Chapter 72 Stir-fried Clams (c)
Translated by Gumihou
Edited by Gumihou
Shiyu had pretty much gone through everything on the shelf by now and her attention returned to the weird black stone that they had been studying earlier.
Since everything here was considered precious, surely there’s no harm taking a gamble with the mysterious stone? [1] Thought Shiyu to herself when she noticed that Lin Fan had already made his selection and was currently waiting for her.
Just as she was reaching out for the black stone, her eyes suddenly noticed a gap in the far corner of the shelf. Something that looked like the corner of a piece of black paper had been jammed inside.
The hand that had been reaching for the black meteorite subconsciously went for the gap. Shiyu’s fingers closed over the corner of the paper and tried to pull it out.
However, as soon as she exerted pressure, she found that what she was touching was no paper at all, but a thin naked blade. Hard and sharp, it dug into the corner, refusing to get out.
Surprised, Shiyu tugged harder, but the paper-thin item felt as though it was stuck hard. No matter how hard she tug, she couldn’t pull it out.
“What the heck?” Shiyu was even more curious now. However, she could not get a better grip on the thin item. Time to call in some reinforcement. “Lin Fan, come help me get this out.”
With Lin Fan’s help, they finally managed to ease it out a little. However, the moment they let the item go, it shrank another half an inch down into the gap.
What’s more surprising was how strong the thin item was. No matter how they tug and pull at it, the thing did not bend or tear. Shiyu even accidentally cut her hand against the thin edge.
This is pointless,” even with the two of them combining their strength, they only managed to tease it out a little. Finally, frustrated and a little annoyed, Shiyu took out Supreme Indifferent, intending to pry the gap open a little in order ease it out.
However, as soon as the knife appeared in her hand, the paper-thin thing suddenly twitched and soften, as though frightened by the appearance of Supreme Indifferent. Rather than metal, it felt more like they were touching soft mud. Shiyu and Lin Fan quickly seized the black paper and pulled with all their might. It came out so easily that the two of them fell back onto their bottoms.
It was a little humiliating, but at least they have the black paper thing out now. The two stared at it with a sigh of relief.
“Well, at least we got it out!” Lin Fan said, letting go of the paper.
Shiyu smiled at this generous person and said, “Thank you.”
The paper thing looked like a black sheet of iron. There was no flaw on the smooth surface. Shiyu could not see anything special about it and was about to set it aside when it suddenly zipped out of her hand and bolted for the staircase.
It was so fast that the only thing that she could only see was a flash of shadow. Even Elder Liu, who had been guarding the entrance, was not quick enough to stop it from slipping out.
Wait, has that thing gained consciousness?
Shiyu was dumbfounded. She rushed for the staircase together with Lin Fan and Elder Liu. When she got there, she saw two white-robed old men on the stairs. However, neither of them had the thin black paper, instead, it was fluttering against the window, trying to get out from under a fat black cat’s paw.
When the cat saw Shiyu, it leapt off the windowsill with the paper in its mouth and offered the paper to Shiyu. Then, when Shiyu accepted the paper, it disappeared with a little leap. When the cat disappeared, so did the two old men in white robes. Elder Liu stood there in a trance.
Those two white-robed elders were guardians of the Treasure Pavilion. He was aware of their strength but what of the black cat? More importantly, how could the black cat be faster than the two elders? The strength of these two elders could rival a Divine Transformation master if they work together, ah!
Afraid that the thing would simply rip itself out of her hands again, Shiyu stuffed it inside her secret space inside her Dantian. It was only after she had put it away that she remembered that it did not actually belong to her… however, since that piece of paper was so interesting, she might as well select it.
She turned to Elder Liu, “Elder, I have made my choice.”
Although the circumstances which they had found the paper was quite odd, Lin Fan only said, “I’ve made my choice too.”
“It’s good that you’ve both made your choices…” Elder Liu said, recalling where he had seen that particular piece of black paper now. “Speaking of which, when the headmaster brought that thing back a few decades ago, it immediately disappeared the next day. I never thought I’d see it again. Perhaps it is your fate to find it.”
Shiyu thought, if it were not for Fat Cat, it would have been my fate to lose it. Could it be that the Black Cat had wanted her to come to the Third Floor for this mysterious thing?
Still a little doubtful, Shiyu and Lin Fan finally left the Third Floor.
Just as they stepped outside the Treasure Pavilion, students loitering outside all surged forward and began throwing questions at Shiyu and Lin Fan. However, these two were currently preoccupied with the fragments of whatever thing they had picked out from the Third Floor and neither was in the mood to chat.
Finally, Elder Liu glared at the group of noisy students and immediately banned the lot from the Treasure Pavilion for a month, “If any of you like to challenge my memory, you may do so at your own risk.”
The students finally subsided [2] and dispersed, leaving Shiyu and Lin Fan to hurry home safely. They burst through the gates and raced past Feng Luo who was busily Cultivating under a tree. As a Wood Element Cultivator, his Cultivation speed increased when he meditates in such a lush, green environment.
Back in her room, Shiyu hurriedly threw herself into her space, not wanting to risk losing her black paper treasure by taking it out.
Once inside her space, she looked around the green space with its dense flowers and plants. All the precious herbs and medicinal treasures she had haphazardly planted were all growing very well. The Cinnabar Fruit Tree was bigger than before and filled with bright red fruits. Floating on the Spring of Life Water were seven Immortal Jade Petal Lotus, beyond her land were milky white mists, blocking Shiyu’s sight on what’s on the edges.
Shiyu searched through her space and found that the black paper had been made use of by the Fat Cat like a cushion.
“Was this the thing you want me to fetch at the Treasure Pavilion?” asked Shiyu.
“No,” Fat Cat rolled to his heels, exposing more of the black paper.
“No?” Shiyu’s eyes widened. “Then, what should I do? What did you want me to fetch? I still have a few Immortal Lotus in hand, do you think they’d let me have another go?”
“… …” Fat Cat has nothing to say.
Shiyu continued, more or less talking to herself now, “But if I bring out another Lotus, my status as the Immortal Jade Petal Lotus wholesaler would be exposed. I’d be stalked by people, and maybe even struck from behind and killed. All you guys would find of me would be my corpse dumped in a deserted grassland, and that’s if I’m lucky! I could be captured and imprisoned and forced to live in the darkness and be tortured over and over again to give up information on the Immortal Lotus. Rats would eat my toes and… eurgh! I wanna throw up!”
“… …” very good, may your imagination serve as your precaution.
[Gumihou: … the awful thing is, it could all come true…]
[1] Structural Change: Combine two very short paragraphs.
[2] Additional Details for Transitional Purposes: Transition from in front of the Treasure Pavilion to the Villa
Recipe from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe, click on the pic for the recipe
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Shiyu should be concerned. Some things like that do come true in real life where someone wealthy and living alone is overpowered in his home. He is forced to give up his passwords, and keys, and the identity theft perpetrators force him to coach them thru a wire transfer of funds from his 401K into his checking account. The person is killed and the perps now live in his house as the person. It’s happened a number of times in my area. In one case, the perps did it for a week before leaving the house. Another case the perps did it for 6 months before getting caught because a relative kept trying to contact and was suspicious of the responses.