"Have you found the pearl?"
It's been three days yet the pearl wasn't still found. It was even stranger that the only charred corpses were only men as their body build suggested and there was no corpse of a woman behind the dead bodies that had collected.
Gao Xiao's mood circulated, how could such thing escape on the last minute of the ritual? If that woman was not among the others, there's no way that those two were among those things as well.
"We haven't yet. Although we have already scouted the whole area and turned all holes that the pearl might stuck but still, it's all futile." Fu Jin Hao reported as he stood up firm in front of him.
"You are useless! Find it now!? Find that girl and Sang Shui!"
He should have killed those two the moment he caught them, that person seemed to have a devil's luck behind her back. No matter how death pulled her into its doorstep, she could still escape its grasp.
Gao Xiao hadn't known that he was all correct at that. Su Ci Yi had been many times at the doors of death but King Yama refuses to take her in and in the end returned her soul to the land.
And around at that time, Su Ci Yi woke up from her deep slumber.
Her hands were the first to move. After the establishment of her consciousness, she flutters her eyelid and woke in dim surroundings. The ambiance was even moist and the sound of water droplets falling from the ceiling was too stimulating to her ears.
A small groan escaped her lips as she slowly sits up while a big and warm hand supported her movement.
"Yi?"
"Ms. Su."
"Damn woman."
"Master!"
All those voices called to her in sync that she couldn't even recognize who's who among them.
"Young lady, you woke up. How are you feeling?"
An unfamiliar old man went near her as she tried to remember who this person is in front of her.
Before she collapsed, the last thing she remembered was being punished by a dangerous spell ritual from that idiot Gao Xiao. If not for her transportation array, they wouldn't be here right now. Somehow, she did escape the call of a grim reaper this time.
"Where are we?"
The place is unfamiliar, and she didn't know where the heck did that transportation spell brought them over.
"Master we are inside the cave!"
"Inside the cave."
"Ms. Su, your transportation brought us inside the cave."
For the second time, those voices synchronize again simultaneously. Can they talk one person at a time? No need to clatter together with her. Now that she realized it, a crowd was formed in front of her and she was the center of their attention.
"Ms. Su? Are you not feeling well?" Sang Shui asked in concern. This time, it was only his voice that she heard.
On the other hand, Qin Yu brought his palm on her forehead and measure his temperature while Qin Tao jumped on her back and hugged her, "Master, Qin Tao will share his warmth with you. Hug therapy is the most effective healing technique for fatigue"
Ohoho. This cheeky brat. She just fell unconscious for a while and his cheeky gauge skyrocketed?
Su Ci Yi felt the foreboding headache to come if this continues longer.
"Listen to me, I've got an important thing to tell all of you."
The people took her words seriously as they inch forward and even flocks on her side.
"What I want to say is...Can't you give me a little space this time! I'll suffocate with you all here!"
The people scramble and made space for her.
She took her chance to stood up and reconsider her surroundings. Her transportation spell had a little distortion and along the way, she forgot some complicated enchantments. She should transport them on the base, but in her forgetfulness, they were teleported in an inauspicious place.
She walked out just outside the cave while stretching her body. Some of her bones had become rigid because of her lying position and her back even ached at this moment. As soon as the morning sunlight radiated on her face, vivid ashen eyes stared at her.
Her flexes were swift as she punched the creature on its head. The black scale dragon only whimpered on the sideline after being wrong by its master's friend. It couldn't refute since its master seemed to treasure this person. It does not have any feelings akin to the human but this dragon's instinct is saying so.
Su Ci Yi took back her hand, awkwardly looked at the creature whom she hit. She even mixed this dragon to some untamed creature on the forest not remembering that it was Qin Yu's pet.
."Young lady, can I have a word with you?"
It was the old man in grizzled beard who followed her. Although the old man must have been in his old age, his agility and physical strength were sturdy like any young man. And since he specifically followed her just outside the cave, he must have an ulterior motive to discuss with her that needed confidentiality.
Su Ci Yi was quite intrigued. She also learned earlier that this person was the Chief that Gao Xiao had temporarily substituted.
"Elder, what must be urgent to talk to me in private?"
"I heard from Jing Sang that you are a Daoist right?"
Su Ci Yi was stunned. How could Jing Sang know something about it? But then again, it's not a secret that she really needed to hide.
"Elder was exaggerating. I might be a Daoist but am still a beginner level. I haven't even reached the core foundation yet." Su Ci Yi reiterates that she wasn't someone that stood up in the high position. If ever this old man had an ulterior motive, at least he'll get disappointed if he knew she's not what he thinks her off.
"No, it's not what you think. Young lady, are you aware of the legend of our village?"
Su Ci Yi shook her head.
" It was a long time ago, some Daoist practitioner appeared out of nowhere and assisted us in our battle from the evil. I remember those legends whenever I see you, knowing you are the same as that person. Say, are there a lot of people like you are at your home?"
Su Ci Yi was stunned at her place. She wasn't able to hear what the old man's last sentence. She was focused on the same practitioner that he mentioned.
On the pace of their talking, she couldn't help but be aggressive. "Hey! That practitioner, tell me how he came into this place!"
Lingua Liu abided on her inquiry and replied in a mild manner, " My father told me that he just appeared one day and vanished out of nowhere. No one knew where he run into. However, after many years and the succession of the Chief's position had passed down, a certain scroll was found buried behind the shed where that person lived. It was quite old and full of ancient hieroglyphics that no one could ever decipher."
"Is this scroll still in your possession?"
Su Ci Yi asked in agitation. If that person disappeared, then he must have gone back on his place. A place where he has fellow cultivators like him.
"I believe it's still on my chamber, I kept it hidden on my vault."
She was glad that she made her way into this place. It's like fate really is making its way for her to find it. The scroll that the old man was talking about might be the way she could go back. If that person had a way to go back at that time, then he must have returned on his sect.
Although she had already been accustomed to this place, the matter of her death was still hadn't given light. And she will not stop unless she will unfold the conspiracies hiding on it.
"Yi?"
All of a sudden, Qin Yu's appearance had emerged in front of her face. It turned out that she had been staring into space for quite some time now without the presence of the old man. Qin Yu was especially gentle this time.
"Are you all right?" His slender finger brushed unto her face and wipe away the small tears that had fallen. She hadn't known that she was already crying, and her face was a little wet.
"No, it's nothing. " it must have been because she was thinking of her senior brother at that moment why her face turned like that.
"We will set out now. Is your body okay to travel?"
She wasn't that specifically weak that needed to have that gentle tone. Returning to her usual stoic appearance, she was even energetic than ever before. It's time to get back at those 'little boys' and pay for their idiotic little farce.
Her blood was boiling knowing that those people had even pushed her at her limit.
She cracked her knuckles and smiled ambiguously. Now then, how should she repay the favor of throwing her at death's door?