He raised his hand to stop Lian Li from speaking and continued, “I really don’t need them. At my stage, I am already preparing for the Transcendent realm; comprehension is more important. It’s not as if I’ve been stuck at this level for years, having fully grasped the insights but needing an external push because my internal energy won’t rise.
“Suddenly using an external force to stimulate the progress of my internal energy might not be a good thing for me, since I’ve only just entered the Super-First-Class rank.”
Lian Li’s eyes held a hint of disbelief as he stared straight at Yun Huizhou, as if trying to discern whether he was telling the truth.
Yun Huizhou ruffled Lian Li’s hair and said, “Don’t be so skeptical. I’m telling the truth. If I were lying to you, wouldn’t I be exposed the moment you return to Drunken Dream Island and ask around? Besides, even if Master were here, he would give all these Youxia Fruits to you as well.”
Lian Li continued to stare at Yun Huizhou, wanting to see if he would show any signs of guilt.
However, Yun Huizhou stood there with complete composure, letting him look as much as he wanted.
After a long while, Lian Li finally spoke: “You really aren’t lying to me?”
Yun Huizhou: “I’m really not lying to you.”
Seeing how serious Yun Huizhou was, Lian Li believed about eighty percent of it.
Since there was still a monster—one potentially no weaker than Yun Huizhou—that hadn’t appeared yet, now was not the best time to consume the Youxia Fruits.
After the two of them put the fruits away, Lian Li said, “The ‘Supreme Treasure’ couldn’t possibly be referring to these, right?”
He felt that while the Youxia Fruits were indeed treasures, it was a bit of a stretch to say they were the kind of supreme treasure that could stir so many Transcendent masters into action.
After all, according to Yun Huizhou, the Youxia Fruits weren’t of much use to those already at the Super-First-Class rank.
Yun Huizhou’s answer confirmed his thoughts.
“It’s not the treasure we’re looking for. The Youxia Fruits haven’t reached the level where Transcendent masters could sense them or where Martial Uncle Bei could divine their location.”
Lian Li thought about it carefully for a moment before understanding what Yun Huizhou meant.
In other words, the grade of the Youxia Fruits was too low for Transcendent masters; they were no different from common trinkets to them, so they wouldn’t trigger any reaction.
And precisely because the grade wasn’t high enough, Martial Uncle Bei couldn’t calculate their whereabouts either.
“By the way, should we go up and take a look?” Lian Li looked up at the exit above and asked Yun Huizhou.
Yun Huizhou, who was just about to turn back toward the underground lake, remembered that their original purpose for coming into this passage was to find another exit.
After all, the surface lake might have already been taken over by the bandits. If they swam out that way, they might drop right into a nest of outlaws.
Finding a new exit would help them seize the treasure at the first opportunity and make a quick escape.
The exit was above them, over ten meters high. The stone wall leading to it wasn’t vertical but had a certain incline.
The surface was uneven and jagged; even without using light-body techniques, the two could climb up with their bare hands.
As they approached the wall, they saw crawling marks on the stone, indicating that the large monster likely used this exit frequently.
Yun Huizhou tapped his toes lightly and reached the exit in a few bounds.
He gripped a protruding rock with one hand, sent his blade out of the hole first, and then followed after it.
Lian Li followed closely behind him.
Once outside, the two began to survey their surroundings.
They hadn’t left the boundaries of the oasis, which was within their expectations.
This oasis was massive. Although they had only seen one lake so far, the underground water source was clearly abundant, more than enough to sustain such a large area of greenery.
Unfortunately, this exit wasn’t too far from the lake they had found earlier. The bandits were numerous and covered a wide range; even in the short time they had been out, they could already see traces of bandit activity.
If they wanted to make a fortune quietly, they would have to be even more careful.
The two only scouted briefly near the exit. It was already evening, nearly time for the transparent lotus to start generating heat again.
Thinking of this, Lian Li quickly pulled out the transparent lotus. He remembered that while they were underground, the lotus had remained red and warm.
Now that they were out, the color and temperature of the lotus faded instantly.
Yun Huizhou also saw the change in the lotus and said, “It might be that the lotus only maintains a reaction while underground. Right, since we’ve found a usable exit, should we go and bring in the supplies we hid earlier?”
Lian Li was tempted, but after thinking it over, he said, “Forget it. It’s getting dark, and the bandits will likely head back to the lakeside. It’s too risky to go now. Besides, the other monster hasn’t shown its face yet. If it went out, it should be returning to its nest at night. If we go get the supplies and come back only to find the monster has returned and blocked us from going down, that would be trouble.”
Yun Huizhou agreed. Although the desert was cold at night, they could endure it with their internal energy. He said, “In that case, let’s head back.”
Just as the two landed at the bottom of the hole, Yun Huizhou suddenly snapped his head up.
Startled by the movement, Lian Li also looked up quickly, but he saw nothing.
“What is it?” he whispered.
Yun Huizhou stood up immediately, grabbed Lian Li, and pulled him toward the passage, speaking in a low, urgent voice: “I heard a strange crawling sound. Move, fast! The monster might be returning to its nest.”
They had walked through the passage not long ago and remembered the general layout, so their return pace was much faster than their arrival.
Not long after entering the passage, Lian Li also heard that strange crawling sound.
He realized that earlier, only Yun Huizhou could hear it, but now, even he could.
That could only mean that the distance between them and the source of that crawling sound was rapidly closing.
Furthermore, a second after Lian Li heard the crawling, he heard a sharp screech very similar to the monster in the lake.
This made them even more certain that the large monster and the small one in the lake were the same species.
Yun Huizhou pulled Lian Li and ran even faster.
Because they were in a passage, it wasn’t easy to fully utilize light-body techniques, but both of them possessed top-tier movement skills. With their internal energy circulating, they sprinted forward at an extraordinary speed.
Due to the terrain, they couldn’t reach their maximum speed, but Lian Li noticed that while the distance between them and the crawling sound wasn’t closing anymore, they weren’t shaking it off either.
However, they were currently on a dead-end path. The passage was only two kilometers long, and once they finished running, they would reach the underground lake.
Although there were several other tunnels in that large cavern, they hadn’t explored any of them.
If they ran into a narrow dead end, they would be in real trouble.
As they sprinted all the way back, they arrived once again at the subterranean lake.
Now, they were left with only two choices.
One was to jump into the lake, swim through the underwater tunnel to the surface lake, and then escape from there.
The other was to stay in this large underground space and fight a life-and-death battle with the pursuing monster.
