Chapter 354: Spring Lake
Translated by Kollumceti of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Everyone else had also discovered that DaoXin Academy met an ambush too at the time when You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao were hurrying to Azure Island. It was just that they were more fortunate, as they did not have two level ten powerhouses appearing simultaneously. As for the situation on Yan Fa’s side, just as Ling Xiao had said, Yan Fa was not an ordinary seven star Imperial Realm expert. He was already half a step into the Emperor Realm, and he was able to seriously injure the Frost Lion; as for Yin Ge, the secret of him having half the bloodline of a demon beast was revealed.
Meanwhile, on the south side of the Mirage Sand Sea, at Jing Feng Island.
Jing Feng Island was famous for having no flow of air. Thus, there was not much spiritual energy on the island and none of the practitioners were willing to stay on the island. At that moment, the corpses of many demon beasts were strewn about in disorder at the shore of the island. There was a small portion of corpses which belonged to human practitioners. These corpses trailed from the shore to the inland of the island. A few minutes later, the tranquility of the island was broken by a burst of sound.
Two streaks of light, one black and one red, were seen flying quickly out of the center of the island. The streaks of light had reached the far edge of the island a few seconds later. Their speed could only be described as swift. However, a fiery red feathered arrow shot out from an unknown direction and with an uncanny course, it pierced the black streak of light. With a ‘Pu-chi’, it ran through the streak. That person released a blood-curdling scream and fell from the sky, it was unknown if he survived. The other person was frightened upon witnessing this and immediately put on a burst of speed, vanishing in an instant. His original form was that of a Lightning Sable, and his speed could not be compared to an ordinary person.
It was not long before three figures following a trail appeared at the place where the other fell. These three were none other than Fairy Fu Rong, Old Hei Yun and Fei Xie. They should have originally been acting separately, but who knows why they were gathered together.
“It’s a pity that the other ran away. Will this pose any problem to our plan?” Fairy Fu Rong frowned as she looked at Old Hei Hun.
Old Hei Yun said, “It is of no importance. That person does not know of our plan.”
“This is all thanks to Hei Yun-laoxiong. If not for you, we would not have been able to easily kill and behead two level ten demon beasts. Those people never dreamed that you’re not only a level ten expert, but you’re also a peak seven star.” Fei Xie smugly laughed.
t/n: laoxiong means brother; old chap; buddy; mate (a familiar form of address between male friends)
“That’s right. When Hei Tian and the Azure Sea Dragon have a battle to the death, there will not be any one who is able to match Hei Yun-laoxiong at that time. We will be able to fish on the sidelines.” A calculative gleam flashed through Fairy Fu Rong’s pair of beautiful eyes.
Though they had an agreement with the Four Big Clans and DaoXin Academy, they had never thought of sharing the leyline with them. Everything was just a delaying tactic and it was nothing more than a way to exploit them for the purpose of removing obstacles.
“All right, let’s get rid of the remaining person, then we can proceed to the next step of the plan.” Old Hei Yun spoke and then he turned and flew down. Fairy Fu Rong and Fei Xie secretly glanced at each other, then immediately nonchalantly looked away, and followed Old Hei Yun down.
Although Old Hei Yun’s arrow had hit that person, the vitality of some demon beasts were very strong. A single arrow may not have thoroughly ended the other person. To be safe, they needed to go down and check it out. After resolving all the problems on the island, the three transformed into three streaks of lights and flew out of Jing Feng Island, rapidly heading towards the direction Azure Island. However not long after they left, an immense silhouette suddenly appeared below the surface of the sea.
Duan QiTian also had the same objective as them. Many fractions were rushing over to Azure Island and one could imagine how unusually ‘lively’ Azure Island was. At this time, You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao who had been the first to set off had already arrived at Azure Island. For the purpose of drawing the people’s attention to Blaze Island, the Azure Sea Dragon slightly weakened the defensive perimeter of Azure Island. Thus, they managed to easily slip inside without disturbing a single person.
SheQiu and the rest had already gone separate ways before they stepped on the island, and they were to approach the objective separately from different directions. Once they discovered any news, they would use the transmitter stone given by You XiaoMo to transmit the information. Azure Island was more than ten times larger than the biggest island on the Jing Hua Islands. Thick and dense jungles surrounded the periphery of the island and many low and mid-level demon beasts could be found throughout the area, but they were not of a high enough level to constitute any danger.
After passing through the jungle, they were met with rugged and lofty mountain peaks that criss-crossed. The top of these mountain peaks were filled with the Liu Li Fire Dragon’s hidden sentries. If an intruder was found by one of them, all the hidden sentries would know of the intruders.
However, the hidden sentries were too weak and they were able to slip through without alarming a single one. Just as they were preparing to head toward the Liu Li Fire Dragon’s Palace, the ground suddenly shook for a moment. It was followed by an extremely loud rumbling sound, and a raging wave of powerful pressure erupted from the center of Azure Island, rapidly expanding out all around. Those weak practitioners were immediately knocked out.
“What is this?” You XiaoMo clutched his chest in shock.
Ling Xiao whispered, “It should be the Liu Li Fire Dragon. It looks like he finally started fighting with Hei Tian.”
You XiaoMo questioned, “Then let’s go quickly.”
The destruction brought about by the battle of the two great powerhouses had practically destroyed the heavens and scorched the earth. Half of the Liu Li Palace was destroyed, and even the ground had split open. Crumbling fences and dilapidated walls were everywhere. The servants and guards inside the palace cut a sorry figure as they fled in all directions. Those who were too slow to flee met their ends by bleeding from the seven orifices or being crushed to death after dropping into the fissures.
After You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao entered the Liu Li Palace, they coincidentally witnessed a huge perimeter wall falling from above, crushing a fat old man with a grizzled beard underneath. Then an address of Your Excellency was heard from an unknown direction… … Your Excellency? The address of ‘Your Excellency’ was directed at the fat old man. You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao looked at each other. Since he was addressed as ‘Your Excellency’, he should hold a relatively high position in the palace.
The two walked over. Ling Xiao lifted the perimeter wall crushing the fat old man, but what met his sight was the place where the fat old man was crushed had changed into small round spheres of meatballs. Without anything crushing it, the meatball immediately dashed out from the pit. He did not even have the slightest trace of hesitation as he thought of making a getaway.
Ling Xiao reached out and grabbed a smooth and slippery tail. You XiaoMo took a closer look, “A li-lizard?”
To be more accurate, it was a large version of a lizard. Similar to PiQiu, it was quite elastic. Ling Xiao directly threw him back into pit and the lizard immediately turned back into a fat old man, looking at them in fright with wide eyes.
“Wh-Who are-are… …are you-you-you? Wh-what… …are you up-up to?” The fat old man stammered out.
You XiaoMo squatted near the pit and asked, “Just now, someone called you ‘Your Excellency’. Your position in Azure Island should be very high right?”
The fat old man’s eyes darted all around, “You’re mistaken. My surname is actually Your, and given name is Excellency.”
“So it’s like that, ah!” You XiaoMo raised his head and looked at Ling Xiao. Ling Xiao smiled, and then he released his hand. With a ‘boom’, the huge perimeter wall once again crushed the fat old man.
“Wah! Save me!” The fat old man did not have enough time to change his form and was crushed underneath again. His five viscera and six bowels were nearly squeezed out, “Wa-Wa-Wah… …I’ll talk, I’ll talk… …”
Ling Xiao lifted the perimeter wall again. The fat old man quickly gasped for a couple of breaths, and then he confessed, “I’m the supervisor of the Liu Li Palace. I’m in charge of all the large and small matters in the palace. Whatever you two courageous heroes want to ask, please do not hesitate. This little old fellow will definitely speak without reserve.”
※※※
After fifteen minutes, the fat old man sat on the perimeter wall, panting. He looked in the direction that Ling Xiao and You XiaoMo left in and clasped his hands in prayer in front of his chest. With a look of hope he prayed, “May the heavens bless the Master that he will be sacrificed in this battle. Otherwise, if the Master knew that I told those two of that thing, he would definitely kill me.” Then he slipped away.
Azure Island had a lake called the Spring Lake. Just like a hot spring, the water in the Spring Lake was warm all year round. The only difference between them was that the Spring Lake would never be cold. In addition to this, the Spring Lake also had another feature – that is, there were two different densities of water in the lake. The water was divided into two layers and the layers would never integrate with each other for eternity.
The water at the top layer was transparent. One could clearly see the scene of two liquids of different densities intersecting when standing on the lakeside. It looked just like a shallow lake; in reality it was very deep.
The bottom layer consisted of sea blue-colored water. The depth of this layer was unknown because it was directly connected to the entire Boundless Sea.
The lake had always been sealed under the orders of the Azure Sea Dragon to prevent demon beasts with hostile intentions from sneaking into Azure Island from the lake. This continued until some time ago, before the news of the leyline had been spread, when the Azure Sea Dragon suddenly changed his attitude. Every day the dragon travelled to the Spring Lake. There was even a period of time where he went there for five to six days, and when he returned his entire body was all wet.
The fat old man was the supervisor of the palace, thus he was one of the few who knew about this. However, the Azure Sea Dragon did not continue to go to the Spring Lake after the news of the leyline was spread out. Furthermore, he gave an order that no one was allowed to approach the Spring Lake and even assigned a massive military force to guard the lake. There was once a servant who had carelessly lost their way and ended up at the Spring Lake, and they were promptly killed for the trespass. It was because of this that everyone knew that the situation was very serious.
This matter left a deep impression on the fat old man, so he believed that there should be something under the Spring Lake that the Master was very concerned about. The Spring Lake was behind the palace in Azure Island and they would have to pass by the battlefield to reach there. To prevent being discovered, they intentionally took the longer route. At the same time, XiaoHei and the rest had also sent news about the Spring Lake. As they had entered Azure Island from a different direction, they had discovered the existence of the Spring Lake earlier.
