In the little copse all was quiet for a long while before Li Luo and Qin Zhulu began to stir. They shook their heads to clear it.
“These are… gilded white-eyes…!” “You’re really something else, Qing’er,” Li Luo said to her admiringly. “You actually managed to sneak treasured artifacts in.”
The Golden Dragon Dao Fields had a quirky rule, which was that those who came in were not allowed to bring treasured artifacts from outside. That was why Li Luo and the others had all come in with ordinary resonant artifacts.
Suddenly Lu Qing’er had two gilded white-eyes with her. They had no idea how she had pulled it off.
She rolled her eyes at him. “I can’t work miracles like that. I just got these out of The Reservoir.”
Li Luo shook his head. “Come on, Qing’er, no need to treat us like strangers here. It’s not like we’re going to rat you out for this.”
Got them out of The Reservoir? That would be the real miracle. They had been right there with her as well. After so long, Li Luo had not seen many upper white-eyes, and not even a single gilded white-eye. Besides, the upper white-eye treasured artifacts were already priced at about 500 dao-gold. These two looked like they were four-digit-worthy. How could Lu Qing’er possibly have gotten that much dao-gold?
It was impossible that she could have “gotten” them.
Qin Zhulu nodded in reticent agreement.
“I’m not lying,” she said impatiently. I did get them out of The Reservoir. Besides these two, I also have this…” She showed them the icy jewel that immediately cooled the air around them.
“They were priced at 200 dao-gold apiece, so I only spent 600 dao-gold.”
Li Luo and Qin Zhulu shared a perplexed look. Lu Qing’er was looking serious, and she wasn’t the kind to be lying with a face like that.
But… 200 dao-gold for a gilded white-eye?
That was the sort of bargain only to be found for expiring cabbages.
“Er… what’s going on?” Li Luo frowned. Something was off.
“I don’t know either. But I suddenly saw a crevice in The Reservoir, and found these three inside,” Lu Qing’er explained.
“Could they be because of the half Golden Dragon Qi that you still have?” Qin Zhulu asked.
Lu Qing’er splayed her hands to signify her cluelessness.
Li Luo sighed. “We have been running rings inside these Dao Fields, but in truth it’s been running rings right back around my head.”
Doorstep delivery of such treasures. That was all too kind.
“But for whatever reason, they’re here now. No reason to throw them away,” Li Luo said. Hear hoofbeats, think horses not zebras. He would just accept them for now. They had a big battle up ahead, and these treasures would be very useful.
“That’s exactly what I thought,” Lu Qing’er nodded, handing over Lambent Hawkeye to Li Luo and Blacklight Panoply to Qin Zhulu.
“Test them out?”
Li Luo eagerly took Lambent Hawkeye with both hands. The limbs of the bow seemed to be made out of some white crystal that was hollowed inside to further reduce the weight and increase its draw. He could feel the spirit of the lambent hawk carved lovingly in every choice that had made the weapon. He pulled the string back, and the white gut bent obediently to the perfect tautness against his fingers. A little thrum of power tingled at his fingertip, and the cry of the lambent hawk could be faintly heard.
“Sweet weapon!”
Li Luo exclaimed. He could feel the power of this weapon on its own, and it was in harmony wiht his own light resonant energy.
Which became just a little more lively within him.
A simple pull of this bow was all it took for him to realize the difference from his shortswords and the silver-blue bow it made.
Resonant artifacts could never hope to cross the gulf of difference in ability.
While Li Luo was testing his bow out, Qin Zhulu was doing the same with Blacklight Panoply. The moment he donned it, he felt impregnable as an iron fortress. The black armor glinted with dark light as it shifted along with his body’s movements. Wearing it made him feel invulnerable.
With his black spear and this black armor, Qin Zhulu felt ten times stronger than before.
“Awesome!”
Qin Zhulu whooped. Although Blacklight Panoply was heavy, but physical strength had always been one of his better attributes. Not even the Third Changing Lin Suo could cut him down easily now, he believed.
And when the time came to face him, Qin Zhulu believed that this armor would allow him to go all out even more than before.
Lu Qing’er was also admiring her Sunless Globe, resting prettily on top of her ice silk glove. Its smooth surface rested snugly against the patterned lace.
Weng!
A navy blue ripple of frost energy bloomed from her glove, and its icy power was enough to send a thrill down the back of Li Luo’s neck. Lu Qing’er might only be a First Pattern, but the power he just saw was enough to cause a severe frostbite even to him, a Third Pattern.
Seemed like the Sunless Globe was quite the accent to her frost power.
“I think you can start accumulating more of those snow globes,” Li Luo grinned. “I’ve even thought of a good title for you. You will be… Empress Snowager.” “That sounds absolutely terrible,” she said flatly.
“The Popsicle Queen?”
“Is the Lambent Hawkeye making you allergic?” she asked sweetly. “Shall I take it back.”
Li Luo grinned and gave it another fond pat. “It’s just lovely, thanks. I’ll pay you back the price in skygold when we get back to Xia Kingdom.”
Lu Qing’er scowled at him. “If you talk any more nonsense, I’m going to get angry.”
“It’s a gilded white-eye!” Li Luo protested. “It’s too expensive.”
He knew that both his and Qin Zhulu’s gilded white-eye treasured artifacts had to be worth at least five million skygold back outside. It was no small sum.
“Isn’t getting treasured artifacts all to help me in the end?” Lu Qing’er said severely, ending the conversation. She rounded on Qin Zhulu, who was hesitating whether to speak. “And you shut your mouth too!”
Qin Zhulu was stung. He hadn’t even opened his mouth yet, so technically he could not shut it. Anyway, it was all Li Luo who started this, why was this his fault?! Lu Qing’er stomped out of the copse.
Li Luo watched her go and shrugged to himself with a helpless smile.
“So…” Qin Zhulu asked in a low voice. “We… keep the stuff?”
“Well, I guess Qing’er’s kindness should be accepted. Let’s do our best to get her a Golden Dragon Mountain writ as a return gift… Of course if you still feel bad you can pass me the money, and I’ll bring her out and spoil her with food and gifts.”
Qin Zhulu looked at him. “Li Luo.”
Li Luo sighed, then tucked Lambent Hawkeye away into his pocket sphere. Qin Zhulu did the same with his armor. These treasures were to be saved for the big fight, where they could provide a surprise factor.
The two walked out of the copse, when suddenly they heard a thunderous rumble from a valley quite a distance away.
Every single person in the vicinity of The Reservoir froze, and turned to the direction of the sound intently. It was where Golden Dragon Mountain was.
There was also a majestic whirlpool of worldly natural energy spinning lazily in the air above Golden Dragon Mountain. It was breathtaking.
“That’s the sign that the Golden Dragon Mountain writ is about to appear!” Lu Qing’er exclaimed.
Li Luo and Qin Zhulu watched on curiously.
As did every other person in the area. They all watched the energy vortex, which continued to gather and grow.
More than 10 minutes later.
Suddenly five beams of golden light rained down from the middle of the vortex, landing at the peak of the colossal Golden Dragon Mountain.
“The Golden Dragon Mountain writs are here!”
“There are five of them!”
“Go, go, go!”
“…”
Suddenly there was a mad rush at The Reservoir, as squads hurried to regroup and head over.
“Five Golden Dragon Mountain writs.”
Li Luo blew out a long breath of air, then turned to Lu Qing’er and Qin Zhulu.
“The fun’s about to begin. Let’s go too.”
“The goal is simple. If we can’t find dogs to feed Lin Suo to, we’ll just beat him up until he can fit in a kennel. And also, get a Golden Dragon Mountain writ!”
