Chapter Fifty-Eight: He Wants to Take It All for Himself

In a haze, Shen Wan felt as though he had lived through countless years. The spinning toy whirled before his eyes, and in an instant he found himself carrying his schoolbag, staring blankly at a strange blackboard. The girl from the class next door, Xiaohua, wore a ponytail again today. She turned her head, her blurred face smiling at him. Rubbing his eyes, he realized it was the six o’clock alarm that had roused him, and he had gotten up only to doze off over his homework yet again.

His parents had promised to take him to the amusement park. They laughed joyously, but as they smiled, their faces grew increasingly indistinct, fading into nothingness.

Once more, a mist appeared before his eyes, gradually dissipating as his parents’ figures vanished.

He opened his eyes slightly—darkness swirled before him.

“Ha…” He exhaled deeply, shifting his body, and the crackling of his joints echoed through every limb.

“You’re awake?” Yun Yi, sitting at Shen Wan’s side, had nodded off several times before his breath roused her.

Shen Wan slowly sat up. Though his body felt exhausted, there was no soreness—rather, he felt an urge for vigorous movement.

“Where are we?” The once bright ice cavern had grown dim after the Frost God Tree disappeared. Shen Wan found it unsettling, unable to see anything in the pitch-black space.

Fortunately, Yun Yi wore white, and she was close enough that a slight turn revealed her delicate face.

Yun Yi straightened herself and drew a can of tea from her storage pouch.

“Have some water. You’ve slept for more than three hours.”

Shen Wan realized his throat was dry and took the cool tea, gulping down several mouthfuls before asking, “Three hours? I slept for more than six?”

“Yes. I don’t know what the Great Prophet did to you, but after he was finished, he left, saying he had one last thing to handle and that you needn’t thank him when you woke.”

“What? Thank him?” Shen Wan thought of the excruciating pain he had endured and felt he’d rather throttle the old man.

“The Cold Heaven Meridian—who knows what it’s for. Two heavenly meridians have been opened now, and there are still six left. When will this ever end?” Shen Wan grumbled inwardly. It wasn’t about the slowness of the process, but the prospect of suffering through six more bouts of agony made him despair.

“Where’s Gu Zhiping?” He suddenly remembered the other companion and returned the tea to Yun Yi, thanking her.

Yun Yi put away the tea, then said, “Didn’t you hear? With both of you snoring, it was a rhythmic duet. I barely got any sleep.”

Shen Wan scratched his head in embarrassment. Now fully alert, he finally heard Gu Zhiping’s thunderous snoring.

“Hoo… oo, hoo… oo, hoo… oo…” The sound was like thunder. Looking down, he saw the fellow right beside him.

Shen Wan spread his legs and kicked Gu Zhiping squarely on the backside, jolting him awake, dazed and confused.

Shen Wan was about to tell him to sleep further away, but the man simply rolled over and fell back into slumber.

Shaking his head in resignation, Shen Wan turned again to Yun Yi.

“What time is it now?”

Yun Yi shrugged. “Not sure, probably the third watch.”

“So late already.” In the cave’s darkness, it was impossible to sense the passage of time.

Shen Wan stood up and stretched. His body felt much stronger, likely due to the meridian opening.

He was brimming with energy, and Yun Yi didn’t seem inclined to sleep either. So he walked over to Gu Zhiping and gave him another kick.

“Get up. Time to go.”

“Huh? Ah?” Gu Zhiping, kicked awake a second time, finally cleared his head, rubbing his eyes. Seeing Shen Wan awake, he said, “You’re up? Ha…”

He stood, dusting off his clothes. “Let’s go. The ground is so hard—should’ve brought a mat.”

Yun Yi stood as well. “Before he left, the Great Prophet set up a teleportation array. It leads outside the cave. We were waiting for you to wake up so we could leave together, but you slept so long—we should’ve just carried you out.”

“Teleportation array?” Shen Wan looked around. At the spot where the Frost God Tree had once stood, there was a raised platform—hard to see in the darkness if you didn’t look closely.

“….” Shen Wan was speechless. He knew he couldn’t use the teleportation array.

Looking at Gu Zhiping, now on his feet, and Yun Yi brushing off her clothes, he couldn’t bring himself to say it. He couldn’t very well tell them he was a non-spirit cultivator and couldn’t activate the array.

This was a real predicament.

“Let’s go. Dawn is just a few hours away. If we hurry back, we can grab a bit more sleep.”

Yun Yi had come to seek the Golden Mulberry Forest. She’d found it, stumbled upon an opportunity, and now, before her father discovered her absence, she could slip back unnoticed.

Gu Zhiping was eager as well. Following Shen Wan promised untold benefits ahead.

The two walked in front, one slinging an arm around Shen Wan’s shoulder, leading him toward the teleportation array.

Shen Wan, so led, found himself standing before the array.

After hesitating, he said, “Go ahead, you two first.”

He spoke naturally, and neither gave it much thought. Yun Yi stepped onto the platform and vanished.

Gu Zhiping followed, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Now it was Shen Wan’s turn.

He smacked his lips in resignation. “Fine, at least I can pretend.”

He stepped onto the teleportation platform, and, as expected, nothing happened.

“Well, it’s not that I don’t want to leave. It just won’t let me. Sigh.”

He turned to gaze at the pitch-dark cave. Damn it—he was completely stuck.

Outside, by a stone wall, Yun Yi and Gu Zhiping appeared one after the other. Judging by the terrain, they weren’t far from the cliff with the ancient tree.

The sky carried a streak of blue, like an aurora, studded with stars—a tranquil scene.

“Yun Yi, what now? Will you still come with us?” Gu Zhiping, always playing the big brother, reached to tug Shen Wan’s sleeve as he spoke.

But he suddenly realized Shen Wan hadn’t appeared.

“Huh? Where’s Shen Wan? Why isn’t he out yet?”

Yun Yi now noticed it too. They’d been outside for nearly a minute, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“What’s going on? Did the array run out of spiritual power?”

“Oh no, don’t say that. Shen’s still inside. Is that old man unreliable?”

They circled the teleportation platform twice, but Shen Wan failed to appear.

“That can’t be. That was an ancient master—there shouldn’t be a problem.”

Gu Zhiping frowned at this.

“Did Shen discover something else?”

“No idea.” Yun Yi pursed her lips. She wasn’t greedy—today had brought her ample gains, and she was satisfied. She didn’t mind Shen Wan’s actions.

Gu Zhiping, however, slapped his thigh. “Damn, he’s trying to keep it all for himself!”

Inside, Shen Wan stood dazed in the cave. If he knew Gu Zhiping was outside cursing him, he might have drawn his black blade and given him a couple of whacks.

Did they think he didn’t want to leave? He simply couldn’t!

The cave was utterly silent and pitch-black. Shen Wan mulled over his options, deciding to retrace his steps toward the stone gate they’d entered by. Perhaps there was a lower tunnel he could squeeze through—anything was better than this oppressive darkness.

No longer hesitating, Shen Wan lifted his foot. But as he was about to step forward, a faint breeze brushed his ear.

Turning his head, he glimpsed, deep within the darkness behind him—a pair of blood-red eyes gleaming from the wall.