Yè Shūlí and Jiang Ye stood at the exit of the cave, their hands tightly clutching the Spirit Crystals they had worked so hard to mine, confronting Elder Sūn.
The glow of the Spirit Crystals inside the cave reflected on Elder Sūn's face, making the greed in his eyes all the more blatant.
Jiang Ye clenched his fists nervously, his palms slightly sweaty.
The old man looked like an otherworldly immortal sage, yet he turned out to be such an insidiously cunning person!
Yè Shūlí, on the other hand, appeared unusually calm. She narrowed her eyes slightly and locked gazes with Elder Sūn, as if evaluating the situation before them.
Seeing that neither of them showed the slightest bit of fear, Elder Sūn was somewhat surprised.
He had expected these two wet-behind-the-ears juniors, upon seeing a Late-stage Spirit User expert like himself, to be scared out of their wits and obediently hand over the Spirit Crystals.
"Ahem," Elder Sūn fake-coughed twice, trying to break the slightly awkward silence. "Young folks, you've got decent luck. However, all the Spirit Crystals in this mystic realm belong to my Flying Cloud Sect. If you know what's good for you, hand them over obediently, and this old man might consider sparing your lives."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ye almost failed to hold back a laugh.
Sparing their lives?
This old man must be indulging in pipe dreams!
Suppressing his amusement, he suddenly burst out laughing: "Ha, ha, ha, ha! Old man, the way you talk—anyone who didn't know better would think you were just waiting here like a stump waiting for a hare! Your expression right now is just like a kid who didn't get his candy, absolutely hilarious!"
Hearing this, Elder Sūn's old face instantly turned a purplish-red.
In all his long years, no one had ever dared speak to him like this!
This brat had simply lived long enough!
He laughed out of extreme anger, his voice as chillingly cold as if it came from the netherworld: "Brat, you've got quite some nerve! Since you refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit, don't blame this old man for being unpolite!"
Watching the hair-trigger atmosphere, Yè Shūlí's lips curved slightly upward.
Looks like there was a good show to watch.
She gently patted Jiang Ye's shoulder and said in a low voice, "I'll leave the rest to you."
Looking at Elder Sūn's liver-colored old face, Jiang Ye smiled even more cheerfully: "Come on, then! Who's afraid of whom? Do you really think I'm scared of some scammer grandpa?" As he spoke, his footwork was nimble and light, dodging Elder Sūn's attacks like an agile monkey.
Elder Sūn was so angry that his mustache twitched. This brat had quite a sharp tongue, and his moves were as slippery as an eel!
He stepped up his attack, his palm force fierce and whistling with the sound of wind, heading straight for Jiang Ye's face.
With a flash of his figure, Jiang Ye narrowly dodged the attack by a hair's breadth, and even remembered to look back and provoke him: "Ouch, old man, that move won't do! Your aim is way too poor, you need to practice more!"
Observing the battle from the sidelines, Yè Shūlí noticed a strange device near the cave wall, carved with some intricate patterns.
Drawing upon her modern knowledge, she deduced that this must be a mechanism that could be used to control certain things inside the cave.
If she could activate this mechanism, it might temporarily trap Elder Sūn and buy them some time.
Elder Sūn also noticed Yè Shūlí's small movements, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes—this little girl actually wanted to pull some tricks!
He changed his target and turned to attack Yè Shūlí.
Although Yè Shūlí possessed some self-defense skills, facing a Late-stage Spirit User like Elder Sūn, she still felt somewhat out of her depth.
She could only keep dodging while looking for an opportunity to approach the mechanism.
"Little girl, don't waste your effort!" Elder Sūn sneered. "Hand over the Spirit Crystals obediently, and perhaps this old man can spare your life!"
Yè Shūlí clenched her teeth and ignored Elder Sūn's threat.
She had to activate the mechanism as soon as possible!
Just as Elder Sūn's attack was about to land on her, Jiang Ye suddenly shouted, "Lí'er, watch out!"
Seeing Yè Shūlí in mortal peril, Jiang Ye's gaze sharpened as he roared, "Old man, take this!" He was no embroidered pillow who could only talk big!
With his figure moving like lightning, he instantly teleported to Yè Shūlí's front, blocking Elder Sūn's attack without the slightest hesitation.
"Old man, your opponent is me!" Jiang Ye gave Elder Sūn a provocative wink.
The two of them traded blows, exchanging fists and kicks, fighting to a standstill for a moment.
While Jiang Ye appeared to be dodging in a panic, he was actually observing Yè Shūlí's actions in secret. The two of them cooperated seamlessly, each understanding the other's thoughts with just a single glance.
"Now is the time!" Jiang Ye deliberately exposed an opening to lure Elder Sūn into attacking.
Elder Sūn indeed fell for it, smugly thinking he had seized an opportunity as he struck out at Jiang Ye with his full palm force.
At that exact moment, seizing the opportunity, Yè Shūlí swiftly pressed a button on the mechanism.
With a crisp "click," a giant iron cage suddenly dropped from the ceiling of the cave, trapping Elder Sūn securely inside.
The surrounding cultivators who had been watching the commotion were dumbfounded, immediately breaking into discussion: "Good grief, what background do these two have to be so ridiculously powerful!"
"That old man is an elder of the Flying Cloud Sect, yet he got trapped by them—truly something you only see once in a lifetime!"
Trapped inside, Elder Sūn was frantic with rage, cursing furiously at Yè Shūlí and Jiang Ye: "You two little bastards, let me out right now! Otherwise, I'll make sure you never even think about stepping foot into the Spirit Mine again!"
Yet Yè Shūlí remained completely unfazed. She brushed the dust off her hands and curled her lip in disdain: "You? Waiting for us outside the mine like a stump waiting for a hare—anyone who didn't know better would think you were specifically here to be a clown! With you around, the Spirit Crystals were almost too embarrassed to show up!"
With that, Yè Shūlí grabbed Jiang Ye and walked straight toward the depths of the cave to continue gathering Spirit Crystals, leaving Elder Sūn hopping mad inside the iron cage, ranting like a child whose candy had been stolen.
While gathering the Spirit Crystals, Jiang Ye didn't forget to look back and banter with Elder Sūn: "Hey, old man, stop jumping around, you'll wrench your back! Look at how many Spirit Crystals we've mined—is this enough as a tribute for you?"
Suddenly, Yè Shūlí stopped in her tracks, staring at a stone platform deep within the cave that seemed to be engraved with strange symbols.
"Jiang Ye, look..." She reached out, wanting to touch the symbols on the stone platform.
"Don't move!" Jiang Ye lunged forward and grabbed Yè Shūlí's hand, but it was already too late...
The moment Yè Shūlí's finger brushed against the symbols on the stone platform, a harsh, grating friction echoed throughout the entire cave, and the ground began to shake violently.
"What the heck is going on!" Jiang Ye exclaimed in shock, pulling Yè Shūlí behind him.
The stone platform slowly sank, revealing a pitch-black opening from which an icy, chilling aura emanated, making one's hair stand on end.
"Lí'er, watch out!" Jiang Ye shielded Yè Shūlí behind him, staring vigilantly at the opening.
This cave was riddled with traps and mechanisms—who knew what other dangers might be lurking inside?
"Could this be the lair of some ancient giant beast?" Jiang Ye swallowed hard, conjuring up a mental image of a ferocious giant beast crawling out from the opening, and couldn't help shivering.
Yè Shūlí, however, showed no signs of panic. She carefully observed the symbols on the stone platform, her brows tightly knitted.
"These symbols... look a bit like some sort of ancient cipher..." she muttered to herself.
"A cipher? What cipher?" Jiang Ye was utterly clueless.
"These are symbols arranged according to specific rules, which can be used to transmit information or control mechanisms..." Yè Shūlí explained briefly.
"Oh~ ancient people really knew how to have fun, huh..." Jiang Ye sighed in admiration.
"Wait, I remember now!" Yè Shūlí suddenly smacked her forehead. "The arrangement of these symbols is very similar to one I saw in an ancient text! If I remember correctly, the method to crack it should be..." As she spoke, she rapidly pressed several symbols on the stone platform.
With a "click," the cave opening stopped descending, and the tremors gradually subsided.
"Whew, good thing, good thing my memory is good..." Yè Shūlí let out a long sigh of relief. Fortunately, the crisis was averted.
"Lí'er, you're amazing!" Jiang Ye looked at Yè Shūlí with utter admiration. "Your brain is practically a miraculous existence!"
"Heh heh, keeping it low profile, keeping it low profile..." Yè Shūlí smiled smugly.
The two of them continued gathering Spirit Crystals. "98... 99... 100!"
Jiang Ye shouted excitedly, "Lí'er, we've already mined 100 Spirit Crystals!"
Right at that moment, a strange noise echoed from the depths of the cave—sounding like the low growl of some beast, and yet like the scraping of metal, making one's flesh crawl.
Yè Shūlí and Jiang Ye exchanged glances, both seeing vigilance reflected in each other's eyes.