Qu Prefecture occupied the westernmost reaches of Jinyan Kingdom, sharing a border with the neighboring nation of Wulin. It was the largest of Jinyan Kingdom's thirteen prefectures by area, yet ranked near the bottom in population. This was because Qu Prefecture's territory consisted almost entirely of towering mountains and vast lakes, with very little arable land to speak of.
The towering mountains and vast lakes in question were the Kuanglu Mountains and Black Water Lake.
The Kuanglu Mountains were certainly spectacular—soaring, treacherous peaks amid scenery of extraordinary beauty—but similar ranges could be found elsewhere, and they were not so remarkable in themselves. Black Water Lake, however, nestled against the Kuanglu range, was a sight found nowhere else in Qu Prefecture. Most of the travelers who came to this corner of the country to climb mountains and enjoy the waters came specifically for this lake.
Black Water Lake was said to span over three thousand li. Its water had a most unusual quality—its color was so deep and dark that from a distance it looked like a vast pool of black ink, which was how it had earned its name. The concentration of metallic mineral salts in the water was extremely high, rendering it undrinkable. The water's density was so great that a person who jumped in could not sink at all, but would float on the surface like a log. Beyond this, the lake's temperature remained comfortably warm year-round, never changing with the seasons—even on the coldest days of winter.
Such extraordinary waters naturally attracted a steady stream of visitors, though they could only enjoy the lake's outer southern reaches, within a few dozen li of the shore. Venture northward into the deeper waters, and the fog grew thicker and thicker, until at around a hundred li in it became so dense that visibility was nearly zero and losing one's way was all but guaranteed. Rumors claimed that regular full-body immersion in the lake could cleanse one's marrow and strengthen one's body, extending one's lifespan. Other rumors spoke of monsters lurking in its depths—two-headed water serpents, man-eating fish six or seven meters long, enormous crabs that could swallow clouds and breathe fog. All of this only added to the lake's mystique.
The northern shore of Black Water Lake abutted the deepest reaches of the Kuanglu Mountains. There, in terrain that ordinary mortals could never hope to reach, stood the home of Jinyan Kingdom's most powerful cultivation sect—one of the Three Sects and Four Gates: the Taixu Sect.
These past few days happened to coincide with the Taixu Sect's annual recruitment of low-level disciples, and the Kuanglu Mountains were thick with young cultivators who had come for exactly this purpose.
A procession of young cultivators stretching two or three thousand meters was making its way slowly up the mountain road toward Xiuyun Peak.
Andy was positioned somewhere in the middle-to-rear of the line. He wore an ordinary blue robe and had left the black-veiled cloak behind, keeping his head down as he walked, only occasionally glancing upward.
He looked perfectly obedient, but his mind was busy.
Since passing through the smooth mountainside wall created by a low-level illusion and setting foot on this flagstone road along with the other young cultivators, he had been walking for nearly three shichen. Yet the ascending stairway of blue stone showed no sign of ending.
Xiuyun Peak hadn't looked particularly tall from below. After this much walking—nearly all of it uphill—he should have reached the summit long ago. Instead, he still appeared to be somewhere around the middle of the peak. A few cultivators ten-odd meters behind him seemed to have noticed the same thing and were discussing it in low voices. With Andy's current spiritual sense, and since the speakers made no particular effort to keep quiet, every word reached him clearly.
"What's going on? We've been walking forever and we're still not at the top?"
"Hey—did you notice that white cloud off to the side of the path? Doesn't its shape look familiar? I've been watching it for a while now. Every so often the scenery along the road seems to repeat. That cloud drifts around a bit, but it's been following us the whole time."
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"You mean the peak has some kind of high-level illusion set up, making us walk the same stretch over and over?"
"Almost certainly. And I'd bet the Taixu Sect did it on purpose. Think about it—if someone doesn't even have the patience to walk a mountain road, how far can they expect to go on the path of cultivation? What we cultivators need is great perseverance."
"That makes sense. Never mind, then—let's just keep walking. The Taixu Sect can't possibly turn away everyone who came to register."
Andy listened and nodded inwardly. He had noticed the strange white cloud too, and had even had the faint impression that voices were coming from within it.
What he didn't know was that inside that particular cloud, three cultivators—two men and one woman, all at the early stage of Foundation Establishment or above—were standing within a peculiar formation, conversing among themselves.
A tall, handsome young man with a scholarly air was holding a jade disc-shaped artifact. He turned to the female cultivator beside him and said: "Look at that, Sister Lei—those few youngsters actually saw through the formation we set up. Not bad material. Though they're still a far cry from what you were like at their age."
The woman surnamed Lei smiled. Her already striking features were brightened further by a flush of pink at her cheeks.
"You flatter me, Brother Liu. Among our generation of Foundation Establishment cultivators, who can compare in aptitude to Brother Leng and his Seven Mysteries Cold Body? And Brother Leng also possesses the rare ice-attribute Variant Spirit Root. Combined with that constitution, cultivating ice-attribute techniques is like adding wings to a tiger. I couldn't possibly match that."
The person she referred to as Brother Leng lived up to his name—his face was deathly pale, utterly expressionless, and bone-cold. If Andy had seen him, the word "corpse" would have come to mind immediately. He seemed completely oblivious to his companions' conversation, gazing down in silence at the column of cultivators still trudging along the road below. Then, quietly, he spoke: "The cultivator walking just ahead of those few—his spiritual sense seems far stronger than it should be for someone at his level. And he appears to have noticed your conversation as well."
"Impossible. He's only at the eleventh layer of Qi Refinement—how strong could his spiritual sense be? We didn't bother setting up any sound barriers, true, but we're inside the Illusory Cloud Formation. There's no way a mere Qi Refinement cultivator could see through it." The tall young man was dismissive. He was in a foul mood of late—every time he heard about some cultivator with a remarkable innate gift, it only reminded him that the cultivation world was full of extraordinary spirit roots and constitutions, and none of them had fallen to him.
"Well, I wouldn't be so sure," the woman said smoothly, defusing the tension. "Brother Leng is rarely wrong about these things. That's precisely why the Sect Master asked him to oversee this year's recruitment—we're only here to assist." She turned to the pale-faced man. "Brother Leng, do you think it's about time we let these juniors come up?"
"It is. Let's head to the Lakeview Terrace at the summit first. Brother Liu, if you would please dispel the illusion path." Though his words were polite, they carried an undercurrent of authority that brooked no refusal.
"Yes, Brother Leng." The tall young man complied without argument. He raised the jade disc in his right hand, murmured a few words of incantation, formed a seal with his left hand, and sent a pulse of spiritual power into the disc.
……
Among the young cultivators trudging endlessly up the blue stone stairway, a handful of the more observant ones noticed that the clouds drifting alongside the path were now short by one.
But every last one of them noticed what appeared overhead: three white-robed cultivators, each standing atop a different artifact—a jade-green flute, a pale pink silk ribbon, and a crystalline ice sword—soaring through the air toward the summit.
Excited chatter erupted along the line.
"Foundation Establishment seniors—all of them! And from their robes, they must be Taixu Sect!"
"Only Foundation Establishment cultivators can fly on artifacts!"
"The one on the flute is so handsome!"
"The lady in the middle is the real stunner!"
"You're all missing the point—that transparent ice sword is clearly the most impressive. It has to be an exceptional-grade artifact!"
"Exceptional-grade?"
"When will I ever reach Foundation Establishment? Flying through the sky on an exceptional-grade artifact!"
"You think every Foundation Establishment cultivator has an exceptional-grade artifact? Exceptional-grade artifacts are rarer than Foundation Establishment cultivators!"
"Enough talk—pick up the pace! The people in front are all speeding up!"
"Why has this road taken so long?"
"Don't worry—look, the people at the very front seem to be nearly there."
The column of Qi Refinement cultivators surged with renewed energy, and their pace quickened considerably.