Do You Want It?

"What is this thing that can strengthen one's power?"

Jiang Lu was a little curious.

Chi Li shook its head. It could only roughly understand Cutie's meaning. As for what treasures were inside, even Cutie itself did not know; it had merely sensed the existence of treasures.

Jiang Lu nodded. No matter—she would find out once they went inside.

Looking at the increasingly dark and deep stone walls on either side, Jiang Lu knew that she had already left the outskirts of the Illusory Forest.

Yet this place was not dense woodland either. It seemed they had entered another region.

Although she had never studied formations, she knew this place had been concealed by one. They had been able to stumble in only because, as time passed, the energy at the formation eye had become insufficient to sustain the formation.

Only then had the formation vanished, exposing this place.

Because few people ever came here, the two of them had discovered it, and thus this stroke of fortune had fallen into their hands.

As they continued onward, the stone walls on both sides grew ever taller and narrower.

Then, cries rang out from the depths. The three of them stopped short—something was trapped inside!

The two men halted, their faces pale. The sound was terrifying; it made their hearts tremble and filled them with the urge to kneel and submit. After hesitating, they headed toward another fork in the path.

Jiang Lu turned to glance at them, then went straight toward the source of the sound.

Not long after she left, the two men poked their heads out.

"Big Brother, do you think she followed us here, or did she come on her own?"

The man's voice held lingering fear. They could not see through that cultivator's strength; she was surely far stronger than them.

"Whether she followed us or came by herself, she's not someone we can afford to provoke. Don't entertain thoughts you shouldn't."

"Big Brother, how would I dare?"

After saying that, the man shot his elder brother a look. His big brother thought far too highly of him.

Then the two of them squatted where they were, too afraid to leave.

That fork was also terribly cold. With their strength, neither of them could go down it.

Their faces were full of frustration. This was the inconvenience brought by being weak.

If they had been strong enough, they would have gone to investigate themselves long ago. They would not have had to make wedding clothes for someone else.

That cultivator was stronger than them, yet she had walked behind them and had not attacked them.

Either she had followed them here, or she was kind-hearted and simply did not consider them worth noticing.

They believed the first possibility was more likely.

They just did not know whether that cultivator could come out safely. If she did, then for the sake of them leading the way, they hoped she could give their Lineage some resources.

Although that was somewhat asking the impossible, for some reason, they simply felt they should stay this time.

Halfway through, Jiang Lu saw stone steps leading underground.

Without hesitation, she lifted her foot and walked down. The steps seemed endless, leading only into a deep, dark cave.

As she entered the cave, she saw patterns on the stone walls that told a story.

Jiang Lu walked while looking at the images above.

They roughly depicted a peerlessly talented genius born within a Lineage. While training abroad, she became the master of a divine bird. The two gradually began to rise to prominence, and the divine bird slowly became the guardian divine beast of that Lineage.

As the disciples of the Lineage rose to fame, the divine bird's strength gradually dissipated, and it sensed that something was wrong.

It turned out that its master had used a secret art to give the divine beast bloodline within its body to the Lineage's disciples to consume. Its bloodline was continuously extracted, leaving it weaker and weaker.

Meanwhile, the Lineage produced more and more prodigies, until in the end, they no longer needed it.

It was filled with hatred—hatred for failing to see people clearly, hatred for its master repaying kindness with enmity.

Thus, it bore ill will toward every member of that Lineage.

Its master had not known that a divine beast bloodline was unique to divine beasts. How could mortals possibly endure it?

Not long afterward, using the secret art as a medium, all the disciples exploded and died.

Not a single person in the entire Lineage survived. Its master also suffered backlash and perished because of it, while it too suffered backlash from using the secret art and was left barely alive.

It could be said that both sides had suffered grievous losses.

"Master, we won't treat each other like that, right?"

Chi Li's voice rang in Jiang Lu's mind.

When everyone encountered advertisements like "Are you a True Person?", there was no need to pay attention. Just close them, and do not scan codes or send text messages!

Sensing the fear of the three spirit beasts, Jiang Lu patted the cloth pouch.

"Of course not. We're family. We definitely won't be like them."

At that, Chi Li and Cangchen relaxed. Their master truly was different from other people. They had heard their seniors say that some humans, after contracting spirit beasts, made them toil like oxen and horses to seek benefits for themselves.

But their master would not. She even gave them delicious food, and whenever danger came, she always went first.

They were different!

Having thought it through, the two exchanged a look and proudly raised their heads.

Cutie did not understand why, but it raised its head along with them.

Warmth filled Jiang Lu's heart. These silly things.

As she drew closer and closer to the depths, the place carried not only a bone-chilling cold but also a trace of sinister energy.

Then Jiang Lu saw a huge altar.

The altar was oval-shaped, with nine chains upon it. All the chains connected to a stone pillar at the center of the altar.

Jiang Lu slowly approached.

All of a sudden—

The flames around the altar ignited at once, and the pitch-black cave instantly brightened.

Sensing a gaze upon her, Jiang Lu looked toward its source.

There, she saw a black figure in the distance.

Following that gaze, Jiang Lu looked over.

A pair of blue eyes was staring fixedly at her.

Jiang Lu fearlessly lifted her head and stared back.

"Human—"

"This is not a place you should have come to!"

Suddenly, it spoke.

"Not a place I should have come to? The formation outside has already broken. Sooner or later, someone would come here. I merely arrived before them."

Jiang Lu watched it, her Divine Sense vigilantly observing the surroundings as she spoke.

"What did you say? The formation has broken?"

That voice became even sharper, making Jiang Lu's ears ache.

Jiang Lu nodded, her tone provocative.

"That's right!"

At her words, black mist spilled from the figure and spread in every direction. The air around the altar became increasingly cold. Even wrapped in a layer of fire, Jiang Lu could still feel that chill seep into her.

"Detestable humans, you actually deceived me!"

"Back then, I gave half of my master's Lineage's resources to him and had him build this altar for me. I only needed to wait for the proper time, and I could recover from my injuries and reappear in the world."

"But now, the formation has been destroyed. I no longer have any chance of returning to the world!"

"Detestable—"

"Detestable—"

Jiang Lu immediately sealed her five senses as its furious voice echoed through the cave.

Jiang Lu blinked. She had not felt any harm at all.

Could it be unable to hurt her?

Only after venting for quite some time did it calm down. Looking at Jiang Lu, it asked,

"Human, did you come here for these countless magical treasures?"

"I don't know what you have. I merely had a premonition that there were treasures here and came to investigate."

Jiang Lu certainly could not admit it. To openly covet someone else's possessions right in front of them—she would have to be foolish to do that.

"Do you want them?"

Jiang Lu raised an eyebrow and said nothing, merely waiting for it to continue.

"Heh heh—"

"I can see that your strength is not high. Although I cannot harm you now, I can still trap you here."