Escape

Xia Tao

Goose, shouting insults at everyone around, dashed towards the lake that had just calmed down. As we watched, the lily began to rise and bloom. All of us, except for the green-haired giantess, moved quickly to the cave. She flew towards two of the three groups, shouting as she activated some skill. Leaping about five meters into the air, she crashed down, striking the ground with her skill. From the impact, massive ice spikes, each ten to fifteen meters long, shot out towards the groups. They shattered the spikes within seconds, but it was enough for us to gain a significant lead.

I lost sight of the green-haired giantess as we ran towards the cave Goose had mentioned. As we neared it, Goose appeared beside us, his wing dislocated but a broad grin on his face.

"Run, run, run!" he shouted, and we let him inside along with Ye Chen. The rest of us followed quickly.

"Run, master, leave this to me!" I heard as I dashed inside, wanting to look back. But Lin Qing grabbed me by the arms.

"Don't worry, master, I won't get lost" she assured me. Just then, there was a loud crash, and the cave behind us collapsed. But there was no time to relax; we had to get as far away as possible and fast, because judging by the sounds behind us, the collapse wouldn't hold them for long. We continued running after Goose.

We ran like mad for 2 hours and then started moving at a more moderate pace. It seemed we were thoroughly lost when we stumbled upon yet another dead end.

"So, where to now?" I asked as Goose stopped and started thinking.

"Well, I didn't plan this far" Goose admitted, shrugging his wings.

"What do you mean, 'didn't plan this far'? Why did we even run here? Why not exit through the way we came in?" I asked, feeling a bit frustrated.

"And miss out on the spirit of adventure?" Goose replied with a mischievous grin.

I was so exasperated by this adventure enthusiast that I was momentarily at a loss for words, unable to even muster the curses I wanted to hurl at him

***

We've been wandering through these caves for three days now. I'm almost certain that those who were chasing us have lost track of us and aren't even trying to follow us anymore. We stumbled upon our markers again, the ones we started leaving yesterday, and decided to take a break and eat.

"Fuck, how did this happen? My plan was brilliant: fuck over everyone, grab the seeds, and get out! Fucking caves, why am I so unlucky, Where is the Fucking EXIT!?" Goose ranted.

"Hey, Goose, why are these seeds so important?" I finally asked. We managed to get them, but I still didn't understand why.

After a brief silence, Goose began to explain:

"Well, they have several uses for you humans. First, you can place one in your Dantian if you have an affinity for ice or water. This will aid your development, especially when you reach the Refining of Elemental Energy stage (5th level). Your Dantian will start building an internal world where you can transplant the lilies you've cultivated. This will give you advantages in elemental skills and help with mastering essence energy in the future.

The second use is cultivating and growing these plants, but it's tricky and requires specific conditions. They enhance the quality of spiritual energy around them, creating ideal places for cultivating ice or water techniques, like where we were training. That place was good for cultivation because of the lily growing there. But it's unclear why it was growing here; the conditions aren't the best. I actually stumbled upon it by accident while escaping some fagots and had to hide in this cave. That's when I ran into the green-haired giantess. Why she was half-naked here, I have no idea.

And last one is alchemy: you can make pills, or just sell it to alchemists"

"You mentioned uses for humans, so are there non-human uses as well?"

"Well, we love eating them—they're fucking delicious! And they help with digestion, haha. Why are you looking at me like that? I'm serious. There are some races that they help in development and significantly accelerate cultivation. There are even some humans who eat raw spririt herbs, but special processing methods are needed, and I don't know those."

This unexpected revelation made me think of Xia Lina. Given her affinity for ice and possible water elements, these seeds would be perfect for her. As for the second seed, perhaps we could try cultivating it. Our success with strawberries was encouraging, so why not give this lily a shot?

After our meal, we resumed our search for an exit. It was curious how the air in the cave remained fresh despite the lack of wind. Unfortunately, we couldn't tell if we were moving up or down, or how far we'd strayed from our entry point. Occasionally, the temperature started fluctuate wildly—sometimes it was freezing cold, reminiscent of the pond, and other times it was so hot that we had to use spiritual energy just to breathe. We no longer stumbled upon our previous markers.

Eventually, the cave began to widen, and we emerged into a vast chamber. In the center lay the corpse of a cultivator, and nearby stood a peculiar stone with a giant sword embedded in it. The sword was about two meters long with a blade roughly thirty centimeters wide. Around the stone was a small pond. Interestingly, cold streams emanated from the water while hot streams radiated from the stone, clashing in a battle of elements. These opposing forces likely influenced the fluctuating conditions in the surrounding caves we had traversed.

"Yes, we hit the jackpot! The sword is mine!" Ye Chen exclaimed, rushing towards the sword. The sword didn't particularly interest me.

"Then the stone and the water are ours" I said. We can always buy a sword, but natural treasures are invaluable for our household. As we examined the cultivator's remains, we found a crystal exactly like the one we previously found in the vase, suggesting it might store something interesting. Besides tattered clothing, there was nothing else—just the mummified skeleton of the cultivator.

"And we want the crystal" I said. Ye Chen was too busy fawning over the sword to care.

"Fuck you, we want the crystal too!" Goose protested. "You guys are already claiming two things, and we only get the sword." I was about to argue when Lin Qing's spritual message reached me: "Let them have it, but everything else we find here is ours, and they leave first." I turned to look at her, and her broad smile assured me that we wouldn't lose out in this deal.

"Hmm, alright. But you take the sword and the crystal and leave. Everything else we find here is ours" I said, repeating Lin Qing's words. Goose tensed up and said, "Wait, we need to think about it." He ran to Ye Chen, and they started communicating spiritually while examining the cave more closely.

"Is this going to be a problem?" I asked Lin Qing anxiously, worried they might find whatever my maid had spotted.

"Oh no, let them search for a year if they want; they won't find it" Lin Qing said confidently. She pulled out some supplies to start a fire, and we sat down, kindling a campfire and beginning to cook.

An hour later, Goose and Ye Chen returned and asked, "What else did you find here? Other than an exit on the other side, there's nothing!"