Chapter 507: Wait and See

Lu Sangjiu was surprised that the two had just left together. But judging by the tone and content of their conversation, it seemed that Fan Xing was being bullied.

She figured that after they separated, Fan Xing must have felt unsafe with only two people left in her group, so she took the initiative to join Fan Lin’s team.

But Fan Xing had a rather soft personality. Plus, she was the one who asked to join, and her group was smaller by one person. She probably didn’t have much of a say in front of Fan Lin.

‘The reason she brought everyone here must be that she was following the guidance of her Compass. That thing really is useful.’

‘It’s just that now their objective has collided with my own. This makes things a bit tricky.’

The contract they signed before entering stipulated that within the Secret Realm, they were not allowed to proactively attack members of the Fan Family.

Of course, if the Fan Family members attacked first, they were allowed to retaliate.

‘But they aren’t stupid. They probably remember this rule too. If a fight really breaks out later, I’m afraid my hands will be tied.’

After some thought, Lu Sangjiu decided to take advantage of the moment their vision was still obscured by the miasma. She used Thousand Faces of Life to conceal her aura and hid in a tree by the lake.

A moment later, Lu Sangjiu did indeed spot several figures. However, the team that should have had five people was now down to four. She didn’t know if the other person had left or died.

Looking closer, she saw that the missing person was Sun Rang, who had originally been with Fan Xing. In that case, Fan Xing had essentially joined Fan Lin’s team all by herself. No wonder they were treating her so rudely.

With the situation unclear, Lu Sangjiu thought it wasn’t a bad idea to have someone scout the path ahead for them, so she decided to simply wait and see what happened.

Fan Lin looked at the lake before them. He didn’t act recklessly, but instead turned to a male cultivator beside him and said, “Don’t you still have a Magic Beast? Send one in to take a look.”

These Magic Beasts were likely intended for scouting anyway, so the male cultivator showed no reluctance. He readily released one and commanded, “Go check out the situation at the bottom of the lake.”

The Magic Beast stood at the edge of the lake, hesitating. It clearly didn’t want to go in.

But the male cultivator immediately chanted some kind of Spell, and the Magic Beast instantly writhed in pain. In the end, despite its reluctance, it could only tremble as it jumped into the lake.

Lu Sangjiu had assumed that even if something happened to it, it would at least be after it reached the bottom of the lake.

But to her utter astonishment, the moment it entered the water, before it could even let out a scream, the entire beast was dissolved by the lake! Not even a single bone fragment was left!

The effect was practically comparable to Spirit-killing Water.

It was just that Spirit-killing Water was basically only effective against low-level cultivators. Against High-level cultivators, it could only be used to destroy a corpse after they were already dead.

But that Magic Beast just now was at least around the Body Integration Realm in Level. It had even formed a protective barrier around itself when it went in, yet it was still instantly dissolved.

Lu Sangjiu wasn’t the only one who was shocked; the other four were even more astonished. Fan Xing, who had been standing rather close to the lake, turned pale and stumbled backward, looking as if she was about to cry from fright.

“What is this? How can it be so powerful?”

Someone frowned in thought for a moment before saying uncertainly, “Could the miasma here have been formed from the evaporating lake water?”

The miasma was also very potent. Besides taking Detoxification Pills, they had to constantly expend a great deal of energy to repair and maintain the protective barriers around their bodies.

Before, they had only thought the miasma was unusually potent. But on second thought, if the miasma was generated from just a little evaporated moisture from the lake, then how powerful must the lake water itself be?

Thinking of it that way, the fact that it could instantly dissolve a Magic Beast didn’t seem so surprising anymore.

“So, is this lake water so powerful because it’s poisonous? If that’s the case, how are we supposed to get down there?”

It could melt a Magic Beast in an instant. Even with their higher cultivation, they probably wouldn’t last much longer in it. What’s more, they had no idea what was down below. Rushing in rashly would be far too dangerous.

Just then, Fan Xing suddenly spoke up. “What if… we use the Water Drawing Technique to drain the lake?”

Of course, making it vanish into thin air was impossible, but diverting it somewhere else was not a problem.

As for whether it would cause any damage to the area, with treasure on the line, they couldn’t be bothered with such concerns.

Fan Lin thought it was worth a try, so he directly said to Fan Xing, “You do it!”

The lake wasn’t massive, but it wasn’t small either. Draining it would be a very stamina-consuming task.

Moreover, the lake water was poisonous. A single slip-up could result in injury, so naturally, no one was willing to do it.

Fan Xing, having been assigned the task, was clearly unwilling but didn’t dare say much. She could only reply, “Then… I’ll give it a try. I’ll have to trouble you all to stand guard for me.”

After speaking, she formed a hand seal and began to manipulate the lake water.

Instantly, a vortex appeared in the center of the lake. A Water Dragon rose from it and, under her command, headed straight for the distance.

This Secret Realm placed some restrictions on a Cultivator’s true power, especially in this miasma-filled forest where one’s Divine Sense couldn’t spread out very far.

Therefore, the Water Drawing Technique could only divert the lake water to a place roughly a kilometer away from them.

That was far enough, and the ground could absorb some of it, so they didn’t have to worry about it flowing back.

Just as Fan Xing was working hard to drain the lake, Lu Sangjiu suddenly sensed someone approaching from behind. Startled, she turned to strike, but the newcomer pressed down on the back of her hand.

Yan Xue’s voice rang out in her mind. “Don’t get excited. It’s me.”

Lu Sangjiu breathed a sigh of relief, but her curiosity about Yan Xue only grew.

‘I used Thousand Faces of Life to conceal my aura, yet she saw through it instantly and even approached without making a sound?’

Glancing over at Fan Xing’s group, she saw they would still be a while. Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, she finally asked, “How on earth did you see through my disguise and my concealed aura?”

It was a personal question, and she hadn’t expected Yan Xue to answer. To her surprise, Yan Xue nonchalantly gave her a reply.

“Because I have eyes that can see through all things in this world.”

As she spoke, she gave Lu Sangjiu a mysterious smile. “All things in this world, no matter how powerful the Blinding Technique, are useless before me. Are you envious?”

Lu Sangjiu was surprised and, admittedly, a little envious. But before she could say anything, Yan Xue giggled and said smugly, “It’s no use being envious. This is my innate talent. Others can’t have it no matter how much they envy me.”

‘Talent?’ It was only then that Lu Sangjiu faintly realized that Yan Xue might not be human.

Usually, when the word “talent” was involved, it referred to demons or Spirit Beasts. For example, her senior sister Luo Linlang’s Word Spirit Technique was a talent of the Ancient Fire Phoenix clan.

Although she found Yan Xue very mysterious, Lu Sangjiu figured that after this job was done, the two of them would likely have no further contact. It was useless to overthink it.

So she put the thoughts aside and went back to watching Fan Xing’s group.

By now, about half of the lake water had been drained. It looked like victory was within their grasp.

Just when even Lu Sangjiu was beginning to think their method might actually succeed, the lake water suddenly began to bubble furiously!