Treasure

A soft, warm sensation suddenly touched his hand, giving Xiao Yan a start. Below the cliff, a pair of dark eyes looked up at him.

Their eyes met, and only after taking in her attire did Xiao Yan recognize Xiao Yi Xian, the woman who had organized this herb-gathering expedition.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there."

Xiao Yan withdrew his hand on his own and gave her an awkward smile.

"It... it's all right. Could you give me a hand up?"

Xiao Yi Xian responded politely, her request tinged with embarrassment.

"Of course. No problem."

Xiao Yan took her hand again and, with a slight exertion of strength, pulled her up onto the edge of the cliff.

"Thank you."

Without stopping to say much more, Xiao Yi Xian quickly took out her tools and picked the red fruit, taking care not to damage its roots or stem so it could grow again in the future.

"You looked like you wanted this fruit too. Do you know what it is?"

Xiao Yi Xian brought the fruit over and held it out to Xiao Yan.

"Well, I don't know anything about medicinal properties or identifying herbs. I just thought this fruit smelled incredibly fragrant, so it had to be something valuable. I didn't expect to run into you, Miss Xiao Yi Xian."

Xiao Yan told her exactly what he had been thinking. Although he was very interested in alchemy, he had no way of even getting his foot in the door without someone to guide him.

"I see. This is called a Red-Eye Fruit. It looks like a red eyeball and usually grows on sheer cliffs. Flying magical beasts love it.

"This fruit is wonderfully sweet and fragrant, and it can be used in medicine. At the Myriad Medicine Pavilion, a single one could sell for four thousand gold coins."

Xiao Yi Xian explained the fruit to Xiao Yan. Four thousand gold coins was indeed no small sum.

But considering that it could only be gathered in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, that amount hardly seemed like much.

"Everyone who finds it gets a share. This fruit is worth four thousand gold coins, so once we return to the Myriad Medicine Pavilion, I'll give you two thousand as compensation. Is that all right?"

Xiao Yi Xian was fairly scrupulous about following the rules, and this was not something exceptionally rare anyway.

"Of course. If I kept it, who knows when I might just munch on it like a pear?"

Seeing Xiao Yan agree to her proposed split, Xiao Yi Xian seemed to breathe a secret sigh of relief.

"Then let's go. We should head back."

Xiao Yi Xian seemed rather anxious, her eyes occasionally stealing glances down the cliff beside them.

"There's no need to hurry so much, is there? Besides, I'm curious. Why were you down there?"

Xiao Yan asked as though casually, yet perhaps deliberately. His words suddenly made Xiao Yi Xian tense up.

"I... I just happened to spot some herbs down there, so I climbed down along the rocks to pick them."

Xiao Yan nodded, seemingly without much suspicion. Just as Xiao Yi Xian finally breathed a sigh of relief, he asked another question.

"Then what's that packet of white powder you're clutching?"

The instant Xiao Yan spoke, Xiao Yi Xian acted decisively and flung the powder at him.

Yet when the normally infallible Sleep Powder dispersed, Xiao Yan was still standing there without having budged an inch.

"How is that possible? Even a seven- or eight-star Dou Zhe would pass out after breathing it in. Why are you still awake?"

Xiao Yi Xian's eyes widened. The strength this fellow had displayed was clearly only that of a four-star Dou Zhe. Why had her poison powder failed?

"This stuff might work against low-star Dou Zhe, but it's not even as good as the Ao Ba Family's Qi-Sealing Powder."

Xiao Yan took the opportunity to glance down the cliff. Beneath the jagged rocks lay scattered, oddly shaped trees and the bones of birds and beasts.

But a closer look revealed that the rocks linked together, looking more like a descending staircase that led straight to some hidden place.

While Xiao Yan was studying what lay below, Xiao Yi Xian suddenly lashed out, kicking at his crotch.

With only the strength of a One-Star Dou Zhe, she could only attack Xiao Yan using the most underhanded means she could think of.

But she moved too slowly. Though Xiao Yan moved later, he intercepted her first, and her shapely leg struck his foot. Pain twisted her beautiful face.

Xiao Yan followed through and knocked her down, closing one hand around her neck. "Why did you attack me?"

"Hmph! I just don't like the look of you!"

Xiao Yi Xian's rosy lips curled slightly as she spoke viciously.

Just then, Xiao Yan's expression changed, and his gaze instead roamed over Xiao Yi Xian's body with a hint of lecherous insolence.

"Tsk, tsk. This really is a nice spot. Even if someone did something bad here, no one would find out, would they?"

Xiao Yi Xian immediately understood what Xiao Yan meant, and her pretty face flushed red.

"If you're confident you can handle the dozens of mercenaries out there, go ahead and try!" Xiao Yi Xian snorted angrily.

"Your breasts aren't perky enough, and your backside isn't curvy enough. Aside from that face and waist being top-notch, I'm afraid I really can't work up any interest." Xiao Yan released Xiao Yi Xian. "You know, when you're weak, your threats look like nothing more than coy pleading to other people."

Then Xiao Yan let go of Xiao Yi Xian and walked to the cliff's edge. "What's down there?"

"I don't know. If you don't leave right now, I'm going to call for help. If anyone finds out you treated me like this, you'll never make it out of the Magical Beast Mountain Range!"

"Go ahead, shout. The more people come, the more helpers we'll have to scout the way down."

At this point, Xiao Yan's tone suddenly turned cold and fierce. "And forget those few dozen mercenaries. Even if you called everyone in Qingshan Town over, I could slaughter them all by myself."

At that moment, Xiao Yi Xian was actually cowed by Xiao Yan's imposing presence and instinctively took a step back.

"Fine, I'll tell you. There's a hidden cave down there. I stumbled across it once while gathering herbs."

"So you wanted to go inside and have a look just now?" Xiao Yan asked.

Xiao Yi Xian nodded. "Unfortunately, it's too steep down there. I can't get in."

Then Xiao Yi Xian looked nervously at Xiao Yan again. "Don't even think about keeping everything for yourself, or I'll call everyone else over."

Xiao Yan glanced at her. "Is this what you're really like? Playing with poison and throwing out threats every few sentences? It's hard to connect you with the Xiao Yi Xian everyone talks about."

"Hmph! In a world like this, how could a truly innocent woman survive this long? Besides, these ways of protecting myself don't clash with my love of treating illnesses and saving people, do they?"

Deeply displeased with Xiao Yan's assessment, Xiao Yi Xian immediately argued back.

"All right, then whatever we find

"inside, we'll split equally. I'll take you down."

He now possessed the strength of a Da Dou Shi, after all. Simply jumping between the rocks would not be particularly difficult.

"Let's leave it for now. I've been away too long this time. Mu Li will start getting suspicious. Let's find somewhere here to rest for the night, then meet back here after dark," Xiao Yi Xian suggested.

"Fine, fine. Since you found it, you call the shots. We'll each take half the treasure inside."

Looking at the cave below, Xiao Yan felt excitement stir within him. Ever since his days in Wutan City, he had longed to go adventuring and hunt for treasure. He had never imagined that such a perfect opportunity would present itself the moment he entered the mountains.

If he had not already made an agreement with Xiao Yi Xian, he would have gone down to explore right away.

But Xiao Yan was a man of his word. Having promised to split it equally, he would never go back on that.

Watching her graceful figure disappear into the darkness, Xiao Yan reined in his excitement and followed her back to camp.