Chapter 269: Celestial Lake Swamp
The tortoise was entirely dark green, its shell overgrown with grass, looking like some extraordinary Spirit Beast.
General Wu was the first to leap onto the wooden boat. "Everyone, get on!"
Elder Xu followed, unhurried.
Only then did the others follow suit.
Once everyone was aboard the wooden boat, the giant tortoise beneath the water began to paddle its powerful limbs, carrying the boat on its back as it swam slowly forward.
The Celestial Lake Swamp was a complex, twisting maze of half lake and half marsh. Any outsider unfamiliar with the terrain who blundered in would surely become trapped.
After an unknown amount of time, the group suddenly spotted a patch of green land ahead, covered in swaying aquatic plants.
As if it could go no further, the giant tortoise stopped just before the patch of green, the wooden boat still on its back.
General Wu was the first to jump off the wooden boat. He landed on what appeared to be the lake’s surface, yet he stood firm.
"The path ahead is dangerous," General Wu said slowly. "For the rest of the journey, you must follow me closely. Walk where I walk. Do not take a single misstep. If you fall into the Celestial Lake Swamp, you’ll be beyond saving. No one will be able to rescue you."
"Don’t worry, General. We’re not exactly rookies traveling the East Continent for the first time. We know the drill."
A young man in fine silks and jade spoke dismissively from the boat, then jumped off and landed safely on the ground.
However, the moment he took a step forward, his foot found only air, and he plunged straight into the water.
Someone nearby rushed to grab him.
Seeing this, General Wu cried out in alarm, "Don’t grab him!"
But it was too late. The young man’s eyes suddenly shot open in terror, as if an immense force had seized him. He was dragged down with a WHOOSH, pulling the person trying to save him along. Both vanished beneath the surface.
GLUG! GLUG!
A few bubbles broke the surface, but the two men were nowhere to be seen.
General Wu sighed and shook his head. "They’re gone."
A chill ran down everyone’s spines. They became extremely cautious, disembarking one by one and following General Wu’s every step.
"Do not use your Spiritual Power wantonly here," General Wu warned as he led the way. "The beasts in the Celestial Lake Swamp are extremely sensitive to it. The moment you use it, you’ll likely draw them all to us."
The group nodded hastily.
Jiang Shaohe seemed terrified of this place. Walking ahead of Shen Daoxing, his legs trembled uncontrollably.
Shen Daoxing felt a little helpless. "What are you so afraid of?"
"Yang, you don’t understand. The Celestial Lake Swamp is ranked second among the five great Forbidden Lands of the East Continent! The beasts in here are all exceedingly vicious. Rumor has it that a hundred years ago, a merchant caravan tried to force its way through, and not a single person made it out alive."
At this, Jiang Shaohe couldn’t help but shudder. "Yang, do you realize? That caravan had an expert at the Earth Profound Realm! Even someone at the Earth Profound Realm died here. How could I not be scared?"
"Then they must have encountered the Great Wilderness."
Walking up ahead, Sikao Dao, the Sixth Prince of the Daqi Empire, suddenly spoke.
"The Great Wilderness!"
Jiang Shaohe’s eyes widened. "You mean the Great Wilderness, one of the Four Great Fierce Beasts of the East Continent?"
"Correct."
Sikao Dao nodded with a faint smile.
"Each of the Four Great Fierce Beasts of the East Continent possesses power at or above the Earth Profound Realm. Aside from the number one, Celestial Eye, whose whereabouts are unknown, the others reside within the five great Forbidden Lands. And the Great Wilderness is right here in the Celestial Lake Swamp.
"They are all savage and tyrannical, having slaughtered countless people. The top-ranked Celestial Eye once massacred an entire nation in a single night.
"And while the second-ranked Great Wilderness may not be as brutal as Celestial Eye, it once flew into a rage a century ago and slaughtered the inhabitants of an entire city."
"What! So one of the Four Great Fierce Beasts, the Great Wilderness, is right here in the Celestial Lake Swamp."
Jiang Shaohe was aghast, his body trembling uncontrollably. ’I never should have come.’
Seeing how frightened Jiang Shaohe was, General Wu, at the head of the group, chuckled and shook his head. "Relax! The Celestial Lake Swamp isn’t as terrifying as you imagine. Just follow the rules and stick with me, and I guarantee you will reach our nation of Tianze safely. Nothing will happen."
"Hahaha."
Sikao Dao laughed along. "General Wu is right. The Celestial Lake Swamp really isn’t that frightening. The Great Wilderness hasn’t been seen in a hundred years. As long as we follow the rules and stick with the General, we’ll surely get in and out safely."
Clearly, this wasn’t his first time here; he followed behind General Wu with an air of complete composure.
However, no sooner had the words left his mouth than a dark shadow flashed across the surface of the water nearby.
The next moment, someone in the group was struck by something and sent flying with a THUD, landing in the marsh water in the blink of an eye.
GLUG! GLUG!
A stream of bubbles rose to the surface. When the man resurfaced, he was nothing but a skeleton.
"The Great Wilderness is here!"
Jiang Shaohe shrieked in terror.
General Wu quickly turned to reassure everyone. "Don’t be afraid! Don’t panic! It’s just a water lizard. Beasts don’t normally attack on this path. Let’s keep moving."
At that moment, however, General Wu saw everyone’s eyes go wide. He suddenly felt a shadow fall over him from behind. He turned his head and saw a massive, blood-drenched maw gaping right before his eyes.
Then.
CRUNCH!
The great maw snapped shut, and General Wu vanished, swallowed whole.
SPLASH!
A massive spray of water shot high into the air as the group watched a colossal figure dive back into the depths.
GLUG! GLUG!
A stream of bubbles rose from below, followed moments later by a bleached-white, human skeleton.
Everyone was stunned, frozen to the spot. A powerful expert at the Ninth Layer of Spirit Transformation, a master from the nation of Tianze, had been swallowed in a single gulp.
Their entire passage through the Celestial Lake Swamp depended on General Wu. And now, just like that, he was dead!
Having lost their guide, the group descended into chaos.
Shen Daoxing’s head whipped around as he scanned the area, seeing dark shapes gliding across the water.
The next moment, green lizards surfaced, their large, round eyes staring hungrily at the crowd.
Then, in a flash, they all vanished.
The calm surface of the water began to bulge. A massive, dark-green head emerged, its huge, slitted eyes opening to glare malevolently at them.
"It’s the Water Lizard King!"
Elder Xu, who was at the front, was startled. His calm and composed demeanor vanished. He broke into a run, moving with an agility that belied his age, each foot landing precisely on the hidden path.
Clearly, this man—the only outsider who could come and go from Tianze as he pleased—was intimately familiar with the path hidden beneath the water.