"Seems everyone has left..." Yun Che murmured in his mind as he slowly opened his eyes, his eyelids heavy with the weight of exhaustion, and looked around in a silence laced with caution. The vast stone hall was completely empty, no trace of any sound or movement, not a whisper of wind nor the echo of footsteps, as if the place had suddenly been swallowed into the mouth of a void.
He sat up quietly, his shoulders moving slowly with each breath, then looked towards the elevated platform at its center, where that mysterious box sat, covered in a thin layer of cosmic dust, as if it hadn't been opened for thousands of years.
"Jasmine, do you know what's inside this box?" — he asked in a low voice as he rose, his footsteps echoing on the stone floor while he cautiously approached the platform. However, he received no reply.
He frowned slightly, his narrowed eyes gleaming with suspicion, before sending his consciousness directly into the Sky Poison Pearl to check on Jasmine.
Inside, he found her... immersed in absolute stillness. She was sitting inside a sphere of red energy, her eyes closed, having surrounded herself with a dense barrier of her spiritual energy. She wasn't just asleep; she had completely closed off all her senses, cut off from everything around her.
"Asleep..." — Yun Che murmured faintly, expressions of clear displeasure forming on his face, then he pursed his lips while observing the details of her barrier. It seemed to him that it wasn't just to prevent external influences... but also to prevent his entry. Him.
He felt a pang of resentment in his chest, a strange sense of betrayal...
"She left me here unprotected, and even dared to put up a barrier preventing me from reaching her... even me?"
His fist tightened, and his features slowly contorted, his feelings transforming from silent resentment to a faint anger that began to rise within him like embers glowing under ash.
"Bitch..." — he muttered through gritted teeth, his tone frozen with a venomous coldness, as he withdrew his consciousness from the pearl — "I'll make sure you kneel at my feet one day... no matter what it takes."
Yun Che was an utterly vengeful person; he still remembered all the insults Jasmine had inflicted upon him from their first meeting until today, and intended to repay them a hundredfold in the future when he possessed enough power.
With that thought, Yun Che withdrew his consciousness from the Sky Poison Pearl, as it was better for him to first see what was inside the box outside, since it was clearly not something insignificant if it had been left by the Heretic God himself.
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Yun Che opened his eyes again, and his gaze seemed completely transformed. There was no longer any trace of anger or vexation; instead, they were replaced by a gleam of cold greed and burning anticipation.
"A treasure left by the Heretic God himself..." — he murmured deep within, staring at the box perched in silent majesty atop the platform, as if it were the guardian of an ancient, undisclosed secret.
The box was a pure masterpiece of ten-thousand-year ice jade, emitting a faint light the color of frozen snow. Its surface was covered in ancient, nearly eroded engravings, intertwined lines resembling celestial eddies and lost galaxies, pulsating with a faint aura of deadly serenity. It wasn't just a container... it was, in itself, a treasure meant to hold treasures.
"Even if there's nothing inside it..." — Yun Che thought, slowly running his hand over the box's surface — "this box alone is worth an entire city."
Nevertheless, he didn't allow himself to be deceived by its beautiful, apparent aura.
His steps were confident... but his eyes searched every corner, his senses extended to their utmost limit, sensing any fluctuation of energy or unnatural movement. Jasmine wouldn't protect him this time. He had to rely only on his instincts... and on his current strength.
And with every step he took closer, his sense of danger heightened, as if the box itself was whispering to him... warning him... testing him.
But what Yun Che didn't know was that another's gaze was watching him silently from the depths of the shadows, hidden behind one of the cracked pillars in the western corner of the hall.
Xichen was there.
His golden eyes gleamed with a greed no less than Yun Che's, his hair undulating silently behind him in the still breeze, and all his senses were focused on Yun Che, because the moment the box was taken out and opened, he would ambush him and steal the box and its contents.
The box was protected by a barrier that only Yun Che could open, so it wasn't surprising that no one else could open the box except Yun Che, and for this reason, Xichen would wait and pounce to steal the box at the right moment.
'The only problem is Jasmine' - Xichen thought with some anxiety, because even with his strength, he wasn't confident in his ability to escape from Jasmine, who was extremely weak at the moment due to the poison, but he had already decided to take the risk and wouldn't back down, as he was no longer that weak-willed person he had been two years ago.
Under Xichen's watchful eyes, Yun Che reached the box and extended his hand to touch it. And as expected, the barrier didn't appear to stop him, allowing him to touch the ice jade box without any problems.
Yun Che showed no surprise when the barrier didn't appear to stop him, but instead displayed an arrogant and confident smile, because, as he had expected, this thing was meant for him.
The moment his hand touched the ice jade box, he felt a comfortable coolness coursing through his entire body, causing him to unconsciously let out a satisfied moan.
"Now, let's see what's inside..." - Yun Che murmured and sent a little of his Profound Energy into the ice jade box.
Crack!
With a pure, simple sound, the box opened before Yun Che's eyes, who saw a wooden scroll inside the box. And when he reached out his hand to get it, he felt something rushing towards him at great speed and could only jump aside to evade, without being able to store the ice jade box.
Swish!
The moment Yun Che evaded, a sword slash appeared in the spot where he had been, cutting the stone platform in half as easily as a hot knife cuts through butter.
"Who's there!!" - Yun Che roared angrily as he drew his sword, which was at the Sky Profound Realm level, and it was clear it wasn't a heavy sword like his original one, but merely a sword with a common appearance.
"No need for you to know" - a distorted voice rang out from behind Yun Che, who felt as if every bone in his body had shattered when the other party's palm struck his chest as he tried to block the attack.
"Cough!!" - Yun Che coughed up a mouthful of blood as his body flew through the air, but under his gaze, the person hiding their face reached out and grabbed the pendant hanging from his chest, the only thing his real family had left him.
Upon seeing this, Yun Che's eyes filled with anger and hatred, and he wanted to launch a counterattack but couldn't, as the other party showed no mercy - the palm strike had severely injured him, and his internal organs were in chaos.
Swish!
Suddenly, the other party disappeared and reappeared in front of the platform where the ice jade box was, grabbed it, and vanished again, leaving Yun Che, who had crashed to the ground, unable to move a single finger.
...
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