Super Strong Little Divine Farmer

Chapter 2305: Chapter 2306: The Lake

This made the two of them overjoyed. They exchanged a look, then followed along together.

Tang Ming walked up to Lin Chen’s side, slung an arm around his shoulder, leaned close, and whispered, ”Brother Lin, if not for you, we’d probably have to part ways here.”

After speaking, Tang Ming looked at Jiang Ningyan, who seemed somewhat silent behind Jiang Wei, and let out a soft sigh.

Though he was old-fashioned, he wasn’t stupid. Of course he knew Jiang Wei’s true reason for letting them tag along, and in his heart he was even clearer about the chasm between him and Jiang Ningyan, one that was almost impossible to cross.

After all, he was nothing but a penniless brat, with no powerful background, and even less powerful strength.

Wanting to be with Jiang Ningyan was hardly the kind of difficulty that could be broken through so easily.

No wonder he’d come here to try his luck. What he was aiming for was that treasure; perhaps that would be their hope of being together.

”So you two—does this count as eloping?” Lin Chen asked with a faint smile at the corner of his lips. He wasn’t mocking them in the slightest; on the contrary, he rather admired the courage of the pair.

”I... I guess so...”

Tang Ming gave a dry cough to cover up his embarrassment.

Then he let out a bitter laugh and shook his head, saying, ”What else can we do? That person from the Jin family, his talent is outstanding, but maybe precisely because of that he’s been pampered since childhood, used to ordering people around. His temperament is violent and even somewhat twisted. Practically all his servants and clan members have been beaten by him. His methods are vicious. If Ningyan really marries into that...”

Just imagining that scene made Tang Ming feel a touch of lingering fear. The thought that the one he liked would be treated so cruelly by someone else made his heart feel like it was being cut by knives, utterly unbearable.

”Every family has its own hard-to-recite scripture.”

Lin Chen also sighed softly, whether for his situation or for something else.

In this world where strength is revered, without strength, what difference is there between you and the weeds by the roadside? You’re nothing but tiny lives that people can’t even be bothered to spare a glance at.

Under this kind of atmosphere, Tang Ming seemed to lose the desire to talk. He was not good with words to begin with, and now that he’d thought of such painful matters, his head dropped even lower as he slowly walked forward.

...

Their pace was not slow, but the distance was still far, enough to keep them walking for several hours.

Only when they reached a lakeside did they finally come to a halt.

In front of them there were already many figures gathered around this lake.

Some of these people stood grouped in twos and threes, some stood alone, weapons in hand, their wary gazes sweeping the surroundings, as if every figure nearby was an enemy.

In truth, that was indeed the case. These people might not yet have clashed, but once the so-called treasure appeared, conflict would be inevitable.

When Lin Chen and the others arrived, the scene before them really gave Lin Chen a jolt. There were at least several dozen people surrounding a vast lake.

None of them seemed willing to be left behind; all of them stood around the lake’s edge, one by one.

Jiang Wei led them forward toward one section as well. The few of them took their place at the lakeside. When they saw the sight within the lake, their hearts all gave a slight tremor.

The surface of the lake before them was tinged with a faint red. Several bubbles rose with that rippling, then burst, sending out rings of crimson that spread outward, seeping into the lake and staining it red, covering up the water’s original clarity.

This was a pool of dead water, stretching for dozens of li around. There was no flowing current, only when a breeze brushed across did it stir the surface, raising a faint ripple.

”There’s really going to be a treasure in there? No matter how I look at it, it seems strange.”

Staring at the oddity of the place, Tang Ming could not help speaking softly. The lake water, presenting a faint red, did not look like the birthplace of a treasure at all; it looked more like some kind of purgatory, with eerie, unsettling hints everywhere.

”What do you know? Whenever a treasure is about to appear, there must be an anomaly. All of this is normal. Do you really think all these people here have less insight than you?”

An elder standing in front of Jiang Wei sneered. They had gone through great trouble to get here; they naturally wouldn’t feel like retreating just because of a few of Tang Ming’s words. But words like that, heard by them, were still a bit grating.

”Yes, yes, senior is right.” Tang Ming’s face flushed slightly, a hint of shy redness spreading. He scratched his head bashfully and stopped talking.

At Lin Chen’s side, he likewise furrowed his brows. Granted, whenever a treasure appears, there will be natural anomalies, but the scene before his eyes made Lin Chen feel far too uneasy.

Within that water, he could even sense a familiar aura.

”Something doesn’t seem quite right.” Lin Chen’s brows knit tighter. This so-called treasure didn’t seem nearly as simple as they imagined.

Lin Chen propped his chin with his hand, his gaze fixed on the lake as he tried to glimpse some clue from it. But the surface was calm, without waves, and the faint red shroud made it impossible to see how deep it went.

”Look, something’s about to come out!”

With a startled cry that nobody knew from where it came, everyone’s gaze was drawn toward that area. They saw that several hundred meters ahead, the lake surface began to churn, waves rolling as if something was about to surge out from within.

At this sudden change, everyone’s expression tightened. Their already wary gazes swept left and right again, their footsteps unconsciously shifting this way and that; they dared not relax in the slightest toward the figures at their sides.

With a sharp whoosh, a sound shot out from within the crowd. No one knew who lost patience first, but someone darted toward the rising, jagged patch of water.

”Hmph, trying to snatch it?”

Someone gave a cold snort. As his words fell, the figures behind him needed no further prompting; they immediately flung out several fierce attacks.

In front of a treasure, no one held back. Several strikes shot toward the rushing figure, a dense barrage that made that person’s face sink.

Suspended midair, facing those incoming attacks, his expression grew darker and somewhat panicked as his limbs moved at once to twist his body away from those blows.

But the attacks were simply too dense—this was something he had not anticipated at all. So even with his best evasive efforts, quite a few strikes still landed on his body.

With a miserable scream, his figure plunged rapidly into the lake. Amid the tumbling red water, they could see his shadow sinking quickly toward the depths. Then, in a silence that followed, not even the slightest ripple rose again, as if he had been swallowed whole by the lake.