Teardrop Lake and Basilisk's Tail.

Zhuan Yi flapped her wings slightly after taking on the new form, her eyes narrowing as if she was furrowing her brows. Her wings extended slightly and grew a bit wider before she flapped her wings again, adjusting their shape once more. She was a slime-type Demonic beast, or at least Yao Jun was still assuming that, so she could change her form freely. But that didn't mean that she could use every form as she pleased, she had to actually test them a bit so that she could get used to them.

But as was to be expected from a race as malleable as hers, she got the hang of it before long and got to take to the sky. Little Gray flapped his wings and ascended, cutting through the sky as he followed after Zhuan Yi. She kept a somewhat slow pace at first, but seeing that Little Gray didn't have any problem with keeping up she felt confident that she could speed up and cut down on the time they would need to reach their target.

"Basilisk's Tail, tell me what you know about them and their leader."

Yao Jun sat on Little Gray's back, just below his neck, and glanced over at Zhuan Yi as they flew. The group they were about to go against right now wasn't someone they could face head-on, the very notion of trying to fight them would be foolish. So he needed information, something to supplement the faint inklings of a plan that were already starting to form.

"Basilisk's Tail, just like my race, they're natives of this place. Well, mostly at least, they occasionally take in contestants who don't want to leave when your competition here is done. The core of the group is the leader and her three aides, the leader is at the peak of the Sovereign God realm and has been there for a few thousand years, the three others are late-stage Sovereign Gods. It sounds similar, but the distinction is non-negligible, she is much stronger than them. Well, maybe her third aide is closer than others in strength, he uses very peculiar laws and hasn't acted much in the past. She and two of the aides are Basilisks, a type of Demonic beast that specializes in the laws of poison and stone, but she has expanded her repertoire with the law of water and the two others have added on the law of piercing and the law of threads respectively. The third one is a human cultivator, he specializes in the law of demons, the law of repulsion, and the law of extremity, he's the peculiar one that I just mentioned. The others of her group are between the middle-stage of the Heavenly Deity realm and the middle stage of the Sovereign God realm."

Zhuan Yi didn't hold back anything, but her race didn't interact terribly much with Basilisk's Tail so in truth she only knew what was more common knowledge. Yao Jun gave a slight nod of his head and descended into thought, his finger gently tapping his thigh. For a short duration, the gentle sound of his tapping was the only thing audible around them, but the sound faded after a few moments as he opened his eyes.

"Tell me about the seal. What does it look like, how does it act?"

He didn't ask if there were any other prominent members in the group, nor did he ask about what was hidden behind the seal, he only asked about how it looked. It was a rather peculiar question, but Zhuan Yi had seen enough of Yao Jun's seemingly cold and calm exterior to know that he wasn't the type to ask questions in jest.

"The currents within the water form the array so you can consider the entire lake part of the array, every drop of water tied to it in an intrinsic way. As such, breaking it requires you to interact with every drop of water at once, and it also means that any movement in the array is reflected in the entire lake, it'll move and dance in tune with the actions you take against the array."

The array was created by the ancestor of her race so it was clear that Zhuan Yi would know a fair bit about it, they had practically been guarding it since their ancestor passed away. As for what she divulged, Yao Jun couldn't help but raise an eyebrow involuntarily. He didn't know much about arrays, he knew preciously little in fact. But even someone as ignorant as he knew that turning an entire lake into an array, one where every drop of water served as a part of the array, was an extremely difficult task.

He descended into silence again, his eyes closing in thought as he gently tapped his thigh. When he opened them again, they were still as cold and calm as always, making it impossible for Zhuan Yi to know whether or not he had come up with anything. But right now she had no choice but to rely on him, she didn't have anyone else to turn to, and even the ancestor of her race had placed his bets on Yao Jun. If they failed even after giving it their all, then perhaps it really was destiny that her race ended here.

"I don't believe in destiny. It's just a convenient term people like to use when they think something is out of their control. I won't promise that we'll save them, but even if we fail then it won't be because of something as hazy as destiny, it will be because of our own weakness."

Her thoughts were evidently quite clear on her face, Yao Jun's voice cutting through the silence, his eyes were not even turned to glance at her as he spoke. Destiny, it was such a hazy and unclear term, yet it was something so intrinsically tied to cultivators, something countless lives would willingly bet their existence and fortune on. But not Yao Jun, he would only bet on his own hard work, his own sweat and blood, that would be what would open the future to him, not something as mystic as destiny.

Zhuan Yi glanced sideways at him, it was honestly the first time she had heard someone disregard the notion of destiny so clearly and simply. In truth, she found the thought to be somewhat painful. As long as you believed in the notion of destiny then you would at least have something to lean back on, an excuse you could use for your shortcomings. But the moment you tossed it away it would all fall on you, every shortcoming and failure would be your own fault, and that was a painful and heavy thought that would make said failures all the more painful.

She didn't say anything in response nor did Yao Jun speak up further, he simply closed his eyes again and regulated his breathing. He slowly drew in the surrounding Qi with each breath, pushing it towards that tiny fragment inside his chest, feeding it so that the day it finished germinating would come that much quicker.

Zhuan Yi initially accounted for six days of travel time, but Little Gray wasn't your average Divine Beast so that number was cut neatly in half. It was already starting to approach night when Zhuan Yi signalled that they were getting close, activating the barrier that the armguard could create. It was an item created by her ancestor so she could use it even after changing form, it simply melded into her body and became part of her.

Yao Jun felt the barrier extend around them like a bubble, softening the sound of the surroundings but not obstructing their vision. He only observed the barrier for a bit before he lowered his gaze, glancing down at the peaceful lake that had become visible in the distance.

As the name suggested, Teardrop Lake was shaped like an extended drop. Weeping willows lined almost the entire shore, their leaves dipping into the glimmering sapphire-coloured water. There was only a single part of the shore not occupied by these weeping willows and that was the very tip of the drop's tail, where a small stone altar resembling a layered pyramid had been set up.

The area around the stone altar was buzzing with activity, several tens of tents and wagons set up. Some of the wagons had walls of metal so Yao Jun guessed that this was where the members of Zhuan Yi's race were being held. There were a bit over two hundred people moving around between the tents, but as Zhuan Yi had said, there were four presences that stood out amongst them all.

Yao Jun could instantly spot the leader, a graceful woman who looked like she had just barely reached her thirties. Her emerald green hair was curly and hung down all the way to her waist, her eyes an enchanting shade of amber that seemed to tug at the soul. She certainly didn't fit the image of a poisonous Demonic beast, but Yao Jun's Du Xiao was quite the same so he had long since stopped judging based on appearance.

"There, that small hill to the north of the altar, bring us down there."

Yao Jun gestured towards the hill, which was positioned in such a manner that it looked like the area once used to be a basin, the earth in the process of slowly healing. Little Gray didn't question him and immediately descended, Zhuan Yi following and landing on the hill, which was about five kilometres away from the altar.

The Thousand Arms Master said they couldn't be detected as long as they didn't go within a kilometre, but Yao Jun still felt that it would be best to give themselves a bit more leeway. Their position was a bit elevated so they could see most of the activity within the camp around the altar, it wasn't the best place to observe them, but it was the one that Yao Jun felt the safest on. But just observing obviously wasn't enough to deal with the situation at hand, so Yao Jun turned towards Little Gray and Sirius.

"...Can I leave it to you? Your God Gate is the one most suited to it, and with Sirius following you, I can rest a bit more easily and worry less about your safety."

His words were a bit hesitant, and Little Gray and the others understood perfectly well why. Yao Jun was asking two of them to head out on their own, here, in a place where the people stronger than them were almost as numerous as the clouds in the sky. It was actually quite uncharacteristic of him, for a man driven entirely by fear to send out his closest friends on their own. But he still asked them, because he had hardened his determination, because he had started to change. And that fact was immensely gratifying to them.

"Your will be done."

"We won't disappoint you, Milord."

Little Gray changed into his human form and placed his hand on Sirius' shoulder, space around them twisting as he teleported them away. The barrier around them hid the small fluctuations that passed through space, Yao Jun repressing a sigh as he looked at the now empty spot. But he had to rely on them, he had to believe in them, he wouldn't be worthy of their trust if he couldn't give them that very same trust.

He turned his gaze away from the empty spot and returned it to the camp around the altar, his gaze quickly returning to its normal state. Zhuan Yi also retracted her gaze from the empty spot, but she didn't actually know what Little Gray and Sirius went to do. She directed a question at Yao Jun, but the answer he gave didn't explain too much.

"So, what exactly is the plan?"

"We're not here to kill the people of Basilisk's Tail, we're here to save the people of your race. And we don't have to fight the Basilisk's Tail to achieve that. Well, at least WE don't have to fight them."