When 'God' Decides To Start Over

Chapter 609 - 254: Yanbo Pool_2

The door Elder Dao guarded was on the other side of the city, requiring a journey across the entire Celestial Gate City to reach it.

"Where exactly are you planning to go?" Jiuxiao Yun couldn’t help but ask after following Li Xiu for half a day.

Sha Chu and Jing Li followed Li Xiu without saying a word, which annoyed Jiuxiao Yun.

"To Elder Dao who guards the Celestial Gate," Li Xiu replied with a smile.

Jiuxiao Yun almost jumped up at those words: "Are you trying to get yourself killed? Do you even know who Elder Dao is?"

"Of course, Elder Dao is one of the top ten elders, currently substituting for the Grand Elder’s position as the guardian of the Celestial Gate, serving as the interim Grand Elder," Li Xiu answered as he walked.

"That’s not what I mean. Do you know the relationship between Elder Dao and the Li Family?" Jiuxiao Yun said.

"What relation does Elder Dao have with the Li Family?" Li Xiu asked, puzzled.

Jiuxiao Yun was almost infuriated: "Elder Dao was recruited into the Longevity Heaven by the Li Family through the Seeking Path group, and now Elder Dao’s Blood Seal Stone is still in the hands of the Li Family. Going to Elder Dao is as good as walking into a trap!"

"Oh, I see, that’s a bit troublesome," Li Xiu hadn’t expected that Elder Dao’s Blood Seal Stone was actually with the Li Family.

He wasn’t afraid that Elder Dao would be manipulated by the Li Family to deal with him. With Elder Dao’s personality, threatening him with his own life was futile.

Li Xiu was worried that if the Li Family really brought Elder Dao’s Blood Seal Stone, Elder Dao might end up clashing with the Li Family and losing his life.

Li Xiu knew how to handle the Blood Seal Stone, but that method was only applicable before the contract. Once the Blood Seal Stone was contracted, Li Xiu had no means to resolve it.

"Good that you understand. You mustn’t go to Elder Dao’s place. Find somewhere to hide instead, and light a lamp for me so we’re a bit safer," Jiuxiao Yun suggested.

"I’ll decide after I meet Elder Dao," Li Xiu replied.

"After everything I’ve said, you’re still intent on meeting Elder Dao?" Jiuxiao Yun was almost furious.

Li Xiu smiled and said nothing more, continuing to follow the map forward.

Seeing Li Xiu’s demeanor, Jiuxiao Yun had nothing to say, closed his mouth, and walked on his own, thinking to himself, "Anyway, I have no grudge with the Li Family. Even if Elder Dao receives the Li Family’s orders, he’d only kill you, Li Xiu, what does that have to do with me? Good advice is wasted on those who are doomed."

The Celestial Gate City was really vast. After several hours, they’d only traversed less than a quarter of the map’s route.

Fortunately, they had the map and the route marked by Qingyi. Without it, who knows if they’d survive reaching Elder Dao.

As the group reached a jade pavilion, Li Xiu stopped to examine it.

"This is the Yanbo Pavilion. According to the map’s mark and notes, we need to rest here at Yanbo Pavilion for a while. Only after the lotus in Yanbo Pavilion blooms can we wade through the water across the Yanbo Pool in front of us," Li Xiu said as he entered Yanbo Pavilion.

The Yanbo Pavilion had four corridors and eight pillars, built quite peculiarly. More strange, in the center of Yanbo Pavilion was an ancient well, the water almost spilling out, with two lotus leaves and an unopened lotus bud on the surface.

Without the lotus blooming, they couldn’t cross the Yanbo Pool ahead.

As per the map, there was no bridge for crossing the Yanbo Pool, it could only be crossed by water. The eighty-mile Yanbo Pool could only be swum across, and if the lotus didn’t bloom, something strange might occur in the Yanbo Pool, making it dangerous to get into the water.

Besides swimming, there was another method. There was a small boat within the Yanbo Pool. Sitting on this small boat could also cross the pool, but the boat was usually controlled by those guarding the Celestial Gate. Unless Elder Dao happened by during his patrol, they wouldn’t have a boat to use.

Jing Li gazed at the Yanbo Pool enveloped by a mist of light outside the pavilion and said, "I’ve heard people say there’s an incredibly terrifying spirit hidden in the depths of the Yanbo Pool. It lurks at the bottom, hidden, and if anyone or any spirit tries to cross the pool, it will pull them into the water to devour them. Even Light Base level beings aren’t spared. Only when the lotus blooms does that spirit slumber, and once the lotus closes again, it awakens. It’s best to cross the Yanbo Pool during this time."

Jiuxiao Yun chimed in, "I’ve heard a slightly different tale."

"What version?" Li Xiu asked.

Jiuxiao Yun looked at the swirling mist of light outside the pavilion and said, "The story I heard differs from Jing Li’s. There’s no spirit in the Yanbo Pool but an emperor’s consort sleeping."

"An emperor’s consort? Why would the emperor’s consort be sleeping in this pool?" Sha Chu inquired with interest, looking at Jiuxiao Yun.

"The tale goes that the emperor was extremely tyrannical, finding pleasure every night with different women and torturing them to death, tossing their bodies into the Yanbo Pool. No one knows how many innocent women the tyrant killed, leaving them to rest in the Yanbo Pool. Eighty miles of the Yanbo Pool, the burial ground of vengeful spirits and lost women, it’s said the pool’s bottom is covered with those women’s bones."

After a pause, Jiuxiao Yun continued, "Until one day, a woman named Lian became the tyrant’s consort, and she amazingly walked out alive from the tyrant’s chambers. After that, the tyrant required Lian Consort’s service every night, never harming other women again."

"If that’s the case, why was Lian Consort also thrown into the Yanbo Pool in the end?" Sha Chu asked further.