Dead Spirit Lake of Inverted Mountain
Bai Xiaowen didn't know was that Bai Yanni's near-collision with him wasn't a staged accident, but a coincidence.
Because it was a coincidence, Bai Yanni's panicked expression when she collapsed was genuine, which is why Bai Xiaowen didn't immediately notice the problem.
The feigned injury that followed was an impromptu act by Bai Yanni after she saw that the driver was Bai Xiaowen. Last night's accident could be described as a mixture of truth and deception, which left Bai Xiaowen with the impression that she was very cunning.
That's why Bai Xiaowen wondered if Bai Yanni might be being used by his enemies.
After all, although the Boutu Guild seemed completely unresponsive and everything appeared calm, Bai Xiaowen could not afford to be complacent. He still needed to explore and train in the Dead Spirit Lake Treasure Ground Space, and did not want to expend extra energy to uncover Bai Yanni's true identity.
The evening's gathering with fans came to a successful end. Sister Zheng rented dozens of cars to safely transport the fans back to their homes. As for the cost of renting the cars, it was, of course, negligible for Bai Xiaowen.
After the contract with the Virtual Battle Company was finalized, Bai Xiaowen quietly produced ten bottles of perfect-grade potions and handed them over to the Super God Potion Shop for subsequent promotion and sales.
Thanks to Bai Xiaowen's reputation as a genius potion master, the sales of Super God Potion Shop have been steadily increasing, allowing it to gain a foothold amidst the vicious competition from Titan Potion House.
Upon learning of Bai Yanni's unsuccessful attempt, the usually calm Fu Hong angrily smashed the glass in his hand. After a brief conversation with Fu Qiu, Fu Hong decided it was time to have a serious talk with Zhao Yuting.
Of course, Bai Xiaowen was unaware of Fu Hong's subtle actions. He gathered the University Team members, announced the upcoming opening of the Dead Spirit Lake, and then, as before, organized the team members to enter the Psionic Training Ground to hone their skills and Battle Specialty proficiency.
It is worth mentioning that, through his efforts, Xiang Hui has advanced to Elite Tier Level 4, completing the leap from Beginner Awakened to Intermediate Awakened, and his strength has improved significantly.
Bai Xiaowen's younger sister, Bai Xiaojun, although only in her third year of junior high school, has already surpassed 10 points in total personal attributes thanks to the A-Grade Enhancement Recipe and comprehensive training facilities, making her even stronger than Bai Xiaowen when he was a senior in high school.
If things continue like this, Xiao Jun may be able to reach the critical value of 20 points in total attributes when he is in his senior year of high school.
In fact, with Bai Xiaowen's Perfect-Tier Enhancement Potion, it would have been possible to give it to Xiao Jun, allowing her to reach a total attribute of 20 points by the time she reached the first year of high school. However, sending Xiao Jun into the Spirit Realm ahead of time to undergo the Awakener's Class Change test was not a wise decision.
When an Awakened One enters the Spirit Realm, the test is not only of strength, but also of mind and common sense. The Class Change test, in particular, is related to the potential template of the entire Awakened One stage and requires careful consideration.
Generally speaking, it is a safer approach to take the Spirit Realm Class Change test after completing high school, having met the requirements for General Knowledge Course knowledge and all necessary Battle Specialty.
As for Bai Xiaowen and Xiao Jun teaming up to undergo the Class Change test? That's not allowed.
It's not that they can't team up. It's just that Bai Xiaowen is now Hero Class, and his strength is too great to "carry" Xiao Jun through the test.
Teaming up with one other person would increase the difficulty of the trial to an astonishingly terrifying level—that's secondary, the real issue is that if Xiao Jun can't even contribute 1% during the trial, the Spirit Realm Rules won't allow Xiao Jun to pass.
Furthermore, the virtual shop revenue from these past few days has all been deposited with Li Beihai, who then traded it to Bai Xiaowen Li Beihai, totaling nearly 80,000 Psionic Points. Judging from the shipping documents, Zhang Bo has been quite diligent, shipping orders on time every day.
Bai Xiaowen retrieved another batch of inventory from the territory's warehouse and deposited it with Li Beihai, then continued to be a hands-off manager.
However, when picking up the goods, Bai Xiaowen received some accumulated Spirit Realm Rules hints from the Permanent Fief Deed:
"Your territory administrator, Viscount Cecilia, Lord of White Stone City, has ordered the reclamation of wasteland, adding 9 new farmlands. This decree has cost your side 300 food and 240 gold."
"Your territory's administrator, Cecilia, Lord of White Stone City, has ordered an upgrade to the city wall defenses, adding 8 new arrow towers. This order has cost your side 200 food, 400 gold, 800 wood, 1000 stone, and 100 iron."
"Your territory's administrator, Cecilia, the lord of White Stone City, led her troops to clear the ruins of Raya Mountain Village, obtaining 102 gold coins, 65 wood resources, 166 stone resources, and 95 iron resources. No one on your side was killed in this expedition, and the cost was 300 food and 300 gold coins."
"Your territory's administrator, Cecilia, the lord of White Stone City, led her troops to clear out the ruins of Dero Fortress, obtaining 1084 gold coins, 301 wood resources, and 106 iron resources. This expedition resulted in the loss of 3 longbowmen and the expenditure of 400 food and 430 gold coins."
"Your territory manager..."
Bai Xiaowen glanced at the accumulated notifications on the fiefdom Fief Token and was filled with mixed joy and surprise. Raya Mountain Village and Dero Fortress were both territories designated by Bai Xiaowen's Fief Token, but they had already been occupied by roaming hordes of Zombie.
As a result, after consolidating the defenses of White Stone City, Cecilia decisively launched an attack, clearing out several Zombie strongholds from near to far. Not only did she bring back a lot of supplies, but she also expanded the area under White Stone City's control, as the newly reclaimed wasteland could increase food supplies.
Moreover, Cecilia, as a former lord (referring to her status rather than her role model), is not only skilled in warfare but also quite experienced in developing her territory. She handles matters such as land reclamation and city building in an orderly manner.
From the Lord Console, Bai Xiaowen could see that the reserves of various resources in the territory, such as gold coins, food, wood resources, and stone resources, were all steadily increasing.
Apart from the lack of progress in commerce and trade due to isolation, other indicators, including prosperity and livability, have also improved.
"I originally thought that I was responsible for the development of the territory... but now it seems that all I need to do is shout '666'?"
Bai Xiaowen genuinely felt lucky. Without Cecilia's support, even if he obtained this permanent fiefdom, how much could he accomplish? His profits would inevitably be greatly reduced, leading to the territory becoming increasingly desolate.
Adding up the Psionic Points earned from the virtual shop during this period, Bai Xiaowen's total Psionic Points exceeded 200,000 again. As the saying goes, "money in hand brings peace of mind," and Bai Xiaowen was now extremely calm. He no longer focused on anything else, and while training, he devoted his energy to searching for information about the Dead Spirit Lake, making thorough preparations.
Finally, the opening date for the Dead Spirit Lake arrived.
On this day, many awakened students from Jinghai University got up very early, and a convoy of off-road vehicles drove along the road toward the Dead Spirit Lake.
The Dead Spirit Lake is located within the Jianghai Division, 150 kilometers away from the Jinghai Base City.
They encountered no danger along the way, only a few scattered mutated beasts that did not attack the convoy. The Rat Swarm, unlike the previous one, did not occur.
According to Yan Xiaoxin, the government has started clearing the main roads between various base cities as New Year's Day approaches, which is why things are so calm.
Bai Xiaowen had also heard about this.
The task of clearing the main roads between the various base cities was assigned by the state to the A-rank Guild in each region, who then organized skilled awakened individuals to complete the task in sections. For example, the Titan Guild in Jinghai Base City was responsible for clearing the main road from Jinghai City to Jiangnan City and Jinling City.
Small guilds like Super God Guild can only apply to clear out the less dangerous side roads near the base city.
The road clearing work by each guild is not free. The government allocates funds and sets prices for each section of the road. After the guild completes the clearing and passes inspection, the corresponding funds—in the form of Psionic Points —will be transferred to the guild leader.
The funding for road clearing comes from various sources, mainly from shipping and tax fees collected from various virtual markets. This is a relatively healthy operating model that has emerged after a century of development.
Therefore, both large and small guilds are quite proactive in clearing roads every quarter and every year, and the bidding for each road section is fierce. Of course, it is basically impossible for small guilds to bid for important road sections, because the Awakened Association also considers the strength of the bidding guilds, and does not simply award the bid to whoever asks for the fewest Psionic Points.
Without any monsters blocking their way, the off-road convoy drove for three hours and arrived at the area where the Dead Spirit Lake is located— Inverted Mountain.
Inverted Mountain is quite a famous place. Perhaps due to an excess of yin energy, the sky above this mountain area is often covered with dark clouds, making it chilly and quite eerie. Once inside the mountain area, the north and south directions of a compass will be completely reversed, with east, west, north, and south reversed.
This is also the origin of the name "Inverted Mountain".
Experienced awakened individuals will deliberately move in the opposite direction of the compass and thus be able to proceed without hindrance.
"This is the Dead Spirit Lake of Inverted Mountain," Yan Xiaoxin said.
The convoy stopped on the outskirts of Inverted Mountain, as the terrain inside was too rugged for even off-road vehicles to navigate. The group, accompanied by Yan Xiaoxin and several other teachers, trekked all the way to the central area of Inverted Mountain, the Dead Spirit Lake.
The Dead Spirit Lake is not large; it looks more like a pool of water, about the size of two football fields.
The pool water was light green, with a thin mist rising from its surface.
"The lake water is so cold." Li Shuyi dipped her hand into the lake water, then quickly pulled it back.
Having read through the records of previous expeditions to the Dead Spirit Lake, Bai Xiaowen said, "Actually, the Dead Spirit Lake isn't low. The reason it feels cool is because the water is tainted by the resentment of the dead and Vengeful Spirit spirits. This cool sensation directly affects a person's spirit rather than their nerves; it's more like an illusion."
Someone conducted an experiment with the Dead Spirit Lake, and the thermometer showed a normal temperature, even slightly higher than that of ordinary lake water.
In fact, this lake in front of us is not a truly Treasure Ground Space.
The Dead Spirit Lake is an independent space, much like the Broken-Spine Mountain Grand Rift, connected to Earth only by a single rift.
The portal to this space is located at the bottom of the lake.
Several teams from other universities in the Jianghai Division had already arrived, and a few teams came over to communicate and exchange ideas with the Jinghai University team.
"Your Jinghai University has produced a formidable figure this time, even Qi Ruifeng is no match for him. Now, Jinghai University is finally going to turn things around in the CUAA league," sighed Wang Jin, captain of Xuhuai University. "Unlike us, we didn't even qualify for the National Championship."
Teams from Tongjiang University and Suhang University also expressed their feelings.
No one showed any hostility towards Bai Xiaowen. Everyone understood that Bai Xiaowen's strength was no longer on the same level as theirs, not even Qi Ruifeng's. The throne of the Jianghai Division had changed hands.
Furthermore, the CUAA league qualifiers are already over, so there's no need to compete anymore. Now that we're about to explore the Dead Spirit Lake, it's always good to make a good connection beforehand.
Even the team from Jinling University came, but Jiang Yi wasn't there. It wasn't that Jiang Yi didn't want to participate in the exploration of the Dead Spirit Lake —he had already lost the qualifying rounds, so there was no point in hiding his strength anymore. It was just that Jiang Yi couldn't save face, so he simply stayed in his car.
It's worth mentioning that Bai Xiaowen also saw a familiar face in the Jinling University team— Qiao Qi, a young man with a mysterious background known for his flamboyant and unconventional style.
Bai Xiaowen heard that when Fu Hong brought Qiao Qi to the Super God Potion Shop to cause trouble last time, Qiao Qi didn't retaliate after being slightly rebuked by Bai Xiaowen. Instead, she obediently participated in the auction and bought the Perfect Enhancement Potion she wanted at a high price.
The two met again. Qiao Qi looked at Bai Xiaowen with a strange expression, but her words conveyed a sense of reconciliation. "Hey, I bought the Enhancement Potion you made. It's not bad; it increased my agility by 4 points."
Bai Xiaowen smiled and nodded, "Then congratulations."
Qiao Qi scratched her brightly colored hair. "Well... actually, last time, I didn't mean it. You're really capable... um, my sister scolded me, saying I shouldn't offend capable people, and made me apologize to you. My sister also told me to stay away from Fu Hong..."
Bai Xiaowen smiled and said, "Then I really have to thank your sister. There's no need for an apology, and there's no need to bring up the past."
Qiao Qi was probably instigated by Fu Hong to cause trouble at the Super God Potion Shop last time. In the end, the root of this matter was Fu Hong, and it stemmed from the long-standing feud between the Titan Guild and the Super God Guild.
Qiao Qi was willing to reconcile, and Bai Xiaowen naturally had to give him face. After all, Qiao Qi must have a considerable force behind him. Having more friends meant having more options, and even if they couldn't remain friends, they should try their best not to become enemies because of a fight over pride.
The team from Jiangnan University did not participate in the exchange; all team members, from Qi Ruifeng down, seemed to be holding back a lot of energy.
Bai Xiaowen, of course, didn't put on any airs and chatted with the team leaders from the other universities in a normal manner.
The group discussed the opening status of the portal to the Dead Spirit Lake. The portal is now large enough to accommodate Beginner Awakened. However, Awakeners of level 4 and above cannot enter yet; it is estimated they will have to wait until tomorrow when the portal reaches its maximum size.