Tale of an Ordinary Cultivator

“What are you smiling at, you disrespectful brat?” Cha obviously did not sound too happy.

“Greetings, Senior Cha,” Zhao Yunxiao quickly took a deep bow.

“Save it! Your fake pleasantries won’t work on me!” Cha snapped while crossing its long whiskers.

“What’s wrong, Senior Cha? Did I offend you somehow?” Zhao Yunxiao asked in confusion.

“Did you offend me somehow? Why don’t you ask yourself that?” Cha narrowed its eyes at Zhao Yunxiao. “What did you say to that elder of yours after leaving the main hall just now?”

“What did I say?” Zhao Yunxiao blinked blankly as he tried to think back to what happened earlier.

When they were in the main hall, this crazy sea serpent made him do all sorts of mad stuff like giving guidance to the elders of the sect.

After leaving the main hall, he had pretended to faint and...

“Ah!” Zhao Yunxiao finally understood what Cha was unhappy about.

With a single hint dropped by Zhao Yunxiao, He Luoxuan was able to instantly identify Cha’s involvement. But seeing that He Luoxuan was praising Cha a little too much, Zhao Yunxiao could not help but correct him a little.

To think that this sea serpent was still spying on them after they left the main hall...!

“Finally remember what you did wrong?” Cha scoffed. “What was it you said? I give you the feeling of something sinister and selfish? What? I am likely to kidnap innocents or use the sect resources to satisfy my own whims and wishes? Are you kidding me?”

“Well, maybe not sinister, but selfish...” Zhao Yunxiao muttered under his breath.

“I didn’t quite hear you. Say that louder?” Cha narrowed its eyes at Zhao Yunxiao.

“I mean, you did make me do plenty of things against my wishes, Senior Cha...” Zhao Yunxiao defiantly answered, though he dared not raise his voice.

“Bah! Foolish kid! You don’t even know that I am helping you leave a deeper impression on your own elder!” Cha said. “Or do you want to stay an outer disciple forever?”

“Of course not, but this is a little overboard!” Zhao Yunxiao retorted. “How can you make me, a mere attendant, give advice to Sect Leader Dan?!”

“What’s wrong? Didn’t things turn out well in the end?” Cha shrugged.

“They are thinking that I am a future core disciple of the Black Tortoise Sect now!” Zhao Yunxiao complained. “The punishment for pretending to be a core disciple is crazy!”

“Bah! What’s the big deal about being a core disciple of the Black Tortoise Sect anyway?” Cha sneered. “Who cares about pretending to be something like that?”

Zhao Yunxiao: “...”

It was impossible to reason with animals.

“You are thinking about something very rude right now, aren’t you?” Cha asked.

“Of course not, Senior Cha,” Zhao Yunxiao quickly shook his head. “In any case, may I know the reason for your presence tonight?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Cha shrugged. “Tonight will be your last night here at the Origin Lake Sect, so this generous senior is here to bring you to go have some fun!”

“Thank you for your kind thoughts, Senior. But I am tired from the day’s events and would like to rest,” Zhao Yunxiao politely declined.

He had an especially bad feeling about this sea serpent’s idea of having fun.

“What are you even tired from? Eating good food?” Cha scoffed.

“Elder He’s cultivation lecture was full of profundities, requiring one to-”

“Bah! Enough nonsense!” Cha interrupted and flicked one of its whiskers.

What happened next was familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time.

The air around Zhao Yunxiao started twisting, forming into two translucent pillars just like how Cha had taken form earlier.

These two pillars immediately wrapped around Zhao Yunxiao like translucent limbs, feeling extremely solid as they coiled around him, turning into a casing of air around him.

Zhao Yunxiao: “...”

His eyes glazed over as he could already guess what was about to happen.

And his guess was one hundred percent on the mark.

Wrapped tightly in the casing of air, Zhao Yunxiao felt himself being lifted off the ground.

The window was flung open, and Zhao Yunxiao shot out of his room like a released arrow.

It was the exact same experience as what happened last night.

Well, perhaps it was not exactly the same.

At the very least, Zhao Yunxiao was feeling relieved that he still had his clothes on this time...

And perhaps it was because he had experienced the descent, his ascent into the skies no longer felt as scary as before.

Zhao Yunxiao calmly looked around at the ground far beneath his feet.

From afar, he could see that there were still some disciples enjoying what was left of the banquet back at the open square near the main hall.

Apart from that, there were few disciples who were still out and about.

That was understandable as well.

After enjoying a full night of celebrations, it was only natural to wish to retire for the night and have a good rest.

That was what Zhao Yunxiao had intended to do as well. Unfortunately, he had that option forcibly robbed from him.

“So, where are we going this time, Senior Cha?” Zhao Yunxiao asked.

“Origin Lake,” Cha did not hide it from him.

“Again?”

“Are you complaining?”

“Of course not, Senior Cha,” Zhao Yunxiao quickly denied.

“Don’t worry, we won’t be going to my home this time,” Cha explained. “Instead, I will be showing you the true mysteries of the Origin Lake!”

Zhao Yunxiao could not help but raise his eyebrows in surprise.

He stopped complaining, and even felt a sense of anticipation well up in his heart.

It should be apparent just from how similar the names were, but the Origin Lake was considered the greatest asset of the Origin Lake Sect.

The last time he was there, Zhao Yunxiao could clearly sense just how dense the world origin energy was in its surroundings.

That alone was already a sight worth seeing.

If he could be further introduced to the actual mysteries behind the Origin Lake, it would surely be an extremely beneficial experience!

Just like that, the duo flew through the sky while following the exact same path as the night before, heading straight towards the depths of the Origin Lake Sect territory where the Origin Lake lay.

It did not take long before the familiar sight of the Origin Lake appeared before them.

It was as beautiful as Zhao Yunxiao remembered it to be, giving off an inexplicable allure that drew one in like a spell.

“Let’s go!” Cha said.

Its words marked the start of the descent.

Even though Zhao Yunxiao had already experienced this last night, it was still a scary experience to feel himself plunging straight down from the sky.

Nevertheless, his resistance to the fear of freefalling seemed to have increased due to the previous experience, and he no longer felt the urge to scream in horror.

What he did instead was to hold his breath, preparing for the impending splash that would come when they enter the water.

But this splash never came.

Instead of entering the lake itself, Zhao Yunxiao found himself stopping by the shore of the lake this time.

The casing of air stopped just centimetres off of the ground before disappearing, dropping him gently onto the soft grass.

“We are not going in this time?” Zhao Yunxiao asked in surprise.

“What? Addicted to how majestic my home looks?” Cha smirked. “Too bad for you, but you won’t get to see it this time!”

“Y-Yeah...” Zhao Yunxiao forced a smile.

While he could not deny the fact that the palace beneath the lake was extraordinary, he definitely was not feeling too regretful about not being able to visit again.

After all, his memories of the place were a little less dignified than he would have liked, specifically because of his dress-up back then.

“Too bad, but you aren’t getting the opportunity again,” Cha answered in triumph. “But don’t worry. Let this senior introduce you to something that is almost just as amazing.”

“The Origin Lake?” Zhao Yunxiao asked.

“That’s right!” Cha answered. “Look around you. What do you see?”

Zhao Yunxiao took a good look around as he was told.

It was already late into the night, but Zhao Yunxiao could still see everything clearly under the illumination of the stars.

The surface of the Origin Lake was calm and serene, giving off a pristine beauty as it reflected the stars above.

The grass on the lake shore was lush and soft, filled with a strong sense of vitality.

Zhao Yunxiao had no doubt that the view here would have been even more amazing in the day, when he could use the lake as a natural mirror to gaze at the sky dome.

But apart from all that, the most astonishing point about this place was still the unnaturally high density of world origin energy.

It was to the extent that Zhao Yunxiao had to consciously resist the urge to just sit down and meditate, taking full advantage of this environment to push his cultivation forward!

“Why is the density of world origin energy so high here?” Zhao Yunxiao could not help but ask.

“You have touched on the most important point,” Cha nodded in satisfaction. “Before I answer, let me ask you this. Do you think the Origin Lake existed first, or do you think the Origin Lake Sect existed first?”

“The Origin Lake,” Zhao Yunxiao answered confidently.

It was said that the Origin Lake Sect only existed because of the Origin Lake.

Had it not been for the Origin Lake, there was no way that the Origin Lake Sect would ever have the resources or capabilities to rise up as an influential faction.

Since that was the case, the Origin Lake naturally had to exist first.

“That’s where you are wrong,” Cha corrected him with a smug smile. “Before the establishment of the Origin Lake Sect, this is nothing but an ordinary lake.”

“Is that so?” Zhao Yunxiao gave Cha the side-eye.

“I have a feeling that you are thinking about something very rude right now,” Cha narrowed its eyes at Zhao Yunxiao.

“Of course not, Senior Cha,” Zhao Yunxiao quickly shook his head.

“You better not be,” Cha cautioned. “In any case, take a closer look at the edge of the water.”

The edge of the water?

Zhao Yunxiao took a few steps closer to the water and looked down at where the water was splashing against the shore.

Now that he paid closer attention, there seemed to be something engraved into the shore?

Zhao Yunxiao extended his spiritual sense to probe the spot further, and finally discovered what it was.

It was an extremely small rune – no bigger than the size of a fingernail – which was why Zhao Yunxiao had missed it earlier.

The rune was of an archaic character that Zhao Yunxiao did not recognise, but he had a feeling that this single word actually contained inexplicable mysteries within.

Could it be?

Zhao Yunxiao extended his spiritual sense to probe the entire shore, or at least as far as he could.

One by one, he started to notice them.

There were countless runes along the entire shore, each engraved a fixed distance from the one before.

Every rune was of a different character as well, though they all bore similar traits that seemed to belong to an archaic age.

When he paid closer attention, he could even sense that each of these runes seemed to be giving off weak pulses of energy, the rhythm almost resembling that of a heart beating.

“An energy gathering array?” Zhao Yunxiao asked in an uncertain manner.

That was the first thought that came to his mind.

However, that was an almost baseless guess, purely by considering the state of the Origin Lake right now.

Zhao Yunxiao had quite an extensive knowledge of arrays too, and he simply did not recognise this style of setting up an array.

Rather than carefully setting up array nodes as the foundation to form an array, this felt more like an array was formed before being made to conform to the existing array nodes.

But that was something that went against the basic nature of arrays!

“It seems that you’ve already realised something?” Cha revealed a look of surprise. “Not bad. Are you actually an array master?”

“I’m not an array master by any measure, but I do employ arrays as part of my means sometimes,” Zhao Yunxiao said absent-mindedly while continuing to examine the runes. “So, an array can be done this way as well...”

“Curious, aren’t you?” Cha grinned in triumph. “You were complaining a lot earlier, but what do you think right now? How about begging this great senior to give you some guidance as well?”