A Blind Box Race

He had no choice but to muster his true energy and shout at the top of his lungs, "Danger! Get near the stone statues, quickly!" The wind carried his voice downward, and the people below looked up in astonishment. They heard him, but nobody moved. *Who is this guy, and what does he want?* *Can we even trust what he says?* "Lunatic." The distance between them was too great, and besides... it was already too late. He Lingchuan could only sigh as he watched them, urging his rock sheep to leap back into the cavern of Fengbo Rock. The cavern was completely empty. Where was Second Master Shi? Where had he run off to? Just as the rock sheep regained its footing, the Wind Demon in the sky accelerated, plummeting toward the ruins of the Piaomiao Sect like a shooting star. It was aiming straight for the enormous fissure in the heart of the mountain! He Lingchuan cautiously retreated inside the Wind Lion Lord's protective ward. Then came a colossal roar. It was not the sound of a living creature, but the howling fury of the wind erupting from the fissure, surging ever louder like a rising tide. The root sphere halted about ten feet above the chasm, spinning wildly, unable to sink any further. The powerful gusts surging from below effortlessly bore it aloft. Immediately after, a tempest erupted violently from the fissure with a sound like thunder. More than forty people had been hiding nearby, but none stood within a Wind Lion Lord's ward. Having never returned to the highway in the belief that staying here was safe, they were caught in the wake of this storm. The roar of the wind instantly swallowed their screams. The savage wind tore into them like a thousand slicing blades. He Lingchuan watched helplessly as skin, muscle, and sinew were stripped from their bodies piece by piece. Even the last trace of blood was scoured clean from their bones, leaving them glistening white and spotless. This was the true meaning of wind like knives and frost like swords—killing without leaving a drop of blood. Several dozen skeletons kept their hands raised to shield their heads and faces for less than three seconds before being scattered by the hurricane, swept away to who knew where. Only three people who clung to a nearby Wind Lion Lord survived, paralyzed with terror. The gale from the fissure spun half a turn and eagerly plunged into the root sphere, merging as one with the Wind Demon. Watching this unfold, He Lingchuan knew he had correctly guessed the origin of this storm once again: the Meridian Divine Wind. Every day during the hours of the rat and the horse, the strongest astral winds from deep underground would surge to the heavens from this very spot and encircle Wind Demon Mountain. It had just turned midday—the hour of the horse. The Wind Demon had dragged the sphere here precisely to recharge itself with the Meridian Divine Wind. At that moment, the escort leader finally managed to recite the incantation smoothly, word for word, from beginning to end without a single error. The root sphere shrank rapidly, completely cutting off the Wind Demon from the outside world in an attempt to thoroughly subdue it. Wind was born from moving air. If the space inside the root sphere became completely still, how much trouble could the Wind Demon stir up? The numerous root spheres pinned beneath the Jeweled Tree King's true body were proof enough that this method worked. Yet this place was far too distant from the great Demon King, and having consumed the Meridian Divine Wind, the Wind Demon had grown vastly in power and ballooned in size. As formidable as the Jeweled Tree King's demonic power and arts were, how could they rival the awe-inspiring might of nature itself? The root sphere issued cracking sounds as the gaps between the roots were stretched wider and wider. Even then, the spirit seed of the jeweled tree tried to make one final stand. Unfortunately, heaven willed otherwise. The Wind Demon turned a fiery crimson, surged outward in two swelling ripples, and suddenly pushed with tremendous force— With a loud snap, the root sphere burst apart, shattering into countless fragments. Having regained its freedom, the Wind Demon let out a cry of pure ecstasy, wheeled around twice without restraint, and turned back toward the cliff opposite to make trouble for the escort detachment once more. He Lingchuan, however, crouched at the cave entrance, his eyes glued to several objects floating in midair. Once the Wind Demon departed, the winds here died down immediately, no longer strong enough to harm anyone. He Lingchuan at once drove his bighorn rock sheep into the mountain hollow. He was chasing after the fragments of the root sphere blown apart by the Wind Demon. The spirit seed coveted by the divine bone necklace had to be inside one of those fragments. Clutching the necklace, He Lingchuan said, "Over to you!" The divine bone necklace immediately glowed red and scalded him fiercely. It was impatient as well. Just then, another figure darted out from a nearby cavern, snatched up a nearby fragment, and snapped it into debris with his bare hands. Nothing. He moved on to the next. He was after the exact same objective and doing the exact same thing as He Lingchuan—searching for the spirit seed. He Lingchuan's pupils shrank. The person was Fu Shanyue. After snatching the Chiyan Kingdom envoy, he had not fled the area, but had snuck back into the Piaomiao Sect ruins to reap more benefits. Clearly, this man was an out-and-out opportunist. His mission objective had plainly been achieved, yet his eyes were still on the spirit seed, hoping to scoop it up on his way out. Fu Shanyue naturally spotted He Lingchuan as well, but kept track of him only with the corner of his eye while dashing off to pursue the next fragment. After the root sphere exploded, the wind had scattered its fragments everywhere. The two rivals each picked an area, forming a bizarre tacit understanding. Until the fragments were picked clean or the spirit seed was found, neither had any desire to make a move against the other. He Lingchuan casually broke apart a few fragments from sheepback for appearances, then headed straight for his target under the guidance of the divine bone necklace. Indeed, even under these circumstances, the necklace could still pinpoint treasures with precision. The closer He Lingchuan got to the spirit seed, the cooler the necklace became. Soon, he caught up to three fragments tumbling in the wind. These three roots clung to one another by tangled threads, knotted together. The moment he caught one, a sudden icy chill pierced his chest, making him shiver. It seemed the necklace had feared he might make a mistake and abandoned all subtlety for an unmistakable signal, accidentally overdoing it. What luck—the spirit seed happened to be near him. Once He Lingchuan had it in hand, he did not bother breaking it open to look, stashing it away in his storage ring at once. This movement made Fu Shanyue, who had been keeping an eye on him, freeze for an instant. *If you don't check it, how do you know if the spirit seed is inside?* *If you don't check it, how do you know whether to keep looking?* Yet He Lingchuan immediately went after other fragments, looking for all the world as though he intended to gather them all before opening his blind boxes. *Fine, I suppose that works too,* Fu Shanyue silently cursed him for an idiot. The two gathered silently, the atmosphere growing increasingly tense. The fragments floating in the mountain hollow were dwindling. Right at that moment, Second Master Shi suddenly popped out of a stone cave, waving toward He Lingchuan. "Brother He, Brother He! I'm over here!" Naturally, he remained completely oblivious to the weird, suffocating tension in the air. He Lingchuan rode over and hoisted the battered and bruised Second Master up behind him. "Where did you run off to? I couldn't find you earlier!" He swore to heaven that while picking up fragments earlier, he had indeed checked the spot where Second Master Shi had been hiding, but found it empty. He had assumed Second Master Shi had headed down the mountain on his own, never expecting the man to emerge from an entirely different grotto lower down the mountain. Second Master Shi opened his mouth to explain, but when he looked up and saw Fu Shanyue glaring menacingly at the two of them, the words caught in his throat. "It's a long story." He Lingchuan collected two more fragments, which conveniently put him near the small path leading down the mountain. Before Fu Shanyue could react, the bighorn rock sheep whipped around, swiveled its hindquarters, and bolted onto the path, vanishing from view in just a couple of bounds. Fu Shanyue was startled. He dashed over to look, only to see He Lingchuan's retreating back already nearing the stone bridge. The dilemma was now his: To chase, or not to chase? If he gave chase, what about the remaining fragments flying around the mountain hollow? What if the spirit seed was still among them and the kid on the sheep had simply given up? If he did not chase, could that kid have already snagged the spirit seed? Fu Shanyue hesitated for several breaths before deciding to keep gathering fragments. Staying behind would at least yield a definitive answer; chasing after him was an utter unknown. He had no idea He Lingchuan was sneering inwardly: *I spectated the whole fight, sent out only one evil spirit to do the dirty work, quietly walked off with the treasure, took all the spoils, and won by a mile. Why would I stick around to brawl with you?* *** When He Lingchuan left Wind Demon Mountain, he glanced downward twice. The Jeweled Tree Kingdom's escort detachment was down to barely a hundred men, showing that the Wind Demon—freshly replenished by the Meridian Divine Wind—had grown stronger again. With its opponent having lost the spirit seed, they had no good way to deal with it. The escort leader dispatched several riders ahead as bait to draw the Wind Demon away, but the beast remained entirely unmoved. Clearly, it would not fall for the trick. In the end, the leader gritted his teeth, mounted the sturdiest bo beast himself, and continuously shot arrows to taunt the Wind Demon, finally goading it into turning around to pursue him. With its level of intelligence, it could indeed discern who the leader was and who had dealt it the greatest harm. The wind usually moved faster than land creatures, but the Wind Demon needed to tighten its vortex to retain power rather than stay dispersed, meaning the actual forward speed of the tornado was only slightly faster than a galloping horse. Moreover, after rounding this hollow, the road ahead was relatively straight, unlike the twisting mountain paths before. Pursuing in a blind rage, the Wind Demon widened its perimeter to disrupt their mounts. One rider was indeed blown down the cliff, but the leader kept spurring his mount forward at full tilt. Taking advantage of the distraction, the rest of the escort detachment pressed on, forced to abandon their baggage and supplies. Another two li ahead lay a fork slanting down the mountain, offering a chance to put distance between themselves and the Wind Demon. While the chase unfolded on the highway, Second Master Shi, sitting behind He Lingchuan on the rock sheep, spoke up: "Earlier, I wanted to head down the mountain, but I slipped into another cave and nearly fell to my death." The noon winds had been ferocious, making it impossible to keep his footing. "But there was a crevice leading down from that cave, and a wailing sound drifted up. At first I thought it was just the wind, but listening closely, it sounded like a human voice, so I climbed down to take a peek. Ha, there really was someone down there, with his legs apparently broken, slumped on the ground." Second Master Shi continued, "Guess who I saw?" Someone hidden below a fissure in a stone cave, with broken legs? He Lingchuan did not even need to think. "The Chiyan Kingdom envoy?" "..." Second Master Shi choked, incredulous. "Brother He, you're uncanny! How did you guess?" Over the course of their journey, He Lingchuan's stature in his mind had grown steadily, and today it seemed practically bathed in divine radiance! He Lingchuan smiled without answering. When the Chiyan envoy had been snatched from the escort detachment, Second Master Shi had been hiding inside the mountain, utterly oblivious to the events on the path outside. Second Master Shi went on, "The captive saw me too and begged me desperately for help, but then I heard a massive boom outside, and I... I climbed back up."