Chapter 1495: Chapter 1495: The Lake

“I... I have never heard of a river within the Sacred Spring Mountain!”

Teigan muttered.

According to what the outside world knew, the land of the Collapsing Mountain race was considered the sacred place for cultivation because it was the source of strength.

The reason people had described the rare strength source as spring water was because there weren't much of them. It was commonly believed that here was a spring where the rare strength source was gushed out.

This was why this mountain was called the Sacred Spring Mountain.

Within the Sacred Spring Mountain, one could see a number of caves spreading out from the bottom part, like capillaries. You had to explore carefully to reach the bottom.

Over the years, the Collapsing Mountain race had almost finished studying the inner structure of the Sacred Spring Mountain. Although the road here was complicated, there was still a map. But the map would not be given to anyone apart from the elders of the Collapsing Mountain race, even if they were members of the race who had participated in the coming-of-age ceremony.

Chapman had wanted to hand over a portion of the map to Zen. The map had several locations marked where Zen could find more strength source.

But the elders of the race rejected this plan. If this map were to be leaked, it would be dangerous for the Collapsing Mountain race. The power that Zen could obtain would still depend on his own ability.

The Collapsing Mountain race obviously knew a lot about the Sacred Spring Mountain. But they didn't know everything about it. They only knew that there was a spring under the ground and that all the mountain's strength source must have come from it.

The strength source had interesting characteristics. It looked like flowing water, which would flow down to the bottom of the mountain. But there were many times when the strength source would flip back, completely ignoring gravity, and climb to the top. The strength source, that should have been deep underground, would even appear at the top of the Sacred Spring Mountain and occasionally, even spill over the top of the mountain.

In truth, the chaotic power around the Collapsing Mountain race was closely related to the strength source.

Before today, no one had known that there was a river inside the Sacred Spring Mountain. If this news were to spread, the Sacred Spring Mountain might start to be called the 'Sacred River Mountain'.

Even Zen was excited at this. The barbarian bee queen had chased him, and with the bee queen's help, he had carved a new path for himself.

The two of them stared blankly at the seven-colored river in front of them. It took them a few minutes to finally calm down.

There was, however, a big problem. Zen had discovered quite a few strength sources along the way, but had managed to obtain only one drop in the end. He could see, but couldn't touch anything else.

There was such a lot of strength source in this seven-colored river! But the strength source was still suspended at a high altitude. From the looks of it, they were at least two or three thousand feet away. If they couldn't fly, they definitely wouldn't be able to climb up.

Teigan was a little more clear-headed than Zen at the moment. He could not obtain the strength source above his head, but there was too much strength source around them.

He walked quietly to the side and began to absorb the strength source in the crevices.

Teigan had just swallowed a few drops when he spotted Zen gazing at him. He laughed awkwardly and said, “There are still quite a lot here. Let's split them, shall we?”

The strength source in the crevices was in great amount. If one devoured enough of it, it would benefit them a lot. Many warriors who entered the mountain would only be able to obtain a few dozen drops of the strength source. Those with bad luck could only obtain a few drops, or even return empty-handed.

Zen knew that there was a lot of strength source in the crevices, but since he was here and had seen the river, another faint thought ran through his mind.

What he needed to devour wasn't just these few hundred drops of strength source. His goal on this trip to the Sacred Spring Mountain was to obtain this river of strength source. R̃𝖆ΝƟ𝔟Еś

But his strength would still increase a little if he swallowed only a drop of the strength source. Zen wouldn't mind devouring all of strength source here!

And so, just like Teigan, Zen began to go around collecting the strength source from the cracks in the stone.

The strength source was hanging upside down in the cracks of the rock. Zen reached out, took out each drop and put it into his mouth, as if he was swallowing dew.

The pure strength source seemed to merge instantly with Zen's body, multiplying his strength at an enviable speed.

Zen and Teigan walked along two sides of the cave as they went through the cracks in the rock to collect the strength source.

Combined, these cracks were about two to three miles long, and they both devoured the strength source scattered within them, not leaving a single drop behind.

As they moved forward, the stone walls on either side became smoother. There was no way to hide the strength source within them.

Teigan's body stretched, the bones within intertwining and crackling like firecrackers - a sign of the power surging through his body.

The mortal body could only bear so much strength source. Absorbing too much strength source was not necessarily a good thing. And Teigan's physical body was about to reach its limit now that it had consumed so many drops of strength source.

Zen's body stretched a little, too, but he wasn't having such an extreme reaction. His strength might have been similar to Teigan's, a little weaker even. But the toughness of his body wasn't something that Teigan could compare with.

“Are we still going forward?” Teigan asked.

He was lucky to have followed Zen and the profits this time had far exceeded his expectations.

“We still have a way back?” Zen asked.

Teigan was stunned for a moment as he brought his large hand to his forehead. All the happiness he had felt from the growth of his strength had completely vanished.

If they wanted to go back, they would have to climb back through the hole they fell into. But they didn't have the ability to climb back up and also, the barbarian bee queen was still guarding the hole. It wouldn't turn out well for them if they went back.

“What should we do?” Teigan asked.

Zen said a little hesitantly, “We can only go forward.”

Zen guessed that they were in a bit of a pickle.

They had opened a cave and discovered a brand new road that had never been explored before.

There were many caves in the Sacred Spring Mountain, all connected to each other. But after all these years, this river with the strength source hadn't been found by anyone, which meant only one thing: this cave was not connected to any other caves.

The only connection to another cave was the hole that the barbarian bee queen had created.

Zen couldn't think of anything else to do. So he did the only thing he could think of and kept walking forward.

The river that flowed above them followed this flat road and became wider and wider. The river's edges were irregular at the start and had probably been formed naturally. But something seemed off as they walked.

The edges of the river above them came to form a straight line, like a manmade canal. Nature had gone all out on this, but it was impossible for such a river to have been formed by nature. It was rather obvious that it was created by intelligent beings.

Along with the river above them that seemed to be laid out regularly, the path under Zen's feet also became more regular, almost identical in shape to the river above them. The silver walls on both sides of the mountain became smoother and smoother.

“The intelligent beings that dug this river knew that the strength source would be reversed. So they dug out two canals at the same time, one at the top of the cave and one at the bottom. I wonder what the purpose of this is,”

Zen said as he walked.

Not long after, the space before them opened up. A huge circular pit appeared beneath their feet, and the seven-colored river above their heads fell into a waterfall.

Ordinary waterfalls flowed straight down from top. But the waterfall above them flew straight up. It was the complete opposite.

This was exactly what Zen had expected. He had seen complete reversal several times. But the waterfall flowed straight up and gathered in a circular lake at the top of the cave!

An identical circular lake appeared naturally in front of Zen and Teigan. But the lake below them was empty. After all, only after the strength source had reversed itself would the lake's strength source fall into the lake below.

Zen and Teigan stood beside the lake and looked around. Before long, they noticed something grey and blurry, jumping about in the middle of the lake. They could not see what exactly it was. But everything that appeared in this place was too bizarre, and neither Zen nor Teigan had any intention of entering the lake. They were curious about it, but their lives were more important.