Chapter 315: Wake Up. It's Time To Work.

Chu Liang used one of his puppets to clear the way. The four people in his group then moved swiftly across the courtyard. In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the sheltered walkway that ran through the courtyard, surrounded by mountains and rivers.

That walkway was split off into several paths.

"Which way should we go?"

This question stumped everyone.

It was impossible for them to split up, and if they chose the wrong path, they might miss the target they were looking for. However, they didn't have any clues to guide them. Were they going to have to rely entirely on luck?

Chu Liang pondered for a moment before saying to Jiang Yuebai, "Senior Sister Jiang, release the ghost."

"Release her?" Jiang Yuebai asked puzzledly.

Nevertheless, she turned her hand over and brought out the female ghost.

"So, you've already captured her!" Chen Luo exclaimed in surprise.

He had been severely injured by that ghost.

The white-robed female ghost remained silent.

She and Chen Luo had a grudge against each other. However, at this moment, one of them was on Ling Ao's back, and the other in Jiang Yuebai's grasp, so neither of them were in the mood for a quarrel.

Chu Liang asked the female ghost, "You said you would take us to find the treasure. The treasure you mentioned should be here, right? Where is it? Take us there quickly."

The female ghost looked around. She seemed surprised that they had managed to enter the courtyard of the abandoned Shen Family Residence by themselves.

After pondering for a moment, she pointed to one of the paths and said, "This way."

"Let's follow her," Chu Liang told the others.

As the group followed the ghost's lead, Jiang Yuebai asked worriedly, "Can we trust her?"

"Of course not," Chu Liang answered calmly. "Everyone else says there are vengeful spirits and evil creatures here. She's the only one who says there's treasure. It would be strange if the words of a vengeful spirit could be believed. She's probably trying to trick us."

Then Chu Liang's tone changed. "But... she'll definitely take us to the most dangerous place precisely because she's trying to trick us. If Senior Brother Xu and Miss Mu Xi have landed in a dangerous situation, it's very likely that's where they are. Even if we know it's dangerous, we still have to go and check it out."

Jiang Yuebai nodded slightly.

Hearing that, the white-robed female ghost leading the way stiffened.

The things that you two are saying right behind me... I guess you must think I'm very foolish?

She turned around and said, "Young heroes, there wasn't a single shred of a lie in what I said. It's all—"

"True, right?" Chu Liang interrupted her. "The treasure that grants wishes might be real, but even if we find it, we'll probably have to pay a heavy cost to fulfill our wishes. There's no such thing as a free lunch after all. I understand that much.

"We're in a hurry, so just take us to find whatever treasure or evil thing, and let's see what's so mysterious about it. Otherwise... You know, I have an old ghost. His surname is Fei. If you keep talking nonsense, I'll throw you in to live with him for a few months."

The white-robed female ghost stared blankly at Chu Liang. Had he seen through her from the very first word she'd said?

Regardless, all she could do was behave obediently and do as she was told. So, she turned around and continued leading the way.

Their journey along the path was quite smooth, and it wasn't long before they arrived at one of the courtyard's walls. The middle section of the wall had collapsed, leaving a dark, gaping hole that looked like a portal to another world.

Chen Luo shouted, "Mu Xi is in there!"

He held out a severely withered moon osmanthus petal, which was emitting a faint glow. The petal had lost its connection with Mu Xi when they entered the courtyard, but the connection had just been restored! This indicated they were very close to Mu Xi.

Chu Liang looked at the hole. "It seems all we can do is go in and take a look."

Whoosh

.

Chu Liang first sent one of his puppets into the dark hole. However, as soon as the puppet went in, Chu Liang lost connection with it.

"It's a hidden realm...?" Chu Liang muttered.

The severed connection wasn't due to an attack but because they were no longer in the same world. Chu Liang had yet to develop the ability to use Army of Beans across realms.

"Forget it. I'll go in and take a look myself," Chu Liang said resolutely.

Senior Brother Xu and that flower demon may be in danger.

Chu Liang wasn't sure about what the situation was like inside the hidden realm, but he still intended to go in. It was a dangerous situation, but he had the life-saving jade talisman that Venerable Wen Yuan had given him. That made him a little more courageous.

"I'll go with you," Jiang Yuebai immediately told him.

"I have a way to ensure my survival, so don't worry."

"I don't feel at ease with you going in alone..." Jiang Yuebai shook her head. "Besides, I'm the head disciple. I should be at the frontline in such times."

Seeing the concern in her eyes, Chu Liang wanted to say something.

Instead, it was Ling Ao who spoke up. "No matter which of you goes in, the one who remains will worry. It's better if the two of you just go in together. I'll stay behind to protect this guy."

"..."

Hearing Ling Ao's blunt words, both Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai blushed.

Jiang Yuebai turned around. "I would worry about any disciple of Mount Shu."

Then she hurriedly plunged into the darkness without looking back.

Chu Liang quickly added, "That's right, that's right."

Then he jumped in too.

Ling Ao's upper lip curled in disdain and annoyance. "If there's nothing going on, why are the two of you feeling embarrassed?"

With the knowing expression of a person with great life experience, Chen Luo nodded and said, "Indeed."

...

There were red candles, banners with celebratory words, and vibrant red ribbons hung high at the Shen Family Residence.

A servant girl in yellow clothes was dusting an old storeroom, but she seemed to be lost in thought.

This was the scene Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai saw when they arrived in the hidden realm.

It seemed as if they were looking at a shadow play[1], appearing both real and illusory.

"Why was the young madam born so beautiful, while I was born to be such a plain-looking servant girl? Because of that, she's the object of everyone's affection... Even Brother Su Qian wants to adorn her with flowers... If she wasn't married, wouldn't she have snatched Brother Su Qian from me?

"We're childhood sweethearts, yet I'm nothing compared to taking a glance at her?

"Men..."

She wiped a shelf absentmindedly and accidentally knocked off a box. The long wooden box fell to the ground with a thud, giving her a fright.

Looking down, she saw a pure white, high-necked porcelain bottle roll out of the box. It rolled several times over, but fortunately, it wasn't broken at all.

The servant girl was about to put the bottle back in the box when the voice of an elderly old man rang out from the porcelain bottle.

"Do you have a wish?"

"I..." the servant girl uttered, feeling startled.

Yet, as if bewitched by some power, her first reaction wasn't a fearful one. Rather, she actually thought about her wish.

She stated, "I want to become the young madam..."

"I can fulfill your wish. You just need to drip one drop of your blood in here, and your wish will come true..." the voice said temptingly.

"Really?"

The servant girl fell into a daze. After hesitating for a moment, she actually bit her finger and let a drop of her blood fall into the porcelain bottle.

Whoosh.

A dazzling burst of darkness[2] surged out from the porcelain bottle and converged to form a stooping elderly man.

The elderly man gently placed his hand on the servant girl's head, and the darkness engulfed her. After a while, the darkness dissipated, revealing that the plain yellow-robed servant girl had transformed into a white-robed beauty!

She now looked identical to the white-robed female ghost!

So... she went through something like this,

Chu Liang thought.

The lights and shadows suddenly shifted, turning into a young man in luxurious clothes. He looked at the porcelain bottle, appearing just as shocked as the servant girl from before. Like her, he too was bewitched and lost his sense of fear.

"I... I want to become an official of the imperial court..." he said slowly. "The Shen Family's business is booming, but if I don't become a government official, that business will be like a duckweed, with no roots to lay down[3]."

"You just want to become a government official?" the black-robed elderly man asked enticingly in a deep voice. "Don't you want to dream bigger? I can make anything happen, including... what your ancestors wanted. I could overthrow the current dynasty and place you on the emperor's throne..."

"

Huh?

" uttered the young man in luxurious clothes, with his mouth opened wide in surprise. After a long pause, he said, "I do not dare to be that ambitious. I'd be very satisfied just becoming the prime minister."

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The lights and shadows shifted once again.

This time, a plainly dressed man appeared.

Looking at the precious bottle, he made a wish. "I wish to own a business as large as the Shen Family's and become a wealthy landowner!"

The lights and shadows continued to change. It showed each member of the Shen Family and their servants enter the storeroom to make a wish and drip a drop of blood into the bottle.

The darkness from the bottle appeared more and more magnificent like a bubble with a colorful reflection of light. Eventually, it burst with a pop!

Everything before Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai disappeared in an instant. Only the black-robed elderly man remained.

He turned his gaze toward Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai.

"What is your wish?" the elderly man asked with the same deep, raspy voice from before.

Jiang Yuebai shook her head.

Chu Liang looked at the elderly man for a moment.

Then he suddenly smiled and said, "Well, I do have a wish."

"Oh?" The black-robed elderly man looked at Chu Liang. "Tell me. I can grant any wish."

"My wish is for you to grant me three wishes."

"

Hmm?

"

The black-robed elderly man stiffened, and his gaze turned dark.

After a while, he raged, "If you don't request a wish from me, you will never be able to leave! Good luck to you!"

Then the elderly man vanished with a swoosh.

Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai's surroundings plunged into darkness.

Chu Liang made a hand seal, activating the Intense Illumination Seal. Light immediately flooded the space. It was about the size of an average room, with curved white porcelain walls all around and a smooth porcelain floor underfoot.

"We seem to be inside the precious bottle," Jiang Yuebai said.

Chu Liang agreed. "That certainly seems to be the case."

He tried slashing through the white porcelain wall with his sword.

Clang.

Chu Liang's sword qi hit the wall, but it didn't even leave a mark. It just made a dull sound.

"It's so hard," Chu Liang muttered.

Jiang Yuebai summoned her sword and performed the Heavenly Sword Seal.

A massive swordlight descended with an explosive smash!

Boom.

Jiang Yuebai's sword qi flowed all over the room. Nevertheless, after the sword qi dispersed, the white porcelain wall remained unscathed.

"It seems to be an enchanted tool that we can't break at our current level," Jiang Yuebai remarked.

Chu Liang looked up and saw nothing but a pitch-black shadow overhead. There was no exit in sight.

"It seems we can't break out. But if that old man is so powerful, why doesn't he just kill us? Why insist on us making a wish?" Chu Liang wondered. He thought about it for a moment. "It can't... be out of kindness, right?"

"This reminds me of a legend from the Southern Regions," Jiang Yuebai said. "In ancient times, there was a shaman god who created many kinds of evil spirits. One of them was the wish-fulfilling spirit. It gained power by absorbing the desires people had when they told it their wishes. The shaman god let their wish-fulfilling spirits roam the world to fulfill the wishes of their followers."

"That's... kind of them?" Chu Liang mused. "But looking at the fates of those who made wishes, there must be a price that has to be paid, right?"

Indeed, anyone would be very enticed by the idea of having a wish of theirs fulfilled. However, the people whom Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai had seen in the lights and shadows earlier... It didn't seem like any of them ended up living a good life. That meant there was something odd about that legend.

"I don't know about that." Jiang Yuebai shook her head. "But even if he can't do anything to us, we still can't get out right now."

"That's right. Are we going to die here together?"

Jiang Yuebai didn't respond.

"If that's the case, I'll ask him to fulfill my wish. I wish he could let you out and that you'll live peacefully and happily until you reach a ripe old age," Chu Liang said tenderly.

Jiang Yuebai stared at him for a moment. "Stop pretending. I know you have a way to get out."

"

Hehe...

" Chu Liang stopped his little act and scratched his head. "Why do you have so much confidence in me?"

Jiang Yuebai smiled. "You're not someone who gives up easily."

Grinning, Chu Liang flipped his hand over and took out a large, sleeping butterfly from his storage tool.

He whispered, "Wake up. It's time to work."

1. A puppet show involving the use of light and shadow. ☜

2. I guess it's like... black but with glitter? ☜

3. In other words, the business won't be secure. ☜