Translator-Rhapsodite
Editor-PerpetualMreow, Proofreader-adjective
While Fan Hemian was blocking the door and keeping the guards from entering, Ji Dong and Fan Luming were sweating profusely as they rummaged through boxes and cabinets in the storehouse.
Anything related to the ‘Four Treasures of the Study’ had to be examined. They tore up books and paintings, smashed pen holders, paperweights, and inkwells. They even began destroying cups that looked a little like inkwells.
After a series of tearing and smashing sounds, the already messy storehouse was beyond salvage.
After searching through everything within reach, Ji Dong got on a stool and stood in front of a seven-layer carved antique shelf in the corner to begin searching for things on it.
“Crack!”
He picked up a round-bellied porcelain bottle, threw it down carelessly, and let it shatter into five pieces.
Ji Dong then reached for the topmost brocade box, removed the pin, and opened the lid.
“Wait!”
Before he could even see what was inside the brocade box, he heard Fan Luming yell.
Fan Luming was originally next to him, busy searching through the things on the dressing table. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of white light out of the corner of his eye.
He quickly turned his head and immediately couldn’t help but scream.
Fan Luming was currently using the [Ghost], so in his eyes, every participant would have a layer of blue fluorescence, which could be seen from a distance.
Just as Ji Dong opened the lid of the brocade box, Fan Luming immediately saw another light source.
Fan Luming felt that the box was filled with a pool of water that could emit white light. When Ji Dong opened the lid, he startled the water, and the wisp of light spilled out like mercury cascading to the ground, falling down from the antique shelf and scattering into countless stars.
Although it was not very bright, it was still very conspicuous in the dimly lit room, so much so that Fan Luming could see it even if he just glanced at it from his peripheral vision.
He immediately threw away the silk scroll in his hand, jumped onto the stool where Ji Dong was standing, asked the latter to step away, and stretched his neck to look into the box.
Inside the brocade box, there was a beautiful inkstone carved with a lotus and carp design. In the center, there was a piece of glossy pine soot ink, which had already been used and had an oval recess in the center.
Ji Dong and Fan Luming exchanged a glance, both revealing a look of surprise in their eyes.
Even if Ji Xiao’niao couldn’t see the silver light emitted by the inkstone, he could guess that it must be one of the “Four Treasures of the Study” that the young master of the mansion had used before.
Ji Dong immediately reached out to take the inkstone from the brocade box.
However, when Fan Luming saw Ji Xiao’niao’s fingers touch the flowing light in the box, a huge flame burst out like a spark falling into boiling oil.
Ji Dong and Fan Luming were both startled and reflexively stepped back, lost their balance, and stumbled, causing them to trip and fall.
However, the two of them didn’t care about the pain in their buttocks at all. They quickly got up and rushed towards the ancient bookshelf.
In the brocade box, there was a blazing flame, burning into a fireball.
The flame was a dazzling golden-white color, indicating that the temperature was quite high.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Ji Dong was startled and immediately realized the inkstone’s “intention.”
——It is stalling for time!
——This inkstone has a will of its own!
It knew the situation that they were in, so it ignited a high-temperature flame around itself, preventing others from getting close.
As long as they were unable to deal with it quickly, more monsters would arrive soon. They would be unable to overcome them, and Fan Luming, who was a [Ghost], would die because he was unable to find a replacement in time. The participants’ plan would fail, and everyone would perish here…
……
“Heh.”
Ji Dong suddenly burst into laughter.
“Are you stupid?” He mocked an unknown person in the void.
“Who said you have to pick up the inkstone to smash it?”
After that, he held onto the ancient bookshelf and shouted, “Take this!”
Although Ji Xiao’niao was far from being as strong as the muscle-focused Teacher Dagen, he was an archer whose arm and wrist strength had been trained and specially strengthened. He had more than enough strength to push down the ancient bookshelf.
With a loud bang, the seven-layer wooden shelf that was two meters high fell to the ground, all the ornaments and small objects on it tumbling down.
Although the wooden box containing the inkstone was not set on fire, the brocade lining inside was completely burned.
There was no cushion to soften the fall of the inkstone, Ji Dong saw a blazing white light roll out of the box and fall to the ground with a loud bang.
The fire was extinguished in an instant, revealing the appearance of the inkstone itself.
Ji Dong and Fan Luming leaned over together, only to see a crack diagonally crossing the center of the inkstone, splitting it neatly in half.
The next second, both of them felt dizzy.
What they were stepping on seemed to no longer be the solid and flat wooden floor, but soft and fluffy cotton.
Immediately afterwards, everything around them began to shake violently.
After a violent earthquake, Ji Dong felt that everything around him was like heated wax, gradually deforming, melting, and finally breaking into pieces. The wind blew them all away and they disappeared without a trace.
For a moment, Ji Xiaoniao felt as if an invisible and sticky substance had wrapped him from head to toe, making him feel suffocated. His vision turned black, and for a brief half-minute, he even lost consciousness.
————————–
“Big sis, big sis!”
Ji Dong woke up groggily and heard Fan Luming shouting for his sister.
He immediately woke up, opened his eyes, and found himself lying on the ground. He quickly got up and looked around in the dim light of dawn.
The sky was getting brighter, and a thin line of white light was appearing on the eastern horizon, allowing Ji Dong to see the surrounding objects in the dim light.
Then he was shocked by what he saw in front of him.
That magnificent “Zhilan Xianfu Mansion” had disappeared without a trace.
He was now in a huge and desolate ruin.
As far as he could see, there were only broken walls and ruins. There were no buildings that could be considered intact. The weeds in the courtyard ruins were knee-high, and the dead trees and branches were tangled together. There was no sign of any human habitants.
The seven surviving participants, including himself, were standing at the base of a broken wall at this time.
On the wall was a mural that had long been eroded by wind, frost, rain, and snow, but it was still possible to discern from the remaining corner patterns that it depicted a magnificent and grand Celestial Immortal Palace.
Ji Dong’s eyes swept over and immediately saw Ren Jianmo leaning against the broken wall, with his eyes closed and his head down, as if he was still unconscious.
He quickly stepped forward and helped him up.
As soon as he hugged Ren Jianmo’s body, he felt a chill in his hands. When he looked at Ren Jianmo’s pale face and the fine cold sweat on his forehead, he could guess that the other party’s physical condition had not yet recovered.
“Mr. Ren, Mr. Ren!”
Ji Dong gently patted his bloodless cheek.
“How are you?”
Fortunately, Ren Jianmo only fainted briefly. When Ji Dong called and patted him, he frowned and opened his eyes.
At this time, Fan Hemian, Mo Tiangen, Zhao Zhui, and Chao Xi also woke up one after another. Everyone was still alive, but their injuries had not healed and they still maintained the same appearance as they had in Zhilan Xianfu Mansion.
“Where is this?”
Chao Xi didn’t participate in everyone’s plan all the way, and she was the most confused among everyone. She looked around and couldn’t help but ask in a low voice.
“This is… the real Ming Jian Manor, I’m afraid.”
Zhao Zhui answered quietly.
Chao Xi was about to ask further, but she heard the sound of hard objects rubbing against each other, a loud crunching, in her ears.
Everyone followed the sound and saw that many cracks had appeared on the wall where the painting was located.
The cracks gradually expanded, crawling like spider webs all over the wall, until there was a loud bang. The entire wall collapsed, and the debris and dust splashed all over the seven people.
Immediately afterward, hundreds of light spots burst out like fireworks from the broken stones on the ground, shooting into the gray-white morning light, and disappeared in an instant.
Only one of the lights, before flying into the sky, hovered slightly in front of Mo Tiangen, revealing the beautiful figure of a white-clad young woman. She seemed to have bowed in the void, and then quickly disappeared.
Everyone was stunned.
They didn’t know what was happening, so no one moved, only staring at the broken wall with alert eyes, wary of what would happen next.
“We should not be hasty.”
At this moment, Ren Jianmo spoke.
His voice sounded weak, but his words were clear, “The progress bar has reached the end.”
As he reminded them, everyone quickly looked down at their watches.
Sure enough, the hands on the dial had turned back to green and had reached the far right of the progress bar.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and in the aftermath of their fear, they deeply understood what it meant to “escape death.”
“…So, are we waiting for the Easter egg?”
Fan Luming wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and finally squeezed out a sincere smile on his face, making a casual joke.
Then, the “Easter egg” he mentioned actually appeared.
In the form of two identical young boys in blue outfits.
Both were only about 1.5 meters tall, dressed like noble young men in blue clothes and headbands, and both had pretty faces that had yet to fully mature, making it difficult to tell their gender. They looked more like a pair of twins than the Fan siblings.
“What… what’s going on?!”
Fan Hemiao’s fingers trembled as he pointed to the blue-clad young man who looked like a mirror image:
“Why didn’t anyone tell me that the young master of the villa was a twin?!”
Before she could finish her words, the young boy on her left suddenly rushed towards Ji Xiao’niao with his teeth and claws.
He raised his fist high and hit Ji Dong:
“Asshole, you smashed my inkstone! You smashed my inkstone!”
His voice was soft and tender, with a hint of obvious nasal sound, which was the voice of the boy in “Hide and Seek” that everyone had heard countless times.
“How dare you! How dare you smash my inkstone!”
Who knew if this person was human or ghost, and what their background was. Ji Dong certainly didn’t dare to let him hit him, and quickly turned around and fled.
The two of them, one running and one chasing, ran around the broken bricks and stones until they heard another boy shouting with the same soft and urgent voice:
“Enough! Stop chasing!”
The boy chasing after Ji Dong halted his footsteps.
“Now, you have found me.”
The other boy reached out to his companion:
“So, let them go.”
The moment his voice fell, Ji Xiao’niao felt a flash of light before his eyes, and then a familiar and irresistible darkness came over him, dragging his consciousness into the abyss.
it is baaaaack i’m so happy 🥹