Treasure Map

The next morning.

Yu Zhao and Shen Yunshu got up early. They hadn't actually slept last night. What they found in the back garden made them think that Wujue Temple was a place of trouble.

So naturally, I didn't dare to fall asleep peacefully, and simply meditated and practiced breathing exercises all night.

For cultivators, meditation can replace sleep, so they don't feel tired after a night's rest.

Compared to them, Qingxuan was much more carefree. When Yu Zhao and the others got up and saw that the other was still asleep, the two women looked at each other and were both speechless.

He thought to himself that this cheap master had absolutely no sense of vigilance and he didn't know how he had survived until now.

The two women did not wake Qingxuan. They walked out of the meditation room hand in hand, intending to go for a stroll in the city, since they had nothing else to do anyway.

Having arrived in a new place, how can I not explore it properly?

They hadn't gone far from the meditation room when they encountered the young monk Kongxiang, who greeted them with his hands clasped together in a gesture of respect.

Good morning, my two junior sisters. Did you sleep well last night?

"I'm at ease, thank you for your concern, Senior Brother Kongxiang." Yu Zhao replied with a smile, though his attitude was somewhat distant.

She was naturally aloof, and feeling that there was something wrong with the people in this place, she was unwilling to get too close.

The young monk Kongxiang was clearly unaware that Yu Zhao was unwilling to talk to him; he simply assumed it was just her personality, so he took the initiative to start a conversation.

"Where are you two junior sisters planning to go?"

"We'd like to explore Sanming City. Would you like to join us, Senior Brother Kongxiang?"

This time it was Shen Yunshu who replied. She smiled sweetly and seemed quite warm and affectionate, but Yu Zhao, who knew her well, knew that this little green tea was probably trying to trick the little monk.

The young monk Kongxiang was indeed momentarily stunned by that smile. His ears turned red, and he lowered his head slightly, not daring to meet Shen Yunshu's gaze. His voice became very soft, "As your junior sister, I am naturally happy to accept your invitation."

Yu Zhao: "..." Dude, you'll get swindled out of everything by that green tea b*tch.

"There is a market in the city where people sell things that cultivators need. If you two junior sisters are interested, I can take you there for a look."

"Okay, okay." Shen Yunshu nodded repeatedly, very interested.

Yu Zhao was speechless. She was now certain that the little monk was completely captivated and would definitely spend a lot of money during his visit to the market.

She gave Shen Yunshu a look, signaling her not to go too far.

After all, the little monk's master and their cheap master are friends, so it's inappropriate to make the little monk suffer too much.

Shen Yunshu winked at Yu Zhao, indicating that she knew what she was doing.

Yu Zhao was relieved, and the three of them walked together out of the temple.

The temple gates were already open, and Yu Zhao saw many people coming in to worship Buddha and offer incense. Curious, she asked the young monk Kongxiang...

"Brother Kongxiang, it's only just dawn, are there already so many people worshipping Buddha?"

Wujue Temple is quite popular with worshippers.

"That's for sure. Our Wujue Temple is the only large temple in the city, so there are naturally many worshippers. There will be even more in another hour."

When this was mentioned, Yu Zhao noticed that the little monk's face was full of pride. From his expression, it was clear that the little monk had a strong sense of belonging to Wujue Temple.

The temple was bustling with worshippers. He felt honored by this.

"Brother Kongxiang, are the monks in your temple very busy every day?" Shen Yunshu asked from the side.

The young monk Kongxiang was somewhat puzzled by this question. "Why does Junior Sister ask such a question?"

"Look, there are so many worshippers. Your monks must have to look after them. I saw some worshippers wanting to chat with you. You must have to entertain them as well."

Upon hearing this, the young monk Kongxiang smiled slightly. He knew that Shen Yunshu had misunderstood, so he explained:

"Junior Sister Shen, you don't understand our Wujue Temple. Our Wujue Temple is a large temple, but there are only about twenty fellow disciples in the temple. If we personally do these trivial things, where will we have time to cultivate?"

Therefore, while some pilgrims voluntarily help with secular affairs, not every pilgrim is entertained.

Shen Yunshu was intelligent and immediately understood upon hearing this: it turns out someone had been serving you all this time.

So what are these pilgrims after?

Paying money to offer incense and help manage the temple, and seeking help from monks would probably also cost a lot of money.

Gee tut.

Shen Yunshu inwardly complained, but she was quite curious about the situation at Wujue Temple, so she pressed for an answer:

"Brother, you said some worshippers volunteered to help. Why did they volunteer? Does the temple pay them?"

"Because they are accumulating merit. Look at those sweeping fallen leaves; cleaning in the temple does more good than offering incense. As for wages... how can you talk about money when serving Buddha?"

The young monk spoke with such conviction that he seemed to believe it was a matter of course.

This made Shen Yunshu's mouth slightly open, and she was internally ranting:

"After all that work, they still haven't paid me. What kind of good deeds are they talking about? I haven't seen any good deeds done for me."

Wujue Temple really knows how to play games. Not only do they trick people into coming to work for free, but afterwards, those who worked for free still have to thank them.

Suddenly, Shen Yunshu felt that she had a new way of thinking. She had learned this shameless method and would use it to build up her power in the future.

The three of them stopped chatting and focused on walking out of the temple.

After stepping out of the gate, Shen Yunshu looked back and saw ragged people kneeling and kowtowing devoutly, as well as richly dressed pilgrims exchanging a bag of money for three sticks of incense, and then being welcomed into the inner room by a fat, big-eared monk.

There were also people who were pale and thin or had physical disabilities sweeping fallen leaves in the temple or wiping down objects in the temple.

Without exception, these people all had a fanatical look in their eyes.

It was as if they were doing something sacred.

Shen Yunshu didn't understand, but a sense of fear inexplicably rose in her heart. Wujue Temple was too sacred in the hearts of the people. She had no doubt that if Wujue Temple asked these believers to die one day, they would do so without hesitation.

She suppressed the strange emotions in her heart and subconsciously gripped Yu Zhao's arm. Yu Zhao felt a little pain from the grip and turned to glare at her. A hint of fear flashed in the eyes of the little green tea.

She immediately understood what this guy was afraid of, her eyes softened instantly, and she transmitted her voice:

"Don't worry about these things. Everyone has their own destiny, and we can't control it."

Let alone the fact that they are only early Foundation Establishment and low-level Qi Refining cultivators, even if they were Nascent Soul cultivators, they would have no say in this matter.

Wujue Temple is by no means an isolated case; going against the entire Buddhist community is simply courting death.

The entire Western Regions belong to them, how can they interfere?

Shen Yunshu naturally understood the gravity of the situation. She sighed and transmitted her voice:

"Senior sister, I thought only the demonic sects were like this... I never imagined that along the way, even the righteous sects and Buddhist sects would be like this. This world is truly..."

Shen Yunshu didn't say it explicitly, but both women understood that the world was utterly rotten.

The demonic sects have committed countless evil deeds, while the righteous sects have remained neutral. The Buddhist sects, on the other hand, have gone even further... The cultivators of this world are nothing short of vampires, frantically sucking the blood of the common people.

"Ugh!"

Yu Zhao sighed inwardly. She couldn't stand these people and these things, but she was powerless to do anything about it and could only try to mind her own business.

Shen Yunshu became somewhat downcast afterward, and remained quiet and reserved on the way to the market mentioned by the young monk Kongxiang.

It was Yu Zhao and the little monk who were chatting.

After a while, the three of them arrived at the market. Although it was still early, the market was quite lively.

There were quite a few cultivators setting up stalls, but most of them were Qi Refining cultivators, with only a handful of Foundation Establishment cultivators, and they mostly sold junk.

Having seen good things, Yu Zhao and Shen Yunshu naturally had no interest in these junk items.

So she simply treated it as a stroll. As she walked, Shen Yunshu suddenly felt something and stopped in front of a stall.

The stall owner was a middle-aged man dressed in tattered clothes. Yu Zhao was quite puzzled as to how a Qi Refining cultivator had ended up like this.

Seeing that Shen Yunshu had stopped, she also stopped and looked in the direction Shen Yunshu was looking.

It was a dark, murky piece of skin, rolled up and tied with a hemp rope.

Yu Zhao knew that Shen Yunshu's strange luck meant that anything that could make the little green tea girl stop and stare must be a treasure.

So she pointed to the scroll and asked the stall owner, "Fellow Daoist, what is this?"

"I don't know. If you want, just give me ten low-grade spirit stones and a Rejuvenation Pill."

The stall owner was honest and didn't try to fool people by saying it was some kind of treasure.

However, the price was outrageous, and he knew it was outrageous, so he sounded somewhat unsure of himself.

Upon hearing this price, the young monk Kongxiang became anxious and spoke up righteously: "Fellow Daoist, you've gone too far. You want ten low-grade spirit stones for an item whose nature is unknown?"

Want more Rejuvenation Pills? One Rejuvenation Pill is enough to buy everything on your stall.

This Rejuvenation Pill is a low-level healing pill, which is quite common. The problem is that pills, no matter what kind they are, are all ridiculously expensive.

A single Rejuvenation Pill can be sold for thirty low-grade spirit stones.

If the elixir Moonshadow Grass is added, the price can soar to ninety low-grade spirit stones.

Therefore, when he heard that the other party wanted the Rejuvenation Pill, the young monk Kongxiang became anxious. He had brought his two junior sisters out and felt responsible for preventing them from being tricked by others.

Seeing that the young monk Kongxiang was angry, the stall owner was quite frightened. In this city of Sanming, the people of Wujue Temple were like gods, and how could a rogue cultivator like him dare to offend them?

So he immediately changed his mind: "I must have been out of my mind, eight... no, five low-grade spirit stones will do!"

"Hmm?" The little monk Kongxiang widened his eyes and hummed in response.

The stall owner became even more frightened and immediately picked up the scroll and handed it to Yu Zhao, saying, "If this fairy is interested, this is a gift for you, consider it a token of friendship."

"That's more like it."

The young monk Kongxiang nodded in satisfaction, took the item, and handed it to Yu Zhao. Yu Zhao accepted it without ceremony and casually tossed it into his storage bag.

He turned and left, heading towards another stall, with the young monk Kongxiang following closely behind.

However, before leaving, Yu Zhao gave Shen Yunshu a wink, and Shen Yunshu immediately understood. She casually tossed him twenty low-grade spirit stones and then followed Yu Zhao and the little monk Kong Xiang.

Twenty low-grade spirit stones was already quite generous, and the stall owner was very satisfied. He originally thought it was a freebie, but he got twenty low-grade spirit stones for an item he didn't know what it was, and he immediately thought he had made a profit.

And they thought those two fairies were really good people.

Leaving aside the stall owner's complicated thoughts, Yu Zhao and his two companions strolled around for a while longer, but did not encounter anything that interested Shen Yunshu, so they returned to the temple.

When the two women returned to their meditation room in the temple, their nominal master, Qingxuan, was already awake. Upon seeing them, he smiled and asked:

Where did you go?

"We went to the city market with Senior Brother Kongxiang..." Shen Yunshu went over and hugged Qingxuan's arm, behaving very affectionately, chattering like a child, sharing her experiences at the market with her master.

Qingxuan listened patiently, occasionally offering a few words of agreement. She was very pleased with her little apprentice's enthusiasm and affection.

While the master and apprentice were getting to know each other, Yu Zhao took out the scroll she had found. She untied the hemp rope and spread the scroll out.

She gently rubbed the object with her hand and immediately determined that it was a piece of human skin.

It's highly likely that it's still in the guise of a cultivator, but we don't know what level of cultivation this cultivator possesses.

She didn't think much more about it and focused on examining the piece of leather. When she unfolded it, Yu Zhao saw some patterns drawn on it, which looked a bit like a map.

She looked at it over and over for a while, but couldn't figure out where the map was from, so she asked her cheap master and Shen Yunshu.

"Master, Junior Sister, come and see if this is a map?"

Upon hearing this, the two women leaned over to take a look. After a moment, Qingxuan nodded. "It really is a map, but I don't know where this place is. The map is drawn too simply."

"It's the Valley of Fallen Demons."

At this moment, Shen Yunshu's voice rang out from the side, which caught the attention of Yu Zhao and Qing Xuan, who both looked at her.

Shen Yunshu didn't say anything immediately. She took out a brush and ink from her storage ring and added a few more strokes to the leather. With her additions, the originally scribble-like patterns became clear.

Soon, a map appeared before the three women.

Qingxuan was stunned and blurted out, "Shu'er, how did you figure that out?"

"I saw the map of Fallen Demon Valley at the Shen residence, so I figured it out."

Shen Yunshu wasn't lying; she had indeed seen a map of this place at the Shen family's residence.

"You remembered it after seeing it?" Qingxuan was even more surprised. His little apprentice's memory was a bit too good.

Back in the Shen family, the little apprentice was definitely not a cultivator yet, so he naturally wouldn't use his divine sense. Therefore, he must have remembered it entirely based on his own memory. This is a talent of photographic memory!

While Qingxuan was astonished by Shen Yunshu's extraordinary talent, Yu Zhao was more concerned about what kind of place this Fallen Demon Valley was. She asked Shen Yunshu:

"Junior sister, what kind of place is this Fallen Demon Valley? And where is it located?"

"This Fallen Demon Valley is an ancient battlefield, named after the many powerful demons who perished there. It is located in the Western Regions."

Upon hearing that it was in the Western Regions, Yu Zhao's eyes lit up. She felt that the map depicted on the human skin must be a treasure map, and she became interested.

"Senior sister, I must remind you, the Fallen Demon Valley is not a place we can venture into. It is one of the ten most forbidden places in the world, and even Nascent Soul cultivators have a nine-out-of-ten chance of dying if they go in."

Seeing her senior sister's thoughtful expression, Shen Yunshu knew that her senior sister was being greedy for money again, so she silently poured cold water on her senior sister's enthusiasm.

To avoid her senior sister getting carried away and actually going to explore the Fallen Demon Valley, even though Shen Yunshu is bold, she really doesn't dare to explore the Fallen Demon Valley.

That place is a real death trap!