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Gou Monan was just about to push open the door when he realized there was no one walking beside him.
When he turned, he saw Ye Zichen staring back at him solemnly. Then, Ye Zichen said, “It was open when you got here?”
“That’s right; the door was open before I showed up, and I caught a vague glimpse of whoever that person was. When you arrived, I was sarching for them, or you wouldn’t have startled me so badly.” Gou Monan nodded, then opened another door.
Inside was another room. It was empty, but there weren’t five doors like there had been in previous rooms.
“It seems we’ve reached the end, and that we went down the wrong path. Let’s go back!” As he spoke, Gou Monan returned along his previous path. This endless series of room after room seemed like a maze, but they could still return from whence they came.
It seemed this was no longer a test of luck. So long as you were patient enough…
You could go through every possible combination of doors until you naturally wound up in the one housing hidden treasure.
But when Gou Monan turned around, he saw Ye Zichen and Gu Luolin rooted in place. He tilted his head and said, “Brother Ye, don’t just stand around in a daze. Someone got here first. If he finds the right path first, we’ll have done all this for nothing!”
The three of them walked shoulder to shoulder. They were still just testing out random routes.
Throughout this process, Ye Zichen said nothing. He was evaluating Gou Monan’s expression, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye.
“It seems you’re not at all worried about whoever it is who got here first, Brother Monan.”
“Brother Ye, are you suspecting me of something?” Gou Monan pushed one door after another in an orderly fashion single-mindedly, not looking away once. “I can tell that ever since we bumped into each other here, you’ve seemed like you didn’t quite trust me.”
“Brother Monan, you’re overthinking things!” said Ye Zichen.
“Someone beat us to the palace. Of course I’m worried, but worrying does us no good, right?” Gou Monan went on opening doors in order. He grimaced. “When it comes to cultivation boundaries, compared to the rest of those who entered the mountains, I’m not much. I’m already satisfied that I reached the palace relatively early. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in the palace’s treasures, but I also know by limits. If I can obtain something, that’s great. If I can’t, I won’t push the matter.”
“You can maintain this attitude even now. That can’t be easy!” said Ye Zichen.
“I already said it: I just know my limits better than most.” Gou Monan pushed forward another door. This room was empty, too. Gou Monan’s eyes flashed with dejection. “Another empty room.”
He sighed, then scanned the room. It had no traces to follow or hints at all. He couldn’t help but mutter, “We traversed the mountains to get here, but they’re still throwing secret rooms out here. If there’s really fortune here, they ought to just give it to us. We’ve pushed open one door after another… Jeez…”
“Getting impatient, Brother Monan?”
“Who wouldn’t be impatient? We’ve been walking for so long already.” Gou Monan looked at the next five doors as if he no longer had the energy to open them. “Brother Ye, how about you try? Perhaps I’m just unlucky.”
“I’ll go, I’ll go! Back at home, the elders all say I’m really lucky!” Gu Luolin giggled, dashed up to a door, and pushed it open. But as soon as she did, and even though none of the other doors had been trapped, several arrows shot forth.
Ye Zichen had been on guard this whole time, so he instantly appeared before Gu Luolin and shielded her. The arrows missed and crashed into the walls behind them.
“Brother Ye, are you two okay?” Guo Monan hurried over. He quickly discovered that although Ye Zichen was uninjured, there was a streak of blood on Gu Luolin’s shoulder.
Gu Luolin fought back tears in Ye Zichen’s embrace. It seemed one wrong word and she’d burst into tears.
“It doesn’t look like the arrows were poisoned,” said Gou Monan, carrying one of the arrows that hit the wall. The arrow looked ordinary, but there was a hint of blood on its tip.
Ye Zichen glanced at it, took out some ointment, then ripped his clothes to bandage Gu Luolin’s wounds.
“Be gentle,” she said in distress.
“Behave yourself!” Ye Zichen whapped her on the head. “What did we agree on earlier? I told you that if you wanted to come with me, you had to follow my orders. Did I tell you to open that door? Even if you really had to open it, why didn’t you at least put on some armor? In a place like this, you have to stay on guard at all times. Just now, if I hadn’t reacted quickly enough, you’d be a human meat skewer by now. Do you understand? I’m just glad the arrows weren’t poisoned. If they were, what would you do?”
Even as he rebuked her, Ye Zichen bandaged her up properly.
Gu Luolin hung her head, but she didn’t argue. She’d really just been bored, but this whole game of opening doors seemed like it might be fun. She’d just wanted to try it. How was she supposed to know that room was trapped?
“Brother Ye, don’t be too hard on her,” urged Gou Monan.
“I’m not being hard on her, I’m warning her. Wherever you are, whether you’re in the mausoleum or out in the Upper Three Realms, cultivators must stay on guard at all times. It’s an absolute rule. If she’s always this reckless, even if she’s got skills, she’s dead if she gets ambushed.”
Ye Zichen meant every word he said. He’d spent enough time with Gu Luolin that he’d discovered one of her flaws: she wasn’t on guard at all!
If this were an era of peace, that would be one thing. In that case, there wouldn’t be much theft or violence to worry about.
But in this era, everyone was out to seize resources, treasures, and fortune. Gu Luolin could live without concern in her clan, like an innocent little princess.
But this wasn’t her home. Danger lurked at every corner, and they could encounter grave peril at a moment’s notice.
But she was still so careless. Even if she was lucky enough to leave the mausoleum intact, when the enders invaded the Third Era, she’d pay for her recklessness!
When that time came, she’d pay a far greater price than a mere scolding could make up for; she might even pay with her life!
Since she was traveling with Ye Zichen, and since they were sort of relatives, Ye Zichen couldn’t just ignore such a potentially fatal flaw.
When she saw that Ye Zichen really seemed angry, Gu Luolin scrunched up her lips. She looked like she was about to cry.
“I get it! I won’t do it again.”
“Alright. I’m not really that angry with you, either.” When he saw her fighting back tears, Ye Zichen’s heart finally softened. “Just remember, there’s no harm in staying on guard at all times. Alertness is the most important part of staying alive. Have you read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms? Zhang Fei was a fierce general, but in the end, didn’t two ordinary soldiers cut his head clean off?”
“Romance of the Three Kingdoms?” Gu Luolin’s eyebrows popped up.
Ye Zichen couldn’t help but facepalm. He’d almost forgotten that this wasn’t the modern realm. Romance of the Three Kingdoms was a fabricated story, and even if it had some overlap with actual history, it wasn’t something the people here would know about.
Gou Monan didn’t interupt.It was only after Ye Zichen had finished that he laughed and said, “You’ve really put a lot of thought into this, Brother Ye.”
“But Brother Ye, that girl you’re with really is really blessed by a star of fortune. Who knows? That door she pushed open might really be the one we need to go through.”
“You’re saying…”
“None of the doors we passed on our way here were trapped, yet this one was. The problem is obvious,” said Gou Monan with a laugh.
“The arrows don’t look particularly old or worn, either,” said Ye ZIchen after examining them.
“Brother Ye, why not say it clearly?” Gou Monan smiled and watched as Ye Zichen walked over to the wall to check the remaining arrows for clues.
Afterward, he nodded. “It seems someone placed the mechanism there!”
“You see clearly indeed, Brother Ye!” said Gou Monan. “It was likely the person who entered the palace ahead of us. I don’t know whether he’s inside or not, or if there are any other mechanisms. How abotu this? I’ll travel in front and test the path ahead. You two follow me.”
As he spoke, Gou Monan’s yao spiritual power transformed into firm clothing and draped over him. Around it, he now wore a set of divine artifact battle armor.
This was a perfect example, so Ye Zichen went with the flow and pointed him out to Gu Luolin. “Do you see that? That’s how you do it. When you face the unknown, you first must take ample preparations to protect your life. If everyone was like you, walking about aimlessly, they’d die! You’d die even if you were the Emperor Star!”
“Oh…” It was alright before he said anything, but now that Ye Zichen said all that, Gu Luolin really held nothing back. She took out all her defensive treasures, and in a flash, every inch of her shone with all the colors of the rainbow. From her head to her toes, she was armed to the teeth. But none of the armor was particularly bulky or unwieldy; it looked like clothes she might wear normally. The only difference was, from the glow her outfit emitted, it was clear that it was extraordinary.
“This is…”
“My mom got the silk for this from the Poison King of the West. They can only harvest it once every three thousand years. Then she found a grandmaster artificer to make it into clothing. There are sixty-nine miniature defensive spiritual formations emblazoned inside.”
“The boots are from my dad. He killed an earth dragon in the northern wastes, and tanned its skin to make these boats. There are thirty-seven miniature defensive spiritual formations inside, as well as six auxilliary formations and two wind element formations.”
“As for the hat, my mom got a strand of Fox Wil from the Fox Empress, and forged it into a pearl with an artifact spirit.”
“As for the gloves, my third uncle went to the Eastern Divine Mountain’s volcano and collected magma crystals from three thousand meters beneath the lava’s surface…”
Gu Luolin stood there, droning on and on for over ten minutes. In that time, she introduced all sixteen of the divine artifacts she was wearing. Of them, the six rings were the least eye-catching, but all of them were the work of grandmaster artificers, and all were forged with priceless treasures. Furthermore, all of them were engraved with at least twenty offensive or defensive formations.
It was no exaggeration to say that Gu Luolin’s equipment was equivalent to a top-tier faction’s entire net worth!
Gou Monan and Ye Zichen had been prepared to forge ahead, but they couldn’t help but glance at their own equipment, then compare it with Gu Luolin’s. A sentence rose unbidden in their minds: you’re just here to show off, aren’t you?