Angel said nothing. He merely gazed quietly at Xixia.
Xixia grew a little unnerved under his stare, feeling as though Angel had already guessed what was on her mind.
After all, she was the one who had suddenly changed her mind. Xixia could not bring herself to say anything, so she turned her head away awkwardly and avoided Angel's gaze. "If there's nothing you want to know, then I'll rest for a while..." Or rather, calm the sudden cowardice welling up within her.
As Xixia's voice fell, the Dark Mist spread throughout the palace slowly gathered, seemingly about to completely envelop Xixia upon the throne.
Just as Xixia's figure was about to sink into the darkness, Angel spoke. "Then let's talk about the treasures?"
"The treasures?" Xixia stopped controlling the black mist. After hesitating for a moment, she looked at Angel.
"You mean these treasures?"
With a light wave of her hand, four items appeared before her—
A dark crystal ball, a piece of parchment sewn along its edges yet still somewhat wrinkled, a vine staff giving off a faint glow, and an unadorned slate-gray stone tablet.
These four treasures were precisely the toll his companions had paid Xixia to pass through.
"Yes, let's discuss these." Angel paused. "Of course, if you'd rather discuss treasures in your collection that hold particular meaning and are especially unusual, that would also be fine."
Xixia said warily, "If you want to discuss treasures from my collection, fine. But you must first trade other treasures for them. Once they belong to you, I'll talk about them."
"Surely you don't expect me to trade with you first just to discuss these four treasures?"
"That won't be necessary, but..." Xixia looked at Angel suspiciously. "You don't seem to know your teammates all that well either?"
"The