Chapter 31: Snatching Xiao Jian (Two)

  Is this really the cave left behind by the Supreme Immortal? No treasure caves or techniques carved into stone walls? No thousand-year-old guardian beasts, no treasures that can make one's power surge instantly?

  Li Ran felt very disappointed in his heart and looked towards the green-robed man again.

  The man in the green robe took out a dagger from his bosom and inserted it under the small sword on the bed, prying it open bit by bit. After a long time, he couldn't even pry open a single seam.

  Looking at the green-robed man's disheveled appearance, Li Ruo's knife was secretly delighted and coldly smiled. The spiritual instrument inlaid on the jade stone with immortal techniques thought that taking it down with ordinary methods was simply like a fool talking about dreams. If it were Li Ruo's knife, he would consider finding a way from the forbidden patterns on the side of the mountain wall, activating the forbidden pattern, and perhaps the small sword would automatically jump out.

  Li Ruo just thought of this, when he saw the man in green suddenly stand up and walk towards the nearby mountain wall with a frown.

  "He thought of it too?"

  Li Ran's heart skipped a beat as he saw the man in green walk to the side of the mountain wall, stretch out his hand and stick it on the forbidden patterns, with a faint layer of cyan mist appearing on his palm, apparently pouring energy into those forbidden patterns.

  Seeing this scene, Li Rengdao's heart was lifted up high, and his palms were clenched with cold sweat. If the man in green succeeded, then there would be nothing left for Li Rengdao here.

  After a long time, the man in green clothes didn't know how much spiritual energy he had exhausted. His breathing gradually became coarser and with a loud whoosh, he withdrew his palms. Panting, he looked up at the mountain wall, but the seal pattern above didn't even react with a single thread, clearly this method wouldn't work.

  Li Ran let out a long sigh of relief, his body relaxing, feeling the chill on his back, and the cold sweat had soaked through the clothes on his back.

  The man in green concentrated his mind, walked to the edge of the green jade bed again, picked up the dagger, and with a flash of cold light, he cut open his own fingers, squeezing out fresh blood onto the small sword on the green jade bed.

  "Recognize the master by dripping blood? This man in green clothes actually thought of such a method? This person understands quite a bit, doesn't he?"

  Li Ran's heart, which had fallen with the knife, was once again tightly lifted up. His gaze converged downwards, and he saw that drop of fresh blood rolling on the small sword, gradually drying up, but not a single bit had seeped in. Apparently, this method of recognizing the owner through a drop of blood had also ended in failure.

  At this moment, even Li Ruo's mind was filled with doubts, and he couldn't think of a more effective solution.

  "Must the entire jade bed be lifted up? Or must the jade bed be smashed to pieces in order to retrieve the small sword from within?"

  Li Rendao had just thought of this when he saw the man in green below suddenly raise his palm, with a concentrated force on it, and slap it heavily on the Qingyu bed, apparently he also thought of the method Li Rendao was considering.

  With a loud muffled sound, the man in green was knocked back three big steps by his own palm strength, his hand numb and his eyes wide with shock.

  The power of Jingyuan's sevenfold strength could shatter an ordinary boulder into countless fragments, yet the Qingyu bed remained unscathed, and his full-strength blow had no effect whatsoever.

  The face of the man in green suddenly turned sour, not only did the plan to smash the Qingyu bed and take out the small sword come to nothing, but looking at the tight connection between the Qingyu bed and the underground bluestone, even if he wanted to carry this bed out of the valley, it's likely that he wouldn't be able to lift it.

  Qing Yi and Li Ruo simultaneously fell into deep thought.

  The two of them racked their brains, but couldn't think of any other method. The man in green was getting anxious and frustrated, crouching down to stretch out his hand to try and forcibly move the small sword again. Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes.

  The man in green discovered that at the joint of the small sword and the Qingyu bed, a very fine seam had appeared at some point, which was not there when he used his dagger to pry it open just now.

  "What's going on? What exactly did I touch?"

  The man in blue was overjoyed in his heart, his eyes shining brightly as he squatted beside the bed, gently stroking the rounded mountain stone with both hands, furrowing his brow in deep thought.

  He suddenly changed his expression, and the vital energy inside his body was output from his palms, slowly pouring into the green jade bed.

  In the eyes of Qing Yi and Li Ruo, a faint cyan glow slowly lit up on the green jade bed, and the small sword and the gap between the mountain rocks grew larger.

  "Haha, so that's how it is, I actually need to do it this way."

  The man in green was overjoyed, realizing that the palm he had just struck on the Qingyu bed had unintentionally infused his vital energy into the Qingyu bed, and thus discovered a way to remove the small sword.

  The power inside accelerated towards the Qingyu bed, and this piece of Qingyu became brighter and brighter. A thin layer of light enveloped the entire bed body. After a while, the person in green heard a faint sound, and the small gray sword completely left the bed body.

  The man in green was excited, grasping the small sword in his hand, and couldn't help but dance with joy. "I've made it, I've made it! With this treasure, I will surely stand out from the crowd!"

  Although he can't see the power of this small sword for now, and doesn't know where the magic lies, one thing is certain: in such a mysterious and magical cave, the only thing left behind must not be an ordinary object.

  The man in green was ecstatic when he suddenly heard a sharp and startling sound of breaking wind beside his ear.

  The sound of the breaking wind was so familiar, just the day before, he had been startled by this breaking wind several times, and his forehead was covered in cold sweat. Before he could even turn his head, the body of the man in green clothes subconsciously twisted to the side, avoiding the vital part of his chest, and then a soft whooshing sound was heard, as a sharp arrow made of refined steel pierced through his left arm, causing him to let out a pained scream.

  He suddenly looked up towards the direction of the broken wind, and saw that the face of the old man with a yellow complexion and thin skin appeared and disappeared in the wisteria-covered upper part of the cave.

  The man in green clothes had a severe pain in his arm, which made his face pale and smoke came out of the seven orifices of his heart. He suddenly jumped up and rushed towards the entrance of the cave, passing through the wisteria and entering the passage, only to see that Li Ran's knife had already flown out dozens of feet away, flashing in the distant mountain passageway before disappearing from sight.

  Li Ran felt a pang of regret in his heart.

  That small sword was finally taken away by the man in green clothes.

  Take advantage of his madness to launch a surprise attack, and that one arrow was still avoided by him. The cave is empty and desolate, with nothing worth lingering for. Now there's only as far as you can run.

  Li Ran's knife slipped out from between the two stone doors, and he plunged into the sea of vines, running for a while. There was no sound of pursuit behind him, and he felt puzzled. He nodded to himself in secret, knowing that the man in green should not have followed him. It seemed that he was still exploring other places in the cave, looking for more gains.

  Li Ran slowed down his pace, clenched his fist and pounded it heavily on a thick rattan beside him, feeling bitter in his heart.

  Li Ruo had a special preference for swords all his life, and the loss of that small sword in the cave made him feel extremely empty. He really regretted bringing Qingyi to this place, letting him gain an unfair advantage.

  "Alas, this is all fate, it seems I am destined for a shallow and unfortunate life."