Chapter 66
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Chapter 66 – Jade Water Lake
Three days passed.
The purple cloud that Chen Xingzhou was driving gradually arrived at the very periphery of the territory of the Sacred Sect. It was very rare even for the patrol disciples of the Eight Mountains to be diligent enough to patrol this far out.
There was a dark blue lake surrounded by several mountains, with several interspersed villages sitting at the foot of some of the mountains. Looking down from the skies, it was possible to vaguely see smoke rising out of the chimneys, hinting that it was already mealtime for the villagers.
Chen Xingzhou landed the Spirit Cloud, and the group on board followed him off. He led them towards the bank of the dark blue lakeside. Of the attendants following behind him, one was Wang Jun, and the other was called Ge Song, who was also an elite disciple at the peak of the Sea of Qi stage.
Ge Song was quiet as usual as he stood behind Chen Xingzhou. Wang Jun swept his senses through the dark blue waters of the lake, causing his eyebrows to furrow. “Senior Martial Brother Chen, the Sealing Array on this lake is a bit more complex than how it was described in the mission jade slip.”
Chen Xingzhou looked at him and said, “Do you have a way to break the array, Junior Martial Brother Wang?”
Wang Jun usually liked to spend his days delving into the study of arrays. Chen Xingzhou brought him along this time to get his assistance with this Sealing Array.
Wang Jun nodded his head and said, “I can give it a try.”
He took some formation flags and formation stones from his storage pouch and began to set them up on the array.
Wang Jun was using the most common method for breaking arrays, which was extremely popular among the disciples of all Peaks. As long as the seals were used appropriately, it could break array formations with fairly little effort.
Among the group of 11, there was a youth with a round face, who had only joined Morning Dew Peak two years ago. He was observing what was happening and couldn’t stifle his curiosity. He walked forward and asked Chen Xingzhou, “Senior Martial Brother Chen, what are we doing right now?”
Chen Xingzhou glanced over at him and flashed him a personable smile. “The records of the mission jade slip say that this lake, which is called Jade Water Lake, happens to be located right above a miniature spirit vein. Under the nourishment of tens of thousands of years of spiritual energy, the lake eventually gave rise to spiritually aware demons. With perception of the laws of heaven and earth, the spiritual energy in the area condensed into an imperial seal, which automatically began to shape the laws of heaven and earth so the water demon would condense its own divinity and become the deity of Jade Water Lake.”
That round-faced youth was a rather easily excitable person. He was immediately alarmed by Chen Xingzhou’s answer and cried, “A real independently ascended deity? We’re all at the Sea of Qi stage. How are we going to be able to deal with something like that?!”
Wang Jun cast him a begrudging glance and sneered, “Even if it independently ascended to become a deity, it was still originally based off of nothing more than a water demon. Don’t go making a big fuss over nothing.”
Chen Xingzhou gave him a sidelong look, then turned back towards everyone else and said, “Naturally, the lake deity isn’t something we can handle. However, the water demons under the lake deity of Jade Water Lake had defected, colluding with outside demons to bring harm to the deity. However, the deity’s true soul wasn’t completely extinguished. It was sucked into the lake’s divine seal and then snatched away by the outside monsters, which disappeared without a trace. At this time, there’s already no lake deity or big demons in the lake. At most, there’ll be a few water demons, but that’s it.”
Wang Jun added, “Our mission this time is to break open the seal on the demon palace in the waters and extract the miniature spirit vein under the lake, which we must then bring back to the sect.”
An indescribable glint appeared in everyone’s eyes.
Although a miniature spirit vein was the smallest type of spirit stone vein, it could yield several hundred spirit stones once purified. If the spirit vein was deep enough, it could be refined into over a thousand spirit stones! As it turned out, this was the real objective of this small-scale mission!
But after these people all thought about it a bit more, they realized that it didn’t really concern them. After all, they had already agreed to Chen Xingzhou’s terms, so each person would only receive 10 spirit stones. With the enormous wealth that a miniature spirit vein embodied, even if they had to turn it over to the sect in the end, no one would be the wiser if Chen Xingzhou and his attendants pilfered a cut of the wealth for themselves!
After hearing the true circumstances of the mission, everyone in the group inwardly felt rather unsettled. But none of them took the initiative to speak up, so they all ended up staying silent.
But none of them could think about what a bunch of newcomer disciples who were at the early Sea of Qi stage would be useful for here. What could they even help with? Getting 10 spirit stones already wasn’t too bad.
However… would a small-scale mission really be so simple? Was breaking open the array formation and extracting the spirit vein all that it entailed?
A cold gaze as deep as the abyss flashed through the eyes of Chen Xingzhou. To him, these newcomer disciples were ideal for use as cannon fodder.
Li Dan was standing next to Xi Jingshan and Xu Disheng amidst the group, in an agitated mood. He could be heard muttering to himself, “Even though it’s just a miniature spirit vein, if it’s deep enough, it could be possible to extract and purify over 1000 spirit stones! I’m seriously envious!”
Xu Disheng and Xi Jingshan looked over at Li Dan, but they didn’t say anything.
Xu Disheng could more or less guess what Xi Jingshan and Li Dan were thinking. Xi Jingshan only wanted the 10 spirit stones, but as for Li Dan? With his temperament and lack of self-awareness, he was on a one track path towards death in this cruel world.
Beads of sweat formed on Wang Jun’s forehead as he made hand seals and stared unblinkingly at the sealing array in the lake. The formation flags flew through the air and stuck fast into the surface of the lake, where they floated in place. The flags let out faint halos of light, which gradually started to link up into a formation.
To say nothing of his character, Wang Jun’s knowledge of sealing arrays was actually pretty good. Among the peak Sea of Qi stage disciples, there were very few who studied sealing arrays or pill concocting. After all, these were auxiliary Dao which took up a lot of the time that could be spent cultivating, and could even affect one’s ability to break through the bottleneck to the Dao Foundation stage.
The array slowly finished taking shape, and Wang Jun willed profound qi into the array. The lines of the array lit up in the void, causing a low rumbling sound to be heard.
The rumbling gradually got louder and louder, and at the end, with a loud explosion, the water, algae, and debris on the surface of the lake shot up several meters into the air all at once, as if something beneath the surface had been broken.
As everyone stared at Jade Water Lake, they could see the surface of the lake become clear and transparent, and there was no longer a mysterious aura shrouding it.
A hint of an approving look appeared in Chen Xingzhou’s eyes. “Good work, Junior Martial Brother Wang,” he praised.
Wang Jun grunted in response, then sat down cross-legged to adjust his breathing. He even took out a jade bottle from his storage pouch and ate a Spirit Gathering Pill, which cost 20 spirit stones each.
Xu Disheng narrowed his eyes, paying careful attention to these details.
The other disciples were cheering, making the occasional comment.
""
“Senior Martial Brother Wang, your knowledge of arrays is so impressive! You broke that array in just the time it takes for an incense stick to burn!” One of the disciples said with a jubilant expression, layering the praise on Wang Jun.
“Looks like we’ll be able to finish the mission this time,” another disciple commented in high spirits, as if the reward of 10 spirit stones was already close at hand.
“I agree. I surmise that the biggest barrier to this small-scale mission was this sealing array. After all, there are very few people at the Sea of Qi stage with knowledge of arrays,” yet another disciple said in an analytical tone, flicking his sleeves as if he thought himself clever.
From his storage pouch, Chen Xingzhou took out a pearl, which was the supplementary item given for this small-scale mission. It was called the Parting Water Pearl, which had to be immediately returned to Sect Affairs Hall after the mission.
Chen Xingzhou looked at Wang Jun and asked, “Have you finished catching your breath, Junior Martial Brother Wang?”
Wang Jun stood up and nodded. “I’m ready, Senior Martial Brother Chen.”
Some of the disciples were cursing him silently. It was truly too wasteful to use a Spirit Gathering Pill, which cost 20 spirit stones per pill, just to recover profound qi like this.
However, they didn’t think deeper into it. If this mission was really that simple, why would Wang Jun have to use a precious pill just to recover his profound qi? But it wasn’t really their fault that they were unaware. In the first place, Chen Xingzhou and his attendants had purposefully recruited disciples who had just joined the Peak not long ago, and didn’t have much cultivation experience.
Chen Xingzhou and Wang Jun walked at the front with the Parting Water Pearl and entered the water. Everyone followed after them one after the other, while Ge Song deliberately walked at the very back as they slowly descended into the lake. The Parting Water Pearl’s effect was miraculous. It created a waterless zone of about 20 to 25 meters in diameter with Chen Xingzhou at the center, giving everyone an ample sense of comfort within.
Xu Disheng stepped upon the soft, spongy silt of the bed of the lake. There were some aquatic plants in the surroundings that shrunk and shriveled in the mud once the water of the lake around them disappeared. The fish and crustaceans that were swimming along suddenly noticed the water around them being pushed away as the group approached. Those who reacted quickly followed the current and swam away, but those that weren’t quick enough fell out of the water and landed with a flop on either the stones or silt of the lake bed below. Only after the group passed by could they once again return to the water and swim away freely.
Li Dan was walking behind Xu Disheng, seemingly a bit curious. He asked in a low tone, “Junior Martial Brother Xu, do you smell that strange fishy smell?”
Xu Disheng shook his head. Before he could respond, Xi Jingshan replied, “This is the bed of the lake. Why would a fishy smell seem strange here?”
When Xu Disheng heard what Xi Jingshan said, a divine light flashed in his mind, and he felt a thumping sensation in his heart. Memories suddenly resurfaced in his mind as he recalled something.
A fishy smell normally couldn’t be so concentrated and strange. He remembered that he had smelled this odor, or something resembling it, on the body of that wolf demon in the Floating Moon Valley! Although it didn’t have the characteristic fishiness of the water demons, everything else about the odor was exactly the same!
This was the smell of the demonic energy of the water demons!
Chen Xingzhou was walking at the front of the procession when he suddenly stopped, his expression changing. He reached behind him and grabbed the nearest disciple behind him, which was the round-faced youth from earlier, and pushed him in front of him!
“Aghh!”
A massive maw suddenly appeared in the water, reaching into the waterless space created by the Parting Water Pearl and snapping its jaws down!
The round-faced youth, who was suddenly thrust to the front, didn’t even have time to react. In a flash, his entire upper body was gone, cleanly bitten off by the densely packed teeth lining the jaws. Fresh blood spurted out of the remaining stub of his lower body as it collapsed to the ground before everyone’s eyes.
The bloody maw chewed on the round-faced youth’s upper half several times. A loud gulp was audible to everyone present as it finished chewing and swallowing.
Everything had happened too quickly. They didn’t even have time to criticize Chen Xingzhou for his actions. They all turned deathly pale and froze in place, trembling and not even daring to move a single inch.
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Chapter 66 – Jade Water Lake
Three days passed.
The purple cloud that Chen Xingzhou was driving gradually arrived at the very periphery of the territory of the Sacred Sect. It was very rare even for the patrol disciples of the Eight Mountains to be diligent enough to patrol this far out.
There was a dark blue lake surrounded by several mountains, with several interspersed villages sitting at the foot of some of the mountains. Looking down from the skies, it was possible to vaguely see smoke rising out of the chimneys, hinting that it was already mealtime for the villagers.
Chen Xingzhou landed the Spirit Cloud, and the group on board followed him off. He led them towards the bank of the dark blue lakeside. Of the attendants following behind him, one was Wang Jun, and the other was called Ge Song, who was also an elite disciple at the peak of the Sea of Qi stage.
Ge Song was quiet as usual as he stood behind Chen Xingzhou. Wang Jun swept his senses through the dark blue waters of the lake, causing his eyebrows to furrow. “Senior Martial Brother Chen, the Sealing Array on this lake is a bit more complex than how it was described in the mission jade slip.”
Chen Xingzhou looked at him and said, “Do you have a way to break the array, Junior Martial Brother Wang?”
Wang Jun usually liked to spend his days delving into the study of arrays. Chen Xingzhou brought him along this time to get his assistance with this Sealing Array.
Wang Jun nodded his head and said, “I can give it a try.”
He took some formation flags and formation stones from his storage pouch and began to set them up on the array.
Wang Jun was using the most common method for breaking arrays, which was extremely popular among the disciples of all Peaks. As long as the seals were used appropriately, it could break array formations with fairly little effort.
Among the group of 11, there was a youth with a round face, who had only joined Morning Dew Peak two years ago. He was observing what was happening and couldn’t stifle his curiosity. He walked forward and asked Chen Xingzhou, “Senior Martial Brother Chen, what are we doing right now?”
Chen Xingzhou glanced over at him and flashed him a personable smile. “The records of the mission jade slip say that this lake, which is called Jade Water Lake, happens to be located right above a miniature spirit vein. Under the nourishment of tens of thousands of years of spiritual energy, the lake eventually gave rise to spiritually aware demons. With perception of the laws of heaven and earth, the spiritual energy in the area condensed into an imperial seal, which automatically began to shape the laws of heaven and earth so the water demon would condense its own divinity and become the deity of Jade Water Lake.”
That round-faced youth was a rather easily excitable person. He was immediately alarmed by Chen Xingzhou’s answer and cried, “A real independently ascended deity? We’re all at the Sea of Qi stage. How are we going to be able to deal with something like that?!”
Wang Jun cast him a begrudging glance and sneered, “Even if it independently ascended to become a deity, it was still originally based off of nothing more than a water demon. Don’t go making a big fuss over nothing.”
Chen Xingzhou gave him a sidelong look, then turned back towards everyone else and said, “Naturally, the lake deity isn’t something we can handle. However, the water demons under the lake deity of Jade Water Lake had defected, colluding with outside demons to bring harm to the deity. However, the deity’s true soul wasn’t completely extinguished. It was sucked into the lake’s divine seal and then snatched away by the outside monsters, which disappeared without a trace. At this time, there’s already no lake deity or big demons in the lake. At most, there’ll be a few water demons, but that’s it.”
Wang Jun added, “Our mission this time is to break open the seal on the demon palace in the waters and extract the miniature spirit vein under the lake, which we must then bring back to the sect.”
An indescribable glint appeared in everyone’s eyes.
Although a miniature spirit vein was the smallest type of spirit stone vein, it could yield several hundred spirit stones once purified. If the spirit vein was deep enough, it could be refined into over a thousand spirit stones! As it turned out, this was the real objective of this small-scale mission!
But after these people all thought about it a bit more, they realized that it didn’t really concern them. After all, they had already agreed to Chen Xingzhou’s terms, so each person would only receive 10 spirit stones. With the enormous wealth that a miniature spirit vein embodied, even if they had to turn it over to the sect in the end, no one would be the wiser if Chen Xingzhou and his attendants pilfered a cut of the wealth for themselves!
After hearing the true circumstances of the mission, everyone in the group inwardly felt rather unsettled. But none of them took the initiative to speak up, so they all ended up staying silent.
But none of them could think about what a bunch of newcomer disciples who were at the early Sea of Qi stage would be useful for here. What could they even help with? Getting 10 spirit stones already wasn’t too bad.
However… would a small-scale mission really be so simple? Was breaking open the array formation and extracting the spirit vein all that it entailed?
A cold gaze as deep as the abyss flashed through the eyes of Chen Xingzhou. To him, these newcomer disciples were ideal for use as cannon fodder.
Li Dan was standing next to Xi Jingshan and Xu Disheng amidst the group, in an agitated mood. He could be heard muttering to himself, “Even though it’s just a miniature spirit vein, if it’s deep enough, it could be possible to extract and purify over 1000 spirit stones! I’m seriously envious!”
Xu Disheng and Xi Jingshan looked over at Li Dan, but they didn’t say anything.
Xu Disheng could more or less guess what Xi Jingshan and Li Dan were thinking. Xi Jingshan only wanted the 10 spirit stones, but as for Li Dan? With his temperament and lack of self-awareness, he was on a one track path towards death in this cruel world.
Beads of sweat formed on Wang Jun’s forehead as he made hand seals and stared unblinkingly at the sealing array in the lake. The formation flags flew through the air and stuck fast into the surface of the lake, where they floated in place. The flags let out faint halos of light, which gradually started to link up into a formation.
To say nothing of his character, Wang Jun’s knowledge of sealing arrays was actually pretty good. Among the peak Sea of Qi stage disciples, there were very few who studied sealing arrays or pill concocting. After all, these were auxiliary Dao which took up a lot of the time that could be spent cultivating, and could even affect one’s ability to break through the bottleneck to the Dao Foundation stage.
The array slowly finished taking shape, and Wang Jun willed profound qi into the array. The lines of the array lit up in the void, causing a low rumbling sound to be heard.
The rumbling gradually got louder and louder, and at the end, with a loud explosion, the water, algae, and debris on the surface of the lake shot up several meters into the air all at once, as if something beneath the surface had been broken.
As everyone stared at Jade Water Lake, they could see the surface of the lake become clear and transparent, and there was no longer a mysterious aura shrouding it.
A hint of an approving look appeared in Chen Xingzhou’s eyes. “Good work, Junior Martial Brother Wang,” he praised.
Wang Jun grunted in response, then sat down cross-legged to adjust his breathing. He even took out a jade bottle from his storage pouch and ate a Spirit Gathering Pill, which cost 20 spirit stones each.
Xu Disheng narrowed his eyes, paying careful attention to these details.
The other disciples were cheering, making the occasional comment.
""
“Senior Martial Brother Wang, your knowledge of arrays is so impressive! You broke that array in just the time it takes for an incense stick to burn!” One of the disciples said with a jubilant expression, layering the praise on Wang Jun.
“Looks like we’ll be able to finish the mission this time,” another disciple commented in high spirits, as if the reward of 10 spirit stones was already close at hand.
“I agree. I surmise that the biggest barrier to this small-scale mission was this sealing array. After all, there are very few people at the Sea of Qi stage with knowledge of arrays,” yet another disciple said in an analytical tone, flicking his sleeves as if he thought himself clever.
From his storage pouch, Chen Xingzhou took out a pearl, which was the supplementary item given for this small-scale mission. It was called the Parting Water Pearl, which had to be immediately returned to Sect Affairs Hall after the mission.
Chen Xingzhou looked at Wang Jun and asked, “Have you finished catching your breath, Junior Martial Brother Wang?”
Wang Jun stood up and nodded. “I’m ready, Senior Martial Brother Chen.”
Some of the disciples were cursing him silently. It was truly too wasteful to use a Spirit Gathering Pill, which cost 20 spirit stones per pill, just to recover profound qi like this.
However, they didn’t think deeper into it. If this mission was really that simple, why would Wang Jun have to use a precious pill just to recover his profound qi? But it wasn’t really their fault that they were unaware. In the first place, Chen Xingzhou and his attendants had purposefully recruited disciples who had just joined the Peak not long ago, and didn’t have much cultivation experience.
Chen Xingzhou and Wang Jun walked at the front with the Parting Water Pearl and entered the water. Everyone followed after them one after the other, while Ge Song deliberately walked at the very back as they slowly descended into the lake. The Parting Water Pearl’s effect was miraculous. It created a waterless zone of about 20 to 25 meters in diameter with Chen Xingzhou at the center, giving everyone an ample sense of comfort within.
Xu Disheng stepped upon the soft, spongy silt of the bed of the lake. There were some aquatic plants in the surroundings that shrunk and shriveled in the mud once the water of the lake around them disappeared. The fish and crustaceans that were swimming along suddenly noticed the water around them being pushed away as the group approached. Those who reacted quickly followed the current and swam away, but those that weren’t quick enough fell out of the water and landed with a flop on either the stones or silt of the lake bed below. Only after the group passed by could they once again return to the water and swim away freely.
Li Dan was walking behind Xu Disheng, seemingly a bit curious. He asked in a low tone, “Junior Martial Brother Xu, do you smell that strange fishy smell?”
Xu Disheng shook his head. Before he could respond, Xi Jingshan replied, “This is the bed of the lake. Why would a fishy smell seem strange here?”
When Xu Disheng heard what Xi Jingshan said, a divine light flashed in his mind, and he felt a thumping sensation in his heart. Memories suddenly resurfaced in his mind as he recalled something.
A fishy smell normally couldn’t be so concentrated and strange. He remembered that he had smelled this odor, or something resembling it, on the body of that wolf demon in the Floating Moon Valley! Although it didn’t have the characteristic fishiness of the water demons, everything else about the odor was exactly the same!
This was the smell of the demonic energy of the water demons!
Chen Xingzhou was walking at the front of the procession when he suddenly stopped, his expression changing. He reached behind him and grabbed the nearest disciple behind him, which was the round-faced youth from earlier, and pushed him in front of him!
“Aghh!”
A massive maw suddenly appeared in the water, reaching into the waterless space created by the Parting Water Pearl and snapping its jaws down!
The round-faced youth, who was suddenly thrust to the front, didn’t even have time to react. In a flash, his entire upper body was gone, cleanly bitten off by the densely packed teeth lining the jaws. Fresh blood spurted out of the remaining stub of his lower body as it collapsed to the ground before everyone’s eyes.
The bloody maw chewed on the round-faced youth’s upper half several times. A loud gulp was audible to everyone present as it finished chewing and swallowing.
Everything had happened too quickly. They didn’t even have time to criticize Chen Xingzhou for his actions. They all turned deathly pale and froze in place, trembling and not even daring to move a single inch.
Chapter 66 Jade Water LakeThree days passed.The purple cloud that Chen Xingzhou was driving gradually arrived at the very periphery of the territory of the Sacred Sect. It was very rare even for the patrol disciples of the Eight Mountains to be diligent enough to patrol this far out.There was a dark blue lake surrounded by several mountains, with several interspersed villages sitting at the foot of some of the mountains. Looking down from the skies, it was possible to vaguely see smoke rising out of the chimneys, hinting that it was already mealtime for the villagers.Chen Xingzhou landed the Spirit Cloud, and the group on board followed him off. He led them towards the bank of the dark blue lakeside. Of the attendants following behind him, one was Wang Jun, and the other was called Ge Song, who was also an elite disciple at the peak of the Sea of Qi stage.Ge Song was quiet as usual as he stood behind Chen Xingzhou. Wang Jun swept his senses through the dark blue waters of the lake, causing his eyebrows to furrow. Senior Martial Brother Chen, the Sealing Array on this lake is a bit more complex than how it was described in the mission jade slip.Chen Xingzhou looked at him and said, Do you have a way to break the array, Junior Martial Brother Wang?Wang Jun usually liked to spend his days delving into the study of arrays. Chen Xingzhou brought him along this time to get his assistance with this Sealing Array.Wang Jun nodded his head and said, I can give it a try.He took some formation flags and formation stones from his storage pouch and began to set them up on the array.Wang Jun was using the most common method for breaking arrays, which was extremely popular among the disciples of all Peaks. As long as the seals were used appropriately, it could break array formations with fairly little effort.Among the group of 11, there was a youth with a round face, who had only joined Morning Dew Peak two years ago. He was observing what was happening and couldn't stifle his curiosity. He walked forward and asked Chen Xingzhou, Senior Martial Brother Chen, what are we doing right now?Chen Xingzhou glanced over at him and flashed him a personable smile. The records of the mission jade slip say that this lake, which is called Jade Water Lake, happens to be located right above a miniature spirit vein. Under the nourishment of tens of thousands of years of spiritual energy, the lake eventually gave rise to spiritually aware demons. With perception of the laws of heaven and earth, the spiritual energy in the area condensed into an imperial seal, which automatically began to shape the laws of heaven and earth so the water demon would condense its own divinity and become the deity of Jade Water Lake.That round-faced youth was a rather easily excitable person. He was immediately alarmed by Chen Xingzhou's answer and cried, A real independently ascended deity? We're all at the Sea of Qi stage. How are we going to be able to deal with something like that?!Wang Jun cast him a begrudging glance and sneered, Even if it independently ascended to become a deity, it was still originally based off of nothing more than a water demon. Don't go making a big fuss over nothing.Chen Xingzhou gave him a sidelong look, then turned back towards everyone else and said, Naturally, the lake deity isn't something we can handle. However, the water demons under the lake deity of Jade Water Lake had defected, colluding with outside demons to bring harm to the deity. However, the deity's true soul wasn't completely extinguished. It was sucked into the lake's divine seal and then snatched away by the outside monsters, which disappeared without a trace. At this time, there's already no lake deity or big demons in the lake. At most, there'll be a few water demons, but that's it.Wang Jun added, Our mission this time is to break open the seal on the demon palace in the waters and extract the miniature spirit vein under the lake, which we must then bring back to the sect.An indescribable glint appeared in everyone's eyes.Although a miniature spirit vein was the smallest type of spirit stone vein, it could yield several hundred spirit stones once purified. If the spirit vein was deep enough, it could be refined into over a thousand spirit stones! As it turned out, this was the real objective of this small-scale mission!But after these people all thought about it a bit more, they realized that it didn't really concern them. After all, they had already agreed to Chen Xingzhou's terms, so each person would only receive 10 spirit stones. With the enormous wealth that a miniature spirit vein embodied, even if they had to turn it over to the sect in the end, no one would be the wiser if Chen Xingzhou and his attendants pilfered a cut of the wealth for themselves!After hearing the true circumstances of the mission, everyone in the group inwardly felt rather unsettled. But none of them took the initiative to speak up, so they all ended up staying silent.But none of them could think about what a bunch of newcomer disciples who were at the early Sea of Qi stage would be useful for here. What could they even help with? Getting 10 spirit stones already wasn't too bad.However would a small-scale mission really be so simple? Was breaking open the array formation and extracting the spirit vein all that it entailed?A cold gaze as deep as the abyss flashed through the eyes of Chen Xingzhou. To him, these newcomer disciples were ideal for use as cannon fodder.Li Dan was standing next to Xi Jingshan and Xu Disheng amidst the group, in an agitated mood. He could be heard muttering to himself, Even though it's just a miniature spirit vein, if it's deep enough, it could be possible to extract and purify over 1000 spirit stones! I'm seriously envious!Xu Disheng and Xi Jingshan looked over at Li Dan, but they didn't say anything.Xu Disheng could more or less guess what Xi Jingshan and Li Dan were thinking. Xi Jingshan only wanted the 10 spirit stones, but as for Li Dan? With his temperament and lack of self-awareness, he was on a one track path towards death in this cruel world.Beads of sweat formed on Wang Jun's forehead as he made hand seals and stared unblinkingly at the sealing array in the lake. The formation flags flew through the air and stuck fast into the surface of the lake, where they floated in place. The flags let out faint halos of light, which gradually started to link up into a formation.To say nothing of his character, Wang Jun's knowledge of sealing arrays was actually pretty good. Among the peak Sea of Qi stage disciples, there were very few who studied sealing arrays or pill concocting. After all, these were auxiliary Dao which took up a lot of the time that could be spent cultivating, and could even affect one's ability to break through the bottleneck to the Dao Foundation stage.The array slowly finished taking shape, and Wang Jun willed profound qi into the array. The lines of the array lit up in the void, causing a low rumbling sound to be heard.The rumbling gradually got louder and louder, and at the end, with a loud explosion, the water, algae, and debris on the surface of the lake shot up several meters into the air all at once, as if something beneath the surface had been broken.As everyone stared at Jade Water Lake, they could see the surface of the lake become clear and transparent, and there was no longer a mysterious aura shrouding it.A hint of an approving look appeared in Chen Xingzhou's eyes. Good work, Junior Martial Brother Wang, he praised.Wang Jun grunted in response, then sat down cross-legged to adjust his breathing. He even took out a jade bottle from his storage pouch and ate a Spirit Gathering Pill, which cost 20 spirit stones each.Xu Disheng narrowed his eyes, paying careful attention to these details.The other disciples were cheering, making the occasional comment.""Senior Martial Brother Wang, your knowledge of arrays is so impressive! You broke that array in just the time it takes for an incense stick to burn! One of the disciples said with a jubilant expression, layering the praise on Wang Jun.Looks like we'll be able to finish the mission this time, another disciple commented in high spirits, as if the reward of 10 spirit stones was already close at hand.I agree. I surmise that the biggest barrier to this small-scale mission was this sealing array. After all, there are very few people at the Sea of Qi stage with knowledge of arrays, yet another disciple said in an analytical tone, flicking his sleeves as if he thought himself clever.From his storage pouch, Chen Xingzhou took out a pearl, which was the supplementary item given for this small-scale mission. It was called the Parting Water Pearl, which had to be immediately returned to Sect Affairs Hall after the mission.Chen Xingzhou looked at Wang Jun and asked, Have you finished catching your breath, Junior Martial Brother Wang?Wang Jun stood up and nodded. I'm ready, Senior Martial Brother Chen.Some of the disciples were cursing him silently. It was truly too wasteful to use a Spirit Gathering Pill, which cost 20 spirit stones per pill, just to recover profound qi like this.However, they didn't think deeper into it. If this mission was really that simple, why would Wang Jun have to use a precious pill just to recover his profound qi? But it wasn't really their fault that they were unaware. In the first place, Chen Xingzhou and his attendants had purposefully recruited disciples who had just joined the Peak not long ago, and didn't have much cultivation experience.Chen Xingzhou and Wang Jun walked at the front with the Parting Water Pearl and entered the water. Everyone followed after them one after the other, while Ge Song deliberately walked at the very back as they slowly descended into the lake. The Parting Water Pearl's effect was miraculous. It created a waterless zone of about 20 to 25 meters in diameter with Chen Xingzhou at the center, giving everyone an ample sense of comfort within.Xu Disheng stepped upon the soft, spongy silt of the bed of the lake. There were some aquatic plants in the surroundings that shrunk and shriveled in the mud once the water of the lake around them disappeared. The fish and crustaceans that were swimming along suddenly noticed the water around them being pushed away as the group approached. Those who reacted quickly followed the current and swam away, but those that weren't quick enough fell out of the water and landed with a flop on either the stones or silt of the lake bed below. Only after the group passed by could they once again return to the water and swim away freely.Li Dan was walking behind Xu Disheng, seemingly a bit curious. He asked in a low tone, Junior Martial Brother Xu, do you smell that strange fishy smell?Xu Disheng shook his head. Before he could respond, Xi Jingshan replied, This is the bed of the lake. Why would a fishy smell seem strange here?When Xu Disheng heard what Xi Jingshan said, a divine light flashed in his mind, and he felt a thumping sensation in his heart. Memories suddenly resurfaced in his mind as he recalled something.A fishy smell normally couldn't be so concentrated and strange. He remembered that he had smelled this odor, or something resembling it, on the body of that wolf demon in the Floating Moon Valley! Although it didn't have the characteristic fishiness of the water demons, everything else about the odor was exactly the same!This was the smell of the demonic energy of the water demons!Chen Xingzhou was walking at the front of the procession when he suddenly stopped, his expression changing. He reached behind him and grabbed the nearest disciple behind him, which was the round-faced youth from earlier, and pushed him in front of him!Aghh!A massive maw suddenly appeared in the water, reaching into the waterless space created by the Parting Water Pearl and snapping its jaws down!The round-faced youth, who was suddenly thrust to the front, didn't even have time to react. In a flash, his entire upper body was gone, cleanly bitten off by the densely packed teeth lining the jaws. Fresh blood spurted out of the remaining stub of his lower body as it collapsed to the ground before everyone's eyes.The bloody maw chewed on the round-faced youth's upper half several times. A loud gulp was audible to everyone present as it finished chewing and swallowing.Everything had happened too quickly. They didn't even have time to criticize Chen Xingzhou for his actions. They all turned deathly pale and froze in place, trembling and not even daring to move a single inch.
