Chapter 502: Strange Stele Translator: Pika The soil inside the crater seemed a little strange. It was as if it had been crystallized by extremely high temperatures. “Why do I feel a chill?” Pei Mianman subconsciously grabbed at Zu An’s arm. She leaned against him heavily, as if doing so would make her feel a little safer. “Indeed, it does seem a little cold.” Zu An found this strange as well. A bloody meteor just landed here, and yet it’s still cold? Shouldn’t it be scorching hot? The surrounding area still bore scars of an intense, burning heat, and even the air was choked with a burnt smell. Everything pointed at the fact that the area should be hot, but strangely enough, they felt cold instead! “Be careful. The path to great treasure is usually paved with danger,” Zu An reminded her, gently patting her hand. Pei Mianman grunted in agreement and put up her guard as well. She was ready to react at any given moment. The two of them carefully reached the lip of the crater and walked towards that meteor. A kaleidoscope of thoughts raced through Zu An’s mind. I hope there’s no radiation... There were many cases in his past world where meteors or other such items contained radioactive properties. Those who uncovered these shining rocks thought that they stumbled upon some priceless treasure... but they were instead tormented by the excruciating effects of radiation, up to the point where they wished they were dead instead of alive. However, now wasn’t the time to think about these things. He headed towards it to have a look for himself. The two of them found themselves in front of a giant black meteor and slowly circled around it. It didn’t seem to be all that special. It was just a bit bigger than an ordinary meteor. Where’s the promised treasure? This was supposed to be some fated encounter, right? Suddenly, they heard a burst of sinister laughter. “I didn’t expect the two of you to come all the way here. Did you find anything nice? Be good and hand it over, and I might just spare your lives.” Mosquito Daoist was standing at the edge of the crater, staring coldly at the two of them. Zu An felt a huge headache. “I’m pretty sure I owed you some ridiculous debt in my past life, and you’ve somehow chased me all the way into this one!” He was trying to buy some time. If his suspicions were correct, then Zhuxie Chixin and the others would be arriving soon. Mosquito Daoist tried her best to rearrange her tattered daoist robes. Unfortunately, no matter how she tried, she still could not manage to cover most of her exposed skin. “Hmph! I’m not in the mood to chat with you right now, brat. Hand over what you’ve found, or else I’ll start working on the woman next to you. Don’t come crying to me then.” She already had a plan in mind. She wouldn’t immediately kill Pei Mianman, but use her as a hostage to get the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra out of Zu An instead. Zu An shrugged and pulled Pei Mianman behind him. “We just got here as well, and only managed to look around for a bit. This big meteor is the only thing here. There’s nothing else.” Given her past experiences with him, Mosquito Daoist wasn’t at all inclined to believe him. She leaped towards the two of them. Zu An and Pei Mianman quickly raised their weapons in defense. Unfortunately, they didn’t have Qiu Honglei’s Empress Lantern, and Mosquito Daoist was also already slowly adapting to the two of them, especially Zu An’s strange movement technique and Pei Mianman’s black flames. Now that she was more prepared, the two of them were no match for her. Pei Mianman was the more injured of the two, and her reactions were slow. She was thrown backwards by the force of Mosquito Daoist’s attack. If it wasn’t because Mosquito Daoist still had a use for her in mind, she would have already died. Seeing her seriously injured, Zu An tried to leap to her aid, but this only gave Mosquito Daoist an opening. She seized the opportunity and sent a palm flying towards his chest and smashing right into it. Mosquito Daoist wasn’t as lenient with him as she was with Pei Mianman. She had watched him crawl back up over and over again while drenched in blood, and knew that he definitely had some special powers of recovery, which she subconsciously attributed to the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra. That was why she no longer held back like in the previous fights. Zu An felt as if a fire truck had rammed straight into him. His body flew backwards in a graceful arc and crashed into the meteorite behind him. The tremendous impact sent him smashing right through the surface of the meteor, creating a human-shaped hole. Even Mosquito Daoist was given a fright. She wanted to fully immobilize Zu An, not take his life immediately. How was it possible that her attack had been so strong?! Only Zu An alone knew that, although the meteorite behind him looked as though it was fashioned out of some incredibly tough black steel, it was actually nowhere near that sturdy. On the contrary, it was actually quite brittle. Mosquito was just about to jump in and secure the two of them when a loud and continuous cracking filled the air, as though something was breaking apart. She immediately stopped and looked at the massive meteorite behind Zu An. Given her cultivation, she could tell that that was where the sounds were coming from. It looked like Zu An hadn’t been lying after all. The two of them hadn’t had time to uncover the meteor’s secrets yet. An irregular phenomenon of nature always brought with it a powerful treasure, but this treasure was often guarded by tremendous danger. She wasn’t in the greatest condition right now, so she had to be more careful. “Ah Zu!” Pei Mianman staggered over to where Zu An had crashed into the meteorite, pulling him out. Just these simple movements alone were enough to exhaust whatever remaining energy she had. It was clear just how serious her injuries were. Zu An found himself free of the meteorite, his clothes completely tattered, like those of a beggar. However, he didn’t have time to tend to himself right now. He turned around to look at the meteorite behind him. Cracks had appeared all around that human-shaped hole. Initially, there were only one or two cracks, but more and more quickly followed. Eventually, the entire outer layer of the meteor was covered in cracks. Without warning, this massive meteor suddenly split open and broke into countless small pieces. A pitch-black stele[1] poked out from the rubble. There were two strange symbols carved on the surface. They looked like characters or drawings, but were somehow neither. Pei Mianman was quite knowledgeable herself, but she had never seen characters like these in the writings or language of any race. Zu An stared at the two characters as if he were in a trance. A figure rushed past the two of them. Mosquito Daoist reached for the stele, her eyes brimming with excitement, “Hahaha! This treasure is mine!” A meteorite descended from outer space, containing a stele within it. Anyone with a brain could figure out that it was extraordinary! This was sure to be some exceptional treasure! She couldn’t resist the temptation, and decided to seize it for herself first. Zu An and Pei Mianman were both in a terrible state, and were completely powerless to stop her. They could only watch as she wrapped her hands around the stele. However, the moment Mosquito Daoist grabbed the stele, a layer of light flickered across it, sending a powerful force rippling outwards. With an agonizing shriek, Mosquito Daoist’s body was blown backwards. Even though she managed to neutralize most of the impact thanks to her extensive combat experience, she still suffered a considerable number of internal injuries. Zu An immediately cheered. “Serves you right!” Mosquito Daoist refused to acknowledge defeat. She rushed towards the stele again. This time, she used less force than before, and slowly reached her hand towards the stele. However, there was the same flicker of light, and she was flung away by what appeared to be a barrier around the stele. This time, however, since she hadn’t used too much strength, she was only pushed away lightly, without suffering any serious damage. Mosquito Daoist slowly walked around the stele, trying out different methods that she could come up with, but none of them worked. Not only was she left frustrated, she knew that others would soon be drawn here as well. She didn’t have much time left. Off to the side, Zu An grabbed Pei Mianman’s hand and signaled to her with his eyes. The two of them used what remained of their strength to run away from the stele. With luck, Mosquito Daoist would be distracted by the stele and would not give chase. However, with a flicker of movement, Mosquito Daoist appeared in front of the two of them, blocking their path. She reached out her hand and grabbed Pei Mianman by her neck. “You two, go and touch that stele!” It was possible that she, as a member of the fiend race, could not pass through whatever barrier was around it, but the two humans might be able to succeed. After all, such restrictions were similar to those that elders of the human race employed to safeguard their own secrets, and prevent other races from inheriting their skills. Zu An snorted disdainfully. “Those who ask for help should always ask nicely.” Mosquito Daoist could only stare at him, speechless. Is this guy somehow blind to the fact that he is currently a prisoner? She would’ve already killed him instantly if not for the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra. You have successfully trolled Mosquito Daoist for 222 Rage points! “If you keep spouting nonsense, I’ll start cutting up your woman’s face!” she threatened, stroking her sharp fingernails along Pei Mianman’s fair cheeks. 1. A stele is a large stone tablet.