CH 28

C28 – He Shouldn’t Have Come Here in the First Place

“Dragon Locking Lake…”

Liu Yuan looked up at the icy lake, but he didn’t find anything special about it.

Except that this place was very quiet — too quiet maybe.

Other than the sound of the waterfall and splashes, it was dead silent; no sounds of birds or insects could be heard, the lake was still, and there was not even a breeze.

Liu Yuan began to investigate along the lakeside. He was pretty sure that this must be a place with fortuitous encounters.

The Jiuyuan Mountain Range was very popular among players of the Novice Village, especially when it came to treasure hunting and adventures. After all, who didn’t like activities with bountiful rewards?

Most players of this game were basically adventurers.

“Hmm, that mountain is high; if one jumps off from there, will he fall into the lake?”

Liu Yuan stroked his chin and thought as he looked at the cliff above.

He then lowered his head to stare at the lake.

“And suppose he survives, then he’d be able to find something down here, in the lake.”

…

Liu Yuan seemed to have figured it all out.

Dragon Locking Lake, as the name suggested, must have something related to dragons sealed under it, but he was not sure what it was.

But the name “Dragon Locking” sounded a bit too ambiguous and confusing.

Whatever was deep down under the lake, it must be something mysterious.

It could be locked because it was evil, or it could be locked by the evil.

That was why these adventures were always full of uncertainty; sometimes bad things would happen. For example, someone once found a wormhole-like portal in the Jiuyuan Mountain Range, and after jumping into it, he found a completely new place that had never been explored before.

But in the end he was forced back because his player level was not high enough.

Despite unknown risks and potential dangers, players who loved adventures would undoubtedly find this place irresistible.

“Those monkeys must be still around, so I guess the Monkey Wine is off the table for now… I’ll go down and take a look. After all, nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Liu Yuan tested the temperature of the water again, then took a deep breath and cast some auxiliary spells over his body — the Waterproof Spell and Turtle Breathing Spell.

Fortunately, he grew up by the waters and thus had learned how to swim when he was little. Otherwise, he might have to use the Gravity Spell before going into the water.

“I’ll just take a look. I won’t do anything else.”

Liu Yuan braced himself and carefully stepped into the water. Once he reached nearly the center of the lake, he dived down.

The lake was much wider down here than what he could see from the surface.

And it was very dark under the water, with only a dim beam of light from above.

After a while, when Liu Yuan had adapted to the surroundings, he replaced the ordinary iron sword on his waist with the Flying Star Sword, just in case.

He took a good look around, but found no signs of living creatures nearby.

He then dived further down.

All the time Liu Yuan kept his guard up, but still, there was nothing unusual, until a few minutes later, when he saw some flickers.

“Hmm… that could be something.”

He swam towards the flickers and, as he got closer, he realized that these flickers were actually connected into a long strip.

“What the hell is this?”

Liu Yuan paused in the water, his eyes wide open with surprise. In front of him was a thick chain about half a meter wide, and those golden flickers turned out to be some luminous symbols on the chain.

This whole thing seemed very dangerous.

Liu Yuan thought about it carefully, “Looks like this is the chain used to lock the dragon. With such a thick chain, I wonder how big this dragon could be.”

Extremely huge?

But this icy lake couldn’t hold something that big. This place was probably connected to a medium-sized secret realm at most. By then Liu Yuan hadn’t realized that he had already passed through the magical barrier and entered a new mysterious realm.

He frowned and immediately decided to stop going down; instead, he swam upward for a while until he reached about the surface, and then he swam towards the chain again.

“It’s not a one-way path, and there isn’t any restriction. Judging by the look of it, that stone tablet must have been there for ages. The absence of any restriction out here means that there’s no need to worry about the thing locked below breaking free. It seems quite safe.”

Liu Yuan made a quick evaluation of the situation.

He then jumped back into the water and passed through the chain, all over which were those ancient, mysterious symbols.

Liu Yuan swam along the chain, thinking, “These symbols look somewhat familiar. I think I’ve seen them somewhere, maybe in a post online.”

There were loads of online posts about this game of Upper Central, and players were always fond of digging up all sorts of details.

Besides, all the books in the game could actually be read, with reasonable and even convincing contents, which was simply amazing.

What’s more, the game even had its self-created language system.

In some foreign literary works, music, and games, authors would create new races, civilizations and languages for their works, such as elves, devil monsters and the like.

In Upper Central, other than the common languages, there was also a system of special symbols used to create talismans.

Liu Yuan slowed down and looked at the symbols closely.

He suddenly remembered something, “What the… Isn’t this place mentioned in that post about runes and symbols?”

Liu Yuan looked towards the depths of the darkness, where there were countless golden flickers. Still, dead silence, and yet he couldn’t help but shiver.

This wasn’t a place for the beginners in the Novice Village! This was a level-50 area for advanced players at the Soul Formation Stage and above!

Liu Yuan figured that he’d better leave as soon as he could. He’d rather go back to those monkeys than stay here.

Time to dash!

Liu Yuan immediately turned around, but just as he was about to leave, he noticed that his clothes were stained with blood.

He must have got this when he was fighting those monkeys earlier.

And now, the red blood was drifting in the dark water, condensing into a bundle and flowing towards behind.

As if it was being pulled by some unknown power.

Liu Yuan’s heart sank, and his face turned pale in an instant. The other blood stains on his clothes were also floating away.

And the place was so dark that he didn’t even notice. Now, he was afraid that it had already been too late!

He was already enveloped by a cluster of blood mist!

The blood mist usually foreboded the beginning of something unpleasant.

Liu Yuan stiffly turned around and saw that the blood mist was drifting towards the depths of the lake along the chain.

As if it was being sucked by some monster.

Liu Yuan trembled as he raised his longsword. “Oh my god…”

Swoosh!

The still water began to whirl, surging violently and making a whistling sound.

Rumble!

A thunderous noise came from the depths of the darkness.