Crescent Moon Lake

Su Yuntian dared not lower his guard, keeping his eyes fixed on the lake surface to guard against any unforeseen developments.

It was only when Su Meng swam to his side and emerged from the water that the look of gravity on his face eased slightly.

"Who was at the bottom of the lake?"

Watching his daughter, who clutched her clothes to her chest with her dark, damp hair plastered against her cheeks, Su Yuntian felt a surge of anger.

"I couldn't see clearly."

With her round, apple-like face and bright, sparkling eyes, Su Meng huddled in a patch of grass, clutching her clothes as she shouted, "He didn't do anything to me; I was just startled because he appeared so suddenly."

"The man likely meant no harm," He Rong said, continuously urging his old friend to stay calm.

Su Yuntian kept his face cold, his gaze still locked onto the lake.

Under the dim sky, the surface of the lake, dappled with fragments of light reflected from the Golden Chariot, appeared remarkably calm.

In the distance.

The many subordinates loyal to Su and He also ceased their movements, looking toward the lake with curiosity.

A moment later, a figure truly did break through the surface of the lake, looking around with a slightly dazed expression.

The man appeared in the center of the lake, a great distance from them, his messy hair matted with water weeds, looking quite disheveled.

He held a long spear aloft in the water, the long shaft strung with fish like a skewer of candied haws.

"It must have been a misunderstanding."

He Rong smiled faintly, pressing down on the short blade in Su Yuntian's hand, and said, "He is too far from where Su Meng was; he certainly wasn't trying to harm her or spy on anything."

Su Yuntian let out a sigh of relief and suddenly called out, "Young brother!"

Hearing the voice, Pang Jian looked over and saw Su Yuntian, He Rong, and the shattered remains of the Golden Chariot.

"Crescent Moon Lake."

He realized instantly where he had arrived.

This freshwater lake in the Cenji Mountains was shaped like a crescent moon when viewed from above, which was why his father had named it Crescent Moon Lake.

At the heart of the crescent stood a towering mountain peak, and the other side of that peak should lead to the Blackwater Pool.

Unlike the Blackwater Pool, which was classified as a forbidden zone, this area around Crescent Moon Lake was a camping ground he knew very well.

As a freshwater lake, Crescent Moon Lake was rich in fish and shrimp, and wild beasts often came to the shore to drink, making it a place where he frequently hunted and rested.

He had not expected that at the bottom of Crescent Moon Lake, there would be a stone crevice concealing a secret passage leading to the Blackwater Pool.

Finding himself in familiar territory, Pang Jian felt much more at ease, his heart no longer racing with anxiety.

Hearing the man by the lake calling out repeatedly, he observed Su Yuntian and He Rong from the center of the vast Crescent Moon Lake.

Soon, he guessed that this group, like Zhou Qingchen and Ning Yao, must be one of the so-called exploration teams from the seven great families.

After a brief hesitation, he swam toward Su Yuntian.

However, he did not swim all the way to the bank where Su Yuntian stood, but instead climbed ashore a short distance away from the two men.

From a dense patch of weeds and deadwood by the shore, he dug out flint and firewood, immediately starting a fire to roast the fish.

He was far too familiar with Crescent Moon Lake; because the lake was so large, he kept backup supplies at several spots along the shore.

He had similar secret caches in various parts of the Cenji Mountains, some of which even contained dried meat and grain reserves.

As he lit the fire and removed the fish from his Dragon-Patterned Spear to roast them on a different wooden stick, Su Yuntian and He Rong began to discuss him with surprise.

"He is very familiar with this place. Furthermore, he seems to have had firewood, oil, and salt prepared in advance," He Rong said, stroking his chin in contemplation. "He must be a local."

"We can just go over and ask."

After Su Meng emerged from the grass fully dressed, she rolled her eyes at the two men acting so sneakily and walked straight up to Pang Jian. Staring wide-eyed, she asked curiously, "Were you catching fish under the lake earlier?"

"Yes."

Pang Jian looked up at her, seeing that the little girl was about the same age as his sister, Pang Lin—around thirteen or fourteen.

Her round face featured a pair of bright, large eyes, and she wore her hair in two pigtails that swung with a spirited air.

"My name is Su Meng. I was just washing up in the lake—you didn't see anything, did you?"

Su Meng demanded, hands on her hips, looking fierce.

Pang Jian shook his head and said casually, "Crescent Moon Lake is very large. I was catching fish deep underwater and didn't notice anyone else above."

"Crescent Moon Lake?"

Su Meng looked at the lake, finding the name quite fitting. Seeing that Pang Jian had already explained himself, she dropped her feigned ferocity and asked in surprise, "You are very familiar with this place?"

"I am a hunter from Linshan Town. I often come into the mountains to hunt, so of course I am familiar with it."

Pang Jian replied indifferently.

At this moment, Su Yuntian and He Rong also approached.

The two men scrutinized Pang Jian. He Rong, who was always cautious, looked at the Dragon-Patterned Spear resting on the ground and asked, "Do you know how to cultivate?"

Pang Jian's expression remained unchanged as he spouted nonsense: "An old man came to the Cenji Mountains a few years ago to search for spiritual materials for medicine and asked me to lead the way for him."

"I helped him find the spiritual materials he desired, so he taught me a cultivation technique and gave me this spear."

Although He Rong felt a flicker of suspicion, he did not press for more details.

"I am Su Yuntian, this is my daughter Su Meng, and this is He Rong."

Su Yuntian made his identity clear and lowered his guard, chatting casually. "It hasn't been peaceful here lately; there are some complicated circumstances. We came from the other side of the Cenji Mountains."

"Young brother, since you are a hunter of the Cenji Mountains and live in the nearby Linshan Town, could you tell us if you have noticed anything unusual recently?"

Su Yuntian asked with an open mind.

Pang Jian grilled his fish, his expression indifferent as he replied, "Not long ago, giant withered bones fell from the sky one after another. After that, there were..."

He looked toward the shattered remains of the golden carriage and said, "Shortly after, I saw this carriage, a massive sailing ship, and a White Tower sink down."

"Deep in the mountains, there was a period where the earth shook and the mountains swayed, and the beasts roared all day long. I only returned to hunt once everything had calmed down."

Hearing this, Su Yuntian and He Rong exchanged a glance.

Suddenly, a crisp eagle cry rang out from above their heads. Everyone looked up to see a dark gray eagle circling overhead.

The dark gray eagle gazed down at the group with a strange look, its eyes frequently darting toward Pang Jian.

It flew back and forth in mid-air, as if observing Pang Jian from different angles, seemingly trying to confirm something with precision.

Pang Jian grew annoyed by its gaze. Just as he thought to draw his bow and shoot the peculiar eagle, he suddenly remembered that his usual bow and arrows had been discarded outside the Blackwater Pool.

After flapping its wings above them for a while, the eagle turned and headed toward the other side of the mountain.

"Young brother, if you don't mind, why don't you act as our guide?"

Once the eagle had departed, Su Yuntian extended an invitation, smiling as he said, "We are unfamiliar with the Cenji Mountains and have only just arrived. I am willing to pay for your services."

Pang Jian, having finished roasting several fish, was already tucking in. He mumbled vaguely, "I'll consider it."

On the other side of the mountain.

Blackwater Pool.

Luo Hongyan, possessing Ning Yao, suddenly closed her eyes. She connected her divine sense with the circling eagle, observing the world below through its multi-angled perspective.

A moment later, she hummed softly, "Found you."

Behind her, a gray shadow, clearer than that of Luo Meng, floated silently—it was none other than Hong Tai of the Dark Ghosts.

This Dark Ghost leader, who had reached the Xisui Realm, had fallen into her clutches. She had extracted his living soul to refine into a "Spirit Sha," turning him into a slave at her beck and call.

"That brat never left the Blackwater Pool, yet he emerged from the lake on the other side, which means there is a secret passage at the bottom of the pool."

"I just don't know if that Dark Giant Python, which only possesses a beast soul, is with him."

Gazing at the Blackwater Pool, Luo Hongyan mused that since Pang Jian had left, perhaps the "Dark Giant Python" that came from the Fifth Realm had gone with him.

Luo Hongyan, intent on exploring the Blackwater Pool, weighed her options and sighed, "The Phoenix Marrow was all absorbed into the Bronze Gate by that brat. Only the skeleton of the Dark Giant Python remains underwater, and I cannot take it with me."

She promptly dismissed the thought.

A while later, her eyes brightened slightly as a brilliant new idea occurred to her.

Dressed in a red gown, she appeared as a spiritual entity within Ning Yao's sea of consciousness, looking at the dim, hazy figure of Ning Yao, who was imprisoned in the shadows.

"Little girl Ning, tell me everything about your situation carefully. Don't force me to extract it through soul-searching. I intend to use this body of yours for a while longer, and I hope you will cooperate."

"If I have to search your soul, it will not be whole afterward. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

She threatened with a smile.

The illusory, blurred figure of Ning Yao flickered like a candle in the wind, trembling as she asked, "What do you want to know?"

"Everything that happened after you met that brat."

Half an hour later, the circling eagle flew back.

Luo Hongyan looked at the cloth bag that Pang Jian had discarded when he ended his employment contract with Ning Yao. She smiled, crouched down, and picked it up.

In Ning Yao's body, she landed on the eagle and smiled enchantingly. "I shall make use of this bag of silver again."

The eagle took flight abruptly.

Several "Spirit Sha," such as Hong Tai and Luo Meng, transformed into drifting clusters of gray mist, following the soaring eagle toward the other side of the high mountain.

Crescent Moon Lake.

Having eaten and drunk his fill, Pang Jian stepped on the fish bones on the ground, placed the oil, salt, and matches back where they belonged, and covered them with grass leaves.

He then stood up, clutching his Dragon-Patterned Spear, and said coldly, "I should be going."

He had rejected Su Yuntian's invitation.

He now knew that He Rong and Su Yuntian indeed hailed from the two lowest-ranked families among the Seven Great Clans, and the direction these two families intended to travel was precisely toward the Blackwater Pool on the other side of the mountain.

—He had no intention of returning to the Blackwater Pool.

In the bamboo basket on his back, there were plenty of spirit stones for his cultivation. He would never starve in the Cenji Mountains, and he had no pressing need for money at the moment.

He only wanted to distance himself from the crowd and find a place to test his body, which had been tempered a second time by the Phoenix Marrow.

With the Su Family and He Family nearby, it was inconvenient for him to do anything.

"Very well, we won't force you. By the way, since you were fishing under the lake, why did you turn a blind eye to the shattered pieces of that Golden Chariot?" Su Yuntian asked with a look of regret.

Pang Jian replied, "I didn't think anyone would come by, so I figured I would inspect the gold after I caught some fish and had my fill. Since you have arrived, I have no further thoughts on the matter; I wouldn't be able to compete with you for them anyway."

Su Yuntian chuckled, "You lad are certainly not greedy, and you know when to advance or retreat."

He gave a soft shout, summoning an old servant, and had the servant hand a pouch to Pang Jian, saying with a smile, "Just some loose silver, consider it payment for the information you provided. Once you leave the Cenji Mountains, silver... will still be of some use to you."

Pang Jian was somewhat surprised, but he did not politely decline. After taking it, he said, "Until we meet again."

After he left, the people from the Su Family and He Family remained at Crescent Moon Lake.

Following his example, they also went down into Crescent Moon Lake to catch fish, even using the firewood Pang Jian had left behind to cook them.

As the group sat around the fire roasting fish and eating happily, a woman suddenly arrived alone, shouting from afar, "Where is Pang Jian?"

"Ning Yao!"