Nobody said anything.
Only eight were left from the crowd of sixteen, making the house more spacious, but the tension was only getting heavier.
Eight people split up into three groups, creating a balance: the Ancient Jade Summit disciples, the three biggest aristocratic families, and the team of Lu Mingshu and Ying.
“Okay, so what should we do next?” Lu Mingshu started as if nothing just happened.
Hearing her, Ye Zhenyan and the rest wanted to give her a standing ovation. Acting as if nothing has happened after potentially offending Ling Wuxia?
Ling Wuxia was staring at her own hand quietly.
“What suggestions does Miss Lu have?” Ling Wuxia sounded as calm as ever, but if one was very observant, they could tell that she sounded a bit uptight.
“I’m still young and not as knowledgeable. I’ll do whatever Miss Ling says.”
Hearing this, everyone present felt the need to give her a slap on her face.
Ye Zhenyan rolled his eyes a million times. Oh wow, this girl. Comes to Beiming just to embarrass us and Ling Wuxia, and now she’s acting polite? Bitch!
Ying grinned and shook her head. I’m almost ten years older than this lunatic, and yet it seems like my years have been in vain….
“Well, okay then!” Ling Wuxia clapped her hands. “Since one round is down, the hint for the next round should already be out. Let’s search for it.”
This time around, the search was quiet. Everyone did what they were supposed to and nobody made a single noise.
Zhang Rulin was the one to break the silence; “Hey, look at this!”
He was pointing at the Buddha statue. The statue’s palm, which once held the wooden tablet, was now shining, and the light was flowing into the ground.
Wherever the light reached, it lit up the entire place.
When the light was underneath all eight of them, the house disappeared in the blink of an eye.
In a split second, everyone lost their balance and fell. The light then disappeared, and when the eight of them looked up again, the house was nowhere to be seen.
What was now in front of them was a hazy, continuous mountain peak, and the ground was covered with crushed rocks and loess.
Everyone initially suspected that this was part of Jasper Sun Mountain. However, after some observation, they realized it wasn’t. Jasper Sun Mountain was extremely high and magnificent, unlike this huge, gentle slope. There was a really huge difference.
“Why did he bring us here?” Over the past two days, Ying had picked up a habit, which was to ask Lu Mingshu about her opinion.
“Shush!” Lu Mingshu nudged her. “Listen, guys.”
The rest listened carefully to the surrounding. They could hear the sound of the wind and a drum-like rumbling sound.
“Water!” Ye Zhenyan shouted out loud.
The eight of them immediately went toward the sound, and within no time, they found a river moving down the slope. Like the Milky Way, it flickered with glitter on the surface, making a mad dash downstream to the river at the foot of the slope.
“Don’t tell me we have to go down there?” Ying muttered.
Hearing this, the Ye family brothers’ eyes lit up. Oooh~ water! That’s good! The water is where they had an advantage. During the group fight, they were at somewhat of a disadvantage.
“Hold up,” Junior Brother He started. “That’s not normal water.”
Everyone looked over at him.
Following beside Ling Wuxia quietly, his presence wasn’t very strong. However, as an elite of Ancient Jade Summit, he was definitely reliable and smart.
“That’s not normal water? Then what kind of water is it?” Ye Zhenyan huffed. The Ye Family was the ancestor of water, but even he didn’t notice it.
“Third Ye, you can try it with your silver leaf.” Ling Wuxia flashed him a smile.
Ye Zhenyan looked at her weirdly and threw Ye Mingguang a glance.
Ye Mingguang understood him and threw his silver leaf on the water, leaping onto it.
The next minute, everyone saw Ye Mingguang’s face change, and he seemed to be sinking into it. Fortunately, Ye Mingguang leaped back to the shore and kept his silver leaf in time.
“What happened?” Ye Zhenyan asked when Ye Mingguang returned to shore.
Ye Mingguang wiped the water off from his face. “It’s weird; the silver leaf couldn’t float.”
The Ye Family’s silver leaf could not only provide energy for the user, but it was also a spirit tool. The materials used, the method of forging, and runes carved on it… on the water, the silver leaf could already float even without the help of the user. With more refining, one could control it like his or her own limbs. The silver leaf was a major factor of the Ye Family’s success in water-based skills.
But this water made the silver leaf unable to float?
Ye Zhenyan refused to believe it. He tried it himself, but the results were the same.
“Why is this happening?” He looked at Ling Wuxia and her junior.
Ling Wuxia glanced over at Lu Mingshu, intentionally or otherwise. “This is the true Ming River!”
“The Ming River…” Ye Zhenyan frowned, deep in thought. Suddenly, he looked up in horror. “The Ming River of Youdu?”
Ling Wuxia nodded slowly. “Yes. The Ming River that leads to the capital of hell, Youdu.”
Ye Zhenyan went white. Youdu, the capital city of hell. Wasn’t it just a legend? Or did it really exist?
“But other than things being unable to float on it, there’s nothing unusual….”
“That’s just because this is only the surface,” Ling Wuxia slowly explained. “I’m guessing that this is still quite far from the main part of the Ming River.”
“So, what the hell does this got to do with us?” Huo Feng fidgeted impatiently. “Are we going to row there?”
“It shouldn’t be that simple.” Ling Wuxia hummed. “With our cultivation, it isn’t impossible for us to just fly straight there, but if that were the case, the test would be too easy.”
“Look!” Suddenly, Ye Mingguang called out to them.
The other seven looked toward the direction he was pointing, but all they could see was a dim ray of light flickering in the water as if it was coming from the bed of the river.
“There’s treasure in there?” Ying moved closer to have a better look.
Some exchanged glances, and Ling Wuxia raised her eyebrows. “Maybe.”
“So that means the Grandmaster wants us to hunt for treasure in the water?” Huo Feng frowned. “What’s there to test when we are just going to swim?”
Junior Brother He side-eyed him, eyes filled with arrogance. “Gentleman Huo, do you believe that it will be easy to come back up once you’ve entered the river?”
“Why not? Even if I don’t have a spirit tool, I have plenty of energy myself!” Huo Feng continued.
“Because…” Ling Wuxia chose to answer with action. She took a feather from her sleeve and covered it with mystic light.
The feather was thrown into the river. With the mystic light, it wasn’t swallowed up by the huge waves, but it slowly sank and disappeared into the river.
“Even a feather can’t float on the Ming River’s water. If we have to look for treasure down there, it’s indeed not an easy topic.”
The crowd kept quiet.
So in other words, there was basically no answer to this question?
Suddenly, they heard laughter. “Heh….”
It was from Lu Mingshu.
“You have an idea?” the girl in black asked.
Lu Mingshu held her hand out. A blob of water flew out of the river, landing on her palm. “Since we know this is the Ming River, have you all not heard of the saying?”
“Which one?”
“The water of the Ming River isn’t water at all.” She clasped her hand. Mystic light lit up before quickly disappearing. The blob of water soon turned into… gas?
The crowd stared at her in amazement.
Especially Junior Brother He. He was known to be very smart and knowledgeable, but he had never heard of this before.
After some time, he had a thought. “That’s just the outer layer. How can you be sure that it’s the same situation for the deeper parts too?”
“Try it then!” Lu Mingshu clapped her hand, and the mystic light landed on the river. In front of their eyes, the turbid water turned into gas.
Knowledgeable? No one in this world could be more knowledgeable than me!