Little Pink Starfish

You’re on the Cliff, I’m in the Stone Chamber

“Is this a sarira?” Ergouzi proposed another theory.

“Get lost!” The old Taoist kicked Ergouzi to the side — even sarira got mentioned now!

Not willing to have wasted her strength for nothing, Yu Xiaoxiao stopped holding the bronze bell with her pinky and grabbed it in her hand, shaking it hard.

Despite Yu Xiaoxiao’s strength, the bell wasn’t loud due to its size.

Ergouzi ran back over and said, “Princess, are these monks trying to cover something up by making it more obvious?”

Yu Xiaoxiao shook the bell and looked at him.

The old Taoist said, “Yo, you actually know the term ‘covering up by making it more obvious’?”

The wind carried the sound of the bell down the cliff.

Standing in the cave, Yu Xiaoxiao shouted at the sky, “One day I’ll kill Mo Wen, destroy Yongsheng Temple — anything related to that place, I’ll wipe it out! Ahhhhhhh!”

The old Taoist and Ergouzi…

Yeah, this grudge was now monumental.

Inside the stone chamber, Gu Xinglang, his eyes blank, reached out and twisted off a monster’s head.

From its broken neck gushed a swarm of wriggling, crawling long worms.

Gu Xinglang smashed the monster hard against the stone wall.

Xiao Wei lay at Gu Xinglang’s feet. The worms gathered around him but didn’t get closer.

The bronze bell hung from Yu Xiaoxiao’s finger. The cold wind blowing into the cave made it sway and ring. Yu Xiaoxiao could hear it, but Tian Xingzi and Ergouzi could not.

“I think Ergouzi’s right,” Yu Xiaoxiao said, looking at the stone Buddha that had lost its head.

Ergouzi instantly puffed out his chest. In modern terms, Yu Xiaoxiao was the goddess in his heart. If the goddess agreed with him, he’d be proud for days.

The old Taoist twitched. Could you really listen to what Ergouzi said?

“This Buddha is hollow.” Yu Xiaoxiao walked up to the stone statue, tapped on its big toe, and said, “You two back up a bit. I’m gonna break this thing open and have a look.”

The old Taoist glanced behind him — behind them was a sheer cliff. Where exactly were they supposed to retreat to?

“Be careful,” Yu Xiaoxiao warned as she punched the stone Buddha.

With a loud crack, the old Taoist’s jaw dislocated from dropping open too far.

The massive stone Buddha, tens of meters tall, crumbled from her punch. Though her strength couldn’t pulverize such a huge statue, the scene was shocking enough for any normal person.

Yu Xiaoxiao took a moment to catch her breath and gripped the bell dangling from her finger.

In the stone chamber, Gu Xinglang stopped moving while the worms began creeping toward him and Xiao Wei.

Yu Xiaoxiao brushed the fallen pebbles from her hair. The bell, held between her fingers, jingled faintly with the motion.

The monsters roared and charged at Gu Xinglang, only to collapse one after another at his feet.

As the bell’s sound became clearer, the worms froze on the ground, trembling visibly.

Yu Xiaoxiao pointed to the hole at her feet and said to the old Taoist, “What did I tell you?”

Ergouzi leaned over the edge and peered into the dark, bottomless hole. “Princess, I’m the one who said that. I told you these monks were up to something — trying to fool us with some worthless little bell.”

Yu Xiaoxiao asked, “Ergouzi, what do you think is down there?”

Without hesitation, he said, “Must be a treasure vault.”

Roar—

A ferocious roar came from below, and Yu Xiaoxiao’s expression turned cold.

Seeing her change, the old Taoist quickly asked, “What is it?”

“This place is a subsidiary temple of Yongsheng,” Yu Xiaoxiao said. “So anything they have, this place would have too?”

The old Taoist didn’t fully understand what she meant, but still nodded. “Naturally. This Bodhi Temple was built on the foundation of the Vermillion Bird’s Yongsheng Temple.”

Yu Xiaoxiao crouched down and placed her palm on the ground, intending to channel lightning straight down like she did in the temple courtyard — turning all the monsters below into ash.

Ergouzi asked, “Princess, are we going down?”

The old Taoist smacked Ergouzi’s head. “We don’t even know what’s down there! You wanna go die? Shut up! That little troublemaker Yu Linglong is bad enough — now we’ve got a backup troublemaker too?”

Yu Xiaoxiao raised her hand again. But this was a tall cliff and a long way down — if she channeled lightning this far, she might exhaust herself. She still needed to fight in Chiyang City — what if she had no energy left by then? She tilted her head, listening for sounds from the hole.

The old Taoist said, “Princess, let’s just go. What treasure is worth dying for?”

“There are stairs,” Yu Xiaoxiao said, pointing to the wall. “Jingshi came up from here.”

The old Taoist squatted down and looked where she pointed. Sure enough, steps had been carved into the stone wall. He asked, “Could there be another way down from the cliff top?”

“No,” Yu Xiaoxiao said firmly. “Unless they used ropes to lower people down.”

Considering the height, the old Taoist agreed — Jingshi most likely climbed up through the cave.

Yu Xiaoxiao turned to look at the unconscious monk Jingshi. There were clearly monsters below. How did he get up here? Were the monsters locked up? Or… did the monk know how to control them?

Ergouzi spat in his palms, eager, and said, “Princess, let’s climb down and see.”

“Keep an eye on him,” Yu Xiaoxiao pointed at Jingshi. “When we get back, I’m interrogating him.”

For the goddess, Ergouzi would do anything. He nodded and ran to stand guard beside Jingshi.

“What are you planning?!” Tian Xingzi asked nervously — he had a bad feeling something big was about to happen!

“You wait here too,” Yu Xiaoxiao told the old Taoist. “We mustn’t let that monk die.”

The old Taoist said, “Princess, if this Bodhi Temple really has a treasure vault, we’ll find it. No need to interrogate Jingshi.”

“You didn’t hear anything?” Yu Xiaoxiao asked him.

The old Taoist blinked and looked around. “Hear what? The wind?”

Yu Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes. Number One Warlock in the World? That title stung a bit. All this guy was good for was eating, sleeping, and getting bullied by Nanny Wang.

Roar—

Awoooo—

The howls from the cave below grew increasingly savage.

Yu Xiaoxiao took a deep breath — and leaped into the hole.

“What about us?!” the old Taoist shouted, lying at the edge. But in a blink, Yu Xiaoxiao vanished from sight.