Chapter 957 - Crimson Lake
The empress of the Chaotic Stars Majestic Empire was at the consummate level of the Heavenly Body Tier. Thus, suppressing a Demonic Beast that was merely at the high extreme of the Mountain River Tier was an extremely simple task for her. The problem was, how far away from here was the empress right now?
Did she leave a wisp of divine sense on Hu Feiyun’s body? Or did she cast some other secret technique on her?
Ling Han shook his head in his mind. To the best of his knowledge, the Immortal Realm didn’t have any such secret technique. Otherwise, why did the Left Minister need to search for Tang Feng? If he attached a wisp of his divine sense onto his beloved daughter and left a secret technique on her, then wouldn’t venturing this place be like walking over flat ground?
However, Ling Han was certain that it was the empress of the Chaotic Stars Majestic Empire who had just made a move.
The empress of the Chaotic Stars Majestic Empire indeed lived up to her position as one of the three rulers of the Joint Peace Planet. She possessed abilities that ordinary people did not.
At this moment, Hu Feiyun turned around to glance at him. It was clearly the same face, yet her aura was completely different. She was emanating the might of a ruler, and this caused Ling Han’s breathing to falter slightly. Cold sweat dripped down his forehead.
This definitely wasn’t Hu Feiyun. Instead, she was the empress of the Chaotic Stars Majestic Empire… More precisely, the empress of the Chaotic Stars Majestic Empire had taken control of Hu Feiyun’s body.
An icy glint flashed past Hu Feiyun’s eyes. Her killing intent instantly became material, and shredded the surrounding space apart. However, after a brief moment of hesitation, she eventually didn’t take any further action.
The petrifying aura vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
“Huh? When did this evil beast die?” Hu Feiyun suddenly exclaimed. Her voice was filled with surprise and confusion.
Ling Han looked up, only to see that Hu Feiyun had already returned to her innocent and naive self. It was as though she had absolutely no recollection of what had just occurred.
‘Strange!’
Ling Han suddenly felt that the Ninth King didn’t merely have a sisterly relationship with the empress of the Chaotic Stars Majestic Empire. Instead, it was likely that their relationship ran much deeper. It was even more likely that there was some big secret hidden behind their relationship. Thus, the empress of the Chaotic Stars Majestic Empire had thought about killing him to shut him up just then. In the end, however, she didn’t.
Of course, even if she did attack, Ling Han could always hide into the Black Tower.
“Ling Han, did you kill this evil beast?” Hu Feiyun’s large eyes were sparkling with gratitude as she looked at him. “This is great! You’ve avenged Ting Qin and Yun Rong’s deaths!” She was extremely moved, and she continuously shook one of Ling Han’s arms as she spoke.
The pitiful Ling Han still hadn’t recovered from his feebleness yet, so Hu Feiyun’s strong shaking caused a wave of dizziness to overcome him.
“Calm down, calm down. There’s still another Demonic Beast!” Ling Han said hastily.
Hu Feiyun was instantly given a small fright. Her actions were jittery as she hurriedly turned around to look at the mountain peak.
However, that small Demon Wolf had seen Hu Feiyun’s prowess, and it was also missing one of its heads right now. Its power had already fallen to the middle stage of the low extreme. When it saw Hu Feiyun look over, it thought she that she was planning to finish it off. It frantically beat its wings and fled into the distance.
Hu Feiyun breathed a long sigh of relief. “Thank heavens you disposed of the large evil beast. Now, even this small evil beast is afraid of you.”
‘It’s afraid of you, okay?’ Ling Han said in his mind.
However, he didn’t argue with her, and said, “I need to recover my strength. We’ll set off after that.”
“Mm-hm!” Hu Feiyun eagerly nodded her head.
Ling Han swallowed an alchemical pill. However, he didn’t have any cultivation techniques of the Mountain River Tier right now, so he was unable to extract Spiritual Qi to actively speed up the process of his recovery. He could only passively wait for his Origin Power to be replenished.
As it turned out, the recovery of his physical strength was a much easier process. All he needed to do was rest for a short while.
‘I blundered. I didn’t prepare a cultivation technique of the Mountain River Tier in advance.’
Ling Han retrieved a True Origin Stone, and almost instinctively absorbed the Spiritual Qi that was contained within it. Although this process was quite slow, it was still better than doing nothing at all. After a full six hours, he was finally able to replenish all of his Origin Power.
Hu Feiyun naturally wouldn’t collect Spiritual Meat by herself. How could she partake in such a bloody activity? Moreover, Mountain River Stones were rare, but Spiritual Meat was definitely no special item in her eyes.
Ling Han didn’t hesitate, and cut the Spiritual Meat off the three-headed flying wolf. It was as large as a finger, and gave off a fragrant and alluring smell.
“Let’s go.”
The two of them continued their journey toward Crimson Lake. After several hours, a crimson-colored lake finally appeared before their eyes. There wasn’t a single ripple on the surface of the lake, and it appeared much like a congealed pool of blood. At the same time, it also appeared like a blood-colored crystal.
“Is this Crimson Lake? Better off calling it Blood Lake or Red Crystal Lake,” Ling Han said mockingly.
He and Hu Feiyun were not the first ones to arrive here. There were numerous people sitting cross-legged near the bank of the lake, and there were even some people who were venturing toward the center of the lake.
There were four sets of floating stones—each running along a different direction—in the lake. Each set formed a snaky path that led toward the center of the lake. At the center of the lake, there was a very small island.
The face-up side of the stones was all cut very neatly, and each stone was placed roughly three meters apart from the next. Those venturing toward the central island all stood on one stone before attempting to leap toward the next.
To cultivators, a distance of three meters was nothing. However, this didn’t appear to be the case here, and the cultivators all huffed with exertion after jumping from one stone to the next. Sweat trickled down their faces.
Plop!
Someone fell into the lake, and immediately started wailing in agony. He swam toward the bank as if his life depended on it, and it could be seen that his body had already become a bloody mess. It seemed as though the lake water had an extremely potent corrosive quality.
That person consumed medicines and channeled cultivation techniques, yet the flesh on his arms and legs still fell off piece after piece. His white bones gradually became visible, yet even these started to show signs of corrosion.
The corrosive ability of the lake water eventually stopped at the bones. However, that person had already become completely unrecognizable. There were bloody holes on his face, chest, and abdomen, and his brain, heart, intestines, and other internal organs had all become clearly visible. It was an extremely horrifying sight.
“Ling Han!” Shui Yanyu briskly walked over upon noticing his arrival. There was a relieved expression on her face. “You’ve finally arrived!”
Ling Han nodded, and asked, “What’s going on here?”
“There’s a small island in the center of the Crimson Lake, and there is a total of four paths that lead toward it,” Shui Yanyu explained. “The paths are those floating stones that you can see. However, there are astonishing gravity fields on those stones, and the further one ventures, the stronger the gravity field becomes.”
Only now did Shui Yanyu see Hu Feiyun. She hurriedly bowed, and said, “My respects to the Ninth King.”
She was slightly astonished by her own actions. Upon seeing that Ling Han was safe, she was actually so moved that she even ignored the presence of the Ninth King?
Hu Feiyun waved her hand, and said, “No need for the formalities.” Her actions appeared especially casual.
Meanwhile, Ling Han asked, “Are there Mountain River Stones on that island?”
“Indeed.” Shui Yanyu nodded, and said. “Although Mountain River Stones might exist in any location of the Mystery Realm, it’s certain that they exist on the island in the Crimson Lake. Moreover, the Mountain River Stones that exist here are ones with special attributes.”
“Oh, so what’s the special attribute of the Mountain River Stones here?” Ling Han’s eyes lit up in delight.
“Extreme weight,” Shui Yanyu replied.
Ling Han nodded, and said, “Then I’ll definitely have to obtain a few.”
Shui Yanyu couldn’t help but shake her head. “Even if you succeed, you can only obtain one Mountain River Stone at a time. Not to mention, it’s extremely difficult to reach the island in the center. In addition, the gravity fields that you experience will become much more powerful on your second attempt to reach the island. In fact, they become more and more powerful with each ensuing attempt.
“Only an extremely small number of people is able to succeed once, not to mention succeeding more than once.
“However, if fortune favors you, ordinary Mountain River Stones might appear on the floating stones as well. They do appear occasionally.”
Ling Han grinned widely. “I’m no ordinary person!”
Shui Yanyu immediately rolled her eyes in a charming manner. She had never seen someone as shameless as Ling Han. However, Hu Feiyun nodded in agreement. She believed that the three-headed flying wolf had been killed by Ling Han. Thus, she naturally viewed him as a celestial, and held a blind trust in his power.