Chapter Eleven: Cold Moon Lake

  "Dao technique?!" Wang Guanlan's heart moved, and he suddenly came to his senses. After sacrificing a thought of "life is born from all laws", the power of his divine soul increased by tenfold out of thin air. It turned out that it was in line with the conditions of those legendary Daoists who were born with a strong divine soul. In that case, he might as well try to learn other Dao techniques.

  "You are a young master of the Ning Wang Fu, logically speaking, with your powerful spiritual energy, why would the Ning Wang Fu cultivate you as a warrior? Are they trying to make you practice both magic and martial arts, but your attainments in martial arts are a bit too poor?"

  "Haha, this is actually because of my own reason!" Wang Guanlan smiled awkwardly and told the story of what happened before he fell into the water. He continued, "Since that time I fell into the water, I have come to realize the importance of power, so I have been diligently studying martial arts. As for spiritual soul power, I actually didn't pay much attention to it!"

  "Haha, so that's how it is. Between life and death, there is great terror. In the instant of life and death, the spirit and soul undergo a strange transformation, and power greatly increases. It's not like it hasn't happened before, you're just lucky!" The red-robed woman burst out laughing, "However, even if you cultivate Taoist skills in the Ning Wang Fu, you won't have any great prospects. After all, the Ning Wang Fu is renowned for its martial arts, and in terms of Taoist skills, it's just that Mirror World array, which is still a bit shallow!" As she spoke, she seemed to think of something, and after a moment's hesitation, "Youngster, aren't you interested in learning Taoist skills from me?!"

  "Studying the Dao with you, are you a Daoshi?!" Wang Guanlan was suddenly shocked and realized that not only warriors who had reached the level of Yuqi could fly, but also Daoshis who had reached a certain level could fly. But now, what was wrapped around him was clearly Leng Qi, so was this person a powerful cultivator of both Dao and Wu?

  Practicing both martial arts and mystic arts is not uncommon in this world. In fact, many warriors who have reached the level of controlling their inner energy and grasped spiritual power will also choose to practice some mystic spells to complement their martial powers. On the other hand, there are even more mystics who practice martial arts. Of course, most of the time, the relationship between the two is complementary, with few examples of equal mastery.

  As expected, the woman in red said, "What, isn't it that if you're not a Taoist, I can't teach you the Taoist arts?!"

  "No, no, of course not!" Wang Guanlan said repeatedly, and didn't ask such foolish questions again. "However, senior, you also know that even if my spiritual soul has undergone a mutation and has the potential to become a Taoist master, but with my current spiritual soul power, I am unable to learn too profound Taoist skills!"

  "Did I ever say I'd teach you profound Taoist skills?!" The crimson-robed woman gave him a displeased glance, and suddenly, Wang Guanlan felt his body sink, the silver aura enveloping his body disappearing in an instant.

  "Ah——!"

  Having lost the support of his aura, Wang Guanlan's body plummeted straight down from a height of thousands of feet, and this sudden fall made Wang Guanlan extremely shocked, shouting loudly.

  The woman in the crimson cloak frowned slightly, but didn't make a move. She watched as Wang Guanlan plummeted downwards, screaming all the way, until he was only fifty meters away from the ground. Only then did she raise her hand, and a silver aura once again supported Wang Guanlan, allowing him to land safely.

  "What the hell are you yelling about? Even slaughtering a pig isn't as miserable as your screaming!"

  "Ah!!" Wang Guanlan's face was covered in fine sweat, and inside she had already cursed who-knows-how-many times, but on the surface she didn't dare reveal even a hint of it, only showing a fearful expression, "I'm timid by nature, born timid!"

  "You're quite bold, aren't you? You've only cultivated your Qi to the second layer and yet you dare to venture deep into the Misty Hidden Valley?"

  "It wasn't me who wanted to run, I was forced to!" Wang Guanlan said with an innocent face, recounting her experience in the Misty Valley, "I thought the time was about right, so I prepared to head back along the Tiger Leaping Gorge, but that demonic beast just happened to fall down and swept me back again!"

  "Hahaha!" Hearing Wang Guanlan's words and his distressed expression, the crimson-robed woman finally burst out laughing, "How interesting! It's really too interesting! You little scamp actually has some wit to you, hahaha!"

  "Yes, I'm a bit of a kid, and you shouldn't tease me anymore!"

  "Alright, alright! I won't tease you anymore!" The woman in the red cloak seemed to think she had gone a bit too far and said, "Running into me is your good luck!"

  "Indeed, indeed, it's the junior's good fortune to meet a senior like you!" Wang Guanlan said repeatedly, while starting to observe his surroundings. From the thick fog around him, he could tell that they were still within the range of Fog Concealing Gorge, but he had no idea how deep in they were. The fog was thicker than anywhere else he had seen before - so dense that he couldn't see his own fingers when he stretched out his hand. All Wang Guanlan could see was fog, nothing else.

  "Little one, don't use your eyes to see, use your spiritual awareness to perceive. Your divine soul power is not small, what's lacking is only technique!" As she spoke, she began to instruct Wang Guanlan on the techniques of using his divine soul, these techniques were far more powerful than what Wang Guanlan had previously learned. Under her guidance, his spiritual awareness expanded to a range of twelve zhang, and his vague perception grew to fifty zhang. Most importantly, there were many techniques for spiritual awareness that broadened his horizons.

  "It's also a coincidence that I came to this misty valley, it was to retrieve something. Originally, one person would have been somewhat difficult, but with you added, it's different. Although you can't even be considered a low-level cultivator and are not suitable for great use, your spiritual soul power is strong and has some small uses!"

  Wang Guanlan chuckled twice, of course he knew that there was no free lunch in the world. This person had used his aura to lead him deep into the Wuyin Gorge and had also taught him the technique of using his divine soul, so it was impossible that he was purely helping him out of kindness.

  At this time, the crimson-robed woman shifted her gaze to Wang Guanlan's right shoulder, "Looks like you're not lightly injured!"

  "Bad luck!" Wang Guanlan smiled and was about to say something when the good girl had already reached out and pressed her hand on his right shoulder.

  A refreshing breath emerged when the woman's hand pressed on his right shoulder, instantly reviving his already numb right arm.

  "This is a wound-healing and blood-activating powder, apply it on the affected area, and in at most three days, your right shoulder will be as good as new!"

  "Thank you, senior!" Wang Guanlan said, sprinkling the wound-healing powder on her right shoulder and hastily bandaging it before following the woman's lead, heading deeper into the gorge.

  With spiritual awareness, although the fog in the valley was thick, the two of them walked quite easily. In this valley, the crimson-robed woman no longer flew, but instead took steps forward one by one. Wang Guanlan followed behind her, keeping pace and maintaining a distance of about ten feet.

  As he walked, Wang Guanlan suddenly felt that the temperature around him seemed to have changed. The further in he went, the lower the temperature became. In the end, even with his internal energy protecting his body, Wang Guanlan was still shivering with cold.

  "Senior, I can't go any further! If we keep going like this, I'll be frozen into an ice stick before we even arrive!"

  "We're here!" The woman in red said calmly, stopping her footsteps. "This is Han Yue Lake!"

  "Hàn Yuè Tán?!" Wang Guanlan was slightly stunned, he had never heard of a Hàn Yuè Tán in the misty valley, but since this was deep within the misty valley, it was only normal that there were some things he didn't know about.

  The Frost Moon Pond is not large, but the diameter of the lake surface has exceeded 100 zhang. The pond surface is like a mirror, very calm. About half a zhang from the pond surface, there is endless dense fog.

  "Senior, what brings you to this Cold Moon Pond?" Wang Guanlan asked, and for some reason, seeing the calm pond water, a chill ran through his bones, as if it was something dangerous.

  "The icy waters of Lake Han are freezing to the bone. Let alone a warrior like you who is still in the Qi Gathering stage, even a condensed energy late-stage warrior would not be able to withstand it for more than a moment. Although I have achieved the Qi Gathering state, I also cannot stay in there for too long!"

  "Are you going down?!"

  "I need the Frost Crystal of Tuan Di!" The woman in red said calmly.

  What's going on?!

  Wang Guanlan's heart moved, although he didn't know what it was, but he could be sure that it was one of the heavenly treasures and earthy gems, and it must be extremely precious. Otherwise, it wouldn't have attracted the attention of the crimson-robed woman, a cultivator of the ninth layer of Qi Refining.

  "What can you do tonight?!" Wang Guanlan asked very actively, opening the conversation. He wasn't afraid anymore. The water in this cold pond was so chilly, and it was impossible for this woman to let him get into the pond. Even if he got into the pond, he wouldn't be able to help at all, and could be said to be completely useless.

  "The icy crystal at the bottom of the pool is not that easy to obtain, there's a frosty ice beast in this Cold Moon Pool. I'm not afraid of it, but in the water, I basically can't even use my abilities, so we need to lure it out first!"

  "Glacial Ice Beast?!" Wang Guanlan was startled, "Senior, you can't be asking me to deal with this beast, can you?!"

  The demon beasts originated from the Demon Beast Realm, but over countless years, spatial nodes or natural damage, or man-made destruction, many demon beasts from the Demon Beast Realm broke into this realm. Even if warriors and mages tried to clean them up, it was impossible to completely eliminate them. Some remained, and some even merged with the native creatures of this realm, giving birth to new demon beasts. As a result, there were also many indigenous demon beasts in this realm.

  Yao and Guai are different.

  What is referred to as a heteromorphic beast, in Wang Guanlan's understanding, is like the demonic beasts he saw in his previous life, possessing abilities that ordinary wild animals do not have, or being able to manipulate the primordial energy of heaven and earth, or having a body that is strong enough to exceed the limits of beasts. This type of wild animal is called a heteromorphic beast, whereas a demon beast is different. The primary condition for a demon beast is to open its spiritual wisdom.

  Once spiritual intelligence is opened, it becomes a demonic beast.

  Since the creature in the pool was not an ice beast but an ice demon, it meant that the demon in the pool had already opened its spiritual wisdom. A demon with spiritual wisdom is several times more difficult to deal with than a beast. So when Wang Guanlan heard this, his face immediately turned ugly.

  "Don't worry, I'm not letting you hold it back. With your current strength, if you were to rush forward, you'd definitely be swallowed up in one bite!" Seeing Wang Guanlan's worried expression, the crimson-robed woman gave him a calming pill. "I'll set up an array around us and lure it out to trap it. Your task is to help me guard the array eye!"