Chapter 252: The Gift

　　What are we supposed to do now?

　　The eight of them looked at each other, at a loss.

　　They travelled here with all their might, using their blood, sweat, and tears, and when they finally arrived, some bronze statue came out to tell them that the Grandmaster wasn’t even here? What did they work so hard for then?

　　Was this bronze statue even reliable? What if it was just messing around with them?

　　Huo Feng raised those exact questions, which irritated Junior Brother He. “Why don’t you make a puppet for us? It’s intelligent, which means that it will only become more and more human-like. Even my sect’s Assimilation Elder can’t produce such a thing!” He sneered in reply.

　　It was easy to breed a beast or another living thing to be more like a human, but this was a puppet. It wasn’t even a living thing!

　　“Little Boo is telling the truth!” The bronze statue sounded angry. “Little Boo is here to stand guard because Master left. Master said to tell those who came here-”

　　“Tell them what?” Ye Zhenyan and Zhang Rulin cut him off in sync.

　　“Master said: ‘It’s not easy for you to reach this place. This old man has left the mountain, and I have a gift for all of you….’”

　　“Where is it?!” they all asked together.

　　Even though it was disappointing that the Grandmaster had already left, it wasn’t bad to get a gift from him! A gift from the Grandmaster might be some rare item that no one had ever heard of before.

　　Crack! Crack! The bronze statue cracked its head, and the cave started to rumble.

　　“Oh my god, what is this?”

　　“Is it going to collapse?”

　　“Ah!” Ye Mingguang let out a shriek. The ground below him cracked, leaving a hole in the middle. Losing his balance, he nearly fell into it.

　　Thankfully, Ye Zhenyan was just beside him and managed to pull him up.

　　“The ground’s sinking!” the girl in black shrieked. “What’s happening?”

　　Lu Mingshu felt that she was losing balance. Luckily, she jumped up in time and avoided the fall.

　　Boom! The ground where she was initially standing collapsed.

　　It was the same for the others. They all had to stand together due to the non-stop collapsing. In the end, they had no choice but to squeeze together around Little Boo.

　　Oh god. If it cracks here as well, will we all die together?

　　Senior Grandmaster, not only did you leave, you’re trying to kill us too?

　　Fortunately, they were safe. When the eight had almost no more space left for them to stand, the cracking stopped.

　　“Look over there!” Ying whispered.

　　Lu Mingshu looked up. The sight of the cave had indeed changed.

　　Except for where Little Boo was standing, the other parts of the cave had collapsed, but not completely. Every two meters, there was a small circular area left, enough for a person to stand. Looking down, they looked like stone pillars.

　　Clank! Somebody accidentally kicked a pebble, and they eventually heard a Plop!

　　“Water?

　　After entering the cave, due to the mystic light, the Ming River’s water had all evaporated into gas. Why was the water down there unaffected? Was it because it was too deep, or some other reason?

　　All eight of them looked further to realize that there was a stone table placed closely to the stone walls, and there was obviously things on it.

　　Everyone’s eyes lit up.

　　Was that the gift that Little Boo was talking about? It was so shiny, so it must be some precious treasure! Getting a gift from the Grandmaster would make this trip worthwhile too!

　　However…

　　All eight of them stared at each other carefully.

　　There seemed to be only three things on the table, which meant that only three would get something, but there was eight of them here.

　　“The gift is right there.” They could hear Little Boo’s voice ringing throughout the cave. “All of you may go and get it now.”

　　However, none of them moved.

　　Before they were clear on the situation they were in, acting may cause trouble for themselves.

　　“Little Boo,” Ying asked softly. “There are only three gifts for us?”

　　“Yes.”

　　“But we have eight people here. What should we do?”

　　Creak, Creak… After a moment, Little Boo replied, “I don’t know.”

　　The atmosphere was even tenser now.

　　Little Boo said that it didn’t know, which meant that they were free to do it however they wanted. Which meant, eight people fighting for three treasures….

　　“Little Boo,” Lu Mingshu started, breaking the tension slightly. “If I don’t want the gift, can I take you instead?”

　　The crowd looked at her as if she was mad.

　　To be honest, Little Boo was the rarest thing in the whole room, given its intelligence and ability to talk. It was also possible that the Grandmaster only made one such puppet.

　　But so what? How could it come in handy for them? It couldn’t help with their cultivation or improving their skills. It was only fun to play with.

　　Did she lose her mind? Maybe to a child, Little Boo was very interesting, but to them, what was the use of it?

　　Crack! Crack! After a moment, Little Boo replied, “Depends on your luck.”

　　It then disappeared in between the rocks and could no longer be seen.

　　What’s going on? They all looked at each other in confusion.

　　Did Little Boo’s disappearance mean they could start?

　　The first to act was Huo Feng. All Huo Family disciples were rash and rough. He leaned forward and dashed toward the stone table.

　　Seeing this, Ying fished out her sword to block his way.

　　Zhang Rulin followed closely behind her.

　　Ying did a somersault and dodged Zhang Rulin’s attack, landing on a stone pillar.

　　The Ye brothers started acting too. Both of them rushed toward the stone table.

　　This time, it was Junior Brother He blocking the way.

　　Sword-light crossed as Ye Zhenyan and Junior Brother He fought mid-air. Their ability was not bad; after a single attack, both parties backed off to their own stone pillars.

　　Lu Mingshu and Ling Wuxia were the only ones left on the spot.

　　Both exchanged a glance, but neither of them moved.

　　Ling Wuxia was very sure of Lu Mingshu’s ability now. What was even scarier was that, after just a few months, she was obviously stronger than the rumours. Her martial arts ability was about the same as Yue Lingyin’s level, but with her numerous tricks that nobody knew, she would easily defeat Yue Lingyin.

　　This made Ling Wuxia sigh. Yi Lan once said that, when the two Wei’s broke through to the Spirit Realm, Ling Wuxia would be the best in the Harmonization Realm. Ling Wuxia never disagreed with that, but now, with Lu Mingshu’s tricks…

　　If she was given a few more years, Lu Mingshu would learn even more tricks. The best in the Harmonization Realm…

　　As Ling Wuxia was full of worry, Lu Mingshu was worrying too.

　　Even though Ling Wuxia wasn’t as confident as the two Wei’s and her character wasn’t perfect, she was indeed strong. When she kicked Junior Sister Zuo out of the house, she knew that Ling Wuxia was only weaker than the two Wei’s.

　　Kicking out Junior Sister Zuo was all thanks to Ying distracting Ling Wuxia. Lu Mingshu knew clearly that it would’ve been impossible for her to defeat Ling Wuxia.

　　Looking at the data, the odds would be 30-70. Lu Mingshu would only have a 30% chance of winning, and Ling Wuxia would have the other 70%.