“Onyx Lake?” Qiu Bai scratched his chin thoughtfully. “I almost forgot there was one outside the forbidden zone.
“But it’s only a level two Onyx Lake, meant for- ah.”
Jiang Qing’e wanted to send Li Luo in to improve himself.
Qiu Bai and Tian Tian exchanged a doubtful shrug. Clearly, this whole excursion had been planned for the sake of one silver-haired pretty-boy.
Even they were starting to feel jealous. Even though they were engaged, Jiang Qing’e was going way beyond anything a fiancée would do now.
Perhaps she had already given up on getting first place from the start. With burdens number one, two, and three tagging along, their purging effectiveness would not be as high.
Still, they weren’t going to object. Jiang Qing’e was the main engine driving the Black Swan Squad. They both owed her too much for past glories, and they were willing to give up this one.
“What’s this Onyx Lake?” Li Luo asked.
“Remember that the Umbra Cave is the limbo between two worlds, much like the Nobles’ Battlefield, although weaker?” Jiang Qing’e said. “The Umbra Cave functions differently from the world outside, most notably in the presence of the dark tide, which scrambles and twists the natural order of energy. But nature has a way of reasserting itself. For every poison, an antidote naturally arises. In the Umbra Cave, such special places exist, and the Onyx Lakes are one of them.
“There is actually no lake water in the Onyx Lake. Instead, it’s filled with worldly natural energy that is condensed into liquid form. The theory is that the dark tide chases the worldly natural energy away, and it then flees into these lakes.
“It’s the only good place in the Umbra Cave. If one can fully submerge themselves, the cultivation benefits are substantial, especially the first time. If you are strong enough, it might raise your cultivation by a tier. A while back, I managed a breakthrough myself.”
“Ah, Leader,” Tian Tian interrupted. “As far as we know, there aren’t more than five people in the entire history of the Astral Sage College who managed a breakthrough the first time,” she chided. “Still, of course it’s worth a visit.”
“Won’t the detour slow down our purging speed?” Li Luo asked. “We can always go after we’re done, right?” He felt that Jiang Qing’e was running this purging mission however she wished, and her teammates were just along for the ride.
It was bad enough that Jiang Qing’e was dedicating all her time to him. Bringing her two teammates along for the ride felt doubly bad, especially since they could have won first place otherwise.
“Onyx Lakes have a finite amount of energy,” Qiu Bai said lightly. “If we go too late, other students might have used it all. Anyways, don’t worry about it,” he said, waving a hand indifferently. “We owe our leader too much. It’s time to pay some of it back.”
They were good friends indeed.
Bai Mengmeng and Xin Fu didn’t say a word, but they knew who was boss now. They just had to hop on their leader’s coattails, who was hopping on Senior Jiang’s coattails, and they would ride the coattails’ coattails to glory…
“Why is the forbidden zone forbidden, anyway? Super strong Others?” Li Luo asked curiously.
Jiang Qing’e shook her head. “No Others exist in the forbidden zone.”
What? Then why on earth was it forbidden?
“Not only Others exist in the Umbra Cave. There are also spirit beasts. They somehow entered the Umbra Cave from the outside world and then got trapped here. They are strong to have survived, but they have been driven mad by the dark tide. They are feral and savage, eating humans and Others alike.
“There is one Heavenly Dipper General-class spirit beast in this forbidden zone, and there are suspicions that it’s actually even stronger than that. Possibly even a Duke-class.”
No wonder it was a forbidden zone. With such a monster around, not even the Others would show up.
“The school has sent Violet Vibrance mentors to stamp it out before, but the beast is adept at camouflage. It lays low when it senses stronger presences, and it knows the terrain too well. The Violet Vibrance mentors were stumped.
“Fortunately, it doesn’t wander out of the forbidden zone. We simply have to avoid rousing it, and it will leave us alone.”
Li Luo nodded. This spirit beast was probably the baddest boss around. Best leave it alone.
Route explained, Jiang Qing’e packed up and led the way forward.
They hastened along the road.
As they traveled, they encountered all sorts of Others, but they were too low level to be anything remarkable.
Jiang Qing’e had explained that the Others’ corruptive abilities were still present even in the weakest of foes. Many careless students had fallen after rampaging through the weak Others, ending up as mindless killing machines themselves.
They had to maintain a pure heart throughout, allowing no evil in.
Still, the Others they saw were not even Eroding Class, and Li Luo and the others didn’t have to lift a finger.
Finally, they climbed a small hill to find a dead forest ahead. From amidst the ebony branches, a single white tower could be seen.
The black mist was especially dense around the forest.
The haunting whispers were especially loud as well.
“That’s our first target.” Jiang Qing’e pointed.
The three newcomers were worried. They could sense the dangers ahead.
As expected, the area around the purification tower would be the most dangerous.
“Are we going in now?” Li Luo’s hands were getting itchy from not having done any work in a while.
Jiang Qing’e leaned back against a trunk nearby. “Level one purification towers aren’t difficult. Go purify them, Fairness & Justice Squad,” she said with a hint of amusement.
Li Luo’s squad stared at her.
They were going to do it themselves?
Li Luo stared at her, looking for signs that she was joking. She wasn’t.
Damn, weren’t you protecting me like a precious treasure all along the way? This seemed like an unreasonable difficulty jump.
Could they really deal with this level one purification tower themselves?
What were the chances of them getting wiped instead?