Tu You couldn’t help but shout loudly. Suddenly, waves of echoes rolled through the cave, startling him so much that he hurriedly jumped into Sang Chu’s arms.
Lin Muxue was also frightened. She grabbed Lu Minfeng’s slender waist from behind and trembled all over.
“You damned rabbit spirit, what are you yelling for? You scared me half to death!”
Tu You stammered, “I–I didn’t mean to! I got scared too!”
Who knew the echo underground would be that loud? It was really terrifying!
Lu Minfeng said, “Don’t be afraid, it’s fine. Let’s go have a look first.”
The echo gradually faded away.
Muxue’s fear vanished as quickly as it came. She rushed over to Sang Chu’s side, grabbed her hand, and dragged her forward excitedly. “San San, I’ve never seen such huge underground terraces before. They’re so colorful and pretty!”
The underground terraces rose layer upon layer, each plot like a carefully carved jade pool, lined neatly along the sloping cave walls.
In the terraces, the clear surface lay still as a mirror, reflecting the stalactites and stalagmites overhead, sparkling like glass, dazzling and dreamlike.
Tu You said, “Ah Chu, try slicing open the surface of the terraces.”
His words stunned all three of them.
“Slicing the surface of the water?” Sang Chu asked.
“Mm-hmm. I think the good stuff is under the water!” Tu You replied.
Sang Chu nodded and glanced at Lu Minfeng. He silently turned around to guard her back, while Muxue took position at the front, gun in hand.
Sang Chu condensed a handy blade and carefully began to cut. She had thought the terrace surface was water, but once the blade touched it, she realized it was actually a very viscous liquid.
It felt a bit like jelly—soft and wobbly in her hand, oddly satisfying to the touch.
Watching her movements, Tu You shuddered. “Ugh, the way you’re cutting that is creepy. Hurry up!”
Hearing his complaint, Lu Minfeng and Muxue couldn’t hold back their laughter. Only Sang Chu rolled her eyes at him and packed the sliced-off stuff into a box.
It was too strange. It might be useful later.
Layer by layer, she cut through the terrace like a thousand-layer cake. Underneath was an entire bed of jade ore!
The jade was peculiar—its surface smooth as glass, with golden sands flowing inside it. Tu You let out a shrill scream.
“This is spirit stone?!”
“Spirit stone?” Muxue spun around to look at the terrace Sang Chu had cut open. “Is that the same spirit stone from novels?!”
“No, no,” Tu You said. “This should be uncarved spirit jade. Spirit jade is far better than normal spirit stones. Ah Chu, hurry and collect it. Quickly, quickly! This is really priceless!”
Sang Chu immediately continued cutting through the surface, but when the golden blade touched the spirit jade, it simply wouldn’t go through.
“No good. This spirit jade is too hard. I can’t cut it at all!”
Lu Minfeng glanced over. “Want me to try?”
Sang Chu stepped aside to let him take her place, but he also failed to cut it. “It really is hard.”
Muxue frowned. “So what now? We can see it but can’t take it. Hey, big rabbit, don’t you have any ideas?!”
“I’m a spirit, not a big rabbit! If you can’t cut it, what am I supposed to do?” Tu You huffed.
“Yeah right, calling yourself a spirit and you can’t even handle this!” Muxue snorted.
Tu You glared at her, then turned around on Sang Chu’s shoulder and pointed his fluffy backside at her. Muxue cheerfully poked his rear. “Aww, is the big rabbit mad? You are a rabbit. What’s wrong with calling you one?”
“Ugly hag, I’m ignoring you. Hmph!” Tu You snapped.
Muxue, furious, grabbed his long ears. “Who are you calling ugly?! I was born stunning, loved by all, gorgeous and radiant—and you dare call me ugly? Believe it or not, I’ll pluck you bald and turn you into a giant naked rabbit!”
One person and one rabbit started bickering again. Sang Chu and Lu Minfeng could only look at each other helplessly and shake their heads.
While he was thinking, Lu Minfeng unconsciously squeezed the jelly-like liquid in his hand.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up.
“Sang Chu, I have an idea!”
“I do too. I wonder if we’re thinking the same thing,” Sang Chu replied with a smile.
The two of them said in unison, “The water!”
Lu Minfeng nodded. “Yes, I mean the water. Everything in nature has something that restrains it. Where there are venomous snakes, within a hundred steps there will be an antidote. Some poisonous plants have roots or flowers that are their own cure. I think it’s the same with this spirit jade.”
Sang Chu said, “I was thinking that too. Since these spirit jades are under the liquid, it must be special. Let’s test it.”
Carefully, Lu Minfeng sliced off a piece of the jelly-like liquid the same size as the blade and wrapped it around the knife. The spirit jade that had been impossibly hard just moments before now parted under the blade.
“It works,” he said.
Sang Chu immediately formed another golden knife and, following his method, began cutting out the spirit jade piece by piece.
By the time Muxue and Tu You finally finished quarrelling and looked back, they saw that the two had already successfully carved out a chunk of spirit jade.
“Whoa! How did you two manage that?”
Lu Minfeng explained, which drew another round of exclamations from Muxue. Tu You eyed her with disdain.
“You sound so dumb when you react like that.”
“What’s wrong with a beautiful woman being a little clueless? It’s not hurting you, is it? Mind your own business!” Muxue snapped, tossing him aside and running over to Sang Chu. “San San, make a blade for me too. I’ll help!”
There were many terraces in this underground city. Just two people working wouldn’t get them far.
Sang Chu handed her own knife to Muxue and then formed another one for herself.
Tu You perched on Sang Chu’s shoulder. “Ah Chu, why don’t you give me a piece first? I’ll go check the marketplace and see how much this sells for.”
“Okay.”
Sang Chu cut off a piece about the size of a palm and passed it to him. As soon as he took it, he vanished, making Muxue blink in amazement.
“Wow, he really is a little spirit!”
Seeing her adorable expression, Lu Minfeng couldn’t stop the smile at his lips. “He followed Ah Chu here, so he must be real. Don’t bully him too much next time.”
“Senior, whose side are you on?” Muxue rolled her eyes at him.
He reached out and gently ruffled her hair. “Yours, of course. But he’s Ah Chu’s spirit. She’ll have to rely on him a lot in the future.”
Thinking it over, Muxue sighed. “Fine. As long as he doesn’t provoke me, I’ll try to get along with him.”
Sang Chu smiled. “It’s okay. Say whatever you want. Tu You has a childish temperament. If you bicker with him, he might actually enjoy it.”
“Really?” Muxue asked.
Sang Chu nodded. “Mm. He comes from a place worse than ours. In the apocalypse, we still have the blood moon and lights at home. In the place Tu You comes from, there’s no light at all. So if someone plays around with him, he’s probably very happy.”
(End of Chapter)