Chapter Fifty-Three: The Emergence of a Priceless Treasure

"Alright, we agree as well. Let’s wait before we go down." Senior Brother Chen, after a brief consideration, nodded in agreement with Ji Mo and Mu Baiyun.

"Let’s stay a while longer. We’ll go down when the moon rises," suggested Mu Baiyun.

“Oh?” Everyone’s gaze turned to him.

“I once heard a senior brother say that after the tides of Blue Moon Lake, on the night of the full moon, treasures only reveal themselves under the moonlight,” Mu Baiyun continued.

Is that so? The group was momentarily taken aback, but then recalled that he was a direct disciple of the sect leader. His senior brothers and sisters had experienced the tides firsthand, so his words could hardly be doubted. With this in mind, those who had been ready to set out quieted down again. About half an hour later, a full moon rose into the sky, casting its bright, serene light over the land.

Bathed in moonlight, many spots on the barren shore of Blue Moon Lake began to glow with radiant mist. Each time a ray of this glow appeared, countless humans and beasts surged toward that spot.

"Let’s go!" Senior Brother Chen shouted, leading the charge as he leaped down, with the others following in quick succession. Ji Mo, Mu Baiyun, Wei Qiu, and Zhao Hu lagged slightly behind.

"Brother Zhao, stay close to me," Ji Mo instructed Zhao Hu in a low voice as they landed on the lake’s surface. Zhao Hu blushed but nodded. Even if he hated to slow Ji Mo down, he knew his fighting strength was the lowest among them.

By now, chaos had overtaken Blue Moon Lake. In this mere two hundred square kilometers, the ground swarmed with the shadows of people and beasts—rushing, shouting, and fighting. All the sect’s rules and regulations seemed feeble and powerless in this moment. Ji Mo watched the scene before her in silence, and a sudden thought crept into her mind: Could this situation have been deliberately arranged by the sect?

At this point, Chen Jiang and the others had already forgotten their agreement not to fight others for the treasures. After observing the scene for a moment, they rushed toward the spot where the glow was brightest. Ji Mo and Mu Baiyun, however, remained where they were. With them unmoved, Wei Qiu and Zhao Hu naturally stayed close as well. Most amusingly, Jiang Ping had just started to move, but when she saw Ji Mo and Mu Baiyun hadn’t budged, she quietly stepped back to her original place.

When Chen, Jiang, and the Zhong sisters reached the source of the glow, they found utter chaos: people dueling each other, human cultivators and demon beasts locked in deadly combat. Without exception, everyone cast hostile glares at Chen, Jiang, and their group as they approached.

Under the weight of these stares, the group faltered, their hot-blooded impulse cooling as reason returned. Looking back, they noticed Ji Mo and Mu Baiyun had not followed after all, and only then remembered their earlier pact not to fight for treasures. With a wry smile, they retreated in silence. The Zhong sisters, though unwilling, understood the situation; with only their own skills to rely on, trying to snatch treasures by force was pure fantasy.

"Let’s not be anxious. Treasures possess their own spirit—if fate truly favors us, we’ll discover them ahead of others," Ji Mo said with a faint smile as Chen, Jiang, and the others returned, their embarrassment barely concealed.

Thus began their treasure hunt. Whether due to poor luck or some other reason, all nine of them searched for over two hours without finding a single treasure’s hiding place. Unconsciously, they had reached the shore of Moonwatch Lake.

“Hey, look over there!” Just as frustration was mounting, Jiang Ping suddenly exclaimed, pointing in a certain direction.

Following her gaze, they saw a cave in a cliff on the north side of Blue Moon Lake. A ray of multicolored light shone from within, brilliant and dazzling—making all other glows around Blue Moon Lake seem dim by comparison.

Ji Mo clearly sensed everyone’s breath grow heavy. Even she felt her heart beat a few times faster at the sight of that multicolored glow. Ah, truly, human greed is innate.

The radiance was too brilliant, drawing not only Ji Mo’s group but every other eye in the area. All fighting within Blue Moon Lake ceased at that instant, as countless gazes converged on the spot. In the next moment, shadows rushed toward it from all directions, the stampede raising a resonant hum on the damp sand.

“Shall we go?” Senior Brother Chen swallowed nervously and glanced around at the people and beasts surging toward the spot. His voice was strained. Not to mention the crowds and demon lords converging from all sides, the location itself was perilous. The glow shone from a cliff above Blue Moon Lake, with swirling mist and treacherous waters below. To enter, one misstep would mean falling into the lake below, meeting certain death.

“Yes, let’s go! Since we discovered this spot, there’s no reason to give it up,” Mu Baiyun replied firmly. Though the location was dangerous, it was not beyond the abilities of cultivators like themselves. While they could not fly freely here, with their weapons, scaling the cliff would not be difficult.

The only real threat was attacks from others; fighting on the cliff could easily send one tumbling into the lake. This was a real and pressing danger—one glance at the surging masses from all sides made the difficulty of claiming the treasure painfully clear. Their group, in terms of both numbers and strength, was far from the strongest present.

Their sole advantage was proximity to the cliff. They stood just over three kilometers from the dazzling glow. Claiming the treasure would not be easy, but no one was willing to simply give up.

"Alright, let’s go!" With their resolve set, the group raced toward the cliff. Arriving at the lower left of the rock face, Ji Mo looked up and estimated that the distance from their feet to the cave was about a thousand meters. Before them stretched the fog-shrouded lake; to reach the treasure, they would have to climb the cliff.

Chen, Jiang, the Zhong sisters, Jiang Ping, Wei Qiu, and Zhao Hu all looked toward the glowing spot with fervent desire. Ji Mo, apart from her initial quickened heartbeat at the sight of the glow, had already regained her calm. What surprised her was that Mu Baiyun’s gaze remained serene as well—there was none of the longing seen in the others’ eyes.

"Junior Sister Mu, Junior Sister Ji, let’s divide our group. Some will stay below to fend off enemies, while others climb up to seek the treasure. Once we succeed, we’ll split it equally. What do you think?" Senior Brother Chen, though excited, kept his composure. Glancing back at the approaching crowd, he steadied himself and turned to Ji Mo and Mu Baiyun.

"We have no objections. Senior Brother Chen, you are the leader; the arrangement is yours," Ji Mo replied calmly.

Senior Brother Chen opened his mouth, clearly wanting to volunteer for the climb. But, considering his own strength and the situation, he hesitated. Soon, a tide of people and beasts would be scrambling up the cliff, and snatching the treasure would mean fierce battle. One misstep in such a fight would spell doom—falling into Moonwatch Lake meant certain death, a fate everyone understood.

Thus his words caught in his throat, indecision reigning. The same hesitation hung over the rest—Jiang, the Zhong sisters, and the others. For a moment, no one spoke, and a strange silence descended upon the group.