Chapter 1456 - 788: Cooking White Stones to Attract the Spirit Deer (Double Chapter)_3

The fragrant aroma drifted gently, flowing past the stream, sweeping through the trees, meeting the radiant moonlight. Then, just as the mountain breeze gusted in, it dissolved into the wind, and unknowingly, mist began to spread.

She slowly exhaled, turned her head, and saw Donggong Ruoshu had already opened his mouth wide, Chen Yi was slightly surprised, and Yin Weiyin was about to lightly brush his sleeves and smile, ready to pose grandly, but found they were all looking behind her.

Suddenly, the branches hanging down from the trees above, their leaves deep green, unexpectedly sprouted flower buds, a petal drifted down. Yin Weiyin looked up to see the trees in the mist suddenly blooming full of forest flowers, raining petals scattered everywhere.

With another movement of mist, a beam of clear light separated the tree tops, and a white deer slowly walked out from the mist and flowers, glanced at them, surprisingly unafraid of the fire.

Yin Weiyin stood up, struck by the scene, fixated on watching for a long moment.

The white deer already reached his side, lowered its head and began sipping the prepared porridge water.

A series of new tracks appeared among the distant and near trees, shallow, as if someone couldn't bear to exert force.

.........…

.........…

In another place,

The mountain mist was yet to disperse, moonlight struggled to cast down a few pale rays.

Chang Yuzi quietly stood on a gnarled branch jutting out from the treetops, having stood here for nearly an hour, his gaze locked onto the mountain forest below, his face a hue turning darker from initially being calm.

A zhang away from him, Ji Tong stood solemnly with lowered hands, endless confusion in his heart, yet he dared not voice it.

"Strange..."

Chang Yuzi finally uttered two words.

Ji Tong's throat moved slightly but didn't dare to respond; he too felt strange. According to the previous calculations and arrangements, using that group of vigorous, greed-driven Jianghu guests as bait to disturb the mountain spirits, forcing that Spirit Deer to flee in panic, they would then guard at several pre-set Life Gates on the periphery—success should have been assured.

Yet the Spirit Deer remained elusive.

Chang Yuzi's expression stayed tranquil but Ji Tong distinctly felt the surrounding air chilling a few degrees.

The mountain wind wailed through the forest gaps, bringing muffled pounding from below and indistinct human speech—it was that survived group of Jianghu guests, seemingly still not giving up, fiddling near the Dragon-breaking stone.

Several broken torches stuck in the stone cracks, their flames flickering, illuminating bloody faces that flashed eerie and ghastly.

The weighty stone door finally opened amidst the chopping and scorching flames, inside it was dark, a gust of decaying wind poured out, nauseating all.

Liu Laosan and others squeezed inside, the crypt wasn't large; in the center lay a decayed and ruined coffin, its lid tilted aside, exposing a blurry heap inside, utterly different from the imagined treasure chamber.

Snatching a torch, Liu Laosan leaned closer to the coffin, held his breath, and peered in.

Inside the coffin, there were no complete remains, just a thick layer of ashes covering the bottom, vaguely revealing a human form, but the moment touched, the ashes crumbled quietly.

"This... this emperor turned to ash?" muttered a man, his voice filled with disappointment.

Liu Laosan said nothing, his eyes rapidly searching through the ashes, soon they lit up, next to the barely discernible hand-shaped ash heap, a remarkably object was present.

Carefully avoiding the ashes, he reached out and grabbed—a clay statue of a Bodhisattva came into his hand, its surface already dark brown, unknown how many years buried here. The statue was solid, with no mechanism or secret compartment; he gritted his teeth and fiercely smashed the statue against the stone wall beside it.

The clay statue cracked open accordingly, but inside there was no elixir, no secret manual, nor any gold or silver—just solid clay chunks. Still unwilling, they took out a water pouch, washed the clay away, only to see a pool of muddy water, they glanced at each other, divided to drink.

Yet nothing happened, muddy water was just muddy water.

"Just... just this?"

They faced each other in disbelief, full of astonishment.

After a long time, Liu Laosan slowly exhaled:

"...let's disperse, damn it, not worth a damn!"