Chapter 33: Unidentified Object

"How ugly." Xie Yan glanced at the longsword before him, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

The Phantom Spirit Sword showed no reaction.

Because it not only thought Xie Yan had no taste, but also believed itself to be the best-looking sword in the world!

At that moment, the girl waiting in the pavilion slowly opened her eyes; despite being disheveled and weak, her gaze still shone.

After taking the Seventh Grade Healing Wound Pill, her injuries gradually improved, and her consciousness slowly cleared, no longer as muddled as before.

Yuan Yao naturally noticed that guy Xie Yan; she warily leaned on the pillar to stand, then called out: "Phantom Spirit."

The Phantom Spirit Sword instantly returned to her side.

"Brother Xie," Yuan Yao said with a fake smile.

Xie Yan gave a light laugh and called out ambiguously: "Yao Yao?"

Yuan Yao's eyes flickered slightly.

Xie Yan caught every change in her expression, and he immediately clicked his tongue, saying, "Don't bother lying to me—I have no interest in knowing the true name of trash."

Yuan Yao snorted coldly: "If you don't care, why bother exposing it?"

As soon as her words fell, Xie Yan appeared before her.

Yuan Yao immediately prepared to defend herself, but she didn't expect him to suddenly turn and sit on the stone bench in the pavilion.

With his back to her, a few strands of his red-tinged curly hair trembled slightly.

Yuan Yao hadn't really looked at him before, but now she thought his hair was actually quite nice.

At that moment, the voice of the 250 System echoed in her sea of consciousness: 【Target person Xie Yan, Awakening Value reached -96.】

Upon hearing that, Yuan Yao suddenly felt dizzy.

She found Xie Yan increasingly displeasing to the eye.

Yuan Yao clenched her fists and made a feint of smashing his head from behind, but just then Xie Yan turned his head to look.

The moment their gazes met, the atmosphere suddenly turned eerie.

One second later, Yuan Yao calmly lowered her fists, then lifted her head to look around, pretending to be pounding her own back.

"You still like ambushing people from behind, huh?"

"You like kicking people that much?"

"You don't want your legs anymore?"

"Who?! Who's there!" Yuan Yao suddenly exclaimed; having said that, she gripped the Phantom Spirit Sword with one hand and shot out of the pavilion at breakneck speed.

Xie Yan: "……"

Just now he resembled a fish about to die, but now he resembled a monkey leaping about energetically.

Xie Yan watched her disappearing back, then raised his hand and pointed at the pond; in an instant, a small blob of water splashed onto the pond's surface.

In the blink of an eye, it appeared before Xie Yan.

Xie Yan's slender, jade-like fingers touched the water blob, and immediately he used it as a guide to trace a formation sigil in midair.

Soon, the formation sigil transformed into a little water dragon.

The little water dragon leapt up at once and headed toward a certain direction.

Xie Yan rose to his feet and followed the direction of the little water dragon.

Meanwhile, Yuan Yao, having distanced herself from Xie Yan, carefully surveyed her surroundings; pavilions and towers rose like clouds, odd rocks and strange stones were scattered about, and the surrounding plants exuded a lush, vibrant vitality.

Is this the Secret Treasure Land?

And where is the secret treasure hidden?

Yuan Yao suddenly heard a sound, alertly looked up, and saw a long corridor; at its end seemed to be something.

She immediately followed her heart and went forward.

When she reached the end, what met her eyes was a clear lake.

And below, something seemed to be calling to her.

Yuan Yao hesitated.

Previously, she had never gone out for training, so she lacked experience in judging situations.

She crouched by the lake, reached out and scooped up some lake water.

The water slipped from her tender white fingers and splashed onto the lake surface.

At the same time, that feeling in her heart grew stronger.

Something was urgently summoning her.

Yuan Yao took a deep breath.

She stared at the lake surface, no longer hesitating, and immediately jumped into the water.

With a "plop," her whole body submerged; the icy lake water instantly clung to her skin, sending a burning sting from her unhealed wounds.

She swam deeper.

The lake bottom was dark.

The deeper she went, the harder it became to breathe; she promptly took a high-grade water avoidance bead from her storage space and hung it around her neck.

Soon, her breathing became smooth.

She kept swimming downward, but the lake bottom seemed endless.

After about half an hour, she still hadn't reached the bottom.

Whenever Yuan Yao thought of giving up, that inexplicable feeling would intensify again.

After another quarter hour, Yuan Yao finally saw the lake floor.

Beneath the ground lay an intricate formation sigil, and at its center was an elliptical object sealed by countless binding chains and three saint-grade talismans.

Yuan Yao needed only a glance to confirm that the thing that had been calling to her was precisely this sealed unidentified object.

Yuan Yao tried to approach, but was pushed back by an invisible strong force.

She tried several times, but could not get close to that unidentified object.

It is the totem formation's power that is pushing her away.

Does she have to break this formation first?

Yuan Yao: "..."

She is very clear about her own strength.

With just her strength, she absolutely cannot break the formation.

She suddenly, inexplicably, thought of asking Xie Yan for help, but quickly she rejected that idea.

That guy Xie Yan definitely won't help her.

Yuan Yao steadied herself, she gripped the Phantom Spirit Sword and slashed downward at the formation!

Boom—

The formation reflected the sword's power back, heavily smashing into Yuan Yao. At the critical moment, she raised her sword to block, was shaken back a distance, and a fishy sweet taste surged in her throat.

Yuan Yao raised her hand to cover her aching chest, coughed violently, then said to the unidentified object: "I can't break the formation; you come out yourself!"

The unidentified object immediately conveyed to her the feeling "it cannot do it".

Yuan Yao: "If you can't do it, can I?"

Unidentified object: "..."

"I can't do it either." Yuan Yao said recklessly: "I can't help you; I'll go ahead first."

Having said that, she began to swim upstream.

Unidentified object: "???"

—Come back!

Yuan Yao sensed its call, but she pretended not to notice and continued swimming upward.

And that oval unidentified object, originally wrapped in countless chains, began to vibrate violently, actually causing a change in the surrounding water flow.

The water surged, continually pressing Yuan Yao, who was swimming upstream, downward.

Boom!

Yuan Yao was hit head-on by the water flow, and her whole body fell downward.

Yuan Yao became angry.

"Enough! If you're capable, come out yourself! Don't drag others into the water!"

Who would have thought that after hearing that, the unidentified object vibrated even more violently, causing the entire lake's water to surge wildly.

Yuan Yao was impacted, squeezed, and slapped by the water flow; even though she had a Water-Avoiding Pearl, she still inevitably choked on water a few times.

As a result, she simply could not swim upward.