Versatile Mage

The chill was not because of Zhao Jing’s death or the strange way in which he was pulled down, it was because the Cold Lake was full of corpses!

Just below the surface, the lake was densely covered with all kinds of the dead. Some were cut. Some were burned. Some were struck down by lightning. Some beheaded. Some simply drowned and others had their hearts crushed.

These corpses were on display just below the transparent surface of the Cold Lake. There was only a thin solid layer of hard, cold water between the bodies and Mo Fan’s feet. From a distance, they looked frozen and floated freely between the surface and the bottom.

To Mo Fan, who had seen mountains of corpses before, this was not very terrifying. In the spaces between the corpses were even more corpses. They were caught between the water surface and the depths of the lake. They floated there, suspended in between, like specimens.

Zhao Jing’s corpse was also caught at this level with endless human dead bodies around him. They had all died strangely but none in the same way. They had died in all sorts of ways!

It looked as though some supernatural entities had searched the world for all the different ways to kill a person and decided to put them on display.

The dead themselves were not terrifying. They were just corpses. What was horrifying was the way in which the piles of dead bodies sank into the lake and were suspended for eternity. Mo Fan’s knees trembled and he fell to the ground.

How exactly did this happen? How many dead people would it take to fill the entire lake?

It was awfully petrifying!

Mo Fan took deep breaths to calm himself. He finally understood why his dark vein had become so sensitive the moment he had stepped into this place. This Divine Wood Well was a well of corpses.

The Red Demon collected Eight Souls in the world in order to evolve into a Wicked God. He then would become a real emperor and wander around this world.

This lake full of corpses was from the human world. What kind of magical power did it take to be able to accumulate all these people here? Most corpses inside the lake were not just ordinary people. Most had a high level of cultivation.

Mo Fan did not dare to look down again. But the Cold Lake kept calling out to him. Mo Fan could not take his eyes off the lake, nor could he make himself leave. It felt as though something rooted him to the spot. It was as if something held his head in place and forcefully opened his eye to this dreadful reality.

Mo Fan could only stare at it. It was the same as walking into a wax museum. The lunatic who had turned these people into something akin to wax statues was threatening him and showing off his masterpieces. Mo Fan could not show even the slightest impatience, otherwise he knew that he would suffer the same fate. Thus, to live, Mo Fan looked on with fright.

There were more corpses under the layer where Zhao Jing’s body was suspended. This layer was deeper and closer to the bottom of the lake. The layer was less dense than the ones above with only a few bodies floating there.

Mo Fan suddenly saw a very familiar figure. He wanted to tear the lake apart and dig out the person he saw.

“Chief Military Instructor!” Mo Fan shouted. He yelled as though the cold corpse could somehow hear him.

Everything was silent.

The Divine Wood Well was silent too. Only his voice reverberated.

It was Zhan Kong! The one in the lake was Zhan Kong!

Beside Zhan Kong, Mo Fan saw a fair hand. It was blocked from sight by the other corpses over it but he knew who it was.

Qin Yu’Er!

It was Zhan Kong and Qin Yu’Er! They were near the bottom of the lake.

Mo Fan remembered the day Zhan Kong and Qin Yu’Er had left the Holy City. They had not left anything back except Zhan Kong’s soul that was taken in by the Little Loach.They disappeared after that.

But they were here!

When they left their world, they were peaceful and resolute. He could see so many emotions on the faces of the other corpses: fear, astonishment, resentment, and confusion. But Zhang Kong and Qin Yu’Er looked peaceful as ever, even in death.

Mo Fan’s heart was in a tumult. He did not know what exactly this place represented.

Could it be that this was the cemetery of Devil God? From a dome that nobody not see, a Devil God might be peeping at the changes of the world and the rise and fall of races. And perhaps he brought some important dead to the Divine Wood Well.

He had seen himself not too long ago. He had seen his reflection cold and dead. Did that mean some day in the future, he would join these specimens and be sunk into this lake?

Mo Fan tried to recall what he had seen. He wanted to remember if he had looked older than the present or the same.

However, the more he tried to remember, the fuzzier it became. It would slowly disappear from his conscience like a picture from a distant dream. No matter how hard he tried to recall, the memory would be erased little by little.

“Creak! Creak! Creak!”

There were noises coming from the surrounding forest. Mo Fan looked to the side vigilantly. He did not want to sink into the lake.

The Ghost Trees began to shrink, and the long twigs began to grow in reverse. The branches as thick as buildings degraded gradually, and the thick roots all over the ground burrowed back into the soil.

The Cold Lake was getting smaller by the minute. When Mo Fan had arrived here, the Divine Wood Well had grown radically, but now it was all shrinking. Everything started returning to its original state.

Mo Fan stood on the Cold Lake. The corpses on display slowly blurred once again. Mo fan stared at Chief Military Instructor, Zhan Kong. He looked so peaceful in the lake that Mo Fan was reluctant to tear the lake and disturb his sleep.

Zhan Kong’s eyes were open, and he seemed to be staring at Mo Fan.

In the Holy City, they did not have time to bid farewell. He got to see him for the last time in this weird Divine Wood Well instead. He held a fair hand, as if that was all he had wished for in this life. The good and the evil did not matter anymore, nor did the gods’ ruthless slaughters. He looked content to be floating there, he did not have to care for the bottom of the lake nor the waves hitting him on the surface.

…

Divine Wood Well had disappeared. It wasn’t clear whether it was because of Zhao Jing’s death or because the Divine Wood Well did not want to accept Mo Fan yet.

Everything was back to normal.

Mo Fan returned to Fanxue Mountain, worried but not as scared as before. Everything in Divine Wood Well had been akin to a nightmare. It would solely fade away from his mind. Maybe if he was lucky, he would think of it as a dream and wake up to find it absurd.

Even if it was real, people in it had died in different ways, but not all of them had been in pain.

Mo Fan recalled his reflection. He didn’t look like he was in pain.

It was complicated, anyway. He did now know how to put it. If an overindulgent man had died in the midst of making love, he would have looked that way.

Mo Fan felt much better to think of it like that. He did have two wives, after all. He was young and strong and enjoyed making love. Maybe it wouldn’t be as true in a few years.