Volume Three: Rising Fame Chapter Forty-Three: Visiting Yishuang

The flames crackled and popped. In the flickering firelight, the shifting reflection of Li Yu’s face cast an eerie glow. The girl sitting across from him—dressed in Li Yu’s clothes and bound—stepped back in fear.

“It’s useless,” Li Yu snarled under the firelight. “Don’t even think about touching the ground or the walls!”

As he spoke, lightning crackled through the cavern, filling it with an electric glow.

The girl finally settled down a bit.

The lightning within the cave gradually dimmed, but upon closer inspection, the entire cave was enveloped in a thin layer of spiritual lightning energy, like a membrane covering the ground.

Beneath and around the girl, the spiritual lightning was especially dense. Though she appeared to be sitting on the ground, she was actually perched on a “carpet” formed of solidified lightning energy.

“Can you speak plainly?” Li Yu asked as he ate the meat of a strange beast.

The girl said nothing but glanced toward the cave’s entrance, as if searching for an opportunity to escape. If she could just touch the ground outside, she could flee.

“Don’t be foolish. In my spiritual domain, you won’t have a chance!” Li Yu said nonchalantly. The spiritual lightning constantly numbed the girl—or rather, the essence treasure’s—body, making movement difficult.

“Are you going to eat me too?” The voice of the essence treasure echoed in Li Yu’s mind, clearly recognizing the situation and acknowledging it had no chance to escape.

“Eat you?!” Li Yu was momentarily stunned as he appraised the girl.

Her body rose and fell gently; her face was that of a youthful maiden, framed by long black hair cascading to her thighs. There was no mistaking her for anything but a living girl.

Had it not been for the persistent ginseng fragrance she emitted and the absence of vital human anatomy beneath her clothes, it would be hard to believe she was a transformation of ginseng.

When Li Yu failed to find her clothes near the pool, he had already suspected something. When he rescued her and saw that up close she resembled a wooden sculpture rather than a real person, he knew he had found a treasure!

An essence treasure!

“No way!” Li Yu shook his head. “Unless you revert to your original form, then maybe!”

The thought of eating a living, breathing “human”—even knowing she wasn’t truly human—was unpalatable to him.

“Then why did you capture me?”

“Captured? Not really…” Li Yu scratched his cheek. “At first, I thought you were someone drowning and wanted to save you. Then I realized you were an essence treasure. Since I’d already pulled you out, I just tied you up and brought you back!”

“…”

“Essence treasure—that’s what we call you,” Li Yu said with a sincere smile.

“You can call me Can Yishuang,” she said, propping herself up, “Why won’t you eat me? Everyone else like you humans tries to eat me!”

Essence treasures are uniquely gifted; many things come naturally to them, and most have considerable intelligence.

They rarely have contact with the outside world, which is why they keep questioning whether they will be eaten.

“Can Yishuang? That’s a beautiful name,” Li Yu said thoughtfully. “People are different; just because others do doesn’t mean I will.”

“But I need you to give me some essence.”

“You’re the only human who acts differently!” Can Yishuang seemed wary of the fire, leaning back slightly. “My transformation failed. I can’t condense essence in the short term.”

Li Yu nodded.

She was right. Her transformation had been interrupted at a critical moment, forcing her to abandon it and flee in panic. Without a fortunate chance, she could only rely on time to gradually replenish her essence.

But there was still a way.

If Li Yu took the entire ginseng—Can Yishuang—and refined it, he could obtain essence, and even more of it.

However, seeing the many scars marked on Can Yishuang—likely from battles with other clans—he couldn’t bring himself to commit such a ruthless act.

He cursed inwardly: why did she have to transform into human form?

Li Yu bitterly resented it.

“Speaking of which, I guess I saved your life. If I hadn’t brought you back, a passing beast might have eaten you—your aura is way too conspicuous.”

“I won’t stay in this world long. How about you don’t run away and stick with me for now? If you manage to condense essence before leaving, give me some. If not, it’s fine.”

“My heart tells me you’re not lying,” Can Yishuang said earnestly. “I promise to repay you for saving my life.”

This was a new “trait” she developed when she first transformed, though because it had been interrupted, it only manifested occasionally.

“Then it’s settled!” Li Yu untied Can Yishuang and withdrew his spiritual domain.

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll run away?” Can Yishuang asked curiously.

At this moment, if she wanted to leave, Li Yu wouldn’t be able to stop her.

“To be honest, I have no effective way to bind you. I can’t maintain the spiritual domain forever. The only way to keep you from resisting is to force you back to your original form, but I can’t do that!”

Li Yu shook his head, speaking sincerely.

If Can Yishuang were the last hope for Qing Anqi, maybe he would consider it. But it was highly likely the snowy mountain held snow fox demon vines. Can Yishuang was at best a bonus.

The Qing clan was irreplaceable; he couldn’t destroy a living being with no ties to him just for selfish reasons.

“I will keep my promise. I’m not like other humans who break their word!”

“Other humans?”

Li Yu caught an unusual note in Can Yishuang’s words.

Hadn’t the secret realm only just opened? They had only been inside a short while. How could there have been other humans before?

Moreover, if the imperial family of the Great Ming Dynasty had discovered Can Yishuang, wouldn’t they have organized a capture by now? How could she still move freely in the secret realm?

Plant essence treasures were known to have the effect of extending lifespan.

“Yes. I met them a few years ago. They tricked me, but I escaped.”

A few years ago?!

Could they be natives of the secret realm?

Li Yu stroked his chin. “Did they have any distinguishing features?”

This must be the “little surprise” Ying Tian mentioned. Clan members not only competed for points but also fought against natives?

“Their language was different from yours,” Can Yishuang said after some thought. “I just hated looking at them.”

“…”

It was normal for natives to have a different language.

Li Yu looked at Can Yishuang’s face with some surprise. He hadn’t expected an essence treasure to express emotions as vividly as a human and to hold grudges for so long.

“Truly a species driven to extinction by humans… truly unique.”

Li Yu sighed deeply.

In another world, even though the discovery that essence treasures could extend lifespan was monumental, most of their traits remained unfathomable. Despite this, they were still destined to become ingredients in medicinal concoctions.