“Brother Ye, are we going in or not?” Perhaps Gou Monan was overstimulated; he wasn’t the wealthiest of imperial kings, but he was still above average.
Yet even so, it had taken him a lot of hard work to collect his set of armor.
He took another look at Gu Luolin….
From her hat to her boots, all the way to the rings on her fingers, which of them wasn’t a treasure among treasures, even among divine artifacts? All of them were made by grandmaster artificers, with formations inscribed in them.
He couldn’t take it! If this went on, he couldn’t bear the jealousy!
“Let’s go in! In!” Ye Zichen called out with him.
“What for? I’m still not done with my introductions!” Gu Luolin blinked.
Ye Zichen was thoroughly convinced by this little tyrant; whether she was putting on airs or showing off, she always looked perfectly innocent.
But he couldn’t let her keep talking. If she did, never mind Gou Monan… Even he felt the urge to rob her blind!
“That set of equipment is enough, there’s no need for further introductions. Let’s hurry on in.” Ye Zichen tugged Gu Luolin forward, but he didn’t forget to add, “Your outfit’s too flashy. Can you turn off the special effects?”
“Oh, oh, okay!” Without the flashing lights, her equipment looked no different from ordinary clothing. No one would have guessed the secrets it hid. If they encountered whoever it was who’d gotten to the palace first, Gu Luolin’s armor might achieve unexpected effects.
The three of them entered the room. Gou Monan, clad in armor, led the way forward.
This room really was very different from the others. This was clearly evident from its dimensions alone. Also, there were six picture scrolls hanging from the walls. They weren’t masterpieces or anything. Five were drawings of children, while the sixth was blank.
They’d only just entered the room, so they didn’t dare recklessly walk up to examine the paintings. Who knew what traps the person who’d gotten there first had laid for them?
“It seems like there aren’t any other mechanisms,” said Gou Monan after carefully examining their surroundings.
It wasn’t just him. Ye Zichen didn’t sense the existence of any other traps, either. “There really aren’t any.”
“Shall we go take a look?” Gou Monan pointed at the hanging scrolls. Ye Zichen nodded, and, still on guard, the group walked forward to examine them.
They weren’t mistaken!
The paintings really were all of children between two and three years old, one child per scroll. One lay lazily on the ground, one jumped energetically after butterflies, one flashed an odd, slightly sinister smile, one peered out from behind a rock, showing only his head, while one was cold, sharp, and utterly proud.
Five children, all with starkly different personalities.
“These drawings are really lousy. I could do better.” Gu Luolin looked up.
To her surprise, Gou Monan merely snorted, “You’re the best!” Then, he turned and walked off to the side, as if he didn’t want to be near her.
“Why is he acting like that?” Gu Luolin said in confusion.
Ye Zichen glanced at Gou Monan. He couldn’t help but laugh, “He’s jealous of your wealth, I bet!”
“Jealous of what? I haven’t even displayed my wealth!” Gu Luolin still looked utterly innocent, but in truth, this wasn’t an act. That’s really how she felt.
Although Ye Zichen and Gou Monan didn’t know it, she had even better equipment she hadn’t taken out. Why did she use slightly inferior artifacts? It was because she was afraid her companions would think she was showing off!
The way she saw it, even a relatively poor-off adult ought to able to match her current get-up!
If Ye Zichen and Gou Monan knew what she was thinking, they might have really strangled her.
Poverty really restricted the imagination!
As Gou Monan investigated the rest of the room, Ye Zichen remained in front of the paintings, contemplating their deeper meaning.
Ye Zichen refused ot believe they were just hanging here for nothing!
The children depicted looked like toddlers, only two or three years old, but two of them had expressions that seemed entirely out of place on someone their age.
If these were painted from life, then the children in question were in no way simply.
At the very least, they had their own awareness, and it was quite clear, too.
“Brother Ye!” Just as Ye Zichen pondered the paintings, Gou Monan waved him over.
Ye Zichen walked over, and Gu Luolin followed.
“Look!” Gou Monan pointed at a bow hanging nearby. It seemed just like…
“The God-Smiting Bow!” Ye Zichen’s eyes narrowed; the God-Smiting Bow was ranked ninth on the divine artifacts armaments leaderboards. Its effect was just as its name implied: it smote gods.
Long ago, the God-Smiting Bow was an ultimate treasure ranked fourth on the leaderboards, but since its arrows were one-time-use only, after all its arrows were gone, it became only half as threatening.
Even without its original arrows, if they took a hit from the God-Smiting Bow, they were doomed.
“Did this fire those arrows just now?” Ye Zichen glanced toward the doorway. When he considered the possibility that it was the God-Smiting Bow that fired at them, he felt a trace of lingering terror. He turned to Gu Luolin and sighed over her ridiculously good luck.
If Ye Zichen had been even a little distracted, Gu Luolin might really be a meat skewer by now!”
“Most likely, yes!” Gou Monan nodded. Then, he narrowed his eyes and glanced at the door. “The God-Smiting Bow is a top treasure. Anyone capable of possessing it is sure to be a reputable great emperor. Setting a trap with the God-Smiting Bow and just leaving it here… If the targets die, that’s one thing, but if they don’t, the bow is sure to fall into someone else’s hands. To just leave a treasure like this here. Brother Ye, It seems we…”
“I know what you’re trying to say!” said Ye Zichen.
Gou Monan’s meaning was quite clear. Whoever had gotten here first didn’t even care about the God-Smiting Bow, which meant he’d already found the entrance to the palace treasury, and furthermore, that the entrance was in this very room.
“No matter what else happens, we didn’t come here in vain. Let’s claim the God-Smiting Bow.” Ye Zichen instinctively put it away, then turned to Gou Monan. “Brother Monan, are you interested in the bow?”
“You take it!” Gou Monan laughed heartily. “I have no attachments. I’m not like you, with a faction and subordinates. The God-Smiting Bow is used to defend cities. If I give it to you, you’ll likely get more use out of it.”
“Then I won’t hold back.” Ye Zichen put the bow into his spatial ring.
Gu Luolin scrunched up her brow. “Why didn’t you ask me?”
“You?” Ye Zichen tilted his head at her. “You just stay out of the way. You’re so rich, you’re practically leaking wealth. What do you need the God-Smiting Bow for?” Ye Zichen had already put the bow away. A treasure that could kill even imperial lords? This would become a powerful weapon against the primordial giant beasts!
