Chapter 1023: Entering the Cottage
Li Luo was not the only one feeling a headache over the situation.
The others from the various powers also looked over into the thatched cottage a fair distance away, falling into an awkward silence.
Nonetheless, just standing here and looking would not solve the problem. As such, the groups began to approach the thatched cottage carefully, thinking about their next steps after getting closer to it.
There was no obstruction to their advance. After a few moments, they were all gathered in front of the thatched cottage.
Mu Yao and those from the bloodlines of Qing and Zhao continued to group together. They watched with wary eyes while maintaining a safe distance, glancing over at Li Luo from time to time.
Li Luo simply responded to them with a friendly smile. Nonetheless, there was no way for them to let their guard down no matter how friendly he seemed, especially not after seeing his previous actions.
At this point, Zong Sha from the Heavenly Origin Ancient College let out a dry cough. He said with a smile, "Everyone, the appearance of this cottage is a little strange. It's also taken all the Origin Enlightenment Fruits. I suggest that we stop fighting amongst ourselves and think of how to resolve the problem on hand first. What do you guys think?"
Li Luo nodded. "No problem with me."
Now that he had established himself amongst the crowd, it would be wonderful if he could take a rest from the battles and recover his resonant power.
Qin Ying and Mu Yao glanced at each other. They could sense the weakened resonant power coming from Li Luo now that he had exhausted most of his energy during the battles earlier. However, he had the protection of both Li Lingjing and Li Wuyuan at the moment. Therfeore, it would likely be impossible for them to make use of this opportunity to finish him off.
Qin Yi also revealed a light smile. "What Brother Zong Sha said is absolutely right."
At this point, Zhu Zhu from the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Zhu laughed loudly. "Why don't we work together and see if we can destroy the cottage?"
Faced with her seemingly reckless suggestion, Li Luo nodded after giving it some thought. "That is indeed one way to go about it. Let's see just how durable this thatched cottage is."
If the thatched cottage was indeed so fragile, they could destroy it completely and be rid of an unknown variable. If not, they could think of other ideas.
Hearing this, the leaders from the other squads also nodded in approval after pondering for a while.
Huge waves of resonant power surged up at the next moment. They worked together and struck the simple-looking cottage fiercely.
Everyone watched without baited breath.
All of their attacks flew towards the stone wall that held up the thatched roof, and before everyone's confunded expressions, the stone wall swallowed it all up. It simply took in all their attacks and absorbed them completely like some sort of black hole.
With their power combined, they could have easily decimated an entire mountain. Yet they had not even left a single scratch on the strange structure before them. Everything had disappeared cleanly without a trace.
Many of the people watched with shocked faces.
Li Luo, on the other hand, remained calm. Clearly, he had expected such a result. He had agreed to the suggestion earlier just to confirm his suspicions.
Now he was certain that destroying the cottage was out of the question.
If he couldn't force his way through, what else could he do?
Everyone fell silent once again.
Qin Yi's eyes flickered briefly as she stared at the thatched cottage a moment later.
"Oh?!"
The silence went on for another moment before someone shouted, "The sound of the grinding pestle seems to have stopped!"
Li Luo's face changed a little when he heard this. True enough, the sound of pounding had disappeared all of a sudden. What did this mean?
At this moment, Li Luo could hear faint footsteps coming from the cottage. The footsteps were making their way towards the wooden door.
"Could it be the mysterious White Ape that was grinding away inside?" Everyone went on alert immediately as they focused upon the sounds of the footsteps.
As everyone listened intently, the footsteps came to a stop behind the wooden door. Everyone held their breath. A soft creak gradually sounded in the air.
The mottled wooden door slowly opened up.
The White Ape emerged. His eyes were filled with the vicissitudes of life. He merely swept his gaze past the people outside the cottage before he said in a slightly hoa.r.s.e voice, "The Medicine Cottage is a place of utmost importance. All stragglers should leave. Trespa.s.sers will be punished."
As the crowd listened to the faint words of the White Ape, everyone felt a chill in their hearts. They could sense a dangerous aura emanating from him.
The White Ape was definitely not an enemy they could handle.
But... the Origin Enlightenment Fruits were all inside. They were reluctant to just give up on them without a fight.
The White Ape did not care about any of them and was about to close the wooden door.
Seeing this, the crowd panicked. They felt that if they missed this chance, the wooden door might not open up again.
Just as everyone was at a loss as to what to do, a voice as soft as water suddenly said, "Senior White Ape, I have been tasked to come here and collect the medicine. May I come in, please?"
Everyone was stunned. Their eyes turned towards the origin of the voice. The person who had spoken was... Qin Yi.
Even Li Luo looked over at her in confusion. What did she mean by that? Tasked to come here and collect the medicine? By who? What medicine could they collect from here?
Besides, how did Qin Yi know about such info?
Li Luo looked over at the others from the various forces, including Li Wuyuan, Zhu Zhu, and Zong Sha. They were all just as confused. Clearly, none of them knew what was going on.
Where had Qin Yi learned this?
Most importantly... Would it work?
Wild thoughts ran through everyone's minds at lightning speed. At the same time, they all stared at the White Ape to see his reaction.
Everyone could see that the White Ape was stunned for a moment too. He turned his eyes towards Qin Yi. Inexplicable memories seemed to surface within them.
This strange state lasted for a while before he finally opened his mouth. "Oh... you're here to collect the medicine.
"You may come in, then."
Hearing these words, everyone was shocked. They all shouted out ecstatically, "Senior White Ape, we are also here to collect the medicine!"
When the White Ape heard them, he slowly responded, "You need the elder's plaque to collect the medicine. Please show it to me."
Everyone was dumbfounded when they heard this. What freaking plaque?
They all thought that they could fool the ape. However, it seemed like the White Ape was quite smart after all.
As everyone was cursing him in their hearts, Qin Yi took a few steps forward. She stretched out her jade hand, and a crimson plaque appeared in her palm. On the plaque was an ancient carving of the word "Resonant."
"Senior White Ape, here is the plaque," Qin Yi said softly with her red lips.
The White Ape raised his hand, and the crimson plaque flew over from Qin Yi's hand. He studied the plaque for a while before nodding in approval. "This is the right plaque indeed. You may enter."
Everyone was stunned when they heard this. They all started to panick. If Qin Yi was the only one who could enter, wouldn't all the treasures fall into her hands?
Li Wuyuan could not help commenting with a gloomy look on his face, "Fairy Qin, that's not quite right."
"We've all worked very hard to get here. It wouldn't be very fair if you were the only one who walked away with a reward, right?" Zhu Zhu added, clearly a little unhappy too.
The leaders from the various powers began to voice out their displeasure too. Although Qin Yi was popular amongst them, she still paled in comparison to the Origin Enlightenment Fruits.
"Tsk! Treasures are for those with affinity. Who can you blame if you didn't prepare in advance?" Qin Ying snorted coldly when he saw the rowdy crowd. At the same time, he glared at them with unfriendly eyes.
Zhu Zhu was undeterred as she yelled back, "I don't care. If you don't give me a satisfactory explanation, I won't let you enter the cottage so easily!"
The others around her echoed her sentiments too, trying to put pressure on Qin Ying and his group to force them to give in.
Despite all the commotion, there was no anger on Qin Yi's beautiful face. She simply smiled and told them, "I have already handed my plaque over. If you want to stop me, this senior White Ape may be forced to take action. I don't know if you all are willing to risk your lives to see if he will."
Hearing this, everyone's expressions changed slightly. Even Zhu Zhu frowned. She couldn't help but look over at the White Ape. He seemed to be terror incarnate. If he acted, none one present would be able to fight him off.
However, would he really act?
Everyone felt a little suspicious, but none dared step forward to give it a try.
Qin Yi continued in a soft voice, "Don't worry, everyone. I will go in and take a look first. If I am truly blessed with an opportunity, perhaps I might be able to share some."
The crowd was immediately moved when they heard this. After all, they were not even qualified to enter the thatched cottage. It would be a pleasant surprise if Qin Yi was really willing to give them a portion of the pie later.
With that, those who were previously opposing her smiled brightly. "Fairy Qin is the best!"
The faces of Zhu Zhu and Li Wuyuan changed when they saw this. The situation had turned dicey—Qin Yi was tough to handle. She had gotten the crowd over to her side with just a few sentences. Everyone was now just hoping to get lucky. However, she was the only one who would enter the cottage, so she had the final say in what treasures she would get inside. Even if she did distribute some leftovers to them later on, who would be able to question it?
But what could they do about it?
As they were scratching their heads over it, Qin Yi entered the cottage and stood behind the White Ape.
The White Ape began to close the wooden door slowly.
However, Li Luo suddenly stepped forward at this moment and shouted, "Senior White Ape, please hold on!"