The Treasure Revealed!
Click!
Elder Bai's hand hovered over the chest. With a soft click, the lid creaked open, spilling a faint glow like a teasing promise.
The disciples leaned forward, breaths held, as if the chest held the aning of life itself.
Su Xiaobai's heart thumped wildly. 'Finally! I can go ho! Co on, chest—don't hold out on now. Pills to turn into a walking god? A blade sharp enough to slice through fate itself? Or... oh, a perfect jade beauty to—' He coughed internally. 'No? Okay, just send back ho already!'
Outwardly, he maintained his wide-eyed, innocent expression. Inwardly, he was practically salivating.
However—
Rumble… Rumble…
The chest began to tremble violently.
A sudden gust of wind swept through the chamber, extinguishing torches and whipping hair and robes around like flustered chickens.
"Wha—what's happening?" soone stamred.
Whoosh!
The lid cracked open further, and inky black miasma poured out, curling and twisting across the floor like a living thing.
BAM!
The air turned icy as shadows devoured the light.
The smug grin froze on Su Xiaobai's face. "Oh... it's another trap, isn't it?" He wasn't even surprised anymore; he had just been carried away by the plot.
"What is this?" Elder Bai muttered, her serene aura flaring protectively as she stepped back.
"Take formations!" Liu Zhenhai barked, his sword already unsheathed and glowing faintly in the oppressive dark.
Then it hit.
The sll.
BAM!
The stench of rotting flesh slapped Su Xiaobai like a jealous ex. "Ugh!" He gagged, clutching his nose as bile threatened to rise. "What in the unholy na of plot twists is that?!"
Rustle… Rustle…
From the swirling fog, countless glowing red eyes flickered to life, blinking in eerie unison like a legion of predators closing in.
And then, they erged.
The ghouls.
Twisted corpses, reanimated by dark Qi and twisted beyond recognition. Skeletal fras, patches of decaying skin, their mouths gaping to reveal jagged, dripping fangs.
Their claws scraped the ground, filling the chamber with a grating screech that set teeth on edge.
Su Xiaobai froze, his stomach churning. 'So… these are ghouls?'
Kacha! Kacha!
"Prepare yourselves!" Liu Zhenhai roared. His sword flared brighter as he stepped into a defensive stance.
anwhile, Su Xiaobai was busy reevaluating his life choices. 'I could've been a farr. Or a rchant. Hell, even a wandering bard! But no, I just had to chase treasure and end up in a room full of ghouls. Ha. Fantastic.'
Whoever was writing his destiny clearly had a cruel sense of humor.
He glanced around. The disciples were scrambling into formation while Elder Bai's aura shielded the group from the worst of the miasma.
Yeah, no. I'm not dying for this.
Without hesitation, Su Xiaobai turned and bolted for the far edge of the chamber. 'Screw bravery. Screw teamwork. Screw this entire chapter.'
The idea of playing hero—slashing ghouls left and right to impress the higher-ups—flickered briefly in his mind before reality hit like a brick. MFS, not even a single bone of mine would remain.
He didn't even try to hide his retreat. Survival wasn't shaful—it was an art.
But as he ran, a horrifying thought struck him. What if Lan iyu decides to stab "accidentally" in the chaos? She probably still thinks I owe her a lifeti of suffering.
The ntal image made his pace quicken.
Nope. Not waiting to find out.
That's when he saw it—a faint shimr flickering at the edge of the chamber, like a mirage.
Void cracks.
Ever since awakening the Void Thunder Dragon in his spirit sea, these mysterious distortions had beco an annoying reality. They appeared randomly, warping space, offering transportation to... wherever.
One had already yanked him into the first chamber, dropping him in front of a giant door like an uninvited guest.
While he didn't fully understand how they worked, he 'did' know they were risky as hell.
But right now? Risky was better than dead.
"Please," he muttered, sprinting toward the shimring crack. "Take anywhere but here!"
Whoosh!
He dove in headfirst.
The world twisted violently, space collapsing in on itself as colors bled and stretched like a surreal painting.
"Ugh…"
The pressure pulled at him, squeezing his body like a stress toy, until—
CRASH!
He landed hard, groaning as he rolled over and sat up. "Argh… Where now?"
He blinked, his jaw dropping as he took in his surroundings.
The second chamber.
It was pristine.
The eerie pond shimred faintly in the dim light, its surface as smooth as glass. The glowing array in the center pulsed rhythmically, completely untouched.
Su Xiaobai stared, his disbelief palpable. "The second chamber didn't collapse?"
Was this luck? Fate? Or... oh no.
His hand instinctively reached for his spatial ring, pulling out a large key he'd sneakily pocketed from the altar earlier. It glead faintly, its intricate design mocking him.
He groaned, rubbing his temples. "So this is why, huh? This stupid key is the real treasure..."
Breaking into a bitter laugh, he looked up at the ceiling, directly addressing whatever forces seed to govern his life. "Hey, you up there! Could you please stop screwing with for five minutes? Maybe just once, give so actual treasure instead of dropping hints?!"
He shook his head, muttering. "I swear, if I die one more ti, I'm quitting this and becoming a farr…"
But even as the words left his mouth, he sighed. 'I can't die yet.'
He stood, dusting himself off and scanning the chamber warily.
Nothing seed out of place, but the silence was unnerving.
"Fine," he muttered, gripping the key. "Let's see what kind of crap you've got waiting for now."
With curses and complaints spilling under his breath, Su Xiaobai began navigating the chamber, carefully checking every hole for a place to put his thing…
…The key.
He coughed to himself, trying to ignore the ntal imagery. "Really? Even my thoughts are against now? Focus, Su Xiaobai. Focus."
Sowhere in here… lies the real treasure.
One Hour Later!
"Ugh… it's so hard…" Su Xiaobai collapsed onto the muddy ground, his chest heaving as if he'd just run a marathon. He'd searched every corner of the chamber, but there was no place to put his huge thing.
The key, ofcourse.
"Should I ask Xiao Lu?" he muttered, glancing toward his spatial ring. But a quick check showed Xiao Lu was still ditating, her aura pulsing faintly as she neared a breakthrough.
He sighed. "Guess it's all on ."
As his gaze wandered, the glimring spiritual pond caught his attention. A reckless idea flashed through his mind. 'Can I store the pond in my ring?'
The thought seed absurd, but if it worked, the energy in the pond could push him straight into the Core Formation realm—or beyond if luck was on his side.
Sitting up, he frowned at the shimring water. Minutes passed as he stared blankly, piecing together the details.
Then it hit him. "Formation!"
Every chamber had a formation. How had he not noticed it before? The pond wasn't just decorative—it was part of the formation, its spiritual energy fueling it.
He glanced at the key in his hand, and the realization struck. They'd skipped solving this formation entirely, leaping ahead to the next chamber. Maybe the "temporal formation" was just a decoy, and this was the final test.
His eyes narrowed on the altar floating in the center of the pond, supported by a thick stone pillar. If there was an answer, it had to be beneath that altar.
But first, the water had to go.
"Let's test my luck," he muttered, holding up Ning Gufan's spatial ring.
Gurgle… Gurgle…
The pond rippled, and Su Xiaobai's eyebrows shot up as the water began swirling toward the ring.
"It works?!" he exclaid, startled but thrilled.
Taking a deep breath, he focused his spiritual energy into the ring.
WHOOSH!
The pond spiraled upward, a roaring whirlpool of spiritual water cascading into the ring. The sheer force made his robes flutter dramatically—finally, a mont that made him look cool.
"Ha! Just as planned!" he laughed, grinning as the water drained rapidly.
As the pond emptied, the altar floated lower, revealing the stone pillar beneath it. Near the bottom of the pillar, previously subrged, was a small, key-shaped indentation.
Su Xiaobai's eyes widened. "There it is!"
GLUG GLUG GLUG!
The last of the water vanished into the ring, leaving behind an eerie silence. Su Xiaobai stepped forward, his boots squelching in the mud.
SQUELCH! SQUELCH!
"Perfect. A grand cultivator reduced to walking through muck like a farr. Truly, I am the epito of grace," he grumbled.
Reaching the base of the pillar, he crouched to inspect the groove. The faint glow of jade runes surrounded it, pulsing with residual energy from the drained pond.
"So, this is where you go," Su Xiaobai murmured, holding up the key. He slid it into the slot, twisting slightly.
CLICK!
The runes flared to life, light racing up the pillar and spreading across the altar above.
RUMMMMMMMBLE!
The entire structure shuddered as the altar began to descend into the pillar. Su Xiaobai stumbled back, his eyes fixed on the now-revealed passage.
Stairs spiraled downward into the darkness, their edges faintly illuminated by soft, glowing runes.
He stared at the opening, "Finally," he muttered, excited, gripping his spatial ring tightly. "Let's see what kind of treasures are waiting for down there."
Without hesitation, Su Xiaobai stepped forward, vanishing into the depths of an unknown dark entrance.
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