460 Exchange Festival
The Divine Nine-Dragon Cauldron
Gang Dalei was also in disbelief. "That little ghost really wanted to kill us. Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken out the Ghost Prison Token! I bet it encountered something else and had no time to deal with us!"
Yu Chan agreed. "That is the only explanation."
"Brother Black Snow, wake up!" Qin Jiuyang helped Su Yu up in concern. He looked at Su Yu, noticing his overexertion, and immediately injected a bolt of spirit energy into him.
Su Yu "woke up" only now, his expression turning grave. "Where is the Ghost Prison Envoy?"
Qin Jiuyang let out a sigh of relief, laughing at himself. "It looks like we were rather lucky. Perhaps the little ghost met a powerful person and was scared off. Otherwise, the four of us would never have been able to survive in the hands of the Ghost Prison Envoy."
Su Yu heard this, dumbfounded. "How were we so lucky?"
Gang Dalei's body was once again covered by a silhouette of light. He smiled. "We were lucky this time! Who would have thought that we would invite such a fierce creature just for a transportation spell?"
Yu Chan looked at Gang Dalei. Her eyes shone with consideration. "I don't think we should stay here long. Who knows when the Ghost Prison Envoy will come back? Let us go check the transportation spell. I wonder if the battle just now affected it."
Hearing this, their expressions turned grave. They charged toward the side of the pit. They heaved a sigh of relief when they saw that although it was messy, it was unaffected and still usable because it was deep within the crater.
Su Yu and the group looked at Yu Chan at the same time, secretly exchanging glances. Yu Chan's heart froze, guessing their intent. She had personally witnessed the combined power of these three and did not think that she could take on the three of them alone. She prepared to flee.
But Gang Dalei said with a smile, "Seeing as how you helped us fight off the Ghost Prison Envoy… If, Miss Chan, you can forget the animosity we had with your partners, you can come with us."
Yu Chan's expression relaxed, and she laughed bitterly. "They are already dead! What animosity is there to speak off? I am not an unreasonable person. We should drop the matter here. Sir Black Snow killing Yang Jian can only be blamed on Yang Jian's immoral thoughts. He deserved death, and that has nothing to do with me."
The group relaxed, stepping onto the transportation spell as they left.
******
At the seventh level of the Divine Pavilion.
Qin Xianer fled for her life, her expression haggard and pale. Beside her was Long Wuxin, her body covered in blood! Her robes were torn and tattered, revealing a large area of her fair skin. Her proud gaze had been replaced with a certain gravity… and fear.
"Those are the outer sanctum disciples of Jiuzhou?" said Long Wuxin. "They are frighteningly powerful!"
Long Wuxin turned to look behind her. Her Ancient Chest had dulled considerably and was filled with multiple holes. On her body were multiple alarming wounds, especially the wound on her collarbone. It was a gash deep enough to see the bone; if it had been any deeper, she would have been decapitated! It was quite an unexpected state for the most powerful fighter of the Zhenlong Continent, Long Wuxin, to find herself in.
Long Wuxin looked to her side, toward the pale Xianer, whose face was covered in dirt. "Xianer, it is all because of you—all because of the Death Horn in your hands! Otherwise, we would definitely have been killed by that outer sanctum disciple!"
Long Wuxin's gaze turned gentle. Even though she was a cold person, she could not help but lovingly clean the dirt off Xianer's shoulder, given how cute she was.
Qin Xianer rubbed her head, her face displaying an expression of injustice. "That person is so evil! We were merely passing by, but he wanted to kill us! The people of the Zhenlong Continent are clearly superior. Including Brother Su Yu… and Brother Black Snow. Hehe." Qin Xianer fiddled with the black horn in her palm as she giggled.
Long Wuxin had a weird expression. "Is it possible that the Black Snow Devil King is interested in you? I can understand him helping you in the Dragon Abyss, but to give you a top-grade divine artifact… That was very unusual!"
Qin Xianer opened her mouth wide. "Really? You think Brother Black Snow likes me?"
Deep in thought, Qin Xianer looked at the Death Horn in her hands. Her lips twitched. Even though she felt a bit of longing, she shook her head with determination. "I only want Brother Su Yu. If I see Brother Black Snow again, I'll return the horn to him. Is that okay?"
Long Wuxin was silent. The Black Snow Devil King had made a deep impression on her. For reasons unknown, he gave her an oddly mysterious feeling.
"All right," said Long Wuxin, "but we should not think too much about it now. We should head to the Fairy King Ruins, as recorded in the Heavenly Law Alliance. It is rumored that there is a relic there that has not been uncovered, and it should be suitable for us to enter. If we have the chance, we can hide immediately and cultivate there! But there are many geniuses from the Jiuzhou Continent here, so we must be careful. We must also not be greedy. A relic should be enough for us."
Hearing this, Xianer obediently nodded. "I'll listen to Sister Wuxin."
"How nice!" Long Wuxin patted Xianer's head, then led her toward the Fairy King Ruins.
******
Bai Qi stood atop a mountain. There was a painting in his sleeves, and within the painting, an elder was a little unhappy.
"Why do you not kill them, too?" demanded the elder.
Hearing this, Bai Qi knelt in fear, revealing his true appearance. He was the Ghost King!
"Master," said the Ghost King, "I have sensed the presence of several geniuses from the Jiuzhou Continent. I did not strike them because I did not want to invite unnecessary trouble."
Hearing this, the elder seemed to think that it was reasonable. He probed no further. "All right. Continue searching for the next transportation spell!"
The Ghost King obeyed, its gaze glancing in the direction of the Fairy King Ruins.
******
At another location.
Bai Luo and the rest walked along an extremely narrow path. The group had not sustained any injuries.
"Yi Yu, the king is indeed a powerful being, to have such a map," said Bai Luo. "As long as we follow the path, we can avoid most of the dangerous areas and enter the eighth level."
Yi Yu, who held the map in her hands, slightly nodded. "Well, there are naturally no loopholes to the king's arrangements."
Bai Luo, leading the group, had a flicker in his eyes.
In the other direction, the people of the Four Great Ancient Clans hurried toward a dark forest. The one in the lead was Sheng Ge.
******
The world rotated. Su Yu once again felt the dizzying effects of the transportation. When he opened his eyes again, he realized that he was in an abandoned secret chamber covered in dust.
Scanning the surroundings, he noted that the dust in the secret chamber was three inches thick! Stepping on the dust was akin to walking on a thick layer of cotton.
It appeared that this transportation spell had never been successfully used by anyone; thus, the destination had never been trodden upon.
Suddenly, Su Yu glanced over to the corner of the wall and spotted a white skeleton. Its robes had long been turned to dust with the passage of time. Multiple parts of the skeleton had disintegrated.
Without hesitation, Su Yu crossed the room and waved his sleeve, bringing up the dust around the skeleton, revealing a broken sword and a decomposed scroll.
Su Yu grabbed downward, bringing up the two items. The sword was rusted all over and gave off not a bit of blow. It no longer had any use. The scroll still radiated with a faint spiritual quality, but the words within had been blurred beyond recognition. All that could be read were the words "Demon Hell Dragon Devouring Mantra" on its cover. At the same time, Su Yu felt a faint feeling of discomfort from the scroll.
"A demon-based technique?" he realized.
Su Yu was shocked. Not many people cultivated demon-based techniques on the Zhenlong Continent, as there were not enough resources. It was impossible for Su Yu to cultivate demon-based techniques, and furthermore, the scroll had been damaged beyond recognition. He couldn't read it even if he wanted to. Su Yu prepared to throw it away.
"Sir Black Snow," said Yu Chan. "You should keep that."
She walked toward him coldly, her eyes strangely impassive as she stared at Su Yu's back. She believed that no one from Su Yu's group could beat her in one-on-one combat, yet Su Yu had been the first to awaken from the transportation spell! She was surprised to open her eyes and see that Su Yu had already made the first move to look around for treasures.
"Could this item be of any value?" asked Su Yu.
Yu Chan let out a laugh and decided not to mince words. "To tell you the truth, on the last day of the Mysterious Heavenly Divine pavilion, the fighters that entered will engage in an Exchange Festival. The thing in your hand might not be worth anything to you, but it might be a valuable treasure in the eyes of others! Judging by the previous Exchange Festivals, this is commonly the case. So it is best to keep the things you have obtained along the way. There might be surprises awaiting you."
"Exchange Festival…?" said Su Yu.
He had come to the Mysterious Heavenly Divine Pavilion firstly to accomplish Senior Jiu's mission and secondly to obtain materials to cultivate the Evil Destroying Silver Eyes. He already had the Undead Herb of the Netherworld, but he did not have any clue where to acquire the Lightning Avoiding Silver Pearl or the Blood of a Real Dragon. It was too much to expect to find these items alone at the Mysterious Heavenly Divine Pavilion, but something like the Exchange Festival could be a great opportunity for Su Yu!
"Where is it going to be held?" Su Yu asked hastily.
At that moment, Gang Dalei and Qin Jiuyang also hurried over.
"Brother Black Snow, you sure are quick!" Gang Dalei said in admiration.
They were also very curious about the skeleton, but when they realized that Su Yu had only managed to obtain two broken items, their interest waned. Otherwise, they would have requested that the treasures obtained be equally split.
Su Yu let out a laugh, placing the two items in the Cosmos Mirror. "It's just a skeleton, now. Brother Dalei, Brother Jiuyang, you are free to take it."
Hearing this, the two of them glared at him. Even Yu Chan was a little bitter. Regardless, the three of them examined the skeleton again.
"Other than a few places that have not disintegrated, the rest of the areas have completely corroded," Yu Chan said casually. "Even demon-based technique cultivators who collect human bones would not want this!"
Yu Chan took to examining the wall, but before long, every nook and cranny had been checked. They did everything but dismantle the secret chamber brick by brick, but all they obtained were two broken pieces of porcelain.
"Let's go," Gang Dalei said, feeling a little dejected as he kicked open the door of the secret chamber.
A ray of sunlight entered, shining onto the skeleton. Its shadow was elongating!
Su Yu, who was beside the skeleton, glanced over at it. There was suddenly something strange about the skeleton, though he could not tell exactly what it was.