Female Protagonist Assistance System

Chapter 24 : . Treasure Hunting

"It's you?"

Looking at the black-robed figure before her, Xiao Yi Xian exclaimed in surprise.

Gu Xun'er turned her head slightly, also somewhat surprised. She hadn't expected her teacher to know this girl, which explained why she had been sent to rescue her when she was in danger.

The footwork technique Gu Xun'er had used to save Xiao Yi Xian was called "Mystic Void Step", a high-grade Xuan-rank battle skill and the first battle skill Xiao Han had taught her. After obtaining the Tribulation Lightning, Xiao Han had traveled across the continent, preparing for future plot developments while cultivating. During this time, she had collected many valuable items, including medicinal herbs and battle skills. With her discerning eye, she only kept the best, many of which she had obtained from various secret realms and powerful figures' lairs.

The battle skills in the "Nine Heavens Thunder Technique" were all lightning-attributed and unsuitable for Gu Xun'er, so Xiao Han had to use her various collected items.

Xiao Yi Xian was excited, as this great person before her had saved her before. If not for them, she might have unknowingly killed her entire village years ago.

If it was this great person, she wouldn't even think about coveting the contents of this cave.

Xiao Han asked: "Did you discover this cave first?"

Hearing this, Xiao Yi Xian nodded, but said: "Although I discovered it first, if you're interested in it..."

Xiao Han interrupted her: "You didn't enter the forest alone, did you?"

Xiao Yi Xian was suddenly startled, then realized she had been here long enough. If she didn't return soon, the mercenaries might come looking for her.

Just as she was about to take her leave, she saw the person before her offering her a plant.

The plant bore pale red flowers with faint white patterns. The flower centers were light pink, dotted with yellow particles.

This was... a Silent Flower?

Xiao Yi Xian was surprised. Although Silent Flowers weren't high-grade, they were very rare. They most often bloomed on cliff faces and were valuable ingredients for making healing medicines.

"Great One, this is..." Xiao Yi Xian didn't quite understand Xiao Han's intention, so she hesitated to accept.

"Come here tonight. You'll share what's inside together," Xiao Han said.

The "you" here, of course, referred to Xiao Yi Xian and Gu Xun'er.

Xiao Yi Xian's eyes widened, as if she couldn't believe what she'd heard. Did this great person mean... finders keepers?

Joy immediately flooded her heart. Xiao Yi Xian wasn't worried about any traps or schemes. Given this great person's power, killing her would be effortless. She knew she had nothing worth taking, and in terms of appearance, she couldn't compare to the young woman beside this great person.

Happily accepting the Silent Flower, Xiao Yi Xian left. Neither Xiao Han nor Gu Xun'er saw her off, so she roughly guessed the great person's intention in giving her the Silent Flower.

Sure enough, just as she climbed up the rope, she encountered the mercenaries who had come looking for her.

Seeing Xiao Yi Xian climb up from the cliff edge, the mercenaries were all shocked and quickly went to help, pulling her up.

After steadying herself, Xiao Yi Xian let out a sigh of relief, then smiled gratefully at the mercenaries.

"Xiao Yi Xian, you were gone for so long, everyone was worried about you," Mu Li looked at Xiao Yi Xian with concern, inquiring after her well-being. "But why did you go down the cliff?"

Xiao Yi Xian smiled and held up the Silent Flower, her expression full of joy at finding a rare medicinal herb: "I guess I was lucky. I just came over here for a walk and found this."

A knowledgeable mercenary recognized the herb and immediately exclaimed in surprise: "It's actually a Silent Flower. These are so hard to find. Xiao Yi Xian, you're really lucky."

Hearing this, a flash of doubt crossed Mu Li's eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come.

After regrouping, the party set off again.

⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱

"Calamity Poison Body?" Gu Xun'er sat cross-legged on the ground, looking somewhat puzzled at Xiao Han.

Xiao Han nodded: "The innate poison body is also called the Calamity Poison Body because those with this constitution are accompanied by calamity throughout their lives."

"There once was a woman on the Dou Qi Continent who possessed the Calamity Poison Body. In a fit of rage, she turned an entire empire into a thousand miles of poisonous land, causing hundreds of thousands of people to perish overnight."

Hearing this, even Gu Xun'er, the young miss of the Gu family, couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath.

"The cultivation method for this poison body is quite peculiar. They don't need to cultivate Dou Qi for years. To become stronger, they only need to consume poisons."

"The Calamity Poison Body can convert the poison power contained in toxic substances into a very special poison Dou Qi through a bizarre method. The more potent the poison, the more beneficial it is for increasing their strength. So they don't need to cultivate bitterly, they just need to continuously consume poisons to rapidly increase their strength."

"What a monstrous constitution," Gu Xun'er sighed lightly, marveling.

"Of course, there's nothing absolutely perfect in this world. Although the Calamity Poison Body can rapidly increase strength by consuming poisons, poison is still poison. While they can suppress the toxic effects with the Calamity Poison Body, when they consume more and more poisons, to the point where even the Calamity Poison Body can no longer suppress the poison Dou Qi within, they will slowly die in the torment of ten thousand poisons devouring their body," Xiao Han said calmly, without any emotional fluctuation.

"Is there any solution?" Gu Xun'er asked. She wasn't really interested in saving Xiao Yi Xian, who had the Calamity Poison Body, but was purely curious.

"Getting rapidly increased power naturally comes at a price. There's nothing in this world that comes without effort," Xiao Han said indifferently. "The rules are fair. There's gain and loss. To get something, you must pay a corresponding price."

Gu Xun'er knew such a simple principle, but still, tilting her head, she asked: "Does even teacher have no way?"

Xiao Han glanced at her sideways.

As long as one's thinking doesn't slide, there are always more solutions than difficulties.

[Has the host long planned to save Xiao Yi Xian?] the system asked. Its host wasn't the type to be overwhelmed with sympathy, so it hadn't expected the host to actively save someone. Moreover, the bizarreness of the Calamity Poison Body was no joke. Trying to save Xiao Yi Xian would likely require a great effort from the host.

[Yes, in the original text, Xiao Yan saved Xiao Yi Xian, which made her utterly devoted to him, providing him with many benefits. So Xiao Yi Xian was also one of Xiao Yan's fortuitous encounters,] Xiao Han said. [If we're going to snatch Xiao Yan's luck, we must do it thoroughly. Otherwise, it's easy for him to turn the tables.]

System: My host is perfect in every way, just excessively cautious.

That night.

As night fell, the herb-gathering team's camp gradually quieted down. Except for the occasional sounds from the night watch mercenaries, one could only hear the faint crackling of wood in the flames.

In the quiet darkness, a tent suddenly moved slightly, and a dark shadow slipped out, then silently slipped through a gap in the guards into the dark forest.

When Xiao Yi Xian arrived at the cave again, she saw the young woman who had saved her earlier sitting cross-legged, meditating.

The black-robed figure was leaning against the rock wall, motionless.

"Since you're here, go in," Xiao Han said with closed eyes, sensing Xiao Yi Xian's presence. "From now on, no matter what happens, unless your lives are in danger, I won't intervene."

Both Gu Xun'er and Xiao Yi Xian nodded, without objection.

Walking in the quiet and dark cave, a faint chill enveloped them. In the quiet passage, only the faint sound of their footsteps echoed.

Gu Xun'er listened carefully for a while and found that she couldn't hear her teacher's footsteps at all. Although she knew her teacher was right behind her, it was as if she had merged with the darkness. If she didn't know her teacher was following, she wouldn't have noticed anyone behind her at all.

Xiao Han was unaware of Gu Xun'er's thoughts, and even if she knew, she would only have scoffed.

Soon, the group arrived at the end of the passage, where there was a stone door emitting a faint yellow glow.

The stone door was very thick, requiring at least a Dou Shi level expert to forcibly break it, but Xiao Han had already said she wouldn't provide any help.

Fortunately, there was an earth-element mechanism on the stone door. Gu Xun'er was completely ignorant about mechanisms, but luckily, Xiao Yi Xian had read some books on mechanism arts and had a rudimentary understanding.

Finally, Xiao Yi Xian found the place to deactivate the mechanism. She gently pressed on the mechanism's core, and with a rumbling sound, the stone door slowly opened.

The three stepped through the stone door, and their view suddenly became much broader.

Inside the stone door was a huge stone chamber. The chamber looked somewhat simple and spacious, with moonstone embedded in the walls for illumination. In the center of the chamber was a seat, upon which sat a skeleton. The sunken skull had fallen onto the pale thigh bones, giving off an eerie feeling in this quiet atmosphere.

In front of the seat was a rather wide and long bluestone platform. On the platform were three locked stone boxes, neatly arranged.

In the three corners of the chamber were piles of glittering gold coins and other precious valuables. A rough estimate put it at several hundred thousand gold coins.

Xiao Han's group didn't lack money, especially the young miss of the Gu family, who was as rich as a nation. Therefore, they didn't linger their gaze on the pile of gold coins.

[Host, the system has detected a map fragment of the Pure Lotus Demon Flame in the chamber,] the system, which hadn't popped up for a while, suddenly appeared.

"Pure Lotus Demon Flame?"

Xiao Han scanned the chamber and finally rested her gaze on the skeleton.

She vaguely remembered this part of the plot. Xiao Yan had stumbled upon the fragment of the Pure Lotus Demon Flame map here by accident.

[Is it inside that skeleton?]

[Yes, host, it's in the hand bone holding the key.]

Xiao Han frowned slightly. In the bone?

Glancing at the two who were still carefully picking precious herbs, Xiao Han shook her head slightly and stepped towards the skeleton.

Standing before the skeleton, Xiao Han first put her hands together and bowed, inwardly apologizing for the disturbance, before reaching for the key, planning to take the key and then disassemble the bone.

"Crack..."

Due to the erosion of time, the skeleton's arm actually broke off along with the key as Xiao Han pulled.

Xiao Han raised an eyebrow, seemingly not expecting the skeleton to be so fragile.

Looking through the fracture at the top, Xiao Han faintly saw a small, ancient-looking scroll. She reached in and took out the scroll, tossing it into the system space.

After doing this, she bent down to pick up the hand bone and put it back for the skeleton.

Holding the key in her hand, Xiao Han walked towards the three stone boxes. With the system's detection, she didn't need to try each key, accurately finding the corresponding keys for the three stone boxes.

Both Gu Xun'er and Xiao Yi Xian saw Xiao Han's actions, but neither said anything. After a glance, they focused all their attention on the medicinal herbs.

The first stone box contained only a colorful scroll. Xiao Han knew what it was at a glance.

Seven-Colored Poison Scripture.