Mortals: Take Mo Juren at the start

"The black lake water seems rather unusual!" Mo Juren stood on the lakeside, gazing at the vast black lake in front of him in surprise.

The lake is indeed quite large; it stretches as far as the eye can see, whether in front or to the left or right. In particular, the water is as black as ink, making it impossible to see anything inside.

Even more strangely, the howling, chilling winds that had been raging through the world suddenly softened when they reached the lake area, as if they had been blocked by some kind of force.

With a flash of bloody light, Ancestor Chi Yun flew out from the jade pendant.

His gaze swept across the lake before him for a moment, then he suddenly raised his hand and swept a handful of water into his palm, which he then examined closely.

After a short while, once he withdrew his divine sense, his expression had become somewhat solemn:

"This lake contains a kind of decaying energy that not only affects the physical body but can also greatly interfere with the divine sense. Moreover, over time, it may even be corroded and defiled."

The power of this erosion and defilement is extremely strong; even cultivators at the Void Refinement Realm find it difficult to avoid, and they cannot use magical treasures, otherwise they will also suffer irreversible damage.

"It's that serious!" Mo Juren was somewhat surprised.

"With your knowledge, do you know what that energy is?"

"There are countless energies in the world that contain the attribute of decay, and I have naturally seen many of them, but they are all different from the energy in this black water." Ancestor Chi Yun shook his head slightly and continued,

"Of course, these things are not important. You just need to know that there is a problem with it. If anything happens afterward, you should try to avoid contact with it."

"I see!" Mo Juren nodded seriously. This matter does require attention. What if something unexpected happens during the crossing of the lake? We need to be careful then.

"Senior, are you able to investigate the situation at the bottom of the lake?"

"I have already tried, but I can only go as far as ten thousand feet. I can't go any deeper than that," Patriarch Chi Yun said helplessly, scattering the lake water in his hand.

"Only ten thousand feet?" Mo Juren frowned.

"The mapmaker explicitly warned that there is some unknown terror in this lake, which nearly caused the other party's death in the past. We must not be careless!"

"It's good to be careful, but there's no need to worry too much. With your strength and skills, plus my assistance, you'll be able to handle any danger you encounter."

Besides, your route map is likely from a very ancient time and is now outdated. It's uncertain whether the dangers in this Blackwater Lake still exist.

"Perhaps I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. Besides, as you also saw, the cold mirage wind suddenly became gentle after entering the lake area, which is clearly unusual!"

"This is indeed somewhat strange, but unfortunately, I can't figure out the reason either," Patriarch Chi Yun sighed, then continued.

"There's no need to worry too much about that either. The creator of that route map should be at the Void Refinement stage. If he can pass through safely, he won't pose much of a threat to you or me."

"What you say is absolutely right, senior." Mo Juren nodded solemnly. At this moment, he had only two choices: either continue forward or turn back and leave.

If it were at the beginning, he would have chosen the latter without hesitation, but now that he has come this far, and all that is needed to cross the Blackwater Lake in front of him is a short distance to his destination, it would be a pity to give up now.

Furthermore, as Ancestor Chi Yun mentioned, even if a situation were to arise, with his own strength and methods, plus the opponent's assistance, he would be able to handle it with ease.

Having figured this out, he no longer hesitated. He immediately called out to the latter and rode his escape light rapidly towards the lake.

In order to reach the other side as soon as possible, he used his escape technique to its fullest extent, moving through the air like lightning, and soon entered the depths of the lake.

At this moment, all that could be seen from all directions was the pitch-black lake water, giving one an extremely oppressive feeling at first glance.

Surprisingly, the dark lake below remained calm throughout the entire flight, without any abnormalities.

At least for now, there isn't any, and because the cold mirage winds have become gentler and no illusions have appeared, the flight process has actually become smoother.

In short, whatever is below, as long as there are no problems while he is passing through, everything will be fine.

However, he still dared not let his guard down and remained vigilant at all times.

Time passed slowly, and before they knew it, they had been flying for more than half a day, but they still hadn't left the lake area, which showed how vast the lake below truly was.

However, according to the information recorded on the route map, he should have already flown nearly halfway, which means that he had just reached the center of the lake.

Looking down, the lake surface became increasingly calm and silent, even giving a sense of deathly stillness.

That invisible oppression returned, as if what lay below was not a lake, but the gaping, pitch-black maw of a mysterious beast, ready to devour anyone at any moment.

Even with Mo Juren's strong mental fortitude, he still instinctively felt a chill at this moment.

Fortunately, although the dark lake below looked frightening, it had remained calm and still since he entered, without any unexpected incidents. This surprised Mo Juren, and he was also somewhat relieved. It seemed that at least so far, his luck had been pretty good. If the rest of the journey could continue in this way, he would be extremely grateful.

As if his prayers had been answered, there were indeed no unexpected events along the way, and after about half a day had passed again, they finally flew out of the lake's range.

"This... we passed through safely?" Mid-air by the lake, Mo Juren turned his head to look at the endless, dark lake behind him, and couldn't help but find it hard to believe.

"What, do you actually hope something unexpected will happen?" Ancestor Chi Yun chuckled.

"No, it's just that I was expecting some danger, but after being careful all the way, I didn't encounter anything. I feel a little uneasy about it." Mo Juren shook his head slightly.

"Perhaps the information on your route map is outdated, or perhaps you were just lucky. Whatever the reason, it's good that you got through smoothly."

However, we still can't be careless, since we'll have to return eventually. And from my observation, there's definitely something wrong with this Blackwater Lake; it just hasn't shown up yet.

"What you say is absolutely right, senior." Mo Juren nodded solemnly. He thought so too, so he naturally dared not let his guard down.

With his thoughts back on track, and no longer dwelling on these things that hadn't yet happened, he immediately mounted his escape light again and sped off towards his destination.

What he didn't know was that, some time after he left, a faint green halo suddenly appeared on the surface of the Blackwater Lake, which was originally as black as ink.

The halo spread rapidly in all directions, covering an area of ​​nearly a hundred miles in an instant.

Beneath the lake's surface, countless tiny green lights had appeared, seemingly faint yet able to pierce through the inky black water...

……

Once they left the lake area, the cold, eerie winds of the world intensified once more, but this meant nothing to Mo Juren.

"According to the records, although the Yinfeng Swamp has a harsh environment, it is still inhabited by some special beasts. However, we have not encountered a single one along the way."

“It is indeed a bit strange, and my divine sense can cover a range of over a thousand miles. I checked along the way from time to time, but I still didn’t detect it.”

“Something unusual must be going on. Perhaps something has happened inside the Yin Wind Swamp, which is why it is different from what is recorded in the documents.”

"You've had pretty good luck ever since you entered the swamp. Surely you won't suddenly start having bad luck at the end?"

"Well, it shouldn't be that bad..."

Although he knew the other person was just joking, for some reason, Mo Juren instinctively began to feel uneasy.

His past experiences taught him that one should not be too arrogant and should always be vigilant. When one is full of vigor and complacency, tragedy often begins.

He had experienced the tragedy of extreme joy more than once, which made him increasingly vigilant.

For the next few days, the situation remained the same as before; they did not encounter any strange beasts and eventually reached their destination smoothly.

"We've finally arrived!" In mid-air, Mo Juren focused his spiritual light and looked into the distance. He saw a small mountain range in an area about a hundred miles ahead.

The mountain range was not large, consisting of only five small peaks, each only a few hundred feet high, which seemed to follow some kind of pattern as they were clustered together.

Even more astonishingly, above the area surrounded by the five mountain peaks, there were dazzling, multicolored lights flashing, extremely bright and clearly extraordinary.

"This..." Mo Juren was full of surprise, thinking that this was the Yin Wind Swamp, where a small mountain range existed, and there were even such strange phenomena.

It felt like they were blatantly telling him, or anyone passing by, that there was a rare treasure ahead and that he should hurry over and grab it.

Most people would have been overjoyed, but Mo Juren was different.

Firstly, he has never lacked treasures, in fact, he has so many that he can't possibly use them all. Therefore, even if he were to find some extraordinary treasure, it would be fine to be happy, but he would never lose his mind.

On the contrary, faced with this situation, he was more wary than happy.

For some reason, seeing such an obvious strange phenomenon, he instinctively felt that something was wrong.

"Senior, have you discovered anything?" Mo Juren stopped advancing and directly inquired of Ancestor Chi Yun. The latter reappeared, carefully examined the area, and then frowned slightly.

"Something is unusual. The area surrounded by those five mountain peaks is a pool of water, filled with lotus flowers. The flowers are pink with many red spots on them. This should be the Bewitching Lotus you are looking for."

But what's strange is that in the center of the pool, there exists a floating manor, complete with numerous pavilions and towers, and signs of human activity.

"A waterfront estate, and humans too!" Upon hearing this, Mo Juren was stunned. (End of Chapter)