Upon hearing Wang Ping’s question, Hu Qianqian’s two fluffy ears twitched. She cupped her fists and said, "The center of Baisui Lake is filled with ample cold energy, making it the perfect place for me to absorb the Sun and Moon Qi."

"Are you aware that Baisui Lake is my Dao Field?" Wang Ping asked, looking at the fox’s face before him with some amusement.

Hu Qianqian detected the warning in Wang Ping’s tone. Her ears flattened back before she spoke. "I can join Qianmu Temple..." She quickly added, "I’m very powerful."

"Are you as powerful as me?" Yu Lian spoke in a human voice.

"Er... you’re already an adult, so I can’t defeat you. But in fifty years at most, I’ll be able to form a Fake Pill. By then, you..." Hu Qianqian’s words tumbled out faster and faster, and she barely managed to bite her tongue.

Swallowing the words ’will be no match for me,’ she composed herself and formally bowed to Wang Ping with cupped fists. "I truly need that precious land. I... I can enter your tutelage."

At her words, Wang Ping raised an eyebrow. Just as he was about to speak, he felt a sudden premonition and extended his fingers to perform a divination. He calculated for a long while but came to no conclusion.

Hu Qianqian continued, "I’ve observed that Wudao Prefecture and Shang’an Prefecture are often troubled by Little Demons. I can help you restrain the Wild Demons of the mountains and forests, and I can also command them to mine ore and chop trees for you. As for the Water Demons of Baisui Lake, I can command them to rebuild the destroyed Lake Heart Island."

She had come prepared.

Wang Ping sank into thought. It wasn’t uncommon for major sects to accept disciples from the Demon Race. Besides, any member of the Demon Race acknowledged by the Daoist Scripture Hall would inherently align with the principles of the Taoist Family.

’I think we can accept her,’ Yu Lian communicated within Wang Ping’s Spirit Sea. ’Her emotions are filled with goodwill, though they are a bit erratic.’

Wang Ping didn’t mind taking on another nominal disciple, but...

He too could see that Hu Qianqian was a bit flighty. Although she appeared very proper and quiet at the moment, trying her best to present the image of a perfectly behaved child, her tone and subconscious movements gave her away.

’I’m worried about the karmic entanglements that would come with accepting a Fox Demon like her...’

"You will be temporarily registered under my tutelage to help me look after the Baisui Lake Dojo. As for the Demon Race in Shang’an Prefecture and Wudao Prefecture... you are not to interfere. That is the business of the Daoist Scripture Hall. If you wish to capture some Little Demons for your service, do not exceed one hundred."

Before Hu Qianqian could even express her joy, Wang Ping knocked on the Stone Table. "All of this is contingent on one thing: you must tell the truth."

’How did you know she was lying?’ Yu Lian asked curiously in his Spirit Sea. ’I didn’t notice at all.’

’A guess!’

’How?’

’Doesn’t this whole thing seem strange to you?’

’What’s strange about it?’

’She’s a member of the Demon Race on the verge of forming a Fake Pill, one who’s even been acknowledged by the Daoist Scripture Hall. For her to want to enter my tutelage right from the start... no matter how you look at it, it’s bizarre!’

Hu Qianqian, of course, was unaware of the exchange between Wang Ping and Yu Lian. She was taken aback by Wang Ping’s words, her fluffy ears twitching once more. She cupped her fists and said, "This Little Demon only wishes to focus on her cultivation in the center of Baisui Lake."

"Why?"

"The aura of energy at the bottom of the lake... it feels just like the Snowfield."

Wang Ping was startled.

Hu Qianqian saw Wang Ping’s surprise and asked, "Daoist... you didn’t know?"

Wang Ping had visited Baisui Lake several times, curious as to how it had created a Third Realm Cultivator like Bai Zhuo—even as it had also trapped him.

But every time, he had returned empty-handed, unable to discover anything.

"Should we go take another look?" Yu Lian said aloud, drawing Hu Qianqian’s attention.

"Very well. You bring her!"

With that, Wang Ping stood up. He first retrieved the Purgatory Banner from the window of the woodworking workshop, then took two golden Longswords for Yu Lian. Finally, after casting one last divination, he channeled his True Essence and soared into the air.

As he flew over the front hall, Wang Ping sent a mid-air voice transmission to Yang Hou, instructing him to investigate Hu Qianqian’s background in detail.

...

「A little over two hours later.」

Wang Ping landed in the center of Baisui Lake. In the years since the treasured spot in the lake’s center had been destroyed, it had been filled in to create a small island of about half an acre. A large hall was built in the middle of the island, where ten disciples were normally stationed to manage the lake’s fishing yield.

"Grandmaster!"

A sharp-eyed disciple spotted Wang Ping and immediately rose to bow. Wang Ping waved them off. Just then, Yu Lian descended from the sky with Hu Qianqian, prompting the nearby disciples to withdraw at once.

Now back on the ground, Hu Qianqian seemed nervous, her hand repeatedly reaching up to smooth the fur on her ears.

"Where’s the thing you were talking about?" Yu Lian was even more impatient than Wang Ping.

"It’s at the bottom of the lake..."

After composing herself, Hu Qianqian stretched out her hand and traced a strange pattern in the air. A faint blue line of light, formed of Spiritual Qi, coiled around her fingers. The line connected to the surface of the lake nearby and stretched down toward the bottom.

Yu Lian said impatiently, "I’ll go down and take a look first!"

With that, her body suddenly expanded. She flipped twice in mid-air before plunging headfirst into the lake water...

The time it takes for an incense stick to burn passed quickly. The blue line of light connected to the lakebed suddenly doubled in brightness. The surface of the lake began to tremble. In the next moment, Yu Lian’s massive body burst from the water. She landed before Wang Ping and Hu Qianqian, shaking the water from her Scale Armor, and spoke:

"There’s something big down there. Really big. It’s buried deep in the mud. I scanned it with my divine soul. It feels like a monster’s corpse... no, more like a skeleton. It’s huge, so huge I don’t know how to describe it. Quick, get out a piece of paper..."

Wang Ping obliged, taking a piece of paper from his storage bag. He watched as Yu Lian used Water Spirit Qi to draw on it while explaining, "This skeleton takes up half the floor of Baisui Lake. It’s freezing to the touch, like... like... well, it’s just really, really cold."

Hu Qianqian said, "It must be some unknown, ancient behemoth. After I discovered the situation at Baisui Lake, I made a special trip to the Daoist Scripture Hall to research its history but found no relevant records in the Daoist Canon. The cold it radiates is a law bestowed by the heavens and the earth. Under this law, it is gradually forming a unique type of energy field. I need to borrow its cold energy to form my Fake Pill."

"Someone used it to break through to a new realm before, and it ended with him being unable to ever leave Baisui Lake!" Yu Lian reminded her.

Hu Qianqian nodded. "I know. You’re talking about Bai Zhuo, the former Grandmaster of the White Water Sect, aren’t you? My guess is that he fused with that energy, causing his divine soul to become bound to the skeleton at the bottom of the lake. He’d go mad if he ever tried to leave. I’m not going to fuse with it; I just want to make use of the environment it has altered."

"I want to go down and have a look," Wang Ping said, turning to Yu Lian. "How is your Water Control Technique? Baisui Lake is too vast; the Water Separation Technique I learned is completely useless here."

"With the two of you, I should be able to hold out for about eight minutes."

"That’s enough."

"Then let’s go."

Yu Lian coiled around Wang Ping, and their Qi Seas instantly connected. A ring of waves swirled around them as they plunged into the lake.

「Beneath the lake.」

Yu Lian’s water control opened up a dry space around them. With a point of his finger, Wang Ping illuminated the area with Spiritual Qi, and they began their rapid descent toward the lakebed.

Soon, Wang Ping spotted a black-and-white piece of bone embedded in the mud. Just as Yu Lian had described, the cold here was bone-chilling.

Wang Ping immediately condensed his divine soul. The instant it manifested, a piercing shriek tried to tear through it.

Having already prepared for this, Wang Ping was unfazed. He extended his divine soul’s perception to make contact with the bone. Soon, a gargantuan skeleton appeared within his mind’s eye. Before it, a human was as insignificant as an ant.

Upon perceiving the skeleton’s full form, an instinctual fear welled up within Wang Ping, and he immediately severed the mental connection.

’What on earth was this region like in ancient times?’

He murmured to himself.