165 Bottom of the lake.

Li Yang tossed the three men a few Spirit Stones as payment for the information, turning around and returning to the terrace where Zhao Feng and Fang Ying were sitting. Shenlong and Jinwu were still bothering Zhao Feng, preventing him from drinking and eating the things he had ordered. Li Yang leaned on the small wooden fence that lined the terrace, giving the two others a quick recap of what he had just learned. Jinwu and Shenlong stopped picking on Zhao Feng, returning to Li Yang's shoulders so that the three could spend a quick minute discussing their future plans, coming to a quick conclusion.

"Well, the Pinecloud Pool is literally right by us so it would be a damn shame to leave without experiencing it. After that, we can just head to the Risen Star Abyss and then to the Heaven Dancing Trench, not like we've got a reason to not check out both areas before we decide on which organization is best to join."

Fang Ying was the one who threw out the casual statement before picking up a piece of food that looked like a small clam, sharing a bit of it with Huanglong before placing a leg of lamb in front of Langshen. Li Yang and Zhao Feng had nothing to say against Fang Ying's idea, nodding their heads in agreement.

Li Yang didn't return to his seat, continuing to lean against the fence around the terrace. The fence was just high enough that he could place his hands on it and then rest his head on his hands, his position allowing Shenlong and Jinwu to hop onto the fence on each side of his head so that they could easily lean against him. With both of them set up, Li Yang sent out a small bit of ice and had it form a slide connecting him and the table where their food was.

The ice branched out and coiled around the food, dragging it up the slide and bringing it to the three of them. With the ice serving as both a tray and somewhat awkward hands, the three of them could just rest on the fence and have the food brought directly to their mouths in an excellent display of laziness. Fang Ying giggled slightly and continued to share her food with Huanglong and Langshen, Zhao Feng overlooking the two for a bit before patting his own shoulders.

"Don't worry, me, I'll pick up Chen Huo sooner or later, then we'll trounce the lovebirds for showing off like this."

Zhao Feng hadn't forgotten about his Demonic beast companion that remained within the hidden realm that they set up long ago, there would be a day when he returned to pick him up again. But until that day came, he would be stuck here looking at these two insufferable bastards prancing around with their own companions.

The group finished their meal after spending almost another hour on it, leaving the restaurant and continuing to saunter through the city. They were in no rush to head to the Pinecloud Pool so they spent a further three days in the city, Li Yang asking around a bit more to see if anyone had heard about the Fang twins or Tian Zheng. But there was still no news after asking around for three days, it seemed as if the Fang twins and Tian Zheng had simply vanished.

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After the three days passed and the group had seen just about everything of note in the city, they left and entered the forest again. The Pinecloud Pool was the most famous sight and location in the area so it wasn't hard to find, there were in fact signs spread around to point people in the right direction, it was just that the path that Li Yang and his group had taken earlier to arrive at the city went around all these signs.

They followed the signs through the forest for close to an entire day before the dense forest gave way to a large clearing that was shaped like an uneven circle. Serving as the centerpiece of the clearing was a nearly 15-kilometer wide lake that was filled with blue water that contained spots of milky water that made it look as if someone had sliced out a piece of the cloudy sky and placed it onto the earth.

There was a mixture of people and Demonic beasts, as well as people who seemed to be hybrids of both, resting within the water. All the people within the water had their eyes closed and kept a respectable distance from each other, no one daring to disturb the peace that lingered in the area. Zhao Feng looked at the lake, a low whistle escaping his lips.

"Well, I'll be damned. A sliver of sentience you said? Thing's got about a soul strong enough to rival someone at the late stage of the Immortal Rebirth realm. If the people here consider that no more than a sliver then I don't wanna see what they consider strong sentience. But yeah, just the scent of the water alone seems to clear the mind, I can see why they hold this place so dear."

Zhao Feng didn't bother lowering his words as he spoke, but none of the people present in the lake even bothered opening their eyes to glance at them, fully entranced by their cultivation. The others sniffed the air a bit after hearing Zhao Feng's words, taking in the fresh scent of the water. The expressions of Fang Ying and the four beasts instantly became a bit more relaxed, their bodies releasing some tension that they didn't even know they had.

Li Yang was the sole exception to this, one of his eyebrows rising slightly as he looked at the relaxed expressions Fang Ying and the others wore. He took in a few more breaths just to check, but sure enough, he didn't feel the slightest bit calmer, nor did he become more clear-headed. He raised his arms slightly, one hand patting Jinwu and the other rubbing Shenlong's head.

"The two of you should take a bath with Ying'er and Feng, I'm feeling discriminated against so I'm gonna go take a closer look."

The two beasts let out sounds of acknowledgments and then flew over to Fang Ying, resulting in her being crowded by all four beasts at once. His words made it abundantly clear that Li Yang had yet to feel the effects of the lake, resulting in both Zhao Feng and Fang Ying furrowing their brows slightly. The ones in this group weren't that different from each other so why was it that seemed like Li Yang was the only one getting discriminated against?

The group proceeded towards the lake, at first just dipping their feet in it for a short moment. But the feeling of clarity that assaulted Zhao Feng and the others could only be considered overwhelming, it was as if someone had suddenly presented them a book on the truth about their laws. They had lived for quite a long time in their past lives, but even they felt themselves getting enlightened, showing just how great the effects of the water was.

But once again, Li Yang received no such benefit. The water felt incredibly cold to him, it was as if he dipped his feet in liquid ice. He could even feel a sliver of hostility coming from the coldness, it seemed like the lake had quite a bit against him. But such things only caused the corners of his lips to curl up slightly, showing hostility to him would probably be the most foolish thing this damn lake would ever do.

"You guys just focus on your cultivation, I'll go have a real nice chat with the lake. Oh, but don't forget to remain vigilant, don't want this little thing to pull some shit."

Fang Ying and Zhao Feng responded with small nods, walking a few steps deeper into the lake before sitting down and allowing the water to reach all the way up to their chests. Langshen and the others also bathed in the water, the three smaller ones floating on the surface around Fang Ying.

The rest of the group stopped but Li Yang continued walking, moving deeper and deeper into the lake. His feet lost contact with the bottom after only ten steps, his head dipping beneath the surface as he started diving down. If this lake had really spawned a soul and sentience then it meant that it would have a core somewhere, a nucleus for its power and soul.

The water felt like it got colder and colder as he started to dive deeper into it, the feeling of hostility also grew as he dove deeper into the water. As he reached the spot that would be about halfway to the center of the lake, he felt a somewhat weak energy seep into his body from the surrounding milky water, invading his veins as it tried to course through his body.

But the weak energy was swiftly eradicated by Li Yang's law of destruction, allowing him to realize exactly what this milky water was, poison. His law of devouring automatically removed any poison that entered his body, rendering him practically immune to all forms of toxins, it was the entire reason he was first able to get close to Fang Ying.

But realizing that this milky water was poison caused his brows to furrow slightly. It was one thing for him to not notice that it was poison, it was something else entirely for Fang Ying, someone who specialized in poison, to not realize that the milky water was in fact poison. But Fang Ying hadn't noticed anything, she would certainly have spoken up if she noticed something. As such, Li Yang could only come to a single conclusion, this was a type of poison that they had never encountered or even heard of before, it might not even follow the law of poison at all.

He kept the thought in his mind as he dove deeper, using part of his concentration to keep an eye on the streams of milky water that seemed to float lightly through the rest of the water around him. The poison kept trying to invade him, growing stronger and stronger as he got closer to the center of the lake. But all attempts were halted by his law of destruction, a law standing at the very peak of all existence, allowing him to easily reach the bottom of the center of the lake.

And it was at the bottom of the lake that he found the source of all the milky water, an item he hadn't expected at all. Lying atop the sand and tiny crystals was a rice-sized piece of someone's fingernail, streams of milky water continuously seeping out of it.