Editor : Ocelot
The tunnel was narrow and long, and the ending of the tunnel could hardly be seen. A moist and foul scent hit their noses, making Murong Xue cringe, “We’ve been walking for almost an hour. The tunnel is still looks the same. Where will it lead us to?”
Looking at her irritated face, Ou Yang smiled gently, “Does the map have any marks on it?”
Murong Xue read the map and shook her head, “It only recorded the location of the treasure, it doesn’t indicate any geographical landmarks or tunnels in the cave.” These marks were too detailed, there was no wonder the former Emperor did not draw out this part, otherwise anyone could find the treasure easily.
Ou Yang studied the rocky walls and said, “This tunnel has a stench, there are no openings or traps. Let’s continue down, maybe we can find the exit!”
“We have no other choice.” Murong Xue sulked. Hopefully this tunnel was not in a circle, otherwise they would come back to the starting point and be stuck in this cave for life.
Suddenly, a breeze blew across her cheeks. Murong Xue’s face lit up, “There’s wind, there’s an exit near here.” Even though it may not be an exit, it would still be a door that lead to another path; there would be no need to continue on in this tunnel.
The rocky walls were still the same, there was no difference along the way. Ou Yang’s face darkened, “The opening should be nearby, let’s find it properly!”
“Mmm!” Murong Xue nodded and pressed on the wall with her tiny fair hands. The walls were sticky and full of algae. The salty stench hit them again as she furrowed her brows slightly and continued pressing on the rocky walls.
As she pressed a protruding triangular rock, suddenly, the rock in front of them moved aside with a loud “Hong”. wWith that, a ray of bright sunlight shone upon them, so bright they could not open their eyes.
Murong Xue lifted her hands to shield her face from the brightness. Peeking through the gap in her fingers, she saw a picturesque golden mansion before her. The entrance to the golden mansion was decorated with pearls and jewels on the walls, and each jewel was enormous and lavish. Four golden pillars stood grandly, supporting the opulent weight of the mansion’s entrance.
In the middle of the golden pillars were twelve staircases made of pure gold. At the top of the stairs was a finely-carved golden throne, adorned with numerous gemstones and ornaments.
Golden boxes were placed randomly along the floor of the mansion. Extraordinary gems were piled up in them, and some were even spilling over and onto the ground, making it shiny and sparkly.
There was a two-metre wide pool outside of the mansion., The clear pool surrounded the mansion elegantly…, It was so clear that they could see the steam rising from below…
Murong Xue’s eyes went wide as she saw the luxurious scene in front of her. Gold was used to make pillars and tiles, pearls were used to decorate walls, the precious corals- that were so hard to find- were placed randomly here and there… The former Emperor must have been filthy rich.
No wonder even Ye Yichen wanted these treasures. They were limitless. Anyone who saw these treasures would long to own them.
Murong Xue walked into the mansion slowly. Her toes encountered a small rock and suddenly she tripped. The rock floated above the surface of the pool, which created a slight turbulence. The small waves then sucked the hovering rock into it. The whole process was so swift and accurate…
Murong Xue was puzzled, “What was that?”
The water was no longer clear. It became grey – and a hint a red could be seen, proving that whatever had happened was real…
“The pool water is toxic., We cannot fly above it, or else we will be sucked into it and completely decompose.” Ou Yang mumbled in a low voice, his eyes drifting.
Murong Xue asked curiously, “Then how should we cross over?” The pool water surrounded the whole mansion. If they could not fly over it, they had no way to get into the mansion to retrieve the treasures!
“I think there’s a small wooden bridge over there, let’s cross it!” Ou Yang pulled Murong Xue to the bridge. It was faint black in color and was only ten-centimeters wide. They had no idea what kind of wood it was made of as it did not decompose even though it had hovered over the pool water for years.
Ou Yang braced himself and walked up to the bridge first. Seeing there was no reaction below the bridge, he grabbed Murong Xue’s hand and took small steps to cross it.
As they were reaching the end of the bridge, two small rocks flew beside on the bridge. The calm water turned into a rigorous wave, and a musky stench filled the air. Murong Xue was alarmed by this, and before she could take it in, the water splashed on her cheeks.
A white sleeve waved and the pool water subsided. A strong force grabbed onto her slim waist and brought her to the bank.
A hint of burnt scent hit her and when she regained her senses, she saw smoke was coming up from Ou Yang’s sleeve.
“How are you?!” Murong Xue asked worriedly while pulling up his sleeve to check on his wound.
Ou Yang stopped her immediately and said, “It was only my sleeve, I’m fine!”
“Are you sure?” Murong Xue doubted if that was the truth. The power of the wave was so strong, how had it not hurt him?
“Of course. Why would I lie?” Ou Yang replied nonchalantly, “Someone thought of this way to get rid of us. How smart.”
Murong Xue was stunned when she heard this. She stared in the direction the rocks flew from, then she noticed a familiar shadow squatting by the bridge entrance. That person was glaring at her so hard that she could sense the hatred and evil: Murong Xue, Ou Yang, they were not hurt at all by that acidic water. How lucky!
Qing Yuyuan, so it was her!
Murong Xue squinted her eyes and shot a silver needle from her hand. It hit Qing Yuyuan’s wrist.
“Ah!” Qing Yuyuan’s piercing scream filled the place.
Murong Xue acted as if she did not hear anything and continued her path towards Qing Yuyuan. She grabbed onto her collar and glared, “You’re so badly injured, yet you still came all the way here and tricked us. You, Qing Yuyuan are heartless. Since you like this deathly water so much, I’ll make your dream come true and let you unite with it!”
When she finished her sentence, Murong Xue kicked Qing Yuyuan hard, making her fall on the ground once again. Her body rolled closer to the pool side, and half of her leg was on the water. At that moment, the water stirred up into waves and splashed onto her leg!