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The tournament ground turned out to be a large settlement, with dozens of villages spread out along a mountain range. But as we ventured through the area, we never ran into any commoners, and I finally grew suspicious enough that I couldn't hold back my questions anymore.

"What exactly is this place?" I asked, hoping that either Xie Lun or Wen Shiyin might be familiar enough with the event to know the answer. "It looks just like common villages from the outside … but no one seems to live here." I glanced at one of the houses we passed by. "There's even smoke coming out of the chimney, but no voices, no signs of anyone moving around inside or outside. It's almost as if this place has frozen in time."

Xie Lun gave me an approving look. "We are in the Jade Mountains not far from Jade Temple," he gestured at the mountain range, "but if you were to visit this area without going through the spiritual seal like we did, you will see only this mountain and these trees, not the villages. The seal adds a layer of illusion on top of reality, a recreation of what this place looked like many decades ago. So in a way, it IS frozen in time."

"You mean none of these houses exist?" Peng Yao asked with wide eyes. "What is the purpose of such a complex illusion?"

"Probably to confuse us during our search," Xie Lun chuckled, "and also to change our surroundings when necessary. Your master might've told you that they can watch us from the outside. If they want to make things easier or harder for us at any time, it can be done through these illusions. That doesn't happen often though, and it's usually used as a precaution to keep us safe rather than means to make our tasks more difficult."

I passed my hand over the fences of the house next to us. The wood couldn't feel more real, and I marveled at the power behind these illusions. Just how much was an immortal master capable of?

"My tracker picked up something," Wen Shiyin said suddenly. "Northwest. A strong presence of demonic power."

That stopped our irrelevant conversation immediately. "Hopefully a good prize," Peng Yao grinned. We all turned our attention onto Wen Shiyin's lantern and followed the direction where its light pointed.

The lantern took us past a few more houses, over the outer edge of the village, and into the woods in the mountains. When we came upon a large tree with a trunk thick enough to fit all of us inside, Wen Shiyin signaled for us to stop. "It's here," she said, gesturing at a hole in the trunk.

Exchanging a look among us, we gathered around the trunk and peeked into the hole. The interior was dark, as the sunlight was coming from behind the opening, but we all heard a chorus of hisses coming from within. A few faint dots of light glowed in its depth, and when my vision adjusted to the dimness, I realized that those were pairs of yellow-green eyes.

"Wolves?" I asked.

Xie Lun shook his head. "These are much smaller than wolf eyes. And what kind of wolves live in trees?"

"Doesn't matter what they are … They are guarding what we're looking for," Peng Yao said. "I have poison talismans, that should take care of them easily."

I blinked. For some reason, killing whatever creatures these were hadn't crossed my mind at all. "Do we have to kill them?" I ventured. "They're not attacking us. If they aren't a threat to our lives … Can we just lure them away?"

Peng Yao frowned. "Aren't you a little too kind towards a few beasts? Killing them is much faster and easier—"

"I agree with Yun Qing-er," Wen Shiyin interjected. "We don't even know what these creatures are. It's not fair to take their lives just because it makes things easier for us. I can lure them away while the rest of you search for the artifact."

Peng Yao seemed to want to argue more, though Xie Lun had already fetched a talisman from his sleeve. "I'll help you," he said to Wen Shiyin. "This smoke spell should be able to force them out. I'll guard this entrance and make sure they don't return once you have their attention."

Wen Shiyin nodded. Peng Yao rolled her eyes but said nothing. "Ready?" Xie Lun summoned the talisman and tossed it into the tree. "Now!" he shouted as a pack of hedgehog-like beasts growled and leaped out of the hole. Wen Shiyin hit the ground running, leading them away from the tree while Xie Lun stayed by the entrance, keeping an eye on her from a distance.

Peng Yao and I hopped into the tree hole as soon as the beasts cleared out of it. After a quick cleansing of the remaining smoke, we got to work. Tracking devices weren't useful at such close distances, so we had to resort to the old-fashioned way of searching every corner, which was all covered in deep layers of leaves and hay. "This will take forever given how large the liar is," Peng Yao grunted, half to herself and half to me. "Where would they hide it?"

I glanced around while my hands worked. The lair was chaotic, with food debris and pieces of excrements everywhere—thank heavens they didn't smell too much. Where in this mess would those beasts hide something?

"They should be keeping the artifact for a reason," I considered, "which means that it's important to them …" My eyes landed on a certain corner that was covered mostly with bones, as opposed to blood and droppings. "They seem to be keeping this area cleaner than the rest," I said. "It might be here."

We moved over and started digging. The layer of coverings was deep, but with both of us working together, it didn't take too long to reach the bottom. Something that looked like a small piece of stone lay against the tree bark. I picked it up and ran my fingers over its surface. A faint spiritual power flowed through it. It was an artifact indeed.

Peng Yao gasped. "This …" Her expression turned a little strange. "This artifact …"

"You know what this is?" I asked curiously. I didn't have the slightest clue what I was holding.

Peng Yao hesitated. "Let's get out first before the beasts come back," she suggested.

It was a reasonable thing to do, so I nodded and followed her out of the tree hole. Xie Lun was standing not too far away from the entrance as planned. "They got it!" He shouted into the distance when he saw us emerge, signaling Wen Shiyin to return. "What did you find?" he asked Peng Yao and me.

I held out my hand. But the moment I opened my grip, someone suddenly reached from behind me and snatched the stone from my palm.

I gasped, turning around in astonishment, and found myself standing in front of a disciple in Mount Tai's robe. "It took the two of you long enough to come out," he tsked, stowing the artifact into his sleeve. "But I suppose I should still thank you for fetching it for us.. I hope it's good enough of a prize to be worth the wait."