56 Yellow Mist

The Yellow Lake spanned for thousands of kilometers and was mostly unexplored. Even after the local villages began to use it to grow poisonous herbs, they didn't send people to explore it and mostly kept themselves on the territory around it.

The Fire Earth and Deep Waters tribe members were the only ones that hunted inside the lake, but they rarely went far inside it. The reason? Danger. The lake was really dangerous.

The water was corrosive and poisonous. Living inside the lake there were many creatures that were so powerful that even the Fire Earth warriors didn't dare to fight them on their own territory. Finally, there was a yellow fog that covered the inner parts of the lake, having the same property as the water and thus being mortal to normal people.

Yes, normal people. The Yellow Lake was only dangerous for mortals.

For cultivators, traveling to the center of the lake would be incredibly easy? It would be like if they were casually going for a walk in a harmless garden.

The poisonous air could be kept away by a simple layer of energy. The beasts? There were mortals! No matter how voracious or dangerous they were in the eyes of the local tribes, these creatures had no chance facing a cultivator.

In fact, most cultivators didn't even consider them as threats at all. They saw them as pieces of the landscape, like rocks and trees.

However, cultivators were rare in the Extreme Wilderness Region.

The local Cultivator Clans only had few members, and of those that did know of the lake, not many were interested in it. Some random cultivator once examined the place, revealing that it was a fairly good place to cultivate poisonous techniques. The only problem was people with poison elements were very rare. As for cultivation manuals or even poison techniques? Ever more rare.

All this made expeditions towards the deepest part of the Lake were very rare. Rare, not impossible. On the Black Elk section of the Yellow Lake Region, four individuals were marching towards the Yellow Lake.

They were marching in two separate groups, each one composed by a human and a snake. The group that led the way was composed by a black-haired woman under a large hooded mantle and a violet colored snake that was coiled around her neck.

The following group was made by a green haired woman in a simple blue dress and a black serpent.

"So, how did you find this graveyard again?" asked suddenly Star Leaf, breaking the silence between the two groups.

"I sensed it." responded the violet colored snake, launching a gaze behind her. Suddenly a strange grey aura started to coalescence around the violet serpent, forming the small image of a vertical eye on her little face.

"My Womb Mantra allows me to sense evil... where it is and how much strong" continued the now tri-eyed snake. "Inside this Yellow Lake there are thousands of different entities filled with negative karma. I want them." she continued, her eyes shining with desire.

"And how do you know that there is also a Devil Core?" kept inquiring the woman. She didn't quite get what a Devil Core was, but she felt that it was something that Darkscale really wanted to get.

"A Devil Core is a like a torch in the darkness for someone practicing a Punishing Mantra, like me." confessed the snake. "However I have little to no use for it and I need someone to help me open a particular tumb... I want to absorb the karmic energy directly from the bones" explained the serpent, being extremely straightforward with what she wanted.

"We're here" she added shortly after, nodding towards the terrain in front of her that finally ended into a very dirty looking yellowish pool of water.

When they finally arrived at the point where the muddy swamp became the poisonous lake, the violet snake at the head of the little convoy, turned towards the others.

"We will proceed on boat... give me a second" she said, informing the people behind her to wait for a little.

Darkscale, not too much far from the violet serpent, stopped and looked around. If she wanted to proceed on a boat, where was that boat? Behind them, there was the stinky swamp filled with insects, toads, and long bamboo plants. In front of them, there were less and fewer plants and more and more yellow water.

"Ignorant, why are you looking around?" teased him Winter Leaf. Darkscale gave her a placid look, the woman had continuously tried to make him lose his patience during their fast travel to the lake. She seemed surprised at first when she discovered that no matter what she said, he didn't budge at all.

To her, the serpent didn't even seem to hear what she was saying, but insulting him felt good the same. Not even a year ago she was only a common mortal at his mercy, a literal slave that he tortured at any opportunity. He didn't hurt her only when she was wrong, but also when he just wanted to see her scream. Now things were different: she could insult him at will and he couldn't do anything to stop her!

Darkscale didn't seem to be bothered much by the insistent and rude comments that came from Winter Leaf. His eyes were calm, like always.

His green-haired companion, instead, wasn't able to stay calm. "Mph, are you going to stop it, half-blood traitor?" snickered Star Leaf, taking it on herself to speak on behalf of the silent Darkscale. She gave the black haired girl a grin.

"I wonder what would the village do when they finally receive notice that you work for the Fire Earth Tribe now... what a pity, an entire second line of my Leaf family would be put to death." she said with an overexaggerated voice full of pain and regret.

'Leave it be, woman.' ordered Darkscale's cold voice, echoing in her mind. 'They will be dead soon enough, why are you giving her time? Bite your time. They will die.' he added, like he was stating certain facts.

The green haired beauty was quite surprised by Darkscale's mental message. Since when was he able to hide so well his emotions? That was a side of her companion that she never experienced. He was completely ignoring that girl, but she now knew that he was readying to strike her when the least she was expecting it.

'I wonder if he-'

Star Leaf felt her blood freeze in her veins at the idea that filled her head for a moment. No, it wasn't possible. It couldn't!

'...'

It didn't seem like something that he was learning to do at the moment. Plus, the way that he was completely ignoring Winter Leaf while planning to kill her felt very familiar.

Before the Forest Will girl could pursue that idea, her train of thought was broken by a severe voice.

"You should show more respect to our helpers, Winter" said harshly the violet serpent. It didn't use a mental message, meaning that she wanted them to hear her.

'Whe need to keep an eye on the serpent, she is far more dangerous' realized Star Leaf. Givin a look full of meaning to the serpent.

A loud coughing noise brought her attention back to the violet serpent, just in time to see Derassa literally vomiting an oval blue light. The light darted towards the waters and when it touched them became a large ship. The serpent then jumped inside the ship, followed by her companion.

"Come in, we will use this to continue the journey" said the violet snake, inviting them in.

Darkscale and Star Leaf first swept through the object with their respective cultivation bases and then, when they decided that it truly didn't contain anything that could harm them, they hopped aboard.

"Let's go' said Derassa again, sending a whisp of grey energy to fuse with the boat. The ship began immediately to move, without needing anyone to row or waiting for the wind to be in the group's favor. Soon, the boat surpassed the safe zone where even mortals could survive and headed towards the inner zone.

In the distance, a yellow colored misty area began to be more and more visible.

"Be sure to protect yourselves with a layer of energy, or you will get poisoned" exclaimed the violet serpent, giving a meaningful nod to the black haired girl. The latter nodded back, and a dark red aura started to cover her body. The violet serpent then did exactly the same, but instead of Blood Energy, she summoned the strange grey-colored energy of before.

Darkscale and Silver Leaf both waited the last moment to cover themselves with the silver Ghost Energy, and then the boat slowly entered inside the yellow mist.

Now they were in the Inner Yellow Lake!