The Little Key cleared its throat before saying:
"Beautiful fairy, could you let me go first? It's awkward talking to you like this."
Yunxi merely cast it a casual glance and said:
"You have wings. If I let you go and you fly away, where am I supposed to find you? Wouldn't that mean losing the chance to enter the Underground Palace?"
The Little Key immediately swore oaths and made solemn vows, saying it would not leave. It had guarded this place for so long and had finally waited for someone to challenge the Underground Palace. If it let them go, it would be the only one to regret it.
Yunxi did not believe this glib-tongued key. So the instant Hei Yao released it, she drew it into her hand. Her hand, covered in Profound Thunder Purple Flame, gently pinched it while her other hand touched its wings, feeling a metallic texture beneath her fingers.
The Little Key immediately tucked away its black wings and pleaded:
"Ow! Fairy, have mercy! Your Exotic Flame will melt my wings."
Those wings were something it had smuggled out of the Artifact Refining Room because it had been too bored. They allowed it to reach any corner of the Underground Palace, and it could not find a second pair.
Only then did Yunxi withdraw her hand. Looking at the Little Key's black wings lying flat against either side of the Jade Token, she asked:
"Can you talk now?"
The Little Key cleared its throat and began recounting the origins of the Underground Palace:
"My former master was an exceedingly timid person. Yet he was born into a great clan and possessed excellent aptitude, so with the clan's resources supporting him, his cultivation journey went fairly smoothly. He also made several close friends.
"Unfortunately, good