Sheng Huangye, Shuomen City Lord. The tales about his amorous adventures were on the level of myths, and no one could travel the region without hearing one or two. Still, he had never married and had no descendants.

At least officially, as rumors attributed him at least one or two children almost after every time Sheng Huangye traveled outside the city. This had been played upon by him and Deng Guiying, fanning some of the rumors. Even confirming, obviously not officially, that he indeed had a son. And that son would enter the 'Underground Land of the River'.

But that was just a lie. The truth was that he had no children at all. Still, a City Lord chair required an inheritor, especially when no one could assure that a cultivator would live to the end of his lifespan and not meet an early demise.

It was whispered that because of Lord Sheng's absolute lack of desire to sire children with any of his multiple lovers, or maybe because he did not plan to marry any of them, no successor would exist.

Because of this, about 14 years ago, when his sister Sheng Ning gave birth to a son, it was decided that he would be his successor. It was a temporal arrangement, but one that somehow turned into a permanent one.

Deng Guiying, as one of the people that had known the Lord for the most time, was practically sure that it was because of the latter reason. Sheng Huangye simply did not imagine himself having a wife, or at least he did not see any of his temporal partners as something else than that.

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1st day of the Spring Festival, Evening. Shuomen, City Lord Palace.

"Xue Zhou was found!" A soldier with a head of strange purplish hair hustled into one of the assembly rooms.

Four of the five people inside instantly stood up, and ignoring any protocol or the guard's lack of etiquette exclaimed almost in unison "It's truly him? Where is he?!"

"A patrol sent to his house located him and has confirmed his identity. They are bringing him here now" The guard quickly responded before remembering in whose presence he was and then making a formal salute.

"I will ask the Guard Commander to reward you and the patrol later, dismissed" Lord Sheng, who was the only one that had remained sitted said calmly and motioned for the guard to leave. Which the latter did right after bowing deeply.

The atmosphere in the room was far from calm, as since the guard left, no one had returned to their seats. Growing weary of the constant movement in front of him after a few minutes, Lord Sheng roared

"Are you children?! Sit down and recover your calm, all of you!"

Hearing this, the faces of the three men and a single woman turned somewhat ashamed as they scurried back to their chairs.

"I know you are worried, and I am as well. But do not allow yourselves to panic. Practically no one inside can recognize him. Even if they do, who would dare to shed his blood?" Sheng Huangye spoke while evenly looking at everyone present.

"Yes Lord, please excuse our shameful behavior" Shou Tian, Shou Yi, and Sheng Meng slightly bowed their heads.

"But brother-in-law, the rumors that you spread may incite an attack like the last time! And that means Feng'er is in danger!" A man with a head of reddish hair, so common for the Shou clan exclaimed with visible distress.

"I know! Why the demons you think that we are all gathered here?!" Sheng Huangye wasn't a patient man, and the half pleading half despaired manner of Shou Jie was just too much for him.

He continued after a brief pause, one that he took to calm himself "Brother, we are all worried about Feng'er. But we can not do anything except wait and pray. There is no way to contact anyone inside the formation, and so we can only check how all of this happened. And hope that Chen Guang, the youth that I told you about manages to prevent, or at least stop any plot"

But exactly what had happened to make the most powerful people of Shuomen city so panicked?

Such a question would surface logically in the mind of anyone who even briefly glanced into the Palace. After all, not only the meeting room but practically all the Palace was filled with similar nervousness. Some people because of what had happened, some of the fear to be accused of allowing it, and some because of worry.

As for the answer...

Shou Jie, the son of the late City Lord had been too weak to assume the position after his father's death, and truthfully, he wasn't interested in doing it either. His actual passion was refining, and so, he wholeheartedly supported Sheng Huangye's nomination and later the two clans' unification.

One of the steps for the latter was his marriage with the new City Lord sister, Sheng Ning. A political marriage into his wife's clan, that with time turned into true love. Love crowned with the birth of their only child, Sheng Feng.

Sheng Feng, who was the current successor for his uncle Sheng Huangye.

Sheng Feng, who inherited all of his two lineages' talents for cultivation, leadership, and refining.

Sheng Feng, who for some reason decided to temporarily switch places with an apprentice of his father.

Sheng Feng, who under the name of Xue Zhou entered the 'Underground Land of the River'.

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'Underground Land of the River', 'Underground Forest', 'Clearmind Lake'.

What is to have a clear mind? No matter who is asked, the answers would be many as the stars on the heavenly dome.

But none of the answers would be the right one for passing through the 'Clearmind Lake'.

After all, the character for 'Clear' could also mean 'Purge', 'Empty', and a lot of similar, but at the same time so different meanings. Each of which implicated different states of mind.

***

By chance, experience, or sheer luck, Bai Qi's idea, the one he had after mulling the name for a few times proved out to be the right one.

Having emptied his mind from any thoughts, Bai Qi submerged himself into a state of nothingness. His hands stopped moving, his breathing stopped, and if not for the small amount of qi that entered his body, it could seem that he was just a corpse.

A corpse that simply floated in the still water of the lake that was mistakenly named 'Clearmind'.

*Bump*

Bai Qi awoke from his drift after bumping against something. Opening his eyes, he saw that he had reached the purple obelisk.

He could not sense anything special from it, but the design appeared to be similar to the 'Challenge Slates'. Different material and characters physically carved on the stone, but similar indeed.

"Could it be a special kind of Challenge?" Bai Qi muttered while swimming around it.

Having reached this point, he decided that he should attempt to touch the stone.

*Swish*

In response to his touch, the stone began glowing in golden hues, the so-called formation light. Small waves appeared on the previously still water, and Bai Qi sensed that even the air around was changing.

"Teleportation!" He only managed to exclaim as the golden light enveloped him and he disappeared from the spot.

***

As the formation light dispersed and the surroundings entered Bai Qi's eyes, he found himself on the lakeshore. Almost at the same spot from where he had entered the water.

For a few moments, his face showed surprise, one that quickly changed to admiration.

"'Eleven Springs' Immortal, I may have never met you, but please accept my full respect" Bai Qi muttered while deeply bowing towards the now calm lake.

The obelisk had not been a 'Challenge Slate' as he first supposed, but something far grander - a memento created by the same Immortal that build the entire zone. The brief moment that passed for the teleportation to happen, an enormous deal of knowledge entered Bai Qi's mind, and every bit of it was overwhelming.

***

To whoever touches the normally untouchable, I leave the most precious of all...

The knowledge about, and the reasons behind the creation of the 11th Spring Expanse.

I, the 'Eleven Springs' Immortal have long wished for cultivators from lower tiers to walk the same Astral Road as I did.

To have the opportunity to reach the same level as I did.

To surpass the challenges that I did, as well the ones that I did not.

Some thought of my ideas as sacrilege, others just took it as a joke. But none of them understood my reasons. And reasons I had. After all, an entire era ago, I, Quan Shui awoke on a simple, low-tier plane. The limits of which I surpassed, and was forcefully ejected from.

From that point and onward, I called dozens of planes my home, but none were so close to my heart as my 'Heavenly Spring'. The plane where I took my first step in the long, and everlasting path of Cultivation for the second time. A path that only finishes when one surrenders to the so-called fate, talent, luck, and other similar empty words.

And by the moment that I created this one, the last of the 11...

I acknowledge in shame...

I too surrendered...

***

Bai Qi could only wonder what happened to the Immortal, as his words were too vague. Still, he could only feel admiration for such a person. That because of his beliefs, spent more than a hundred years creating 11 training zones with the 11 treasured springs he had gathered during his life.

Each of the springs was a true treasure on its own, but Quan Shui also created an entire system of training areas and zones, along with an enormous deal of rewards for the future participants. Participants that he was not related to or even knew of. And with no reason except helping cultivators from weaker planes grow.

The knowledge Bai Qi was infused with contained the explanation of how this 11th zone was created and controlled.

Even including the manner to access the formation cores, or how to ignore the zone limitations. The obelisk itself was akin to one of the former, and touching the six would connect Bai Qi to the main core, giving him absolute control over everything.

It also explained the reason why anyone was yet to discover all this. And why Bai Qi managed to do so without meeting any trouble. Or better said, why no one except Bai Qi could have done it.

"Did the Senior predict the arrival of someone like me? Or he simply did not want to allow the formation to fall into the hands of anyone who did not understand its importance?" Bai Qi could only wonder. After all, the conditions to touch the obelisk were both simple and absolutely outlandish at the same time.

'The one preordained to touch the six obelisks is one that repeated my path' - It had to be a cultivator that was reborn and then restarted his cultivation on a low-tier plane!

Bai Qi shook his head and took a glance around before extending his senses and confirming the lack of any observer. Such information was both a blessing and a curse, as it would allow him to gain an enormous deal... and paint a target on his back if anyone found out.

Ignoring the boundaries. Which meant he could enter any of the zones, even when the formation was closed. Or access the zone with any cultivation level.

Touching the Six obelisks would make Bai Qi the controller of the grand formation. In fact, he could even close it to everyone and allow just a single person or power to experience the riches, qi, natural energies, and else.

Not to mention a full map and explanation of the different challenge slates.

For even a single bit of that, Bai Qi would be hunted by every single power in this plane.

"And for now, it's better to forget about all that. I have a task, and so I will complete it" Bai Qi nodded, inwardly deciding to revisit the 'Undeground Land of the River' after it closed.

***

"And now... what are my marks doing?" Bai Qi concentrated on the mind power strands and applied them to the map he just obtained, locating everyone.

"Damn!" He exclaimed with rage just a moment later. And with good reason, as now there were only 13 marks.

***

Less than an hour later, the first participants began to arrive at the lake. Some spoke about the challenges they had found and surpassed, others preferred to keep quiet. But overall, the mood was next to excited.

Why would it be otherwise? For most of them it was their first true expedition, and into a formation with over six hundred years of history. Not to mention that each of the rewards they got was far out of their reach, especially for the small affiliated families that normally did not get their turn at all.

And so, nobody paid attention to the tall black-haired youth that was present on the shore first. Neither they did pay much attention to his seemingly inoffensive questions.

***

"I see, thank you" Bai Qi nodded and backed away from the last group to arrive.

For the moment, there had been over fifty people that arrived to rest and exchange information, or to gloat about rewards. Whatever was closer to one's character.

Bai Qi had spoken with most of them, trying to find any hints of where Mao Xun, his current prime subject was. As well as asking about any strange incidents and else.

Such questioning could appear suspicious, but thankfully for him, most of the youngsters were simply too inexperienced in the realities of the Cultivation World. And so they answered without any care in the world.