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Just like that, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Elder Ou came to Pool No. 1 of the Immortal Pond.
Gazing at the golden, dazzling liquid in front of him, Elder Ou did not step into the Immortal Pond immediately. First, he extended his foot, cautiously using his toe to touch the pond water.
Seeing this, the crowd was not surprised and acknowledged Elder Ou's cautiousness.
"Elder Ou is still as prudent as ever." A middle-aged person who came with Lin Jianxuan murmured.
Lin Jianxuan glanced sideways. "Of course, after all, water can carry a boat but also overturn it. The Immortal Pond can grant cultivation enhancement, but if it becomes abnormal, it is enough to kill. What Elder Ou is doing is the safest... What the hell?!"
With a splash, golden, dazzling waves of pond water were sent flying.
Only to see Elder Ou, who was cautious just moments ago, barely touching the water with his toe for less than two seconds before his expression changed dramatically.
Then, without any hesitation, he leaped into the Immortal Pond like a madman.
The golden waves sparkled under the sunlight, shimmering brilliantly.
The crowd was dumbfounded. Lin Jianxuan was even more shocked. Where was the caution Elder Ou was just talking about?!
'Why did you just jump in? Wait. Something seems off!'
Lin Jianxuan's gaze caught something in a fleeting moment, his pupils dilating. And not just himâsoon, others noticed as wellâŠ
Inside Pool No. 1, Elder Ou, who had just emerged from the pond water, originally had strands of white in his hair.
At this moment, those white strands were visibly turning black.
"What, what, what!!" Along with Elder Ou's incredibly shocked exclamations, he burst into loud laughter. His laughter rumbled like thunder.
The guardian elder's face was full of shock, his old eyes filled with astonishment.
"Elder Ou, your strengthâŠ" Elder Ou's aura was undergoing changesâvisibly, it was growing stronger.
Before entering the pool, his aura was as steady as a rock. After entering the pool, his aura was as weighty as Mount Tai.
This kind of aura, had already surpassed the realm of a guardian.
"A Grandmaster." The guardian elder gasped at this moment.
There was no mistake. Such an aura only existed at the level of a Grandmaster. In other words, Elder Ou had stepped into the ranks of Grandmasters!
"What, what, what!!" This time, it was the guardian elder's turn to be excited.
"Congratulations, Elder Ou, on healing your injuries! From this day on, our Great Xia has regained another Grandmaster!"
Hearing this, Lin Jianxuan and the others were all shaken to their core.
Lin Jianxuan was stunned. "Old Master Zhao, Elder Ou has returned to the Grandmaster level? How is this possible? Didn't Elder Zhang say that after Elder Ou's battle at Fengmen Village over thirty years ago, he would never be able to return to the Grandmaster level in this lifetime?"
The guardian elder looked over, barely able to contain his excitement. "You're right. Over thirty years ago, in the battle at Fengmen Village, Elder Ou suffered severe injuries that left incurable wounds. His strength fell from Grandmaster to a mere guardian. But nowâŠ"
"I'm not mistaken. His aura now is just like it was back then. He has returned to the Grandmaster level!"
"Old Zhao is right." Elder Ou's voice rang out at this moment.
Everyone turned to look. At some point, Elder Ou had stepped out of Pool No. 1, his body still dripping with golden pond water, making him look like a deity coated in gold.
"My injuries are indeed healed."
Elder Ou's face was radiant with energy. Having returned to the Grandmaster level, he was brimming with vitality.
"But Pool No. 1 not only healed my once-incurable injuriesânow, its effects are stronger than before, not just by onefold, but at least tenfold, no, a hundredfold!"
His eyes were sharp, and his voice was firm as he declared, "The Immortal Pools of the valley once could cure illnesses, but only common people's diseases. For us cultivators, they were for training. But nowâŠ"
"The Immortal Pond can even heal cultivators' wounds. I even feel that my physique has changed."
'Refining the physique?!'
Everyone's hearts pounded wildly, and Lin Jianxuan's eyes nearly lit up. As a member of the younger generation trained by Bureau 749, he knew exactly what physique refinement meant.
It represented talent. It also represented future achievements.
"Elder Ou, I want to enter Pool No. 1. Is that okay?" Lin Jianxuan eagerly stepped forward.
His talent was decent, and he had the potential to become a guardian-level cultivator in the future. But he wasn't satisfied with just that. He wanted to reach higher.
He wanted to attain the level of Grandmasterâthat was the pinnacle of Great Xia.
If Pool No. 1 could refine his physique and enhance his talent, he could very well achieve Grandmaster status.
Elder Ou looked over. Having lived for over 130 years, how could he not see through Lin Jianxuan's thoughts?
He immediately smiled. "Go ahead."
Elder Ou looked at the crowd. "Next, we will systematically test the other Immortal Pools. I suspect that each one has undergone changes due to this anomaly. Select people to test and determine the effects of each Immortal Pool."
As soon as he said this, the crowd eagerly raised their hands, all wanting to be the first to try.
Lin Jianxuan, however, paid no attention to the competition. After getting Elder Ou's approval, he sprinted toward Pool No. 1.
On the way, he passed by a stone pillar and instinctively glanced at it.
In the next second, Lin Jianxuan abruptly stopped in his tracks, shouting in shock, interrupting Elder Ou, who was about to assign people to different pools.
"Elder Ou, there are words on the stone pillar!"
"Hmm?"
Elder Ou and the others were momentarily stunned, immediately pausing their assignments and quickly approaching.
Following Lin Jianxuan's pointing finger, they looked at the stone pillar.
They could see it. The floating stone pillar, its surface cracked like weathered stone, revealing an underlying layer of ancient Great Xia script.
"This looks like Great Xia script from the Song Dynasty."
The guardian elder examined it carefully and looked at Elder Ou.
He knew that Elder Ou had spent most of his life researching the 'Hell Valley' and was familiar with Northern Song-era scripts.
But before he could even ask Elder Ou, he noticed Elder Ou's face full of shock.
At that moment, the guardian elder couldn't help but ask. "Elder Ou, what do these words mean?"
"In the late Northern Song era, out of personal interest, I built this 'Mortal Jade Pool' here to pass the time." Elder Ou swallowed hard and read out the words one by one, his voice trembling.
The guardian elder's eyes widened, and he involuntarily sucked in a breath.
'Mortal Jade Pool?! What an audacious claim.'
Beside them, Lin Jianxuan was utterly shaken and blurted out instinctively. "He actually dared to say this out loudâŠ"
He wanted to remark on the arrogance of whoever created this valleyâdaring to name it the "Mortal Jade Pool."
After all, in Great Xia, the term "Jade Pool" carried extraordinary significance.
Anyone born in Great Xia knew its meaning. The Jade Pool was the legendary abode of the Queen Mother of the West in Great Xia mythology.
And legend had it, that the Queen Mother's Jade Pool was located in Kunlun Mountains.
Yet the cultivator who created 'Hell Valley' had built this valley in the Kunlun Mountains and dared to name it the 'Mortal Jade Pool'âwas this not a blatant provocation?
However, despite wanting to refute the audacity of its creator, the sheer wonder of the Immortal Pools left Lin Jianxuan speechless.
Even the guardian elder had a complicated expression. They didn't know what the real Jade Pool of legend was like. But at least, the Immortal Pools of this valley were already miraculous and powerful beyond imagination.
Meanwhile, elder Ou ignored their reactions and murmured to himself. "Sixty years of research⊠Turns out I was only scratching the surface. Now, this is the real Immortal Pond."
Thinking this, Elder Ou couldn't help but whisper to himself. "In the Northern Song era, just who was the cultivator who created these pools? Why did the true Immortal Pond only reveal itself at this point in time? Could it beâŠ"
"That they had already divined the calamity in the underworld's future, foreseeing that Great Xia would activate the Immortal Pond to face this disaster?!"
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