Chapter 246: The Treasure Map
Seeing as Chu Jianyi’s actions helped create such great fame for Ling Chuxi, those who knew of the situation might laugh at him for helping another bride prepare her wedding dress as they say. However, Chu Jianyi did not perceive the situation this way, and neither did Ling Chuxi. The moment Ling Chuxi recalled the little dummy Chu Jianyi who had very bad mathematical skills, she wanted to laugh. She wasn’t sure what that rascal was up to these days.
The dean coughed loudly in dissatisfaction twice when he saw Ling Chuxi spacing out during their conversation in an effort to make Ling Chuxi snap back to focus and reel in her wandering thoughts.
“Ah, yes, yes. Please continue, dean,” said Ling Chuxi as she regained her senses and chuckled shyly.
“You need to win, got it? If you win, I will give you an additional reward! And it is a good one indeed!” declared the dean as he put a thoughtful hand to his own chin in a gesture of deep thought and wiggled his two thick caterpillar-like eyebrows in an effort to look sternly mysterious as he spoke.
“Really? What reward is it?” asked Ling Chuxi very cooperatively.
“You’ll only find out if you win!” barked the dean with a serious expression on his face. ” I can’t tell you now. Anyway, you can trust that it is good.”
“Cheh!” muttered Ling Chuxi softly, feeling very dissatisfied. “Those who whet one’s appetite only to withhold the meal will have no toilet paper when they are in need of it,” muttered Ling Chuxi to herself coldly. ‘This guy was dead meat. Not only did he register me for the competition on my behalf without asking me, but now he is actually trying to dangle carrots in front of me only snatch them away! If I don’t curse him out for a bit, it’s hard to vent the frustration I feel towards him within my heart.’
“What did you say?!” barked the dean. Although he could be a real dunce, his cultivation level was still strong after all. Even though Ling Chuxi only muttered her reply softly, with his enhanced hearing, he could still hear her clearly! How dare she curse him out like that! It was just too unruly!
“Oh, nothing,” replied Ling Chuxi with a laugh. “Well, if there is nothing else, we’ll make a move first,” said Ling Chuxi perfunctorily.
“… All right, then. Ling Chuxi, Ling Yichen, please compete well,” said the dean seriously with finality.
Ling Chuxi and Ling Yichen nodded in agreement and then excused themselves. The moment Ling Chuxi stepped out of the dean’s study, she could hear the dean’s voice floating towards them softly carrying words of caution, “If you encounter E Shulan during the competition, be careful of her weapon.”
Ling Chuxi was stunned and subconsciously turned around to the look at the dean. However, all she saw was the dean looking intently at a teapot placed on his desk, as if a flower would bloom from it merely by him staring at it. It was as if the words of caution she just heard in his voice did not come from him. Ling Chuxi was stunned and very quickly understood why this had to be so. Without a word, she proceeded to leave the dean’s study with Ling Yichen.
At night, when all of them returned from the academy to Fu Chengyu’s residence and had eaten dinner, Ling Chuxi told Ling Yichen, Fu Chengyu and Xia Zhuoyi about the treasure map. After that, they gathered around the piece of goatskin the treasure map was imprinted on to study it.
“I never thought that such a thing was what destroyed the Wen family,” murmured Fu Chengyu with a sigh as he took a closer look at the treasure map. He had seen the records of the massacre of the Wen family and had heard the rumors regarding the matter. At the time of its occurrence, the incident had indeed shaken the whole country.
“The destination this treasure map leads to seems to be located by the borders,” concluded Xia Zhuoyi with a frown. “Big Brother Fu, do you know what treasure this map leads to?” enquired Xia Zhuoyi casually.
“I don’t think he knows. Wen Qing herself said that she did not know what it was. Even her father did not seem to know,” replied Ling Chuxi. She observed the elements of the treasure map and determined that it did indeed lead to a location at the border of Nan Xia Country.
“If I am not wrong, it should be that item,” stated Fu Chengyu unexpectedly after much pondering. He frowned slightly.
“Ah? You have heard of it? You know what is buried here?” asked Ling Chuxi, a little surprised. Wen Qing herself did not even know what it was, but Fu Chengyu did?
“I’ve heard my master talk about this before. There is a divine weapon hidden away in this place, but it was not something even he could control. He had merely talked about it in passing, saying that he himself could not control the weapon and asked us not to go and throw our lives away in vain in search of it. Then he never mentioned the matter again. Now, according to the location shown in this treasure map, I feel that it very possibly leads to the location where the divine weapon my master was talking about is hidden,” deduced Fu Chengyu as he frowned hard. He remembered very clearly that his master had been seriously injured and had almost lost his life in pursuit of that divine weapon. What kind of weapon was it that even his master could not control its power?