We were extra careful watching our backs for the next few days, and none of the new artifacts we found suffered the same fate again. Based on Xie Lun and Wen Shiyin's past experiences, the number and quality of prizes we had claimed were much better than average, which suggested that our search strategy worked out quite well.
"I'm taking this brush when we're done," Peng Yao said as Xie Lun stowed our eighth trophy into his storage—the group had decided to leave all prizes with him for now and redistribute them together at the end. "I've been begging my master long enough for a better paintbrush, but he kept saying the good ones are too hard to come by. I'll fight one of you if that's what it takes to get this."
We all laughed. At the beginning of the trip, I might've taken offense at her uncooperative attitude, but after the few days we had spent together, I had come to understand Peng Yao better. Even though her words might sound harsh and aggressive sometimes, she usually meant well, and she never bothered to hide her real thoughts from us. After getting used to it, I started to actually enjoy the company of someone so straightforward and bold.
"You can save yourself a fight, Peng Yao. None of us have a good use for a talisman drawing brush," Xie Lun said. "And as far as I'm concerned, if the rest of you just let me take that sword hilt, then I'll gladly hand out everything else."
"That power-enhancing sword hilt? Yun Qing-er was eyeing it, I noticed." Wen Shiyin winked at me. "Looks like you have some competition over that one."
Xie Lun gave me a puzzled look. "You want it? It's not meant for twin swords, and the design …"
I used a big smile to cover up the nervousness hitting me. Xie Lun was right—that hilt didn't suit me at all. It was meant for long swords, and the design was tailored towards men, but I couldn't keep my eyes away the moment I saw it, because I knew how perfectly it would match Bai Ye's Lightbringer. I didn't think it'd be appropriate to seize the prize for someone else though, so I tried not to show too much interest. I hadn't expected Wen Shiyin to be observant enough to notice.
"The design is beautiful," I said. "That's why it caught my attention immediately, but like you said, the hilt won't work for Twin Stars, and I can't do anything with it except admire its beauty. So rest assured I won't fight for it."
Xie Lun raised an eyebrow, and I was getting a bit worried that he might see through my real intention when suddenly, Peng Yao exclaimed, "Isn't that the Mount Tai disciple that stole our prize?"
Everyone's head snapped towards the direction she was pointing to, and I thanked those disciples silently for once. It was them indeed, huddling around a small cave entrance in the distance and crawling in one by one.
Peng Yao quickly pulled us behind a tree, hiding from their view. "Here comes our chance!" she whispered in excitement, though we were far enough away that those disciples couldn't possibly hear us. "They didn't even leave one person to guard the entrance … so stupid. If we just wait there and knock them out when they come outside, then their prize will be ours. What do you say?"
I instinctively wanted to reject it but hesitated right after opening my mouth. Moral told me that we shouldn't copy their cheating deed just because they had done it to us, but in the end, there was no rule that said we couldn't snatch prizes from others. If this was all fair game … then why be so restrained by norms?
"I second," Xie Lun said. "I'm all in for a good revenge."
Wen Shiyin contemplated for a brief moment, then nodded as well. They all turned towards me. I chuckled and made up my mind. "It's called beating them at their own game," I said. "Let's hope this prize is better than the one they took from us."
Having reached a consensus, we picked our way towards the cave and positioned ourselves carefully around the entrance. Xie Lun and Wen Shiyin stood right by the opening, one on each side, while I pressed my ear to the rock and listened for what was happening inside. Peng Yao guarded our surroundings.
The Mount Tai group took quite a bit longer than us last time. After a tedious wait, I finally picked up shuffling footsteps within the cave. "They're here," I whispered. We all cleared out of the visible area around the opening. Xie Lun and Wen Shiyin raised their sword sheaths. When the first person fully emerged out of the entrance, they whacked down.
With a dull thump, the disciple sprawled onto the ground. Peng Yao and I dragged him into the shadow behind the bushes, while Xie Lun and Wen Shiyin worked on the next ones. Soon enough, we gathered four passed-out trophies. "Is this all of them?" I asked. "Did anyone see how many were on their team?"
We exchanged a look among us. When Peng Yao spotted them earlier, the group had already started climbing into the cave, and none of us knew if there were four or five of them. "Doesn't matter," Peng Yao said. "Looks like this is the prize they found." She plucked a round stone from one of the disciples' hands.
"A spiritual stone?" Wen Shiyin frowned, obviously disappointed. Spiritual stones were common artifacts used to enhance our spiritual power flow during training. Judging from the size, this wasn't a bad one, but not rare either.
"Tournament prizes should all be worth better than that," Xie Lun said and took the stone from Peng Yao to examine it. He turned it in his hand, and his spiritual power glowed through it, lighting up the sphere from inside out. "It does look like just a spiritual stone though—"
The last syllable was still hanging in the air when a howl echoed throughout the mountain, so loud that the ground shook beneath us. A gust of cold wind swept past, and the glow from the stone faded.
We all stared at each other. What just happened?
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