Miracle at the Bottom of the Lake

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Splash! Wang Yan felt his entire body submerged in the freezing lake water, slowly sinking toward the bottom. His consciousness began to blur. Layers of murky red swirled before his eyes, and his vision grew hazy...

Suddenly, Wang Yan remembered. His dantian had been pierced. That blood-red substance was his own blood.

Yes... my dantian is gone! Wang Yan murmured inwardly in utter despair.

Suddenly, a little strength seemed to return to him.

His hands struggled involuntarily.

But only two or three times.

Even if I survive, what would it matter? Naturally, Wang Yan knew how important the dantian was. It was not merely a cultivator's life, but also the most vital wellspring where magical power gathered. With it destroyed, his fate was all but sealed. Even if he lived, he would never again have a place among cultivators.

He could only become an ordinary mortal. Without strength, without magical power, what meaning was there in staying alive?

Without magical power! Strength! Magical power! In this world, he would be nothing but a lamb awaiting slaughter... with no chance to turn his fate around for the rest of his life.

Wang Yan seemed to lose all strength in both body and spirit. His will to fight vanished completely, and his breathing grew weaker and weaker. From losing so much blood... his entire body grew colder... and he sank slowly toward the lakebed, deeper and deeper, heavier and heavier...

Everything before his eyes grew darker, and his consciousness blurred completely.

Father... Mother... your son is coming to see you! Wang Yan's final thought was of the parents he had never met. Perhaps going to another world was for the best. He could finally see the father and mother whose faces he had never known.

Gurgle! As a staggering amount of blood poured from his abdomen, even the surface of the lake began to turn red and murky...

Meanwhile.

Rustle! Beneath the cliff, a youth dug up that century-old Green Shade Grass... He muttered to himself, "Heh... if not for this century-old Green Shade Grass, I wouldn't have bothered killing you bastards...!" As he spoke, he carefully put the herb away. Then he glanced toward the little lake and said coldly, "Hmph... there's not much time left. It's all that damned Wang Yan's fault! He wasted so much of my time!" With that, red light flashed beneath his feet, and he sped down toward the cliff ahead.

Before long, he reached the cliff and descended at an astonishing speed.

Yet.

The instant the youth left...

Hum! Hum! Hum! The little lake atop the mountain suddenly rippled, threads of five-colored spiritual light spreading in waves through its green waters.

The blood that had stained the lake red seemed to be pulled by some force. It slowly began circling, spiraling down toward the bottom.

Meanwhile.

On the pitch-dark lakebed lay a round stone the size of a human head, covered in countless deposits of sludge and waterweed. Clearly, it had lain there for who knew how many years.

Cracks seemed to have opened in the stone, and specks of five-colored spiritual light shone from within. A strange suction seemed to arise, drawing the crimson blood in the lake into those cracks in a ceaseless torrent. The light pierced all the way to the surface, where threads of five-colored radiance shone through the water, wondrously beautiful...

Wang Yan's body was drawn over as well. He rolled over and landed facedown on the stone.

Suddenly.

Crack! Crack! Crack! An astonishing series of fractures burst across the strange stone. Dazzling five-colored spiritual light illuminated almost the entire lakebed, while the water above surged like winds rising and clouds gathering.

Snap! With a muffled burst, the strange stone shattered completely. Inside it was something square... shaped...

No! It should have been described as a triangular piece of metal, shaped like a red crescent moon.

Countless mysterious, profoundly intricate Five-Colored Spiritual Light Runes covered the gemstone. All the blood in the lake kept flowing into it, and the five-colored radiance it emitted grew increasingly intense.

Yet.

Wang Yan had already lost consciousness completely and noticed none of these strange events. Only the wound in his abdomen continued pouring out blood, which surged into the gemstone... It was nearly draining his entire body dry. If this went on, it would be a miracle if he did not die...

Yet.

A miraculous scene unfolded.

There!

Crack! The triangular gemstone, gleaming red, suddenly flashed with spiritual light. Countless tiny metal tendrils, as slender as chopsticks, actually sprouted from it. Then it began wriggling on the lakebed.

"What's going on? Who found me?" an exceedingly cute voice asked gravely. The triangular red metal gemstone actually spoke human words. Its tendrils squirmed, and it suddenly seemed to notice Wang Yan. Utterly astonished, it said, "Huh? Was it this person?" With that, the tendrils on the gemstone paddled rapidly like hands and feet, propelling it toward Wang Yan's body. Like a tiny crab, it fastened itself directly over the wound in his abdomen.

"Tsk! This fellow... his dantian has actually been destroyed. How pitiful. Killed at such a young age-what a shame. He's only a kid who just started cultivating. Poor thing!" the triangular red metal gemstone murmured to itself. Suddenly, as though discovering something else, it cried out, "Oh no! Don't tell me this dead fellow was the one whose blood just bound me as his master?"

Even as it spoke.

Gurgle! The triangular gemstone seemed somewhat anxious. Its metal tendrils writhed madly, and three or four curled outward. Amid continuous flashes of spiritual light, they lengthened toward Wang Yan's heart and forehead.

"Now I'm done for! This kid is actually dying? Doesn't that mean I'll have to fall asleep again too?" the triangular gemstone said anxiously. Then it shouted, "Hey, hey! Don't die! I don't even know your name yet!"

It would have been better if the triangular gemstone had not shouted.

But with that shout!

Splash! An astonishing sound wave rippled outward, instantly shaking the lake water and surging in every direction. It actually blasted the water away to create a pocket of vacuum, sending the entire little lake into violent upheaval.

Yet.

Pfft! came a muffled sound. Already unconscious, how could Wang Yan withstand such a tremendous sonic shock? His whole body shuddered violently, his face contorted, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. His condition grew even worse. His fingers twitched, then suddenly went still.

"Hey! You can't die! I don't even know you yet, you damned fellow! A heaven-sent opportunity has come your way!" Treasure Mountain said anxiously, then hurriedly shut its mouth. Its tendrils writhed frantically, shaking Wang Yan... but he remained motionless, his breathing almost entirely gone.

"Hey, hey! You can't die! If you die, I'll have to spend tens of millions more years at the bottom of this lake! Empty, lonely, and cold!" Treasure Mountain sounded almost ready to cry. Though it called out with the air of an old elder, its voice was exceedingly cute, like a child's. Still, it truly sounded heartbroken.

But Wang Yan had been drugged, then stabbed through the dantian and left to lose far too much blood. After that, he had been thrown into the lake, and the triangular gemstone had added frost to the snow by striking him with a sound wave. It was already a miracle that he had not died on the spot.

"Hey! Wake up! You fellow! A heaven-sent opportunity has come your way! With me, attaining the Dao and becoming an immortal will be just around the corner!" The triangular gemstone shook Wang Yan and called out repeatedly, unwilling to give up. But he showed no response at all. Instead, more and more threads of blood seeped from the wound in his abdomen.

"It's no use. This fellow definitely won't make it. I don't know whether you're the unlucky one or I am!" Seeing this, even Treasure Mountain seemed discouraged, muttering in utter helplessness.

"That's right!" The triangular gemstone suddenly seemed to remember something. Looking at the wound in Wang Yan's abdomen, it murmured, "If I could repair his wound, then add the spiritual energy of heaven and earth I've accumulated over all these years... but that would mean giving this fellow that thing... Ah! Fine. I don't want to sleep for another few tens of millions of years!" With that.

The triangular gemstone seemed to make up its mind.

Hum! Hum! Hum! Amid an astonishing flicker of spiritual light, the triangular gemstone suddenly extended even more metal tendrils. These, however, were finer, as delicate as strands of hair.

Pfft! Pfft! Blood splattered as all those metal tendrils plunged into the wound in Wang Yan's abdomen. Countless tendrils then bored into his belly, immediately stemming the flow of blood.

Thud! With a muffled sound, the entire triangular gemstone embedded itself in Wang Yan's abdomen. Most of it burrowed inside, leaving only a small portion exposed.

Then.

Gurgle! An astonishing surge of five-colored spiritual light pulsed along the meridians throughout Wang Yan's body.

Wang Yan's entire body seemed to become transparent. Countless blood vessels and meridians shone with astonishing five-colored spiritual light, and his whole form blazed with radiance...

Wang Yan felt as though he were having a beautiful dream.

He dreamed that he was swimming through an endless expanse of wonderfully warm water. Waves of five-colored spiritual light filled the space around him, incomparably beautiful.

At the far end of that five-colored radiance, two tall figures seemed to be waiting for him, carrying a warm and familiar presence.

Faint echoes reverberated through the void.

"This little fellow is a boy. Dear, what do you think of calling him Yan? Mountain above, stone below-standing tall between heaven and earth like a mountain, tough and unassuming like stone. How does that sound?"

"Whatever you say!"

"Little Yan! You're a boy, so you mustn't cry!"

"Little Yan! Come let Mother hold you!"

"Come... Little Yan...!"

"Come here... Little Yan!"

"...!"

Hearing those warm calls, Wang Yan felt an incomparable familiarity and longing. He could not help swimming faster toward the figures. Two pairs of large, exceedingly gentle hands reached out to embrace him, and he threw himself toward them involuntarily.

But just then.

Gurgle! Water surged, and countless enormous metal tendrils suddenly broke through it, curling straight toward Wang Yan. As he swam, the countless tendrils wrapped around him and slowly dragged him away. He grew farther and farther away, and those two tall figures vanished...

"No!!" Wang Yan could not help crying out...

"No!!" Wang Yan's eyes flew open, and he abruptly sat up.

Above him, stars dotted the sky, and the moon hung high...

He was beside a little lake.

"This is...!" Wang Yan froze, hardly able to believe it. He looked at the sky, then glanced around, utterly bewildered.

Suddenly.

"Right! Wang Ziling!" As though remembering something, Wang Yan sprang up from the ground and cried out. Recalling what had happened before, he reached for the weapon on his back. But there was no weapon there. His heart tightened, and he immediately remembered. Right! My dantian! With that thought, he reached toward his lower abdomen, where his dantian lay, only to touch something hard.

Startled, he lowered his head to look. Where that bastard had stabbed through his dantian, there was now a tiny triangular piece of red metal, about the size of two fingers. His abdomen did not hurt either. It was as though the little metal piece had grown into his dantian. But Wang Yan was certain this was no dream...

Because the tear in his clothing where Wang Ziling had stabbed through his dantian was still there...

His short-sword magical artifact and all his medicinal herbs were gone.

"What happened to me?" Wang Yan murmured in confusion. He could not understand it. His dantian had already been pierced, so how was he still alive and well? And what was this strange thing that had appeared on him?