Relative to the Dao-Seeking Tree, he was currently due north—which was to say, the Kan position in the Later Heaven Bagua.
The weather today was fine, cloudless for ten thousand leagues, with endless hazy peaks. Looking as far as the eye could see, one could actually spot even more distant mountains.
Snowcapped Tianshu Peak, and beside it, an unnamed lesser summit.
That was where Guihua Pagoda stood.
From He Lingchuan's vantage point, Guihua Pagoda lay just slightly east of due south!
He murmured, "Li?"
South—wasn't that the Li position in the Later Heaven Bagua?
Guihua Pagoda, the Dao-Seeking Tree, and the giant rock he was currently standing on essentially formed a straight line from south to north.
Looked at this way, the direction he was searching had to be right.
He Lingchuan turned and continued heading north, following the extension of that straight line.
There was no path ahead. The mountainside dropped steeply all the way to the valley floor.
Then he saw a pool of water.
In truth, it was a hollowed cavity formed where the mountain's roots had fractured, carved out by rushing water over countless years. Mount Xu had weathered endless wind, frost, rain, and snow; hollows and depressions like this numbered eight hundred if not a thousand.
Yet the water here was extraordinarily clear, seemingly bottomless, unfrozen, and faintly giving off wisps of white steam.
Sharp crags encircled it like a screen, concealing an idyllic sanctuary rarely known to mortals. The surroundings were dead silent, save for the occasional cry of an ape.
What surprised him most, however, was that there were actually people beside the pool!
A man and a woman.
The man was in his forties, of medium build, dressed in fine fabric, his beard neatly trimmed.
The woman was in her early twenties, with an oval face, peach-blossom eyes, and her hair done in the updo of a married woman.
The man had her wrapped in a silver-squirrel coat, and they were clutching each other, noisily locking lips.
He Lingchuan waited patiently for them to finish.
Pushing her partner away, hair slightly disheveled, the woman whispered, "My sister-in-law came with me. She's resting ahead on Tianxuan Peak. I can't stay too long!"
How could the man let her go? Holding her close, he pulled her toward the pool's edge. "Don't worry. The moment I get back this time, I'll have your husband transferred away so he won't be in our way..."
This alcove was much warmer than elsewhere. Were these two lovers planning to bathe in a hot spring? He Lingchuan picked up a pebble and flicked it, sending it clacking right at their feet.
Both jumped in fright.
The man looked up, caught sight of He Lingchuan, and was shocked. "Who are you!"
With an outsider suddenly appearing, the woman hastily pulled free and straightened her hair and jewelry.
He Lingchuan glanced at him, then at her, blinked, and broke into a grin. "Seducing another man's wife all the way up in the middle of nowhere—can't say it's easy work."
"What's it to you!" the man snarled. "Get lost!"
He Lingchuan hopped down from the boulder and strolled toward them.
Flushing crimson, the woman suddenly turned and fled.
Only then did He Lingchuan notice a small path leading up the mountain beside the pool.
So the two of them hadn't jumped across the rocky ridge.
"Ah Qian!" The man called after her. Seeing that she didn't look back, he turned angrily. "Brat, you'd better not let me catch sight of you again!" With that, he turned to leave.
Arms crossed, He Lingchuan said, "If you want to die, go right ahead and follow her down."
"What do you mean?"
"When she stepped down onto the path, an arm reached out from the ravine to steady her." He Lingchuan gestured with his chin toward where the woman had vanished. "A man's arm. But she didn't scream, and she even spoke to him."
The woman hadn't let out a startled cry; instead, she had whispered hurried words, showing they clearly knew each other. Fortunately, his hearing was sharp enough to catch her saying, *"Someone else came up... Hurry, let's go..."*
The man looked suspicious. "What are you trying to say?"
"Someone is lying in ambush down there, waiting for you. Maybe more than one." The wind happened to be blowing this way, and He Lingchuan had long since caught the sound of two heavy breaths. "Who knows if this badger game is meant for your money or your life."
Of course, now that an outsider had intruded, the fellows behind the ravine were already beating a retreat.
The man started. "Nonsense!"
"Didn't she invite you up here today?"
The man clamped his mouth shut, eyes shifting erratically.
Indeed, it was his subordinate's wife who had suggested coming up the mountain for a tryst, and she had chosen this peak. In this deserted spot, if someone were to fall into the gorge and die, who knew how long it would take before anyone found the body?
Had that malicious woman planned to kill him with her husband?
The man swallowed hard. Coming to his senses, he lifted a foot to scramble up the boulder.
Regardless of whether there was an ambush on the path down, wouldn't he be safe if he crossed the rocky ridge to Tianji Peak?
A blur flashed before his eyes, and the youth who had just been standing by the pool was suddenly right in front of him on the boulder.
It was as swift as a ghost. The man's hands trembled in fright, and he nearly slipped down. "W-what do you want?"
He Lingchuan squatted down and gave him a broad grin. "Since you're already here, why not do me a favor?"
"No, don't..."
***
He Lingchuan walked over to check behind the ravine. The people had all fled.
Fine by him—saved him some trouble.
He reached into the pool and found the water warm, slightly hot to the touch.
Naturally, this spot lay lower than the cave of the Dao-Seeking Tree and was closer to the geothermal heat.
He casually broke off a tree branch seven or eight feet long and probed into the water, yet still couldn't reach the bottom.
Though this irregular pool measured less than two zhang across, it had been worn deeper and deeper by flowing water.
More importantly, He Lingchuan could see roots beneath the surface.
Thick, serpent-like roots winding through the water.
He murmured, "'Dongli enters Kan-water.'"
The "Kan-water" in Venerable Muling's prophetic verse must refer to this pool situated due north of the Dao-Seeking Tree.
He drew a turtle tally from his robes and tied it to a fishing line.
This was the keepsake left behind by Master Dongli, who had passed away by Xianling Lake. Master Dongli had asked a fated person to return it to Guihua Pagoda on Mount Shou'an—Mount Xu—promising a reward.
Yet when He Lingchuan had followed instructions to deliver it, the stone pagoda had flatly rejected it.
He Lingchuan had spent much time pondering whether there was another reason.
Until he heard the third line of Venerable Muling's prophetic verse:
*"Dongli enters Kan-water."*
The "Dongli" here likely referred to the turtle shell inscribed with talismans that Master Dongli had left him.
Moreover, in terms of direction, it could also be described as the turtle tally rejected by the southern (Li position) Guihua Pagoda.
In that case, the "Kan-water" of the prophecy—the water to the north (Kan position)—was very likely right here.
And so, He Lingchuan lowered the turtle tally into the pool, watching it slowly sink.
Then something strange happened.
As the turtle tally sank, great clusters of bubbles gurgled up from the pool, and the water level rapidly plunged.
In the span of a dozen breaths, the pool was completely empty.
Laid bare before He Lingchuan was a massive, bottomless pit!
The immortal abode on Wendao Peak, sought in vain for centuries, did not have its entrance on Wendao Peak at all—it was hidden right here!
He Lingchuan noticed several copper coins by the water's edge. Evidently, people occasionally climbed up here, treating the pool as a wishing well to toss coins into, yet none had ever noticed anything amiss.
He Lingchuan reeled in the turtle tally with the fishing line, and the water did not rise again.
It seemed Venerable Muling had altered the rules for opening the abode long ago, using Master Dongli's turtle tally as the key to the gate.
He Lingchuan tossed a few stones into the pit.
They tumbled down along the rocky fissures, clattering as they went.
Judging from that, the descent inside was neither excessively deep nor steep.
He Lingchuan patted the man behind him. "Over to you."
He had originally intended to ambush a guard on Tianji Peak for this task. But with an ideal candidate right at hand, this man would do.
The man looked wooden, standing motionless and silent behind him like a puppet.
He Lingchuan handed him a gunny sack, and the man began walking down into the pit.
With the water gone, stone steps were revealed below, though they were somewhat slick.
After descending another two zhang, the surrounding air grew noticeably hot and dry, and the deeper down he went, the brighter the light became.
The man was already under He Lingchuan's control, turned into a living puppet whose words and actions were dictated by him for a short time.
This technique was Mind-Shadow Transmission, taught to him by Xi Yunhe, and this was He Lingchuan's first time using it.
He Lingchuan himself turned back, climbed upward, and leaped across the rocky ridge back onto Tianji Peak.
To the southwest of Tianji Peak was a small knoll, where a pavilion had been built for visitors to rest. Now in late autumn, sitting on the stone benches sent a chill right up one's backside, so sightseers came and went without lingering long.
He Lingchuan leaned against the railing, feigning the look of someone gazing into the distance, while in fact observing the newly opened abode through his puppet.
The straight-line distance between him and the puppet was only several dozen zhang, well within the effective range of Mind-Shadow Transmission.
This technique was quite demanding on true power, but fortunately he possessed abundant reserves. Half a year ago, his meager true power would have lasted only a few dozen breaths.
Not every immortal abode was a self-contained miniature world—at least, this one was not. It was merely a subterranean space. The path beneath the puppet's feet broadened, and a moment later, the view opened up into a world of brilliant light.
Just three zhang ahead lay a golden-red sea of magma!
Yet the magma here was remarkably tranquil, remaining still for long stretches without the tumult seen beneath Zhaixing Tower, only burbling with the occasional bubble.
By all logic, in a realm of searing heat and toxic fumes, any living person standing so close should have suffocated long ago.
Yet through the human puppet, the sensation was merely a touch hot; breathing remained smooth, with no real discomfort.
This was likely due to the talismans carved across the surrounding rock walls, as well as the tree roots reaching everywhere.
Indeed, the roots of the Dao-Seeking Tree extended straight down into the depths. He Lingchuan even saw several roots plunging directly into the pool of magma.
Could this tree truly be immune to such extreme heat?
Considering the Dao-Seeking Tree was over four thousand years old—more than five times the age of the Jeweled Tree King—and had survived an epochal cataclysm, withstanding attacks from countless gods and demons, a bit of geothermal heat beneath Tianji Peak was surely something it could endure.
Only by witnessing this with his own eyes did He Lingchuan realize that the Dao-Seeking Tree and Tianji Peak had become entirely fused into one indivisible whole. No wonder the Heavenly Palace left it uncut; had the Dao-Seeking Tree perished, Tianji Peak would likely have collapsed as well.
This underground chamber had originally been hollowed out by overflowing magma, but the Dahuan Sect had established a talisman array here, drawing power from the geothermal heat to function flawlessly for two thousand years. While the magma was scalding, the stone chamber remained relatively cool, creating a draft that rushed upward toward the ceiling.
Evidently, there were openings above that led straight to the surface.
Chapter 625