Chapter 162: Thirty Thousand Years Old, He's Still Just a Child!

Pain.

As Yu Jiaojiao regained consciousness, she felt only bone-piercing pain.

She gritted her teeth, supported her broken arm, and sat up.

"……Where is this place?"

For a moment, Yu Jiaojiao was bewildered.

It was very dark all around.

She could barely see her own fingers.

Moreover... her hearing seemed to have been sealed; she could hear nothing, only the sound of her own heartbeat.

And her head...

Why did her head hurt so much too?

Yu Jiaojiao desperately reached out to knock on her head, trying to recall more memories.

But...

Her empty mind was left with only fragmented shards of memory.

The more she tried to recall, the more agonizing her headache became.

She could even smell a pungent odor that was drawing closer, drilling into her nostrils and even into her heart as she breathed.

That smell was extremely foul.

After taking just two more breaths, she felt difficulty breathing; she coughed until her face turned flushed, and her head hurt even more.

It hurts!

Why couldn't she remember anything? Yu Jiaojiao clutched her head desperately, only then managing to capture a few things from the fragmented shards of memory.

She seemed to remember...

She had participated in some Secret Realm? Which Secret Realm was it?

Ling... Lingya Secret Realm! And then? What happened then? A figure suddenly flashed through Yu Jiaojiao's mind, her pupils dilated sharply, and in this instant, she was so frightened that she broke out in a cold sweat, the clothes on her back becoming soaked—she had remembered a part of it!

After entering the Secret Realm, she had originally intended to follow the contract to find the old ox.

But she never expected to run into Yu Chunlan.

Yu Chunlan and she had never liked to address each other as sisters, and the two of them would start clashing the moment they met.

Yu Jiaojiao had to change her original path, intending to slip away, preferably to shake off Yu Chunlan.

Yet she never expected that Yu Chunlan had no intention of giving her a chance to survive.

She was pushed directly into the abyss's maw, and at the final critical moment, Yu Jiaojiao managed to use a teleportation talisman to send herself to the place closest to her contracted beast.

Now...

"Where exactly is this place?" Yu Jiaojiao looked blankly at the dim surroundings.

She could sense that this seemed to be a secret chamber.

Yet it didn't look like one.

It looked more like... a vault in a family estate.

Extremely strange.

She explored the surroundings cautiously, her hand touching the cold wall, and she walked slowly along it.

Suddenly.

Yu Jiaojiao did not know what she had touched, but countless lights ignited all around in an instant.

Candlelight shone brightly.

Yu Jiaojiao was forced to close her eyes due to the bright halo of light.

She finally managed to open her eyes, which were stinging and watering, to look at her surroundings, and only then did she open her mouth wide in astonishment.

"……This is."

Although she didn't know where this place was! But!

"……Is this some Immortal's treasure vault?"

Yu Jiaojiao was trembling with excitement.

Even though she was never short of cultivation resources, nor was she ever short of good fortune, she still couldn't help but want to jump for joy when encountering a situation like this.

No wonder she felt she had been in some kind of vault! She was clearly in a treasure storehouse! Everything around her... was all sorts of Immortal artifacts whose grades she could not distinguish.

They radiated thick halos of light.

Yu Jiaojiao could feel that oppressive power just by getting close.

And there were countless Spirit Souls.

All of them were top-grade! And even... even...

When Yu Jiaojiao saw the thing sealed inside the basin on the wall, her breath hitched.

She recognized this basin!

No.

Rather than calling it a basin... it was more like a cauldron, only this precious cauldron looked like a foot-washing basin.

This was... the Medicine King Cauldron.

Yu Jiaojiao reached out to touch it almost subconsciously and greedily, and hot tears hung on her face without her even realizing it.

What made her excited was not the Medicine King Cauldron, but the thing inside this large basin.

It was a... bug that looked somewhat ugly.

It had long horns, a gray head, was extremely strange, and emitted a faint blue light from its body; it looked like some kind of mutated beetle.

Yet, Yu Jiaojiao could feel a sense of closeness from within the bug's body.

She burst into tears with a wail.

Perhaps it was because her emotions fluctuated too violently, but the insect lying in the Medicine King Cauldron slowly opened its eyelids.

Its eyelids were thin layers of webbing, and its opened eyes shimmered with a silver-purple light.

It was brilliant and enchanting, much like the Demon Race.

This insect, which was as large as a person, curled up in the Medicine King Cauldron, slowly stretched, and sluggishly rested its forelimbs on the rim of the Medicine King Cauldron.

It was alive!! And it could move freely! The moment it woke up, the pressure on its body soared directly.

Strength...

Heaven-Human!

But Yu Jiaojiao felt no fear; instead, she excitedly wiped away her tears and took a step forward.

She called out joyfully with a tearful voice: "Senior! How did you end up in this state!"

The insect stared fixedly at Yu Jiaojiao for a moment before it finally came to its senses, "Are you... of my kin?"

"What time... is it now?"

It spoke slowly, yet its voice was like a clear spring, like that of a handsome and elegant young man—unhurried and steady, like snow on the Heavenly Mountains or pure white snow in spring.

Yu Jiaojiao excitedly wiped her eyes, and without the slightest hesitation, she transformed back into her original form.

Heaven have mercy!

This was truly earth-shattering news! A direct descendant of the Yu family, the renowned richest family in the cultivation world... was actually not of the Human Race! Was she of the Demon Race? Or perhaps the Monster Race?

All of a sudden, Yu Jiaojiao's clothes fell to the ground with a clatter; her pink hairpin and skirt hit the floor, but she didn't care at all, wriggling as she crawled out from inside the garments.

Appearing before the blue, long, giant insect was a white ball.

Thin white fur, rugged scales, a sturdy yet short tail, curled into a ball, and small eyes the size of mung beans...

Yu Jiaojiao...

Her true form was actually...

A pangolin with a bit of white fur!

The insect looked at Yu Jiaojiao in this state, a hint of pity appearing in its eyes, and it stretched out its long forelimbs to pat the white fur on the pangolin's head.

"You junior... why are you so young? How did you think to come to the tomb of Qingdeng?"

"It is fortunate you encountered me; if you had met any other tomb guardian, they would not care whether you were my kin or not."

Yu Jiaojiao sobbed as she crawled into the Medicine King Cauldron, complaining aggrievedly as she cried: "Our family has already fallen, and we have no other choice... Ancestor, you must stand up for me!"

"I was framed by someone, otherwise I would never have fallen into this place!"

"Ancestor, I am only thirty thousand years old this year! I beg for the Ancestor's protection! I am still just a child!"

The blue monster insect felt even more heartache hearing this.

"Poor thing... only thirty thousand years old; you should be at the age to feed on spirit marrow."

"Rest assured, who harmed you? Now that Qingdeng has long since died, I guard the Treasure Pavilion for him; the things here are mine, which means they are all yours! Tell me who harmed you, and Ancestor will stand up for you!"

Yu Jiaojiao was instantly overjoyed.

Without hesitation, she threw herself onto the blue monster insect, calling out sweetly, "I knew Ancestor was the best! By the way, Ancestor... I have companions; I wonder if you could help me find where they are?"

She naturally had great confidence when she said this.

After all...

For spirits of mineral veins like them, being able to cultivate into form and step through the gates of cultivation meant they were a race of unique, mutual trust in this world.

They would never betray or abandon one another!

(End of this chapter)