Phoniex Requiem
Chapter 46: Treasure from the Snake Nest

Chapter 46: Treasure from the Snake Nest

Kacha!  This time, the Feilai Blade completely cut the heart of the vine.

All the vines growing from the heart seemed to suddenly lose their lives, and with a silent lament, began to wither rapidly.

Not long after, at least a third of the vines in the basement had turned yellow, the wailing stopped, and everything went back to silence.

"It's dead, it's dead!"

Everyone finally took a deep breath.

“Ruoyan sister, what is blue light? It's so strong!" Lin Qingchen looked towards Yun Ruoyan, somewhat surprised.

He had once seen a high-level weapon that could freely change its size, but there had never been such a beam that seemed to be able to grasp human commands. He wasn't even sure if it was a weapon at all.

“You mean this!” Yun Ruoyan stretched out her palm and laid it in front of Lin Qingchen, and the Feilai Sword appeared hovering above her palm.

It was a crescent-shaped blade, giving off a cold blue aura, slowly rotating in the air.

"This…?"

“It was a spiritual weapon.” An equally surprised Zhuo Yifeng voice came from Yun Ruoyan's back.

He turned to glance at her and continued, "Right, this is Sword Feilai, the spirit weapon I obtained accidentally, and one of my rescuers."

He looked at Lin Qingchen and Zhuo Yifeng consecutively before saying with a severe expression, “This is much more valuable than someone should have at my cultivation level. I'm just a weak girl, and if anyone else finds out that I have such a weapon, it won't end well for me. That's why I hid this from all of you, and I hope you'll all understand and help me keep it a secret"

"Of course!" Lin Qingchen. He knew how hard his cousin's life was. “I will definitely keep this a secret. Don't worry, Ruoyan.”

“We beastkin will never betray our friend. I can swear to the king of beasts, ”continue Zhuo Yifeng.

Yun Ruoyan looked at him with anticipation. He did not hesitate to clench his hands, put them over his heart, looked towards the sky, and said slowly, “I, Zhuo Yifeng, hereby swear to the king of beasts, If I reveal Yun Ruoyan's secret, I will lose mine.the most precious treasure.”

Zhuo Yifeng's bright eyes looked towards Yun Ruoyan, and she nodded. "It's not that I don't want to believe you, but things happen so fast in this world that I need a guarantee."

Zhuo Yifeng nodded in understanding. “You're all fine, right?”

"I'm doing fine. How are you guys doing? Are you guys hurt by the vines?" Yun Ruoyan stored the Feilai Blade once more before turning to Zhuo Yifeng and Lin Qingxue.

"He wasn't hurt, but his face was a bit pale." Zhuo Yifeng looked at Lin Qingxue, who was still in a daze.

"He's fine. I just checked her pulse, and she's been weakening for a while. Fortunately, his health was not in danger," added Lin Qingchen.

“The creeping plant sucked up a lot of its spiritual energy,” Yun Ruoyan commented. “Given how long this vine has been here, I wonder how many lives it took?”

Everyone looked as one towards the bones that were lining the ground.

"What's that?" Zhuo Yifeng frowned and glanced at the corner where the heart of the vine used to be.

After withering, he lost his blood-red appearance and instead lay on his side, like a withered tree trunk.

With his bow, Zhuo Yifeng sawed through the remaining vine, revealing a small crack beneath.

A small black snake crawled up the hole, and Zhuo Yifeng immediately cut off his head.

“Hng! Here also there is snake.”

Yun Ruoyan and Lin Qingchen also walked over. When Yun Ruoyan saw the little snake, she frowned. “Isn't snake-type animals usually green? Why is this one black?”

"The mutated switch!" Lin Qingchen bowed as she looked at the two parts of the snake, which were writhing slowly. “Snake-type animals mutate relatively easily, and they usually develop some special abilities when doing so. I've seen records of one that could spout fire, and it's a very powerful beast that specializes in offensive attacks."

He looked somewhat regretfully at the small snake carcass. "It's a shame it's dead, or I can learn a little."

"Qingchen, when did you start studying magical beasts?" Yun Ruoyan asked, remembering that her cousin had always followed her grandfather to study medicine. He had a pent-up talent for pill making, but Yun Ruoyan had no idea that he was also interested in magical beasts.

“Grandfather said that the inner core of many animals could be an important ingredient for some drugs, so he encouraged me to read more books on that subject. Sometimes, he even let me keep some small magical beasts to observe. Only after entering this place did I realize how many ferocious beasts out there were not recorded in the books, we actually had too little knowledge”

As Lin Qingchen said this, her gaze drifted into the gap behind the snake carcass, and her eyes twinkled. He reached out to clean the rest of the vines before bending towards the crack.

“Great, there are still snake eggs here!” He turned around and said happily to Yun Ruoyan before reaching the crack and took out three speckled snake eggs.

"Are you really going to raise them?" Yun Ruoyan looked at the three small oval-shaped eggs, frowning slightly. "These are mutated monsters, and unless you are a professional summoner, you might not be able to tame them."

“It's okay, I'll let Grandpa help me. Snake-type ferocious beasts were also not easy to raise, and perhaps none of them had actually survived. He reached into the crack again, but this time, instead of a snake egg, he took out a book."

"Why is there a book here ?!" Lin Qingchen.

The book was dusty and old, yellowing like a vine after death.

Yun Ruoyan was as confused as Lin Qingchen.

“Most likely it was left behind by one of the people that consumed that wild vines,” said Zhuo Yifeng from the side. He had cleared the vines on the other side of the crevice and extended his hand as well.

"That's possible! Let me see." Yun Ruoyan took the book. It was not too thick, but it felt dense and heavy to the touch. He opened it and opened a page that was both yellowed, but there was not a single word there.

"What'sthis? No words anywhere!” Yun Ruoyan flipped through the entire book and confirmed her statement.

"There's more inside!" Zhuo Yifeng suddenly exclaimed, and Yun Ruoyan and Lin Qingchen both looked towards him. His hand was clutching the dark green porcelain bottle, his face full of excitement.

Yun Ruoyan also smiled. “There may be more stuff in this gap than all the people who have died here before. If we clean all the vines, we will probably get some good discoveries.”

Lin Qingchen carefully stored her three snake eggs, and Yun Ruoyan threw the book wordlessly into the dimension of her pocket. 

The three of them began to clean up the remaining vines, revealing a frightening amount of bones within. Most of the bones came from humans, and it seemed like they had been dead for quite a while.

“It looks like this snake also killed many people.” Yun Ruoyan took another white porcelain bottle from among the bones. He opened it and found, to his surprise, the core foundation pill.

But these pills were not very successful, seemingly much inferior in terms of shape, smell, and size compared to the pills the Lin family had.

“This must be a failure.” Lin Qingchen took the pill and sniffed it carefully. “But it still has pretty good medicinal properties, better than standard life essence pills. Things we need to help restore vitality Qingxue.”

He walked over to Lin Qingxue's side and gave her a pill. Lin Qingxue's skin immediately looked much better, and she slowly opened her eyes. "Qingchen, I'm so scared!"

"This is a lesson for you, so you will behave better in the future." Lin Qingchen clicked her tongue at her sister, but her fingers gently rubbed her temples.

In the end, the group discovered some important things from the room, mostly pills and powders to recover spiritual energy and stamina. Even though they are valuable, nothing special.

Each cultivator would usually keep such a pill by their side if they faced danger, so rather than putting it in Lin Qingchen's storage bag, they divided it in place.

All that was left was a bottle of mysterious medicinal powder and a rusty ring.

The medicinal powder will be handed over to Lin Zainan, who can identify it.

The ring was carved with what looked like a small snake. Lin Qingchen was very fond of her look, so they agreed to give the ring to her.

After they extracted the core from the snake, the group returned to the hole where they fell. Lin Qingchen and Zhuo Yifeng had prepared the vine as they descended, making the climb much more comfortable.

"Lin'er? Lin'er?” Zhuo Yifeng called out through the hole.

Yun Ruoyan could see that she was still a little worried, and she was unable to help but was touched that, in order to save her, she had actually left her sister inside the cave alone.

“Sister, I'm fine. Are you hurt? How are Ruoyan and the others?”

Zhuo Lin'er's voice finally replied from above, and the group relaxed at the same time.

"We're all fine, and we're heading upstairs now!" Zhuo Yifeng replied before picking up a vine, carrying Lin Qingxue on her back, and climbing up.

Lin Qingchen followed behind him, and Yun Ruoyan behind him. After about fifteen minutes, they finally returned into the cave.

Zhuo Lin'er had been guarding the entrance, looking down from time to time with her small body. Once he saw Zhuo Yifeng, he immediately stood up.

"What's wrong with Sister Qingxue?" He saw Zhuo Yifeng carrying Lin Qingxue and asked with concern.

"I'm fine." Lin Qingxue opened her eyes and spoke with great effort, "I'm just a little weak, but after a little break, I'll be able to fight again with you!"

“Hng! I don't like to fight with you.” Zhuo Lin'er couldn't help but give him an arrogant look.

Others began to laugh at their antics.

After a short break, they descended the cliff once more, returning to where they fought Pei Ziao that day in the forest.

Pei Ziao's group had long since disappeared, but the strange thing was that Liu Sheng and Jin Fei'er's bodies had also disappeared. There were only two unsightly pools of dried blood on the ground.