The Marvelous Little Pool

Whew, whew...

Suddenly, the sky churned with wind and clouds. A huge bank of dark clouds appeared overhead without warning, and howling gales swept across the area. Even Zhao Hong could barely take a step. He had no choice but to squeeze his eyes shut and throw himself to the ground, lest the wind blow him away.

The two women were the same.

Huh?

A moment later, the clouds vanished and the gale died away. When the group opened their eyes again, Sanbao had been blown halfway up the mountain, hundreds of meters away from Zhao Hong.

As the gale hit, Sanbao knew he couldn't let this chance slip by. He scrambled to his feet, drew his sword, and sealed his wound with spiritual power. Just as he was about to flee down the mountain, a fierce gust swept through and sent him flying hundreds of meters up the slope. Fortunately, Sanbao was light on his feet, and the Nine-Turn Golden Body coursed through his entire body. He managed to land safely, but when he saw Zhao Hong chasing after him with sword in hand, he had no choice but to run toward the summit.

"Brat, prepare to die!"

The sudden gale had given Sanbao an unexpected chance to escape. Zhao Hong's face darkened as he chased after him with his sword.

At this life-or-death moment, Sanbao unleashed his latent potential. Despite his grave injuries, he controlled his body through sheer force of will. The Nine-Turn Golden Body seemed to reach a height it had never touched before—the third layer.

From Zhao Hong's distant vantage point, Sanbao's figure seemed to split into three in an instant. Each time the images vanished, Sanbao was farther away. When the three afterimages disappeared, he had opened up dozens of meters between them.

This repeated again and again. In the blink of an eye, the distance between them grew from several hundred meters to nearly a thousand.

Sanbao knew he couldn't keep this up for long. While the Nine-Turn Golden Body was still at its strongest, he pushed himself up the mountain with all his might and soon reached the summit.

If he could just cross over to the other side of the mountain, his chances of escape would improve.

Ahead, a small pool suddenly caught Sanbao's eye. Beside it, a deer with a coat of dazzling colors lounged playfully, apparently unaware of his arrival.

Could this be the mysterious pool Wang Liang had mentioned? Sanbao only glanced at it in passing, without giving it much thought. Escaping came first.

But Sanbao's body had already reached its limit. With his injuries so severe, his vision began to blur.

With a thump, he staggered and could hold on no longer. He collapsed on the mountaintop, right beside the little pool.

"Ah, so I can't escape death after all..."

Sanbao sighed inwardly, then quickly passed out.

A cool breeze swept past, and Sanbao shivered. When he opened his eyes, countless stars glittered overhead, while the round moon at the center of the sky bathed the whole earth in light.

Night had already fallen by the time he woke.

Sanbao shifted his gaze. The lazy little deer was crouched beside him, and when it saw him, it showed not the slightest fear.

"Strange. Where is everyone?" Sanbao struggled up from beside the pool and warily scanned the surroundings. He saw no sign of Zhao Hong or the others, and Wang Liang was nowhere to be found either.

He really was lucky to be alive. The woman had stabbed him in the chest without hitting his heart, and after Zhao Hong hunted him down, he'd somehow survived that too.

Under the starlight and moonlight, the little pool glimmered with layers of milky-white light, like milk. Wang Liang had been right: there was something extraordinary about the water.

"That feels good..."

Remembering what Wang Liang had said, Sanbao didn't hesitate to lower his wounded body into the pool. A strange, tingling warmth quickly spread through him, making him close his eyes and sigh. Beside him, the little deer watched without blinking.

"Why don't you come in and have a soak too?" After recovering some strength, Sanbao called to the colorful deer with a smile.

Back when Sanbao had left the Thousand Desolation Mountains, he had seen countless strange beasts and birds along the way. Although this colorful deer's coat differed from that of an ordinary Bell Deer, there was nothing particularly remarkable about it. Sanbao hadn't paid it much mind. It was just that this deer didn't seem to fear humans, which made it rather unusual.

"Whoosh..."

Sanbao suddenly sat up in the pool, his eyes wide as he stared at the deer.

He'd asked the deer if it wanted to come in for a soak as a joke, but it had gently shaken its head, as if it understood his words. Sanbao was stunned.

"Y-you... you can understand what I'm saying?" Sanbao stammered.

The colorful deer's response made Sanbao's heart clench again. It nodded, seeming remarkably intelligent.

Thirteen had once said that Spirit Beasts who reached the eighth rank—the equivalent of a Spirit Saint—could transform into human form, and their intelligence was nearly on par with humans. Seventh-rank Spirit Beasts, equivalent to Spirit Profound experts, still couldn't transform into human form, but they were also far more intelligent than other Spirit Beasts. Could the creature before him really be a powerful seventh-rank Spirit Beast?

Sanbao quickly dismissed the thought.

He'd seen quite a few Spirit Beasts himself. From their auras, he could sense roughly how strong most of them were. This colorful deer had no trace of spiritual power about it; it was clearly an ordinary Bell Deer, not even a first-rank Spirit Beast. How could it possibly be a seventh-rank Spirit Beast?

Sanbao had always been confident in his soul power.

Ever since he began cultivating the Saint Ancestor Secret Manual, his soul power had steadily increased. According to Jing Yifei, it was already nearly as strong as hers.

The world was full of wonders. Perhaps this colorful deer had been born with the ability to understand people. After explaining it to himself that way, Sanbao felt a little calmer.

He needed to focus on healing first.

"Did you see a man carrying a sword? Where did he go? Do you know?" Sanbao tried asking again.

The colorful deer nodded, then turned its head toward the other side of the mountain.

"What? He went that way? That makes no sense. He wouldn't let me go, and he wouldn't leave this pool alone either." Sanbao couldn't make head or tail of it.

He calmed his mind and circulated his spiritual power with all his might. Under the pool water's influence, the sword wound in his chest healed rapidly.

By dawn, apart from a faint ache inside, the external wound on his chest had miraculously healed.

"I should go. I can't stay any longer." Sanbao didn't dare linger, afraid Zhao Hong might return. After bidding the colorful deer farewell, he hurried down the mountain by the other side.

Before long, Sanbao returned to Fire Cloud Hall, pale and shaken. Only then did he finally relax.

With his master there, that pair of shameless lovers wouldn't dare come after him.

Aside from the faint ache in his chest, Sanbao felt another kind of pain—a wound to the heart.

"Meier, Meier..."

She certainly was charming. Too bad she already belonged to someone else, Sanbao sighed inwardly.

"A-Tie, help me find someone at Orchid Creek Ravine..." As soon as he entered, Sanbao instructed A-Tie, carefully explaining what he wanted him to do.

Then he headed straight for Jing Yifei's residence. If anything went wrong, his master was the only one who could protect him for now. It was best to stay close.

After eating the meal A-Hua brought him, Sanbao went straight to cultivate in a side room of Jing Yifei's residence. He was the only one in all of Fire Cloud Hall who had this privilege; Jing Yifei had made the decision after personally taking him as her disciple.

Sanbao had only just settled his mind when Jing Yifei's voice sounded outside the door.

"Sanbao, this isn't like you. What brings you here today?"

Sanbao quickly got up to open the door and usher Jing Yifei inside. Then he recounted everything that had happened the day before.

But he concealed the secret of the pool, instead claiming that he'd accidentally caught Zhao Hong and the Light-Clad Woman in an illicit rendezvous, after which Zhao Hong had hunted him down and he'd barely managed to escape.

"That Zhao Hong is probably Zhao Youdao's nephew. As for the woman, I can't be sure yet. I don't know if the Meier you mentioned is the one from the Third Sect Master's family..."

After hearing Sanbao's account, Jing Yifei frowned and fell into thought.

"Master, can people in the Cloud Saint Sect just kill their fellow disciples as they please? All I did was take a look. It's not as if I saw anything important!" Sanbao complained at the right moment.

"What do you know? If that woman really is the Third Sect Master's daughter, they'll naturally want to kill you to silence you. She's the Crown Princess of the Second Prince of the Yunli Kingdom!" Jing Yifei shook her head, looking troubled.

"Oh, I see. Then I'll keep quiet. There was no need to kill me, though." Sanbao breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Who would have thought he'd stumbled into something like that?

If he'd offended an ordinary person, even an elder of the Cloud Saint Sect, Jing Yifei wouldn't have feared them at all. But he'd offended a sect master, and the matter concerned the reputation of the entire Cloud Saint Sect. That made things much harder.

"Alas, no one wants a loose end left alive in a matter like this. You're just a new disciple, so they won't hesitate to use any means necessary. But since you've crossed me, Jing Yifei, they won't have it easy. Sanbao, don't worry. I'll protect you no matter what..." Sanbao was Jing Yifei's only disciple. At a crucial moment, of course she would stand up for him.

"Thank you, Master. They probably don't know which peak I'm from. There are hundreds of new disciples in the sect. As long as I stay inside, they'll never find me," Sanbao said with a nod.

"Better safe than sorry. Whatever happens, stay here with me for the next few days and don't go out. Let's see who dares come to Fire Cloud Peak." After reassuring him at length, Jing Yifei finally left.

With his master's assurance, Sanbao finally felt at ease. Otherwise, to save his own life, he might have had to flee Cloud Mountain.

After all, his enemies were people of high standing. There was no guarantee they couldn't trace him.

A little while later, Sanbao woke from meditation. The spiritual power in his Dantian had finally replenished, and even his injuries had improved somewhat. He hadn't expected the pool water to be so potent. No wonder Wang Liang had not only fully recovered from his injuries in just a few months, but had also advanced to the Spirit General realm.