Chapter 601

: Generous Zhixiang!
Zhixiang looked at Meng Hao thoughtfully for a moment, then nodded. It seemed that at that point, she suddenly thought of something else. She hesitated for a moment.

It’s all legend,
she continued.
No one really knows if it’s true or not. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t…. Furthermore, true spirit Night’s bizarreness can actually appear during any time.

In the original Demon Immortal Sect, countless Chosen disciples attempted to research it. In their belief, Night possessed an ability like teleportation. However, it teleported, not through the physical realm, but through time.

Therefore, many people staunchly believed that Night’s dream was no dream, but an actual teleportation through time. There was even much evidence collected to support that view.

Meng Hao stood there thoughtfully for a moment, then closed his eyes. A long time passed before he opened them again. No trace could be seen of any change in his thinking.

Whether it was an illusion or real doesn’t matter,
he murmured inwardly.
As long as I believe it was real, and is still connected to me, then Karma exists in my heart. Regardless of the facts, that is the most important.
Just now, he had felt somewhat confused, but after closing his eyes for a moment, he felt enlightened.

Let’s go,
he said coolly.
The Demon Immortal Cistern awaits.

Zhixiang looked at him for a moment and then nodded. They walked onward in single file, following the same path from before as they headed toward the Demon Immortal Cistern.
Before much time passed, they reached the location of the same cistern they had visited within the Second Plane.
The area was damaged and worn. Cracks could be seen everywhere, and many parts had completely fallen apart. Many of the stones had been crushed, quite a few of which hovered about in mid-air. All of it made it seem as if it would be very difficult to approach the pond waters. Even the waters themselves were not as clear as they had been in the Second Plane; there appeared to be silt built up in some parts.
Most relevant of all, the waters were much shallower….
At first glance, the cistern looked like a huge pit. Before, it had been filled with water, but now, only a bit was left at the bottom, perhaps only ten percent of what had been there in the Second Plane.
When she saw that remaining ten percent of water, though, Zhixiang’s eyes filled with excitement, and she let out a huge sigh. What she had feared most was coming here with the proper qualifications only to find that because of the passage of time, the cistern waters were completely gone.
Were that to have been the case, it would have meant she had completely wasted all of her effort. All of the preparations made by her Sect would have been completely for naught.
Everything had been a gamble, in which success could lead to a meteoric rise. However, failure, and the losses thus incurred, would have led to the decline of her Sect.
Zhixiang suppressed her excitement as she looked around the area. When she caught sight of the rock upon which she had left the mark in the Second Plane, she began to quiver and breathe heavily. She had to work hard to try to suppress her excitement.
Everything had worked out perfectly, even more smoothly than she could have possibly imagined. The key to it all was the stone with her mark on it. To enter this area, one needed the qualifications. To enter the Demon Immortal Cistern itself, one needed a second qualification.
That second qualification could only be acquired within the Second Plane, but not used there. Instead, the qualification could be retrieved in the Third Plane, and then cultivated.
If there was no Second Plane, and one went directly to the Third Plane, at first, there wouldn’t seem to be much difference. Zhixiang and her Sect, however, had used augury to ascertain with relative certainty that, because of the passage of time, and the great catastrophe, the restrictive spells in the area were thoroughly sealed, and would not approve of any intruder.
The only method of success was to get qualifications in ancient times!
Zhixiang took a deep breath, then turned toward Meng Hao, clasped hands, and bowed deeply.

Fellow Daoist Meng, many thanks for all your assistance. I would now like to once again ask for your expertise in opening up a path. Please remove the curse power from the area and allow me to… succeed in entering the cistern waters!
She bowed to him once again.
Meng Hao understood that this was the extent of the help she needed from him. The entire area was broken and in ruins. It all seemed quite messy and chaotic, and even quite dangerous. Zhixiang was nervous because of the same thing that had made her nervous back in the Bridge of Immortal Treading; invisible curses.
The further one went along, the more terrifying the curses became. Anything that touched them would receive an intense jolt of backlash.

Let me try,
he said with a nod. He had given Zhixiang his promise, and would not go back on his word unless he came across something that was truly beyond his control.
Thinking back to his experience in the Bridge of Immortal Treading, he had some speculations as to the reason why he was not affected by the curses; perhaps it had something to do with him being a Demon Sealer. His eyes glittering, he walked forward, waving his right hand to cause some of the stones that were blocking their way to lift up into the air. The stones did not appear to be equipped with any sort of curse; it seemed to take almost no effort to lift them up and move them over.
Meng Hao continued forward, taking care of all the stones, even the ones that floated in mid-air. soon a path emerged, leading directly up to the cistern waters.

Like that?
he asked, looking back at Zhixiang.
She gaped in astonishment, suddenly uncertain about whether or not the curses actually existed. If there were no curses… then it mean that bringing along Meng Hao for help was actually just giving him good fortune for free.
When this occurred to her, she felt distress in her heart. After all, she had promised Meng Hao that he could immerse himself in the waters with her. And yet, the water was quite low now…..

There couldn’t possibly be NO curses, could there?
she thought.
Don’t tell me that if I got the proper qualifications, and my identity was acknowledged, then the curses wouldn’t target me?
With that, she ground her teeth and began to walk forward.
However, before she could take three steps, her face suddenly flickered. The color of her skin suddenly turned black; blood sprayed from her mouth and she retreated backward quickly.
She fell back four or five steps and then sat down cross-legged. She waved her right arm, causing a hundred golden needles to appear, which then stabbed into her body from various directions. Vast quantities of black blood oozed out, emanating a foul, rotten stench. Zhixiang’s face was as pale as death as she produced a small clay pellet. Enduring the pain of losing such an item, she crushed it, causing an amber-colored medicinal pill to fly out, which she immediately consumed.
A long moment later, she still felt incredibly weak, but the black color was fading away from her skin. When it finally disappeared, and her injuries were recovered, she looked up with an expression of fear toward Meng Hao. There was only about thirty meters or so between the two of them, but to her, it was a shocking distance.
Just now, she had neared a curse that hadn’t fallen. If she had truly entered into it fully, she would long since have been transforming into pool of black liquid.
Having seen what just happened to Zhixiang, Meng Hao began to think. He felt a little bit bad. He quickly began to inspect the area, but couldn’t see anything particularly strange about it. It was as if the area really was a forbidden zone, except, the effects didn’t apply to him at all.

What do we do now?
asked Zhixiang. She was more than thirty meters away, her expression anxious, her eyes wide. Success was only a short distance away, and yet that distance seemed like the vast gully between Heaven and Earth, impossible to cross.
In fact, she hadn’t even noticed yet that her clothing had already begun to rot. A wind blew past, causing some of it transform into ash and reveal the skin beneath.
Meng Hao wasn’t any surer than her what to do at this point. He looked at the brackish water in the cistern and then glanced back at Zhixiang.
What if you hold onto me and I try leading you in?
he asked.
Zhixiang was silent for a moment. What had happened just now had left her completely shocked, and without any ideas of what to do. Even asking Meng Hao to bring the water to her would have been useless; to acquire the Demon Immortal Body required that she meditate within the cistern itself.
She clenched her teeth, and determination appeared in her eyes. The Sect had made far too many preparations to reach this point. All hope was placed in her. She would rather die in here than simply give up.
She took a deep breath, then nodded her head with an expression that meant she was ready to go for broke. She looked toward Meng Hao and then clasped hands once again and bowed.

Many thanks for your assistance, Elder Brother Meng. Zhixiang will remember your kindness for the rest of her life!
The way she bowed caused the previously partially covered skin to be even more revealed to Meng Hao. All of a sudden, he caught sight of a thoroughly soul-stirring sight.
Suddenly becoming aware of this, Zhixiang’s face reddened. She straightened up and then coolly said,
It’s just a little bit of skin. If you like it, Elder Brother Meng, I can offer it to you as a gift.

The ‘generousness’ of Zhixiang’s words caused Meng Hao to cough dryly a few times, and a strange look appeared on his face. He calmed himself inwardly. From the very moment he had met Zhixiang, he had felt her to have somewhat of a changeable disposition. Every time he ran into her, it was like she had had a different personality.
She was flirty at first, then licentious. Sometimes candid, and now… almost like a man in the way she spoke.

No, forget about it….
he replied, clearing his throat. He walked toward Zhixiang, and as he neared, she raised her hand and clasped his arm. Then she took a deep breath, and a look of decisiveness filled her eyes.
He glanced at her again, then, without another word, turned and led her forward one step. Then two steps. Three steps….
Her body was trembling, and by the time they reached the place where her expression had changed the last time, she was incredibly nervous. However, this time she could not sense the curse like she could before. Although, her clothes were now rapidly disappearing….
By the time they had taken seven or eight steps, they were completely within the cursed area. Zhixiang’s clothes were now totally gone, revealing a beautiful body that would cause any man to begin to pant.
It was curvaceous and beautiful beyond compare.
Meng Hao glanced her over and saw everything. In his recollection, this was his second time to see a woman’s body. The first time had been when he saw Chu Yuyan’s. Right now, though, the feeling he experienced was completely different.
As he compared the two, he occasionally smiled and nodded, occasionally frowned, and occasionally revealed an expression of wonderment.
Zhixiang looked at him, clenched her teeth, and then said out of the corner of her mouth.
What part do you like? I’ll give it to you.

Meng Hao smiled and pointed.
Zhixiang’s eyebrows raised up. She suddenly formed her right hand into the shape of a blade which then shot toward the part on her chest that he had pointed to.
Meng Hao’s eyes went wide and he quickly stopped her.
Fine, you win. I don’t need it, even if you keep chopping.

Zhixiang glared hatefully at him for a moment but didn’t say anything else. She held on to him as they proceeded forward toward the cistern waters. Soon they entered the waters themselves, proceeding into the very center.
Although the waters were clearly brackish, something strange happened. A delicate fragrance began to emanate out of Zhixiang. As it spread about, it fused into the waters, causing them to churn. In the blink of an eye, they were no longer brackish, but instead, perfectly clear. In fact they even began to emanate their own delicate fragrance.
If analyzed it carefully, you would realize that the fragrance was the same as Zhixiang’s.