Chapter 2809 — Prismatic Radiance
"Oink, oink..." Thunder Pig's cry reminded Wei Zhao that he had not come here to spectate, but to seek treasure. By the look of it, the treasure Thunder Pig had indicated must lie within this very cave.
Though Thunder Pig's squeals were nothing compared to the dinosaur's roars and the thunderous booms of colliding energies, they still put the young woman on her guard. She turned her face toward the cave mouth, and in one glance she spotted Wei Zhao!
It was the first time Wei Zhao had seen the young woman's face full-on, and it stole his breath. Even for a man surrounded by beauties, the sight of her now left him deeply shaken—that such a woman could exist in this world!
Not that Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu were uncomely—it was that the girl before him carried an inexplicable spirituality about her, along with a sense of kinship that drew Wei Zhao ineluctably toward her. The Candy Girl, too, was a beauty at the peak of the Heaven Rank's upper tier, yet beside this young woman, all the Candy Girl possessed was coldness—not spirit.
The young woman clearly had not expected anyone to come at such a moment. She blinked in slight surprise, hesitated, then said, "You are one of this trial's contestants too, aren't you? Could you help me? Let us hold off this spirit beast together—we need only ten more minutes!"
"And why should I help you?" Wei Zhao was not so dazzled by her beauty as to lose his head. Lovely though she was, he was not the sort to go weak-kneed at the sight of a pretty face. The spirit beast was plainly perilous beyond measure, and if even an expert at the peak of the Heaven Rank's upper tier could do nothing against it, would he not be walking to his death?
"There are two herbs in my pack that the trial is seeking. If you help me, I can spare one for you as thanks," the young woman said.
"Oh?" Wei Zhao was still wavering when the dinosaur attacked again. Evidently the beast had noticed Wei Zhao too—though perhaps it judged his strength too pitiful, or perhaps because Wei Zhao had not entered the cave; at any rate, the spirit beast did not turn its assault on him.
Just as Wei Zhao and the young woman were speaking, the dinosaur spat out another mass—a sphere of energy that gave off a metallic sheen!
Wei Zhao was struck dumb on the spot. This spirit beast spat water, then fire, and now it had spat out a sphere of metal-attribute energy—what attribute was this creature, in the end?
The young woman had no time now to say more to Wei Zhao. She hastily triggered a martial technique of her own, and a shaft of golden light sprang from between her palms, wrapping around the metal-attribute energy sphere. The two merged, swelled abruptly, and exploded!
At this point Wei Zhao truly could not make sense of where either the dinosaur or the young woman had come from. That a spirit beast could unleash metal-, water-, and fire-attribute skills was hardly remarkable—but that the young woman could likewise unleash metal-, fire-, and water-attribute techniques left Wei Zhao utterly bewildered!
Could this young woman be a cultivator of three attributes?
As Wei Zhao was puzzling over it in vain, all at once a five-colored radiance burst forth from deep within the cave—the very same prismatic light he had seen from afar above the cave mouth.
Upon reaching the cave entrance, Wei Zhao had been wondering why he saw no trace of that five-colored radiance inside; who would have thought that it would manifest here within the cave at this very moment!
"Awooo—" The dinosaur let out a furious roar, and Wei Zhao's heart lurched. This roar was far louder than the hisses before it; the beast seemed enraged. Yet what puzzled Wei Zhao was that after the roar, the dinosaur unleashed no further skills at all—it simply stood where it was and did not move!
He looked again at the young woman. Her face was now full of shock as well, though a trace of relieved contentment could be seen in it, as though she had accomplished some purpose of her own!
This strange turn, considered from any angle, was utterly bizarre. Wei Zhao did not know what had happened and wanted to leave—yet the five-colored radiance spilling from the cave seemed almost sentient, summoning him: Come in... come in quickly...
Wei Zhao's legs, as if drawn by some force beyond his will, began carrying him into the cave!
Cold sweat broke out on Wei Zhao's brow at once. Never in his life had he encountered such a bizarre circumstance—his own legs were no longer under his control!
To be sure, legs freezing up after a fright was normal enough—but legs that walked forward of their own accord, this was the first time Wei Zhao had ever met with such a thing.
And yet, though he now wished to stop, he could not. Drawn onward, he entered the cave, and before long he was on the verge of approaching the dinosaur!
Stop, stop! Sweat poured down Wei Zhao's forehead. If he passed by that dinosaur and it hurled a fireball at him, would he not be dead on the spot? But his legs were beyond his command—one step, two steps—Wei Zhao drew closer and closer to the beast.
Yet when Wei Zhao passed the dinosaur, the creature did not even glance at him. It continued glaring furiously at the source of the five-colored radiance flickering deep in the cave, and even as Wei Zhao walked right past it, the dinosaur made no reaction at all.
Wei Zhao's heart abruptly eased—but his legs still carried him, beyond his control, deeper into the cave. He was about to reach the very spot where the young woman had been standing...
Just then, as Wei Zhao was about to say something to the young woman, the five-colored radiance deep in the cave suddenly blazed dazzling and resplendent. That piercing light engulfed the entire cave in an instant, and in that instant everything before Wei Zhao's eyes turned prismatic—he could see nothing else, and even the young woman and the dinosaur, close as they were, vanished from sight...
Yet that five-colored radiance seemed to be more than mere light. The next moment, Wei Zhao sensed it—the radiance was like an invisible pressure, surging from deep in the cave onto his body, until even his flesh stung with pain...
It felt as though something were trying to enter his body—like the omen of a breakthrough, yet altogether different. The five-colored radiance... was like true energy and qi, threading strand by strand into Wei Zhao's body, and the stinging sensation grew ever more intense.
Wei Zhao's breathing turned ragged without his willing it. The sensation was painful—and yet, once the five-colored radiance entered his body and merged with the true qi within him, it brought him a warmth that spread through him, like bitterness first and sweetness after: agonizing a moment before, and in the blink of an eye, warm and glowing...