Tales of Demons and Gods : The Legend of Xiao Ning'Er

Xiao Ning'Er already knew where the treasure was hidden but the problem now was how to convince this group of boys who were far stronger than her. She pretended to look carefully over the map before saying, "Awhile back, the head of the Guild of Inscriptions allowed me to read an ancient tome unearthed from the Ancient City of Silverlake, which used to belong to the king of the city."

She continued when she saw that she had their attention, "As I was reading through the book, an old letter fell out of one of the pages. It was from the ruler of Ancient Orchid City, and it seemed to be sent out in a rush, while they were preparing to defend a beast horde headed in their direction. It appeared as though the king of Silverlake was a good friend and in the event Ancient Orchid City fell, its ruler wanted the Silverlake king to know where the treasure lay hidden."

The silence was deafening and you could hear a pin drop as the group's eyes focused on Xiao Ning'Er, impatiently waiting for her next words, "The secret location that was written is...the military training grounds over here!" She pointed it out on the map. "Notice how such an inconspicuous piece of land is situated right at the central axis of the city. Actually...this is why I insisted on coming along because I wanted to verify this letter I read."

Although the story was made up, everything she said supported and explained the current situation perfectly, lending weight to the apparent truth of her words. She could see the excitement build up in the expressions of the rest of the group as they realised the implications of what she had just shared.

"Ning'Er..." Chen Linjian seemed to have started treating her as a closer friend in how he addressed her. "If what you say is true, then you would have contributed the most to our expedition. If we discover anything, I'll make sure that you have first right to whatever you want!" He could barely contain the exhilaration in his voice as it trembled with emotion.

As they made their way to the military grounds, they began to see glimpses of Giant Blue Armed Apes appearing and watching them from a distance. These demon beasts had a height of around two meters and adult beasts were generally silver ranked. Their thick, powerful arms could smash through walls, and aside from their dangerous brute strength, they were also highly agile.

She took out her crossbow and loaded it with an arrow. She then took out a bunch of small jars, where she had made an ointment out of Purple Haze Grass and some other binding agents, which was highly toxic to ape-type beasts. She coated the arrow on her crossbow with it and then passed it out to the rest of the group, explaining its use.

The boys looked at each other in surprise that she seemed so prepared for any eventuality, but Ziyun had already started to get used to it and immediately prepared a crossbow of her own, smearing some of the paste Xiao Ning'Er had prepared on the arrow.

Thwack!

One the apes had grown impatient and rushed in to try to unsettle the group. Before it could reach within 20 feet, Xiao Ning'Er had shot it in the shoulder. Although it was non-vital flesh wound, they could visibly see the ape hold its shoulder for a moment and then start stumbling around as though it were drunk before falling over, unable to keep its balance. They realised how effective the poison was to these beasts and glanced in Xiao Ning'Er's direction in admiration.

The other Giant Blue Armed Apes saw the unusual way their comrade had fallen. They went over to where it was lying with eyes closed and drool dripping of its mouth. One of them rubbed its finger at the area of the wound and brought it to its nose, pulling back with a jerk. Its face twisted in disgust as it realised that the arrow was poisoned.

As Xiao Ning'Er observed this while continuing towards the direction of the military grounds, she gained a deeper realisation of just how intelligent this type of demon beast was, and her heart sank as she kept alert for the Spiritual Grade ape's appearance.

Although the apes become more tentative when the first one got shot down, they still could not accept these humans wandering freely in their dominion. From time to time, they would suddenly attack to try to catch the group off guard, sometimes sending a few at one time, and in one instance, five of them attacked at the same time.

The result was the same each time. The group stayed in a highly disciplined circle, facing outwards as they proceeded carefully in the required direction, realigning their route as and when needed, from time to time. Each time a wave of attack came, well-aimed arrows would take down the enemy before they breached a 15-foot radius from the group.

The apes finally resorted to throwing large rocks and branches at them from a distance to try to wear down their spirit and vigilance. This was where Chen Linjian stepped up like a gallant hero, along with the other three silver ranked experts. He finally had the chance to test out the Unity Sword as he dispatched the danger of the thrown objects with deft precision, marvelling at how much the sword increased his reaction time and power.

Xiao Ning'Er found that she enjoyed the feeling of standing behind his broad shoulders and being protected. She knew she would probably be far stronger than him in the future and she had her own trump cards in the event of an emergency, but at this point of time, his strength was an assuring reliable factor that she needed to rely on to a certain extent in this expedition.

By the time they reached the military grounds, the sun had already begun to set. The Giant Blue Armed Apes had long ceased their attacks when they realised how pointless it was. They had seen their attempts being effectively and efficiently repelled time and time again, over the course of the day. Maybe they were waiting for the cover of darkness before trying again.

Xiao Ning'Er took note that the Spiritual Grade beast had still not appeared and she realised that sometimes the timeline would change because her actions and influence were different from Nie Li's in her previous life.

Chen Linjian decided to commence digging almost immediately instead of resting for the night because they were in a rather exposed location in the middle of the field, and he didn't know if the Giant Blue Armed Apes were still skulking around out of sight. Besides, silver ranked experts could go many nights without sleep and not suffer any loss of function.

The boys started a rotation system with three of them digging and one of them being on the lookout for any danger, making sure to keep their weapons ready at moment's notice. At first, they tried to ask that the girls not get involved in the dirty and strenuous work but after awhile, they gave in when Xiao Ning'Er repeatedly insisted. With five of them digging at the same time at any given time, their progress was slow but steady.

In the first hour they talked to keep each other company during the tedious work but as they got deeper, the soil became more and more rocky and solid. They eventually kept silent as they focused all their energy on breaking through the ground. As the hours rolled by, they began to wonder if Xiao Ning'Er's idea to come here was just a wild goose chase.

As the faint light of dawn started to be seen through the trees in the distance, the boys looked at each other in veiled frustration that threatened to boil over. They had worked all night and hadn't found anything after going down over six feet into the rocky ground.

Thunk.

Suddenly, one of their tools hammered into a solid piece of stone, making a sound they had not heard before. The rest quickly came around and helped to continue digging that area until they unearthed a flat, obviously man-made slab of stone that possibly acted as part of a ceiling for a building buried underneath.

Chen Linjian motioned for the rest to move out of the way as he took a huge tool out from his interspatial ring, shaped like a sledgehammer. He channeled a portion of his soul force into his hands building up power, before suddenly explosively slamming the hammer against the stone slab. A big crack could be seen forming in the middle. It took another four swings of his hammer before he finally broke through. They gathered around, looking into the hole with elation, as they prayed that it was what they were looking for.

As they threw a burning torch into the hole, they saw stone steps heading downwards. They quickly lit a few more torches and headed down the steps without hesitating or considering that there might be traps ahead, as was normal in treasure vaults. Fortunately, if there were any mechanisms, they did not activate as they reached the bottom of the stairs without incident and saw a long corridor ahead.

They slowly walked to the end of the corridor, maneuvering around some collapsed sections and making sure to observe the integrity of the walls around them. In front of them, they could see a thick stone door with various intricate engravings done by a master craftsman. Their eyes gleamed in the darkness, reflecting the flickering glow of the torches they held. This was it! If they were to find anything, it would be here.

This door was even harder to break than the initial stone slab, and the four silver ranked experts in their group rotated as they chipped away at the stone using Chen Linjian's hammer. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they broke through. As each of them entered into the stone chamber in front of them, they mouths opened with amazement. In the dim light of the torches they held, they could make out a whole mountain of treasures for their eyes to feast on.

All sorts of armour of bronze and silver rank could be seen, along with bundles of inscription scrolls, and piles of demon crystals, furs and uncommon materials. There were also precious metals stacked alongside huge mounds of gold coins, which was the currency of the Sacred Empire of the past. It was likely that if they sold everything here, it would be worth hundreds of millions, or even billions, of demon spirit coins.