Chapter 49

"So, you came to me for help, wanting me to get revenge for you?"

Chen Shicheng asked doubtfully.

"No, I brought this upon myself. I want you to help me send my remains back to my hometown, to return to my roots. If you can help me, after success you may choose any three items from my collection as compensation." Hui Siye looked expectantly at Chen Shicheng and said.

【Discovered Task: Leaves Return to Roots】

【Task Introduction: Due to his accidental death, Hui Siye does not wish to die far from home and hopes you can retrieve his remains and bury them in his hometown.】

【Task Reward: Choose any three items from Hui Siye's collection.】

Seeing the task prompt pop up on the panel, Chen Shicheng began to calculate in his mind.

He had just used the Eye of Bai Ze to assess Hui Siye's attributes; although they were all question marks and he gained no substantive information, the fact that it could cultivate a nascent soul proves its level is absolutely not low.

Such a high-level NPC's collection should be rich; perhaps picking just one item could make current players scramble desperately.

Moreover, the task is extraordinarily simple: just retrieve the remains and send them back to the hometown to complete it.

But is it really that simple?

Chen Shicheng didn't believe such a free lunch from the sky; after all, the road to send the corpse back isn't the Journey to the West, and there seems to be a hidden catch everywhere.

He repeatedly read the task description several times; his eyes finally settled on the two words "retrieve", and he suddenly had a clue, so he asked tentatively.

"Is the place where you died abnormal?"

"Cough cough."

Noticing Chen Shicheng had seen through, Hui Siye somewhat embarrassedly used his small paws to smooth his whiskers.

Although knowing some things cannot be hidden, being so bluntly stated still made the little rat feel embarrassed.

Fortunately, an old rat can still become a spirit; Hui Siye quickly tossed that slight embarrassment behind him and truthfully recounted his ordeal.

Fifty years ago, the wandering Hui Siye passed by Bu Xian Shan, by chance discovered the feng shui here was off; after careful investigation, he found a sealed space deep underground containing an unknown formation.

Knowing he had encountered an opportunity, Hui Siye immediately stayed, preparing to break the formation and seize the treasure.

But he underestimated the formation's power; not only did he fail to break it after a full fifty years, but a short while ago, due to a moment's carelessness, he met a miserable death inside the formation—only his nascent soul escaped, and even that soul was severely wounded, able to linger only by the power of incense.

Hui Siye originally thought he would die unknown in the mountains, but by chance he discovered the battle between Chen Shicheng and Yu Wei in the town.

And the blade aura that Chen Shicheng was using at the time happened to be the key to entering that formation, so it racked its brains to lure Chen Shicheng here.

After listening to Hui Siye's explanation, Chen Shicheng also roughly understood its plan.

It simply wanted to find someone with blade aura to rush into the formation and retrieve its corpse, and because it feared the chosen person would die in the formation just like it, it deliberately sought out a player who could be revived—namely, himself.

In that case, that formation is extremely dangerous; besides the necessary condition of blade aura, it likely requires filling it with lives to successfully retrieve the corpse.

Trading one's life for three unknown items—whether this deal is worth it or not. After weighing it for a long time, Chen Shicheng suddenly looked at Hui Siye and said, "I want to first check your collection; if the value is sufficient, I can help you at the risk of 'life-threatening danger'." He deliberately emphasized the four words "life-threatening danger".

"Really?"

Hui Siye stared, then quickly waved his hand to summon a gray cloth bag, promptly overturned it; the withered-looking bag seemed to open a passage to another space, and countless miscellaneous items tumbled out, quickly piling up into a small hill.

"Pick whatever you like; any will do."

Chen Shicheng glanced at the cloth bag in Hui Siye's hand, then dove headfirst into the messy little hill, beginning to search for something he liked.

But as he rummaged, his brows furrowed and his expression grew uglier.

Hui Siye's collection is indeed rich—either spiritual fruits and medicines that increase Attributes, or equipment of magical-artifact and treasure grade, with the lowest value possibly being that large lump of silver.

But this falls far short of his expectations; he can comprehend techniques using Merit Points, and the system-rewarded elixirs are far stronger than these, so Attribute-increasing spiritual medicines are not precious to him, and the same goes for silver money.

As for the equipment he valued most, after excluding magical-artifact grade, only five treasures remained; aside from one intact gourd artifact, the names of the remaining four treasures all bear the word "damaged".

Moreover, that gourd artifact is of supportive nature; its interior contains vast space, allowing it to hold five different liquids without regard to weight, while keeping the liquids fresh.

Simply put, it's just a leisurely water flask! "You're not telling me that's all this junk?" Chen Shicheng tossed the jade gourd artifact up and down, asking dissatisfiedly.

"This," Hui Siye said with some difficulty, "you also know, I spent fifty years cracking that formation, and all my treasures were destroyed inside it; only these remain."

"Otherwise, take a look at these spiritual medicines and fruits; they're all good stuff that can increase Attributes."

Saying that, it waved its hand, and three kinds of spiritual fruits that increase Attributes the most flew out of the small hill, hovering before Chen Shicheng.

"This stuff isn't of much use to me." Chen Shicheng looked at Hui Siye skeptically, "Really nothing else? You'd better think it through—this junk isn't worth me taking the risk."

I this.

Seeing Chen Shicheng looking like he was about to leave at any moment, Hui Siye hesitated repeatedly, then finally, with a pained expression, lifted its two forepaws, upon which a pair of white bone claws slowly emerged.

This pair of forepaws seemed to be those of some beast, but the flesh, meat, and membranes had vanished, leaving only stark white bones.

In Chen Shicheng's bewildered gaze, these two small claws detached from Hui Siye's forepaws, growing larger and larger until they swelled to the size of a human palm, then fell to the ground with a clang.

"Sure enough, there's still good stuff hidden!"

Chen Shicheng's eyes lit up; he immediately grabbed the bone claw from the ground, and the Eye of Bai Ze directly cast an appraisal.

【Opening Light Beast Claw】

【Quality: Spiritual Artifact (Supreme)】

【Introduction: After simple refinement, the Opening Light Beast's forepaw increases blade aura range by 100%, blade aura speed by 100%, blade aura power by 100%; when fused with bone primordial spirit, it can replace bladed weapons, cannot be dropped, cannot be stolen, and comes with the divine ability "Ten Cancellations Ten Absolutes": each bone finger counts as a bladed weapon, each attack can unleash ten blades simultaneously.】

(End of Chapter)