Chapter 133: The Ming-Shen Flower in the Depths of the Alley

"Hmm, let me sleep for five... five more..." A drowsy, mumbled voice drifted from Wen Hui, who kept her eyes squeezed shut, showing no signs of waking up. The sun was already high in the sky, and they were surrounded by hidden dangers, yet she remained fast asleep. Couldn't she show at least a little vigilance?

"Absolutely not. Forget five minutes; you can't even have five seconds." Zhuang Xiaoyuan continued to tug at Wen Hui, refusing to let her drift back off. There was so much to do today—they had to retrieve the divine object guarded by the bone-demon rats, which would likely lead to a confrontation. After that, they had to keep moving. Although their food supplies were currently sufficient, one never knew what kind of accidents might occur, so reaching the Central City as quickly as possible was the priority.

"...Five years, then." A soft murmur escaped Wen Hui's lips. Not five minutes, not five seconds—five years. The things spoken in a daze were likely the truth; it was the same principle as truth coming out after drinking.

"###, get up!" If this were an anime, Zhuang Xiaoyuan felt there would be a row of vein-popping symbols on her forehead. Even in a dream, this was sleeping too much. Did she think she was Sleeping Beauty?

"Mm-hmm, hoo-hoo." Completely ignoring Zhuang Xiaoyuan's rising temper, Wen Hui remained lost in her sweet dream.

"You leave me no choice." Leaving those airy words behind, Zhuang Xiaoyuan turned and walked out.

"Wah, so cold, so cold!" In her sleep, Wen Hui suddenly felt a bone-chilling cold on her face, and her drowsiness vanished in an instant. She opened her eyes to see a wet towel sliding off her face. Looking up at Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s glare, Wen Hui didn't dare to display any morning grumpiness or provoke her further.

"Now that you know it's cold, can you get up?" Standing by the bed and looking down at the sprawled Wen Hui, Zhuang Xiaoyuan asked with her hands on her hips.

"Alright, alright, I'm wide awake now. It was such a rare, good dream, too." Sighing helplessly, Wen Hui grabbed the wet towel to wipe her face, then got out of bed to start dressing.

"Do you still want to get that divine object or not? You were the one who said we should start early yesterday. Looking at the time, we might as well just leave now." Watching Wen Hui grumble while slowly getting dressed, Zhuang Xiaoyuan offered a threatening smile.

"I do, I'll be ready in a second. Just wait for me." The effect was immediate; Wen Hui sped up her movements significantly.

After tidying up and making their final preparations, the two gathered their essentials and stepped out of their temporary hideout.

"Um, Xiaoyuan. How exactly are we going to get the divine object in there?" At the corner before the alley exit, Wen Hui peeked cautiously at the wall of white bones inside, tugging at Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s sleeve.

"Do you even have to ask? We're going to take it by force, of course." Zhuang Xiaoyuan scrutinized the wall formed by the pile of bone-demon rats, searching for a breakthrough, while offhandedly brushing off Wen Hui’s question.

Although taking things right under the noses of these rats could be considered stealing, if they were too blatant, they might be pushed out by a tide of rats before they even caught a glimpse of the treasure. Upon closer inspection, she realized the number of bone-demon rats was staggering; the wall was at least two or three meters thick, containing at least ten thousand of them.

A single bone-demon rat or a small group was easy enough to deal with. Anyone with basic training could kill them easily; they were only slightly faster than ordinary rats, with sharper teeth, but their bodies were perhaps even more fragile. Since they were just bones without flesh or skin, as long as one aimed for the head, even an ordinary person could take them down.

However, a swarm of ten thousand was a different story; even a warrior in divine armor would find that daunting—there is power in numbers, after all. But nothing was absolute. If it were Hua Ze—no, they didn't need Hua Ze; any divine armor warrior blessed by the Fire God and capable of manipulating flames could probably stand at the entrance and incinerate the entire swarm with a wall of fire. After all, as remnants of decay, fire was the bane of bone-demons. Unfortunately, they had no such fire-wielder, so they had to avoid a head-on clash and use some finesse.

"But, these are rats. Rats are terrifying. They bite, and there's the plague," Wen Hui said, looking nervous. It seemed she was genuinely afraid of rats.

"Come on, let's check the back." Noticing Wen Hui's tension, Zhuang Xiaoyuan patted her shoulder comfortingly and led her away to circle around to the other end of the alley.

The other side was also an alley, though much shallower than the first. It appeared the wall dividing them had been built by the former residents for some unknown reason. It was rare for a divine object to appear in a city, as these objects usually manifested at focal points of energy.

"Hui, let's go up and take a look." Pressing against the wall and hearing no movement from the other side—which meant they hadn't yet entered the bone-demons' detection range—Zhuang Xiaoyuan pointed to the roof of the alley. While her own physical fitness would allow her to climb the wall, it was much more convenient to use Wen Hui's ability.

With a gust of breeze, the two hopped onto the roof with ease. Zhuang Xiaoyuan immediately looked toward the end of the alley where the bone-demon rats were gathered. "That is... a Bright-God Flower? How could a Bright-God Flower be growing here?"

Seeing the plant emitting a faint, bright yellow light at the end of the alley, Zhuang Xiaoyuan exclaimed in surprise. She had speculated about what the divine object might be—perhaps an attribute crystal or a fragment of divinity—but she never expected it to be the Bright-God Flower, ranked sixth on the list of divine objects. For Zhuang Xiaoyuan, this was incredibly significant, as it was the only one of the top ten divine objects capable of enhancing one's cultivation potential.

Although the previous trial of the Guardian God had improved her potential, she had no idea if that was a one-time thing. If she could obtain the Bright-God Flower now, she could elevate her fifth-tier cultivation potential to the fourth tier, which would increase her cultivation speed several times over.

As one progressed in divine power cultivation, the speed of advancement slowed significantly; this was when the importance of cultivation potential became apparent, as higher potential allowed one to grow faster than others.

"Xiaoyuan, look there. That looks like an attribute crystal." Because of the appearance of the Bright-God Flower, Wen Hui had forgotten her fear of the rats. She stared at the flower in the depths of the alley with excitement, and upon closer inspection, she also noticed a significant number of small, scattered crystals surrounding it.