Chronicles of Heaven's Chosen - Chapter 33

“Truly ugly.” Xie Yan looked at the longsword before him and tugged faintly at one corner of his mouth.

The Phantom Spirit Sword did not react.

It believed not only that Xie Yan had no taste, but also that it was the most beautiful sword in the world.

Inside the pavilion, the girl slowly opened her eyes. Though weak and bedraggled, the light in them remained undimmed.

After taking the seventh-grade healing pill, her injuries were gradually improving. Her mind had also begun to clear, no longer as muddled as before.

Yuan Yao naturally noticed Xie Yan. She stood warily with one hand braced against the pillar and called, “Phantom Spirit.”

The Phantom Spirit Sword immediately returned to her side.

“Fellow Daoist Xie.” Yuan Yao gave him a smile that did not reach her eyes.

Xie Yan chuckled, his tone unreadable. “Yaoyao?”

Her gaze changed.

He caught every flicker of her expression and clicked his tongue.

“You don’t need to lie to me. I have no interest in knowing a piece of trash’s real name.”

Yuan Yao snorted. “If you don’t care, why expose me?”

The instant she finished, Xie Yan appeared directly in front of her.

Yuan Yao raised her guard, only for him to turn abruptly and sit on a stone bench inside the pavilion.

His back faced her. The ends of his curling hair, threaded with several red strands, trembled faintly.

Yuan Yao had never looked closely before. Now that she did, she thought his hair was rather beautiful.

System 250’s voice sounded in her mind.

【Target Xie Yan’s Awakening Value has reached -96.】

Yuan Yao suddenly felt dizzy.

The more she looked at Xie Yan, the more irritating he seemed.

Standing behind him, she clenched a fist and mimed smashing it into the back of his head.

At that exact moment, Xie Yan turned to look.

Their eyes met, and the atmosphere abruptly became strange.

One second later, Yuan Yao slowly lowered her fist without changing expression. She looked around and pretended she had only been pounding her own back.

“You really enjoy attacking people from behind.”

“Do you like kicking people that much?”

“Do you no longer want your leg?”

“Who?! Who’s there?!” Yuan Yao suddenly cried.

She seized the Phantom Spirit Sword and shot out of the pavilion at astonishing speed.

Xie Yan was speechless.

A moment ago, she had resembled a fish on the verge of death. Now she was a monkey bouncing with life.

He watched her disappear, then pointed toward the pond.

A small mass of water splashed from its surface and appeared before him in the blink of an eye.

Xie Yan touched it with long fingers white as jade. Using the water as a medium, he traced a formation totem in midair.

The formation totem soon transformed into a tiny water dragon.

It sprang into the air and flew in a certain direction.

Xie Yan rose and followed it.

Now safely away from him, Yuan Yao carefully studied her surroundings.

Pavilions and towers rose everywhere, interspersed with artificial hills and strange stones. Lush plants filled the grounds with verdant life.

Was this the secret-treasure realm?

Then where was the secret treasure hidden?

Yuan Yao suddenly heard a sound and looked up sharply.

A long corridor stretched ahead. Something seemed to be waiting at its far end.

Following her instincts, she walked forward.

At the end of the corridor, she found a clear lake.

Something below seemed to be calling her.

Yuan Yao hesitated.

She had never left home to train before and lacked the experience to judge the situation.

Crouching beside the lake, she dipped a hand into the water.

Water slipped between her pale fingers and splashed back across the surface.

At the same time, the feeling in her heart grew much stronger.

Something was calling to her with desperate urgency.

Yuan Yao drew a deep breath.

She stared at the lake, cast aside her hesitation, and jumped in.

Splash!

Her whole body sank beneath the surface. Icy water pressed against her skin, making her unhealed wounds burn sharply.

She swam downward.

The lake grew dark below.

The deeper she went, the harder it became to breathe. Yuan Yao took a high-grade Water-Repelling Pearl from her storage space and hung it around her neck.

Her breathing immediately eased.

She continued downward, but the lake seemed bottomless.

An hour passed, and there was still no sign of the bottom.

Whenever Yuan Yao considered giving up, the strange sensation would intensify again.

Another quarter-hour passed before she finally saw the lakebed.

An intricate formation totem covered the ground below. At its center lay an oval object bound by countless chains and sealed beneath three Saint-grade talismans.

At a glance, Yuan Yao knew this unidentified object was the thing that had been calling to her.

She tried to approach, but a powerful invisible force pushed her back.

She tested it several times, yet could not get any closer.

The formation totem was repelling her.

Did she have to break the formation first?

Yuan Yao fell silent.

She knew her own strength very well.

There was no chance she could break this formation by herself.

For some inexplicable reason, she thought of asking Xie Yan for help, but immediately dismissed the idea.

That man would never help her.

Steadying herself, Yuan Yao swung the Phantom Spirit Sword at the formation below.

Boom!

The formation reflected the blade’s power back at her. At the critical moment, she raised her sword to block, but the force still drove her backward. The taste of blood rose in her throat.

Yuan Yao covered her aching chest, coughed hard, then addressed the unidentified object.

“I can’t break the formation. Come out by yourself!”

It immediately conveyed that it could not.

“You can’t do it, but you think I can?”

The unidentified object had no answer.

“I can’t either.” Yuan Yao gave up all pretense of trying. “I can’t help you. I’ll be leaving first.”

She turned and began swimming upward.

The unidentified object seemed stunned.

—Come back!

Yuan Yao sensed its call but pretended not to notice and kept swimming.

The oval object, wrapped in countless chains, began shaking violently. Its movement disturbed the surrounding water.

Currents surged and pressed Yuan Yao back down.

Boom!

A torrent struck her head-on and sent her plummeting.

Yuan Yao lost her temper.

“Enough! If you’re so capable, get out by yourself! Stop dragging other people down with you!”

Instead, the unidentified object shook even harder. The entire lake began to churn violently.

Currents battered, squeezed, and tossed Yuan Yao around. Even with the Water-Repelling Pearl, she still swallowed several mouthfuls of water.

No matter how hard she tried, she could not swim back up.