The Foresaken Valley, Heavenly Star Empire.
"Is this it?" Standing in the great canyon, Zhong Hua looked at the trail of the fading waterfall coming from above the mountains and then turned to look at her forr maid for confirmation.
Xu Lan looked at the map in her hands with serious contemplation before finally raising her head. "According to the map we purchased at the auction house. This place is indeed the marked valley we had been looking for."
With a smile, Zhong Hua turned back to face the waterfall with an excited glint in her clear ocean-blue eyes.
They looked so divine that the whole world seed to be reflected in them. Her eyes rippled like a clear lake whenever they moved.
"Miss," Xu Lan called out hesitantly, her voice carrying a hint of curiosity that she had been suppressing for days. "May I ask you sothing?"
Zhong Hua glanced back at her, raising an eyebrow. "Go ahead."
"At the auction house, there were dozens of maps being sold. So were claid to be the maps to ancient sect ruins, others promised to lead to immortal caves, and a few even guaranteed divine weapons." Xu Lan paused, carefully analyzing the map using her eyes and fingers. "Yet you chose this one without hesitation. You didn’t even bid on the others."
She stepped forward, her expression serious. "What was so special about this map? We even spent most of our allowance we had received from the family stones on this worn-out map."
Zhong Hua remained silent for a mont, her gaze fixed on the waterfall. The sound of cascading water echoed through the canyon, filling the silence between them.
Then she smiled—a mysterious, almost playful smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
"I was feeling lucky," she said simply, her tone light and cryptic. "Sotis you just know when sothing is ant for you."
"Feeling lucky?" Xu Lan repeated, her brow furrowing. "Miss... are you dumb?"
"Fufu! Xu Lan, only you would dare to speak to in that way, and you should start to address properly now, shouldn’t you?" Zhong Hua did not take offense at her words; after all, she was used to the bitter tongue of her forr maid.
Her honesty was one of the reasons she kept her as her maid before.
Zhong Hua turned around and leaned in closer to Xu Lan’s ears and whispered under her breath, "Call , Se-ni-or Sis-ter~"
Her voice, filled with allure and tease, only managed to annoy the maid.
Xu Lan swatted her hand and bowed. "Indeed, Senior Sister Zhong. I was wrong."
Her cold voice made Zhong Hua freeze. She leaned back to see her indifferent gaze looking at her in a condescending manner. "You should behave according to your stature as well, ’Senior Sister.’ "Be mindful of yourself."
"Ah, co on, Xu Lan. I am sorry, okay. Don’t treat like a stranger." Zhong Hua instantly relented and threw herself into the arms of her junior sister. She rubbed up against Xu Lan until the latter did not accept her apology.
Xu Lan glanced at the map before passing it to Zhong Hua, "and here I thought you gave up on gambling."
"Hey! I am not a gambling addict. It’s not gambling if you know you will win."
Zhong Hua then turned silent; she stayed quiet for a long mont.
In truth, she didn’t know how to explain what had happened at the auction house.
The mont the auctioneer had brought out that worn, seemingly ordinary map, her eyes had reacted.
She sensed a familiar energy coming off from it; the only ti she ever sensed that energy was whenever she activated her Clear Heaven Eyes.
It was as if the map itself were alive, and it recognized sothing in her eyes. Or perhaps her eyes recognized sothing in it.
Now with the map once more in her hands, she activated her eyes and looked at it once more.
The marks, which were not visible before, appeared out of nowhere. Following the marks, she looked away from the mountain with the waterfall and turned her attention to the ridge, covered in moss, trees, and vines.
The whole peak below the cliff looked like a wild ss soone would stay away from.
But her eyes saw past the ugliness on the outside. She moved in the direction of the peak.
Although confused, Xu Lan also followed along.
Zhong Hua suddenly paused at the base of the hill. She cleared the moss before her with qi and noticed a symbol similar to the one she had seen on the map.
An eye shrouded with mist and glowing from within.
Unconsciously she felt drawn to the symbol and touched it with her hands.
Grrrr!!
Before she could react, half of the mountain started to move. A massive gate appeared into existence before it creaked open, as if making way for Zhong Hua to enter.
Clank!
"Roarrrrr!!"
The mont those gates were opened, a deafening roar of a beast echoed from the inside, sending chills down the spine of the two girls.
"You will win, huh?" Xu Lan mocked, or at least tried to, but her voice trembled like never before.
Zhong Hua gulped down her saliva of panic and said, "Co, let’s go. Now that we have co this far. We cannot turn back."
Monts after the two walked into the secret place hidden inside the canyon, a group of masked n stepped out of the woods in the distance.
"Boss, do we follow them?"
"What else? Do you think we will ever co across such an opportunity again? Not only can we claim those two fairies for ourselves, but we can also take the legacy for ourselves."
Without wasting any ti, they rushed without even thinking, only to realize that there was no backing out when the gates closed in behind them on their own.
***
At the sa ti, back in the Feng Empire.
In a place where blood flowed instead of water and bones rose from the ground instead of trees and mountains, one of the most feared demonic organizations was located.
A place where all the unorthodox sects were gathered. A place where rcy was long lost and survival of the fittest was the daily mantra.
The Heavenly Demon Cult.
User Comments
0 comments from readers