Chapter 508: Chapter 378: Nine Jade Carvings of Xingxiu Cave
"Hey, who talks like that? Thinking you’re something special just because you’re a Princess, casting death curses willy-nilly." Both Lan Cai’er and Little Zhiyo were displeased.
The former objected to talk of living or dying.
The latter wasn’t happy about being called a mongrel dog.
"There’s no need, five is enough. Victory relies on brains, not numbers." Feng Xun smiled amicably, his beauty practically blinding everyone present.
Yet, upon closer consideration, something seemed off.
This guy was plainly insulting the intelligence of the other delegations in disguise!
"..."
The members of the Beiqing Delegation were fuming but dared not speak out, only staring in frustration; Lan Cai’er instantly admired Feng Xun, praising his skill of insulting people without using any dirty language.
"Everyone has arrived. If so, we can depart for the Xingxiu Cave."
The gentle female voice sounded like sweet rain, instantly quieting everyone present.
Alchemist Wei and Xue Pianran emerged.
Upon seeing Feng Xun, Xue Pianran’s eyes flickered.
"Xingxiu Cave is located on Dan Palace Star Cliff. Everyone, please follow this old man and the Heavenly Maiden to Xingxiu Cave," said Alchemist Wei. With a wave of his hand, an Alchemy Beast appeared and swiftly transformed into a realistic eagle-hawk.
Xue Pianran also performed a magic seal with her fingers, conjuring a swan with pure white feathers in front of her.
Other delegations also brought out their respective Alchemy Beasts.
Even Xiahou Qi and the others materialized a serpentine Alchemy Beast, which looked remarkably similar to Little Jiao No. 2.
Need an Alchemy Beast?
Ye Lingyue was slightly startled.
"Ling Yue, didn’t you get an early notification that we need to prepare a flying Alchemy Beast to travel to Xingxiu Cave?" Feng Xue and others asked in a whisper when they saw Ye Lingyue’s inaction.
Indeed, no one had reminded her.
Ye Lingyue saw Xue Pianran mount the swan and take the lead soaring into the sky, as well as the scornful looks from Princess Qing Bi and the others, and scoffed at herself in her heart.
She herself could use Star Saliva, but right now there were five people...
"Boss, I want to give you a gift," said Little Wuya with an awkward tone, seeing the difficult expression on Ye Lingyue’s face.
Without waiting for Ye Lingyue to respond, Little Wuya spat out a breath of Phoenix Auspicious Breath into Ye Lingyue’s hands.
The warm breath landed in Ye Lingyue’s hands and turned into a beautiful Five-colored Feather.
"This is a Phoenix Feather. It’s the first Five-colored Phoenix Feather that grew on my body after I ingested the blood of the Fire Bathed Ancient Phoenix. From now on, it’s yours, Boss. If you channel your spiritual power into this feather, you can use it to fly," Little Wuya said, batting her pretty big eyes.
She despised those people, looking down on her Boss.
What’s so great about those talisman-crafted Alchemy Beasts? Her boss was in possession of the unique Illusion Phoenix Feather in the world.
Ye Lingyue was still inclined to refuse, but seeing Little Wuya’s face full of anticipation, her heart softened.
Infusing spiritual power into the Colorful Phoenix, the colorful feathers swiftly expanded, eventually forming into a gigantic feather capable of accommodating around ten people, before she finally relented.
Five individuals mounted the Phoenix Feather, and as their feet felt lighter, the Phoenix Feather soared into the sky, indeed several times faster than the speed of the Star Saliva.
The ones that set out last, Ye Lingyue and her group, rapidly overtook the others because of the Phoenix Feather.
When Xue Pianran and the members of the Beiqing Delegation, who originally planned to gloat over their misfortune, saw the Phoenix Feather beneath Ye Lingyue and others, every single one of them had quite the colorful expression on their faces.
After flying for eight hours, a solitary peak appeared in front of them, surrounded by steep cliffs, a place of natural peril.
Atop the solitary peak, there was a large cave-opening which resembled the mouth of a beast.
However, at the cave’s mouth, there was a hazy misty light, clearly indicating a Prohibition had been set.
At the entrance of the cave sat an old man in straw raincoat with his eyes closed, resembling Petrification. His white hair and beard suggested great age; it was unknown how many years he had been guarding here.
"Elder Wang, I am here under the orders of the Palace Master, to lead people into the Xingxiu Cave."
Alchemist Wei, an elder of the Dan Palace, and Heavenly Maiden Xue Pianran, upon seeing the old man, were extremely respectful and dared not even breathe too loudly.
It was evident that this guardian of the Xingxiu Cave was no ordinary person.
"The old rule remains, to enter the cave, one must draw lots."
After a long while, the elder with the name Dan finally spoke leisurely.
The Xingxiu Cave was a forbidden area of the Dan Palace, normally protected by Prohibition. Only on the triennial opening day of the Xingxiu Cave, would this guard of unidentified status personally lift the outer Prohibition.
Before he lifted the Prohibition, the elder took out nine Jade Carvings.
He tossed them casually, and those nine Jade Carvings, wrapped in a glowing light, suspended mid-air.
Those Jade Carvings were special too, each inscribed with different characters; Ye Lingyue caught glimpses of numbers like one, two, three, and so on.
Upon seeing the Jade Carvings, members of various national delegations who had participated in past explorations of the Xingxiu Cave revealed eager expressions.
Alchemist Wei and Xue Pianran were already accustomed to the old man’s temperament.
"Ladies and gentlemen, inside the Xingxiu Cave, there are nine twists and eighteen turns, with nine translated to nine caves. Each cave has two forks in the road, hiding different Elixir Pills, Spiritual Artifacts, and Ancient Elixir Recipes. The treasures hidden in caves one to three are the best, those in four to six are second, and those in seven to nine are the least valuable. Each delegation may only send one person to draw lots, and they must use the corresponding Jade Carving to enter the Xingxiu Cave. Please be cautious during the lot-drawing process."
Xue Pianran said softly.
"Drawing lots is no big deal." A few people from the delegations scoffed, considering it an unnecessary gesture by the Dan Palace; after all, they were already at the entrance to the Xingxiu Cave.
As they spoke, a delegation from a nation in the northern region of the Qing Province Continent called Xuan Country sent forward an Alchemist, who stepped up to draw a Jade Carving.
Xue Pianran had already made it clear, the smaller the number, the greater the chance of acquiring better Elixir Pills and Elixir Recipes after entering the cave.
This also meant that being able to enter caves one, two, or three would yield the greatest treasures, so naturally, the representative from Xuan Country reached for the Jade Carving engraved with the number "one".
He could not hide the elated expression that appeared on his face as he grasped the Jade Carving.
"Ha ha, easy peasy, got it." Yet before he could finish speaking, his face twitched.
His arm suddenly made a strange noise, followed by a scream. Before the crowd could react, his body burst into a cloud of Blood Mist, exploding.
The event occurred so suddenly, that the other delegates, who had been watching in expectation of a spectacle, were immediately shocked.
"Overestimating oneself, the Xuan Country delegation has forfeited the qualification to enter the Xingxiu Cave."
The Wang Surnamed elder declared emotionlessly.
"This is outrageous! All you said was to draw lots; you didn’t say that choosing a Jade Carving would also involve a test. We have traveled from afar to Beiqing and we can’t possibly leave empty-handed," the leader of the Xuan Country delegation said angrily.