Chapter 405: Mutual Suspicion
Translated by Rachel of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Ling Xiao bent down to scoop up the shimmering, viscous, golden fluid and as it seeped from the gaps between his fingers, the presence of the Metal Element became thick in the air. They couldn’t feel it when they were above as the bottom of the well was too deep.
You XiaoMo searched around the bottom of the well and found that other than the gold fluid beneath his feet, there was nothing else. Could it be that Ling Xiao was looking for this gold fluid?
“XiaoMo, get a bottle and store this fluid.” Ling Xiao suddenly ordered.
“Is this what you wanted to find?” You XiaoMo quickly asked. Bull’s-eye! He really guessed it right!
“No.” Ling Xiao said.
“I’m looking for the Metal Elemental Essence. This is the Eye of the Sun where the Metal Elemental Essence is most likely to be formed. I told you before that there’s one thing you must be sure about. The Metal Swallowing Beast can only be bred near the Metal Elemental Essence.”
“But the Metal Elemental Essence doesn’t seem to be here.” You XiaoMo already guessed it but he just took a look around and there wasn’t even a shadow to be found.
“It is! It’s below our feet.” Ling Xiao said affirmatively.
You XiaoMo lowered his head.
“Shouldn’t the Metal Elemental Essence be something similar to the Wood Elemental Essence, like in a cluster? What’s with this fluid?”
Ling Xiao retrieved the bottle that he had previously used up from helping You XiaoMo move up the levels.
“Use that negative IQ of yours and think hard. The Metal Elemental Essence and the Wood Elemental Essence are naturally similar. Since there’s only gold fluid down here at the bottom of the well, doesn’t that mean the Metal Elemental Essence is hidden in this gold fluid? Hmm?” Ling Xiao reasoned, placing added emphasis as he gritted out the ‘Hmm’.
You XiaoMo knew he was being despised again and the corners of his mouth twitched.
Oh, I’m sorry! Since my IQ is already in the negative, how can I think of something so incredibly complicated!
Seeing as Ling Xiao had started filling the bottle with the golden fluid, You XiaoMo pulled out a big wooden barrel and three wooden ladles from his dimension.
“Use this. It’s faster.”
Ling Xiao and PiQiu each had one, and indeed their efficiency went up. Suspended in the air, the Metal Swallowing Beast blinked at them with royal blue eyes. The image of three people struggling to scoop gold fluid was reflected in its eyes as a puzzled look flashed across its face.
Very quickly, they had already scooped half a barrel. There wasn’t much gold fluid left at the bottom of the well and they could hardly scoop anything with the wooden ladles. You XiaoMo decided to just keep the wooden ladles and took out ten or more unused jade bottles.
Just as he was about to keep the wooden barrel into his dimension, Ling Xiao suddenly stopped him.
“Put this wooden barrel in my dimension.”
“Why?” You XiaoMo casually asked.
“Elemental Essence that has developed a spiritual sentience will have the ability to attack to some extent. They are more sensitive to things that are alive. It’s for the same reason why I put the Wood Elemental Essence we got from the Boundless Sea in my own dimension instead. If we put that barrel of Metal Elemental Essence into your dimension, it might destroy what’s inside.” Ling Xiao explained as he kept the wooden barrel into his own dimension.
You XiaoMo nodded in understanding. Aside from large patches of magical herbs in his dimension, he still had two Hidden Dipper Stink Bugs that were in the midst of metamorphosis. If they were attacked, their metamorphosis might end in failure.
They then filled up another twenty-three bottles of gold fluid. Just as they were going to get that little bit of gold fluid at the corner into a jade bottle, they suddenly heard a few people talking from above.
You XiaoMo and PiQiu were startled. The well might be deep but it was very likely that the people above were speaking beside the well. Their voices echoed in the narrow well bottom, carrying what they said to them.
Not only that, these voices were very familiar. You XiaoMo felt it must be some twisted fate he shared with these people. Why? Because they were from the Vermillion Blood Clan and some other forces. For some unknown reason, everyone ended up here. Could it be their true objective was the same as Ling Xiao? They’re not here for the metal swallowing beast, but the Metal Elemental Essence?
But now was not the time to think about this. They too wanted the Elemental Essence and they would certainly come down. It wouldn’t be long before they were found out.
“I’m thinking their goal should be the Metal Swallowing Beast and the Metal Elemental Essence. But since the Metal Swallowing Beast has escaped, they had to settle for the next best thing and come here first in order to avoid someone snatching the Metal Elemental Essence before them.” Ling Xiao kept the last bottle and spared the Metal Swallowing Beast a look.
“So what do we do now? If we go up, we’ll definitely be discovered.” You XiaoMo was more concerned about this issue. If they were found out, then it would be difficult to obtain the Earth Elemental Essence from the Eye of the Yellow Earth.
“Then it depends on whether the Metal Swallowing Beast is willing to help us.” Ling Xiao looked towards the Metal Swallowing Beast once again.
You XiaoMo was skeptical. This fellow here could help them? Could it be Ling Xiao was planning to get it to lead the enemies away? But even if they did that, they couldn’t possibly lead them all away. Some people up there regarded the Metal Elemental Essence as more important than the Metal Swallowing Beast.
At this moment, the Metal Swallowing Beast moved. It flew towards a wall and scratched at it with its chubby paws. Ling Xiao walked over to pick it up and placed it in You XiaoMo’s arms. Then, he went over to the area it just scratched and pressed on it forcefully. Suddenly, a part of the wall caved in.
Simultaneously, the ground started to rumble beneath their feet. The bottom of the well started to rise.
“Holy shit!” You XiaoMo couldn’t help it as he yelled.
Were they really going to be delivered to the Vermillion Blood Clan?
At this moment, the commotion at the bottom of the well had caught the attention of everybody at the top. An even louder sound soon followed after.
Questions like, ‘What happened at the bottom of the well?’, ‘There can’t be people at the bottom of the well?’ were fired rapidly and the people looked ready to jump.
You XiaoMo was panicking even more. Unexpectedly, the wall above their heads started to change. Indented squares started to appear as the bottom of the well rose up and brought them to the area that had caved in. When they got close, they finally saw its true form. It was a pitch-black, bottomless hole and it looked just like a … sliding tunnel?
You XiaoMo had a bad feeling about it.
The surface of the bottom of the well tilted towards the black hole at an alarming speed, as if it was a lid that could freely rotate either way.
Boom! Three people and one beast fell into the black hole and disappeared.
About fifteen minutes later, You Ming and the rest finally rushed there. Seeing the bottom of the well, which should have the Metal Elemental Essence, empty and bare, his expression was furious. Unwilling to give up, You Ming and his men searched the bottom again. And after they have confirmed that no one was hiding there, they begrudgingly went back to the surface.
“So? How is it?” Qiao WuShuang looked towards Elder Qi.
Huang PuLi’s serious expression was sombre as he shook his head.
“There’s nothing at the bottom of the well. Someone probably arrived before us and took the Metal Elemental Essence.”
“The tremor we felt just now only happened after we arrived. Normally speaking, unless there’s someone down there, it’s impossible for the tremor to happen. You guys didn’t see anyone down there?” Qiao WuShuang pondered.
“You are right. When we were below just now we did hear a faint sound and it was definitely from a human. But when we went down, there was no one. There’s only one explanation for that, which is the person could have used a secret tunnel at the bottom of the well to escape.” Xiong Xiao walked over. He was part of the team that went down.
Due to the limited capacity at the bottom of the well, only a few could go down the well while the rest remained above. Hence, that eliminated to possibility of them escaping from the top.
“Using the secret tunnel at the bottom of the well to escape… this person must know this place very well. Or maybe…” Qiao WuShuang cupped his chin as he thought.
At this instant, You Ming’s cold laughter could be heard. “Let’s not pretend anymore. I bet the people who stole the Metal Elemental Essence before us were your men. You intentionally arranged for us to meet here so that you can deceive us into believing that you just arrived too. But in reality, you’ve sent your men here earlier, am I right?”
Huang PuLi’s face darkened. “Watch your manners, You Ming. Others might be afraid of the Vermillion Blood Clan, but not our Beast Transfiguration Guild.”
“Alright, seems like you plan to admit it. Admit that the Elemental Essence was stolen by your people.” Unafraid of his threat, You Ming was dead set it was them instead.
Huang PuLi angrily shook his sleeves as he reprimanded, “This is simply outrageous and unreasonable! You Ming, I think you’re living more and more backwards as you age*! You say we took the Elemental Essence, we can also say that that you’re afraid of being exposed so you accused us first!”
*Means backpedaling and lying
“Huang PuLi, if you don’t hand it over today, don’t you even think of leaving this place.” You Ming put a menacing look on his face. There was reason why he said what he had.
Ever since they reached the June mountain range till now, first they let the Metal Swallowing Beast escape, then they let someone get ahead of them and steal the Metal Elemental Essence. How was he going to account for all this when he returned to his master? Thinking about how his master would deal with him if he failed, he had to bring at least one of the things back no matter what.
“Elder Huang Pu, there’s no need to waste time with him here. If we don’t chase them now, I’m afraid the Elemental Essence will really be gone forever.” Qiao WuShuang suddenly interrupted, halting the furious elders who were prepared to duke it out with You Ming.
