Echo Lake—one of the hidden jewels of the Azure Origin Dao Sect—lay in the hilly borderlands between outer and inner sect.
To the north sprawled a vibrant forest, while nearby, clusters of peaks of all shapes and sizes huddled beneath the shadow of Voidshade Peak. Cypresses as old as legends crisscrossed the land, spilling their roots among mountain springs and fog-veiled waterfalls. Below one such cascade shimmered Echo Lake, a water mirror vast and mysterious.
Echo Lake was not just wide—it was deep. Its broad shallows, splashing and sunlit, had long been claimed by the inner sect's female disciples as their private playground.
They liked to frolic, gossip, and cool off in those placid, shallow waters.
For anyone with a love of fish, though, it was a disappointment. The real prizes—the fish, perhaps the lurking lake monsters—dwelled in the blue-black depths of the southern end. As always, the true fishing was far from the giggles and splashing laughter.
Ethan eyed the map.
