"Let's go. We'll just have to search step by step."
Li Chang'an released his spiritual power, attempting to probe into the mountain. But soon he realized—stone was still stone, soil was still soil. Nothing unusual at all.
Seeing him give up, Mu Xi also stopped her own spiritual probing. Compared to Li Chang'an, her spiritual sense was far weaker anyway.
The map had already pinpointed the general area, but actually finding the exact location was going to be a tremendous hassle. After all, the radius they had to search was at least 2.5 Kilometres.
"Chang'an… why don't we eat first? I'm worried you'll get hungry." Mu Xi suddenly suggested.
She didn't mind going hungry herself, but if Li Chang'an were to starve, her heart would ache unbearably.
"Mm, that works too." Li Chang'an pinched her cheek with a smile and nodded. His precious girl must never go hungry.
As soon as he agreed, Mu Xi quickly pulled items out of her storage soul tool—tablecloth, utensils, seasonings.
Li Chang'an wasn't allowed to lift a finger. In her eyes, little chores like this were hers alone to handle.
Very soon, her quick hands had prepared a simple but warm meal: a few braised meat flatbreads, a pot of egg soup, and two small side dishes. It wasn't grand, but it carried a rare sense of homeliness.
Her cooking wasn't bad either. Though she lacked the variety of Li Chang'an's dishes, she won his heart simply by matching his tastes.
Li Chang'an also noticed that the flatbread she handed him was stuffed to bursting with braised meat, while hers was pitifully thin with barely any filling.
"Come here, let's switch. I'll eat yours, you eat mine." He pretended to scold her sternly.
Mu Xi's peach-blossom eyes curved as she smiled, walking over softly. "Why don't we share? That would be better, wouldn't it?"
Li Chang'an had no choice but to relent. As he ate, she kept placing food into his bowl, feeding him a few bites, even testing the temperature of the soup with her lips before handing it to him—afraid it might scald him.
'Ah, this damned life.'
Li Chang'an couldn't help but sigh in enjoyment, while also pondering how to find the treasure's entrance.
How exactly was he supposed to locate it? He wasn't a geomancer—he knew nothing of yin-yang and the eight trigrams.
Wait—geomancer!
Li Chang'an's eyes lit up. He pulled out the compass he had prepared earlier.
Sure enough!
The needle was spinning wildly, unable to settle.
That meant their direction was correct—the magnetic field here was unstable. Something was interfering with it!
"Mu Xi, pack up quickly. We're moving." Li Chang'an stood and called out.
She nodded at once, hurriedly stashing everything back into her storage tool. Before she could finish, he was already pulling her along.
Here—the needle only wobbled faintly. Not quite right.
There—the needle shook a little harder. Still not it.
But the general direction was correct. They pressed on.
Finally, Heaven rewards the diligent—Li Chang'an found the spot where the compass needle spun like a fan!
"This is it." He said firmly to the bewildered Mu Xi. Whether it was truly the place or not, they would find out soon enough.
"Ah? Oh…" Mu Xi, still confused, quickly followed. She didn't need to understand—as long as she listened to him, everything would be fine.
Even though Li Chang'an's presence kept spirit beasts from bothering them, the dense trees of the Ming Dou Mountain Range still made their progress exhausting. Chopping through branches, clearing away undergrowth, all while Li Chang'an constantly checked the compass—it was a crooked and difficult path.
He tried flying, but once in the air, the compass stabilized completely. That meant walking was their only option.
"Here!" Li Chang'an stopped by a gnarled old tree with a twisted trunk. The needle here spun faster than anywhere else. Just a step forward and the reaction weakened again—so if it wasn't here, where else could it be?
"How do we get in, though?" Mu Xi asked, staring blankly.
"Let me think…" Li Chang'an studied the old tree. It was just that—a tree. Nothing special.
What was he supposed to do, spin around three times like in Journey to the West and shout "Open Sesame"?
Still, the area wasn't too large. They could search thoroughly.
With his command, the two began combing the ground inch by inch. Soon, Li Chang'an's uncanny luck—lucky enough to even guess the color of underwear right—paid off.
"Mu Xi, over here!" He crouched beneath a huge boulder, waving her over.
At its base, beneath layers of weeds, lay a carved design. The lines were worn, broken, and ancient—but still visible. The boulder itself was weathered with age, deeply rooted into the earth.
Though incomplete, the carving faintly resembled a human figure—with great wings at its back, and what seemed like a wreath or crown atop its head.
'What in the world was this? And how did it help them get inside?'
Li Chang'an stared at the pattern, utterly confused. Had they come all this way for nothing?
"Chang'an… I feel… somehow connected to this pattern." Mu Xi's voice turned solemn as she gazed at it.
Almost involuntarily, she extended her pale hand, pressing gently against the carving. Her expression now carried not just solemnity—but also a faint trace of sanctity.
"Buzz…"
The moment her hand touched it, the boulder trembled violently. The carving blazed with brilliant white light, fusing with her palm as if magnetized.
'Bloodline resonance?'
The thought leapt into Li Chang'an's mind. Otherwise, how could there be such a powerful reaction the instant Mu Xi made contact?
But wasn't she just an ordinary girl?
No—he suddenly recalled the time in the Star Dou Forest, when Mu Xi had summoned the Emerald Swan. Not only had the creature offered itself willingly as her soul ring, it had done so without the slightest resistance. He had wondered about it back then… but with time, had set it aside.
"Chang'an, I… I feel like something here is calling to me." Mu Xi turned, her eyes clouded with confusion despite her solemn tone.
"What's calling you?"
Before Li Chang'an could think further, a pitch-black vortex slowly appeared on the boulder, emanating terrifying spatial fluctuations.
"Not good!"
Before he could pull Mu Xi away, the black hole effortlessly sucked them both inside. A heartbeat later, it vanished completely, leaving the boulder and its surroundings calm and untouched—as though nothing had ever happened.