Shining Orb

They were clearly underwater, yet she could breathe?

They were clearly surrounded by water, yet she could open her eyes without feeling the sting?

This situation was strange no matter how she thought about it!

The confused Zhang Wanqing had a thousand questions in her mind, but there was simply no way for her to ask any of them.

She might be able to breathe for whatever reason, but it remained a fact that they were fully submerged in water, so there was no way for her to speak at all.

And with Wu Meng's feet pressing down on her head, she could not even look up to see Wu Meng's face to read his expression right now.

All she could do was accept her fate and let herself sink deeper into the lake.

Nevertheless, she had calmed down quite a bit after realising that she was not going to drown, so she was now able to better appreciate what was going on around her.

In the darkness of the night, there was absolutely nothing that could be seen in the depths of the lake.

If not for Wu Meng's feet pressing down on her head, Zhang Wanqing might not even know which direction was up and which direction was down.

Come to think of it, does Wu Meng really have to step on her head?

She is a girl after all. Aren't there any gentler options instead?

Even stepping on her shoulder would feel better than this!

No, that's not right.

Why is he even stepping on her in the first place?

Can't he just push her down by hand?

Zhang Wanqing could not help but feel bitter when she thought about that. This master of hers seemed to be a little too indifferent about others' feelings!

The two of them continued sinking deeper into the lake for quite a while longer.

As for the exact amount of time that had passed, Zhang Wanqing had absolutely no idea.

She only knew that it was enough time for her to go from feeling confused to feeling fascinated, to ultimately feeling bored.

But that was when something different finally happened.

Their descent had been smooth sailing all this while, but a powerful repelling force suddenly shot up from below, bringing them to a grinding halt.

Even without being able to see a thing, Zhang Wanqing could still feel the strong wave of resistance coming up from below her. Wanting to go against this repelling force was like trying to push against the ground itself – a futile effort.

This sudden appearance of the repelling force felt completely unnatural. It was almost as though the lake itself was alive, and was trying to stop them from going any further.

And the very next moment, Zhang Wanqing felt another strange force coming from above her. No doubt, this was Wu Meng's immediate response to this sudden repelling force.

It was completely different from the powerful repelling force that came from below. Instead of the former, it was gentle and calming, giving her the strange sensation of being embraced by a kin.

It was a surreal feeling that filled her insides with a comforting warmth.

And to Zhang Wanqing's surprise, the strong repelling force coming from below instantly vanished upon the emergence of this calming force, as though it had been nothing but an illusion.

All of this happened within the span of mere moments.

If not for the comforting warmth that lingered in her heart, Zhang Wanqing would surely doubt herself and wonder if everything that happened was nothing but her imagination.

Instead, she could only think that cultivators were truly amazing.

She did not know what happened exactly. But seeing that Wu Meng was able to overcome such a powerful repelling force, and via completely unexpected means as well, her impression of cultivators immediately went up by yet another notch.

One day, she hoped to be capable of such feats as well!

Just like that, they continued diving deeper.

However, they did not have to go much further before the darkness quickly receded, allowing Zhang Wanqing to finally see her surroundings.

They had arrived at the bottom of the lake.

The lake floor was lush with aquatic plants that swayed along with the gentle underwater currents, with strange and unfamiliar fishes darting in and out of the aquatic vegetation.

However, none of that fell into the eyes of Zhang Wanqing, who immediately focused her attention upon a small altar that resided against a pile of rocks.

This altar had a rather simple design, yet it was still enough for it to exude a form of minimalistic beauty. It appeared to be made of wood, with its legs lodged firmly into the lake floor.

There were no tablets or words written on it. All it had were four small pins that came together to form a base supporting a shining orb.

The orb was no larger than a baby's fist. However, it was emitting white light so bright that it illuminated the entire lake floor.

In fact, this shining orb was the sole reason why Zhang Wanqing could see anything at all right now!

Moreover, the light emitted by the orb was bright, but not intense. This allowed Zhang Wanqing to look straight at it without feeling blinded by the light, as one usually would if they looked directly at the sun.

No, it was not just that she was not blinded.

On top of that, she also felt a strange attraction to it, as though the orb itself was her closest of kin, someone whom she had longed for day and night. Even though it was not the most beautiful of objects, she was still unable to peel her eyes off of it.

Just as Zhang Wanqing's full attention was attracted by the altar, she felt herself being slowly guided towards it by the two feet attached to the top of her head.

It seemed that Wu Meng was just as interested in the orb as she was.

As they floated nearer to the altar, the light from the orb gradually intensified, and the orb even started trembling a little.

When they were about five metres away from the altar, the orb suddenly moved.

It shot out of its holder atop the altar, heading straight towards them like a freshly released arrow.

This sudden change finally broke Zhang Wanqing out of her trance.

Her eyes widened in shock as she saw the rapidly approaching orb.

At this speed, even a regular stone could kill someone upon impact!

Zhang Wanqing was horrified and wanted to raise her arms to block herself. However, the orb was simply too fast.

Before she could even begin raising her arms, the orb had already reached them.

But much to her relief, as well as amazement, the shining orb suddenly changed directions just before crashing into them.

It started spinning randomly around them at high speed, the light it emitted alternating in brightness every other second like a strobe light.

Had it not been in the form of an orb, it would almost seem like a cute dog that was excited to meet its owners!

While Zhang Wanqing was still trying to digest what was happening, Wu Meng, who was still standing on Zhang Wanqing's head, slowly stretched out his arm and opened up his palm.

As though understanding his thoughts, the shining orb stopped its high-speed movements and settled obediently upon his open palm.

Looking at the shining orb in his hand, Wu Meng could not help but let out a sigh in his heart.

Astral Dream Orb... this was none other than the one thing responsible for turning the Myriad Wonders Lake into its current amazing state.

If not for this little orb's nourishment over the long years, the Myriad Wonders Lake would have been just like any ordinary lake.

And if not for the Myriad Wonders Lake, the Five Elements Valley would probably not have survived to this day.

To a certain extent, it could be said that the Astral Dream Orb was the lifeline of the Five Elements Valley. Yet it was likely that none of the upper echelons of the valley were even aware of its existence.

Then again, that might not necessarily be a bad thing, either.

Greed always incited the evil within men.

Had it been known that there was a treasure of this level at the bottom of the Myriad Wonders Lake, who knew if anyone would try to blow up the entire lake just to obtain the Astral Dream Orb?

And this was not just referring to outsiders.

Even members of the valley might not be able to suppress their greed when faced with the opportunity to obtain such a treasure!

At the same time, Wu Meng also understood why this little shining orb was so excited to see him. It wanted him to take it away with him, just like he had promised it in the past.

Unfortunately, he would have to disappoint it once again.

The time was still not ripe.

"This will hurt a little, but bear with it," Wu Meng said.

Trapped underneath his feet, Zhang Wanqing was unable to see that the shining orb had rested on his palm, so she was still wondering where it went when she heard Wu Meng's words.

That caught her totally by surprise.

It will hurt? What will hurt?

And why?

What are you about to do?!

Of course, she was unable to voice out any of her complaints underwater.

That was when she saw the shining orb float down from above to stop right in front of her face, before moving closer towards her forehead.

Zhang Wanqing: "!!!"

The moment the shining orb came into contact with her glabella, Zhang Wanqing felt a searing pain unlike any that she had ever felt.

This was not just on the surface, and not just on her face.

It might have originated from her glabella, but this pain instantly coursed through her entire body, reaching each and every corner, inside and out.

She felt as though the orb itself had pierced into her body through her glabella, puncturing a hole straight through her skull, and was now running amok within her body, shattering her bones and ripping her organs.

Zhang Wanqing widened her eyes in absolute shock and opened her mouth to scream.

Yet when she tried, Zhang Wanqing realised that she was unable to do even that.

She seemed to have lost all autonomy over her body, such that regardless of her thoughts and emotions, all she could do was breathe.

This was the first time that she had ever felt this helpless, and it was nothing short of terrifying!

"Don't be afraid," Wu Meng's voice sounded in her head. "Nothing is wrong with your body. I have deliberately sealed your movements so that you won't hurt yourself in the process. Now you just have to endure this period with your mind, and it will all be over."

There were some people who, when exposed to an amount of pain above their threshold, would end up involuntarily hurting themselves.

Examples were like shattering their teeth from gritting them too hard, cutting their palm by clenching their fists too tightly, or even scratching themselves as a form of release.

Wu Meng might have taken Zhang Wanqing as his student, but he knew full well that she was just an ordinary village girl.

She might have a stout heart and great determination, but Wu Meng was not entirely clear about her pain tolerance.

After all, what she was about to experience was far beyond the level of the injuries that she had suffered on the night they met.

Given that, Wu Meng was not about to take any chances.

If Zhang Wanqing ended up injured because of this, he would end up having to expend more resources to patch her up!

Zhang Wanqing's body trembled involuntarily as the pain continued to spread throughout her body. But without the slightest hint of strength left in her body, all she could do was tolerate it.

Tears formed in her eyes for the second time today, only to be washed away by the lake water once more.

Before long, her eyes started to dilate as she felt her consciousness slipping away...

"This is a necessary process of cleansing your body," Wu Meng explained. "This pain is nothing compared to what you will experience as you continue on the path of cultivation. If you really want to be a cultivator, then stay awake and endure it!"

His voice resounded within Zhang Wanqing's head, which forced her to snap back to reality.

It hurts!

It hurts so much!

Zhang Wanqing teared up once again.

But this time, her mind was resolved.

If she had already experienced this much pain, then wouldn't it be a huge waste if she failed to endure through it in the end?

That would mean that the pain she had received so far would all be for naught!

She had already endured this long, so surely the end was near.

She just had to endure a little more...

Just a little more!

In the end, a little was followed by a little, slowly leading to a lot more.

After a certain point, Zhang Wanqing was no longer able to tell how much time had passed. During this period, she had almost lost consciousness multiple times, only to be awoken by Wu Meng's voice time and again.

She did not know when it started to happen, but the pain gradually lessened.

It was unclear if whatever was happening within her was coming to a stop, or if her mind had simply gotten used to the pain.

Finally, she heard the words that she had longed to hear.

"It is done. Good job hanging in there," Wu Meng praised with a satisfied smile. "Let's go back up."

Wu Meng's feet opened a little, and his ankles slipped down to clamp onto Zhang Wanqing's head.

Zhang Wanqing did not even have the time to react before Wu Meng suddenly shot upwards, pulling her along by the head!