Lake Jade was so vast that there literally was no end in sight.
The water was crystal clear. Under the sparkling surface swam all kinds of strange water beasts.
Forest of exotic woods and plants and flowers surrounded the lake as if it were a paradise on earth. It was serene and peaceful.
At the center of all these was a vast piece of land, built up with majestic palace complexes, the golden tiles of which glittered under the sun.
High-rises mixed with bamboo and pines stood erect in between the palace complexes, forming a serene and peaceful atmosphere.
The place was akin to a sacred land of purity, where divine cranes flew freely in the air and auspicious beasts roamed around uninhibited. Blankets of fog drifted by the ancient trees occasionally, forming an indescribably beautiful scene.
“Wow, what a beauty!” Everyone’s jaw dropped to the ground. They could not believe that they were going to live in this place from now on.
“The top sect of the Redsun Mountains is really out of this world!” Everyone was starting to imagine a bright future.
The flamingos made a rapid descent to land on a piece of grassland by Lake Jade. The land grew with wild flowers, which gave out a mesmerizing scent.
Not far away, a group of auspicious beasts lay listlessly on the ground to sunbath. They were not alarmed by the flamingos or humans, as if they had been used to this.
A group of humans jumped down from the back of the flamingos and could not help but be immersed in the clean and fresh air of this paradise. Their bodies and minds were instantly relaxed and in peace.
“I am going to stay here for the rest of my life!” Zhang Ting, the girl dressed in yellow, jumped up and down on the grassland like a butterfly. She had a kind of unique beauty.
Han Ning, the girl in red, smiled. “Then you will have to work harder in your cultivation. Anyone who fails to be promoted to intern discipleship will be sent to work in the secular world.”
When they heard what Han Ning said, they all laughed, so confident in themselves because they were supposed to be geniuses. Five years was more than enough.
“What do you think of this place, Yan Yangzi?” asked Han Tian self-satisfyingly.
“Not too bad!”
“What do you mean ‘not too bad’? Have you ever seen any place more beautiful than this?”
“You bet! I did.” Wutian was being honest. Strictly, Angel’s Peak was a lot more beautiful than this. Just that it was a lot smaller.
There was a large stone gate by the lake, entirely made of iron rock. It had seen better days.
Above the gate was a Yan Clan engraving, signed by Kong Lingzi. The author was the Yan Clan founder, whose writing possessed a sense of vigor. They still looked intense after a thousand years. It just showed how intrepid this man had been back then.
Stepping through the gate was a stone bridge, laid with white jade stone and about ten feet wide. Many disciples traversed between the mainland and the island in the middle of the lake, using this bridge.
Guarding on both sides of the large stone gate were ten men clad in black armor. Each of them held a halberd, standing with their back straight. They were all Reborn Omega-stage cultivators.
These were the direct disciples of the clan, stationed here as the clan’s sentinels.
“Sister Han Ning, you’re back!”
A black-armored man stepped forward. He did not carry any weapon, but the air he exuded was a lot more powerful than the other nine men. Apparently, he was the leader here.
“I’m happy to see you again, Brother Bi Shu!” Han Ning cupped her hands. “I thought it should be the censor elder to be stationed here? Why are you here?”
Bi Shu, the black-armored man, forced a smile. “Thanks to the Fire Cloud Clan, all elders have been sent out to deal with the situation. No one was going to stand guard here. So the clan master sends me.”
He then looked at the teens behind her. “So you all are the genius disciples selected from Ironstone, huh? You all have the aptitude. Just that you need to work hard on the cultivation and make yourself useful to the clan.”
“Understood, Brother Bi Shu!” They all replied in unison.
The black-armored man was pleased and nodded. “Sister Han Ning, bring them inside. People from other places will probably be here at any time.”
“I’ll see you soon, Brother Bi Shu!” Han Ning cupped her hand again, then brought the others to come in front of the front gate.
She took out a red emblem from underneath her robe and placed it in the gate. As soon as she did that, a ring of light appeared and a fissure expanded inside.
Han Ning kept her emblem back and led everyone to walk into the fissure.
Wutian squinted. He sensed an obscure energy in the light ring.
“It is a security restriction. Only people with recognized identity could pass through. It was laid down by our founder back then. Not just here, but the entire Lake Jade is protected from the enemy by this layer of restriction. No one has ever breached this restriction. Not even my master.” Han Tian explained.
Wutian was stunned. Kong Lingzi laid this restriction and no one could defeat it even after a thousand years? How badass he really was back then?
He walked at the rear of the group and extended his consciousness to study the thing. Before he could touch the restriction, a powerful energy bounced his consciousness back. He felt blood and sensed a gush of hot fluid coming up in his throat; blood nearly spurted out of his mouth.
“Don’t even try it. Your master, the great elder, has been studying this thing for hundreds of years, yet he has not figured it out. Let alone you. Don’t think too highly of yourself!” Han Tian mocked at him.
He bumped into many disciples along the way. Most of them were nucleus and canonized disciples.
Since the Fire Cloud Clan’s plot was exposed, nearly all nucleus and canonized disciples, including the elder-class ones, were being sent out. They were all in a hurry, their expressions serious. They simply did not have the time to say hello and exchange pleasantries.
Those genius teens’ eyes were darting around as they kept asking questions.
The stone bridge had a long history. The white jade stones were smooth and glossy with a hint of dark brown on them. According to Han Ning’s explanation, a few great battles had been waged here and the white jade stones were bathed in blood. Over time, the white jade stones had become what they were today.
There were demonic beasts in the water, but they were harmless, some even friendly. These demonic beasts had been coexisting with the Yan Clan for so long that they were used to seeing humans. There were even disciples in various robes played with the demonic beasts, some even having friendly matches.
Human’s laughter and the beast’s roar filled the air, yet it felt peaceful and serene.
Those teenagers’ eyes lit up. They were determined to come here next time and tame the demonic beast as auspicious pets.
Han Ning told them that the clan’s disciples mostly caught their auspicious pets from this lake. But they needed to be powerful enough to bring those demonic beasts into submission, making the beasts follow willingly, and no outsiders would intervene.
Han Tian pouted. “What is so special about these demonic beasts? They don’t even interest me.”
His ambition was to tame a primordial vicious beast, such as golden dragon, phoenix, and roc. In fact, what he wanted most was Little Tian, which was incredibly powerful and capable of refining Essence elixir. He would not have to worry about resources anymore if he got it.
“Where are the direct disciples, Sister Han Ning?” asked a teenager in puzzlement.
Han Ning let out a smile. “They are all super talented and usually working on their cultivation. So they rarely ventured out here. Just like the two gentlemen behind us; I have never heard of or seen them for the past ten years until now.”
“We got it!”
It was a pretty long bridge. It took them nearly two hours before they came to the other end of it.
Not that they were in a rush.
A massive palace that towered into the clouds came into view. It was super majestic with two demonic beasts guarding the building.
These were fire qilins. Their bodies were burning with flames, looking super badass. They were extremely strong, the blood of their ancestor, the primordial vicious beast, the fire qilins, was pumping in their veins.
Han Ning told them that these two fire qilins belonged to the clan founder. They had been living and guarding the Yan Clan for a thousand years. The Yan Clan had survived in the Redsun Mountains for so long, these two auspicious beasts deserved most of the credits.
“A-thousand-year-old auspicious beasts? That’s incredible!”
Those disciples surrounded the fire qilins and looked in awe. Some of them gutsy enough to touch the qilins ended up getting their hands burned and crying like a baby.
These fire qilins’ bloodlines were not pure enough. But given time to cultivate, it would slowly and gradually return to the bloodline of its ancestor and be just as vicious.
Right now, these two fire qilins were lying listlessly on the ground. Lava was surging three feet away, sending heat rising into the air.
“I guess they must have a solid cultivation base!”
“No one knows exactly how strong they are. But legend has it that when the great elder of the Fire Cloud Clan came to attack us three hundred years ago, he was defeated and then fled with his tail between his legs. Mind you, it was only the guardian beast that fought while the queen beast watched on.”
Everyone sucked through their teeth and could not believe that even the Fire Cloud Clan’s great elder was defeated. What was more, it happened three hundred years ago. It was unfathomable how much the fire qilins had increased in strength now.
Wutian was equally shocked. He had experienced firsthand how badass Huo Yunzi was. And anyone who could defeat Huo Yunzi definitely could become king in the Redsun Mountains. Yet these two fire qilins had been staying loyal to Kong Lingzi. It made Wutian curious who Kong Lingzi was.
These two fire qilins were not large. They were about six feet long and three feet tall. It was hard to imagine how such a small body possessed such a high level of strength.
Their eyes were blood-red, dancing with fire and exuding a faint sense of energy.
But everyone felt as if an invisible mountain were pressing down, their breathing heavy, face pale, and sweating profusely.
Han Ning instructed everyone to calm down. This only happened when the fire qilin examined them to screen out the enemy, preventing the enemy from infiltrating into the clan.
Only then everyone was relieved.
An obscure energy engulfed them, and everyone felt there were naked before these penetrating eyes.
The two fire qilins scanned their eyes over them and found nothing unusual.
But when they saw Wutian, their heart skipped a beat. A strange energy engulfing this human had prevented them from seeing through him.
“Who are you?” asked a fire qilin, its voice forceful and ear-shattering, and it looked so fearsome that even the water in the lake trembled.
When everyone recovered from the dizziness, they were in awe. “It—it is talking!”
“Easy. It had attained the pinnacle of cultivation. Not only could it talk but also form-shift into human.” Han Ning explained. She looked at Wutian and her eyes were filled with question marks.
Is he a fake?
“A talking demonic beast! I had only read about it. Never did I expect I could see one!” Everyone was amazed.
Wutian was also beyond shocked. He had read about demonic beasts that could form-shift into humans, and only two types of demonic beasts had this ability.
One was the primordial vicious beast.
Two was when a demonic beast achieved divinity after experiencing a heavenly trial of form-shifting.
It was obvious that these two demonic beasts belonged to the second type.
No wonder they could defeat Huo Yunzi so easily. Demonic beasts that passed the heavenly trial would gain tremendous power.
“Yan Yangzi,” said Wutian faintly.
“Yan Yangzi? You are the disciple of Chi Yanzi?” asked a fire qilin in surprise.
Wutian nodded.
Only then the two fire qilins let down their guards and nodded at Han Ning, signaling everyone to move ahead.