The little copse was quiet for a long while before Li Luo and Qin Zhulu began to stir. They shook their heads to clear it.

"These are... gilded white-eyes...! You're really something else, Qing'er," Li Luo said to her with admiration. "You actually managed to sneak treasured artifacts in."

The Golden Dragon Dao Fields had a quirky rule, which was that those who came in were not allowed to bring treasured artifacts from outside. That was why Li Luo and the others had all come in with ordinary resonant artifacts.

Suddenly, Lu Qing'er had two gilded white-eyes with her. They had no idea how she had pulled it off.

She rolled her eyes at him. "I can't work miracles like that. I just got these out of the Reservoir."

Li Luo shook his head. "Come on, Qing'er, no need to treat us like strangers here. It's not like we're going to rat you out."

Got them out of the Reservoir? That would be the real miracle. They had been there as well. Li Luo had seen very few upper white-eyes and not a single gilded white-eye. Besides, the upper white-eye treasured artifacts were priced at about 500 dao-gold. These two looked like they were four digit-worthy. How could Lu Qing'er possibly have gotten that much dao-gold?

There was no way she could have "gotten" them.

Qin Zhulu nodded in reticent agreement.

"I'm not lying," she said impatiently. “I did get them out of the Reservoir. Besides these two, I also have this..." She showed them the icy jewel that immediately cooled the air around them.

"They were priced at 200 dao-gold apiece, so I only spent 600 dao-gold."

Li Luo and Qin Zhulu shared perplexed looks. Lu Qing'er was looking serious, and she wasn't the kind to be lying with a face like that.

But... 200 dao-gold for a gilded white-eye?

That was the sort of bargain only to be found for expiring cabbages.

"Er... what's going on?" Li Luo frowned. Something was off.

"I don't know either. But I suddenly saw a crevice in the Reservoir, and I found these three inside," Lu Qing'er explained.

"Could it be because of the remaining Golden Dragon Qi that you still have?" Qin Zhulu asked.

Lu Qing'er splayed her hands to signify her cluelessness.

Li Luo sighed. "We have been running rings inside these Dao Fields, but it's been running rings right back around my head."

Doorstep delivery of such treasures. That was all too kind.

"But for whatever reason, they're here now. No reason to throw them away," Li Luo said. When you hear hoofbeats, you think horses, not zebras. He would just accept them for now. They had a big battle up ahead, and these treasures would be very useful.

"That's exactly what I thought." Lu Qing'er nodded, handing over the Lambent Hawkeye to Li Luo and the Blacklight Panoply to Qin Zhulu.

"Test them out?"

Li Luo eagerly took the Lambent Hawkeye with both hands. The limbs of the bow seemed to be made out of some white crystal that was hollowed inside to further reduce the weight and increase its draw. He could feel the spirit of the lambent hawk carved lovingly in every choice that had made the weapon. He pulled the string back, and the white gut bent obediently to the perfect tautness against his fingers. A little thrum of power tingled at his fingertips, and the cry of the lambent hawk could faintly be heard.

"Sweet weapon!" Li Luo exclaimed. He could feel the power of this weapon, and it was in harmony with his light resonant energy.

Which became just a little more lively within him.

A simple pull of this bow was all it took for him to realize how superior it was to his old weapons.

Resonant artifacts could never hope to cross the gulf of difference in power.

While Li Luo was testing his bow out, Qin Zhulu was doing the same with the Blacklight Panoply. The moment he donned it, he felt impregnable as an iron fortress. The black armor glinted with dark light as it shifted along with his movements. Wearing it made him feel invulnerable.

With his black spear and this black armor, Qin Zhulu felt ten times stronger than before.

"Awesome!"

Qin Zhulu whooped. Although the Blacklight Panoply was heavy, physical strength had always been one of his better attributes. Not even the Third Changing Lin Suo could cut him down easily now, he believed.

And when the time came to face him, Qin Zhulu believed that this armor would allow him to go all out even more than before.

Lu Qing'er was also admiring her Sunless Globe, resting prettily on top of her ice-silk glove. Its smooth surface rested snugly against the patterned lace.

Weng!

A navy-blue ripple of frost energy bloomed from her glove, and its icy power was enough to send a chill down the back of Li Luo's neck. Lu Qing'er might only be a First Pattern, but the power he just saw was enough to cause a severe frostbite even to him, a Third Pattern.

It seemed like the Sunless Globe was quite the accent to her frost power.

"I think you can start accumulating more of those snow globes." Li Luo grinned. "I've even thought of a good title for you. You will be... Empress Snowager." 

"That sounds absolutely terrible," she said flatly.

"The Popsicle Queen?"

"Are you having an allergic reaction to the Lambent Hawkeye?" she asked sweetly. "Shall I take it back?"

Li Luo grinned and gave it another fond pat. "It's just lovely, thanks. I'll pay you back the price in skygold when we get back to the Xia Kingdom."

Lu Qing'er scowled at him. "If you talk any more nonsense, I'm going to get angry."

"It's a gilded white-eye!" Li Luo protested. "It's too expensive."

He knew that both his and Qin Zhulu's gilded white-eye treasured artifacts had to be worth at least five million skygold. It was no small sum.

"Isn't getting treasured artifacts all to help me in the end?" Lu Qing'er asked severely, ending the conversation. She rounded on Qin Zhulu, who was hesitating to speak. "And you shut your mouth too!"

Qin Zhulu was stung. He hadn't even opened his mouth yet, so technically he could not shut it. Anyway, it was Li Luo who had started this, why was this his fault?! Lu Qing'er stomped out of the copse.

Li Luo watched her go and shrugged to himself with a helpless smile.

"So..." Qin Zhulu asked in a low voice. "We... keep the stuff?"

"Well, I guess Qing'er's kindness should be accepted. Let's do our best to get her a Golden Dragon Mountain Writ as a return gift... Of course, if you still feel bad, you can pass me the money, and I'll bring her out and spoil her with food and gifts."

Qin Zhulu looked at him. "Li Luo."

Li Luo sighed, then he tucked the Lambent Hawkeye into his pocket sphere. Qin Zhulu did the same with his armor. These treasures had to be saved for the big fight, where they could provide a surprise factor.

When the two walked out of the copse, they suddenly heard a thunderous rumble from a valley quite a distance away.

Every single person in the vicinity of the Reservoir froze and turned to the direction of the sound. It was where Golden Dragon Mountain was.

There was also a majestic whirlpool of worldly natural energy spinning lazily in the air above Golden Dragon Mountain. It was breathtaking.

"That's the sign that a Golden Dragon Mountain Writ is about to appear!" Lu Qing'er exclaimed.

Li Luo and Qin Zhulu watched curiously.

As did every other person in the area. They all watched the energy vortex, which continued to gather and grow.

More than 10 minutes later.

Suddenly, five beams of golden light rained down from the middle of the vortex, landing at the peak of the colossal Golden Dragon Mountain.

"The Golden Dragon Mountain Writs are here!"

"There are five of them!"

"Go, go, go!"

Suddenly, there was a mad rush at the Reservoir, every squad hurrying to regroup and head over.

"Five Golden Dragon Mountain Writs."

Li Luo blew out a long breath of air, then he turned to Lu Qing'er and Qin Zhulu.

"The fun's about to begin. Let's go too.

"The goal is simple. If we can't find dogs to feed Lin Suo to, we'll just beat him up until he can fit in a kennel. And also, get a Golden Dragon Mountain Writ!"