Chapter 26: The Cold Pool is Like an Abyss, Difficult to Penetrate; The Strange Old Man First Shows His Trace【12】

As the two demon immortals spoke, Fang Longye's Golden Centipede avatar had already approached the Cold Pool that contained the Alchemy Furnace in the original story. As he probed with his divine sense along the way, he discovered that the closer he got to the Cold Pool, the more barren the land became, with no signs of living creatures.

This was simply because the surrounding environment grew increasingly frigid as one approached the Cold Pool.

Upon reaching a point three hundred miles from the Cold Pool, the piercing cold air was enough to freeze ordinary living beings solid.

Fortunately, the Golden Centipede avatar was, after all, a demon of the Primordial Spirit Realm, so he did not fear this bit of severe cold.

Amidst the ice and snow, a pool of cold water came into view.

What was wondrous was that even though this Cold Pool emitted a chill far more bone-piercing than the surrounding frozen environment, it had not solidified into ice; instead, it was a living spring.

Water vapor even rose from the pool, condensing into strings of beads that tinkled as they fell.

Without rashly entering, he instead found a clean spot by the edge of the Cold Pool and sat cross-legged on the ground.

He simultaneously circulated his Dharma to recover the twenty percent of his injuries he had deliberately left behind, while carefully contemplating the Cold-Repelling Art taught to him by the Scorpion Demon.

As he circulated his Dharma, the dense spiritual energy in the surroundings gathered rapidly, being absorbed and refined by him in a continuous stream.

The concentration of spiritual energy here was actually deeper than any treasure land he had encountered before.

He surmised that this must be because of this Cold Pool.

While cultivating, the Golden Centipede avatar pondered secretly.

After about three days, the Golden Centipede avatar had completely recovered his previous injuries and had also gained an initial understanding of the marvelous uses of the Cold-Repelling Art.

Without hesitation, he stood up, formed hand seals, cast the Cold-Repelling Art, and dove into the Cold Pool.

The Cold Pool was deep and dark, even restricting the use of divine sense, so he could only observe with his naked eyes.

As he dove deeper, the water became increasingly bone-chilling.

After diving about a hundred zhang, the Golden Centipede avatar could no longer endure it.

Even the Cold-Repelling Art he was sustaining could not protect him, so he immediately turned back and returned to the surface of the pool.

Splash— He leaped out of the pool water and jumped onto the bank.

His entire body was covered in frost that would not dissipate for a long time.

It took him more than half an hour to dispel the cold energy from his body, and he gave a bitter smile.

"I was originally worried about how to retrieve that cauldron in the Cold Pool; I didn't expect that I wouldn't even be able to pass the hurdle of the Cold Pool itself." He pondered inwardly, no longer attempting to seek the alchemy furnace.

He began, as the Scorpion Demon had said, to absorb the cold energy in the Cold Pool to strengthen the cold-attribute characteristics of his own Dharma.

His Primordial Spirit focused on contemplating the Cold-Repelling Art, striving to fully comprehend this technique and unleash greater power to protect himself as he approached the bottom of the Cold Pool more deeply.

Deep forests hid the verdant green, and vines hung beneath the rocks.

The cry of a crane came from afar, clear and piercing, while the chirping of insects rang out incessantly by his ears, pleasant and melodious.

All around, ancient trees grew lush, intermingling with the colors of the stones.

More than half a month had passed since the Golden Centipede avatar first explored the Cold Pool.

At this time, the Golden Centipede avatar had left the Cold Pool and was wandering around the territory of Hulu Mountain, occasionally collecting some spiritual materials and precious herbs.

He appeared leisurely, but in reality, he was scouting the situation around Hulu Mountain to keep himself informed in preparation for future struggles.

At this moment, his Primordial Spirit scanned and saw, three hundred miles away, an old man with white hair and beard moving with the speed of flight, leaping between the cliffs and precipices; he was even more agile than a youth.

"Good fellow, this must be Huluwa Grandpa!"

The Golden Centipede avatar's expression tightened.

"This isn't normal!" He realized at this moment.

"This Hulu Mountain is already considered the depths of the Ten Thousand Mountains, where there are countless monsters and very few traces of the Human Race.

What is going on with this old man? How can a mortal like him survive in such dangerous mountain forests?" If he remembered correctly, in the original plot, this old man appeared and directly killed a fire-breathing monster snake with a firewood axe.

Could an ordinary old man do that? This was not the story from his past life, but a real world.

Yet no matter how he scrutinized this old man, he detected no abnormalities; he was just a mortal with extremely abundant blood and energy.

But the appearance of this old man was too strange; no matter how he thought about it, it was not normal.

He was just about to head directly forward to examine him face-to-face.

Suddenly, this white-haired and white-bearded old man seemed to turn his head inadvertently, his gaze seemingly piercing through the distance of three hundred miles, looking directly at the Golden Centipede avatar.

It was only for an instant; when the Golden Centipede avatar looked over again, he found that the old man had returned to normal, with no further oddities. He acted just like an ordinary woodcutter.

Only, as he leaped and moved, he quickly left the range of his Primordial Spirit's perception.

The Golden Centipede avatar, as if a rabbit startled, rode the wind and flew, retreating toward the distance—

A short while later, only after flying several hundred miles away did he stop his steps.

He calmed his racing heart and mind, gasping for breath.

"If it weren't for the fact that as an avatar I share a mental connection with my true self, and I reviewed my memory through a third-person perspective, I would have truly thought I was seeing things."

The Golden Centipede avatar confirmed he had not seen wrong; that old man had indeed detected his Primordial Spirit scan.

It was just that for some reason, this old man was unwilling to reveal his strength and feigned being an ordinary woodcutter.

"Forget it! I'll just go cultivate at the Cold Pool; such taxing matters can be left to the true self."

Black Water Wild Marsh.

Inside Qianlong Cave.

Fang Longye's true self sat high on a stone platform, a cluster of cloud-water clear light above his head, his Primordial Spirit shifting unpredictably, surrounded by pearls that emitted brilliant radiance.

The halo dispersed, soaking into his brow.

He opened his eyes, his brows tightly locked.

Recalling the encounter the Golden Centipede avatar just had, he pondered for a while.

"In the memories of my past life, how did this old man appear in the plot? It seems it wasn't mentioned; he just appeared out of thin air, then went up the mountain to gather herbs, saved the pangolin, and then obtained the Seven-Colored Gourd Seed from the pangolin. Oh, it was said to be the guidance of the Mountain God."

"Right, there is also the so-called Mountain God. Having cultivated in this Small World for so long now, I have never once heard any news about any Mountain God."

"There is a big problem, there is a huge problem in this." It was a pity that the information obtained was too little; even if he combined it with the plot from his past life, it was difficult to figure out the connections and the truth behind it.

"In short, in this original plot, the grandfather of the Huluwa definitely has a big problem."

"And those seven Huluwa, what exactly is their origin? Are they merely born from a single gourd spirit seed?" As his thoughts wandered, Fang Longye began to speculate on the origins of the Huluwa again.

"Right now I am in the Journey to the West World. These seven Huluwa are dressed in seven different colors, possess some divine abilities that are somewhat similar to that Monkey, and can even transform into a seven-colored divine mountain."

"Could it really be like the wild theories of some people in my past life, that these seven Huluwa were conceived after Brother Monkey 'played' with the Seven Fairies who came to pick peaches when he was in the Flat Peach Garden?"

"Did Brother Monkey not just know how to steal peaches as we thought? After using the Immobilization Spell on those Seven Fairies, did something inappropriate for children happen after all?"

Thinking this, an inexplicable, wicked smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

"Hmm, it is not impossible," Fang Longye said, stroking his chin in deep thought.

"After all, in the original Journey to the West, when Brother Monkey invited Guanyin Bodhisattva to subdue Hong Hai'er, that Bodhisattva was afraid he would see that Longnu was beautiful and harbor deceitful thoughts! She insisted on going herself to subdue Hong Hai'er~"

"It can be seen that Brother Monkey is not some monkey with a pure heart and few desires; he is actually a fellow traveler of our kind~"

After all, having been an old Monkey King for three hundred years or so, with nothing but monkeys and monkey grandchildren under his seat, he is not necessarily a monkey who keeps himself chaste.

Thinking about it now, after Brother Monkey used the Immobilization Spell on those Seven Fairies in the Flat Peach Garden back then, did he really do nothing at all? Thank you all for your support! Chapter Two will be posted in the evening~(End of this chapter)