I left the pavilion without ceremony. I stepped from the stone pier and dropped into the lake.
Bone-freezing water closed over my head—splash—followed instantly by total silence and darkness, as not even a trace of light could penetrate the surface. The deeper I descended, the darker it became—not a normal kind of darkness. It had thickness and weight, pressing in from all directions. Moving my body grew laborious, so I stopped resisting and let it swallow me.
I continued downward.
By the time my feet touched the lakebed, the world had gone completely still. Nothing I did was able to produce sound. There was no light. There was nothing at all.
I shifted my footing and felt the ground beneath me. It was unexpectedly smooth, as if untouched by motion or time itself.
This was the place.
I wrapped my body in Qi, forming a thin veil to shield myself from the pervasive Yin. The Yin here was not passive—it seemed almost sentient, probing, pressing, trying to force its way into my body by any means possible. Frost had already begun to form along my skin and hair, a biting chill seeping inward.
This would be more difficult than I had anticipated.
To resist the Yin while gathering it—how troublesome.
I sat down and steadied my breath, settling into a lotus position. Slowly, I guided the surrounding Yin toward the veiled void aperture at the base of my spine. With two fingers, I tapped the point gently, stimulating it.
Thump.
A subtle pulse answered, and the aperture opened just enough.
The Yin flowed in.
The first hours passed quietly. Yin gathered at a measured pace, drawn in without resistance. It neither rushed toward me nor recoiled. It simply accumulated, layer by layer, like mist settling into a valley that had waited a very long time.
At the edge of my perception, I felt things watching.
I could not see them, but I was aware of their gazes—numerous, distant, unfocused. There was no malice in them, only observation.
I let it be.
Two hours passed.
Discomfort crept in without warning. My heartbeat slowed, each thud heavier than the last. My body temperature plunged past freezing, and at some point ice crept over my skin, locking my limbs in a thin, glassy shell. The Yin pressed closer now, no longer content to linger at the edges.
…This is the limit.
I broke my concentration and began to ascend.
Rising from the lakebed was like swimming against a violent current—every movement resisted, every inch contested. The Yin clung stubbornly, dragging at me as though unwilling to let go.
I pushed on regardless.
Minutes stretched into something agonizingly long.
Finally—
Splash.
I breached the surface.
I dragged myself ashore and collapsed onto the dark sand, chest heaving as I drew in deep, ragged breaths. Cold air burned my lungs, but the sensation grounded me, anchoring me back to myself as the lake fell silent behind me.
The chariot hovered above the water.
Yanruo emerged from it and handed me a flask of revitalizing spring water. I took it and downed it in a single gulp. Warmth spread through my limbs almost immediately.
"Thank you," I said with a smile.
"You stayed quite a while down there. I thought you had drowned," a voice came from the chariot.
"Hahaha, surely you would have mourned me for a thousand years," I replied jokingly.
…Hm? Since when do I joke this much? Am I being affected by something?
"Hmph! You wish," Ruyang said with feigned annoyance. "Was it difficult?"
"Not difficult," I replied, rolling my shoulders as lingering cold seeped from my bones. "Just uncomfortable. The cold is annoying."
"Ah! I have something that can help," she said, rummaging through her storage bag.
"Really? What is it?" I asked, unable to hide my anticipation.
After a moment, she withdrew a wooden bracelet carved with dense, intricate runes. At its center was an inlay depicting a blazing sun, the symbol faintly radiating warmth even in the Yin-heavy air.
"This is a treasure I obtained some time ago," Ruyang said calmly. "It renders the wearer resistant to Yin Qi up to a certain degree, maintains body temperature at an optimal level, and can also release several Bright Yang spells such as Rising Sun, Solar Purification, Radiant Veil, Falling Sun, and Solar Flare—at early Foundation Establishment strength."
The bracelet pulsed softly in her palm, its warmth standing in stark contrast to the lake behind us.
I stared at her with an unreadable expression for a long moment.
"Hmm? What's with that look?" she asked, confused.
After a few more seconds of silent scrutiny, I replied, "You had something so convenient all this while?"
"Indeed. I simply forgot to mention it," she said.
"Haaa…" I sighed. "Thank you for your generous gift, Your Imperial Princess," I added teasingly, giving a slight bow.
With a pleased smile, I accepted the bracelet, slipped it on, and leapt back into the lake.
Splash.
With this bracelet, there was no longer a need for me to resurface or worry about blocking the Yin. I could now fully focus on gathering it.
I sensed my veiled void aperture—it was only four percent full. At this new rate, I should be finished in about a day.
I sent Qi into the bracelet. A soft golden radiance spread over my body, shielding me from the pervasive Yin while still allowing it to be drawn inward. The glow illuminated only a few feet around me.
Beneath my feet, the lakebed was black as obsidian and smooth as polished marble. It felt unsettlingly deliberate—almost manmade.
I activated the Rising Sun spell.
A miniature sun bloomed above my palm, no more than a tool for illumination, a glorified torch. I scanned my surroundings, searching for the things I had felt watching me.
Nothing.
I saw nothing at all.
Suppressing the unease, I pushed the sensation to the back of my mind and returned to meditation, steadily drawing in Yin Qi.
Five hours passed.
I checked again.
The aperture was twenty-seven percent full.
That was when I felt it.
The gazes returned—closer this time. Heavier.
I snapped my eyes open and immediately reignited the Rising Sun.
What the light revealed shook me to my core.
Only a few feet away hovered a creature so grotesque that my thoughts faltered trying to comprehend it. Its body was swollen and misshapen, but what passed for its face was a gaping maw—sixteen feet wide, opening directly into its torso. Dozens of sharp, translucent teeth spiraled inward, layer upon layer, like a living drill. From the depths of the maw seeped a viscous, ink-dark fluid that bled into the water, staining it an even deeper black.
It lunged.
I reacted instantly, activating Radiant Veil along with every protective treasure I carried. The moment the creature collided with the barrier—
Hisssss.
Its flesh blistered and charred, peeling back as if burned by invisible fire. It recoiled with a shrill, piercing cry.
"Shrieeeekkk!"
I retreated several meters, never letting the Rising Sun dim.
As expected.
A Yin creature—Yang was its natural bane.
I gathered a significant portion of my Qi and channeled it into the bracelet, targeting the writhing mass still spasming in the water.
"Falling Sun!"
Blinding light erupted from the bracelet. Above the creature, brilliance condensed rapidly, forming what looked like a miniature sun. The heat was immediate and overwhelming. The surrounding water was torn away, forming a vacuum within a two-hundred-meter radius as everything was violently displaced.
Then the sun fell.
It crashed down in an instant.
BOOOOMMMM!!!
The explosion vaporized the creature completely, flesh and Yin dispersing into nothingness. Water rushed back in with a deafening roar, collapsing inward as if the lake itself were sealing a wound.
Silence returned.
Only the faint golden glow around my body remained, steady and unwavering, as I resumed my descent into stillness.
How annoying. I can't even gather Yin in peace.
Still, this bracelet is incredibly convenient—though Falling Sun is clearly overkill. If anything appears again, Solar Purification will suffice.
I settled back down and returned to meditation.
A few more such incidents occurred, but they were easily dealt with using Solar Purification. After that, it was smooth sailing.
After twenty hours, my Veiled Void Aperture was fully saturated.
I was done gathering Yin.