I Was Forced To Marry The Phoenix Empress

Chapter 233: Realization

The thought of failing the system’s mission and being unable to talk with Feng Yu emerged in his mind as Yi Chen tightly clenched his teeth and exclaimed.

"No! I cannot stay here for that long! I must attend the Silver Cloud Tournament!"

He said while clutching his head in frustration. Because of his inability to learn the Abyssal Blackglacial Art, he had no option but to rely on Gao Zhen.

However, hearing that it would take her almost two years to just understand the portion of the art, all his hopes were shattered.

Glancing at Yi Chen’s despair-filled expression, Gao Zhen nodded and said, "It’s the same with me. I also can’t afford to stay here for so long. Therefore...the mission stands cancelled. We’ll be leaving this tomb now."

"That’s a relief... Yes, let’s leave this place." Yi Chen sighed in relief when he heard her words.

’She must have been lying earlier about not having another Void Traversal Pearl,’ he thought. Being familiar with how playful she could be at times, he reasoned.

A couple of seconds passed, and Yi Chen couldn’t help but knit his brows.

’Hm? Why is she still staring at me instead of taking out the artefact?’

Just when this thought appeared in his mind, Gao Zhen finally asked with a confused expression.

"Why isn’t Young Master Chen taking out the Void Traversal Pearl?"

"???"

’Does she still want to play with me in this situation?’ Yi Chen thought while finding it even harder to read through Gao Zhen’s thoughts.

"Madam Gao is jesting again," Yi Chen forced a smile and said, "However...I don’t think this is the right time to joke about such things. How could I possess the Void Traversal Pearl? Since you gave one to Xie Rou, then you must also have an additional one, right?"

Hearing Yi Chen’s words, a subtle furrow formed on her face, but she still said with a patient smile, "Haha, to me it seems that it’s Young Master Chen who’s in a mood of jesting. I only gave my Void Traversal Pearl after figuring out your true identity. Why would I give my life-saving treasure if not for that?

However, if Young Master Chen is still in the mood to jest, then I’ll let you humour me more when the two of us are out. Alright? So, please take out the pearl so we can leave this cold place quickly."

’This...’ Yi Chen’s expression grew even more confused when he heard her words. He had started to feel that Gao Zhen really was not joking, and this was something he really didn’t want to believe.

Therefore, instead of being polite, he decided to directly confront the issue.

"Madam Gao, I really don’t have the Void Traversal Pearl...and I’ve also never heard of this Yinyun clan, which you had previously mentioned. At this point, even I’m confused as to whether you think what you said is the truth or are just joking with me."

A hint of doubt formed in Gao Zhen’s heart the very next moment, which soon turned into fear and uncertainty.

’No! There’s no other logical way for him to possess those pills.’ She repeated in her mind in an attempt to quash those doubts and said in a stricter tone, finally losing her patient demeanour.

"Young Master Chen, a joke is only funny when it stays within certain bounds. You’ve already exceeded it...therefore please don’t test my patience any longer and take the teleportation artefact out."

"As I’ve said before, I don’t have it!" Yi Chen immediately turned defensive, seeing the change in her tone and argued back more strongly as a hint of irritation began to gnaw at his heart.

"And moreover..." he said right after with gritted teeth, "...Shouldn’t it be me whose patience is being tested here? You’ve been constantly placing such baseless allegations upon me all this time, and no matter what explanation I give, instead of hearing them out, you only gloss over it to create your own justification?? Tell me? How does any of it even make sense?!"

Hearing Yi Chen’s words, a vein popped up on Gao Zhen’s forehead, "That’s because what you gave weren’t explanations but excuses to keep your identity hidden!

Young Master Chen, if you keep being difficult like this, then I’ll have no choice but to forget your status as the Yinyun clan’s heir..."

’This crazy bitch...’

However, what she didn’t realize was that compared to her Yi Chen had a much shorter fuse.

"You know what?!" he forcefully pulled the storage ring off his finger and, the next instant, threw it straight at her face, "Check the damn ring yourself and tell me if there’s a Void Traversal Pearl inside!"

TING!

The ring darted towards Gao Zhen with great speed the next instant as she barely managed to catch it at the right time.

’Such force...’ She couldn’t help but subtly raise her eyes when she caught hold of the ring. The next instant, her eyes met Yi Chen’s and, with a snort, began scouring through his storage ring.

Inside, along with several miscellaneous items, she saw various pills, weapons and a number of clay pots filled with water.

However, in the entire space, there was only one thing that caught her attention, and that was the bottle containing the Golden Firmament Pills. Apart from that, there was nothing of significance inside his storage ring.

’Could it be that he’s hiding another storage ring with him?’ A question arose in her mind.

However, she soon shook it away, ’No...I clearly remember seeing him place the pills back in this storage ring.’

A Void Traversal Pearl, although expensive, was still not comparable to how precious the Golden Firmament Pills were.

Therefore, it wouldn’t make sense for him to keep a less precious item in a different storage ring.

All this led Gao Zhen to the only remaining conclusion, one she wanted to deny with all her might, but couldn’t in the face of the evidence before her.

"I-I was mistaken..."

She muttered with an expression of disbelief as her grip over the ring loosened, making it slip past her fingers.