Chapter 855: Probing The Secrets Of The Seven Star Lake
This person died with a puzzled look on his face.
What crime have I committed?
After I die, why would I even care about everything else? Isn't that a man's most basic drive?
"Kill and you dirty your own hands — there are no words that ring truer than this," Yun Yang stretched out his hands in disgust. The air condensed, producing a torrent of water that poured downwards.
Yun Yang washed his hands, still unable to simmer down. "Why are there even people like this in this world? How in the world could such people exist?"
Whatever that happens after you die has nothing to do with you. Since your death is the only point, you might as well go ahead and die now!
Yun Yang paused for a moment as if he was stunned. He turned to Ji Lingxi, somewhat shocked. "Lingxi, can you recall the condition of the abilities displayed by those people earlier?"
Ji Lingxi was momentarily dumbfounded by Yun Yang's sudden question. "I only noticed that they've already attained Dao realm in terms of their cultivation. I didn't really notice their individual conditions. Their abilities are generally extremely high, but that's perfectly logical. If they're not innately gifted in the first place, how could they even reach the level of Dao realm?"
Yun Yang shook his head and replied in a soft tone. "Why, of course! Both our strengths have already surpassed the level of Dao realm, but as we've not really worked on the path towards the next, higher level, our strength is still classified as the level of Dao realm. That man earlier... my attack had succeeded all too easily. However, at the moment of contact, I could tell that his power was barely at the tip of heaven realm — his strength was clearly still not the level of the Dao realm!
Ji Lingxi expressed surprise. "Are you saying that his cultivation base is only at the tip of heaven realm? His aura is clearly the level of Dao realm!"
Yun Yang pondered in silence for a while. "In my opinion, this bunch of people is too obsessed in improving themselves, and in the midst of it all, they've completely lost sight of everything else, be it their nation and family, or their mental state and experience. They've even lost sight of the true strength they wield!"
Ji Lingxi somewhat at a loss for words. Yun Yang had to be exaggerating — how could this be possible?
"The most important aspect in a practitioner's journey of practice is the state of his physical being. However, if his mental state, strength, and experience are unable to keep up, his overall power will decline sharply. With their extraordinary talent, the benefits of this extraordinary location, and the large improvement in their cultivation base, this bunch of people completely neglected the actual condition of their bodies... to say that Dao realm practitioners like them have the nerves to do so is truly too much to ask for!" Yun Yang stated calmly.
It was about midnight now. The sky was sprinkled with stars, seemingly making the sky stretch even deeper into the night. That aside, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
At this very moment, the vicinity of the Seven Star Lake had already regained its original peacefulness. Although the scenery was not like before, the surroundings were buzzing with the chirping and humming of insects, portraying promising signs of life and vitality. The desolate sight during the day was no longer visible.
Ruffled by a gentle breeze, Ji Lingxi's long and smooth hair brushed against Yun Yang's face. It was ticklish, yet soothing.
"How long is your hair?" Yun Yang was about to say.
Instead, he suddenly had the feeling that the stars in the sky had seemingly started to blink. Churning his thoughts in his mind, he yelped suddenly, taken aback, and directed his gaze upwards.
Countless stars in the sky were really blinking, throbbing and pulsing in the night. It was not only the sky that suddenly seemed full of stars —even the moonlight seemed to glow even brighter.
This went on for a short while. Soon, the lustrous moonlight gradually came into focus. Like a glow stick made of moonlight, a ray of light descended from the skies.
As the ray of moonlight emerged, the sounds of insects buzzing around the entire area stopped abruptly. It was cut off and suddenly vanished.
It came to a stop because, for some reason, it seemed as if they were waiting for something.
Yun Yang and Ji Lingxi both knew there was something momentous was taking place. They stared intently at the horizon.
A strong instinct dawned within Yun Yang's heart; the key to the secret of the Seven Star Lake most likely lay within the light of the moon and stars.
Perhaps the truth would be revealed before their eyes at the very next moment.
The stars blinked and flashed even more feverishly to the point that it became one in Yun Yang's eyes. It would have been hard to look at it directly if it was not pressed against the dark night sky. Before Yun Yang could even express his surprise, he noticed how the glow of the lunar corona was even brighter than the starlight, lighting up the entire sky above the Seven Star Lake, ringed by layers of silver strands.
In no time, the entire vicinity of the Seven Star Lake was shrouded by strands of silver!
The mysterious silver strands produced by the interweaving of moonlight and starlight were as tightly-knit as a net, without the slightest opening for escape.
As soon as the net of silver strands was formed, spiritual Qi poured from the faraway skies above, sliding along the silver strands, and finally into the vicinity of the Seven Star Lake.
At this precise moment, this spiritual Qi of completely foreign origin quickly permeated the entire area of the Seven Star lake. It was so thick and concentrated that a breath or a mouthful of it could suffocate those who came into contact with it.
Yun Yang and Ji Lingxi had practiced in atmospheres with much denser spiritual Qi before this. However, they could feel the meridians throughout their entire body throbbing in ecstasy the moment they basked in this atmosphere, their bodies hungrily indulging the thick spiritual Qi without the need for activation.
Seeing this strange phenomenon before them, Yun Yang and Ji Lingxi did not waste another second. They quickly examined this foreign spiritual Qi to determine that it was harmless to their bodies before activating the divine art at the same time, working on its form to refine the mysterious spiritual Qi before them.
Judging by the fact that these two had already surpassed the highest achievement possible within the limits of the category of this art form in this world — and the fact that they were cultivating together — whatever they conjured was no laughing matter. Within seconds, a black hole-like entity had formed beside them, siphoning every ounce of that mysterious spiritual Qi at the Seven Star Lake that flowed towards their direction.
Within seconds, a tiny tornado had formed, its strength unimaginable.
From the combination of their efforts, more than ninety percent of the spiritual Qi formed by the heavenly net of silver strands made from moon and starlight were drawn towards their direction in a voracious manner; it was a delightful sight indeed.
At this moment, the ten man-strong party that had left earlier was not idle as well. They unleashed a lifetime's worth of cultivation base, trying their best to capture the gradually dissipating spiritual Qi in the air. However, it was a shame that whatever they managed to retain was even lesser than the one-tenth of what they could muster before.
This outcome made every single one of them feel horribly dismayed.
How had these two odd folks appeared out of nowhere?
In all these years, it was not that no outsider had discovered the secret of the Seven Star Lake — those who lusted after the Seven Star Lake had all been eliminated by these bunch of people. These people paid no heed to cardinal guides or ethics and had even negated family ties, unwilling to help Yutang defend against her enemies. This was mostly due to the fear of revealing their true strength, and their cultivation sanctuary would be exposed promptly following that. Once this place has been exposed, there would soon be more who would come forth to have a piece of it...
For many years these people had sacrificed their state of mind, experiences, their nation, and family. They had sacrificed everything they had to preserve the secret of the Seven Star Lake; why had these two shown up so suddenly?