Chapter 97 - 72: Living Water Spirit

Li Shuang quietly explained the rules.

This Ice Lake was a Trial Point established within the Langya Secret Realm.

As a Trial Point, it naturally had its own set of rules.

Each of the eight Guardian Beasts had a different weakness. Exploiting it was the key to gaining entry.

There wouldn’t be much danger for those who just looked around and left.

But who would be content with just a casual tour?

After going through so much trouble to get in, they were naturally going to seek out their own fortunes!

Take Li Shuang, for example. She was here for the Lotus Seed.

But to get the Lotus Seed, one had to touch the Ice Lotus, which would undoubtedly trigger the demon beasts to give chase.

If you could escape the pursuit, you would naturally claim this immense prize.

If you couldn’t escape...

Then death was absolute.

Seeking fortune came with risk. How one weighed the two was purely a matter of personal choice.

The Ice Lotus was incredibly frigid. Aside from someone with a Top-grade Ice Spirit Root like Li Shuang, even Cultivators with more ordinary Ice Spirit Roots couldn’t get near it.

Liu Juncheng’s opportunity did not lie with the Ice Lotus.

"Second Brother," Li Shuang said in a low voice, "after we get to the Ice Lake, we need to break open the ice. There’s a Living Water Spirit in the water below. It’s a priceless treasure that can improve the quality of a Spirit Root. Our goal this time is to get that Living Water Spirit."

In the Cultivation World, the quality of Spirit Roots varied greatly.

Even among Single Spirit Roots, the grades were different.

Spirit Roots were typically divided into Mortal, Profound, and Top-grade. It was said that above Top-grade, there was an even higher tier: the Supreme Spirit Root.

However, the existence of such a Spirit Root was only sparsely recorded in ancient texts from a thousand years ago.

Li Shuang’s Ice Spirit Root was a Top-grade Spirit Root, which was why it had caused such a stir when she joined the sect.

Liu Juncheng’s Water and Wood Spirit Roots were both low-level Profound-grade. If his Water Spirit Root could be nourished by the Living Water Spirit, it had a chance of being elevated to high-level Profound-grade.

Treasures that directly affected a Spirit Root were the rarest in the Immortal Cultivation World, their value incalculable!

Even though Li Shuang now had the Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace and could directly exchange for such treasures.

However.

When she had tentatively inquired about trading for the Living Water Spirit, the price quoted by the Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace was a whopping one hundred thousand!

She couldn’t cough up one hundred thousand Value Points right now even if it killed her!

"The Living Water Spirit!" Liu Juncheng’s heart pounded at the words.

If a treasure like this were to appear in the outside world, even masters of the Refining God and Transcendance Tribulation Stages would be tempted by it.

An opportunity of this magnitude was among the greatest fortunes to be found even within the Langya Secret Realm!

’And Li Shuang was just sharing it with him like this?’

Liu Juncheng couldn’t help but say, "Little Sister! A treasure like this... you could sell it yourself. Even just selling the information would fetch a heavenly price!"

Li Shuang looked at Liu Juncheng. "But it’s useful to you, Second Brother, isn’t it? Besides, you were the one who told me not to stand on ceremony."

Liu Juncheng was silent for a moment, then suddenly broke into a smile. "Alright. I was getting ahead of myself."

Li Shuang smiled. "Then let’s get ready to go in."

"Wait," Liu Juncheng couldn’t help but stop her. "What about you, Little Sister? What are you here for? It can’t be that I’m the only one who gets something out of this."

He said bluntly, "That Ice Lotus must be incredibly beneficial for your Ice Spirit Root, right? You help me get the Living Water Spirit, and I’ll help you get the Ice Lotus. How about it?"

Li Shuang hesitated. "Second Brother, I do want a Lotus Seed. But touching the Ice Lotus will definitely trigger the demon beasts to give chase. I escaped them once before, ten years ago, so I’m fairly confident I can do it again. If you insist on helping, you might actually get in the way. After you get the Living Water Spirit, you should leave first. We can meet up near that giant boulder after I get away."

Li Shuang explained.

Liu Juncheng felt a little awkward.

’She’s being that blunt, huh...’

’So my help would just be a hindrance...’

Liu Juncheng felt a pang of dejection, but said nonetheless, "Don’t worry, Little Sister. I won’t hold you back."

With their plan settled, Li Shuang took out a bottle of fine wine and handed it to Liu Juncheng, keeping another for herself.

The two of them crept cautiously toward the demon beast to the southeast.

The demon beast had two huge horns on its head and resembled a giant ox. Its facial features, however, were dominated by an absurdly large nose. The nose, which periodically snorted out puffs of air, seemed to take up its entire face from a distance.

Its eyes were closed, and it was fast asleep.

Li Shuang uncorked the bottle, letting the wine’s aroma drift over.

At first.

The demon beast only twitched its nose slightly.

Li Shuang waited patiently, letting the aroma continue to spread.

The demon beast’s nose began to twitch more and more frequently.

Finally.

It suddenly opened its eyes. With a slight shift of its body, its enormous head was instantly in front of Li Shuang and Liu Juncheng.

The grotesque face appearing so suddenly gave Liu Juncheng a fright, and his spine instinctively went rigid.

Having gone through this once before, Li Shuang was quite calm.

A gentle smile touched her lips. "Senior, I heard you enjoy fine wine, so I took the liberty of finding a bottle for you. I wonder if it is to your liking?"

Li Shuang offered the wine.

The demon beast leaned in, took a deep sniff, and then showed a satisfied expression. It snatched the bottle and poured the contents directly into its mouth.

As the fine wine went down its throat, an expression of pure enjoyment spread across its face.

"Senior, I have a bottle of good wine here as well." Liu Juncheng also proffered his bottle.

The Cow-headed Demon accepted all comers. In a single gulp, it downed the entire bottle.

It let out a drunken belch, its expression one of utter satisfaction.

"Senior, the two of us are admirers of the Ice Lake’s scenery. We were wondering if we might go in and have a look around?" Li Shuang asked, seizing the opportunity.

Having drunk two bottles of wine, the Cow-headed Demon was clearly in high spirits.

It swayed its head back and forth. "You can go in. But you’d best be telling the truth about just looking around. The things in there... especially that Ice Lotus in the middle of the lake... you’d better not touch it. Otherwise..."

It bared a few menacing teeth. "If you attract the attention of the other demon beasts, I won’t be able to save you."

"Rest assured. We’re really just going to take a look," Li Shuang said with utmost sincerity.

The Cow-headed Demon glanced at her, then slowly closed its eyes. A moment later, a thunderous SNORE ripped through the air as it fell back into a deep sleep.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Li Shuang led Liu Juncheng past it.

Only after they were within the bounds of the Ice Lake did Li Shuang let out a sigh of relief.

’Thank goodness, thank goodness.’

Her guess had been correct. Ten years had passed, and the memories of the demon beasts in the Secret Realm had been reset.

Otherwise.

Ten years ago, she had taken a Lotus Seed while under siege by these very demon beasts. If it remembered, the Cow-headed Demon would never have let her in again.

Li Shuang said, "Second Brother, time is of the essence. We need to hurry and find the Living Water Spirit. The Cow-headed Demon didn’t give us a time limit, but based on my last experience, we have one hour at most. If we haven’t found it by then, we’ll have to retreat. We won’t be able to enter from this direction again; you can only use each approach once."

Liu Juncheng took note of it all.

Li Shuang took a moment to sense her surroundings, then located the thinnest patch of ice and deftly produced two hammers.

She kept one for herself and gave the other to Liu Juncheng.

The two of them began to hammer away at the surface of the ice.