Upon hearing Lian Li’s tragic cry, the South Island Master and Yun Huizhou immediately turned their heads. They saw Lian Li scrambling to jump off his camel, practically crawling as he knelt on the sandy ground.
Yun Huizhou also dismounted his camel and walked over. Pulling Lian Li up, he said, “Forget it. If it’s broken, it’s broken. Don’t try to pick it up, or you’ll cut your hand.”
He had just grabbed Lian Li’s arm and hadn’t even applied force yet when Lian Li suddenly shua— sprang to his feet.
“Yun Huizhou, look! It didn’t break!” Lian Li held the glass lotus up before Yun Huizhou’s eyes.
Yun Huizhou was also quite surprised. During his childhood on Drunken Dream Island, he had broken countless pieces of liuli. He knew exactly how fragile liuli was.
He couldn’t help but take the glass lotus from Lian Li’s hand to examine it closely. He discovered that this transparent liuli lotus was not only unbroken, but after such a hard knock, it didn’t even have a single chip or scratch on it.
He immediately shared this discovery with Lian Li.
Lian Li was even more astonished than him. He had previously thought he was lucky enough that it hadn’t shattered, but for there to be no trace of a collision at all—wasn’t that a bit too ridiculous?
Fearing Lian Li wouldn’t believe him, Yun Huizhou placed the lotus back into Lian Li’s hands and said, “Look closely.”
Lian Li held the glass lotus and scrutinized it for a long time. He found that, just as Yun Huizhou said, there wasn’t a single blemish.
He couldn’t help but speculate in his heart: Could it be that this isn’t glass, but a diamond?
At the thought of a diamond, Lian Li’s eyes lit up. But as he looked at the lotus in his hand again, he felt it was unlikely to be a diamond.
First of all, this lotus was simply too clear. Usually, a diamond of this size would inevitably have some impurities inside.
Even if a transparent diamond without any impurities truly existed, it would be impossible to carve it into the shape of a lotus with current technology. And even if it were achieved, it would be impossible to find no traces of manual craftsmanship.
Surely no one was going to tell him that a diamond the size of a palm, transparent without a single impurity, and naturally shaped like a lotus had actually appeared?
Well, nature was miraculous, after all. Perhaps it was possible.
However, the weight was also wrong.
It was impossible for a diamond and a piece of glass of the same size to weigh the same.
Lian Li weighed the transparent lotus in his hand. He was now somewhat uncertain whether this thing was actually glass or not.
Just as he was thinking about how to explain this to Yun Huizhou, an eagle arrived and landed on the South Island Master.
Then, the South Island Master said faintly, “Bei Heng has calculated something related to that divine treasure. It is a sparkling lotus.”
Lian Li, who was just about to speak: “…”
Yun Huizhou, who was about to get back on his camel: “…”
The South Island Master, holding the slip of paper: “…”
The three of them simultaneously looked at the transparent lotus in Lian Li’s hand.
After a long silence, Lian Li spoke up, “It couldn’t possibly be this one, could it?”
Yun Huizhou and the South Island Master replied, “It most likely is this one.”
After Lian Li seriously evaluated the combat power of the three of them, he decisively stuffed the transparent lotus into the South Island Master’s hand. “Master, since it’s such an important item, you should be the one to hold onto it.”
The South Island Master looked at Lian Li, then at Yun Huizhou, and then tossed the transparent lotus back toward Lian Li.
Lian Li caught it in a flurry of limbs, then looked at the South Island Master in shock. “Master!”
The South Island Master met his gaze.
【You hold it. You have good luck.】
Lian Li: “…”
No, what did “good luck” mean? Were they treating him like a lucky charm?
Holding the transparent lotus, he looked toward Yun Huizhou again, only to find that Yun Huizhou had already mounted his camel.
Yun Huizhou, who had been exceptionally understanding since they got together, actually said nothing this time. He showed absolutely no intention of taking the transparent lotus.
Upon noticing Lian Li looking at him, he even looked back with an innocent expression and asked, “Shall we get on the camels and continue our journey?”
Seeing him play dumb, Lian Li knew that Yun Huizhou also had no intention of taking the transparent lotus.
He huffed and stuffed the transparent lotus into his robes.
However, his movements were no longer as cautious as before.
Since it was something that couldn’t be broken anyway and was connected to some divine treasure, it probably wasn’t glass or a diamond, but something that couldn’t be explained by science.
After all, the martial arts of this world were already unscientific enough.
The desert was supposed to be sparsely populated, and it had indeed been so when the three of them first entered. But on their third day in the desert, they began to find traces left by many people.
More importantly, they also saw the corpses of horse bandits.
“Horse bandits entered the desert too?” Lian Li sat on his camel and looked down at Yun Huizhou, who was squatting beside a bandit’s corpse.
Yun Huizhou pulled aside the bandit’s clothes to inspect them and said, “These bandits died at the hands of other bandits.”
He stood up, mounted his camel, and continued, “There are definitely quite a few bandits in the desert. Judging by the time of death, it was within the last day or two. They probably haven’t been in the desert for very long either.”
If they hadn’t known that the transparent lotus in their hands was related to the divine treasure, they might not have cared what these bandits were doing in the desert.
But now, knowing that the transparent lotus in their hands had been snatched from several groups of major bandits, the presence of these bandits in the desert was worth pondering.
Lian Li touched his chest, feeling that this transparent lotus was simply a hot potato.
However, it was also impossible for him to give up this item now.
Those coveting this divine treasure and the transparent lotus were not just these bandits, but also a group of assassins from who-knows-where.
The three of them didn’t know where the so-called divine treasure was located in the desert. They could only wait for the transparent lotus in their hands to suddenly give a hint, or wait for it to manifest, at which point a transcendent expert like the South Island Master would sense it.
They were wandering somewhat aimlessly through the desert.
The temperature fluctuations in the desert were extreme. The South Island Master and Yun Huizhou were fine due to their profound internal energy. Lian Li’s internal energy wasn’t weak now either, but if he used it to resist such large temperature swings, the consumption would be quite high.
Feeling the temperature drop, Lian Li dug thick clothes out of his pack and put them on.
“There are more bodies ahead,” Yun Huizhou said, pointing forward.
Lian Li quickened his pace of adjusting his clothes and looked in the direction Yun Huizhou was pointing.
He could vaguely see several dark shadows on the ground that looked human-shaped, and he could also smell the scent of blood.
The three of them drove their camels over. As before, Yun Huizhou went down to examine the bodies.
“These bandits died under the sword techniques of those assassins,” Yun Huizhou said.
Lian Li took a deep breath, knowing that things were becoming increasingly complicated.
The path they were taking clearly wasn’t the main plotline, but its complexity seemed not a bit weaker than the main plot.
If the main plot was the “light line,” then the one they were currently on should be the “dark line.”
