Chapter 89 The Man-eating Lake

The music seemed capable of penetrating the human heart.

The closer people were to the mirror-like lake, the more affected they became. Even though he was standing at a considerable distance from the lake, Ye Que could feel his heart beating wildly. It was as if all sorts of feelings had begun to well up in him all of a sudden. He couldn’t help feeling dispirited.

That was until the music entered the Spirit Sea in the depths of his heart and encountered the 13 Mother and Children of Spring and Autumn Swords inside him.

The Noble Death Sword was the first to attack, followed by the Justice-seeking Sword. In an instant, the music was shredded by the 13 Spirit Swords. Ye Que’s emotions immediately returned to normal.

The white-clothed girl, Red Bean, also paused in her tracks when she first heard the music. In a flash, the oil-paper umbrella in her hand began emanating Primordial Force. This force was like a protective screen that cut off the invasion of the music.

Ye Que kneaded his midbrows and asked, “Are you alright?”

“Mere demonic tunes aren’t enough to affect me. Worry about yourself.” Perhaps the music did instill some frustration in Red Bean. She sounded even more impatient than before.

After taking several more steps, the surroundings of the mirror-like lake finally revealed itself in its entirety.

Less than one hundred people were gathered opposite of the small pavilion on the lake. The rest had all died on the way to this place. From the mountains of gold and gems, miraculous pills, lustful mermaids, to cultivation techniques and secret arts, the journey was an immensely challenging examination for newly-minted cultivators.

The moment a person mental state showed even the slightest flaw, he would be giving this grand formation a chance to kill him.

Thus, only a minority of cultivators was able to make it this far.

Upon closer examination of the crowd standing at the edge of the lake, Ye Que realized those were all unfamiliar faces.

Once again, the number of Mount Shu disciples was the highest. Chen Qing had been leading the group but the leader was now a good-looking youngster with sharp brows. The youngster looked focused and impressive. Even in a crowd, he was like a crane in a flock of chicken. Eight people dressed in black stood behind him, all of them masked. No symbol of Mount Shu could be seen on them and yet they joined the ranks of the Mount Shu disciples.

Next to them was the Judicature. There were fewer of them. After all, they were the group with the strictest discipline to enter the ley lines of sovereignty of the Imperial Mausoleum. This meant that they had better defense against temptations presented by the formation. After all, who could guarantee that the information leaked from the palace was all true? The Judicature might very well know secrets that others didn’t.

The one standing in the front line of the Judicature had always been their Deputy Night Timekeeper but he was now replaced by a girl bearing a sword on her back. However, she looked like she was being coerced into this. She looked so unwilling that it was as if she had suffered the greatest grievance in the world.

“Li Jianqi?” Ye Que recognized the girl leading the Judicature to be Li Jianqi at once. “Why is she standing there? Is she from the Judicature?” “That doesn’t sound right. Even if she’s a spy for them, her status should have disqualified her from standing in front! Since when did the Silent Monastery and the Judicature have such a good relationship?”

Opposite the Judicature was the Five Main Tribes of the Demon Race. They had obviously lost a considerable amount of warriors along the way. Feng Xingmo’s expression was so cold that frost threatened to grow on his face.

The other Orthodox sects or lesser tribes with fewer people were scattered in two sides. Of course, humans and demons stood in clear divisions.

The ones who led the Orthodox sects with few remaining members were mostly new faces as well.

The logic was simple. The actual disciples the sects sent to obtain the Divine Tool were undoubtedly geniuses that they had carefully nurtured. Naturally, these disciples would enjoy preferential treatment. Even after entering the ley lines of sovereignty of the Imperial Mausoleum, they would not be treated in the same way as ordinary disciples.

More importantly, these were people with great arrogance and competitive streak. Naturally, they would be far ahead of their teams. If not for the fact that the golden palace didn’t open its doors until late, they would likely be done searching the entire place now.

There were a total of 37 musical instruments in the small pavilion in the middle of the lake but only seven or eight instruments were playing earlier.

As more people gathered around the lake, more instruments began to join the ensemble of tunes. Not only was the tempo abruptly increased, but the rhythm also became increasingly urgent.

The music was capable of bewitching hearts; this was something all the cultivators around the lake could tell.

In an instant, a myriad of magic treasures were taken out to resist the invasion of the music. Everyone also started looking for a path to continue their journey at the same time. Unfortunately, the lake was ring-shaped. After taking a walk around the lake, they would inevitably return to the same place. There were not any obvious paths that would lead them somewhere else.

That was unless the path was inside the small pavilion in the middle of the lake. This was the likeliest possibility.

It wasn’t a problem for the Orthodox sects with more disciples in their team to resist the invasion of the music by combining magic treasures and Spiritual Force. However, this made the rest look pale by comparison.

The first person Ye Que spotted in the crowd was Li Jianqi. The next one that he saw was Yan Ziyue of the Seven Sabers Sect of Qingqiu. He was alone, without fellow disciples or members of the temporary camp standing behind him.

Li Jianqi had found her place in the Judicature. What about the rest? Where were Nalan Rongruo and her fellow Qingqiu Sword Sect disciples?

He failed to find what he was looking for after carefully scanning the crowd. Could misfortune have befallen them?

Ye Que felt a faint stab of anger.

It was as if heaven had sensed Ye Que’s rage and acted on his behalf. The magic treasure in Yan Ziyue’s hand was shaking so hard that it had dropped to the ground and he couldn’t help shuddering. A moment later, he actually burst into tears in front of so many people.

In the beginning, Yan Ziyue’s tears were sporadic sobs. Gradually, it turned into wailing. Tears drenched his face as he wept sorrowfully. It was as if he had remembered something heart-wrenching. So many tears welled up in his eyes that the others couldn’t tell if he was truly crying or merely faking it. For a moment, several Truth cultivation acquittances looked helpless.

Ye Que had seen people crying after getting beaten up and people weeping after suffering a severe injury. However, he had never seen a cultivator wailing so openly in the public.

In an instant, the scene became somewhat absurd.

The more strange thing was that Yan Ziyue was beginning to walk toward the mirror-like lake while crying and wiping his tears. Even though he was slow, he was already standing at the edge of the lake in the first place. He entered the lake in just a few steps and it was too late for anyone to stop him.

The water in the mirror-like lake slowly reached Yan Ziyue’s knees, waist, and finally neck. He looked completely oblivious to it all as he continued to weep. The more he cried, the more sorrowful his tears became. The sound of his wailing finally ceased when the lake water covered his mouth and nose. The surface of the water suddenly bubbled in concentration.

Soon, the bubbles on the surface of the water gradually disappeared. A corpse floated to the surface the right side up.

To a certain extent, cultivators possessed the ability to breathe underwater like a turtle. They would not be in danger even after getting submerged in water for a period of time. However, that was under the condition that they were using their True Energy to protect their heart meridians. They could use Spiritual Force to transform the oxygen in the water to aid their respiration.

Yan Ziyue submerging himself in the water without moving even a shred of his True Energy made him no different than a regular human. He would still drown.

To think that the music was strong enough to manipulate a person to drown himself in the lake!

It was as if the lake water was a man-eater as well!

For a moment, everyone around the lake elevated the protection their magic treasure cast on them. Some of the weaker disciples from small sects began running far away to evade the music.

The farther away they were, the less effective the music would be.

Just as Yan Ziyue met his death, several Demon Race warriors also failed to resist the attack of the music. Their eyes clouded over and the magic treasure in their hand fell to the ground.

Feng Xingmo began to panic after taking all these in. “Come back, all of you! Guard your mental state! Don’t let the music affect you!”

His sudden bellow, imbued with True Energy, violently pierced the Demon Race warriors who had lost their mind. Unfortunately, it was completely ineffective. The warriors continued to walk to the lake without stopping.

The sound of weeping once again resounded, this time even louder and sorrowful than Yan Ziyue’s.

The leader of the Five Main Tribes this time was Feng Xingmo of the Wind Tribe. However, even though he was born a wolfkind and a combat-type genius, he wasn’t an expert in resisting this sort of mental attack. Not even he had a way to stop it, never mind the other Demon Race warriors.

Demons were good at battling but when it came to curses, they were vastly inferior to the Orthodox sects.

“Good-for-nothing.”

“How hopelessly stupid!”

“Are you going to watch your warriors die?”

Suddenly, a girl’s voice came from behind the group of Demon Race warriors.

Then, a sturdy and muscular man slowly stepped out of the ranks and walked to the front of the group. His appearance would change slightly with every step he took. His body grew increasingly thin, and his face increasingly delicate. Even his hair began changing from dark brown to blood-red color.

By the time the sturdy and muscular man walked past Feng Xingmo, he had become a red-haired girl.

While walking toward Feng Xingmo, she conveniently plucked a leaf from a willow tree by the lake.

After calling Feng Xingmo a good-for-nothing, she didn’t even cast him another glance. She placed the leaf gently on the corner of her mouth and the crisp sound of leaf-flute reverberated.

When the sound of the leaf-flute pierced the ears of the enchanted warriors, they immediately paused. Their legs that were about to dip into the lake water halted. Within a few seconds, the warriors’ eyes gradually regained clarity. Within a few minutes, they completely regained their consciousness.

“Retreat one thousand steps backward. Before the music stops, you’re not allowed to come near this mirror-like lake,” the girl said, casually issuing a command. She looked as if it was a matter of fact for her to do so.

The Demon Race warriors who had just sobered up didn’t know what had happened at all. They subconsciously looked at Feng Xingmo.

“Who are you?”

“Which tribe are you from?”

“Since when is it your place to issue commands? Hadn’t your tribe elders teach you the regulations?” Feng Xingmo looked at the red-haired girl with a frosty expression. He did not expect that a young girl would suppress him, their leader. He would not have shown her any pleasantries, regardless.

“Which tribe? I don’t belong to any tribe,” the red-haired girl replied softly.

“Since you’re not a warrior from any of the Five Main Tribes, that means you have no right whatsoever to speak. Don’t flatter yourself that you’re amazing just because of your little knowledge of psychokinesis. You’re still too inexperienced. Return to your position immediately.” Feng Xingmo’s tone was harsh. Had he not considered the fact that the girl’s psychokinesis might come in handy, he would have slapped her across the face and save the effort of telling her all these nonsense.

“You’re asking me to return to my position?” The red-haired girl frowned at Feng Xingmo.

“Haven’t you seen how many warriors have died since we entered the ley lines of sovereignty of the Imperial Mausoleum? Would there be so few of us left if it weren’t for your poor leadership? You’re asking me to return to my position before I even blame you? Who granted you such fearless courage? Did you lose your mind?”

When she saw that Feng Xingmo looked like he was about to utter even more rubbish, the red-haired girl said in annoyance, “I’m Nan Fengxiu, ranked 15th.”

To the rest, her five words sounded like a simple introduction. To Feng Xingmo, however, they were like a lightning strike!