Chapter 2237 — Danger

Only, upon entering this mountaintop hall, everyone's first impression was doubtless drawn to its grandeur, their attention fixed on its magnificent exterior—while the blue bricks beneath their feet went entirely unnoticed.

Look closely at the shapes those blue bricks formed, and you would find them irregular; the mountaintop itself was irregular, so even though the hall had been built to regular lines, the bricks were not regular—they covered the whole area of the summit!

And the pattern formed by that area was precisely the pattern on the map!

"So that's how it is... It seems it was so obvious all along... and yet we overlooked it!" Sun Jingyan smiled bitterly.

"And I've finally understood something—what they mean by the safest place being the most dangerous. This place is a great hall, the most conspicuous spot of all, and yet what the map marks—the location of the thing—is right here!" Wei Zhao said in amazement. "Though I suppose anyone who came here would instinctively fix their attention on the hall itself..."

"Indeed..." Sun Jingyan said. "If you hadn't reminded me, I'd still be searching back and forth... And I was searching from near to far, and even so, I overlooked this hall right under our feet—I started from the foot of the mountain and worked my way outward..."

Wei Zhao nodded. "Now that the location is confirmed, let's use the detailed diagram to find the exact spot."

"Mm, it isn't fully dark yet. We can still search a while by the afterglow of the setting sun.

With a rough sense of direction, the search became much easier. The map was crudely drawn, but one could still judge the general bearings from it...

Working together, Wei Zhao and Sun Jingyan quickly fixed the approximate location shown on the map...

"Thunder Pig!" Wei Zhao called out to Thunder Pig, only to find it sprawled lazily on the blue bricks not far away, looking thoroughly bored.

"Jiji..." Thunder Pig squealed twice, listless.

"Thunder Pig, the position shown on the diagram should be somewhere around here. Can you help me look—is there anything hidden nearby?" Wei Zhao asked Thunder Pig.

"Jiji..." Thunder Pig squealed twice again, listless, and pointed at the ground with its claw.

"What do you mean?" Wei Zhao was taken aback.

"Jiji..." Thunder Pig pointed again with its foreleg at the blue bricks beneath its feet.

"You mean... the thing is right here?" Wei Zhao's eyes went wide.

"Jiji!" Thunder Pig nodded.

"...So you'd already found it?" Wei Zhao suddenly recalled that when they had first reached the summit, Thunder Pig had squealed "jiji jiji" without stopping. Had the little creature already found it back then?

"Jiji!" Thunder Pig nodded again.

"Damn!" A black line of exasperation crossed Wei Zhao's face. "Then why didn't you say so earlier?"

Wei Zhao was speechless for a moment! So the little pig had found the spot the moment it came up—only he had taken its squealing for excitement, paid it no mind, and let it go off and amuse itself. And as a result, he and Sun Jingyan had wasted half a day's effort and done a great deal of pointless work!

"Jiji..." Thunder Pig pointed aggrievedly at its own mouth, then at the blue bricks with its claw, and shook its head.

Wei Zhao understood what it meant: Thunder Pig could not speak, and these blue bricks were hard as iron—it could not write on them...

Thunder Pig's antics made Wei Zhao sigh, and the look he cast at Sun Jingyan was somewhat awkward. This was his own oversight, which had brought about the present situation. Had he paid Thunder Pig a little more attention earlier, they might not have had to go to such trouble!

"It's not your fault—I didn't notice either," Sun Jingyan said, caught between laughter and tears over the matter. Thunder Pig had found the target from the very start, while she and Wei Zhao had foolishly wasted no small amount of time. "Still, finding it is what matters. Everything went smoothly in the end, and nothing unexpected happened."

"That's true!" Wei Zhao nodded. Up on the summit, what he had feared most was the appearance of the Heaven-rank expert the Great Fire Lion had spoken of, but now it seemed the whole mountain was quiet—apart from him and Sun Jingyan, there was no one else about.

Wei Zhao crouched and carefully pried up with his hands the blue brick Thunder Pig had indicated. For an Earth-rank expert like Wei Zhao, this was a simple matter; only, once the brick was lifted, there was nothing beneath but earth—no hidden compartment or the like to be seen.

"Are you sure it's here? There's nothing at all?" Wei Zhao looked at the ground beneath the brick, puzzled.

"Jiji!" Thunder Pig nodded with certainty, then stretched out its foreleg and pointed at the space beneath the brick, signaling to Wei Zhao that the thing was down there—though perhaps buried in the soil.

"All right." Since Thunder Pig was so certain, Wei Zhao said no more and set to digging with his hands. Soil of this hardness posed no difficulty for him; his bare hands were enough.

Yet after a few scoops, Wei Zhao still sensed nothing unusual. But since Thunder Pig had been so adamant, he kept digging. At a depth of about thirty centimeters, his hand touched something hard—it seemed to be a box made of metal!

Wei Zhao's heart leaped. There really was something there! He quickly redoubled his pace, and in a trice he had dug the object out!

It was a plain iron box, utterly without ornament, yet clearly very well made; along its seams ran sealed strips of glue to keep water from getting inside.

"You found it?" Sun Jingyan looked at the little iron box in Wei Zhao's hands, astonished and delighted, her heart pounding with excitement!

The secret of her parents, which she had awaited and dreamed of for so many years, might now be unlocked by this little iron box!

Wei Zhao was about to say something when the jade pendant at his chest abruptly sent out a warning signal—danger!

Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. So what was meant to come had come after all. He had thought that this trip to the Wulonghaote Mountains, though beset with setbacks, would end well—but what he had never expected was that this was not the end. Perhaps the danger and the fighting had only just begun!

"Enemies!" Wei Zhao said swiftly to Sun Jingyan.

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