His intuition didn’t betray him.
Just as Gu Li shouted that she couldn’t go on, Ye Zichen’s divine awareness picked up on a path: it really did exist.
However, it was still quite some distance away. They kept traveling, Gu Luolin complaining the whole time, until finally, they reached the entrance.
“It’s in here, right? There’s no mistake!” Gu Luolin’s little head drooped. The passage was small, just wide enough to accommodate three people walking side-by-side.
Pure elemental essences seemed to smack them right in the face; the passage was like a vent. The elemental essences all came in through it.
Such a surge of elemental power made Ye Zichen even more convinced that this was the place Qing Lan spoke of. He nodded at Gu Luolin, then led the way inside.
“There’s nothing special about this place!” Gu Luolin muttered off to the side. Nothing strange happened even after they stepped into the tunnel.
No wisened expert or heavenly and earthly phenomena appeared to herald their good fortune like in the family’s archives. There was no embodiment or incarnation of good fortune at all.
“This is definitely the place,” said Ye Zichen with incomparable certainty. That was because he’d just discovered five scrolls hanging from the walls. They were identical to the ones they’d seen earlier.
Remember, back then, Ye Zichen had examined the scrolls thoroughly, right down to the smallest detail. He remembered them all with the utmost clarity, and these scrolls were exactly the same.
But Ye Zichen couldn’t help but wonder: the earlier scrolls were a means for trial-goers in the mausoleum to open the secret passage. So what were these identical scrolls here for…?
Could there be yet another secret passage?
That seemed rather unlikely!
Even if there was yet another obstacle waiting for them, it shouldn’t have been the exact same type as before!
Suddenly, just as Ye Zichen and Gu Luolin examined the scroll paintings, a surging wave of heat suddenly blew in through the drafty tunnel.
It was as blazingly hot as a volcanic eruption, hot enough to evaporate every last drop of water in their bodies.
Ye Zichen hurriedly placed a barrier in front of them, but then….
“Who are you?”
A voice echoed throughout the tunnel, emanating from all directions. Ye Zichen couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Gu Luolin, however, broke into a grin.
This was more like it!
That nothing strange had happened thus far seemed off; it was nothing like the books she’d read.
Now that a mysterious voice had appeared out of nowhere, the tunnel finally seemed like the kind of place they might encounter good fortune.
“Senior, we wound up here by accident. If you disturbed you, we can leave right away.”
How long had it been?
Gu Luolin had forgotten how long she’d wanted this. Ever since she first started reading the archive’s ancient tomes, she’d fantasized about the day when she too could say such words. According to the typical order of events in stories, this mysterious senior was about to tell her that they were here because it was their fate.
Then, the senior would say that they didn’t have long left to live, or perhaps, that they were nothing but a remnant, a mere wisp of an expert’s soul.
In any event, they were fated to meet the expert and receive their inheritance!
Then, the expert would enlighten them. After receiving the expert’s inheritence, they’d acquire a mighty martial art, then go out and punish the wicked and spread goodness and virtue…
Or perhaps the senior in question had an enemy, and they’d go out and get revenge on his behalf. Perhaps, from this day forth, the world of cultivators would rain blood.
The whole world would know of her, Gu Luolin. She would no longer be the young miss of her family, a child living in her parents’ shadows. No, she would be respected throughout the world in her own right, someone people toadied up to and fawned over, a mighty warrior….
It would be just grand!
Gu Luolin tilted her head and covered her mouth with both hands. From the look in her eyes, it was clear she’d sunk completely into fantasy.
Alas….
“Oh oh? You came in by accident? Alright, then hurry up and leave. Ol’ Four has a bad temper, and if he finds out you trespassed, he’s sure to punish you.” The same voice as before appeared, but its words were different from what Gu Luolin had managed. Worse, it was telling them to leave.
Disillusioned, Gu Luolin’s expression froze, and she stood there in a daze.
“You…” Ye Zichen stared at her, at a loss for words.
Gu Luolin looked utterly aggrieved. “But that’s what all the books say! In books, people fall off cliffs yet miraculously survive, and wind up somewhere new by coincidence. That’s what they always say before receiving an inheritance and becoming strong! Why is it different this time?”
Ye Zichen promptly facepalmed. This plot was far too familiar; Wuxia novels were full of this exact contrivance.
It was immediately obvious that the girl had read so many Wuxia, they’d rotted her brain. But where exactly had she gotten ahold of them?”
“Little Princess, those are all fabrications! Stories! Take this seriously!” Ye Zichen shrugged, looking exasperated.
Then, the same voice rang out once more. “Why aren’t you leaving? I told you, Ol’ Four’s temper is really bad!”
Ye Zichen took a deep breath, glared at Gu Luolin, warning her not to speak again, then said, “I am this era’s bearer of the North Star, the Emperor Star, Ye Zichen. The Third Era is coming to a close, and for the sake of helping the era transcend, I’ve come here in search of transcendent fortune.”
“The master of the Emperor Star?” The voice paused, stunned. Then, a streak of fire shot right towards them.
When the flames dispersed, a toddler, perhaps two or three years old, stepped forth. When Ye Zichen saw him, he instantly grew serious; the boy was none other than the one chasing a butterfly in the painting, as well as the one Gu Luolin described as “fire” when they opened the secret passage.
“You’re the Emperor Star?” The boy’s voice was youthful, and he floated in the air, his eyes level with Ye Zichen’s. His dark eyes darted around, looking Ye Zichen up and down. “Then why did you say you came here by accident?”
“When she was little, this girl loved to run off, and one day, someone slammed a door on her head. She’s been a bit stupid ever since,” said Ye Zichen, pointing at Gu Luolin’s head.
“Someone slammed a door on your head, not mine!” Gu Luolin raised her leg to kick Ye Zichen, but then, he watched as she went and did something even stupider. “What a cute little boy! Oh, if only my mom had given me a little brother!”
Gu Luolin then reached out and gently patted the boy’s head, her eyes doting as she pulled him into her arms.
When Ye Zichen watched this, he froze in shock. She was the one who’d just talked nonsense and almost gotten them kicked out, but now she was…
But against all expectations, the boy didn’t resist or struggle. His eyes lit up with wicked glee as he wormed his way deeper into her embrace, tickling her and making her giggle.
“What a little perv!” Ye Zichen stared and muttered to himself.
Gu Luolin, meanwhile, was busy squeezing the boy’s little cheeks. “What’s your name? Why are you here? How about you come home with me? We’re rich, you know!”
“I’m a fire essence spirit. Go home with you…? Yes, yes…!” The fire elemental essence spirit nodded in delight. He represented fire, one of the five elements, and it was he who’d brought with him that first wave of flames. However, in Gu Luolin’s arms, he carefully controlled his temperature, and obediently leaned into…
Her chest!
“An elemental essence spirit! That means that fire essence listens to everything you say, right?”
“But of course,” said the essence spirit with a proud nod. Then, he hooked his finger, and the ambient fire elemental power heeded his call and gathered around him.
“Wow, you’re really amazing!” Gu Luolin laughed and kissed the spirit on the cheek. His eyes instantly let up.
Then, with renewed vigor, he said, “That’s nothing! I can do something even more amazing!” He waved his arm, and the fire elemental essences instantly condensed into a dragon of pure flame.
The fire dragon roared, its heat so intense that even with a barrier, Ye Zichen felt as if he were being dried into human jerky. However, the fire elemental essence spirit didn’t seem the least bit concerned about the Emperor Star’s life and death. It seemed he was too focused on showing off. Under his control, the fire essence continuously increased the temperature.
At least, it seemed that way to Ye Zichen. It seemed Gu Luolin didn’t feel any of the incoming waves of heat at all.
Ye Zichen was dumbfounded.
He’d roughly guessed that the good fortune waiting for him was the five elemental essence spirits, but it seemed that a little perv like the fire spirit wouldn’t want to leave with him.
“I….” Ye Zichen couldn’t help but mouth swear words. He was the Emperor Star here! He was the one who’d gleaned enlightenment into the five elements of heaven and earth! He was the one best suited to receive the inheritance of the elemental essences, darnit!
But now the fire essence spirit seemed liable to burn him to death!
Fortunately, just as Ye Zichen neared his limit, two bursts of thunder appeared overhead, disrupting the fire essence spirit’s performance. Then, a misty rain fell, extinguishing the flames below.
“What are you two doing?” The fire essence spirit glared and shouted. He’d only just begun his performance. He still had all sorts of awesome tricks to show off!
“You left for the first time in so long, I thought you’d run into trouble. It turns out you’re just showing off to girls.” Looking towards the source of disruption, they saw a stern, cold boy hovering further down the passage. Another, lazy-looking boy floated sluggishly beside him.
“Is that any of your business?” The fire essence spirit glared, waved his hand, and re-gathered the fire elemental essence.
The boy lazing in mid-air hooked his finger, and highly-incompatible water essences appeared around the flames.
A water elemental spirit!
The lazy one was a water elemental, while the cold, stern one was a thunder elemental.
“Ol’ Three!”
“Ol’ Four’s lost his temper. What are you still playing around here?” Despite the fire spirit’s complaints, the water spirit waved away his objections. “You’ll have as many chances to perform as you want later, but Ol’ Four’s mad. Don’t cause me any trouble, okay? I hate trouble.”
“Hmph.” The fire spirit snorted, then looked at Gu Luolin. “Miss, I’ll show the rest later. What you saw earlier is nothing but the tip of the iceberg.”
Ye Zichen watched this play out, as if he were an outsider. Suddenly, he felt someone near his feet, and when he looked down, he saw the stern thunder essence spirit staring up at him. “The Third Era’s Emperor Star, right? Come with me!”
