Chapter 451 : Forced Bath
451: Forced Bath
Regarding the serious matters concerning the Buddha Sect and the demon race, Sect Leader Qingxiao urgently summoned the sect's high-level members to deliberate.
They needed to discuss not only the veracity of the demon race situation but also the Xuanqing Sect's stance in this matter. Therefore, such a meeting wasn't one that just anyone could attend... Fortunately, Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue had no particular desire to sit in on it. Sect Leader Qingxiao simply assigned a disciple to lead them directly to the lightning pool behind the mountain.
The lightning pool was also on Mount Tianyang, but it wasn't a place where disciples normally ventured. It was an enclosed space. The guiding disciple led them to a mountain wall, then took out a token and performed certain operations to open the entrance to the lightning pool.
Instantly, Jiang Mo felt a surge of energy erupting from the opening, causing everyone's hair to float upward despite the absence of wind.
Jiang Mo knew this was lightning energy, and the floating hair was a natural phenomenon. However, the heroic spirit she had maintained on the journey instantly deflated once they reached the entrance of the lightning pool—she truly, not in the slightest, wanted to be struck by lightning, much less soak in a lightning pool. What normal person would willingly be struck by lightning? It was all because her mind had temporarily lapsed. How had she ever agreed to this?!
The little tiger was on the verge of tears, her feet seeming to have grown roots, facing the dark entrance without the slightest inclination to step forward. After such a prolonged delay, even the young disciple guiding them showed a look of surprise: "Is Jianbing not going in?"
Yun Qingyue immediately saw that the little tiger had lost her nerve, but it wasn't unexpected. She directly took Jiang Mo's hand and led her toward the lightning pool in the darkness: "Come, let's go in."
Her usually cool hand carried a trace of warmth today. Held by her, Jiang Mo involuntarily followed along.
As soon as the two stepped into the entrance of the lightning pool, the guiding disciple behind them had completed his mission. He called out from outside: "When the two seniors wish to leave, you may exit on your own. This disciple will take his leave first and report back to the Sect Leader."
Yun Qingyue acknowledged with a sound, and then darkness engulfed them as the entrance closed behind them.
Jiang Mo instinctively looked back, only to see a solid mountain wall. With neither token in hand nor knowledge of the incantation to open the lightning pool, she truly didn't know how they would leave when it was time. If her Senior Sister weren't still holding her hand, she would have wanted to pound on that mountain wall a couple of times to see if she could get out directly.
Of course, she was still being held by her Senior Sister, and acting contrary to one's word wasn't something one could do righteously in front of the person they loved. So in the end, she only looked back longingly a couple of times before following her Senior Sister deeper into the lightning pool.
From the entrance, they entered a pitch-black tunnel, with the lightning element in the air growing increasingly dense as they proceeded.
Darkness couldn't affect a cultivator's vision, but due to nervousness, Jiang Mo's golden pupils unknowingly transformed into vertical slits. Step by step, she followed her Senior Sister's lead, her anxiety growing stronger as they drew closer to the lightning pool.
She finally couldn't resist asking the system in her heart: "System, my wound has demonic qi attached to it. Can you actively run an antivirus?"
Perhaps due to the chaotic energy field around them, or perhaps because it hadn't spoken for so long, the stuttering system seemed even more stuttering than before: "N-no. S-system, energy, n-not, enough, c-cannot, a-automatically, s-start, a-anti-virus."
One sentence had countless stutters, leaving Jiang Mo both anxious and exhausted. Upon hearing the initial denial, she had thought about negotiating with the system, but after hearing the complete sentence, she thoroughly abandoned any idea of bargaining. Thus, her last glimmer of hope vanished, and she completely wilted, no longer overthinking, obediently following her Senior Sister toward the lightning pool.
The tunnel was very long. Walking at a steady pace, the two spent considerable time before reaching its end. Then suddenly, their vision broadened, and what met their eyes was no longer complete darkness, but a space illuminated by bluish-purple light.
Jiang Mo saw it—a vast lightning pool crackling with electricity. Even calling it a pool was an understatement; to Jiang Mo, it was more like a lightning lake, its expanse so vast that one could barely see its end. And beneath the seemingly calm "lake surface," who knew what terrifying power was concealed!
An ordinary person could never imagine how such a lightning lake could be contained within this space. Even though Jiang Mo stood at some distance from the lightning lake, she could feel its explosive energy.
The little tiger grew timid again, involuntarily tightening her hand entwined with her Senior Sister's: "Ah Yue, is, is this really the place?"
Yun Qingyue had an ice spiritual root, not a lightning one, and had never been to this lightning pool before, but her reaction was much calmer than Jiang Mo's. After just a casual glance, she nodded: "This should be the right place."
Hearing this, Jiang Mo couldn't help but step back: "But I feel like if I jump in, I'll be electrocuted to nothing—the kind where there's nothing left of me."
Yun Qingyue found this both amusing and exasperating. Not to mention how formidable the White Tiger's defense was, even an ordinary Fusion stage cultivator wouldn't be electrocuted to nothing in the lightning pool. She had even heard of a senior brother who practiced body tempering in the past—now that was a tough one, daring to soak in the lightning pool with just Nascent Soul cultivation. In comparison, they were arriving quite late.
To persuade the little tiger, Yun Qingyue immediately recounted this senior brother's glorious deeds. After listening, Jiang Mo remained silent for a long time before finally asking: "So where is this senior brother you mentioned now?"
Yun Qingyue had never met the person, and perhaps he had already perished on his cultivation path, but it certainly wasn't from being soaked in the lightning pool.
Seeing that Yun Qingyue couldn't answer, Jiang Mo seemed to misunderstand something, the panic in her eyes intensifying. She shuffled back further and said: "So I was saying, this lightning pool is really too dangerous, maybe we should..."
Before she could finish, she felt a grip on the back of her neck, and then she was thrown into the lightning pool.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · · · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Jiang Mo was thrown into the lightning pool by Yun Qingyue. Who told her to hem and haw with too many excuses, finally causing her Senior Sister to lose patience?
The moment Jiang Mo "entered the water," the previously calm "lake surface" of the lightning pool reacted like cold water dropped into boiling oil. Thousands of lightning bolts suddenly surged up, some crackling and flashing beautifully in midair, others shooting directly at Jiang Mo, electrifying her entire body with painful numbness.
In that instant, Jiang Mo felt like a fish thrown into a cooking pot.
With an "Oww!" of pain, she tried to leap out of the lightning pool like a carp. Unfortunately, just as her head emerged from the lightning pool, it was pushed back down by a slender hand. In that fleeting glimpse, the familiar cyan sleeve told her who had intervened without needing to guess, instantly making her heart sink.
"Glug, glug..." Jiang Mo made bubbles in the lightning pool, feeling that the hand pressing on her head still hadn't moved. Also soaking in the lightning pool, she didn't know how her Senior Sister felt, but her brain was about to be numbed by electricity.
So, before her brain was completely numbed, she seized the opportunity to transmit a message to her Senior Sister: "Ah Yue, my wound is on my shoulder..."
Yun Qingyue naturally understood Jiang Mo's meaning. Her injury was on her shoulder, and the attached demonic qi was also there, so there was really no need to press her head while soaking. In fact, lightning would conduct throughout the body—even with just a finger in the lightning pool, the entire body would be electrified, so there was indeed no need to specifically press her head. But since Jiang Mo would run, Yun Qingyue was merely keeping her restrained in the lightning pool.
The pressure on her head eased slightly, and Jiang Mo's head finally saw daylight. She looked tearfully at her Senior Sister, those golden eyes brimming with tears as if accusing her of being heartless, which even Yun Qingyue found hard to bear, causing her to slightly avert her gaze.
After a while, Yun Qingyue said: "Once the demonic qi dissipates, I'll let you out."
Hearing this, Jiang Mo slightly tilted her head to look at her shoulder, which wasn't difficult, because shortly after falling into the lightning pool, her robe had been completely electrified away. Now, soaking in the lightning pool, she was essentially completely naked, so with a tilt of her head, she could see the black demonic qi on her bare shoulder, looking listless yet still persistent.
The little tiger, trembling all over from being electrified, began to cry, tears dropping down—what kind of stubborn demonic qi was this? How much longer would she have to soak?!
However, these tears didn't flow for long, because tears are also conductive. She was already being heavily electrified, and crying would risk her eyes. So she had to reluctantly hold back her tears, and after a while, she sniffled and asked her Senior Sister: "Ah Yue, do you smell a meaty aroma? I think I might be getting cooked by the electricity."
Hearing this, Yun Qingyue fell silent momentarily, her emotions extremely complex: "No, it's your imagination."
Jiang Mo didn't know if it was her imagination, nor did she know if her Senior Sister was telling the truth or comforting her. She grew increasingly dejected, feeling pain throughout her body. After enduring for a while, she really couldn't bear it anymore and suddenly transformed into her original form with a "poof."
What had been a delicate young girl instantly became a massive white tiger, causing the "water surface" of the lightning pool to rise slightly.
Yun Qingyue turned to see the big tiger drooping listlessly in the lightning pool, its beautiful fur slightly curled from the electricity, but fortunately not yet scorched. She knew then that the power of the lightning pool indeed hadn't exceeded the tiger's endurance. Though the big tiger seemed deflated, it was gradually adapting to the intensity of the lightning tempering.
She finally withdrew her hand from the tiger's head, stroking it as she did so: "How are you feeling? Any better?"
The big tiger let out a "hmph" from its nose, turning its head away without acknowledging her, its entire body expressing—I'm unhappy, I'm in a bad mood, and if you don't comfort me properly, I won't pay attention to you.