Chapter Fifteen: Dazzled, Blind, Sightless

"Here's another hint for you: the Yin Pearl is right here in this cellar. After all, as the bodhisattva I possess, I must have compassion for all beings." The bodhisattva's visage let out a sinister, cackling laugh.

Lu Shiqi frowned in thought, a chill emanating from her body.

In the next instant, the room's temperature plummeted.

Frost spread everywhere, and apart from the two living people, everything in the cellar became encased in ice.

Chu Tiange shivered violently, feeling as if even his blood was freezing. With a loud sneeze, all the frozen objects shattered into pieces.

Corpses, iron hooks, even the ladder to the upper level—all exploded into fragments. Shards of ice fell to the ground, but there was no sign of the so-called pearl.

"Hehehe, perhaps the pearl is on one of the living," the bodhisattva spoke again, her voice eerie and seductive.

Perhaps, as she said, the Yin Pearl truly was on the living.

"Fairy Lu, I used the toilet on my way here—I'm sure I don't have the Yin Pearl," Xiao Shijing blurted out, terrified of being cut down by her sword.

But Lu Shiqi, a powerful cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage, would not be so easily deceived. Her gaze, sharp as a blade, swept across the room, inspecting every inch, until her eyes finally settled on the Buddha shrine.

The shrine, because it was possessed by that supreme being from the Netherworld, had not been affected by the frost. In the entire cellar, only this object remained untouched.

The offerings that had once been placed on the shrine now lay scattered as crystalline debris. Dense dark energy seeped from the bodhisattva's visage.

Lu Shiqi noticed something: the dark energy was gathering toward the bodhisattva's palm.

She walked over, reached out her delicate hand toward the shrine, and the moment her fingertips touched it, a piercing chill shot through her palm.

"Is this... the Yin Pearl?"

She looked up at the bodhisattva.

"Hahaha, your beauty comes with keen eyes—the Yin Pearl is right here. Too bad you can't take it." A cold, triumphant smile appeared on the bodhisattva's face. "I advise you to surrender. Only then can you escape suffering. This Yin Pearl was forged by a mighty being of the Netherworld. Even those ancient cultivators of the Divine Crossing realm can only watch helplessly as the path to the Netherworld opens."

Lu Shiqi's brows drew together, her lips pressed tight. Sensing things were amiss, she reached again and again for the pearl in the bodhisattva's palm, but her hand met only empty air.

"An illusion?" Lu Shiqi asked hesitantly.

"Hahaha, how could it be such a simple trick?" The bodhisattva's visage was filled with mirth, as if watching a troupe of monkeys performing, delighting in their frustration.

Chu Tiange watched the stunning beauty deep in thought, and turned with confusion to Xiao Shijing. "Is Lu Shiqi at this stage having trouble with her eyesight?"

Thick dark energy seeped from the shrine, gathering at one point—

The bodhisattva's right palm.

The Yin Pearl was clearly there, yet what he saw was Lu Shiqi repeatedly grasping around it, always just missing.

What he really wanted to ask was whether Lu Shiqi at this stage was out of her mind.

But as an old friend from a previous life, he thought it better to phrase it more tactfully.

Chu Tiange then wondered if this was just another segment fabricated by the Cultivation Entertainment Alliance to create suspense for the show.

But those corpses hanging earlier were clearly not props, and this segment was just too absurd, as if meant to fool idiots.

Still, Chu Tiange could come up with no other explanation.

"Earlier, you said you saw the Yin Pearl?" Xiao Shijing asked after a long pause.

"Yes, the Yin Pearl is right in the bodhisattva's palm," Chu Tiange replied.

Xiao Shijing frowned slightly. "But we don't see any Yin Pearl. Are you seeing things?"

"...."

"I'm seeing things. I'm blind! I've lost my sight!" Chu Tiange was done arguing. Even if it was a show segment, surely they couldn't take everyone for fools?

Back in the day, Chu Tiange had been a formidable Divine Crossing cultivator, fighting through life and death, losing friends one after another, his heart long since turned to stone. Only his obsession kept the supernatural at bay, and time and again he had snatched victory from the jaws of despair, his mind as sharp as a demon's.

But since being reborn and meeting these two, it felt as if both his cultivation and intellect had regressed.

"Don't get worked up, I believe you," Xiao Shijing soothed him. "I'll try it myself."

Chu Tiange watched as the scholar stepped up to the shrine, reached for the bodhisattva's palm, and, just like before, missed by a hair.

Xiao Shijing sighed. "See? I really do believe you. But I won't suggest your eyes are faulty just to discourage you. The only thing to do now is to send word to the Cultivator Alliance and have them send a Divine Crossing elder to resolve this crisis."

"There's no need to show off just to get my attention," Lu Shiqi chimed in, clicking her tongue. "I admit your earlier performance was quite interesting, but spouting nonsense will only lower my opinion of you."

"You two are unbelievable," Chu Tiange muttered, exasperated. He shoved Xiao Shijing out of the way, faced the shrine, reached out, and grasped the pitch-black Yin Pearl in his hand.

Suddenly, a fierce gale howled through, dark energy erupted, the shrine collapsed with a thunderous crash, the bodhisattva shattered, fragments flying everywhere.

Only a voice full of shock remained.

"Impossible! How could you see through the existence of the Yin Pearl? This cannot be! I paid a tremendous price to obtain this Yin Pearl from the Lustful Ghost Emperor! Only a true immortal from the heavens could see through it!"

"Who are you, really?!"

The enraged roar gradually faded as the bodhisattva's visage crumbled to dust, leaving the two others baffled.

Chu Tiange had not lied—the Yin Pearl was indeed in the bodhisattva's palm.

But they had been unable to see it. Just as that Netherworld being had asked, who was Chu Tiange, to be able to see through the Yin Pearl?

Xiao Shijing's gaze grew deep as he studied Chu Tiange, lost in thought.

Lu Shiqi stared fixedly at the pearl, unable to look away for a long time.

Only when the dark mist cleared, revealing a blood-red pearl, did Lu Shiqi sigh softly and turn to him. "My affection for you has doubled. Will you give me the Yin Pearl? My goodwill could double again."

Though she was a Nascent Soul cultivator and could take it by force, she preferred to resolve things her own way.

"Sorry, this Yin Pearl concerns the plans of the Three Sects and Nine Schools. I can't give it to you. Originally, we only sent Chu Tiange to try his luck, never expecting it would actually work. Sect Master Xiao truly has insight into the myriad aspects of the world, his calculations flawless, seeing through everything."

Xiao Shijing promptly snatched the Yin Pearl away. "It's safer to entrust this Yin Pearl to Sect Master Xiao, after all, Chu Tiange is a disciple of the Morning Immortal Sect. Treasures of the world belong to those fated to possess them; thus, the Yin Pearl should belong to the Morning Immortal Sect. This time, I'll decide on my uncle's behalf, and reward you with fifty top-grade spirit stones."

Lu Shiqi said nothing, nor did she raise her offer. It was as he said: since Chu Tiange could see through the Yin Pearl, it belonged to him, and besides, this concerned the plans of the Three Sects and Nine Schools.

Chu Tiange let out a long sigh. With the acquisition of the Yin Pearl, he could feel the fog shrouding Filial Piety Town lifting.

With his pitiful Mortal Bone cultivation, he had risked his life to participate in a crisis affecting Azure Profundity City, only to end up with fifty top-grade spirit stones.

His gaze fell on the red-robed, long-legged, full-bosomed woman, and he couldn't help but muse: some people, just by standing there, are worth nine hundred thousand top-grade spirit stones.