35 Bottom of the lake

Sheng Tian left the Cold Beauty and started going deeper trying to cultivate the Celestial Body Tome.

Xiao Lian voice sounded "Did you really want to help her?"

Sheng Tian said in surprise "Oh, You woke up from your 'deep meditation'. Surely, you heard it all right." he grinned cheekily for catching her red handed.

Xiao Lian protested and said seriously "Stop diverting the topic. Did you talk to her only to help her?"

Sheng Tian chuckled "You know me better, right? I am not a saint. I helped her because I'm in interested in her—a cold beauty. And she somehow reminded me of myself." at the end, his tone got serious and he paused.

Sighing deeply, he decided to continue, "I tried to isolate myself from the harsh reality by immersing in the stories I read. As for her, she takes cultivation as the way of escape and went as far as to cut off emotions as well. Both of us never faced our problems and only escaped from them."

Xiao Lian went silent after hearing his answers.

When she was Sheng Tian talking with the Cold beauty, she suddenly felt a bit ..weird? She didn't know what was going on with her and just wanted him to stop.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Sheng Tian teased "Why are you asking anyway? Surely, you aren't interested in me, right?"

His words gathered all her attention as she stopped her thinking and snorted in disdain. "In your dreams! You think I'm that naive cold girl to be deceived by your tricks? Humph!." at the end, she calmed down and asked in a small voice "So, what are your plans with her? You already love her, right? You are gonna marry her?"

Sheng Tian's smile froze and his body stiffened. His chest heaved up and down as the events of a certain night flashed in his mind.

Taking a deep breath, he said firmly "I don't love anyone. It only brings pain. I like her as a woman, but I don't want to be tied with anyone."

Sheng Tian knew that it was his past that left a shadow in his heart leading to this attitude towards love. But he couldn't help it.

When you lose the person you love, it hurts beyond what time can heal. Sheng Tian learnt this through pain. He never wanted to go through it again.

When he would truly be ready to accept someone into his life, only time can tell.

.... .... .... .... ....

Ling Chen led the way as Qin Qing and he finally found Liu feifei.

She was pretty much in the same state as Qin Qing as someone was about to attack her and she was fighting against three members on her own.

So, Ling Chen became the Prince Charming for her too as he saved her ass. They found three Jade Seals till now.

They only had a time period of two days before they will be teleported to Blood Lake just like how the ones there would be teleported here. Hence, they have to do their best.

The Forest of Bones is called such because at the center of the forest are densely packed bones which try to hide the Green Jade light emitted.

Three Jade seals area always formed in the center of those bones, but no one has any guts to try to pick them because it is simply throwing away life.

Even though no one knew the exact reason and procedure, one thing was clear to everyone: There is no one who escaped their fate of becoming a pile of bones after reaching the center.

.... .... .... .... ....

At the place where Sheng Tian previously stood, a thin handsome young man appeared. He has thin eyebrows and a sharp jawline.

Despite his thin stature, the aura emitted by him hid a terrifying killing intent beneath. He was just like a hidden snake!

This young man was Qin Cheng—the most dangerous and powerful heir of the Qin Clan.

Earlier, he detected the jade seals in this location and rushed here without hesitation.

The two day deadline of the Blood Lake was almost up.

However, he was unwilling to give up without knowing just who had the guts to steal what he wanted.

The 36 jade seals;each in the shape of "J", glow when they are pointed towards another jade seal at any distance. The only condition is they should be pointed in the same direction.

He pointed the Jade Seals in all the directions, north, south, east and west.There was no change in them.

Utterly confused, he thought of a crazy possibility and pointed the seals downward.

A bright green light shone in the red water indicating that the seals were down.

Qin Cheng's eyes widened.

He already travelled very deep in the water by coming to this place.

Who would be so crazy to go even deeper? Do they have a death wish?

The death of the person who dived deeper was undoubtedly doomed. Despite that, Qin Cheng felt that it would be waste to let go the Jade Seals go just like that.

He ordered the two sisters of Mystic Ice Sect to go down and acquire the Jade Seals. Of course, they would only go with absolute safety. They would retreat even upon the slightest danger.

The two sisters were the strongest of Qin Cheng's group each with a cultivation base of 7th level of Earth Profound Realm. But their age was nearing twenty and they were not fit to be the core disciples.

When they were going deeper, they felt a familiar aura a bit far away. When they used their spirit sense in a straight line to check the aura, they were stunned. It was the Cold Beauty!

Earlier, before entering the Formation, they didn't see the other party members due to their arrogance. But now seeing her in person, they were both speechless.

Leng Yue Yan—hailed as the Ice Goddess of the Mystic Ice Sect, she is undoubtedly the most talented cultivator the sect has ever seen.

It was said that she once fought with a Sky Realm Cultivator without losing for ten breaths.

She was highly worshipped but also highly isolated disciple of the Mystic Ice Sect.

These two sisters were naturally below her in status, cultivation or beauty. They didn't like her, simply put—they were jealous.

However, in the fear of her master, they couldn't do anything about it.

But when they thought about the fate she had to face in a few years, they couldn't help the gloating smiles on their faces.

She is just like a shining star with the highest brightness before it dies down.

With a complacent smile, they dived deeper.

The pressure started increasing.

The blood in their body slightly trembled with some feeling they couldn't understand.

Upon the continuous increase of pressure, they used profound energy to protect their bodies, sadly their blood started feeling restless.

Soon, they reached a point where they didn't dare to move deeper anymore. The short haired girl pointed downwards and shouted: "Sister, Look!".

Startled by her twin sister's shout, the girl with the long hair focused her vision in that direction.

Suddenly, her eyes widened and her mouth opened like a cave. Thankfully she was using Profound Energy to cover her face and body, or else, she might have drunk a mouthful of water.

(Author's note: For those geniuses who now got the question of how they spoke till now without opening their mouths, I will leave that to your imagination :P)

The long haired girl saw a dot going down into the water. She focused on hearing the sounds by focusing her spirit sense.

Even though cultivators can see in normal water clearly, their sight in other mediums would be restrained.

It is especially so for a magical place like Blood Lake. Once you are at a certain distance, you can't see the person.

This is why even when Sheng Tian appeared when they were fighting, they couldn't see him.

Unlike normal water which only restrains sight, this blood lake cuts off the vision of objects after they are beyond a certain distance.

So, their option is to depend on sound to determine the positions.

When the tall haired girl focused on hearing the sounds from below, she heard the blasts of water due to the high speed the person is using.

She was utterly shocked.

How is it possible? Even though they too can travel down, they can't guarantee their safety.

Although the chances of an accident are small if they go only a little distance, it is still dangerous.

But this person is literally giving no shit about the dangers and was dashing down.

How can he bear the pressure on his body and the disturbance in his blood so easily?

He must a peerless genius!

The two young girls had hearts in their eyes as they admired the person with all their soul.

.... .... .... .... ....

If Sheng Tian knew that his action of traveling downwards at reduced speed to ensure safety made the two sisters from Mystic Ice sect his fans, he would have done it long ago. Alas, after traveling to such depths, he was ignorant.

Earlier Sheng Tian thought of snatching Jade Seals from Qin Cheng. But he decided to do that in the Forest of Bones. It's better to let that guy do the work before he reaps the benefits.

Sheng Tian traveled deeper into the lake as the red of the water started getting darker.

He felt the pressure increasing but with his Dragon Physique's, he simply brushed it off.

Strangely, the blood in his body only trembled a little when he first entered the lake, from then on, there was no further reaction.

There is no feeling of restlessness in his blood.

'Must be my bloodline' he thought.

Soon, he reached the Lake bed.

It was pitch black in color. Right from the first glance, he felt an ominous feeling.

Shifting his vision, he saw a glimmering green light contrasting the Dark Red Water and the Black Lake Bed.

Sheng Tian dashed towards the green light. After he landed on the ground, he quickly picked up the seal which was never touched in history.

As he was about to go up, the corner of his eye caught a strange curve on the floor.

When he looked over, he saw saw a large circular array with red and black coloured inscriptions.

It gave off a thirsty and evil feeling.

Sheng Tian felt his scalp go numb

On the interior of the circle were the nasty fish monsters of the lake which slowly turned from fat to thin to bony as their blood was extracted into the centre.

In the centre of the formation were wisps of red coloured substances coagulating.

After that, the substance stuck to the center firmly as it slowly lost its red color and turn black.

As Sheng Tian arrived near the array, suddenly a large suction force activated and pulled him to the arrays centre.

Sheng Tian felt his blood slightly rumble but it soon returned to control. He fought against the array and tried to use his moment arts.

However, his moments became stiff and he was unable to move forward but he made sure that he didn't take even a step back.

Sheng Tian felt like a mountain being pressed on his back as his legs felt incomparably heavy. He smelled something—the smell of death.

He didn't give up, He resisted the formation as seconds turned to a minute and minutes turned to hours.

Despite being in water, Sheng Tian's back was drenched with sweat.

He persisted for a few hours and felt the first stage of Celestial Body Tome activating.

*Click*

With a clicking sound, Sheng Tian felt as if a shackle on his body was removed.

The energy in the surroundings, including the array was pulled towards his heart and the next second, pure streams of energy flowed into every inch of his body.

He could finally cultivate the Celestial Body Tome!

Before he could celebrate, a green light engulfed his body as the token fused with his skin glowed and the next second, he was gone!