Chapter 97: Following in the Footsteps of Old Friends

  The vast wind swept across the continent, and even Huiyue, who had a mind to find someone, couldn't track down anyone else's whereabouts. For Zuo Xiaoyao, who was alone and had no one to rely on, it was even more difficult to find someone, and the possibility of success was even smaller.

  There is a purple boundary in the void, and Zuo Xiao Yao also feels that her cultivation has advanced, but Hui Yue managed to get that result after many attempts, so there must be some reason for it. In this case, the other four people should also find a way back, after all, as cultivators, they know the taste of having power beyond ordinary human understanding, and most are unwilling to return to being ordinary again.

  Moreover, among these four people, except for Qin Lianke, the other three are all outstanding young people in the modern Xiuzhen world. How can they be willing to give up the possibility that may be realized in the future and accept that their cultivation will stagnate from now on, destined to never transcend the mundane world and ascend to the path of longevity?

  "...... Have you heard? The Sacred Lake is open, and our Purple Star Mansion has sent out eighteen people this time! Each of them is very powerful, among which ten are from the Purple Star Academy. They will definitely be able to defeat those arrogant guys from Green Source Mansion!"

  "It's said that even Gong Rui and Jiao Yunfan are here, so this time the quota for going to Sheng Hu will definitely be mostly occupied by our Purple Chen Mansion!"

  "Yes, yes, my sister-in-law's aunt's younger sister's daughter is a classmate of Mei San Miss. She said that Mei San Miss has already become a third-level grandmaster and will also attend the Peak Competition this time. The quota for going to Sheng Hu must include her!"

  "Speaking of this Mei San Miss, I also know, she now..."

  Sitting in an ordinary wine house in the capital of Zichen Domain, Zichen Prefecture City, Zuoxiao Yao 'listened' to those passionate people discussing the recent hot topic in Zichen Prefecture City - Shenghu Contest Peak Meeting, with a hint of helplessness on her smiling face.

  Zichen Domain is one of the three major empires in the Central Plains of Fengxing Continent, located at the intersection of the three top-level empires. Its geographical location is superior, with a well-developed economy. As its capital, Zichen City is even more prosperous. The other two major empires are Fengnan Empire and Fengli Empire, both with vast territories. The surrounding countries like Fengyun Nation and Fengluan Nation are not even considered by these massive powers. In comparison, the material civilization of humans here is also more advanced.

  The Sacred Lake Summit, which has been the subject of much discussion among these people, is a grand event held jointly by the three major empires every nine years. It has a significant influence and only the top academies of the three countries and the highest courts of other nations on the continent can recommend their most talented young mages to participate. The age requirement is under 25 years old. Any young mage who achieves a good ranking in the summit will likely become a prominent figure in their country, or even across the entire Wind Continent, and be recorded in history books.

  Also, as she traveled further and gained more knowledge, after successfully passing through the Great Yuan Mountain, Zuo Xiao Yao finally realized how shallow the information she had obtained from Feng Yun Country and Feng Luan Country on the edge of the continent was. Hui Yue thought that with her modern knowledge, she could assist Emperor Changyuan of Feng Luan Country in unifying the Wind and Cloud Continent, but it turned out to be a naive idea. She hadn't even figured out how vast the Wind and Cloud Continent was, and had assumed that the other side of the endless Great Yuan Mountain was either desolate or a vast ocean. The fact that there were "people" on the other side of the mountain was actually in the hands of several powerful countries with longer histories than Feng Luan Country.

  However, many countries like Fengyun Guo are only poor border countries on the edge of the mainland in the hearts of people at the other end of Dayuan Mountain. The title of "Great Master" is a title that can only be enjoyed by the highest-ranking masters among the national masters. Even if they are located in a position closer to the Leiyu Continent, there will occasionally be ships traveling back and forth between them, and they have been influenced by the material civilization of the Leiyu Continent to some extent. But in these three great empires, "Great Master" is just one level for those who cultivate Fa Yuan, divided into seven levels. Above it are Fa Jiang, Fa Wang, Fa Zun, and Fa Huang.

  For six years, she has traveled to many places on the Wind Continent, and apart from her cultivation reaching the peak of the Foundation stage, Zuo Xiaoyao only heard one piece of news. Nine years ago, at the Sacred Lake Competition held in Lüyuang City, Fengnan Country, a 'celebrity' emerged, suppressing all the geniuses from various countries, winning first place and successfully obtaining the qualification to enter Sacred Lake for spiritual cleansing. It is said that this person came from Lüyuang Academy, but after entering Sacred Lake, they never came out again.

  This matter had caused a huge stir at the time, and all the fellow Taoist priests who obtained the qualification to enter the Holy Lake together said that after the young man entered the lake, his face suddenly changed greatly. The milky white lake water then became extremely clear. It was not inferior to the changes that occurred when twenty people from the previous realm practiced in the lake for three days and caused the lake water to lose its effect completely. Before the two Taoist kings guarding the lake could come over to stop him, the young man had already disappeared into the lake, causing the other nineteen people who obtained the qualification to enter the Holy Lake to suffer a huge loss. They had managed to obtain a place in the top twenty at the Struggle for the Summit Meeting with great difficulty, but they were unable to successfully cleanse their bodies and bones and upgrade their qualifications.

  This is also the reason why people are so dissatisfied with the host, Green Source City of the Upper Realm, after Purple Chen Mansion took over as the host of this Sacred Lake Competition. Even Green Source itself feels quite aggrieved. That person participated in the Sacred Lake Competition with a recommendation from Green Source Law Academy and won first place, bringing great honor to Green Source City and Green Source Law Academy. However, he disappeared in the Sacred Lake afterwards, not only failing to bring any benefits to Green Source and Wind Nan Country but also causing them to bear the criticism of other countries, thinking that Wind Nan Country was intentionally being malicious and wanting to monopolize the benefits. Moreover, several law masters from Wind Nan Country who obtained qualifications were also victims.

  But Zuo Xiaoyao, after hearing about this matter, although still inquiring about the news of the appearance of 'alien people' in various countries, had not gained anything and remained on the Wind Continent, without going to the Lei Yu Continent where it was said that a 'holy girl' appeared.

  People in this world don't know, but she is very clear about the means possessed by cultivators. For a cultivator with not low strength to pretend to be someone else, it's quite simple. Even people's memories can be 'copied', basically no need to worry that the fact of 'piracy' will be discovered. Of course, if in special circumstances, being leaked is normal, like that pool said to be a very magical lake water.

  So, after learning this information, Zuo Xiao Yao could roughly confirm that the protagonist of the event nine years ago in the three major empires was her deceased friend. She didn't plan to miss this opportunity at the Sheng Huo Zhong Feng conference and wanted to personally go to Sheng Huo to verify it. Since that person hadn't appeared again in the past nine years, there must be some ulterior motive behind it. Considering the aftermath of the previous event caused by a certain someone was not small, they would definitely be on high alert this time to prevent history from repeating itself. Wanting to sneak into the conference and obtain qualifications to enter Sheng Huo would undoubtedly be extremely difficult.

  It has been three years since the wind swept through the mainland, and several times she had encountered top masters on this seemingly peaceful but actually turbulent land. She had some understanding of their strength, knowing that they had perfectly combined law and martial arts, and that her current strength was not yet a match for those who had cultivated law yuan. Therefore, Zuo Xiao Yao had always been very low-key, even though during this period she had managed to obtain several secret cultivation methods through some shady means, far surpassing the basic law yuan cultivation techniques she had gotten from Hui Yue's memories, which were only slightly higher than beginner level.

  Her cultivation had reached the peak of the Foundation Building stage, but she couldn't sense any opportunity to form her Core. Although she didn't know the reason, after a period of mental adjustment, Zuo XiaoYao changed from being puzzled, tense, perplexed and helpless at first, to becoming more calm and tranquil. She came to realize that this matter could only be waited out, and all emotions that could affect her state of mind would only have an adverse effect. Therefore, in addition to her usual cultivation routine, she focused all her efforts on alchemy.

  Thanks to the large amount of spiritual medicine provided by Ziyuan Boundary, Zuo Xiaoyao's alchemy level has been greatly improved. She no longer encounters the problem of not being able to find the required spiritual medicine in modern times, or it being extinct or extremely rare and difficult to find. Not only did her success rate in refining third-grade elixirs reach an astonishing 95%, but even her success rate in refining fourth-grade elixirs reached 60-70% when using water from a pool outside of Ziyuan Boundary.

  Having enough leisure time without delaying her cultivation, Zuo Xiaoyao wanted to learn other techniques for refining equipment and crafting talismans. Unfortunately, she hadn't purchased any relevant books during her time in the modern era. Although she had collected a large quantity of raw materials, they were now merely categorized and stored away in her inventory, taking up space. Thinking about this, Zuo Xiaoyao told herself that if she had the opportunity in the future, she would definitely not make the same mistake again.

  It is indeed the case that having many skills does not burden oneself. If she could also master other spiritual techniques such as alchemy and talisman creation, it would be even more convenient for her. With the Purple Yuan Boundary in place, she doesn't need to worry about making the most of limited time to improve her cultivation like other spiritual practitioners do, nor does she have to worry that learning these spiritual techniques will take up too much time.

  Her own strength was limited, and there were many stronger experts in the world who could surpass her. Although Zuo Xiao Yao had "ambitions" for this Saint Lake's Competition Peak Conference, she didn't dare to act rashly. She was waiting for an opportunity while also patiently gathering more information about the Competition Peak Conference and the Saint Lake. After all, only by knowing more information could she seize the fleeting opportunities that came her way.

  It was from those who yearned for the Sacred Lake that Zuo Xiaoyao learned that the Sacred Lake, located at the intersection of the borders of the three major empires, had a history dating back 800 years. When someone accidentally discovered that the milky white **cultivation origin** of the monks in the shallow pool was extremely beneficial, and this news was leaked, it led to a scramble among the countries at that time, and the original power structure was redrawn, giving rise to the three major empires of today, which successfully reached a ceasefire and peace agreement with other surrounding countries.

  It was discovered that there was a spring under the pool, which would spout out a certain amount of milky white water at regular intervals. After many years of negotiation, the issue of the right to use the spring water could not be resolved smoothly. However, in order to allow more people to use the spring water at the same time, the original pool was expanded into a small lake. Although it did not increase the amount of water spouted out each time, the accumulated water every nine years was enough to help twenty people successfully improve their physical fitness and enhance their mental strength, earning it the reputation as the "Sacred Lake". This led to the later Sacred Lake Competition Summit.

  Nine years ago, the 'old friend' could make the lake water turn pale after entering the lake. Presumably, the lake water is also very useful for cultivators. The more information she learned about the Sacred Lake, the more excited Zuo Xiaoyao became about her trip to the Sacred Lake two months later. Even though she had not yet determined the best plan to enter the Sacred Lake, she was very confident that she would be able to successfully follow in the footsteps of that 'old friend' nine years later!

  PS: Thanks to book friends Delilah, Fa Ya Huang Hou, and Cherry KoKo for their support. At the same time, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all friends who have given me limited support and encouragement throughout the year. As the new year is approaching, I sincerely wish all of you a better life, good luck, eternal peace and happiness!