The first month was absolute hell. We started in the Blood Peak Cliffs, following some ancient map that looked like it was drawn by a drunk monkey. Every cave we entered was either filled with poisonous gas, carnivorous bats, or absolutely nothing. Liangyu's earth cultivation came in handy, sure, but mostly for getting us out of collapsed tunnels rather than finding any mystical pearls.
The second month took us to the Whispering Gorge. The name should've been a red flag. The place was crawling with Phantom Shadows, nasty little spirits that mimicked your voice and led you in circles until you starved to death. We spent three days chasing our own voices before I figured out the trick was to stuff our ears with mud and follow Liangyu's earth sense instead.
We found nothing there either, except a severe case of tinnitus that lasted a whole week before we could manage to get hold of a Healing Cultivator.
By the third month, we'd developed a routine. Wake up, eat whatever horrible rations we'd packed, argue about which direction to go, explore caves that tried to kill us, find nothing, make camp, and repeat. The glamorous life of treasure hunters, ladies and gentlemen.
The Bone Desert nearly did us in during month four. No caves there, but plenty of buried ruins. We spent weeks digging through sand that felt like it was alive, constantly shifting and trying to bury us. Liangyu's earth powers did help though.
Month five brought us to the Abyss of Wailing Cries. Yeah, real subtle naming in this world. The caves there actually did scream when you entered them. Something about the wind patterns and crystalline formations, but it sounded like a hundred dying banshees. We lasted exactly four hours before we decided to speedrun the whole thing and found no pearl.
Month six was when things started getting interesting. We'd made our way to the Frozen Mist Peaks, following a rumor from some half-drunk merchant about a "pink glow" seen deep in the mountain's belly. The caves here were different. With symbols carved into the walls that neither of us could read.
"These markings," Liangyu said, running his fingers along the carved stone. "They feel... ancient. Like, older than the Academy ancient."
"Can you sense anything with your earth cultivation?"
He closed his eyes and pressed his palms against the cave wall. After a moment, his eyes snapped open. "There's something deeper. Much deeper. And it's... warm."
You're goddamn damn right he felt something deeper and warm. About time, bitches.
We followed the tunnel system for days, deeper than we'd ever gone before. There was definitely a faint pink glow emanating from somewhere ahead.
The tunnel opened into a massive cavern. And there, floating in the center of a natural stone pedestal, was the Spirit Devouring Pearl.
"Holy shit," I whispered. "We actually found it."
"After seven months of eating dirt and dodging death traps," Liangyu said, grinning. "We actually found the fucking thing."
You might think the pearl was protected by some kind of booby traps or whatever, but there were none. I was quite surprised to be honest but then again, why would I complain after the torture we went through for almost seven months for that glowing pink ball of sucking powers. Yeah, that's exactly what I call it now.
We brought it back to Tianlan Academy where a horde of masters were already waiting. Liangyu got a thunderous applause. And from Tianlan's top masters mind you. The difference between his face and the colour red? None.
"Finally, we have a chance of taking him down!" one of them shouted.
"Years of hard work and it finally paid off!" screamed another.
Master Juechen stepped up quietly, smiling. "You did good," he said.
And listen, those three words? That was a big fucking deal. In all our years of training, we'd only ever heard him say it once before, back when we were grade school kids.
Then the Master of the Blue Moon Sect walked over, patted us on the back, and congratulated us.
Before we could even respond, his head was sliced clean off.
For a moment, I thought I was hallucinating. But no, blood sprayed from his neck as his body collapsed lifelessly.
A voice rang out from behind me, "I could hear your applause from miles away. A little too early to celebrate, don't you think?"
I turned and there he was. Longwei, standing casually on a rooftop, bathed in sunlight like it was his personal stage.
'How the fuck did he even slice the master's head off and stand there before anyone one of us could even realise?' I thought.
In an instant, all the masters dropped into fighting stances. Master Juechen clutched the pearl.
Longwei leapt from the roof and strolled toward us, calm as hell.
I never imagined I'd freeze at the sight of anyone, but there I was, standing like a fucking statue and my heart was pounding.
By the time he reached us, every single master's legs, except for mine, Liangyu's, and Master Juechen's, were severed. Just like that.
HOW THE FUCK.
The courtyard was filled with groans of agony, but Juechen didn't waste a second. He activated the pearl, aiming to drain Longwei's qi.
It took exactly 5 seconds before the pearl couldn't contain the qi anymore and broke into a million pieces.
Longwei simply smiled and slapped Master Juechen. He chose to either kill or mutilate the other masters but slapped Master Juechen.
Even through the chaos, Liangyu pretended he didn't notice that MASSIVE fucking disrespect. I went ahead and tried to punch Longwei on his stomach since he was in arm's distance.
I hit a fucking rock!
He let me land that punch.
And then he smiled. Again. Like that was the only expression he knew. Then he leaned close and whispered, "This little relic finding picnic you guys went on? Try it again, motherfucker. I dare you. Why don't you all just give up already? Let me live in peace, and you can too. Win-win."
Then before I could even comprehend what just happened, he just vanished.
The shit I witnessed that day, let me just tell you, if being overpowered was a physical manifestation, that was him.
It left me shook for HOURS and that was only the first of many times I'd cross paths with him.