Before he could finish speaking, a short piece of wood suddenly appeared in Wang Xian's palm.
The wood was only two inches long, its entire surface dark and covered in fine, ring-like lines. At first glance, it seemed utterly ordinary.
But the instant it appeared, the air around them suddenly went still.
Like a flame suddenly rising from a dark abyss, like a solitary lamp abruptly lighting up at the end of a long night...
A gleam of dark golden light seeped from deep within the wood grain. It wasn't dazzling, yet seemed able to pierce layer upon layer of mist and reach the depths of the soul.
That gleam shone in Wuyue's eyes.
Wang Xian felt his hand suddenly go empty. Wuyue had snatched the wood away.
"Ah!!!"
A shriek, so sharp it nearly cracked, shattered the silence by the pool.
Wuyue's eyes, usually tinged with languor and scorn, were now wide as saucers, her pupils contracted to pinpoints as she stared fixedly at the piece of wood in her palm.
Her fingers trembled—not with fear, but with a near-manic excitement.
"So... so it's been in your hands all along..."
Her voice shook, every word seeming to be wrenched from deep in her throat as she cried, "Heavens! You idiot! You... you wasteful, ignorant fool!"
Caught off guard by her sudden, violent reaction, Wang Xian opened his mouth.
"I mean, what are you—"
"Wait!"
Wuyue abruptly raised her head, her eyes blazing with an alarming light. The phantom formed from her wisp of undying Divine Soul shuddered violently, like a boulder thrown into a still pool.
She shrieked, "There's no time! Now!"
Wang Xian instinctively tried to take a step forward, but she swept her hand like a gale...
The heaps of heavenly treasures on the ground—all the rare