A vast lake stretched before Chu Feng, half of it frozen in ice, half engulfed in flame—a bizarre spectacle that defied all reason.
"How can a lake like this even exist?" Chu Feng was struck dumb with astonishment, because this scene was utterly impossible.
"That is the transformation of those two terrifying pearls," the Dragon Daoist explained. "Back then, those pearls killed many of our people. Even I was gravely wounded by them, eventually ending up in this wretched state."
"They were that powerful?" Chu Feng inhaled sharply. If even the Dragon Daoist had been done in by those two pearls, just how fearsome must they be?
"Indeed they were. After we fought through layers of obstacles and cut down several evil spirits, we came upon three pearls and thought we'd found ourselves supreme treasures. Instead, it became a death sentence."
"Fortunately, the Ice Pearl and the Flame Pearl seemed unable to leave the one in my possession. So even though their power was immense, before long they lost their terrifying force and sank into this lake, transforming into what you see today."
"To be precise, those two pearls are already dead. But their remnants still linger, and they still carry a certain amount of threat—holding a peculiar kind of energy."
"And this is the place where I want you to train. Though they are dead, the unique power they left behind still pervades this area. The coexistence of extreme cold and extreme heat will interfere with your Mental Power."
"But it will also help you strengthen your control over it. If you can freely manipulate your Mental Power here above this Ice and Flame Lake, then using Dragon Soars Across Nine Heavens should no longer be a problem."
"Right, let's get to it." With that, the Dragon Daoist turned and walked away, showing no intention of personally guiding Chu Feng. But after going a short distance, he called back: "Chu Feng, this is the final boundary—don't go any deeper. There are things down there that even I, in my current state, cannot deal with."
With that, the Dragon Daoist drifted off. But Chu Feng, burning with curiosity, deliberately circled around the Ice and Flame Lake after the Daoist departed, wanting to see what lay behind it. Only then did he finally understand why the Dragon Daoist had told him not to go any farther.
Behind the Ice and Flame Lake, the Demon Suppression Runes had already begun to appear, spreading across an enormous area that stretched endlessly to the horizon. That most likely meant powerful—or numerous—evil spirits lurked deep within.
"Sigh, the Emperor's Burial is just too far out of reach. For now, I'd better focus on training in Dragon Soars Across Nine Heavens." Before the Emperor's Burial, Chu Feng always felt unbearably small.
Especially after hearing about the Xuan Wu Shield Technique, learning of the Dragon Daoist's fate, and witnessing with his own eyes the strange lake formed by those two pearls from within the Emperor's Burial—he came to understand even more keenly just how weak he was, how insignificant his power was.
But Chu Feng refused to be disheartened. After all, he was still young. As long as he was willing to work hard and seize opportunities, becoming stronger was only a matter of time. With that thought, he began making his way toward the bizarre Ice and Flame Lake.
"This thing really is strange."
Before he even got close, two peculiar streams of energy washed over him—one a bone-piercing cold, the other a scorching heat. These two forces that should never coexist had somehow merged into one.
Fortunately, Chu Feng's physical body could still withstand the bizarre energies. In the end, he stepped onto the lake's surface. While his flesh could endure the strange atmosphere, his Mental Power was thrown into chaos by it, becoming difficult to control.
Just as the Dragon Daoist had said, Chu Feng was truly affected by the special energy here. As a gray-robed Spirit World Master whose Mental Power was supposed to be extremely potent, he couldn't even concentrate.
But this was exactly the kind of training the Dragon Daoist wanted him to do—controlling his Mental Power while on the Ice and Flame Lake. If he could succeed, his mastery over Mental Power would reach a new level, and he would have a chance to unleash Dragon Soars Across Nine Heavens.
And so, from that day on, Chu Feng came to the Ice and Flame Lake every single day to train. This training lasted a full month—the longest he had ever spent cultivating a single martial art.
But the month was not wasted. From the initial inability to gather his Mental Power at all, to gradually achieving simple control, Chu Feng could now freely command his Mental Power while standing atop the Ice and Flame Lake.
"I did it, I finally did it! I can finally control my Mental Power at will here!"
Standing at the center of the Ice and Flame Lake, Chu Feng encircled his body with Yuan Force, forming an invisible shield that held back the frost and flames from consuming his body. To his left was bone-piercing ice; to his right, raging fire.
"Hum." Suddenly, his will stirred, and his Mental Power surged outward from his mind like a tide, probing downward into the depths of the Ice and Flame Lake.
After successfully mastering his Mental Power control, Chu Feng didn't rush to train in the profound Dragon Soars Across Nine Heavens. Instead, he wanted to carefully sense what lay within this lake formed by those two terrifying pearls.
His Mental Power pierced through the flames, through the ice, plunging deep below. And the deeper it went, the more intense the biting cold and the searing heat became.
"Oh no—!" Chu Feng's eyes snapped open. His entire body shuddered involuntarily, and a look of unprecedented terror and unease flooded his gaze.
Because at the very moment his Mental Power reached the deepest part of the lake bottom, he sensed two living presences. They were as if they had slumbered for a thousand years—but his Mental Power had suddenly stirred them awake.
"BOOM!" An enormous explosion erupted from beneath Chu Feng's feet, and at the same time a tremendous force rocketed upward into the sky.
The powerful force hurled Chu Feng into midair. All around him, chunks of ice filled the sky alongside surging walls of flame. This Ice and Flame Lake, sealed away for a millennium, had come back to life.
"Damn it—I think I just did something irreversible!"
In that instant, there was no need for further thought. He knew exactly what had happened. Those two terrifying pearls from long ago had not truly died—they had been sleeping at the bottom of the lake. And just now, Chu Feng had unwittingly awakened them.
Thinking of how many powerful experts had died at the hands of these two pearls, how even the Dragon Daoist had been killed by them, Chu Feng didn't dare waste another second. He hastily adjusted his body in midair, activated the Void Flight Technique, and began racing at full speed back toward the Dragon Daoist's location.
"BOOM!"
But before Chu Feng had flown very far, another deafening explosion roared from behind him. At the same time, two streams of energy—one freezing cold, the other scorching hot—erupted from the lake bottom and shot into the sky.
Chu Feng turned to look. His pupils contracted sharply, and a look of pure horror spread across his face. Because he could see them: a blue pearl and a red pearl, like a pair of demonic eyes, hurtling toward him at inconceivable speed.