The Immortal Lake stretched before the eyes of the teleported people. It was more like a sea than a lake. It contained heavenly fish and sea creatures, usually found in deep oceans. It was salt water. And even the spiritually enhanced eyes of the descendants and elders couldn't see the other side or the bottom. Maybe the founder of the Medici Family could see the other side, but he instead peered above into the clouds.
Wei Yan now stood with Gergonia aside from most of the people on the shore. She was not a usual beauty according to the Four Clan's standard, but she was bewitching in her own way. She towered above those of her age and had enchanting blue eyes, flowing long golden hair, and pale skin. Her scarlet brokade robes were studded with rubies and gold. As the sunlight fell upon her robes, she was glowing.
Her features compared to the beauties of the clans, but her unnatural size and features kept her from being considered truly beautiful. If not for the Medici family's unnatural power, she would definitely have been bullied.
For Wei Yan, she was a goddess descended. She helped her translate the books of the Medici and explain the jade slips containing paths. He couldn't understand why the most powerful man of the Lesser Ancient Continent and his descendant treated him so well, but he was immensely grateful for them. Before them, he only knew derision and contempt, and he was expecting no more from them.
"Gergonia, why did the Founder say those words?" Wei Yan asked her. "He should know why I'm treated this way. Why does it matter to him how the rest treat me?"
She looked at him with those enchanting eyes. He lost himself in those eyes over and over, but he still couldn't understand why. Maybe some spiritual power forced him to focus those endless light blue eyes. Maybe he was just lovestruck. Maybe she was so much powerful compared to him.
"He sees you as a tool to break through the eight stage," she said. "You don't understand, but the Immortal Ancient Piety Sect will grant him anything as soon as he points you out. He doesn't care about you, but still wants to keep up a facade."
Wei Yan couldn't even comprehend what the Founder or the Immortal Sect wanted from him. He tore his eyes away from Gergonia's and glanced at the Founder, who was staring at the sky. If what she said was correct, the Founder seemed impatient. Before he could ask back, she continued.
"I also used you for something, but I did that because of my feelings towards you. You won't understand what either my father or I have done for you. However, remember you are you, and we are the members of the Medici Family. I will wait for you to understand, but I need you to do something for me."
Wei Yan was dazed by the words, and still answered confused. "I can promise you everything, but I can't do much."
"That's enough," she said and closed her eyes.
Wei Yan wanted to ask back, but he was interrupted by a rumble. The clouds parted away, and Immortal Light filled the shore of the Heavenly Ascending Lake. Even Wei Yang could feel the immediate rush of spiritual power purifying and enriching the lake and the mountains around them.
The Dao Gathering Platform seemed giant in the sky, slowly descending from above. It was a giant jade platform reinforced with spiritual metals and woods. In it, there were a thousand paths carved. For some reason, the carvings appeared before the eyes of Wei Yang, even though it was too far away for him, and he only saw one part of it.
The four cardinal directions contained the four ways of the Lesser Ancient Continent. The one in the south depicted an old man worshipped by their clan around them. The one towards the north showed a teacher preaching to his class. Western carving depicted a man on a mountain fighting a tiger bare-handed. The one facing the east depicted people flying on swords and conjuring fireballs.
However, these two images couldn't compare in their size, details and profundity to the two on the top and the bottom of the platform.
The bottom one depicted a man holding a butcher's knife. He was without clothes in the middle of a valley. Next to him, there were bodies. Bodies without heads. Without limbs. Bodies with their chest filled with knives. From bodies, souls flew out and towards the last man standing. And he was eating them like eating fruit, one soul in each hand, chewing and spitting out the pits.
The top craving depicted a cultivator floating above stars and seven treasures surrounding him. Around him, seven demons snarled and bit towards him. The cultivator trampled on the head of one of them and struck another with his sword. One of them got his hand without a sword. Another demon bit his eye out. And the last two were eyeing his liver and heart.
Before any more images could flash before his eyes, Gergonia covered them and whispered to his ears.
"Don't lose yourself in the paths of the Immortal Ancient Piety Sect. Even if you perceive all of them, they can't offer anything to you. At least, today," she said to him.
"Geniuses of the Lesser Ancient Continent, step forward. The Dao Gathering Platform waits for you. Take one step and enter the selection of the Sect," boomed a majestic voice from the platform.
Gergonia gently pushed Wei Yan forward, and he felt the world spin around him. He tripped and fell onto a hard surface, not the stones and sand around the Lake. He opened his eyes and met the Founder's stretched-out hand. He still remembered Gergonia's words that the Founder was just using him. He hesitated just for a moment, but didn't accept the hand.
"You worthless descendant," shouted the elder of the Wei clan. "A Spiritual Soul expert is trying to help you, and you dare not accept it?!"
The others around him started to shout curses at him, and the Founder was just standing there, smiling and offering his hand to Wei Yan on the floor. Wei Yan, in the end,d had to take his stretched hand to stand up.