“Why is this peak so deserted and quiet?” Su Wenjiu murmured after landing. “Though the scenery’s not bad.”
She looked around casually. She wasn’t in a hurry to take in the disciple—after all, she was already here. Where could the boy possibly run?
Better to observe the surroundings first. By examining subtle clues, she could get a preliminary understanding of Lin Feng’s master—what kind of personality, what kind of strength.
For instance, the layout could reflect the master’s temperament, and certain formations or structures might hint at his cultivation level.
This would make things smoother when it came time to talk, helping her avoid unnecessary conflict.
She only cared this much because Lin Feng was too important.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t bother—normally she’d just toss out some benefits with a “take it or leave it” attitude. Refuse? Then force it.
“Other than the scenery, there seems to be nothing noteworthy here,” she muttered, frowning slightly after her inspection. “Most likely, the owner is just an ordinary cultivator. Nothing particularly impressive.”
“Well, I’ll just get straight to the point.”
“If things don’t go well, I might have to apply some force to secure such a talented disciple.”
Just as she prepared to use her divine sense to locate Zhong Qing, something suddenly drew her full attention.
It was a small pond, no more than four meters across.
Thick snow was piled up around the edges. The water inside was murky—maybe cloudy, maybe just dark—but either way, it was pitch black and bottomless.
Floating at the center of the black water was a snow-white lotus flower.
The lotus had nine petals. Against the dark water, it looked like moonlight on the fifteenth night.
Su Wenjiu’s gaze was completely drawn to it.
A white lotus blooming in the dead of winter, right at the center of a pond—that alone was strange.
Yet the lotus itself didn’t emit any unusual aura. It appeared to be just an ordinary plant.
Even so, it stirred something in Su Wenjiu’s heart. She couldn’t help but want to pick it.
Drawn in, she walked toward the pond. Her feet, wrapped in a thick layer of profound energy, stepped directly onto the water’s surface.
As her toes touched the water, ripples spread across the surface.
Step by step, she moved toward the lotus.
But after walking a few steps, something felt wrong.
The pond was only four meters wide, and the center was just two meters from the edge. Even a child could reach the lotus in ten steps.
But despite walking several steps, she was no closer. Visually, the lotus still appeared just as far as before.
“Hm?”
Su Wenjiu lightly frowned.
She tapped the water with her toe and leapt into the air, aiming straight for the lotus.
Before she could react, she suddenly realized—she could no longer see the far shore of the pond.
She looked around.
She couldn’t see the opposite side.
She couldn’t see where she had come from.
She couldn’t even see the sides of the pond.
There was nothing but endless black water all around her, like she was floating in the middle of a vast ocean. Only the distant white lotus remained in view, always unreachable.
“An illusion?”
“Interesting,” Su Wenjiu said, a playful smile on her lips.
“Let’s see how I break this illusion.”
She remained calm, sitting cross-legged on the water’s surface and entering a meditative state.
With most illusions, keeping your mind still and your heart undisturbed was enough to break them naturally.
She slipped into a moment of selflessness, quieted her thoughts, and then reopened her eyes.
But she was still surrounded by black water. Other than the radiant white lotus, she could see no end in sight.
“This is something else,” Su Wenjiu’s expression grew serious.
“If the calm approach doesn’t work, I’ll just force it.”
She was extremely confident in her strength.
Though she was from the younger generation, she was the most gifted disciple in Morning Glow Valley’s history. A year ago, she had already reached the Moon Profound Realm.
“Ha!”
With a light cry, powerful spiritual energy surged into her jade-like palm, and she unleashed a heaven-shaking strike on the water.
Boom!
The surface of the water exploded into massive waves. The ripples spread out for kilometers.
With her Moon Profound Realm power, even a pond ten or a hundred times larger would have evaporated instantly.
Even the strongest illusions couldn’t maintain form if their core medium was destroyed.
But—
While she waited for the illusion to collapse, nothing happened.
The chaos settled back into stillness. The black water surface returned to calm.
The illusion hadn’t broken.
It was still an endless black ocean.
“What?!”
“It didn’t break?!”
She stared at the only fixed point—the white lotus.
“I refuse to believe this.”
She rose into the air again and unleashed her full Moon Profound Realm speed, shooting straight toward the lotus.
Sun rose and set.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
Su Wenjiu stood on the endless black water, her slender figure now visibly weary. Though her face remained delicate and beautiful, it could no longer hide her fatigue.
Gone was the calm grace of two days ago. Now, flashes of panic occasionally flickered in her eyes.
Because she had flown at full speed toward the lotus for two entire days—and still hadn’t reached it.
Still couldn’t touch it.
Visually, the lotus remained two meters away.
“What kind of illusion is this?!” Su Wenjiu bit her lip.
A crushing sense of helplessness filled her. No matter what she did, she couldn’t escape.
She had even tried using her communication jade slip to contact the sect—but it vanished like a stone in the sea.
Then—she suddenly sensed movement beneath the water.
Instinctively, she shot up into the sky.
A thousand meters up, she looked down at the surface—and her eyes went wide.
A massive creature was swimming beneath the water.
It was at least 10,000 meters long.
Its entire body was red, vaguely shaped, hard to make out clearly—somewhere between a dragon and a flood serpent. It moved slowly through the water.
As it swam, its back broke the surface, forming what looked like a massive mountain range stretching for tens of kilometers.
But its size wasn’t what truly terrified Su Wenjiu.
What terrified her was the aura it released.
It wasn’t even directed at her—just faint traces leaking out unintentionally.
Yet even those tiny traces made her scalp tingle.
She had no doubt: if this creature so much as breathed on her, her soul would be annihilated instantly.
And at that moment, she also realized—
A terrifying possibility was staring her in the face…