in its bark, and a closer look revealed intact human remains hanging from various sections.
Counting carefully from a distance, there were at least dozens of desiccated skeletons fixed to the trunk. Some remained in combat stances from when they were alive, while others showed desperate struggles to survive, taking all sorts of shapes and postures.
At the core of the giant tree hung a bizarre, extraordinary fruit. Resembling ginseng in appearance, numerous branching rootlets linked it to the thick limbs of the tree as it glowed with a bluish-green light.
The fruit actually pulsated and beat like a human heart!
Having never seen such an eerie creature before, Yao Dai turned pale with fright.
Turning her head, she saw the three cultivators who had captured her staring greedily at the giant tree—or more accurately, at the fruit nestled at its core.
“This is the Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit! A Supreme Grade immortal medicine capable of nourishing spiritual roots!”
Yao Dai's heart leaped. Supreme Grade...? Didn't Master say it was High Grade Rank 3?
A High Grade Rank 1 immortal herb was already enough to drive Golden Core cultivators into a violent frenzy. If this was Supreme Grade...
The three men glanced back at Yao Dai. Having already forced her to swallow poison, they weren't worried about losing leverage if Xie Tinglan and the others burst in.
Ignoring Yao Dai, they summoned their magical artifacts and cautiously approached the giant tree.
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
They released the pointed-eared spirit hound first, watching it run step by step toward the giant tree, closing the distance.
Rumble!
When the distance narrowed to fifty meters, the ground suddenly violently trembled.
“Woof!! Woof!!”
Thick vines as wide as human arms abruptly burst out from the previously serene meadow, brownish-black with a tinge of red, covered in sharp barbs.
Roar—
The pointed-eared spirit hound was no pushover either. Its body instantly expanded from knee-height into a two-meter-tall demon beast. Spewing fire from its mouth, it slashed its razor-sharp claws toward the vines.
The vines seemed somewhat afraid of the fire and recoiled a few paces, but in the next second, as if driven by conscious thought, they sprayed a pungent green liquid from their barbs.
Roar!! Argh!
The liquid instantly corroded the pointed-eared spirit hound's entire skin, exposing raw blood and bone!
Taking advantage of its agony-driven frenzy, the vines rapidly interlaced and slithered like tentacles, leaping onto the spirit hound. Pfft! Every barb plunged straight into its flesh.
Roar! Roar— Ear-splitting, agonized wails echoed across the glade.
Yao Dai turned pale as she watched the two-meter-tall demon beast drained of every drop of blood in less than ten seconds, leaving behind nothing but a shrivelled heap of skin and bone.
Then, branches extended from the giant tree, scooping up the dried corpse and embedding it into the trunk to serve as fresh nourishment. Beyond the hundred-meter radius, the vines ceased moving, rustling as they retracted back into the ground.
Gag!
Having never witnessed a scene so utterly gory before, Yao Dai couldn't stop herself from dry-heaving, tears welling in her eyes. The white rag stuffed inside her mouth made the torment twice as unbearable.
Rate on N.U.
