Chapter 203: Ten Golden Pearls
"So the inheritance ground has actually suppressed my power."
After a good while, Lu Xiaoyao finally pieced together his present situation.
It was this: the inheritance ground carried some kind of power that suppressed him — or rather, suppressed every cultivator who entered it — back down to the level of an ordinary person.
"Still, thankfully, that formidable physical body is still here."
Sensing that the strength of his Primordial Saint Body remained, Lu Xiaoyao finally let out a breath of relief.
It seemed the inheritance ground only suppressed cultivation realm and spirit; it placed no suppression on the physical body or on special physiques.
Having sorted out his present situation, Lu Xiaoyao promptly began surveying his surroundings.
He saw that the area he stood in was a great mountain, and looking around, there were dense, countless great trees stretching as far as the eye could see.
"So... just how am I supposed to obtain the inheritance?"
Lu Xiaoyao was rather puzzled — if he had to search for it, he might not find it even in a hundred years.
And just then, a voice fell into the ears of everyone who had entered the inheritance ground.
"This Venerable One is the Tianyang Immortal Venerable. Hidden within this realm are ten golden light pearls. Whoever gathers them all may obtain this Venerable One's inheritance."
As that voice faded, an enormous number ten floated up over the inheritance realm.
"An Immortal Venerable indeed. And what the hell are these golden light pearls? Well, at least I have a goal now. Let me search first — though there's no telling whether this inheritance realm holds any other dangers."
Lu Xiaoyao thought to himself, then instinctively made to leap into the air — but upon realizing his power was sealed, he gave a wry, helpless smile.
Fine. On foot it is.
It wasn't long before Lu Xiaoyao came to a stop. Gazing at the thumb-sized bead before him, radiating dazzling golden light, he sank into thought.
So this was the so-called golden light pearl?
After a moment's consideration, Lu Xiaoyao took the golden light pearl into his hand.
And the enormous number ten in the distance changed to a nine accordingly — presumably it was tied to the number of golden light pearls.
"Looks like I'll have to guard against others trying to snatch them, too."
Lu Xiaoyao wanted to put the golden light pearl into his storage ring, but found that it seemed to be affected by some kind of power and simply wouldn't go in.
And even tucked against his chest, that golden glow could be spotted with ease.
Which meant that if he ran into anyone, they would very likely make a move on him to snatch the pearl.
After all, it was an Immortal Venerable Inheritance — to obtain it was an immense fortune.
Meanwhile, Li Daoyi and the others had also sensed the change in themselves, and their expressions grew solemn.
But they weren't overly worried.
As prodigies, they had long ago studied how to handle situations like this, warned of them by their sects' elders, so they had dabbled a little in mortal martial arts as well.
On top of that, they regularly tempered their physical bodies, so naturally they had nothing to fear.
"Interesting. Has someone already obtained a pearl?"
"Looks like I'll have to pick up the pace too."
Li Daoyi watched the number in the sky go from ten to nine, murmuring to himself.
Then he, too, set off.
And the number up in the sky was dwindling at a visible pace, soon dropping to just three.
On Lu Xiaoyao's end, not long after he set off, he came across a second golden pearl.
But no sooner had Lu Xiaoyao tucked the golden pearl away than he sensed something. Knitting his brows, he twisted aside.
The very next moment after he dodged, three streaks of cold light came flying in from afar, missing Lu Xiaoyao and striking a great tree not far off, toppling it.
"Oh? So you dodged?"
Lu Xiaoyao turned and looked in the direction of his attacker.
He saw a young man in a blue robe, wearing a look of mild surprise, a longbow still in his hands.
"Hand over your pearls and I'll spare your life."
The young man spoke, his tone full of confidence.
He was a being ranked fifteenth on the Prodigy Rankings; if the other man were sensible enough to hand over the golden pearls, he could still spare him his life.
But the next moment, he felt a wave of dizzying disorientation.
He also saw something topple over.
No — that was his own body.
"What?!"
The young man's face filled with terror; he'd never imagined Lu Xiaoyao was this formidable — dealt with before he'd even sensed it.
Gazing at the young man's corpse, Lu Xiaoyao gave a cold snort.
"Courting death. No real strength to speak of, and yet you dared ambush me."
For anyone who tried to ambush him, Lu Xiaoyao would show no mercy.
And having dealt with the man, Lu Xiaoyao carried on the fine tradition of countless seniors of the Immortal Cultivation World: looting the corpse.
Only after stripping the man bare did he leave, thoroughly satisfied.
But the incident served as a warning to Lu Xiaoyao: he had to watch out for ambushes.
This man was only the first, but he most certainly wouldn't be the last.
Carrying two golden pearls, there were sure to be plenty more who would make a move on him.
And in order to claim the final inheritance, he too would have to make his move and snatch the other pearls.
Before long, Lu Xiaoyao ran into several more cultivators in succession.
Of course, the outcome was without exception the same: upon seeing that Lu Xiaoyao carried two spirit pearls, they made their move on him without a word.
But the result, too, was without exception the same: every one of them died at Lu Xiaoyao's hands.
Watching the storage rings on his person pile up higher and higher, Lu Xiaoyao couldn't help but sigh.
Stop coming to hand me free kills — I'm running out of room to stash them all.
Soon, the inheritance ground sank into the dark of night.
Seeing this, Lu Xiaoyao found a mountain cave and prepared to rest.
Perhaps because his cultivation realm was suppressed, the current Lu Xiaoyao actually felt drowsy.
But just as Lu Xiaoyao was about to rest, he sensed something and looked toward the mouth of the cave.
From outside the cave came a clatter, followed at once by a wretched, agonized scream.
At this, Lu Xiaoyao didn't dare grow careless in the slightest. Grabbing his weapon, he closed in on the cave mouth.
When he reached the cave mouth and saw that the trap he'd set had sprung, Lu Xiaoyao moved closer to it.
But when he saw the figure down in the deep pit, Lu Xiaoyao was rather startled.
"Holy Lord, why is it you?"
The figure in the deep pit was, astonishingly, Ye Wushuang.
So upon seeing it was Ye Wushuang, Lu Xiaoyao hurriedly pulled him up out of the pit.
"I say, Holy Son, why on earth would you set a trap right at the cave mouth?"
Hauled up out of the pit, Ye Wushuang grimaced in pain, teeth bared — fortunately, Lu Xiaoyao hadn't planted anything truly lethal down there.
Otherwise, Ye Wushuang would have been done for.
"Isn't that perfectly normal? I don't need to rest — but what if someone barged in?"
Lu Xiaoyao spread his hands, his tone rather helpless.
If his cultivation were still intact, going without rest forever would be no problem; but now that his cultivation was suppressed, if he didn't sleep, he really could drop dead from exhaustion.
Hearing this, Ye Wushuang deflated at once.
True enough — this was his own fault.
"I haven't even asked yet — Holy Lord, how is it you're here?"
"It's night now, isn't it? I saw there was a cave here and figured I'd come rest a bit — never expected to step right into the trap you'd set, Holy Son."
Ye Wushuang spoke with a touch of embarrassment.
Seeing this, Lu Xiaoyao didn't say anything more.
But just then, Ye Wushuang noticed something, and spoke with some surprise.
"Holy Son, you've obtained two golden pearls?"
"Mm. Got lucky."
Lu Xiaoyao didn't hide it either, and openly took out the golden pearls.
After all, he and the Holy Lord were already well acquainted, and the Holy Lord knew his background well — naturally he wouldn't risk trying to snatch his golden pearls.