Once they passed through the ancient entrance, Yue Yang and Liuye found themselves instantly transported into a region of total darkness.
No light reached this place at all.
It bore a certain resemblance to the black hole’s sealed space, only without that same terrifying force that devoured everything in its path. Yue Yang guessed this darkened region operated under some kind of law forbidding light — whether from flame, glow-pearls, or any energy giving off illumination, the moment light appeared, it would instantly be stripped away.
The lack of light affected Liuye somewhat, though it did at least conveniently mask the blush still coloring her cheeks.
For Yue Yang, with his night vision, it was nothing more than child’s play.
And even setting eyes aside entirely, he could navigate this dark world freely just through spiritual sense and the power of his domain.
Liuye forced down her embarrassment, nervousness, and fear, letting Yue Yang keep hold of her small hand as she followed his lead without pause, with no idea where he was taking her, no idea what destination awaited them… As long as he held her hand, she felt completely at ease, refusing to dwell on anything else. She said nothing, simply focusing quietly on the warmth flowing from his large hand into hers.
Maybe they walked for only a moment. Maybe ten minutes. Maybe far longer than that.
By the time Liuye’s awareness caught up with herself, she realized Yue Yang had already led her out of the darkness and into light…
That expanse of light was the exact opposite of the darkness before it. Within this bright region, everything blazed with such overwhelming brilliance that opening her eyes was nearly impossible. Forcing herself to look directly into it felt worse than staring straight at the noon sun — nothing but pure white light, piercing straight through to the depths of the soul. A region of light with not a trace of shadow proved even harder to navigate than the darkness before it. Liuye had never imagined that a space made entirely of light could feel this unbearable to walk through. Moving through the bright region made it even harder than the dark one to keep track of direction or position in space.
Now Liuye could sense nothing at all except Yue Yang’s presence beside her.
She kept following him mechanically for a while longer.
Suddenly, her footing seemed to land on some strange, uneven terrain.
A wave of darkness crashed over her, and before Liuye could even react, a wave of light came chasing right after it, swallowing her whole all over again… Light and dark overlapped at impossible speed, as if she’d stepped into some massive tunnel, with countless rings of light and dark crashing toward her one after another, devouring her completely.
Liuye felt dizzy now, thoroughly disoriented, her stomach churning with nausea.
The light and dark were switching far too fast — she hadn’t expected such terrifying intensity. A flicker of real fear struck her: if she ever had to fight in terrain like this, how much of her combat strength could she even bring to bear? If she needed to perform synchronized transfer here, could she even manage it successfully? To her horror, Liuye realized her combat ability in this kind of terrain had been weakened to almost nothing, and the synchronized transfer she could normally execute on pure instinct outside seemed entirely impossible to pull off here.
“Thank goodness there’s no enemy here!” Liuye couldn’t help blurting out what was on her mind.
“An enemy? Maybe there is one. We just haven’t found it yet.” Yue Yang kept hold of Liuye’s hand, pressing steadily forward without pause. Liuye found herself marveling more than once — how was he even telling which way to go? If it had been her alone, she’d surely have walked straight into a wall by now, probably with a swollen nose to show for it.
Once they passed through that region of overlapping light and dark, Liuye saw a strange passage appear ahead of them — light on the left, darkness on the right.
It twisted like an earthworm.
Bending and curving back on itself.
The eerie sight of light and dark so sharply divided left her breaking out in a cold sweat just looking at it.
What kind of space was this, inside the ancient entrance? How could a place this bizarre even exist?
Once they made it through the light-and-dark dividing passage, Yue Yang led Liuye into another darkened region — though this one wasn’t entirely without light. Scattered points of faint glow dotted the space. Now Liuye could see clearly: those scattered points of light were coming from certain treasures, or treasure chests, glowing in the dark. Within the darkness, some maze-like passages seemed to lead directly to those points of starlight — though, of course, the route there might well be riddled with traps and hidden mechanisms along the way. Liuye knew this was her moment. With the starlight to guide her and a clear target in sight, with her Barrier-Piercing Deer and synchronized transfer at her disposal, how could she possibly let Yue Yang risk navigating the maze himself? She’d take him straight through it, bypassing the maze entirely, arriving directly at whatever treasure or chest was giving off that starlight!
Liuye summoned the Barrier-Piercing Deer.
The little deer phased through instantly, arriving right at the edge of a starlit treasure chest.
In that same instant, Liuye, holding Yue Yang’s hand, used synchronized transfer to arrive alongside it — no gap between them whatsoever, completely ignoring space and obstacle alike.
Opening the golden chest, Liuye found it packed full of exquisite gemstones, radiant pearls, and star-strung necklaces, and even a Sacred-tier obsidian dagger. A flicker of joy rose in her heart — she’d finally managed to make some small contribution during his treasure hunt, after all.
Of course, this was only the start.
She’d have to keep working hard going forward. He loved treasure, and she was determined to help him claim more of it, and better treasures still! Only then could she feel worthy of all the rigorous training he’d put her through… Liuye’s heart secretly swelled with pride. She stole several glances at his face, hoping he’d turn and give her an approving look, or perhaps a smile of praise.
“……” Yue Yang’s expression was strange. Far from celebrating with delight, his brow had furrowed deeply.
This — this wasn’t how someone reacted to finding treasure at all!
Liuye couldn’t make sense of it.
Didn’t he love treasure?
So why was he frowning the moment the chest opened?
“Could there be… some kind of trap hidden underneath all this?” A flash of insight struck Liuye, sensing the possibility of some problem. Could this golden chest itself be the trap — taking anything from inside it triggering some terrible mechanism? If that weren’t the case, why would he be frowning? Why wasn’t he reaching out to claim the treasures?
“Let’s check another chest.” Yue Yang made the request.
“Okay!”
Liuye sent the Barrier-Piercing Deer phasing toward another chest glowing with starlight, then transferred herself and Yue Yang there together in perfect sync.
The second chest opened to reveal an exceedingly rare Three-Leaf Silver Soul Grass, along with several bottles of divine water and a sheet of parchment that, by its appearance, looked very much like one of those legendary ancient technique manuals.
Yue Yang looked at it, still frowning — if anything, his brow furrowed even tighter than before.
Bewildered, Liuye asked, “What’s wrong? Are these fake too?”
Yue Yang shook his head gently. “No, they’re real.”
Hearing that answer only confused Liuye further. If the treasures had been fake, it would make sense for him to be unhappy. But these were real — so why still no joy? Confusion stirred in her heart, though she kept it from showing on her face… She trusted him. Whatever the reason, she had no doubt he had one. That had always been how she thought of him.
A third, fourth, fifth, sixth chest opened in turn.
Every single one held nothing but rare and precious treasures.
Yet Yue Yang seemed nothing like his usual self. Faced with this much treasure, he didn’t so much as touch a single piece — his frown only deepened further with each chest.
“Could this place be like the Sky Tower’s Gate of Life and Death, where what we’re seeing is all a real-feeling illusion?” Liuye considered another possibility.
“No. This place does feel somewhat similar to the Gate of Life and Death, but it’s not that. And these treasures are genuinely real — not illusions. If they were illusions, I’d be able to see through them. The problem is that they’re all real, which is exactly what’s leaving me puzzled.” Yue Yang fell silent for a moment, thinking it over, then continued, “I think this might be some kind of trial. And it’s not aimed at you — it’s aimed specifically at me.”
“Is someone working against us in secret?” Liuye startled badly at that — having him see her like this was one thing, but having some stranger see her too was unthinkable.
“No one’s behind this. It must be some kind of law-based force at work.” Yue Yang waved his hand quickly to reassure her. “What I’m trying to work out is this: how does this force know your heart is pure, while singling me out for this test of greed?”
“A test of greed?” Liuye still didn’t follow.
“This place’s law-force has deliberately placed these treasure chests here. It’s possible this was the original design from the very start — whoever first built this place meant for them to serve as a test of greed. If I took these treasures — sure, I could grab them — but the moment I took more than one, it would trigger some restriction built into this place’s laws, and I’d probably get cast straight out. That’s exactly what this is: a test of greed for anyone who enters… How did I sense it? Because of you. You feel no urge whatsoever to claim any of these treasures, so you can’t sense the law-force at work here at all. But I came here specifically to hunt for treasure, and I can just barely sense this law-force waiting for me to take the bait. The instant I grabbed something, it would activate.” Yue Yang let out a small sigh, looking over the abundance of fine treasures in the chests, and decided to let them go.
“So what do we do now?” Liuye felt a little regretful too — all this treasure sitting right in front of them, and it turned out to be nothing but a test of greed they couldn’t actually take. What a waste!
“If we want to keep going forward, we’ll have to give up everything in front of us right now.” Yue Yang smiled. “On the other hand, if we’re satisfied with what we’ve got, we could pick out one chest and call it done, then leave.”
“Let’s keep going, then!” Liuye figured something even better might be waiting further ahead.
“If we treat this stage as the trial of ‘Greed’ or ‘Gain,’ then further ahead there are probably trials of ‘Wrath,’ or ‘Delusion,’ or perhaps ‘Fame’ and ‘Attachment’ — that sort of thing. These are all weaknesses inherent to human nature, and especially so for me, as I am right now.” Yue Yang suddenly burst out laughing, turning to Liuye. “Sometimes, being like you — wanting for nothing — really is the strongest position of all.”
“I’m not nearly as good as you make me sound!” Liuye lowered her head bashfully. She didn’t know what the other trials might involve, but she understood one thing clearly: if there was ever a trial of attachment or love, she’d never make it through that one.
“Let’s head back.” Yue Yang suddenly reached a decision.
“What?” Liuye froze in shock at his words.
“It took everything I had just to wrestle my way through this trial of greed. Recognizing this weakness in myself was hard enough as it is. Whatever trials come next — given my current state of mind, I might not even recognize them for what they are, and even if I did, I doubt I could get past them. I’d bet the better rewards lie behind the harder trials further in, but my heart right now isn’t clear enough, isn’t pure enough, for that. Better to turn back now than fail later — I should work on strengthening my resolve and resilience first, then come back once I’ve actually got what it takes.” Yue Yang let out a small sigh. “Ancient-era treasure hoards really aren’t something you can just casually walk off with. Good thing I didn’t let greed cloud my judgment back there, or I’d have made a fool of myself for sure.”
“That’s not true at all. Someone with human weaknesses is what makes them truly human. If a person had absolutely no flaws, they wouldn’t be a person anymore — they’d be a god.” Liuye hurried to reassure him.
She genuinely believed that, too.
Yue Yang had flaws.
But sometimes, it was precisely because of this flaw or that one that he stood out as someone different, someone genuinely interesting. If he’d had no flaws at all, nothing but virtues, she felt she’d see him as something too far above her, separated by a gulf she could never hope to close…
Compared to some flawless, godlike paragon, Liuye privately admitted to herself that she still preferred the Yue Yang standing in front of her right now — shameless old lecher and all.
(End of Chapter)