Treasure-hunting: Into the Unknown

At the sound of the voice, everyone present turned their heads in time to see a figure emerging from the entrance of the Burial Abyss. At first glance, he looked like a beggar, with ragged clothes, disheveled hair, and thick stubble on his face. Yet he exuded a strong aura that nobody could miss. Even his haggard face shone with a mischievous, unpredictable charm.

"Harley..." Polly shouted, and then covered her mouth in disbelief.

Queenie trembled beside her, no less shocked.

Their companions could not help but be similarly affected.

Katrina visibly relaxed, and her fury over Zachary's apparent death quickly drained away.

Nelson darted over to Zachary and threw his arms around him. Laughing in hysterical joy, he shook his friend and exclaimed, "Harley, you're not dead. That's so great!"

Excitement swept through the spot. Tracy and the other people from the Shura College could hardly believe their eyes. During the months that Zachary had been missing, he was regarded to have been killed by some diabolic beast, only now to show up alive and well. It was truly incredible!

"Hi, Nelson!" Zachary said, shaking his head as he struggled against the other man's bear-hug. "It's good to see you too, buy just tone it down a little, all right? Otherwise, people will start thinking we're gay."

"What does 'gay' mean?" Nelson asked with great puzzlement. He did not understand such a modern term, but released Zachary all the same.

"You'll learn about it later," Zachary answered simply as he patted Nelson on the shoulder. With that, he went up to Katrina and Tracy.

He greeted Tracy with a nod, then said, "What brings you here, Master Katrina?"

"I heard that you'd disappeared after being sent to the Burial Abyss of Shura College. That's why I came here in person. If I had known that you were all right, I wouldn't have come in such a hurry." Saying this, Katrina glared at Zachary irritably. But from the tone of her voice, it was plain that she wasn't really that angry with him. If anything, she was genuinely concerned and even affectionate.

All the disciples present could not help but guess as to exactly what sort of relationship they had. If

's dangerous. But not nearly as dangerous as you might think," Zachary replied, waving his hand dismissively.

"By the way, Harley, I heard that you killed a disciple, right?" Nelson asked curiously.

"Yes! But it was only in self-defense," Zachary explained with a slight grin.

"Then why did you disappear?" Queenie asked, no less confused than before.

"I felt that I had committed a terrible crime, so I decided to go off and reflect on my sins alone," he answered in a ridiculously solemn tone of voice.

Even the stupidest person alive knew better than to believe that. His four companions were left speechless at the joke. It seemed clear to them that they weren't going to get any straight answers yet.

They continued the rest of the way to the farmyard, chatting about other subjects.

Meanwhile, at their destination, Alger and the other Celestial College disciples gathered together. When they saw that the five had come back, they surrounded them.

"Harley? Why are you still alive?" Alger mocked. He had thought Zachary's chances of surviving the Burial Abyss were slim. Seeing his rival back, alive and well, put him in a very ugly mood.

Zachary didn't respond to Alger. Instead, he waved his hand, and around twenty to thirty treasures of King Level, including weapons and pills, abruptly appeared nearby.

"These are the spoils I collected from the Burial Abyss," he said, gesturing at the pile. "You can take them all."