As soon as the three of them entered the treasury, they found that just as Nan Mingzi had said, every single treasure was sealed inside a glazed treasure case, floating in midair.
Xue Mingzhao curiously poked the nearest one. The case wobbled, and a line of small characters appeared on its glazed surface:
Dragon Bone Fragment: Grind into medicine to repair old injuries to the meridians.
Oh, it actually came with its own instruction manual. How thoughtful.
Suddenly, the trio's attention was drawn to several cases ahead that were covered with light-concealing cloths.
Xue Mingzhao leaned in and lifted a corner—
“Holy crap!”
A blinding white light suddenly erupted, nearly searing her eyeballs.
She hurriedly covered it back up with the light-concealing cloth, grumbling in her heart. No wonder they had covered it with a cloth. Was this a treasure or a flashbang?
Shen Chaoyue spoke up, “It is likely a treasure of the magic treasure rank.”
Xue Mingzhao nodded. “Senior Sister, you go ahead and choose first. We'll look around elsewhere.”
She didn't want to get too close to the female lead.
Shen Chaoyue had sharp intuition. If she noticed anything unusual, the consequences would be endless.
To her surprise, after hearing this, Shen Chaoyue actually took the initiative to follow her, her tone incredibly sincere:
“Junior Sister Lin, thanks to you in the inner demon illusion yesterday, otherwise I wouldn't have known how long I would be trapped.”
She smiled faintly and extended an invitation. “I know of a spiritual stream with quite lovely scenery. Shall we go for a walk there together another day? It would be a good chance to chat in our spare time.”
Xue Mingzhao put on a polite smile. “I am truly sorry, Senior Sister. I've just contracted a divine beast and need to go back and bond with it properly. I don't have any time to go out today.”
A trace of darkness flickered deep in Shen Chaoyue's eyes, but she smiled calmly. “It was thoughtless of me. The divine beast is indeed more important. In that case, I won't disturb you, Junior Sister. We shall gather another day.”
With that, she turned and walked in another direction.
Xue Mingzhao: “...”
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
In the original book, Shen Chaoyue was a cold, aloof flower of the high peaks who cared about nothing but cultivation.
Even if she wanted to express her gratitude, she would at most give some spirit stones or pills. When would she ever actively invite someone to stroll along a spiritual stream?
She shook her head, tossing the stray thoughts aside.
One shichen was extremely precious; choosing a treasure was the priority!
She stepped forward and began to examine the glazed treasure cases floating all over the air one by one.
Mountains and Rivers Map: Injecting spiritual energy will project a faint light of ancient lands, marking the former locations of spirit veins.
A cultivation world version of a treasure map? Sounds decent, but when exactly do these 'former locations' date back to? Surely not tens of millions of years ago?
Xue Mingzhao skipped it directly. With her constitution, she had no use for it.
Meteoric Profound Iron: A material for forging supreme-grade magic tools, with an extremely high melting point.
No use for it for now. Pass.
Nine-Revolution Golden Pill: Temporarily boosts one's cultivation by a whole major realm upon consumption, but damages the foundation.
The side effects are too severe. Pass.
Dust-Avoiding Bead: Once worn, no dust will settle within three feet of the body, and it can ward off toxic mists and poisonous smoke.
Quite practical, but choosing this would be too much of a loss.
After looking at several in a row, Xue Mingzhao was not very satisfied.
Just then, a covered glazed treasure case floated over to her.
This case was particularly different; a layer of red light faintly leaked out from beneath the cloth.
Xue Mingzhao's eyes lit up. “A red drop?!”
She carefully lifted a corner—
A red light shot out with a whoosh, even more dazzling than the glaring white light from earlier.
Xue Mingzhao covered her eyes and squinted for a long while before she could barely make out the annotation next to it:
Sumeru Cocoon: Wraps itself around the user in times of danger, capable of blocking Tribulation Transcendence. Can be used three times. Below Tribulation Transcendence, it can block heavenly tribulation, limited to one use.
It could block three full-strength strikes from a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator.
And it could even block heavenly tribulation below the Tribulation Transcendence realm!
“What a treasure!”
In the future, when Master charged into the Mahayana realm, this would come in perfectly handy!
Just as she raised her finger, preparing to condense a drop of essence blood—
“Wait!”
Hearing this voice, Xue Mingzhao felt her heart sink.
But since the voice was right behind her, she couldn't pretend she hadn't heard it. She could only steel herself, turn around, and squeeze out a smile.
“Senior Sister, is something the matter?”
Shen Chaoyue took a step forward, her tone exceptionally calm:
“This treasure shares a mental connection with me. I wonder if Junior Sister could let me try contracting it first?”
Xue Mingzhao: “...”
Do you even hear what you're saying?
A mental connection?
If you call its name, will it answer?
“Senior Sister, I took a liking to this first.”
Without a word, Shen Chaoyue took another step forward and directly grabbed Xue Mingzhao's wrist.
Xue Mingzhao's heart tightened. My goodness, she's actually using all her strength just for a treasure she might not even be able to contract with?
When testing her spiritual roots, she had disguised herself as a beginner with triple spiritual roots who had only just achieved drawing Qi into the body. If she struggled, her cover would be blown instantly.
The scene fell into a tense standstill.
Xue Mingzhao said softly, “Senior Sister Shen, this isn't very appropriate, is it?”
“Shen Chaoyue! What are you doing?!”
Su Ye rushed over just in time, shielding Xue Mingzhao. “My junior sister saw this first!”
To their surprise, Shen Chaoyue ignored him entirely. Her other hand directly condensed a drop of essence blood, which she pressed onto the glazed case—
A flash of white light flared.
The contract was sealed.
Xue Mingzhao: ???
Su Ye: ???
Shen Chaoyue put away the Sumeru Cocoon. Her face showed an apologetic expression, but her tone was not flustered in the slightest:
“Junior Sister Lin, I am sorry, but I really need this. I will definitely compensate you another day.”
Having said that, she walked out of the treasury without looking back.
Behind her, Su Ye stomped his feet in fury. “Shameless! Utterly shameless! Is this the character of the Sect Master's personal disciple? You even saved her yesterday, and she treats you like this today!”
After cursing for a long while, he turned back to see Xue Mingzhao standing still, seemingly lost in thought.
“Junior Sister? Don't be angry. Let's go out later and have the Sect Master set things right!”
Xue Mingzhao waved her hand. “Senior Brother, let's hurry and choose our treasures first. We can talk about this once we're outside.”
She wasn't angry at all; she was just bewildered.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
The plot seemed to have completely deviated from its original path.
This Shen Chaoyue was practically a different person compared to how she was written in the original book.
The female lead in the original book was noble and self-disciplined; she would have disdained to do something like snatching another's treasure.
Why did she seem like a completely different person now?
...Could she have been soul-snatched?
Forget it, no use thinking about it. Time to choose a treasure! The one shichen limit was almost up!
She continued walking further inside. After only a few steps, an even redder glazed treasure case floated over.
The red light it emitted was even more blazing than that of the Sumeru Cocoon from before. The cloth on the case could barely block the glow.
Xue Mingzhao: “...”
No way? There's an even redder one?
She covered her eyes and lifted the cloth—
With a whoosh, red light erupted from beneath the cloth, more than ten times brighter than the light of the Sumeru Cocoon just now.
Xue Mingzhao was pierced by the red light and instantly squinted, her eyes almost tearing up. She could only block the light with her hand, peering through the gaps of her fingers. It took quite a while before she could barely read the words on the case.
Haven-Burning Bead: Once this bead appears in the world, it shall burn the heavens and destroy the earth.
Upon activation, a domain spreads outward with the precious bead as its center. Within the domain, all things will be burned to ashes, returning to nothingness.
Xue Mingzhao's eyes suddenly widened, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl upward.
This thing...
...was the ultimate divine tool for destroying corpses and wiping out traces!
“You'll do!”
Without another word, Xue Mingzhao condensed a drop of essence blood on her fingertip and pressed it down.
She still felt a little nervous in her heart—she didn't know if she could contract such an incredible treasure.
The red light suddenly surged, enveloping her entire body in an instant.
Hearing the commotion, Su Ye turned his head in the distance. Pierced by the blazing red light, he found it hard to open his eyes and quickly raised his hand to block it, shouting loudly:
“Junior Sister! What on earth did you pull out this time?!”
Rate on N.U.
