Beyond the stone door lay a spacious stone chamber. Moonlight stones embedded in the walls gave off a gentle glow, their soft white light illuminating the entire cavern.
A stone chair stood in the center of the chamber, with a skeleton slumped against it. Its skull had rolled down beside its stark white thighbones. Coupled with the chill of a place long untouched by daylight, it lent the entire chamber an eerie air of deathly stillness.
At the sight of those remains, Xiao Yi Xian's heart inexplicably trembled. For a fleeting moment, she seemed to glimpse a shadow of her own future. A chill rose from the depths of her heart, and she instinctively folded her arms across her chest, drawing her shoulders inward.
With his back to her, Xia Kong failed to notice this slight movement. His gaze had already passed over the skeleton and settled on the three locked stone boxes atop a bluestone platform.
Everything here matches my memories exactly. No unforeseen variables. Excellent.
Before long, the other things in the cavern caught Xiao Yi Xian's attention, allowing her to temporarily forget her fear of the skeleton and death.
The first things that caught her eye were the heaps of glittering coins and other gold and silver valuables piled in three corners of the cave.
"Gold coins? This many gold coins must amount to hundreds of thousands! I've never seen so many before!!!"
Seeing Xia Kong's indifferent expression and complete lack of temptation, Xiao Yi Xian instead felt that her own reaction had been rather greedy and vulgar. She playfully stuck out the tip of her tongue.
Then, noticing that Xia Kong's attention was on neither her nor the gold coins, she followed his gaze and spotted a small medicine garden built from piled earth in another corner.
Within the garden, exotic flowers and herbs of every color flourished in a dazzling display, their strange, rich medicinal fragrance slowly spreading through the stone chamber.
"They even planted so many spiritual herbs here!"
Delighted surprise flashed in Xiao Yi Xian's eyes. She hurried to the Medicine Garden and bent down to examine it closely.
"Purple-blue leaf, white spirit ginseng fruit, snow lotus seed..."
Her beautiful eyes widened as she softly recited the names of the spiritual herbs. Every one of them was an exceedingly rare treasure in the outside world, hard to obtain even for a thousand gold.
"Ice spirit flame grass!!"
Xiao Yi Xian's voice suddenly rose, and after speaking, she stole a glance at Xia Kong's expression.
Yet she discovered that Xia Kong was paying no attention to her at all, nor did he care about these precious herbs. The young man was currently crouched beside that unnerving skeleton, fiddling with its bones.
He doesn't care about money or those precious medicinal herbs, and he's even ignoring me, all just to fiddle with that skeleton???
He can't have some bizarre fetish, can he?
A wave of revulsion chilled Xiao Yi Xian's heart. Her gaze grew more guarded as she looked at Xia Kong, privately wondering whether following this man from now on might be far too dangerous.
"Hey, Xia Kong! What are you doing? How are we going to divide these herbs?"
Xia Kong removed several rust-covered keys from between the skeleton's finger bones, then looked up at the expectant Xiao Yi Xian and said calmly, "These herbs are of no use to me. They're all yours."
At his words, Xiao Yi Xian was both surprised and delighted, her emotions churning.
These spiritual herbs were rarely seen in the world, and their value was no less than that heap of gold. Yet Xia Kong had simply given them away without keeping even a fraction. She truly could not understand what he was planning.
Still, doubts aside, with him showing such tremendous sincerity, she could hardly accept everything with a clear conscience.
"Then it's settled. All the herbs are mine, and everything else, including those gold coins, belongs to you!"
"As you say."
The smile at the corner of Xia Kong's mouth was unmistakable as he readily agreed. Right before Xiao Yi Xian's eyes, he reached into a gap in the skeleton's arm bones, drew out an ancient-looking scroll, and stored it in his backpack inventory.
Curiosity stirred in Xiao Yi Xian's heart. She very much wanted to know what secrets the scroll contained. But their division of the spoils had already been agreed upon, and the item belonged to Xia Kong, so she could hardly press him with questions.
Xia Kong was very curious about just what expression of regret and sorrow Xiao Yi Xian would wear if she later learned that this fragmentary map was connected to the legacy of a Nine-Star Dou Saint.
Before long, Xiao Yi Xian had harvested and properly stored all the spiritual herbs in the Medicine Garden. She walked over to the platform and drew closer to look on curiously.
Holding the keys, Xia Kong opened the three stone boxes one by one.
When the first stone box opened, an ancient-looking scroll lay quietly inside, recording the high-grade Profound Tier Dou Technique, Mad Lion's Roar. This high-grade Profound Tier Dou Technique had received little mention in the original story. It primarily used Dou Qi to drive sound waves into attacks and possessed considerable power, but its requirements for cultivation were also quite high. Xia Kong skimmed through it, then put the Dou Technique scroll away, intending to study it carefully later.
When he opened the second box, the High Xuan Tier Flying Dou Technique lay quietly within-Eagle Wings, more commonly known as Purple Cloud Wings. Crafted from the wings and soul of a fifth-rank magic beast, the Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle, through a special secret method, it was precisely what Xia Kong had come here determined to obtain.
When the third stone box was opened, a seven-colored scroll shimmering with radiant hues appeared before them.
Xia Kong did not reach for it. Instead, with a hint of amusement in his eyes, he turned to look at Xiao Yi Xian beside him.
"This Seven-Colored Poison Scripture is of no use to me, but it happens to suit your constitution perfectly. Still, we just agreed that everything in the stone boxes belongs to me. What do you intend to offer me in exchange?"
Xiao Yi Xian froze on the spot.
Although she had earned a modest reputation in Qingshan Town, the storage ring on her hand and the rare herbs she had just acquired had all been given to her by Xia Kong moments ago. Apart from those, she had nothing to her name. What could she possibly offer in exchange for this peerless Poison Scripture?
Surely I can't offer myself in exchange? Although she did not look down on women of the pleasure quarters, knowing that most had little control over their circumstances, she would rather die than fall into such a situation herself.
"Uh... I really don't have anything worthwhile to offer right now. How about..."
Xiao Yi Xian stopped halfway through. On the one hand, she truly had nothing to bargain with. On the other, she was faintly curious about what Xia Kong could possibly want from her apart from her person.
"Since you have no valuables to offer, agree to one condition of mine."
Xia Kong wore a teasing expression as his gaze swept down the young woman's delicate figure. He actually looked rather frivolous.
"You! I'll never agree to your outrageous demands!"
Both embarrassed and angry, Xiao Yi Xian's pretty face flushed crimson. Her mind had already begun conjuring all sorts of indecent scenes against her will.
"Don't worry. You'll definitely agree to this condition," Xia Kong said with certainty.
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"
Xiao Yi Xian waved her hands repeatedly, quietly stepping backward. She slowly edged toward the cavern's exit, already preparing to flee at any moment.
Could he be cut from the same cloth as Mu Li? Was all his earlier gentleness just an act? Now that he's obtained the treasure, is he finally going to tear off his hypocritical mask and bare his fangs?
But why was he so gentle and considerate toward me before??? Why waste those resources, give me a storage ring, and do so many unnecessary things?
Xiao Yi Xian simply could not make sense of it.
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