Chapter 5 The Lake

"Hah, ghak, hah!" Wang Tian coughed out as he paddled through the water. 'Where am I?' He thought to himself as he exited the lake. It was obvious he was still in the Hissing Forest but he had no idea where in the Hissing Forest he was.

Not only that but he had lost the horse, luckily he still managed to keep the map and missions on hand and hadn't lost them.

"Well while I am here I might as well wash in the lake a bit, I should probably dry my clothes too while I am at it...."

Wang Tian then undressed himself before hoping into the lake once again, albeit this time he hadn't fallen from over 100 meters in the air. 'Ah the water is actually quite nice.' Lightly swimming through the water Wang Tian thought over all that had happened to him recently, and what he had to do next.

Getting lost in his thoughts Wang Tian ended up swimming out of the lake and into a river which eventually led to a wider yet much shallower lake. "Ah is that a waterfall?" He remarked admiring the beauty of nature.

'Where in the Hissing Forest are there lakes and waterfalls?' Wang Tian began deducing his location based on what he had seen so far. As he began narrowing down the possibilities though, a strange bubbling noise erupted from within the lake.

"SPLISH!"

The water spread apart as a figure rose from within the lake. It was a woman, and a very beautiful one at that, she had long flowing black hair, sky blue eyes, thin eyebrows and straight nose. "W-wha-" Wang Tian exclaimed in shock as he locked eyes with the woman.

Immediately the woman's face turned beet red and she quickly moved her hand downward making a water wall of sorts between the two. Seeing this Wang Tian was shocked even further. 'She's very very strong...'

Coming to this realisation Wang Tian had another realisation on top of that. "I apologise greatly it wasn't my intention to peep I ended up swimming here accidentally from another lake!" He explained turning around so that his back was towards the woman.

The water then fell, the woman completely submerged in water with only her head poking out observing the boy. "I understand... Stay like that for 5 minutes so I can get dressed. To be clear if you dare try to look at me I'll gouge out your eyes." She replied, Wang Tian nodded profusely in response trying not to provoke this mysterious woman any further.

Around 5 minutes later her voice sounded once more. "You can look over here now." She said as she twirled her long black hair. This time she was donned in Azure robes a golden bracelet bound tightly around her wrist.

"So who are you, and how did you get there? If your answers are unsatisfactory I'll tear out your eyes." She declared as the two locked eyes once again. "I am Wang Tian, Outer Disciples of the Skyward Sword Sect. After fighting with an Iron Clawed Eagle I was forced into the sky and then dropped into a nearby lake, from there I swam over here accidentally." He explained as clearly and concisely as possible.

"I see, wait are you from the Azure Tree Kingdom?" The woman asked excitement flashing through her eyes. "Eh yes, why?" Wang Tian replied in confusion. "Great, that's great, running into you might not have been so bad after all. Although you seem weak the Azure Tree Kingdom wouldn't have many talents to begin with." She muttered to herself when suddenly a deep blue token appeared in her hand out of no where.

"You, Wang Tian was it? I am Yan Mei, seeing as this can be considered a fateful encounter I'd like to make you an offer." Yan Mei introduced herself a devious smile appearing on her face.

"I come from a place far far above this little Kingdom, but I've been entrusted with a mission. I need to find helpers from all the 100 Kingdoms within the Violet Flower Domain, and the Azure Tree Kingdom happens to be one of the Kingdoms I haven't found a helper from yet. If you agree to my request and become my helper I'll give you a small gift in return, and I'll forget the little incident earlier." Yan Mei explained a glint flashing through her eyes.

"Okay but what does being a helper entail?" Wang Tian questioned cautiously, he wouldn't just agree to an offer from an unknown person so easily. "Oh nothing much, well for the likes of you anyway, I just need you to show up to a certain place at a certain time, it shouldn't be too hard or too easy for you to complete all you need to do is show up." She replied.

Wang Tian still wasn't convinced though. "What happens if I fail to show up?" He asked wearily. "Well formally I'd have to hunt you down and kill you, in reality though it wouldn't matter much but its in your best interest that you show up because if my hand is forced I may have to hunt you down." She chuckled, in that moment in Wang Tian's eyes she looked like the most beautiful thing on the planet, but those words on the other hand stung his ears.

"Fine I am in, what's my gift?" Wang Tian simply sighed. At the end of the day he'd probably be forced to accept even if he didn't want to, after all she might just kill him using the excuse that he peeped on her.

"Hmmm.... seeing as you're only in the 3rd layer your talent must be pretty poor. Here I have a spare Marrow Cleansing Pill, and this is the token that indicates the agreement has been sealed. If you drip your blood onto it everything will be set and at the designated time it will show you where to go."

Tossing him a bottle and a token Wang Tian was stunned beyond words. 'A Marrow Cleansing Pill? The last time one of those appeared in the Azure Tree Kingdom a massacre happened.' He gulped down hard at the thought looking at the bottle in his hand, and then at the terrifying woman who gave it to him.

She called it a spare, that to Wang Tian told him more about her strength than her previous display. Biting his finger lightly, Wang Tian dripped his blood onto the token, and in an instant the word "Water" appeared upon it.

"Perfect, well I hope you'll fulfil your end of the deal when the time is right. Good bye." Without another word her figure disappeared from near the lake, leaving Wang Tian speechless. That was without a doubt the weirdest encounter of his life, even weirder than when he obtained the Dracodevil's Heavenly Body.

'Well at least I got out of that unharmed, not only that but if she wasn't lying I might have had a great encounter instead.' Wang Tian smiled, his eyes glancing at the token in his hands. "...But why water?"