Chapter 259: Over There Is a Lake
Standing by the edge of the pool, Chen Changsheng remained silent for a very long time. The sword intent in his eyes lingered stubbornly, the ache refusing to fade, causing tears to stream down his face continuously.
At this moment, he looked like a foolish youth gazing at his own reflection in the pool, lost in self-pity.
The sword intent deep within the pool shocked him, astonished him, and also left him somewhat bewildered.
Could this seemingly ordinary waterfall and pool be the legendary Sword Pool? Otherwise, why would a sword intent emanate from the depths of the water?
But if that were true, why had no one discovered it in the past few hundred years? After all, though this sword intent was ethereal and elusive, it was also so distinct.
His bewilderment stemmed from ignorance—ignorance of himself.
The sword intent from the depths of the pool was actually extremely faint and difficult to perceive. Even a cultivator at the peak of the Penetrating Illumination realm could not detect its presence.
And only cultivators in the Penetrating Illumination realm could enter the Zhou Garden.
Thus, for countless years, this sword intent had never been discovered—until one day in some year, a cultivator with extraordinary talent, naturally attuned to the sword, stood by the pool. The sword intent touched his eyes and startled his spirit, thereby lifting the first veil of the Sword Pool legend.
That person was Li Mountain’s Little Master Uncle, Su Li.
Why could Chen Changsheng perceive this sword intent? Because his body and mind were both pure. Though his spiritual sense might not be unparalleled in the world, its stillness, gentleness, and steadiness were far beyond what ordinary cultivators could match. On that night in the National Academy’s library when he fixed his fate star, even the Holy Empress on the Sweet Dew Terrace fell silent.
Thus, he became the second cultivator in hundreds of years to enter the Zhou Garden and sense this sword intent from the depths of the pool.
But where did this sword intent come from?
Chen Changsheng controlled his spiritual sense, diving deeper into the pool, only to find something strange about the water. The depths seemed to exert a kind of tangible pressure, blocking his spiritual sense from advancing further.
Standing by the pool, he lightly touched his sword hilt and looked at the little black dragon, which had somehow climbed back onto his shoulder. “How about…” he began.
The black dragon stared at him, its eyes filled with coldness and faint mockery. Its meaning was clear: I’m not your subordinate—why should I do so much for you?
Chen Changsheng couldn’t help but say, “Why are you like Zheshe? You never do anything without demanding something in return.”
The black dragon flew into a rage at this. Its slender tail swayed slightly, and it prepared to retreat, thinking, How dare you compare me to that mangy wolf!
“Alright, alright, I’ll promise you another request,” Chen Changsheng said helplessly.
Only then was the black dragon satisfied. Its tail swayed again, and it transformed into a thin black streak, vanishing with a *shiiing* sound into the cold pool water.
A moment later, the black dragon burst out of the water, sending up a spray that glittered like shattered crystals in the sunlight.
Chen Changsheng raised his right arm, letting it perch on his forearm.
Stream water dripped from the little black dragon’s scales, soaking his sleeve. It was cold and felt a bit strange.
Through the information transmitted by the black dragon, Chen Changsheng learned that there was a cave at the bottom of the pool, likely leading to some place behind the cliff. However, this cold pool was indeed peculiar—the deeper it went, the greater the pressure, an immense force that defied the real world’s logic. The black dragon was currently in a state of detached spirit, possessing less than one percent of its true power, so it couldn’t pass through the cave either.
That the black dragon had managed to find the cave was already quite an achievement. For a human cultivator in the Penetrating Illumination realm, it would have been virtually impossible. Standing by the pool, Chen Changsheng sensed the still-faint sword intent, thought for a long time, then looked up at the waterfall above, calculating the distance. An idea formed in his mind.
He let the black dragon go rest on its own, walked to the waterfall, and began climbing the cliff. His movements weren’t as wild and unrestrained as Zheshe’s, but they were steady and precise, displaying formidable strength.
Passing through the waterfall’s spray, he reached the top of the cliff. He took out a handkerchief to wipe the water droplets from his face and found himself before a clear pool. The bottom was covered in yellow stones, and the water stretched forward flatly, likely cascading down another cliff hundreds of zhang away. In the middle, there were faint ripples on the surface, probably where the spring originated. The scene was quite beautiful.
At that moment, Zheshe returned from his distant reconnaissance, shaking his head to indicate he’d found nothing.
“There’s a cave deep in the pool, probably leading somewhere inside the mountain. I suspect… the Sword Pool is in there.”
Chen Changsheng stood at the edge of the waterfall, pointing down at the pool, which now looked no bigger than a fist.
Zheshe walked over to him, glanced at the pool below, and said, “I have my doubts about that.”
Chen Changsheng asked, “Then what do you think is over there?”
Zheshe replied, “In stories, when someone faces a dead end and suddenly finds a passage into a new world, the first scene is often a beautiful woman bathing.”
“You’re overthinking it,” Chen Changsheng said, speechless. Then he added, “But the pool is indeed strange. It’s probably impossible to dive down normally. We need to find a way.”
Zheshe looked again at the distant pool below and said, “It seems you’ve already thought of a method.”
“If we jump from here, the momentum might carry us directly to the cave’s location.”
Chen Changsheng didn’t mention that, with the black dragon’s help, he already knew the distance from the cave to the pool’s surface. After rough calculations, it should be feasible.
Zheshe glanced at the pool once more, frowning slightly. “Are we risking our lives?”
The cliff was too high. Even he felt uncertain—he might be knocked unconscious by the impact with the water.
Chen Changsheng said, “I should be able to handle it. I’m not sure about you.”
He didn’t know he had bathed in the black dragon’s true dragon blood, but he knew his physical strength surpassed even that of cultivators who had undergone perfect marrow cleansing, so he wasn’t worried.
Zheshe’s bloodline talent was special, his marrow cleansing had been very successful, and he had grown up fighting fiercely in the snow plains, making his bones and muscles as hard as stone. But even he lacked confidence at this height. “If Liang Xiaoxiao and Qijian got over there from this pool, how did they manage it?”
Chen Changsheng hadn’t considered that. He scratched his head and said, “Maybe Li Mountain Sword Sect has some strange method?”
“And what about Zhuang Huanyu?” Zheshe pressed on.
Chen Changsheng was momentarily stunned. “Does the Heavenly Dao Academy have secret arts too?”
Zheshe looked at him expressionlessly. “Given your current status in the National Religion, do you think Mao Qiuyu would keep information about the Sword Pool from you if the Heavenly Dao Academy had any leads?”
Chen Changsheng had no retort. He was even getting a bit flustered. “Anyway, I can make it. Just tell me—can you or can’t you?”
As a man, even if not yet fully grown, he couldn’t bring himself to say “I can’t.”
Zheshe said flatly, “See you over there.”
With that, he walked to the edge of the waterfall and jumped without hesitation.
Between the cliffs, his figure descended rapidly, shattering the waterfall into strands of jade.
Chen Changsheng was stunned by the sight, silently thinking, So decisive—it really catches you off guard.
Then came a thunderous crash!
An enormous splash erupted from the pool’s surface. In the middle of the spray, the water surface sank downward, forming a channel, and Zheshe continued descending within it.
Chen Changsheng shook his head, took off his outer robe and stowed it away, confirmed the timing difference should be about right, and then leaped off the cliff.
The mountain wind rushed against his face and was shattered; spray flew toward him and was shattered. The roaring sound couldn’t even enter his ears before being left behind.
His speed increased rapidly. In an instant, the cold pool was right before him.
No sound arose—only an indistinct sensation of impact and a slight numbness on his face and neck.
After a moment, he felt the pressure and wetness of the surrounding pool water.
Leveraging the momentum from the cliff’s height, his body drove downward, breaking through layer after layer of force barriers in the pool’s depths.
The water pressure grew greater and greater, unimaginably so compared to the depth, but still within what he could endure.
Only then did he open his eyes and see Zheshe’s figure ahead—or rather, below.
Zheshe was gently kicking his calves, apparently unharmed.
Then Chen Changsheng saw a faint glimmer of light even farther ahead of Zheshe.
Not long after, he and Zheshe reached that glimmer one after the other, but they didn’t find the cave the black dragon had mentioned.
By now, they had no other choice. They could only rely on the remaining momentum to keep swimming downward until it gradually faded, and they began paddling with their hands.
They swam for who knows how long, until suddenly, they felt the water pressure around them gradually decreasing.
Then they noticed the glimmer of light slowly growing larger, bigger and bigger, until it nearly filled their entire field of vision.
Only then did they perceive the true change.
They were no longer swimming downward—they were swimming upward.
Water splashed.
They finally swam out.
Still in the water.
They broke through the surface.
This was a flat lake, vast in expanse. The surrounding forests were lush and green, and unknown flowers grew among the rocks on the shore.
They were in the center of the lake.
So the depths of that pool were actually connected to a lake.
The most miraculous thing was that the lake and the pool were linked at the bottom, but their orientations were reversed—heaven and earth had swapped places!
Chen Changsheng and Zheshe were astonished.
Then they saw a scene that left them even more stunned, their mouths hanging open, utterly speechless.
In the middle of the lake was a rock.
Right before their eyes.
On the rock sat a woman.
Her face was enchantingly beautiful. She, too, seemed to have just emerged from the lake, completely soaked. Her light clothing clung tightly to her body, revealing every curve, her mature and alluring form fully exposed.
This exquisitely beautiful woman was combing her wet, black hair.
Her movements were soft, her body soft, her brows and eyes soft, her gaze soft.
She was like a fruit just ripened, like the mountain spirits worshipped by the southern witch tribes, like the beauties in the murals of the capital.
For a young man, she was at her most tempting season, and this was the most tempting scene.
Chen Changsheng thought of what Zheshe had said earlier and had no idea what to make of it.
On the other side of the cliff, there really was a lake.
And in the lake, there really was a beauty just emerging from her bath.
What was this supposed to mean?