This lake was the absolute center of the Cave of Ten Thousand Ghosts. Its ink-black waters were steeped in dense fiendish Yin energy. Not a single ripple disturbed the surface. Even though the towering sand dunes and valleys on either side created a natural wind trap where fierce gales howled past, the lake remained completely motionless, unruffled in the slightest.
Due to the overwhelming density of the fiendish ghost Qi, the surrounding area was utterly barren, devoid of all life. Aside from the howling wind, the only movement came from the coming and going of cultivators and empty spirits wandering by from time to time.
Strands of black mist and gray smoke belched periodically from the ground. If a cultivator accidentally touched them, the smoke clung like a maggot to the bone, relentlessly corroding flesh and blood. One had to slice away a chunk of their own flesh to stop the corrosion, a terrifying sight that chilled onlookers to the bone.
Shi Yu shifted her gaze above the lake and saw a tightly shut gate standing there.
Towering and magnificent, the majestic gate was made of heavy bronze emitting a shimmering golden glow, engraved with ancient, obscure source runes. Even though Shi Yu considered herself well-versed in source runes, she found more than half of them indecipherable.
“These source runes...” Drawn irresistibly to the ancient scripts, her eyes remained fixed on them without blinking as her mind gradually became immersed. Right then, a low hum echoed in her ears, as though something were calling out to her.
A strange power surged inside her body. Shi Yu vaguely felt her thoughts growing chaotic and uncontrollable. Startled, she tried to tear her gaze away, only to find her surroundings blurring. Her eyes were pinned dead to the giant gate, unable to move.
Towering before her like a bottomless pit, the gate devoured her consciousness.
Shi Yu attempted to take a few steps back, but her body defied her control, taking steps toward the gate instead.
To her horror, her perspective shifted, giving her an overhead view as though her entire body were floating upward into the air.
Yet to outside eyes, her expression was calm and her steps steady; no one noticed anything amiss.
Only Qingzhou, attuned to her through their connection, sensed something off. Taking two steps forward, he grabbed Shi Yu's limp hand by her side. “Ah Yu?”
A stream of cool, gentle spiritual Qi flowed from his hand into Shi Yu like a fresh spring, instantly dispelling the fog in her mind and restoring her clarity.
Shi Yu snapped out of it and hurriedly yanked her gaze back. She looked at Qingzhou with a tight frown. “Qingzhou...”
“Are you alright?” Qingzhou released her hand and looked at her with concern.
Shi Yu shook her head and placed a hand over her chest, where lingering palpitations and weakness remained. She said softly, “I don't know what happened. Just now, when I looked at the source runes on the gate, I felt an urge to draw closer to them. Then my thoughts became muddled, and my body moved out of my control.”
Releasing a soft breath, she asked, “Did you feel anything like that?”
That state of helplessness had felt like slipping into an endless dream—especially when her perspective shifted upward, as though her divine soul were being forcibly extracted from her body. Thinking back on it now left her with lingering fear.
Qingzhou shook his head. “No.”
His understanding of source runes was no greater than Shi Yu's, and he had not felt anything abnormal. “I only felt that this gate is immensely heavy and profound, instilling a subconscious sense of pressure and awe.”
Shi Yu turned to look at the other two beside her, finding both Mo Tong and Ji Yu looking surprised and bewildered. “What about you two? Did you feel anything?”
Both shook their heads, having noticed nothing unusual. Even when staring at the gate for a long time, they merely felt a slight tightness in their chests from the remaining pressure emanating from the gate, but nothing beyond that.
“There's something strange about this gate. It's best not to look at it directly.” Shi Yu narrowed her eyes in thought before scanning the dense crowd around them.
Because of the huge crowd, and since the four of them had disguised their appearances and concealed their presence, they did not draw any attention.
Shi Yu observed that because the gate above the lake remained tightly closed and inaccessible, people were attempting to find other ways into the rumored immortal secret treasure.
The surroundings of the Cave of Ten Thousand Ghosts seemed to have already been thoroughly searched to no avail. Only this lake remained unfathomable and open to exploration, leading the nearby cultivators to focus their efforts around it.
Around the perimeter of the lake, daring cultivators who believed in their own abilities occasionally unleashed various techniques—some taking out Water-Repelling Pearls, others casting defensive spells—before diving into the murky waters.
However, they were often attacked by ghost creatures within the depths or corroded by the lake's Yin-fiend energy. Before long, more severed limbs and pale bones floated up to the surface. Only a lucky few managed to survive, crawling back to shore in sheer panic.
Onlookers rushed toward these survivors to press them for information about the lakebed, but these people were either too traumatized to utter a word or gave vague, evasive answers, insisting they saw nothing. It was impossible to gather any useful information, leaving it unclear whether the bottom was truly empty or if they were hiding something.
Although the floating bones and severed limbs struck terror into the watching cultivators, the lure of the immortal secret treasure proved far too irresistible, and people continued diving into the lake.
Watching these cultivators, Shi Yu shook her head inwardly and spoke to Qingzhou and the others. “Let us find a suitable place nearby.”
She only needed to find a spot with dense Yin energy to convert her internal spiritual Qi using the fiendish Yin energy.
Currently, only the Yang Qi inside her body had been fully converted, while the Yin Qi remained much weaker in comparison. When the two touched, instead of complementing each other, they clashed and consumed one another, leaving Shi Yu's internal spiritual Qi constantly depleted and forcing her to swallow Qi-Restoring Pills from time to time to replenish it.
Naturally, this limited her strength. In a brief fight, she would be fine, but if drawn into a prolonged battle of attrition, her spiritual Qi would struggle to keep up.
The priority was to quickly convert all her spiritual Qi into dual Yin-Yang Qi, allowing her spiritual power to circulate automatically in an endless loop, which would boost her strength significantly.
After that, searching for the Jade-Blood Cold Gold nearby would be much easier and more manageable.
The four skirted around the lake, heading toward a less populated area on the other side of the Cave of Ten Thousand Ghosts.
The Yin energy directly around the lake was too concentrated; cultivating with it would inevitably damage her meridians and easily attract unwanted attention, inviting trouble for little gain.
Bypassing the lake, they walked to the back of a sand hill. This secluded area was deserted, and the fiendish Yin energy was slightly milder—just enough for her needs, making it an ideal place to cultivate.
Empty spirits drifted past from time to time. Shi Yu took out the palm-sized clay Buddha statue, handed it to Qingzhou, and looked at the three of them. “I'll trouble you to protect me.”
“Rest assured, Ah Yu.”
“Big Sister, leave it to us!”
Shi Yu smiled, nodded, and sat cross-legged. Feeling the thick Yin energy around her, she ran her mental cultivation technique and began absorbing the surrounding fiendish Yin energy.
Holding the clay Buddha statue, Qingzhou guarded her closely, raising a curtain of water-blue light that isolated her from external disturbances.
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