Chapter 53. Snowy Mountains and Rivers ⑤: With Ten Thousand...
The entire Dragon Fang team arrived near the Ice Dream Lake. Standing on the edge and looking down, they saw lakes of all sizes arranged in a staggered pattern, forming a series of terraced lakes.
The lake surface shimmered under the sunlight, reflecting a jewel-like brilliance as if it were reflected in a mirror.
It looks so beautiful and dreamy; this place truly deserves its name: the lake that the ice spirits love most (another name).
You can also see many teams wandering around the edges of different lakes.
The professionals would occasionally stop to carefully observe whether the lakes held any treasures, then find a suitable spot to cast their lines and start fishing.
If you're lucky, you might catch something good; if you're unlucky, you might catch a ferocious water-type monster.
[The Ice Dream Lake area has its own special rules: resources can only be obtained by fishing with a fishing rod; if you try to dive in to find them, you will be dissolved into fertilizer by the lake water; if you accidentally fall in, you will be safe as long as you climb back to shore within 1 minute.]
"Quickly, head towards the three o'clock position!" The urging voice of the treasure-hunting rat kept echoing in Lin Xiaoxiao's mind.
She reached out and gently patted the bag where the treasure-hunting mouse was nestling, replying to it telepathically: "Don't rush, there are many people here, so don't be too deliberate."
After saying this, the treasure-hunting rat snapped out of its frenzy and calmly replied, "Master, there are many things hidden in this place."
"But there are only two truly good things. One is in Lake T, which is 800 meters away from you at the three o'clock position, and the other is at the eleven o'clock position, about three or four kilometers away from you."
Lin Xiaoxiao reached out and took off the windproof sunglasses that were pulled up above her head. Under the guise of taking off the sunglasses, she secretly cast an inquiring glance in the direction pointed by the treasure-hunting rat.
The lake 800 meters away is about 3 acres in size. The lake surface is a very ordinary turquoise color and is roughly round in shape. Because it doesn't have any particularly special features, there were no other teams around the lake.
"Wow, I caught one!" Cheers came from afar, vaguely visible in the direction of ten o'clock, coming from the shore of a small, dark-colored lake about a kilometer away.
On the professional's boom bar, one could vaguely see: a wrist guard of unknown grade.
Immediately afterwards, a furious curse resounded through the sky: "Damn it, another water-type monster! Quick, come and help!"
Chen Feng and Liu Huihui, both fishing enthusiasts, were eager to join in and immediately began urging everyone to get started.
Xiao Weizhi issued the order to disperse and instructed, "Don't spread out too far."
In just two minutes, the team members lined up to receive the [Wild Fishing Set] from Lin Xiaoxiao, then happily left to find their own suitable spots to fish.
Seeing that Lin Xiaoxiao hadn't moved, Xiao Weizhi reached out to take her hand: "Where do you want to go?"
Lin Xiaoxiao pointed with her free right hand to the lake that the treasure-hunting rat had indicated, 800 meters away: "Go there!"
Then the two of them walked slowly hand in hand in that direction. When they encountered some difficult places, Lin Xiaoxiao was carried by Xiao Weizhi.
After a while, the two arrived at the lake without incident.
Lin Xiaoxiao took out a folding stool, a folding table, two exquisite fishing rods, and some special fish food from her space, and was just about to sit down with Xiao Weizhi to start fishing.
Then they heard the Treasure-Hunting Rat's voice reminding them: "Don't use this kind of fishing rod. Go to the bamboo forest to the north, cut down some bamboo to make a fishing rod, and use the bamboo leaves as floats."
Lin Xiaoxiao paused as she was about to sit down, and squatted for a few seconds.
He then straightened up and said to Xiao Weizhi, who was already sitting down beside him, "Weizhi, come with me somewhere."
Xiao Weizhi was just about to pick up the fishing rod that was placed on the snow to the right.
Hearing this, he didn't ask any more questions. He stood up, patted his slightly wrinkled robe, and reached out to her: "Let's go!"
The two then ran to the bamboo forest three kilometers to the north and searched for more than an hour before finding three slender bamboo poles suitable for making fishing rods.
During this time, Lin Xiaoxiao picked up and took a lot of bamboo leaves and bamboo shoots.
As for why she picked bamboo shoots, it was because she wanted to eat dishes like braised bamboo shoots, braised pork with bamboo shoots, and cold bamboo shoot salad.
With the mindset that "since I'm already here," she asked Red Tail to help dig up all the tender bamboo shoots in sight and store them in her space.
After all, bamboo shoots are a relatively rare type of icy ingredient.
Back at the lake, Lin Xiaoxiao sat on a chair, holding a fishing rod that Xiao Weizhi had roughly made according to her request (a bamboo pole with a rope, a hook, and bamboo leaves attached).
Xiao Weizhi was holding ordinary fine fishing tackle. He had originally wanted to accompany Lin Xiaoxiao and use simple fishing tackle made of bamboo.
As the treasure-hunting rat pointed out, only Lin Xiaoxiao can use this fishing rod to catch 'that thing'; it's pointless for anyone else to use it.
Lin Xiaoxiao asked Xiao Weizhi to use the exquisite fishing rods she took out from her space, so that she could 'enjoy' these three simple fishing rods all to herself.
Xiao Weizhi didn't ask any more questions. In such trivial matters, he did whatever Lin Xiaoxiao wanted him to do.
More than an hour later, Xiao Weizhi was the first to cast his line.
He fished out a [Bronze-level] Water-repelling Bead, which allows him to breathe freely underwater at a depth of 20 meters for 15 minutes.
Lin Xiaoxiao gained nothing.
Two hours later: Xiao Weizhi caught a level 23 water-type monster, and with a swift stroke, finished it off with three skills; Lin Xiaoxiao's actions remained unchanged, and her harvest progress remained the same.
More than three hours later: Xiao Weizhi cast his line again.
This time, he fished out a piece of [(Bronze) Ice Rock], which is suitable for making weapons, armor, and items with ice attributes.
Lin Xiaoxiao still hadn't found anything. She had her doubts at times, but the treasure-hunting rat just told her to wait patiently.
Xiao Weizhi, on the other hand, fished for monsters, killed monsters, fished for monsters, killed monsters, occasionally caught something good, and then continued fishing for monsters...
Time quickly passed to around 8 p.m. After fishing from dawn till dusk, all the team members gathered back to their captain, Xiao Weizhi.
They set up camp by the lake that Lin Xiaoxiao had chosen, putting up tents and a grill.
After dinner, Lin Xiaoxiao sat back down by the lake, picked up her bamboo fishing rod, and didn't catch anything until bedtime.
The next day, Lin Xiaoxiao fished until dark again, but still caught nothing. The treasure-hunting rat told her to be patient.
Several of her teammates passed by and subtly suggested to Lin Xiaoxiao that perhaps this lake wasn't quite right for her, and that she could catch something better in another lake.
Lin Xiaoxiao cleverly changed the subject, telling them not to worry about her and that she would definitely be able to catch something in the lake.
On the third day, Lin Xiaoxiao still didn't catch anything and accidentally broke a bamboo fishing rod.
Cheng Cheng, the luckiest member of the team, even caught a [Gold-grade] Cold Star Fruit.
[Froststar Fruit (Gold Grade): The Froststar Tree grows deep in extremely cold regions, taking ten years to grow, ten years to mature, and ten years to harvest. The harvesting period is only seven days, yielding only three fruits at a time. The fruit contains a massive amount of ice-type energy; direct consumption increases ice-type attack attribute by 500 points, and it can also be used to craft potions…]
On the fourth day, there was still no success.
The fifth day was the same.
On the sixth day, nothing changed.
On the seventh day, at dusk, Lin Xiaoxiao used her last bamboo fishing rod to catch a fist-sized wooden sculpture that had been soaked so much that its original appearance was no longer visible.
When she touched the wooden sculpture, an item information panel appeared before her eyes:
[A Wanbao wood sculpture whose appearance is obscured (special): A sculpture that seems useless to you may be very important to someone else.]
Lin Xiaoxiao held the wooden carving in her hand and tentatively asked the treasure-hunting rat, "Is this the good thing you were talking about?"
The treasure-hunting mouse said firmly, "That's right, Master, you can change your position now!"
Lin Xiaoxiao laughed in exasperation, shaking the wooden carving in her hand that didn't even have a grade: "Are you sure this ungraded thing is a good thing?"
The treasure-hunting rat remained resolute: "My intuition tells me that it is a very important and valuable item."
Hearing the treasure-hunting rat repeatedly reiterate its intuition, Lin Xiaoxiao could only trust the rat's instincts and placed the wood carving in her space.
Lin Xiaoxiao didn't notice that just as she fished up the wooden carving...
About fifty meters away from her was a person who kept staring intently at her; to be precise, it was the wooden carving in her hand.
After catching the wooden carving, Lin Xiaoxiao said to Xiao Weizhi, "Weizhi, let's go somewhere else."
Afterwards, the two moved to the second fishing spot designated by the treasure hunter, a small lake with a diameter of only about 20 meters, about three or four kilometers away from the first fishing spot.
I only fished for half a day this time, and I caught a small, exquisite box that was a little bigger than the palm of my hand.
There was a small lock on the box, about 3 centimeters long, and I don't know what material it was made of.
The entire Dragon Fang team took turns attacking, using their weapon skills, but they still couldn't break open this strange little box.
Late that night, the entire Ice Dream Lake was enveloped in a green protective shield, and all living things fell into a deep sleep.
Of course, Lin Xiaoxiao was the only exception.
She slowly opened her eyes after hearing a call.
"Hello, esteemed treasure chest merchant, Balu has come to request a trade." A hoarse, deep male voice rang out from outside the tent.
After Lin Xiaoxiao woke up, she first went to call Xiao Weizhi next door, only to find that he was in a hypnotic state and could not be woken up.
Turning around, I hurriedly went to find Redtail and Treasure Mouse, only to find that they were also in a deep, unresponsive state.
She took a few deep breaths, a handful of gold coins in her left hand, lifted the tent flap, and stepped out of the tent with light, cautious steps.
Stepping out of the tent, I looked up and saw a man standing about 1.75 meters away. He was wearing tattered armor, carrying a longbow on his back. He had an ordinary appearance and looked to be about thirty years old.
When he saw Lin Xiaoxiao come out, his first reaction was to take a few steps back, then gently place his right hand on his left chest where his heart was, and bow slightly.
Lin Xiaoxiao keenly sensed something was wrong; there was a strange sense of incongruity about this man named Balu.
Her muscles tensed, and she asked warily, "Who are you? A court official? An attendant? Or a servant? What do you want to trade with me?"
Balu chuckled and shook his head: "My status is very insignificant, not the priesthood you mentioned."
Upon hearing this, Lin Xiaoxiao's eyebrows furrowed subconsciously. "Isn't that right? Then what is this man's identity?"
As if sensing her confusion, Balu took the initiative to remove his disguise.
In the blink of an eye, Balu transformed into a humanoid creature with hands and feet, but no face.
Lin Xiaoxiao stared in astonishment, her hair standing on end as she witnessed the unknown creature shed its human form.
Balu's voice came from his abdomen: "I want to make a deal with you."
Lin Xiaoxiao asked with difficulty, "What are you trading?"
Under the moonlight, in Balu's outstretched hand was a small key, only two or three centimeters long, radiating a silvery glow: "Use this to exchange for the wooden carving you fished up earlier."
Trading wood carvings?
So, what's very important to others in that explanation refers to the Balu in front of us?
Lin Xiaoxiao took out the wooden carving she had caught earlier from her spatial storage, and said cautiously, "Put the key in the open space in front of you, and I'll toss the wooden carving to you."
Upon hearing this, Balu was first taken aback, then burst into laughter. It never expected that one day it would encounter such a naive agent.
Lin Xiaoxiao frowned, somewhat puzzled.
What kind of joke was she telling? How could it make this non-human creature laugh like that?
After laughing enough, Balu said to Lin Xiaoxiao, "You don't need to bend over. You just need to toss the wooden carving in your hand into the air to complete the transaction with me."
Lin Xiaoxiao hesitated for a moment, then realized that the wood carving wasn't anything very important to her, and even if she were tricked out of it, she wouldn't lose out.
After getting used to it, his movements became clumsy, and he used a little force to throw the wooden carving in his hand into the air.
The next second, the wooden carving was frozen in place and automatically floated in mid-air.
A pure white light emanated from the pupil of her left eye, and a platinum-white scale phantom appeared in mid-air, gradually solidifying by absorbing the surrounding energy.
The scales floating in mid-air are about the height of a person.
The main body of the Libra scale is adorned with intricate carvings and inscriptions, while the two scale pans are carved from dazzling gemstones and possess a unique fire and brilliance, making it look unlike any ordinary object.
The moment Libra appeared, the wooden carving seemed to be grasped by an invisible hand and placed on the tray on the left.
With a creaking sound from the machinery, the scales tilted to the left and fell straight to the lowest position.
Balu followed closely behind, tossing the small key in his hand into the air as well.
As if guided, the small key automatically fell onto the tray on the right, trembling as it pressed the scales to the right, causing them to begin swinging from side to side.
A dozen seconds passed in the blink of an eye, and the scales stopped swinging.
However, the two sides of the scale were still not balanced; the left side was still heavier.
Baru seemed surprised by the outcome, scratching his head in frustration and anxiously considering what else he could use for trading.
The moment Lin Xiaoxiao saw the Libra scale, all the information about it suddenly appeared in her mind:
[Lucky Libra (S-rank talent?): Once items are placed in a trade, the scales will automatically weigh their value to ensure an equal exchange between the two parties, preventing either from being taken advantage of.]
This talent also has another name: the Trading Libra.
(Legend has it that this Libra was once the object of a lucky goddess, but by chance, it fell into the human world and transformed into a personal talent.)
With this scale in place, no one can deceive Lin Xiaoxiao when it comes to transactions.
Even during a transaction, Libra automatically places both parties in a special space, ensuring that no one can have contact with either party or the item during the transaction.
One of the more frustrating things is that each time you use this Libra, you need to pay a minimum of 50 points of low-level faith power to it (this is the first time the talent has been activated, so you can use it first and pay later).
If the item being traded is more valuable, the amount of faith power required to pay will be higher.
It can be said that the existence of this scale is, in a sense, more about ensuring Lin Xiaoxiao's personal safety.
Just as Lin Xiaoxiao was sorting through the information she had just received,
Baru spread his arms out in a straight line, emitting bursts of emerald green light. Countless energies transformed into strands of silk, which were drawn from lakes of all sizes.
It twisted and condensed in mid-air, slowly transforming into a 7-centimeter bead with a surface that shimmered with the unique fire of a gemstone.
Once the bead took shape, Balu grabbed it with one hand and, without hesitation, tossed it into the air.
Clang— The bead fell onto the tray on the right, spun around several times, and finally stopped close to the small key.
The Libra scales, which were originally tilting towards the right, are now slowly tilting towards the left.
Time seemed to pass for a long time, yet it also felt like only a few seconds had gone by; the scales finally leveled.
[Equal value, transaction nearing completion.]
A voice suddenly appeared in Lin Xiaoxiao's mind.
Immediately afterwards, the shattered scales turned into specks of light and disappeared, and the light in Lin Xiaoxiao's left pupil also gradually faded.
This indicates that Libra has completed its task.
The wood carving was enveloped in a ball of light and flew to Balu's front.
The small key and bead, enveloped in light, floated to Lin Xiaoxiao's side.
Baru trembled with uncontrollable excitement. When he reached out and touched the wooden carving, it transformed into a stream of light that flowed into his body.
A moment later, his body began to swell and deform, gradually transforming into a brown, withered tree with a human face and no branches or leaves.
The face in the middle of the tree changed from expressionless to an exaggerated expression, as if it were crying, yet also laughing: "Finally, finally I can leave this hellhole. Four hundred years! I've been trapped in this wretched place for a full four hundred years..."
After Balu had vented his anger enough.
It shook the empty branches rapidly, and countless lights rose from the pools of all sizes, as if summoned, obediently hanging on the designated spots on those branches.
Before long, the empty branches were covered with all sorts of things.
There was equipment, ores, gold coins... and even many orbs of light that turned into emerald green gem leaves, adorning a large, round tree canopy.
Once this series of actions was complete, Balu bent down, the tree canopy clanging as it struck the branches.
He introduced himself to Lin Xiaoxiao again with great care: "I think I need to introduce myself to you carefully once more. I am the (epic) Wanbao Tree Spirit - Balu. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Lin Xiaoxiao bowed slightly at a 20-degree angle and replied in a gentle voice, "It's nice to meet you. I am the treasure chest merchant, Lin Xiaoxiao."
After introducing themselves again, Balu pulled a completely transparent leaf from the tree canopy, as clear and translucent as crystal, and exchanged contact information with Lin Xiaoxiao.
It then transformed into a stream of light and left the place that had confined it for over four hundred years.
Lin Xiaoxiao held the bead in her right hand and the small key in her left, watching Balu leave.
If she hadn't encountered it herself, who would have thought that an epic-level Myriad Treasure Tree Demon would have its core energy forcibly stripped away and be trapped in this A-level secret realm for over four hundred years?
And what's most disheartening is that Balu knows where the core energy is buried.
However, due to that special seal, it cannot be retrieved by itself. It can only gamble day after day on finding a destined person who can find its core energy.
After Balu's figure had completely disappeared, Lin Xiaoxiao turned her attention to the two items in her hands:
【Five Elements Bead (Diamond Grade): A powerful individual forcibly extracted a large amount of the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—through special means to synthesize the bead. The bead is extremely rich in energy, making it a favorite of elemental spirits and a top-grade material for crafting staffs.】
[A Mysterious Key (Special): This key can only open a single matching lock.]
Lin Xiaoxiao stared at the small key for a long time. The size seemed to fit perfectly, just like the small box she had caught during the day.
She carefully placed the Five Elements Beads in a box, then took out the box and held it in her hand. She slowly inserted the small key into the keyhole and gently turned it.
A barely audible click sounded, and the lock opened.
Lin Xiaoxiao took a few deep breaths and opened the box.
The moment the box was opened, a ball of light the size of a thumb shot out, heading straight for her forehead.
The entire ball of light merged into her brow, and Lin Xiaoxiao immediately fainted, collapsing backward with no strength in her body.
Before consciousness faded into darkness, a notification sounded:
Congratulations on winning...
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