I made the entire cultivation world cry

Chapter 135 A Horrifying Experience on the Lake (Bonus Chapter 3 for Cumulative Donations)

Peach blossoms bloom all over the mountain like a sea of ​​clouds, with a broken heavenly palace floating above them.

The palace was built along the mountainside, with its halls layered upon each other. The flying eaves and brackets extended towards the sky like a dragon's spine. All the buildings were made of azure jade, and even after thousands of years of wind and frost, they still radiated a faint fairy light.

But now, most of the buildings have collapsed, broken jade pillars jut into the sky, and the mountain wind blows, making the whole ruins emit an ethereal hum, like the murmur of immortals or the lament of the dead.

Occasionally, the phantom of a bluebird would circle above the palace, weeping and crying, disappearing in an instant, adding to the desolate atmosphere.

Above the main hall floats a giant jade wheel resembling an armillary sphere, with a diameter of a hundred feet. Even from this vantage point, one can see that the jade wheel is covered with celestial runes, and a dull blue crystal floats in the center.

Although it is broken and damaged, it still exudes a chilling aura.

Qin Yunze said calmly, "That should be the legendary 'Celestial Time Instrument' that the Azure Emperor personally crafted, which can deduce the alternation of the sun and moon and manipulate the rotation of the four seasons."

It's possible that the Celestial Timing Instrument is connected to the entire secret realm and is the foundation supporting its existence. Such a treasure would be difficult for even a Nascent Soul cultivator to take away.

The group withdrew their gaze and focused on the last obstacle leading to the Azure Emperor Palace.

Unlike the ethereal Qingdi Palace ruins, the lake in front was pitch black, with a strange gray mist condensed on its surface that could not be dispersed even by strong winds.

The shore was barren, with only twisted, withered trees reaching out to the lake like hunched ghostly hands.

Pale white skeletons, some humanoid and some animaloid, floated on the lake shore. The bones were covered with honeycomb-like holes, as if something had hollowed them out from the inside.

Jiang Yi felt her scalp tingle and goosebumps all over her body after just one glance; she was even experiencing trypophobia.

Huge bubbles occasionally rose from the lake, bursting out and spewing out a foul-smelling gray mist, while in the deeper parts, a colossal shadow could be vaguely seen swimming.

The group looked around at both sides of the Blackwater Lake, which stretched as far as the eye could see.

Qin Yunyan, holding her crimson silk ribbon, said, "It seems we can only fly across this lake."

Zhang Jincheng nodded and prepared to take out his flying artifact, but the ever-cautious Zhang Jinling raised her arm to stop him and took out an ordinary flying paper crane instead.

"Don't rush, let me try first."

Seeing this, Jiang turned around and looked around, found a safe and flat place, took out a chair, sat down and drank water.

Hongli leaned over to drink too, but Jiang Yi suddenly remembered that Hongli wasn't Hua Gu and needed to eat and drink, so he quickly used his hand to scoop water from the gourd and fed it to Hongli.

It's great to have a senior expert leading the team; she, a little quail, doesn't have to worry about anything. It's so comfortable!
Qin Yunze frowned when he saw Jiang Yi's behavior, but he did not judge her. He even forced an ugly smile and nodded slightly at Jiang Yi, as he was counting on Jiang Yi to be his strong support in case anything happened.

Zhang Jinling had already activated the enlarged flying paper crane, first testing the flight altitude on the shore, and discovered that there was a strange force here, so she could only fly close to the lake surface.

Then she focused intently on maneuvering the paper crane across the lake.

It had only flown a short distance when the bubbles in the lake burst, and the paper crane, accidentally splashed with water, was instantly corroded into dust.

This result was within their expectations.

At this moment, Qin Yunze lightly tapped his fingertip, and an ice-blue jade spirit boat floated on the lake. The boat was covered with water-repelling runes. The lake water splashed up, but before it could touch the bottom of the spirit boat, it was frozen into ice shards and fell off.

Qin Yunze, with an arrogant expression, was the first to leap onto the spirit boat. "Everyone, get on. Let's cross this lake in one go. We'll rest on the other side tonight and explore the Azure Emperor's Palace again tomorrow morning."

This place is eerie, and unexpected situations are more likely to occur at night.

Zhang Jinling and her brother Zhang Jincheng exchanged a glance, somewhat hesitant, while Qin Yunyan, on the other hand, was carefree and jumped onto Qin Yunze's spirit boat without a care in the world.

“Brother, you have such good things hidden away, just as many as I have.”

Qin Yunze ignored Qin Yunyan and only looked at the Zhang siblings. In the end, Zhang Jincheng went up first and reached out to pull his sister onto the boat.

Jiang Yi arrived late, having folded up her chair. Qin Yunze told her to stand behind him, saying, "Come between us, and be careful."

"Okay, senior." Jiang Yi chuckled to herself, thinking that Qin Yunze was probably afraid of being ambushed by his sister halfway, so he specially pulled her along to block her.

Before activating the spirit boat, Qin Yunze said in a deep voice, "There must be hidden dangers in the lake. Be vigilant. I will control the spirit boat to rush over at the fastest speed. I hope you can consider the overall situation."

None of them spoke. They swallowed the antidote pills, then held an antidote pill in their mouths, gripping their magical artifacts and preparing to unleash their power.

Zhang Jincheng silently released the Stone Armor Beast, the Earth Soul Seal already in his palm, and the Golden Feather Eagle landed on Zhang Jinling's shoulder as she lowered her head and twirled the Thousand Blade Umbrella.

Qin Yunyan snorted coldly, and the Crimson Silk wrapped around her arm like flames, emitting a scorching aura. She pulled back the Flame-Tailed Fox that was trying to get closer to Hong Li.

The only one who relaxed was Jiang Yi, who was standing in the middle of the group, looking around with his hands in his pockets. Hong Li also craned her neck to look around, doing her job as a cute little fox charm.

The spirit boat slowly left the shore, the lake was deathly still, only the withered lotus leaves and stems on the shore swayed with the waves like ghostly hands.

The hollow stems of those withered lotus leaves revealed the wriggling of poisonous bees inside.

The spirit boat sped across the dark lake, an invisible shield dispelling the cold wind and mist.

At first, it was just a thin mist, like a veil covering the lake, but as we went deeper, the mist gradually thickened, slowly wriggling like some kind of living thing, wrapping around the boat.

The air became damp and sticky, carrying a musty, watery smell.

Visibility was decreasing all around, and even the edges of the spirit boat were becoming blurry.

Zhang Jinling shivered and instinctively grabbed her brother Zhang Jincheng's sleeve.

"Something's wrong with this fog."

Qin Yunze gathered a point of spiritual light at his fingertips, wanting to illuminate the way ahead, but the light was quickly devoured by the mist as soon as it appeared, leaving only a hazy, dim yellow light that could not illuminate more than ten feet away.

Even more bizarrely, tiny black shadows seemed to be moving within the halo, like countless tiny insects, or like the eyes of something hidden in the mist.

"I've lost my bearings!"

Zhang Jincheng said in a deep voice, his Earth Soul Seal hovering in his palm, but he could not sense any guidance from the earth veins.

The water-repelling runes on the spirit boat began to flicker, as if suppressed by some kind of force.

Suddenly, the spirit boat jolted violently and came to a stop on the lake.

"What is that?" Qin Yunyan asked nervously, scanning the area.

A creaking, scraping sound came from the bottom of the boat, like countless joints rubbing against the planks, and several pale arms could be vaguely seen emerging from the water.

Immediately afterwards, more and more arms emerged from the mist, clinging to the spirit boat and causing it to sink deeper and deeper into the water.

"Stand still!"

Qin Yunze roared and wielded the Surging Wave Ruler, channeling his surging true energy into the spirit boat's control center. The spirit boat shook violently, struggling to move forward amidst countless pale arms.

Click!

A sudden clap of thunder illuminated the sky, tearing through the thick fog and revealing the ghastly white faces that had suddenly appeared on the lake's surface. They were densely packed together, their faces distorted, and their wide-open mouths contained no tongues, only black lake water gushing out.

Bubbling and bubbling.

It was their outstretched arms that were clinging to the spirit boat.

From the depths of the fog, the faint sound of a massive creature swallowing could be heard...

　The writing speed is pretty fast; I finished another chapter before dinner. I still have five chapters left to write. I'll eat first, then continue.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)