Thud. Thud.
Footsteps were made as the entire group treaded deeper into unknown territory.
The man in blue and man in black were busy chopping away the overgrowth in front as sweat could be seen trickling down from their foreheads.
The path in front was just covered with overgrowth.
It was a tedious task to just continuously displace the vegetation to open up a path for the rest of the team.
Senior Qin and Senior Gan kept their vigilance as they watched around for any danger.
They could not afford another ambush like that of the spiders and centipedes.
The Liu Family juniors were slowly following behind as their weary feet trudged forward.
They have been traveling about half a day already into the forest.
The only blessing so far was that there were no encounters since they left that cliffside cave.
This has made the journey progress much smoother than expected, despite taking a long detour.
Cawwwww.
A bird screeched out from the distance.
The group immediately stopped their movement and raised their vigilance.
Silence.
They watched carefully for any surrounding movements.
The forest was still.
...
These short moments felt like hours.
Senior Qin slowly relaxed her guard and she waved her hand and pointed forward.
It was to signal to be at ease and continue advancing.
This was something previously decided when Liu Xun was asleep as they realized that they had been making far too much noise when entering foreign territory.
The group decided to speak as little as possible and use signals to move forward so that they can be quieter as well as less distracted to discover threats earlier.
Thus, they slowly advanced forward.
--
A long while after the group advanced towards the supposed treasure site, the view changed.
What appeared before the group was two cliff faces, in between was a long narrow path that could barely fit five people in width.
The two cliffs were high up above and really steep, it seemed more like a ravine in a mountain rather than 2 separate cliff faces.
Weirdly enough, the path was sparse with vegetation.
It was a frequently traversed route.
It is unknown who the travelers were, but this meant that there could be a battle ahead.
Vines were hanging from the cliff faces as bushes grew on the ledges.
The other end of this ravine was not visible as there seemed to be twists and turns.
The seniors' expressions turned rather serious.
The implication of this valley with a constant traverse means that the threat level was raised, the treasure might result in a fight that could lead to their danger or even deaths.
Senior Gan gulped as he looked at the narrow path, hesitant to speak out a word.
He knew that advancing forward seems to be a rather bad decision. However, his greed was still deep in his heart festering.
The mood of the party was rather tense at the moment.
"Erm, excuse me, everybody."
A voice sounded from the back.
It came from the youth who held an ax.
Liu Xun gathered his courage as he tightly gripped onto his ax handle.
He knew that he was the weakest around, but he had an idea that could help with the decision.
All eyes laid upon him.
Liu Xun swallowed his nervousness as he pinched his eyebrows, he then gave a confident look and opened his mouth.
"Seniors, why don't I sign in over here. Since my system will tell us the location of sign-in, perhaps there will be a clue to what is ahead."
Senior Gan's eyes brightened as he slammed his fist against his palm.
"What a bright idea! Since beasts cannot hear your powers anyway, we could use this to scout the area ahead without alerting anyone!"
He exclaimed out in excitement. He was even more glad that the journey could possibly proceed ahead.
Senior Gan almost felt that Liu Xun looked a little more handsome at the moment, handing out a saving grace.
The rest of the group seemed to be positive towards this idea of Liu Xun's.
It seems that the decision was unanimous.
--
Liu Xun lightly closed his eyes.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
He silently prayed that the system would give him proper details of the sign-in, even more so than a good draw reward.
It was what the team required most desperately after all.
"System, sign in."
[Congratulations Host Liu Xun for signing in at the “Entrance of the Small Blue Valley Spring”. You have obtained the grey prize - Fairy Pearl Powder!]
What...cosmetic powder?
It seemed that the system really has a bunch of weird prizes in the trash section.
Liu Xun has already long lost his expectations of pulling something good from signing in. Not like pulling good things is any good with that public announcement system.
Liu Ruoxue Affection +100
Liu Sanbo Affection -100
Liu Wubo Affection -100
Qin Yeqian Affection +100
Xuan Tie Affection -100
Gan Xinjian Affection -100
This reaction seemed to be normal, however...
Millie Silverborn Affection +1000
There was a new entrant to the group of blue boxes.
Millie...Silverborn1?
This is bad.
There was another person who was detected.
And due to the system, this means that this 'Millie' would also be aware of his presence.
Liu Xun could feel sweat trickling down his forehead.
The rest of the group who are not aware that he could detect other presences that receive the broadcast were still showing signs of relief and joy.
It had been a while since they had last visited a spring.
That pitiful murky stream outside the jungle is far from their expectations of a viable water source.
This would allow them to refill their water supply.
Furthermore, as the area was likely not to be enclosed like a cave, there is a better chance to escape if there are any strong foes.
Senior Qin's expression turned more relaxed, the other seniors also felt relieved upon hearing the news.
This detour may not be that risky after all.
Liu Xun felt kind of complicated in his heart.
On one hand, he really did want to warn the others of this new presence.
On the other, he did not want to reveal his ability so the others would not be so wary against him.
It is kind of bad to not reveal the signs of a new being aware of our presence. However, to reveal my trump card...
No, I have drawn a trash prize and the affection sign was largely positive. Perhaps, there is no ill intent?
Liu Xun was deeply contemplating the consequences of his choice.
In the end, he decided against telling the group of the potential foe.
Hopefully, nothing too awry would come from it.
The group then advanced into the ravine.
--
Step. Step.
The group slowly walked through the dark ravine.
Scant amounts of sunlight scattered down between the cracks of the high cliffs.
The ceiling vines also covered up part of the light, making the area even darker than it would have been.
When the group entered the ravine, the sun was already traversing west.
It was not known how long they had been moving, but the sun was clearly going to set soon.
"Hey everybody, look!"
Liu Five, who took a turn around a bend, cried out in excitement as the group was slowly moving along.
The rest of them then crossed the bend as they were greeted by a sight.
In front of them was a ledge.
And below that ledge, was verdant green trees.
The trees over here were not overgrown like those outside and seem to be adequately spaced apart, between them were flower fields of myriad colors.
Some of the trees themselves bear tantalizing fruits.
Red apples, green pears, orange mandarins...many types of fruits grew around.
Some rare treasure herbs could also be seen growing here and there.
For example, there was a five-inch golden crystal mushroom growing off the bark of a tree in the distance.
It was a Crystal Dream Shroom that grew in many different colors depending on the parasitized host. The normal colors were rare, but the golden variants much rarer. It would easily feed a family for several generations if one was traded off since it was a core ingredient to several important types of core formation pills.
Another was the thin tree located beside a tiny lake.
The thin tree had a narrow trunk that winded like a maiden's waist.
Its leaves were purplish-blue with a faint hue of qi.
It was a Purple Fairy Maiden Oak, which is a famed wood for producing various types of treasures and weapon handles and scabbards.
Do not belittle its thin trunk, the durability of the tree and its stored qi makes it a tough treasure to take apart.
Besides the treasures, the next most impressive sight that shocked the group was the lake itself.
Despite being a distance of at least a mile away, the water could be seen glistening in the evening sunglow.
The purity of the lake was undoubtedly high, which greatly tempted the weary travelers.
Moreso, from a distance faint qi could be detected from the water itself.
It could possibly be spirit water!
This thought ran through all the cultivators' minds.
Spirit water has variable qualities but they are often superior to many mediocre pills or spirit stones of the same level as they are much easier to absorb.
This is a huge treasure!
The juniors were filled with glee.
The seniors were excited as well, but they had other worries.
There was no way that such a treasured spring and place would be ownerless.
What would happen if they proceeded forward to meet a strong foe.
The space may be open, but after a closer look, the entire basin was enclosed within a mountain and the ravine they had passed through may have been the only entrance to this paradise.
"Shall we advance?"
Senior Qin asked the group.
The other seniors had a troubled expression on their faces.
The juniors seemed to be excited.
Liu Xun, himself, could feel the excitement coursing through his veins.
Real treasure!
So far, Liu Xun's experience as a cultivator was to obtain rare treasures and resources through the wheel.
The feeling between that and discovering actual treasure was vastly different.
A new sense of thrill this was for him!
The seniors engaged in a thorough discussion about the dangers and benefits and finally decided to advance forth.
What is a cultivator that shies away from danger?
Thus, they advanced down the ledge into the forest basin.