Qian Ziyan kept his gaze fixed on Toothless until he noticed the increasingly intense heat emanating from him. He then reminded, “These two spirit beasts are your contracted spirit beasts. If you let them stay together any longer, the white one is likely to be burned by fire.”
“Huh?” Mu Sheng, who was idle, perked up at his words and even leaned in to take a closer look. Little White and Toothless both had their eyes tightly shut, and even the way they rested their heads on their forelimbs was identical. “Little White and Toothless still have such a good relationship.”
He remembered how Little White used to clumsily follow behind Toothless when it was young, and how Toothless would even share its favorite chew stick with it. They joked that it was Toothless’s new little brother…
But in the blink of an eye, two or three years had passed, and both Little White and Toothless had grown into huge creatures, no longer as cute as they were when they were small.
Hearing her uncle’s reminder, Qian Wanyu withdrew her hand from Ninth Sister’s waist and softly called out, “Little White?”
Little White remained motionless, as if it hadn’t heard her at all.
“Seventh sister, what’s wrong?”
Dongfang Minghui guessed that Toothless must have entered the Dragon Clan’s secret training ground, but surely it wouldn’t have taken Little White with it?
Qian Wanyu had no choice but to forcibly recall Little White back to the soul sea. Even such a big commotion failed to rouse Little White. Qing Mo checked on Little White in the soul sea and found that it was losing a lot of fur on its left side. “What have you done? You didn’t even notice your contracted spirit beast had fainted?”
“How is Little White?” Qian Wanyu felt she had neglected her duty. She had just been enjoying a rare moment of leisure chatting with Ninth Sister. When they first entered the cave, Little White was fine. Seeing it wanted to play with Toothless, she let it chase after Toothless. She didn’t expect something to go wrong in such a short time.
“I’ve checked, and Little White is all right, except for the hair loss on half of its body. There’s no other major issue.” Qing Mo found it strange. When they entered the cave, they had already checked it thoroughly. It was very clean, with nothing but some prey’s fur. “Could it be Toothless?”
When Dongfang Minghui reached out to touch Toothless, she was suddenly pulled back by Little Chubby, causing her to fall backward. A flame burst forth from the fiery red gem on Toothless’s forehead, and she was pinned down by Little Chubby.
Seeing something was amiss, Qian Wanyu kicked Mu Sheng to the ground and pressed down Myron’s head as well, allowing the flames to pass over their heads, burning a few strands of hair clean off without leaving any residue.
“The flames inside Toothless’s body are leaking out.” Qing Mo quickly realized why Little White had lost so much fur earlier. It was probably too close to Toothless, whose body was now absolutely immobile.
Dongfang Minghui watched as most of the cave was engulfed by Toothless’s flames. They were like fish on a chopping board, and the flames were growing more intense, destructive, and overwhelming. She tried to move and felt as if a large rock was pressing on her chest, rendering her immobile.
“Toothless—”
Little Chubby held her tightly with its hands and feet, like an octopus, and it was even heavier than a rock. “Little Chubby, let go, I need to wake Toothless up.”
Little Chubby pressed down on her even harder, preventing her from moving. Dongfang Minghui was both angry and anxious. “Toothless, wake up!”
Mu Sheng, who had been kicked without warning, realized the situation when he saw the layer of fiery red flames approaching them. The scorching heat hit them, as if any movement would cause them to be completely devoured by the flames. He swallowed nervously. “Uncle, what’s going on?”
“Don’t move.”
The zither behind Qian Ziyan had been untied and lay quietly on the ground. He removed one hand from Myron’s neck and opened the box, placing the instrument on his lap, “Nobody move rashly, this is the Dragon Clan’s Heavenly Fire, a slight mishap could lead to soul dispersion.”
A bead of sweat trickled down Mu Sheng’s forehead, sliding down his cheek. He even smelled something burning and after a long while, he shakily said, “Soul dispersion?”
Qian Wanyu was the furthest from them, near the cave entrance. She lay half-prostrate on the ground, her hand caressing the handle of her Water Thunder Whip a couple of times.
“Don’t use your whip. The collision of lightning and fire could very well collapse this cave,” Qing Mo warned solemnly, finding the current situation both amusing and frustrating, “You need to find a way to get Toothless out.”
“Ninth Sister, what’s the situation with Toothless?”
“It—” Dongfang Minghui was the closest to Toothless, but pinned down by Little Chubby, she could only lie there, watching the menacing flames floating in mid-air, as if they would swoop down any second and engulf them all, “Toothless is currently unconscious.”
For a moment, everyone was frozen, maintaining their respective postures.
“Unconscious???” Mu Sheng was almost ready to kneel; such terrifying flames were spilling out without consciousness, what if it was conscious?
“I’ll try to see if I can wake Toothless,” Dongfang Minghui said bravely, inching closer to Toothless. The closer she got, the more intense the scorching heat felt, like a fireball ablaze, burning everything around it.
“Don’t go over there,” Qian Wanyu warned in a low voice. Seeing Ninth Sister still determined to approach, she helplessly lashed out with her Water Thunder Whip, wrapping it around the other’s ankle and pulling her halfway towards herself.
“Why not let Ninth Sister try?” Qing Mo was visibly stressed.
“Toothless is unconscious right now, what if Ninth Sister gets burned by the flames?” No one knew what would happen next. The Dragon Clan’s flames were so domineering, and considering Ninth Sister was from the Wanshou Clan, with half of her bloodline from the plant kingdom, “It’s too risky.”
“These flames will last at most three hours. If you can’t find a solution within three hours, everyone in this cave will be completely devoured by the fire.” The temperature inside the cave was rising, and the places previously wet by rain were evaporated by the heat.
Everyone was in dire straits.
A wave of undulating music slowly began to resonate within the cave.
Qian Ziyan placed the zither horizontally across his legs, fingers lightly plucking the strings, sending wave after wave of music echoing through the cave.
Dongfang Minghui was dragged by Qian Wanyu by one leg to her side. Qian Wanyu, with a flick of her spirit-infused fingers, unceremoniously flicked Little Chubby off Ninth Sister. Little Chubby rolled on the ground, butt in the air, inching its way out of the cave.
“Seventh sister, let’s follow Little Chubby’s example.”
Qian Wanyu watched Ninth Sister crawling on the ground with her hands, finding it hard to watch, but had to admit it was the best method at the moment.
The faint sound of the zither echoed in the cave, and the flames floating in mid-air began to flow back and forth with the music, now calm, now tumultuous. Every time Mu Sheng felt the flames were about to scorch his scalp, they suddenly dispersed. He was so frightened that he didn’t dare to open his eyes.
“Mu Sheng, follow me out.” Qian Ziyan lifted his foot and kicked him again.
“Okay.” Mu Sheng crawled out for a meter, then stopped and looked back worriedly, “Uncle, do you want to crawl with us?”
Qian Ziyan looked down at him from his elevated position, “Take this person out.”
“Alright.” Mu Sheng crawled back and dragged the already terrified Myron with him, “Don’t look up, just keep crawling forward, the cave entrance is right there, see it?”
“I see it, I see it.” Myron’s limbs were trembling, but he still tried his best to crawl forward.
After everyone had left, Qian Ziyan finally held the zither in his arms, a faint pale blue spiritual power enveloping the instrument. The sound of the zither was no longer as calm as before, becoming more and more intense.
The group had finally found a cave to take shelter from the rain, but they still couldn’t escape the fate of getting drenched outside the cave. Qian Wanyu and the other two quickly activated their spiritual power and created a waterproof barrier around themselves, causing the rain to slide off them and onto the ground. As for Myron, he was thoroughly soaked, and Mu Sheng even gave him a piece of clothing to shield himself from the fierce rain.
“What should we do, Wanyu? Uncle is still inside.”
“And Toothless.”
The flames in the cave fluctuated with the harp music, sometimes slow, sometimes fast. Those outside could only see a fiery glow within the cave, but as for Toothless and Qian Ziyan’s actual situation, they couldn’t see anything, only judging by the sound of the zither and the light of the flames.
“Seventh sister.”
The zither music inside became more urgent, and the flames reflected from the cave trembled, the standoff continuing. Dongfang Minghui listened to the urgent zither music with various worries.
Qian Wanyu looked at the cold hand on her wrist, which should have been steamed by the flames in the cave just now, but was still icy cold, “Don’t worry, if uncle let us leave first, he must be confident in getting out safely.”
“But Toothless—”
“If Toothless can wake up in time and take back the flames, he will definitely be fine,” Qian Wanyu said, trying to reassure her.
Dongfang Minghui knew that whether Toothless’s consciousness could return from the hidden land in time was a problem. It was fine for it to cause trouble on normal days, but now the flames were spreading from within itself, “I’m worried that Toothless might encounter some problems during cultivation.”
Mu Sheng quickly comforted her, “Toothless is so spirited, there definitely won’t be any problems.”
But in the blink of an eye, the zither music abruptly stopped, and flames burst forth from the cave. Qian Wanyu pulled the two of them back quickly, just as a fire dragon shot past them, accompanied by a deafening dragon’s roar. Then, the cave collapsed with a thunderous rumble.
A streak of silver light flashed across the sky, and for a moment, everyone was unsure whether the rumbling sound came from the cave’s collapse or the thunder and lightning that streaked across the sky.
All three of them were stunned. Myron had already moved far away from the cave, yet the sight of the fire dragon bursting forth from the cave still scared him so much that his legs gave way and he collapsed to the ground. His gaze followed the fire dragon as it soared into the night sky, circling twice before flying off into the distance.
“Toothless.”
“That fire dragon just now might not have been Toothless. We should go check on Uncle first.”
Dongfang Minghui still felt that it was indeed Toothless. Its appearance might have changed, but the dragon’s roar was unmistakable. However, looking at the blocked cave entrance, she said, “Right, Uncle is still inside.”
Qian Wanyu withdrew the spiritual power from her body, allowing the rain to soak her hair and clothes. “Everyone, step back a bit.”
Mu Sheng quickly pulled Dongfang Minghui back, and seeing Myron still craning his neck, looking at something, he kindly reminded him, “Take cover under the tree, be careful of lightning strikes.”
Startled, Myron quickly moved away from the tree. He pointed to the spot in the sky where the fire dragon had disappeared, “What was that just now?”
Dongfang Minghui sighed heavily, not in the mood to deal with him, and simply stared at Qian Wanyu in silence. Mu Sheng didn’t know what to say either and just said, “It was nothing, you’re probably seeing things.”
Myron was speechless, as if to say, are you kidding me?
But no one paid him any more attention.
Qian Wanyu’s body was surrounded by a pale yellow spiritual power, which caused the soil to automatically part wherever it went. The cave entrance, blocked by dirt and rocks, was soon cleared and saw daylight once again. Just as she was about to continue clearing the debris, a tall figure slowly emerged from the cave entrance.
Qian Ziyan was emanating a faint blue aura of spiritual power, with the large box still on his back. There were a few scorch marks on his hair and clothes, but he seemed to be alright. The rain slid off his head to either side as it fell.
“Uncle, are you alright?”
“Of course, I’m fine.” Qian Ziyan’s eyes, which had lost their luster, lingered on everyone before finally settling on Dongfang Minghui, and he said, “Your spirit beast has flown away.”
Dongfang Minghui felt a tightness in her chest; Toothless had actually just left like that.
“Toothless flew away?” Mu Sheng was also a bit stunned. Seeing everyone’s low spirits, he laughed awkwardly, “It will definitely fly back.”
“Toothless must have been unable to control itself during cultivation. It’s actually good that it flew away like this. Once it learns to control the flames, it will naturally return,” Qian Wanyu said, trying to comfort Ninth Sister.
They had originally sought shelter from the rain, but the incident with Toothless had occurred. The shelter they had found was now half-collapsed and the other half was precarious. No one was in the mood to return to the dangerous cave.
After a brief discussion, they decided to continue walking in the heavy rain.
Dongfang Minghui and the others could still use their spiritual power to fend off the rain, even Little Chubby wasn’t touched by the rainwater. Myron was the most miserable; even with a piece of clothing for cover, he couldn’t stop the torrential downpour and was helpless to do anything about it.
Fortunately, by dawn, the rain had lessened, and the sky gradually cleared up.
Dongfang Minghui stood still, looking up at the sky, seemingly fixated on something in the distance, while Little Chubby was circling a tree not far from her, playing by itself.
“Worried about Toothless?”
“Mhm.” Dongfang Minghui turned to see Seventh sister standing behind her and candidly replied, “Toothless has never left my side since it was little, except for that time in the Dragon Valley. I don’t know how it got trapped by that Senior in the deep pool, but at least I could see it. Now that it has flown away, I have no idea where it might go or if it will encounter someone more formidable than itself.”
Like a worried mother, Dongfang Minghui’s mind filtered through all sorts of possibilities. In her eyes, Toothless was a little child that had never left her side and had yet to grow up.
Qian Wanyu found her worries somewhat amusing and flicked her forehead gently, “Don’t think nonsense. Toothless’s combat power is no less than anyone present here. Besides, have you forgotten how Little White came to us?”
As a child, she had lured it back with a teething stick, and now that it had grown up, with formidable combat power, who would dare to approach it, unless they wished for a shorter life?
“That seems true.” Dongfang Minghui felt a bit amused after Seventh sister’s enlightenment, “Seventh sister, how is Little White doing?”
“It’s awake, nothing’s wrong.” Qian Wanyu didn’t want to admit that her spiritual beast initially slept on Toothless because of its warmth and almost got burned by the heat while sleeping, unable to wake up from such a foolish incident. How could she admit that her own spiritual beast had done such a stupid thing?
Little Chubby beside Ninth Sister was much smarter than it.
Little White lay in the Sea of Souls, letting Qing Mo scold it. Knowing that Toothless had flown away, it felt very depressed and let out a couple of mournful howls, becoming even more listless.
Dongfang Minghui wanted to show more concern, but seeing that Seventh sister clearly didn’t want to talk about it, she turned her attention to Little Chubby, “Seventh sister, don’t you think Little Chubby is strange?” Its weight fluctuates, sometimes light, sometimes heavy, and it can adjust itself automatically.
The reminders from Little Colour echoed in her mind again.
Could it be that Little Chubby was really pretending to be dumb?
Qian Wanyu patted her hand soothingly, “Let’s talk about it when we get to the city.”
“That’s all we can do.”
Myron was quite reliable this time. With her and Mu Sheng taking turns to care for him, he was fine despite being drenched in the rain all night. Afterward, they quickened their pace and arrived at Darray City in four days.
Darray City was a city without a master, with a scattered population. Perhaps influenced by the auction, the crowd had not only concentrated but also gathered many tribes from various places. As soon as they entered the city, they encountered a group of dwarves, about dozens in number, currently being blocked by a group of beastmen from an unknown tribe.
“Seventh sister, it’s the dwarves.”
“Mhm.”
They stopped in their tracks, allowing the two races to argue over the weapons brought by the dwarves for the auction, each claiming to be in the right. Qian Wanyu and Dongfang Minghui could tell that these beastmen had originally made a deal with the dwarves, but because of the upcoming auction, the dwarves planned to sell the crafted weapons there, which led to a dispute over the order of precedence.
“Seventh sister, do you think these beastmen could be from one of the three major tribes?”
As they enjoyed the spectacle, many others gathered around to watch the beastmen and dwarves engage in a war of words, which seemed on the verge of escalating into a fight. However, at that moment, several people barged in, standing between the dwarves and the beastmen.
“The auction will start in a few days, and our Yuntian Pavilion’s young master would like to invite both leaders for a drink.” The person who intervened was clever, immediately invoking the name of Yuntian Pavilion.
Unbeknownst to Dongfang Minghui and Qian Wanyu, during their time of training, Nangong Yuntian had stirred up quite a few incidents. For instance, while the three major tribes were at war, he began to profit from the chaos, earning his first pot of gold from the beastmen tribes, which led to the establishment of Yuntian Pavilion in Darray City.
The dwarves were quite amenable and agreed immediately upon hearing that the young master of Yuntian Pavilion wanted to invite them for a drink. The beastmen, after some discussion, politely declined, “This is—”
“I am Pei Tian, the steward of Yuntian Pavilion.”
“Steward Pei, please convey our thanks to your young master, but we have some unfinished business with the dwarves that needs to be settled. We hope you can understand.”
Qian Wanyu watched Pei Tian with a smile that was not quite a smile. He had only brought five people with him, who seemed hardly a match for the towering beastmen. Dongfang Minghui held her hand and whispered, “Seventh sister, isn’t the young master of Yuntian Pavilion Nangong Yuntian? Why would he leave and come to Darray City in person?”
“He probably forgot about the past between the tribes” she replied, knowing Nangong Yuntian well enough to guess that Darray City was his first battle in the business world and he would likely attend in person, but he seemed to have forgotten the previous conflicts with the other two major tribes, “Let’s just watch and see.”
Pei Tian must have said something to the leader of the beastmen tribe, as the one who was stubbornly wanting to discuss life with the dwarves suddenly changed his tune and followed Pei Tian to Yuntian Pavilion.
Mu Sheng was utterly confused, “I’m really curious about what Pei Tian whispered to that guy just now.”
“Pei Tian said he would give them two more Yuntian Pavilion admission tickets,” Qian Ziyan said seriously.
“Eh?”
Qian Wanyu chuckled, “Admission tickets to Yuntian Pavilion are hard to come by, two tickets… that’s already a huge favor.”
Dongfang Minghui understood Nangong Yuntian’s tactics—scarcity increases value, “Seventh sister, it seems we don’t have tickets to the auction. What should we do next?”
Qian Wanyu’s cool gaze finally settled on Myron, who was listening intently nearby, “We’ve arrived at Darray City, it’s time to send Myron back to his caravan. Let’s go, we’ll head straight to Yuntian Pavilion.”
Myron was stunned, then waved his hands, “I’ve troubled you all for so long, now that we’ve arrived at Darray City, I can go back on my own. I will repay your kindness another day.”
Dongfang Minghui was about to speak when Qian Wanyu decisively interrupted her.
Qian Wanyu nodded slightly, “In that case, we part ways here. If fate allows, we shall meet again.”
Myron greeted each of the four individuals before heading towards the location of the Yuntian Pavilion.
After the person had walked a long distance away, Dongfang Minghui couldn’t help but ask with confusion, “Seventh sister, why don’t we follow him and expose his true face? He has been telling lies all along the way. As soon as we meet Nangong Yuntian, we will know whether this person exists or not.”
Qian Wanyu had been watching Myron walk into the Yuntian Pavilion until his figure disappeared before she came back to her senses, “Let’s wait until we meet Nangong Yuntian before we discuss this.”
The four of them found an inn to stay at, two to a room. The inn was obviously busier than usual. As they passed through the lobby, they saw many unfamiliar faces, mostly humans. After closing the door, Dongfang Minghui said, “Darray City is within the territory of the beast tribes, so why are there so many humans here?”
“It shows the summoning power of the Yuntian Pavilion.” Nangong Yuntian may be a merchant, but he was also a shrewd one. He may occasionally make foolish mistakes, but he has never made a major error when it comes to making money.
“I never noticed that before.”
“Silly.” Qian Wanyu knew that Ninth Sister was thinking off track again, “This is called leveraging.”
Nangong Yuntian, after suffering losses in the beast tribes, wanted to get back at them. He deliberately transferred people from the human tribes to the beast tribes, just to leverage the power of these people to prevent the Hillary Tribe and the Cyril Tribe from acting rashly. Therefore, seeing so many humans in Darray City did not surprise Qian Wanyu at all.
“Little Chubby, I’ll take you to eat something delicious today.” Qian Wanyu suddenly smiled at Little Chubby.
Dongfang Minghui shrank her neck, feeling a chill blowing from behind.
After greeting Qian Ziyan and Mu Sheng, the two of them took Little Chubby and left the inn. The night in Darray City was even more bustling than Yulonh Town. Dongfang Minghui watched the brightly lit streets, bustling with people, and the group of merchants shouting in groups, pulling passersby, whether they were humans or other races, and speaking in the beast tribe language.
“Seventh sister, how do we get in?” The Yuntian Pavilion was guarded by many Spiritual Masters, and it was actually quite difficult to enter. Moreover, with Nangong Yuntian’s character, the auction would be in a couple of days, and he would definitely have heavily guarded the auction items.
“We’ll sneak in, of course.” Qian Wanyu’s eyes twinkled with a smile as she said to Little Chubby, “Whether we can find the auction items this time depends on you. Just make sure you don’t get caught.”
“Seventh sister, you’re letting Little Chubby go find it alone?” Dongfang Minghui wasn’t that she didn’t trust Little Chubby, but looking at those tall and strong beast tribe members guarding the Yuntian Pavilion, she felt that Little Chubby was likely to get caught if he went in.
Little Chubby rolled off Dongfang Minghui’s body and blinked at Qian Wanyu and Dongfang Minghui.
“Find the exact location of the auction items, and you’ll be rewarded with a medicinal plant.” Qian Wanyu took out a brightly colored medicinal plant from her space, which emitted a faint fragrance, clearly of a rather high grade.
“What if this Little Chubby goes in and steals for herself?” Little Colour perked up immediately upon hearing about the auction items, becoming very restless in Dongfang Minghui’s soul sea.
Dongfang Minghui had no choice, “Since you also want to go, go with Little Chubby. It’s better to have someone to watch over.”
Little Colour was left speechless, but as the saying goes, people fight for a breath, and Buddhas fight for a stick of incense. Even if it was a demonic plant, it had to compete. It didn’t believe it would lose to this fatty, “Alright, if I find the auction items first, that medicinal plant is mine.”
Dongfang Minghui conveyed Little Colour’s thoughts to Qian Wanyu, who thought it was a good idea. Having a competition made the game more interesting.
Little Chubby saw Little Colour bouncing out from Dongfang Minghui’s soul sea, transforming into a doll about her size. Spotting the vine swaying above her head, she instinctively reached out to pull it.
And then…
The two started fighting right there on the main road.
“Let go of me,” Little Colour demanded, her face flushed with anger. Unlike Little Chubby, Little Colour’s skin was snow-white and tender, while Little Chubby had turned yellow, a color she somehow couldn’t change back to, no matter how much she washed.
It made her easy to recognize.
Dongfang Minghui rubbed her forehead, feeling as if she had accidentally stumbled into a kindergarten. She said coolly, “After tonight, the medicinal plants chip in Seventh sister’s hand will be void. If you don’t go looking for it today—”
Before she could finish…
Little Colour kicked Little Chubby in the stomach and rolled away towards Yuntian Pavilion. Running, Little Colour transformed into a vine and whooshed past the guards, slipping inside.
Little Chubby came to a screeching halt outside the gates of Yuntian Pavilion, looking back and forth.
Dongfang Minghui and Qian Wanyu just stood there watching her, “Could it be that Little Chubby was scared silly by Little Colour’s kick just now?”
“Let’s wait patiently,” Qian Wanyu said, carefully watching Little Chubby, curious to see what she would do. Sure enough, moments later, Little Chubby turned into a drab little mouse and zipped into Yuntian Pavilion, finding a hole to squeeze through.
Dongfang Minghui’s jaw almost hit the floor in shock. She nervously grabbed Qian Wanyu’s hand, “Seventh sister, Seventh sister, that’s not little bean sprout, is it? We’re doomed, Little Chubby isn’t little bean sprout, then where did the little bean sprout go?!”
“I didn’t expect your little test to reveal so much,” Qing Mo said with schadenfreude. “Have you thought about how you’re going to explain this to your Ninth Sister?”
Qian Wanyu’s expression shifted slightly as she pulled Dongfang Minghui aside, “Ninth Sister, don’t worry, actually Little Chubby is in fact little bean sprout.”
“Seventh sister, don’t mess with me, how could little bean sprout turn into a mouse? Could it be that plants can transform into all sorts of things?” Dongfang Minghui said, unable to convince herself, because Little Colour could only switch between the vines and her true form at most.
Watching Little Chubby turn into a mouse in an instant… Dongfang Minghui felt like her world was collapsing.
“Listen to me, do you remember the furnace we saw in the Gold-Devouring Rat’s den?” Qian Wanyu looked into her eyes earnestly, finding it hard to continue, “Long before, when the little bean sprout’s bud split into two, one of them might have been tampered with by the bloodthirsty rat in the Soul Refining Furnace. That’s why it’s not unreasonable for little bean sprout to be able to transform into a mouse.”
Dongfang Minghui was completely dumbfounded, and after a long while, she said, “So that’s how it is…”
She had known something was off with little bean sprout for a while; the old trees of the Ghost Face Tree clan wouldn’t just be talking nonsense. The mutation of the little bean sprout had happened over those few days, and after thinking it through, it all made sense.
But her heart still struggled to accept it.
“Ninth Sister.”
“Mm?”
Qian Wanyu felt somewhat guilty. Initially, she had been hesitant to speak because she saw how much her sister doted on the little sprout. Now that she had opened the topic, she was at a loss on how to clarify the situation. The little sprout had two flower buds in total; one of them had been refined by the Gold-Devouring Rat on the Soul Refining Furnace, but the other bud should be the crystallization of the Ghost-Faced Tree.
Seeing Seventh Sister struggling to speak, Dongfang Minghui said pitifully, “Seventh Sister, could it be that the other flower bud and the Tianyin Helmet were swallowed by the Gold-Devouring Rat?”
The possibility made Dongfang Minghui feel so upset that she didn’t even know where to go to cry.
“Judging by that Little Chubby’s indifference to meat and greens, your Ninth Sister might have hit the nail on the head,” Qing Mo concluded in the soul sea.
“Don’t be sad,” Qian Wanyu didn’t know how to comfort her. The Tianyin Helmet was gone, and instead of letting Ninth Sister keep worrying about this and that, it might be better to let her give up hope, so she wouldn’t keep dwelling on it.
If Toothless disappeared, it could fly back again.
But how could the Tianyin Helmet come back?
Dongfang Minghui looked resentfully at the Yuntian Pavilion and collected her thoughts, “Seventh Sister, didn’t we agree to go to the Yuntian Pavilion? Little Colour and the Little Chubby have been in there for so long, they might be in danger, right?”
Look—
In no time at all, she was worrying about the safety of others again.
“You’re not blaming Little Chubby for eating the Tianyin Helmet?” Qian Wanyu tentatively asked.
“Maybe Little Chubby didn’t eat it. She can’t speak now, but when she can, I’ll ask her properly.” Dongfang Minghui subconsciously still favored the little creature, after all, it was nurtured by her own blood. To be fair, Little Chubby had saved her twice as well.
“Mm.” Qian Wanyu didn’t have much else to say. After all, the situation was almost set in stone. The disappearance of the Yuntian Helmet was so mysterious that it wasn’t impossible according to Qing Mo’s speculation. However, Little Chubby was very cunning, and it would be difficult for Ninth Sister to get any information out of it. For now, let Ninth Sister hold on to her beautiful expectations.
“Seventh Sister, the Yuntian Pavilion is guarded by numerous Spiritual Masters, how do we get in?”
“Just like this.”
Qian Wanyu found a spot with fewer guards, leaped up from the wall, knocked out the guards in the side hall, and then pulled Dongfang Minghui inside, “The guards in the Yuntian Pavilion are not many, which is strange. We’ll have to adapt as the situation unfolds.”
“Okay.” Dongfang Minghui spoke in the soul sea, “Little Colour, have you found the auction items?”
The Yuntian Pavilion was neither too big nor too small. Little Colour had transformed into vine tendrils, and taking advantage of the night, it had infiltrated many places. Although there were treasures on display, none caught its eye, and if even it wasn’t interested, they were unlikely to be considered auction items.
Dongfang Minghui found it a bit strange after hearing this, “Seventh sister, do you think besides us, there might be others eyeing the auction items?”
Knowing that the two major tribes were waiting to see him embarrassed, why would Nangong Yuntian keep the auction items in the Yuntian Pavilion?
“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Qian Wanyu was quite calm, checking each room one by one, and soon found the collection that Little Colour had seen before, which were some rare medicinal plants and scrolls, “Pick any medicinal plants you like, to save us the trouble of looking everywhere.”
“Hehe.” Dongfang Minghui couldn’t stop giggling, wondering what Nangong Yuntian’s face would look like if he ever found out they had sneaked into Yuntian Pavilion and taken his things, “Then I won’t be polite.”
Dongfang Minghui took some medicinal plants that looked to be of good quality, but left the other items untouched.
“Who’s there?”
“Someone is attacking Yuntian Pavilion at night!”
Just as Qian Wanyu was examining the items one by one, the voices of the guards suddenly rang out from outside, clearly someone had been caught. Dongfang Minghui was slightly nervous, “Could it be Little Colour and the others?”
Qian Wanyu stood outside the room quietly for a few moments, then moved to the window and waited a bit longer before quietly opening it. Through the window, she could vaguely see several shadows fighting with the guards. Their tall figures and the way they transformed into beasts revealed that they were from the beast tribes. With their help, Nangong Yuntian had formed an alliance with the Cass tribe, so the real identities of these beast tribe members breaking into Yuntian Pavilion were obvious without any need for guessing.
“It seems Nangong Yuntian is indeed on guard.”
“He’s not stupid.” Dongfang Minghui said and then felt silly for stating the obvious, “If Yuntian Pavilion is guarded, it’s possible that Nangong Yuntian never stored the auction items here in the first place. In that case, Little Colour and Fatty would not be able to find the auction items even if they turned Yuntian Pavilion upside down, right?”
Qian Wanyu shushed her, looking down at the brightly lit area below, not knowing where Nangong Yuntian had summoned these people from, but they swiftly dealt with the intruders.
“It would be better for you two to come out, to avoid any unpleasantness. Don’t blame us at Yuntian Pavilion for not being hospitable.” That was the voice they had heard earlier in the day, belonging to Pei Tian, the manager of Yuntian Pavilion who had been mediating the conflict between the dwarf and beast tribes.
Dongfang Minghui was dumbfounded; had they been caught without actually doing anything?
Qian Wanyu grabbed Ninth Sister’s wrist, and they waited quietly for a few more moments.
“If you two are not willing to show yourselves, then don’t blame us for being impolite.” After Pei Tian finished speaking, he gave a low command.
Rows of archers were ready in the courtyard below, and the rooftop and floors above were heavily surrounded by people, all targeting the room they were in.
At this moment, Dongfang Minghui wished she had the ability to transform like Little Colour and Fatty, to become something so small it was invisible to the naked eye and sneak out of the room.
But, obviously, that was unrealistic.
“Seventh sister, we’re completely exposed now,” Dongfang Minghui moved her lips to speak.
Qian Wanyu gazed at her affectionately, cradling her face in one hand, her thumb gently caressing her lower lip, “Be good, don’t be afraid.”
Dongfang Minghui’s face flushed red, who’s afraid? Really.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—