"At last..."
Thanks to the fox mask gifted by his godmother Consort Liu, and the stealth techniques he'd honed by peeking on his master bathing as a child, Ling Shuo evaded countless guards and finally reached the entrance to this underground secret chamber.
"Strange... not a single guard?" As he descended the stairs and eyed the specially crafted stone door, he could hardly believe it had been this smooth. All he had to do now was go inside, cut off a piece of the horn, and he'd be done.
"Using the key Hua Jianlian gave me..." The youth retrieved a circular disk from his storage space. After one last cautious glance around to confirm he was alone, he pressed it into the recess at the center of the stone door.
*Rumble!*
It worked!
Joy surged in Ling Shuo's heart as the stone door opened at a steady pace, revealing the awe-inspiring creature within.
"The seven-revolution immortal shedding of the ancestral beast... I wonder what it really looks like." Curiosity inevitably gripped the youth.
Even in the Lingjue Sect's treasury, he had never seen it.
A seven-revolution immortal beast... did such a creature truly exist?
Gradually, a faint golden glow seeped through the widening crack, dazzling Ling Shuo's eyes after so long creeping through the darkness.
The chamber wasn't large—perhaps room for twenty or thirty people. Ever-burning lamps illuminated the space, and the surrounding walls were covered in murals depicting the Heaven-Treading Ancestral Beast's legendary campaigns alongside the founding emperor.
"This is it..."
When he finally beheld the ancestral beast at the chamber's center, Ling Shuo was struck speechless with shock.
Like a crimson dragon descended from the Ninth Heaven, or a qilin treading auspicious clouds.
The creature before him was a fusion of dragon and qilin—serpentine head on a beastly body, over three meters tall. Its scarlet fur was studded with golden, armor-like scales. Auspicious cloud patterns adorned its four limbs, its tail resembled a steel whip, its eye sockets were like bronze bells—majestic in every direction, domineering to the extreme.
Did this really look like something dead for thousands of years?
If not for the lifeless dragon eyes, Ling Shuo's legs would have buckled in terror.
"Worthy of the Heaven-Treading Ancestral Beast..." A thousand waves of envy crashed through the youth's heart. So this was the mount Emperor Haowu had ridden to conquer lands.
If only he had a steed like this.
At that thought, his temples throbbed as if someone had struck his brain.
"Ah!" The youth cried out in pain. What was wrong with him?
But the jolt reminded him—he had a job to do.
*Swish!*
In an instant, the rose-colored folding knife was in his grip. Ling Shuo fixed his gaze on the dragon-like head of the immortal shedding. Just as Hua Jianlian had said, there was a single horn.
"Taking just a little shouldn't be noticed." He estimated the horn was at least half a meter long—he needed only six or seven centimeters.
"My apologies, ancestor. This junior means no disrespect; circumstances force my hand."
"This immortal shedding is of no use to you now. Come New Year, this Ling will surely offer extra fruits in tribute to you and the founding emperor."
Ling Shuo planted a foot on the qilin's back, silently apologizing to the ancient beast spirit in the heavens.
*Scrrch!* The blade—made of some unknown material and a deep purple-red—was extraordinarily sharp. Merely pressing it against the dragon horn produced a teeth-grating screech like cutting metal.
"So fast!" With a flick of the wrist, a crimson segment of horn dropped into his palm in the blink of an eye.
"..."
Dead silence filled the chamber.
No one had noticed.
His heart pounded to its limit. Ling Shuo realized he might now rank among the boldest thieves in Lingxiao Empire history—this desecration was nearly on par with robbing Emperor Haowu's tomb.
"Time to go..." Steadying his breath, he tucked the horn fragment into his storage ring.
"Wait~"
Just then—
"I never thought you'd actually manage to enter this old thing's domain." In his field of vision, a breathtaking mature beauty with pale cyan long hair and massive breasts in a revealing kimono materialized out of thin air. She sat sideways atop the immortal beast, casually swinging two flawless, jade-smooth legs.
"You!" The youth paled in shock. Wasn't this the mysterious big sister who had suddenly appeared that night at the auction house? How had she followed him here?!
"Such a perfect opportunity—I wasn't about to let it slip."
Before the stunned Ling Shuo could speak, the beauty flashed a bewitching smile. With speed he couldn't react to, she seized his hand, interlaced their fingers, and forced his palm against the ancestral beast's body alongside hers.
"What are you doing?!" Her fingers were fragrant and soft, and tantalizing cleavage peeked from the low-cut, off-shoulder kimono, but Ling Shuo had no time to appreciate the view.
Because he could feel it—an immense torrent of immortal energy surging from his palm into his meridians.
"You're insane!!"
Ling Shuo nearly screamed!
Terror of death shot from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. In an instant, his blood ran ice-cold.
Because this woman was dragging him along—to refine the ancestral beast's immortal shedding!!
****
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