“Damnit, how did I end up circling back here?”

Long Chen was gloomy. He didn’t know how many spiritual beasts he had killed as he had rushed along. But after countless forks in the road, he had returned to his original location.

“Continuing like this is out of the question. I have to think of something.” This time, he left behind a mark at the fork before continuing. He found that not long after, he appeared on a completely foreign path.

“Fuck this. I’m not playing this game,” cursed Long Chen. He directly closed his eyes and tried to sense the general direction of the thing he needed. This maze had continuously blocked him, and now, he was out of patience.

“It’s in that direction.”

Long Chen began to walk in a direction that had no path and was full of mist. Long Chen suddenly took out a saber.

The last Enchanted saber he had used had exploded after he had used the second form of Split the Heavens. He could only replace it with another. But this was a pole saber, a yanyuedao[1]. Two-thirds of it was the handle, while the blade only took up a third. There was a huge difference compared to the normal sabers he used. However, he had no better weapons now, so he could only use it.

After traveling an hour through the mist, a path appeared in front of him. But Long Chen didn’t follow that path. Instead, he continued in a straight line toward the thing that he sensed.

He didn’t know how far that thing was. What he wanted to find was the thing the vice sect master had mentioned at the end.

Suddenly, he heard some sounds. Long Chen rushed in that direction. A small path appeared in front of him, and there was a woman lying on the ground, her expression pale and twisted, as if she was undergoing a painful struggle.

Long Chen immediately went up to her and pressed a hand on her forehead. His powerful Spiritual Strength surged into her mind-sea. She was currently being attacked by a foreign Spiritual Strength, but Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength destroyed it.

“Many thanks, senior apprentice-brother!” She opened her eyes and looked at him gratefully.

Just now, she had been attacked by several powerful spiritual beasts. Although she had done her best to kill them, one of them had managed to invade her mind-sea, almost exterminating her soul.

With her soul being attacked, she had no time to crush the jade tablet. Just thinking about it filled her with terror.

“You’re welcome. Do you know where the place you can see your future is?” asked Long Chen.

“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen!” she gasped.

“I just want to gain some experience. I have no other intentions. Have you run into it?”

“I didn’t, but I ran into a senior apprentice-sister from the seventeenth supermonastery who said she ran into Future Lake. That Future Lake actually took the initiative to ask her if she wanted to see her future. She was so terrified that she fled,” she said.

“Future Lake? That name does sound pretty magical. Do you know its general direction?” asked Long Chen.

“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, are you really planning on going there? The vice sect master said…”

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t do something as stupid as trying to divine my future. That would just destroy a person’s Dao-heart. I just want to gain experience.”

Only after hearing this did she say, “I remember the location. That senior apprentice-sister was very nice and she told me not to go in that direction. If you want to go there to gain experience, I can bring you there.”

She led Long Chen in a certain direction. After a few dozen turns, even Long Chen was shocked by her amazing memory. It seemed that anyone who could attend this trial was truly extraordinary.

“We’ve arrived.”

Long Chen looked around and saw mist everywhere. He couldn’t see anything. He was just about to ask her about this when she said, “This is the fork. If you go left, you’ll reach Future Lake. I… I don’t dare to go. According to that senior apprentice-sister, that place is too strange.”

“Then thank you. I’ll go take a look. With how terrifying you make it sound, even I’m getting nervous,” laughed Long Chen.

“Then you really shouldn’t go.”

“But, how can you allow yourself to be defeated by fear? Since I’ve decided to look, then I’m going to take a look!”

Without another word, Long Chen walked off. The mist completely blocked his vision after just a few steps, and he wasn’t even able to see her anymore. He quickened his footsteps.

After over two hours, Long Chen still didn’t see any lake. He even suspected that she had tricked him. But there was no reason for her to trick him, and after all, he had just saved her.

The strange thing was that there were no spiritual beasts on this path. There were also no forks in the road. He could only continue onward.

Finally, after six hours, the path came to a dead end.

“What the fuck? She really did trick me?!” Long Chen couldn’t help being enraged.

“Do you want to know your future?”

Suddenly, a spiritual fluctuation appeared. The mist in front of him slowly dissipated, revealing a lake. The lake’s surface was as flat as a mirror, and the mist around it made it appear extremely mysterious.

Long Chen was stunned. Was this lake alive? It was actually able to talk through spiritual fluctuations.

“I do, but does it cost money?” asked Long Chen.

The lake was silent for a moment before a figure slowly rose out of the water. That figure was lithe and graceful. It seemed like a woman, but it was impossible to see any clear details.

“It doesn’t cost money. But I’ll need you to help me,” said that figure.

“Help you with what?” Long Chen was on guard.

“Bring me out of this place.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“Let me enter your spiritual space and bring me out. I’ll not only let you see your future, but I’ll also raise you into this world’s strongest expert,” it enticed.

Damn, why does that sound so familiar? It’s just like what that old ghost, Gui Sha, wanted.

Long Chen suddenly smiled coldly. “If my guess isn’t wrong, you should be a powerful figure from the Corrupt path. Despite your soul already being destroyed, you were still able to reform it. It seems you were truly an amazing person when you were alive.”

That figure didn’t reply. After a moment of silence, it said, “You’re smart. That guess of yours is correct. Although I died countless years ago, just my name is enough to strike terror into the hearts of countless Righteous experts. How does it sound? Little fellow, cooperate with me. Bring me out of here and back to the Corrupt path, and then I will give you anything you want!”

It would be strange if anyone believed such a thing, thought Long Chen to himself. His head was rapidly working. Most likely, this soul was relying on the lake to survive and couldn’t leave or attack, which is why it would try to entice him.

He shook his head and said, “The vice sect master told me that if someone wanted to tell my future here, I was to ignore them. That person is a trickster who will take your life.”

“That’s pure nonsense. I have to rely on this lake to live. How could I ever take other people’s lives? Those people wanted to see their futures, and all I did was help them.”

“Oh, I understand. You intentionally allowed them to see their future. But you changed the future they saw, making them see themselves dying tragically in order to destroy their Dao-hearts,” said Long Chen.

“Wrong. This Future Lake is actually a projection of the Xuantian Dao Sect’s priceless treasure, the Reincarnation Mirror. That Reincarnation Mirror is on the same level as my Corrupt path’s Corrupt God Divine Skull. How could I have the strength to change what it shows?”

Long Chen’s heart shook. He hadn’t expected there to be such a huge secret behind the Nine Netherworld Path. He hastily asked, “Then can this Future Lake really tell a person’s future?”

“Of course. But I’d advise you not to do that. The future it shows you is true, but it is also false. Divining the future invokes karma, and the Reincarnation Mirror will not allow that karma to affect it. It will make the asking person bear that karma.”

“Then isn’t the Dao Sect harming their own disciples? Why would they put such a thing here?” asked Long Chen.

“This Nine Netherworld Path is actually a huge formation made from condensed Spiritual Strength. Without the Reincarnation Mirror’s projection, it would be impossible to control such a huge formation.”

Only then did Long Chen understand. This terrifying existence was most likely something that even the vice sect master wasn’t aware of. Just now, he had stealthily used his Spiritual Strength to probe behind him, only to find that his retreat path had been cut off.

It seemed that now that this existence had exposed itself, then whether or not he agreed, it wouldn't allow him to leave. But he wasn’t afraid. “Then can senior help me with something? Can you use Future Lake’s power to help me divine the origin of something I have?”

“That’s no problem. I can help you do that, but have you agreed to what I’ve asked of you?”

“No problem. In any case, I’ve had enough of the Righteous path. Throwing myself to the Corrupt path is also fine. However, in that case, I need your help to bring one of my companions over,” said Long Chen.

“Who?”

“It should be the woman whose Spiritual Strength is the greatest of everyone here except me,” said Long Chen.

“Her?”

A figure suddenly appeared on the lake. That figure was Meng Qi. She had just killed another batch of spiritual beasts and was refining their soul energy.

Long Chen was shocked. Or was this to be expected of an existence that could divine the future? He nodded. “Senior, please lead her over here. She has something I need.”

“Ah!”

A startled cry rang out and Meng Qi suddenly appeared beside Long Chen. She panicked as she had no idea what was going on. But Long Chen said, “Meng Qi, lend me the Soul Calming Jade.”

Previously, Long Chen had given the nine-line Soul Calming Jade to Meng Qi, as it was extremely helpful for her.

Meng Qi didn’t quite understand what was happening, but she took off the pendant from her neck. Long Chen then threw it to that illusory figure.

“Thank you for your trouble, senior.”

When Meng Qi saw the figure he was talking to, her pupils shrunk. Then looking at the lake water, she immediately understood something: Long Chen was about to do something exceedingly crazy.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guandao