Chapter 4: The Abyssal Encounter

Kaelen sat cross-legged beneath a large tree in the courtyard, completely ignoring the other white-robed disciples passing by. Under their surprised gazes, he quietly operated the Primordial Bodycraft to heal his injuries.

As Kaelen cultivated, spiritual energy in the air gradually gathered around him, seeping into his muscles, bones, and flesh, slowly expelling the bruised blood from his pores.

The fourth-generation disciples of the Mystic Dawn Pavilion, who lived in this courtyard, were no longer surprised by Kaelen's behavior. To them, he was a cultivation maniac, always seen healing himself from self-inflicted injuries.

Tempering the muscles and bones was the first step in cultivating the Primordial Bodycraft he practiced.

Although all power ultimately stemmed from the world's spiritual energy, to forge one's own internal strength, a cultivator had to first use external energy to stimulate and strengthen their physical body.

It wasn't until noon that Kaelen spat out a mouthful of dark blood, finally unblocking and smoothing the flow of energy within his body.

The technique used by Darian earlier, called the Five Pillars Mountain Cleaving Art, though classified as a low-grade Elemental technique, could produce tremendous power when cultivated to a high level—enough to split mountains and shatter stones.

Kaelen had been struck directly by Darian once, sustaining internal injuries as his organs were shaken. After circulating his cultivation technique for a few hours, he had recovered about eighty percent.

Thanks to the Primordial Bodycraft, Kaelen's body had far stronger healing capabilities than the average cultivator—at least one or two times tougher.

Standing up from the ground, Kaelen glanced at the sky and muttered, "It's getting late... I hope I can still make it in time."

The Azure Frost Pool was a hundred miles away. Even without accounting for the time it would take to capture the Emeraldfin Carp, simply traveling there and back would be exhausting.

Awakening, Transcendence, Dominion, Demi-Godhood, and Ascension—these were the five great stages of cultivation.

The Awakening Realm was the very first step a cultivator took—the awakening of one's potential.

Among countless ordinary people, only a rare few could embark on the path of cultivation. Awakening was the threshold; failing to cross it meant remaining forever mundane.

Cultivators at this stage could not yet fly unless they possessed powerful magical artifacts.

Since Kaelen, who walked the ancient martial path of body refinement, had not yet reached the Dominion stage, he couldn't fly either. He could only travel on foot.

Without delay, he left the courtyard and headed down the mountain.

The Azure Frost Pool lay between two small peaks about a hundred miles away—a peculiar place within the Mystic Dawn Mountains. The lake water was icy cold year-round but never froze.

Due to the freezing temperatures, there were almost no living creatures in the water—except for a rare, low-level spirit beast: the Emeraldfin Carp.

The Emeraldfin Carp was considered extremely low-grade, lacking true intelligence and only instinctively absorbing spiritual energy to cultivate.

If it had any special traits, it was its remarkable strength for its size and its ability to fire water arrows as a basic form of attack.

The disciples of the Mystic Dawn Pavilion didn't hunt these creatures for food but for the demon cores they developed inside.

After more than an hour of trekking through rugged mountain paths, Kaelen finally arrived at a rocky cliff overlooking the Azure Frost Pool. Gazing down, he could feel waves of biting cold rising from the water below, causing him to frown deeply.

The surface of the water, several meters below, was eerily calm—smooth like polished obsidian rather than blue, revealing the pool's terrifying depth.

The hundred-acre pool lay still and silent between the mountains, a shard of darkness embedded in the land. Black stones surrounded the shores, devoid of any greenery.

Vegetation only appeared a hundred meters away from the water's edge, reinforcing the stark desolation surrounding the pool.

In a word, the Azure Frost Pool radiated deathly stillness.

Taking a deep breath, Kaelen leapt from the cliff like an arrow, plunging straight into the frigid waters below. The surface barely rippled, only sending out faint rings that vanished almost instantly.

The water felt heavier than mercury, dense and suffocating. Even the tiny ripples quickly disappeared.

Though he had mentally prepared himself, the moment Kaelen entered the pool, his body was overwhelmed by the brutal cold—far more savage than ordinary ice water.

Tiny streams of icy air, almost like living entities, wriggled through his pores, tearing at his skin with invisible claws.

Operating his Primordial Bodycraft, Kaelen's muscles shivered, generating internal heat to combat the invasive chill.

Every muscle fiber, every bone—he commanded them all with precision.

This was where the strength of a refined body showed. Without the protection of Daoist energy, Kaelen could dive straight into the Azure Frost Pool—something no other fourth-generation disciple would dare attempt.

Anyone else would have frozen solid and sunk without a trace.

The Emeraldfin Carp lived in underwater caves over a hundred meters below the surface. Fishing from above was useless; one had to dive deep to catch them.

Quickly, Kaelen swam deeper into the pool. As he descended, the light faded, and dark caves began to appear along the rocky walls.

He halted his descent there, knowing any deeper would plunge him into utter blackness, where sight would be of no use.

Half an hour passed. Kaelen checked hundreds of caves but hadn't glimpsed even a single fish. Frustration gnawed at him.

Breathing, diving again, and searching—yet the once-abundant Emeraldfin Carp seemed to have completely vanished. Kaelen sensed something was wrong.

On his third dive, after catching his breath at the surface, Kaelen found a massive cave.

Unlike the small holes made by the carp, this cave was two meters wide—perfectly round, pitch black, and made of strange ink-colored stone.

New disciples were warned: the Azure Frost Pool was bottomless. The large caves led to unknown places. Never enter them.

From afar, the cave looked like a giant gaping maw, poised to swallow anyone foolish enough to approach.

Even just staring at it, Kaelen felt a suffocating pressure.

Carefully, he swam past it—but just as he passed, a powerful undercurrent surged out from the cave, tossing him sideways.

Through the murky water, he caught sight of two dim lights inside the cave.

Suddenly, over a dozen glowing green fish—each about a foot long—darted out of the cavern in a panic. These were the crystalline Emeraldfin Carp he had been seeking!

But Kaelen had no time to think about catching them. A thick, black shadow, as wide as a barrel, shot out of the cave with terrifying momentum, shaking the water and pressing down on him with overwhelming force.

"A demon beast!" Kaelen's heart froze. The icy water hadn't numbed him, but the terror flooding him now made every hair on his body stand up.

Narrowing his eyes, he realized the two dim lights inside the cave were actually eyes—each the size of a clenched fist, glowing with a sickly green light.