Chương 1177: Chapter 1175: The Cleansing Pool

Supreme Elder Feng led Tielan and Li Yu up a winding flight of stone stairs carved directly into the side of the towering mountain. The air grew noticeably thinner as they ascended while the spiritual energy became much denser and more refined. The steep path eventually opened into a secluded garden surrounded by tall bamboo stalks and glowing orchids that pulsed with a gentle blue light. A large circular basin rested in the center of the serene clearing.

The basin was constructed from smooth white jade and filled with a crystalline liquid that reflected the bright sky above like a pristine mirror. This was the famous cleansing pool that the Worldheart Clan used to measure the latent potential of an inner world. They were not the only people visiting the garden today. Another older man wearing dark green robes stood near the edge of the water while instructing a man standing beside him.

The green robed man was an elder of the clan and he offered a deep bow the moment he saw Supreme Elder Feng approaching. The disciple quickly followed suit and kept his head lowered in a display of respect for the high ranking member.

"Greetings, Supreme Elder Feng." The elder said with a polite tone.

"My disciple Jin is about to undergo his potential evaluation. We can step aside and let your guests use the pool first if you are in a rush."

"There is no need to interrupt your schedule," Supreme Elder Feng replied with a gentle wave of his hand.

"We are in no immediate hurry and it would be good for my young friend here to see how the process works before he steps into the water himself. Please proceed with your evaluation." The standard elder nodded and gestured for his disciple to enter the basin. The man named Jin took a deep breath and stepped into the crystalline liquid. The water did not ripple or splash as he waded toward the center and took a seated lotus position.

Li Yu watched closely as Supreme Elder Feng stood beside him to explain the mechanics of the upcoming test.

"The pool interacts with the latent Qi of the cultivator and forces a visual projection of their inner world to appear," Feng explained in a hushed voice so he would not disturb the meditating disciple.

"The projection is meant to be blurry on purpose. The clan designed the array this way to protect the privacy of our members so they do not reveal their core laws or hidden secrets to anyone watching. The size of the projection is also standardized. The pool does not measure the physical size or the vastness of the domain. It only measures the raw potential of the foundation and translates that potential into a visible spectrum of color."

"How does the color scale work?" Li Yu asked while keeping his eyes on the seated disciple.

"The scale consists of ten distinct stages," Feng answered as the water in the pool began to glow with a faint light.

"A dull grey represents the lowest foundation while a muddy brown and a pale yellow show slight improvements. A faint green is respectable but a clear blue sits right in the middle as the fifth stage. Most talented disciples hope to reach the blue stage since it represents a strong and balanced future on the martial path."

"And the higher stages?" Tielan asked while watching the liquid shift. She had heard of this pool before but never seen it or used it before.

"A deep indigo marks the sixth stage while a radiant violet shows exceptional talent," Feng continued with a patient tone.

"The eighth stage is a brilliant silver and the ninth is a burning crimson. The highest peak of potential manifests as a pure gold color but we have rarely seen such a result in our long history. The golden hue belongs to those destined to shake the realms with their inner world alone." The crystalline liquid surrounding Jin began to bubble slightly. A sphere of distorted light projected into the air just above his head.

The projection was blurry just as Feng had described and Li Yu could only make out the vague shapes of mountains and a small river within the image. The true details remained hidden behind a veil of distorted Qi. The water in the basin shifted from its clear state and turned a dull grey. The color rapidly transitioned to a muddy brown and then brightened into a pale yellow. The young disciple kept his eyes closed and circulated his energy as the pool evaluated.

The water shifted again to a faint green before finally settling into a vibrant and clear blue. The color remained steady and illuminated the surrounding bamboo stalks with a calming azure glow. Jin opened his eyes and looked down at the blue water surrounding his waist. A bright smile spread across his face and his master offered a proud nod of approval from the edge of the pool.

"A clear blue is a very fine result," The elder praised his student.

"You possess a firm foundation and your potential sits above the average cultivator. With hard work and proper guidance, you will reach great heights within the clan." It was a bit strange of a thing to say because the disciple was already a Creation Lord to be undergoing this test. He was already very old but the elder was his master and still spoke to him as they always have. This was not an uncommon thing in the cultivation world.

A master a day is a father for life and regardless how old he was or how strong he became, Jin would always view his master the same way as before.

"Thank you, Master," Jin replied respectfully before standing up and wading out of the pool. They bowed to Supreme Elder Feng once more and quickly left the secluded garden to celebrate the successful evaluation. The crystalline water returned to its pristine clear state the moment Jin stepped out of the basin. Supreme Elder Feng turned to Li Yu and gestured toward the waiting pool.

"It is your turn, young friend. Step into the water and assume a meditative posture like you saw. Do not try to force your Qi or resist the pull of the array. Just let your foundation resonate naturally with the liquid and go with the flow that you feel." Li Yu nodded and walked toward the white jade edge. He stepped into the pool and the water felt surprisingly cool against his skin. He waded to the center and sat down in a lotus position while resting his hands on his knees.

Li Yu closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his mind and prepare for what was about to happen. He did not actively push his Qi outward but he allowed his meridians to remain open and receptive to the environment. He felt a strange pulling sensation deep within his core as the array hidden beneath the jade basin activated. The pool drew upon his latent energy and forced a projection of his inner world to manifest in the air above him.

Li Yu opened his eyes and looked up to see a blurry sphere hovering over his head. It was the exact same size as the projection Jin had produced earlier. The thick veil of distorted Qi obscured his grand forest of laws and the dark ocean resting at the edge of his realm. Nothing of value was revealed in the blurry image. He lowered his gaze to the water and waited for the color to shift. Tielan and Supreme Elder Feng stood at the edge of the pool and watched the liquid with keen interest as well.

They expected the water to cycle through the lower colors rapidly given Li Yu and his monster-like cultivation base. The seconds ticked by and the wind rustled through the glowing orchids. The water did not change at all. It remained a pristine and clear crystalline liquid that reflected the sky. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Li Yu frowned and circulated his Qi just a bit more to ensure he was feeding the array properly.

The blurry projection above his head remained stable but the water refused to react even after a long time just like the treasure that was used on him before. There was no dull grey and there was no muddy brown. There was simply no color at all.

"What is happening?" Tielan asked while narrowing her sharp eyes at the unmoving water.

"Why is the pool not registering his potential?" Supreme Elder Feng looked genuinely baffled once more as he stepped closer to the edge of the basin. He leaned over and inspected the water closely.

"This makes no sense. Even the worst kind of inner world would produce a dull grey color. The pool is designed to read the foundational laws of the cultivator and assign a value. The fact that it shows nothing means the array cannot interact with his foundation at all."

"Could it be the invisible barrier?" Li Yu asked while remaining seated in the cool water.

"Is the barrier blocking the array from reading my core laws just like it blocked the artifact earlier?"

"It is highly probable," Feng muttered while stroking his white beard in frustration.

"The barrier is not just isolating the dark ocean. It seems to be casting a shadow over your entire inner world and rendering your foundation undetectable to our tools used thus far. The anomaly is far more complex than a simple physical isolation. There seems to be something more to it but I wouldn't be able to tell what that is right now." Feng let out a heavy sigh and pulled a communication crystal from his robes.

"I cannot solve this alone. I need to consult with the other experts of the clan. We have spent centuries studying the inner world and someone among our ranks might recognize this phenomenon." Li Yu stepped out of the pool and dried his robes with a quick pulse of Qi while Supreme Elder Feng sent out several urgent messages. They waited in the garden and it did not take long for five more elderly experts to arrive at the pavilion.

These men and women wore robes indicating their high status within the Worldheart Clan and they carried various tools and ancient scrolls with them. Feng quickly briefed the gathered experts on the situation involving the colossal squid and the resulting invisible barrier. The elders listened with grim expressions and immediately began debating the nature of the anomaly in hushed tones. They spent the rest of the afternoon conducting a series of specialized tests to figure out what was hiding inside Li Yu.

He became somewhat of a lab rat and test subject to them but all under the watchful eye of his mother. One elder brought forward a chime suspended from a wooden frame. He struck the chime with a small mallet and the sound waves rippled toward Li Yu. The elder explained that the chime was designed to ring with a discordant pitch if it encountered foreign Qi masking a foundation. The sound waves washed over Li Yu but the chime remained perfectly silent and produced no secondary echoes.

Another expert burned a stick of rare spiritual incense and guided the purple smoke toward the young man. The smoke was meant to aggressively seek out corrupted laws and circle the affected area to point out the source of the hidden danger. The smoke simply drifted over Li Yu and floated straight up into the sky without reacting to his presence at all. It was like he simply did not even exist or was but a mortal.

They tried several other obscure methods involving arrays drawn in the dirt and specialized Qi probes but every single attempt ended in failure. Whatever it was surrounding Li Yu, rejected all forms of evaluation and offered no clues regarding the dark ocean hidden within his inner world. The sun began to dip below the towering mountain peaks and cast long shadows across the garden. The gathered experts looked at one another with tired and defeated expressions.

They were also embarrassed by the result since they all knew who Tielan was and what she had done for them before. They packed away their useless tools and whispered among themselves with a clear sense of lost pride. They were renowned across the realms for their unparalleled knowledge of the inner world and yet they stood helpless before a young man carrying an unknown anomaly. Supreme Elder Feng stepped forward to face Tielan and Li Yu with a heavy sigh.

His shoulders slumped slightly and he looked much older than he did earlier that morning.

"I am truly sorry, Tielan," Feng admitted with a deeply embarrassed tone.

"We do not know what is going on inside your son. The barrier or whatever it is, is absolute in its rejection of our methods. We have spent an entire afternoon using our best tools and we have learned pretty much nothing about the nature of those reality warping laws." Tielan felt her temper rising as she listened to the elder admit defeat. She had brought her son here expecting answers and they had provided nothing but broken artifacts and silent chimes.

"You learned nothing?" Tielan asked with a sharp edge to her voice.

"Well," Feng tried to offer a small silver lining to salvage their pride.

"We can say that at the very least, nothing bad was detected by any of our warning systems. Your son does not radiate any immediate signs of corruption or evil intent." That statement was the wrong thing to say to a fiercely protective mother. Tielan snapped and took a threatening step forward. Her heavy aura flared slightly and caused the nearby bamboo stalks to bend under the pressure.

"Nothing bad was detected?" Tielan repeated with a mocking sneer.

"Or it could mean that if this anomaly is truly bad, it possesses a way to avoid every single one of your tests! You call yourselves the premier experts of the inner world but you cannot even figure it out. Are you trying to scam me with useless parlor tricks? You clearly cannot fulfill your end of the favor." Supreme Elder Feng could only chuckle slightly as a nervous sweat formed on his brow.

He was a powerhouse in his own right but he felt genuinely embarrassed by their lack of a result and he knew Tielan had every right to be furious since it was her son. The other elders looked away and pretended to study the ground to avoid the wrath of the warlord. Li Yu saw the awkward tension and decided to step in before his mother escalated the situation any further. He placed a gentle hand on her arm and offered a calm smile.

"Mother, please calm down," Li Yu said with a diplomatic tone.

"Supreme Elder Feng and his colleagues tried their best today. They used their time and their valuable resources to try and figure this out for us. The fact that whatever it is that happened to me defeated their methods only proves how strange this anomaly truly is. It is not their fault. They honored your token by giving us their full attention and their best efforts." He turned to Supreme Elder Feng and offered a polite bow.

"Thank you for trying to help me today. I appreciate the time you all spent on my behalf." Supreme Elder Feng let out a sigh of relief and returned the bow with gratitude. He appreciated the young man giving him a graceful way out of a highly embarrassing situation. As much as Tielan was furious, they were equally upset with themselves for not being able to figure it out. Each one of them wanted to solve this mystery and put their names into the history of inner world discoveries and knowledge.

Tielan looked at her son and her fierce aura slowly receded. She clicked her tongue in annoyance but she could not stay mad when Li Yu handled the situation with such maturity. She thought her son was a bit too soft and far too nice for the brutal cultivation world but she could not help but smile internally at his good heart. He possessed a level of kindness that she often lacked when her temper flared up.

"Fine," Tielan agreed while crossing her arms and letting the matter drop.

"You are right, Li Yu. They tried and failed. We will have to find another way to handle this dark ocean on our own. Let us leave this place for now. Thank you Elder Feng and everyone else for trying to figure this out for us." They turned away from the pool and prepared to walk down the winding stone path to return home. The garden was quiet as the elders began to disperse but the tranquil atmosphere shattered in an instant.

A heavy and suffocating pressure suddenly descended upon the clearing and caused the surrounding air to grow freezing cold. An old man appeared at the entrance of the garden as if he had stepped directly out of the shadows. He looked extremely old and frail with a severely hunched back that forced him to lean heavily on a gnarled wooden cane. He wore simple grey robes that looked frayed at the edges and his wispy white hair hung loosely around a face covered in deep wrinkles.

Despite his fragile appearance, the moment he stepped into the garden every single expert present dropped to their knees. Supreme Elder Feng paled and bowed his head so low that it nearly touched the stone tiles.

"Greetings, Ancestor Guizhong," The elders chanted in unison with voices trembling in a mixture of reverence and underlying fear. Li Yu looked at the frail old man and realized who he was looking at since his mother had just talked about him on his way here. This was Ancestor Guizhong and he was the second person in the long history of the Worldheart Clan to be born with an innate inner world. He was one of the most senior and powerful figures in their entire lineage.

The old man ignored the kneeling elders and lifted his head to fix a pair of intensely sharp eyes directly on Li Yu.