Chapter 049

Chapter 49: The Treasure Room

Cloud Mountain Cave was pitch black. There was no light at all. Past the door stretched a long corridor.

As soon as he entered, Ji Chang Huai chased after Ye Wan Wan. He moved fast and grabbed her shoulder, trying to slow her down. But Ye Wan Wan turned her body as if she had seen it coming and slipped away. She spun back, and the two of them traded blows in the corridor.

Thuds echoed as neither gave an inch. Their fists and feet met, and their footwork was evenly matched. Even Ji Chang Huai felt a flicker of surprise. Her movement skills were impressive. But he was two whole realms above Ye Wan Wan. With a touch of spiritual energy, he easily caught the girl. His elbow pressed into her shoulder. He locked her and slammed her hard into the wall.

Bang. Stones broke and tumbled down.

Ye Wan Wan let out a muffled sound. Her shoulder hit the wall and, using only the strength of her body, she shattered the rock without any spiritual defense.

Ji Chang Huai paused in surprise. But the light in the girl’s eyes showed no surrender, and heat rose in his chest. He said coldly: “I was going easy on you because you’re young, and you’re not polite at all. You rush in and start fighting.”

Ye Wan Wan sneered, her eyes mocking as she said: “So the head disciple of Azure Cloud Peak breaks his word. And you call yourself a gentleman?”

“I never said I wouldn’t give you the Woodfire Spirit,” Ji Chang Huai said, angry.

Ye Wan Wan looked straight at him and said, voice sharp: “Then get out.”

Ji Chang Huai’s palm tightened. These eyes were too bright and too clean, so much like that person. If he moved one finger, he could lift her veil and see her true face. But this girl had used Water Element Arts earlier, while his junior sister had a Fire Spiritual Root. It shouldn’t be her.

Ye Wan Wan watched his face shift and saw clearly the struggle in his heart. She didn’t react. She was waiting for the right moment.

“You’re young, but your temper is huge,” Ji Chang Huai snapped. “Did your teachers never teach you manners? I am the elder, so I go first.”

Ye Wan Wan laughed.

Ji Chang Huai raised his voice: “Fine, I’ll stand in for your teacher and let you know what shame is.”

“Idiot,” Ye Wan Wan said.

“What?” Ji Chang Huai blurted.

Ye Wan Wan twisted lightly, pushed him off, and stepped away. She slid back several paces, farther and farther from him. Ji Chang Huai’s eyes went cold, and a bright flame rose in his palm.

Ye Wan Wan smiled.

“What are you laughing at,” Ji Chang Huai started to say, but then his face changed. Something in the air seemed to cling to him. He tried to step forward, but pain shot through his meridians. Even moving made him shake. He watched the flame in his palm get strangled by fine threads and pop out.

“Binding Spirit Silk,” he said. Looking along the corridor, he added, grim: “We can’t use spiritual power here!”

No wonder she hadn’t used any protection when she crashed into the wall.

Ye Wan Wan mocked him: “Head disciple of Azure Cloud Peak, and you didn’t even notice this trap. Your pride is something else.”

“How did you notice?” Ji Chang Huai demanded. They had entered together. How had she found it?

Ye Wan Wan turned and ran deeper into the corridor. There was no reason to tell him.

As she ran, she spoke with Star Marsh inside the Violet Cloud Ring. Star Marsh said: “There are two more restrictions inside this cave. The first one binds spiritual power. Do not use spiritual power, and don’t run your cultivation technique. The stronger you are, the tighter it binds. Keep going forward and you’ll leave the binding range.”

Ye Wan Wan obeyed. In under ten minutes, she left the binding force behind. But three paths opened ahead.

“Which way?” she asked.

Sitting on a tree, Star Marsh looked at the three-way fork and said: “Pick any. The old man who owned this secret realm liked treasure-hunt games. Each path ends with some treasure. Even if you don’t find the Woodfire Spirit, there will be other things.”

“But I want them all,” Ye Wan Wan said.

“Greedy,” Star Marsh muttered.

Ye Wan Wan picked a path at once and said, matter-of-fact: “Greed is human nature. I’m already here. Why should I leave anything for anyone else?”

With limited time, she would not waste it choosing. While she talked with Star Marsh, she had already dashed down the first path. She reached the end smoothly. A stone chamber waited there. The door still had a restriction.

“This again,” Star Marsh said. “It’s a four-layer restriction. If you want to break it, you might need an hour or two. By then that brat will catch up.”

“I won’t need that long,” Ye Wan Wan said.

She took a talisman from her Storage Pouch.

Star Marsh went quiet. It didn’t know much about talisman arts, but it recognized the character for explosion.

Ye Wan Wan pressed the talisman on the door, pushed in spiritual energy, and the paper shone bright. She turned and ran.

Star Marsh’s voice shook as it cried: “You’re using an Explosion Talisman on a four-layer restriction? That’s like smashing an egg into a boulder. The restriction won’t break. Your force will trigger its strongest power.”

“I know,” Ye Wan Wan said.

“?” Star Marsh choked, but there was no time to say more.

Boom!

A huge blast thundered down the first path. The whole Cloud Mountain Cave shook, and even the cliff outside trembled. Everyone was stunned. Ji Chang Huai’s face changed as he shouted, “What is she doing!”

Star Marsh stared, dumbfounded, as the girl stepped out from a hollow in the wall where she had been hiding. Ye Wan Wan looked at the blown-open stone door and at the runes still moving on it. The door had opened, but the restriction remained.

“I can’t go in, but you can,” Ye Wan Wan said.

Star Marsh froze. !!!

Pointing at the doorway, Ye Wan Wan said, calm and firm: “It’s open. Go.”

Star Marsh howled: “Who said I can do that? I never said that.”

Ye Wan Wan picked up a stone and said, mild as ever: “If a tree can run, a stone can run too.”

Star Marsh fell silent.

Ye Wan Wan smiled and asked: “Ready?”

“…” The palm-sized black stone sprouted two legs. Its little face was angry and wronged as it grumbled: “I am a noble secret realm Parasitic Spirit…”

Ye Wan Wan pointed at the stone door and said: “Buy us time.”

Star Marsh had no choice. “Throw me in. Make it quick.”

“Okay,” Ye Wan Wan said.

She lifted the stone and tossed it through the gap into the room. The restriction reacted only to living beings, but whether it would show killing intent toward a Parasitic Spirit like Star Marsh, Ye Wan Wan didn’t know. Still, it was safer to risk Star Marsh than herself.

She threw the stone cleanly through the opening and into the stone chamber.

“Are you in?” Ye Wan Wan asked.

Star Marsh’s voice rose with joy: “I’m in. This is the old man’s treasure room. You picked the right path.”

She had found the treasure room on the first try. Ye Wan Wan lowered her voice and asked: “Is there a Woodfire Spirit?”

“Woodfire Spirit isn’t that rare,” Star Marsh muttered. “What do you need it for?”

“Find it,” Ye Wan Wan said, leaving no room for refusal.