At this time, Zi You was locked up by Goddess Mari in the darkest and most dangerous place in the God Realm: Blackwater Pool. Blackwater Pool was a deep valley and the confinement place to punish disciples.
As the name suggested, the water in the pool was black, cold, and chilling. There were all kinds of poisonous snakes, lizards, and insects there. It was bottomless and not many people could come out.
Zi You was saved by her mother. She opened her eyes and saw her mother and grandmother, whom she had never seen before. She was very happy. But after ten days or so, she said to Dier, “Mother, I want to go back to Great Yan. I can’t stay here. I’m worried about grandfather and uncle. You also know that in the previous life, they both died in the Nanjiang rebellion two years later. I’m afraid that someone wants to harm them. I want to go back to protect them.”
Dier nodded. “Yes. Your grandfather and uncle did not die because of the miasma, but because of gu.”
Zi You was even more anxious. “If that’s the case, then I can’t stay here. I have to go back.”
“No.” Goddess Mari immediately came in and interrupted her. “You are my descendant. How can you stay in the mortal world? And a foreign mortal world at that? What is worth remembering about those heathens?”
Zi You was angry. She didn’t even call her “great-grandmother” and directly said, “Goddess Mari, those heathens are my family.”
“We are your family.” Goddess Mari coldly interrupted Zi You.
Zi You sneered and scoffed. “Really? Are there relatives who won’t allow mother to save me in order to force me to come to the God Realm? I can’t afford to have relatives like you!”
“Impudent!” Goddess Mari was evidently angered by Zi You. Her cold face and beautiful face, which usually joy nor anger could be seen on it, finally looked angry. “I’m not only your grandmother, but I am the Goddess of Flowers and Rain. I am worshipped by people year-round. How dare you talk to me like that?”
Zi You was even angrier. “So what? Even if you’re superior, you have no love in your heart, so it’s all in vain!”
“No love in my heart?” Goddess Mari was angry at Zi You’s words and sneered. “Fine. I’m going to lock you up in Blackwater Pool. I want to see if you have any love in your heart then.”
“You cannot.” Dier and Zi You’s grandmother Namisha both begged, “Grandmother, You’er was just injured. Her spiritual power hasn’t recovered yet. She won’t be able to withstand it there.”
“Mother, she’s just a child. Forgive her rudeness. I will slowly teach her.”
“Grandmother, mother, don’t beg her!” Zi You became stubborn. She firmly and categorically said, “Isn’t it just Blackwater Pool? I want to see if it will make me give in.”
Countless disciples had died in Blackwater Pool. On the first day there, Zi You, Feiyun, and Weishali killed a poisonous snake as thick as a child’s waist and a large seven-foot lizard.
The pool water was colder than ice. The shallowest place was higher than her head. The deepest place was two meters deep. There were crocodiles, countless leeches, poisonous frogs, piranhas, and countless skeletons.
Zi You persevered and practiced the spiritual techniques that Dier gave her, day after day and year after year.
Summer turned to winter. There seemed to be no end. Whenever she couldn’t stand it anymore and was ready to give up, she thought of her relatives and Shangguan LingRan.
Her mother had told her about what Shangguan LingRan did that day. Once she thought that her relatives were waiting for her to return and that Shangguan LingRan might be practicing hard to pick her up, she had no more reason to give up.
And she was right. Shangguan LingRan was bitterly practicing like she was.
Because it was urgent, he didn’t have time to find a man similar to him in height and weight. Someone disguising as him might not be able to pass for him. Finally, one of his secret guards, his eleventh martial nephew Yi He disguised as him and stayed in the capital.
For Yi He not to be recognized by the Empress Dowager, who was very familiar with Shangguan LingRan, he could only be “seriously ill” for a long time. Afterwards, his temperament changed and he was stranger, more elusive, and more devilishly charming.
And almost all of Shangguan LingRan’s time on Mount Emei, regardless of cold or hot weather, was spent on practicing.
Winter snow turned into summer heat. Like Zi You, he had the same faith and painstakingly practiced.
Two long years passed. Shangguan LingRan finally mastered above than the ninth stage of Xuantian Jue.
Now, in the whole Xuanyuan Sect, other than his Shifu and his 402-year-old second martial brother who became a living immortal, there were only his fifth and ninth martial brothers who had mastered above the ninth stage.
It could be seen how hard the road to becoming an immortal was! Shangguan LingRan’s Shifu’s time spent on practicing was longer than the sect had been established.
And at Shangguan LingRan’s age, him mastering the ninth stage was due to his superhuman perseverance and extraordinary talent.
So, he prepared to say goodbye to his Shifu and go to India.
His Shifu, Daoist Priest Xuanyuan, sent his second martial brother with him. He told him countless times: “Don’t get into a conflict with that Goddess Mari. She is a Goddess. She must have some ability. You are not going to compete with her, but to bring your wife back.”
While Shangguan LingRan and his second martial brother Aochen were traveling, it was the time that Zi You’s spiritual power broke through her bottleneck and reached its strongest point. Now, there was nothing in Blackwater Pool that could hurt her.
It was unlike when she had first arrived here. She had been bruised and injured all over. The more she bled, the more she attracted a variety of poisonous insects to bite her. Fortunately she had spiritual power. She could quickly heal her wounds. Gradually, those animals didn’t dare to approach her anymore. They went from biting and eating her flesh to being eaten by her.
For two years, she had eaten crocodiles, snakes, lizards, piranhas, and poisonous frogs in Blackwater Pool. But she had sacrificed five spirit mice and two spirit snakes. Her spirit pets fought side by side with her and their spiritual power had greatly improved, especially Weishali and Feiyun.
Weishali could use spiritual power and spit out black rays.
Feiyun could psychically communicate with her and fly her on its back. But Goddess Mari had sealed the top of Blackwater Pool, so Zi You currently could not break through it.
The five black mandara flowers could transform into human forms that look like her. Other than having different temperaments, they looked exactly like her.
Of course, they could transform into other people and things. If the five beautiful women wearing black saris stood next to Zi You, unless you were particularly familiar with Zi You, you wouldn’t be able to distinguish which was the real her.
Goddess Mari had seen her once since she was locked in Blackwater Pool. She had been beheading a hungry crocodile. Goddess Mari hadn’t seemed to think that she would still be alive. She saw her ferocity and strength and finally said, “This yatou is really like me when I was young.”
Second martial brother and Shangguan LingRan went to India to find the divine realm that Goddess Mari governed. That took more than two months. In those two months, Shangguan LingRan and his second martial brother broke through the ninth stage of Xuantian Jue and reached the tenth stage. It could be said to be an epiphany.
Second martial brother looked at his little martial brother who was called an evildoer and was shocked.
When they found the God Realm, Dier saw that Shangguan LingRan had really kept his promise to pick Zi You up. But amidst her happiness was deep worry.
After all, her future son-in-law had just become an immortal and he was small in numbers. How was he going to fight against her grandmother, who could summon wind and rain, turn thousands of flowers into soldiers, and was a real goddess with countless small gods and guardians under her command?
If her grandmother didn’t change her mind and let Zi You go with him, Dier was afraid that there would be a bloody battle.
Goddess Mari obviously didn’t put Shangguan LingRan, who was peerles, had outstanding temperament, and looked romantically dandyish, in her eyes. She heard Shangguan LingRan say, “I’m Mu Zi You’s lover. I’m here to take her back.”
Goddess Mari immediately scoffed. “Mu Zi You does not belong to you mortals. She is a goddess. She should stay in the God Realm, accept the worship of her believers, and protect her believers.”
Shangguan LingRan looked at her arrogant and condescending attitude as if she was the master of heaven and earth and was looking him and his second martial brother like they were ants. If she wasn’t Zi You’s maternal grandmother, he would have angrily struck out already.
He gnashed his teeth and took a deep breath. He patiently said again, “You are her grandmother, right? Then you should know that YouYou doesn’t want to be a goddess. She wants to be my wife.”
He already looked handsome. Because he was thinking of Zi You, he looked endlessly affectionate and gentle. Amidst his devilishness, it added a magnetic charm. The breaths of all the goddesses there stifled. They couldn’t help but look starry-eyed and infatuated at him.
Goddess Mari was already very unhappy that a man so handsome that he looked like an evildoer was here to pick Zi You up. Now that she saw all her female disciples so un-virtuous, she was so angry that her liver trembled.
She coldly said, “Your wife? As far as I know, she’s not engaged to you. Besides, so what if she’s engaged to you? She violated God’s will and I threw her into Blackwater Pool to feed the crocodiles.”
