Chapter 242: Immortal Pool
Mist swirled, water splashed. The big black dog trod on the water, running across the waves like an arrow, quickly rushing back to shore.
"What's going on? How could they move?" It looked quite flustered, turning its head to look back.
Damn it, this dead dog really deserved a beating. Ye Fan almost went over to smack it back down again, squinting at it sideways.
"Kid, you're really not straightforward. Earlier, you didn't help me; you just stood on the shore watching the show," the big black dog said, baring its teeth as it turned back.
"I wanted to make a move, but it was to smack you," Ye Fan said, standing on the shore. He glanced at it a few times, then looked at the blurry figures in the water. "What exactly did you see?"
The big black dog, knowing it was in the wrong, didn't argue much. It circled the lake, muttering something under its breath.
"What are you saying?"
"I saw fairies, each with ice-clear bones and jade-like skin, beauties who could topple cities and kingdoms. Even I felt pity for them. How about we go down together to investigate?" the big black dog said.
"If you felt pity for them, then they definitely aren't fairies. They're probably big female dogs."
"Woof woof! Kid, are you tired of living?" The big black dog's bald tail stood straight up.
"Alright, stop bragging. My leg is full of your teeth marks." Ye Fan quickly tried to calm it down. He still needed it to find the Western Emperor Scripture and didn't want to piss it off.
Around the lake, the spiritual energy was so thick it could almost condense into liquid. It was a sacred land for cultivation that any cultivator would dream of.
Water glistened in spots, mist drifted, and everything underwater was blurry. Several figures slowly faded into the depths of the lake.
Their bodies were stiff, dressed in coarse linen, with black hair hanging loose. Underwater, they looked terrifying, like water ghosts—very eerie.
"All corpses?" Ye Fan asked in detail.
The big black dog had a dark look on its face. "What a pity. This is clearly a fairy lake, a place where peerless fairies bathe. I rushed down excitedly to find a sacred object, but instead... what bad luck."
"So, you wanted to keep the good stuff for yourself, and when you saw something evil, you called me down to accompany you?" Ye Fan glared at it.
"How about we go down together? We might be able to fish out a treasure," the big black dog urged.
"No way. I'm not interested in corpses," Ye Fan refused.
"Kid, don't regret it. This is the most important place in the Jade Pool. If there weren't corpses in this pool, I'd want to collect all the water..."
In ancient times, this pool was famous throughout the world. It was the most renowned immortal pool in the Northern Domain, filled with dense spiritual energy. It had even formed Source within the pool.
Drinking the water from this pool over a long period could extend the lifespan of ordinary people, and the effect was even better for cultivators. The holy and pure aura of the Jade Pool's female disciples was related to this. It could slowly improve one's physique, and after decades or centuries, the body would become flawless and free of impurities.
The water of the Jade Pool was also the best source for refining medicine. Some great sects and holy lands would even come here specifically to ask for water when they opened their furnaces to refine precious divine pills.
"The materials that the Western Empress used to refine her Extreme Imperial Weapon were dug out from this immortal pool. If we go down, we might find something too," the big black dog tempted.
"Stop dreaming. If there were any, would it still be here now?"
Extreme weapons had extremely high requirements for materials. A Great Emperor had a very long life, much longer than ordinary cultivators, but even a lifetime of searching the world might not be enough to gather the necessary materials.
Phoenix Blood Red Gold and other such sacred substances were rarely seen in a thousand or a hundred lifetimes. They could only be encountered by chance, not sought. And to refine an Extreme weapon, one had to use the most precious materials since the creation of the world.
Therefore, from ancient times to the present, whether lost or existing, the total number of Extreme weapons in the Eastern Wasteland was only a few.
"You never know. Maybe a piece of immortal material was left behind," the big black dog said, its eyes gleaming.
"The Jade Pool has already withdrawn. Even if there was anything, it would have been thoroughly searched long ago. How could it be left for you?" Ye Fan was unmoved.
"What do you know? This pool is very mysterious. The Western Empress founded her sect here because of it. Maybe there are other things at the bottom of the pool. I suspect that the so-called 'Jade Pool Soaring Immortal' phenomenon was caused by this pool."
"There are indeed corpses. You've seen them. What else is there to investigate?"
"Why did the Jade Pool withdraw? Why are there so many corpses in the pool? Don't you want to find out?" the big black dog said, dissatisfied.
"If I had enough strength, I'd want to dig up the Primordial Ancient Mine and excavate the Nine Sacred Mountains of the Ancient Forbidden Land. But right now, I just want to get the Western Emperor Scripture. I don't want to take risks."
"If you don't go down with me, you'll never get the Western Emperor Scripture in this lifetime!" the big black dog bared its teeth.
Damn it, this dead dog was even threatening him. Ye Fan cursed inwardly.
The lake water was warm, splashing like crystal clear jade. The spiritual energy was so intense that it actively seeped into the body through the pores.
"If the people of the Jade Pool bathed in this water every day, it would be impossible for their cultivation not to advance. I think I'll find enough Source and then go into seclusion here. I'm sure I'll make rapid progress," Ye Fan said in surprise.
"What, now you see the benefits? This emperor wouldn't lie to you," the big black dog said with an arrogant look.
"What are you so proud of? Hurry up and go down. I'll follow behind you."
"Soak a little longer. Let's wait until we've fully recovered our energy before going down. I feel a bit uneasy," the big black dog said, a little guilty.
"Have you sneaked in here before?" Ye Fan closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment, asking this sly and wicked big dog.
"I wish I had, but I never had the chance. I've only heard about it, so I want to savor it thoroughly today."
"This pool is probably only accessible to important figures of the Jade Pool, right?" Ye Fan asked.
"The Extreme Imperial Weapon left by the Western Empress was always suppressed at the bottom of the pool. Ordinary people indeed couldn't enter. Only the Queen Mother, the Holy Maiden, and the Supreme Elders could. However, the water from the pool could be drawn out for other disciples to use."
"The Extreme weapon was always sunk at the bottom of the pool?" Ye Fan was surprised.
"Unfortunately, the people of the Jade Pool took it away. Sigh!" The big black dog was very greedy.
The water splashed, and the big black dog sank down. Ye Fan followed behind, descending over a hundred meters before slowly approaching the bottom of the lake.
"Damn!" Ye Fan's scalp went numb. At the bottom of the lake, densely packed, were the corpses of young women.
This was no fairy lake; it was a burial pit. There were at least several hundred corpses, filling the center of the lake and piling up.
Those lotus-like arms and slender legs still had a faint luster, but their bodies were stiff, without any sign of life.
Each female corpse had disheveled hair, a pale face, and wore a white linen garment with the Jade Pool mark. Their hair strands moved like snakes, tangled and dancing, creating a hair-raising scene in the dim lake bottom.
No wonder the big black dog had been so startled when it first came down that it shot out of the water and tried to lure him down too.
The immortal pool had no fish, no water plants—just a dead silence. There was nothing else besides the corpses.
"You go look for the treasure. I'll wait for you here," Ye Fan transmitted with his divine sense.
"I feel a bit uneasy," the big black dog muttered.
A dozen or so corpses slowly floated up, drifting along. They moved with the water currents, not rising on their own, but it was still unsettling.
The surface of the corpses had a waxy substance; they had long become wax corpses. But even so, they shouldn't have remained undecayed forever. Ye Fan found this puzzling.
"Are you going to look for the treasure or not? If not, let's go find the Western Emperor Scripture," Ye Fan urged.
"Kid, go check their wounds and see how they died," the big black dog transmitted very unkindly.
"Why don't you go?" Ye Fan wanted to beat it up.
"They're all fairies, each one beautiful as a flower. You'll find them pleasing to the eye, but they'll give me the creeps," the big black dog said.
"I want to smack your dog head!"
"Damn it, how dare you talk to me like that?"
In the end, Ye Fan and Black Emperor dived down together to inspect the corpses. However, after careful examination, the several hundred bodies of the Jade Pool disciples had no wounds at all. There was no visible fatal injury.
"Stop looking. We can't stay here long. Something's not right," Ye Fan urged.
"I want to know why the Jade Pool retreated. Maybe it has something to do with this pool?" the big black dog insisted.
"If you manage to find out, we'll be in big trouble. The entire Jade Pool avoided this place. If the two of us discover the clue, that would be pure suicide," Ye Fan said solemnly. "Hurry up and look for the treasure, or we leave immediately."
The big black dog was also a bit creeped out. As arrogant as it was, thinking about an entire holy land's forces retreating made its heart pound.
"What could have caused the most powerful holy land in the Eastern Wasteland to withdraw?"
Black Emperor sank to the bottom of the lake and began searching everywhere, hoping to get lucky and find some immortal material. After half an hour of fussing, the lake bottom was muddy, and all it had found were a few jade hairpins.
Suddenly, Ye Fan felt a chill run down his spine. He spun around sharply. Right behind him, among the pile of female corpses, the disheveled black hair was all dancing wildly.
Suddenly, he vaguely saw a pair of deep, dark eyes open, shooting out a cold, eerie light through the piled-up corpses.
In the dark lake water, Ye Fan's scalp tingled. He stomped hard and shot upward.
Above him, floating corpses drifted. A strand of hair from one corpse wrapped around his ankle. He shook it off forcefully and burst out of the water with a splash, rushing to the shore.
The lake water churned. Almost instantly, the big black dog charged out, scrambling and running. On its bald tail were three female corpses.
"Kid, help!" the big black dog shouted, rushing ashore as if its tail were on fire.
On its bald tail, the hair of the three female corpses was tangled, dragging them onto the shore.
Black Emperor shook its tail violently and finally got rid of them. The three corpses, upon contact with the air, instantly dissolved into three puddles of liquid.
Ye Fan felt nauseous. He had just been soaking in the pool, and now he was seeing this scene.
"There seems to be something down there. What did you see just now?" the big black dog asked with a dark face.
"I thought I saw a corpse open its eyes. But now that I think about it, it might have been two beads embedded in the lake bottom. Why don't you go down again since you want to find treasure?" Ye Fan was also being unkind.
"Damn it, I'm not looking anymore!" The big black dog shook its fur vigorously, sending water droplets flying. Its body was jet black and shiny, not a drop of water sticking to it. "The immortal pool has turned into a ghost pool. There must be something down there. 'Jade Pool Soaring Immortal'? I think it's 'Jade Pool Soaring Ghosts.'"
"How could there be so many corpses? The people of the Jade Pool should have buried them. Why would they throw them into the immortal pool?" Ye Fan was very puzzled.
"Who knows what happened? Maybe someone else threw them in. I'm not going down again no matter what!" The big black dog was a bit freaked out.
Ye Fan and Black Emperor walked away from the immortal pool. Looking back from a distance, the mist was swirling. Whether it was psychological or not, it felt a bit eerie now, no longer sacred.
This important area was filled with beautiful peaks and many magnificent palaces, still standing undecayed after all this time. They contained profound Dao patterns that allowed them to endure.
Ye Fan walked into a great palace. The floor was paved with jade, smooth and lustrous, spotless. Even after countless years, the hall had a purifying effect, keeping it free of dust.
"Tap, tap, tap..."
In the empty hall, only the sound of his own footsteps echoed, carrying far and wide.
"Creak..."
"Bang..."
Pushing open doors that had not been opened for endless ages, the hall resounded, as if stepping into the ancient Jade Pool.
Standing here, one seemed to feel the glory of bygone days—a group of beautiful fairies, transcendent over this land, shining brightly under this starry sky.
Ye Fan stood for a long time before moving forward, passing through one hall after another.
In the tall and vast great palaces, there was nothing—empty and hollow, only the silence left by time.
Ye Fan found nothing. It was impossible to find anything.
The big black dog wandered around, passing through more than a dozen great palaces, but in the end, it also returned empty-handed.
"Does the Jade Pool have medicinal fields? If they still exist after all these years, maybe divine medicine has grown there." As soon as Ye Fan finished speaking, the big black dog shot out like a black streak of light, faster than anything.
"This dead dog is so unreliable!" Ye Fan cursed, chasing after it from behind. If he hadn't cultivated the Old Madman's footwork, he would have been left in the dust. The big black dog ran wildly, kicking up a black wind.
After running a full twenty miles, they reached a lush area. The big black dog finally stopped and began wandering among the hills.
"Black Emperor, you're so unkind. You run faster than a rabbit when you hear 'medicinal fields.' Why aren't you running now?" Ye Fan teased.
"Would this emperor be that unkind? I'm waiting for you. Let's look together," the big black dog said.
"Would you be that kind? You probably couldn't find it, right?" Ye Fan walked up.
This mountainous area was full of life, with green plants everywhere, but there were no medicinal herbs. No fragrance of medicine could be smelled.
"How strange. Forget about rare heavenly treasures, but why can't I even see the most common medicinal herb?" the big black dog muttered in a barely audible voice.
Ye Fan's forehead was covered in black lines. This dead dog really hadn't found anything; it wasn't kindly waiting for him.
In the end, the big black dog sighed sadly. "Too bad! The people of the Jade Pool moved the entire medicinal field away."
Upon closer inspection, one could see a square, massive pit in the open area ahead. Even the topsoil had been taken away.
A bad feeling rose in Ye Fan's heart. Could the Western Emperor Scripture have also been dug up? Although the big black dog had repeatedly assured him before that the people of the Jade Pool wouldn't touch that cliff, he now felt uncertain.
"Hurry up and find the Western Emperor Scripture. If the scripture is gone too, I'll have the urge to kill..." Ye Fan said.
"Don't worry. No one can understand those scriptures. Even the successive Queen Mothers of the Jade Pool might not know about them. Even if they were right in front of you, you wouldn't recognize them. The Western Empress created them while comprehending the Dao. Others can't make anything of them. No one knows she carved them there."
"Then how do you know?" Ye Fan asked suspiciously.
"This emperor is an extraordinary existence! I heard someone mention this secret with my own ears!" the big black dog said with a proud look.
Regretfully leaving the medicinal field, they quickly rushed toward a mountain range.
This place was barren, with no grass growing. Everywhere were cliffs and stone mountains. There was no soil, only large rocks.
As soon as he entered the mountains, Ye Fan was stunned. On the stone wall was carved a woman, giving a feeling of natural perfection. Although it was just a stone carving, it possessed the wonderful realm of Dao following nature, the unity of heaven and man.
"This is just a carving, no techniques, just a standing posture. Why does it give me a feeling of 'unity of Dao and self'?" Ye Fan was truly shocked.
"Let's go. There should be many carvings in these mountains. If you want to look, you can study them slowly later," the big black dog urged.
Ye Fan reluctantly moved forward, but the image of that carving kept appearing in his mind.