Chapter Sixty-Six: Underwater Exploration

After Ouyang Qihua finished that sentence, he fell silent. Tang Wei, having only heard half the story, grew increasingly anxious when he stopped speaking, but since she wasn’t familiar with Ouyang Qihua, she felt too embarrassed to urge him on. Her face was a picture of tangled frustration. It seemed Ouyang Qihua was deliberately enjoying her impatience; after uttering his last words, he’d been covertly observing her expression, and though his face remained calm, a faint smile tugged at the corners of his mouth—almost imperceptible unless one looked closely.

Once he felt he’d teased them enough, Ouyang Qihua continued with what he knew. “A thousand years ago, the place where the Heavenly Lake of Changbai Mountain now lies was nothing more than a volcanic crater—no one paid any attention to it. At some point, however, rumors began circulating of a water monster lurking in Changbai Mountain, eventually reaching the ears of the three great clans. Only then did it attract real notice.”

“A volcanic crater blocked by water? That’s preposterous!” Tang Wei stopped in her tracks, exclaiming in disbelief.

Ouyang Qihua chuckled. “Exactly—our ancestors thought it strange as well. If there wasn’t a water monster in the lake, then the fact that a volcanic crater had turned into a pool was bizarre enough! So the great clans gathered and agreed that it was worth investigating.”

Sweeping his gaze around, Ouyang Qihua noticed that everyone else had stopped to listen too—it wasn’t just Tang Wei who was intrigued. Now, the entire group’s curiosity was fully aroused. Even his own sister, Ouyang Qianru, who normally had no interest in such matters, looked on with obvious curiosity. Yet, unlike before, she refrained from shouting out loud. He thought, “Looks like Father’s rules—no arguing, no tantrums, no excessive speech, no showing off, no unreasonable behavior, and definitely no entanglements with other men—are still firmly in her mind. If that’s the case, perhaps Qianru really does care deeply for Zhang Xuan this time.” He glanced at Tang Wei again; maybe things weren’t as difficult as he’d imagined. The memory of Tang Wei’s anxious, tormented expression left a peculiar warmth in his chest—a first in his life, a sweet sense of satisfaction.

“Ouyang, what are you daydreaming about, grinning like a fool? Hurry up and tell us the rest! You stopped halfway, and now our hearts are all hanging in suspense!” In the end, it was Yun Qian who couldn’t bear it any longer, calling him back to his senses. Since Yun Qian was close to Ouyang Qihua and didn’t harbor the same resentment she felt toward someone else, her tone was friendly enough.

Of course, the others weren’t immune to curiosity either, but since they’d only just met him, they held back. Tang Wei, in particular, was the most impatient; she was delighted that Yun Qian had spoken up.

Disturbed by Yun Qian’s interruption, Ouyang Qihua snapped out of his reverie, a trace of embarrassment flickering across his face before he quickly composed himself. Seeing everyone watching him expectantly, he hurried to continue: “So our ancestors sought out the elders of the four major sects. After deliberation, they realized that the appearance of the Heavenly Lake coincided with the disappearance of all high-level cultivators after the Great Catastrophe. Perhaps the secret of the Catastrophe lay here!”

He paused briefly, then went on: “In the end, for the sake of future generations, everyone agreed to go all-in. Each clan and sect sent their only cultivator in the Void-Refining stage, and a few at the Foundation-Building stage joined as well. Altogether, eight Void-Refining masters and eight Foundation-Building cultivators—sixteen in total—descended into the Heavenly Lake to investigate.”

At this point, Ouyang Qihua realized he’d mentioned eight Void-Refining cultivators and figured Chen Xuan and the others wouldn’t understand, so he explained, “We used to have four major clans, but for reasons unknown, one clan vanished entirely.”

“Oh! So what happened next?” Tang Wei had no desire to discuss the Shi family’s grudges at the moment and quickly urged him to return to the story of the Heavenly Lake.

“They found something strange—the water of the Heavenly Lake was extraordinarily cold, with a thick layer of ice on the surface. They broke through the ice, thinking the water below would be warmer, but when they dived in, the deeper they went, the colder it became, though the water never froze solid. Odd, isn’t it? None of them could reach the bottom—the cold was simply unbearable, even for the Void-Refining masters. They tried several times, shielding themselves with spiritual energy, but it was no use. On one attempt, they managed to dive a bit deeper, but one Foundation-Building cultivator, caught unprepared, failed to connect his spiritual energy in time and was instantly frozen into a block of ice. When they pulled him up, a thick layer of ice covered his body, so hard they couldn’t even break it.”

“What did they do then?” Tang Wei and Yun Qian were now utterly engrossed, genuinely worried for the explorers.

Ouyang Qihua teased, “Why are you two so anxious? This all happened ages ago!”

“Oh come on, Ouyang, stop getting distracted and get on with it! You’re killing us here.” Even Xuanyuan Zhe couldn’t take it anymore—was it really so amusing to keep everyone in suspense?

Only Zixuan remained composed, but seeing Tang Wei’s agonized expression, he couldn’t help but interject, “Brother Ouyang, perhaps you should continue. You wouldn’t want to provoke everyone’s wrath.”

Ouyang Qihua smiled and resumed, “In the end, the head of the Kongtong Sect produced ten Fiery Pills from their sect’s treasury, giving them to eight Void-Refining cultivators and two Foundation-Building cultivators. With all their might, these ten managed to force their way to the bottom. There, they sensed a surge of spiritual energy emanating from a cave. Following that current, they found an opening, overflowing with spiritual energy—richer than the dragon veins beneath any of our ancestral homes. The ten conferred briefly underwater and decided to investigate. One Void-Refining cultivator took the lead, but as soon as he approached the entrance, something forcefully expelled him—he died on the spot.”

At this, the atmosphere grew somber. Ouyang Qihua’s voice dropped, weighted with gravity: “And it wasn’t an ordinary death—he turned instantly into a cloud of blood.”

No one had expected it to be so dire. Everyone shivered involuntarily at the thought, the girls paling with fright. Only Zixuan kept his composure, quickly asking about the others: “What about the rest? Surely some survived, or how else did the tale reach you?”

Ouyang Qihua sighed. “Those immediately behind him couldn’t dodge in time and perished as well. Only the ancestor of the Xuanyuan family and the Grand Elder of the Divine Firmament Sect, delayed by some circumstance and following at the very rear, survived—barely—thanks to the buffer of the others ahead. But both were grievously wounded, and neither lived more than ten days after returning.”

Zixuan mused, “What could be so powerful that even so many Void-Refining cultivators couldn’t escape?”

“To this day, no one knows what it was, and no one has dared explore the lake again.” Ouyang Qihua’s reply was low and grim.

“If this was the work of a person, it would have to be at least a Nascent Soul cultivator,” Zixuan murmured to himself.

“Our ancestors thought the same. That incident left every clan and sect without a single Void-Refining cultivator for centuries, crippling the cultivation world of China. Since then, every group has strictly forbidden any discussion of the Heavenly Lake, and over time, the story faded into obscurity, passed down only orally from leader to leader. Even now, with rumors of water monsters running rampant, no one dares to investigate.” With that, Ouyang Qihua finished the tale.

After hearing it, everyone fell silent, each lost in thought, pondering the endless possibilities.