Chapter 16 The Scheming Disciple and the Charming Master 16

Chapter 16: The Scheming Disciple and His Alluring Master 16

"What if the treasure is in the center of the lake? What if it's at the bottom of the lake..."

Among the group, only Lin Huaiqing and Mu Yunting were good swimmers.

Yu'er couldn't swim at all, and Qin Du was pretty terrible at swimming.

After all, most of the demon clan's territory was barren wilderness—rivers were scarce, let alone any chance to swim.

"Well, since we're here, we might as well go down and check it out."

Mu Yunting and Lin Huaiqing were going to go into the water regardless. Yu'er, unable to swim, decided to stay on shore.

As for Qin Du, he was now in a bind.

He didn't know how to hold his breath, and Lin Huaiqing hadn't had time to teach him any water-repelling spells.

Yu'er, still on shore, extended her hand. In her palm lay a round, shiny water-repelling pearl.

"Here! Don't forget to return it when you're done."

"How do you have that? Isn't that against the rules?"

"Don't worry—all the female cultivators in our Xianyue Sect wear hairpins decorated with water-repelling pearls. Since they're standard-issue items from the sect, they don't count as breaking the rules."

Lin Huaiqing took a closer look and realized that Yu'er had actually yanked the pearl straight off her hairpin.

This girl was surprisingly strong.

Qin Du asked, "Since you have such a treasure, why aren't you going?"

Yu'er said half-heartedly, "I'm hopeless in the water—even with the water-repelling pearl, I wouldn't be much help down there. Once you kill the demon beast, just give me a cut of the points."

"Deal!" Qin Du agreed readily. He popped the glass-marble-sized pearl into his mouth and dove straight in with a splash.

Lin Huaiqing and Mu Yunting followed right behind.

The lake water was clear, yet unexpectedly deep. The further they swam toward the center, the darker the water below them became.

After much effort, the three finally reached the bottom—only to find that the path beneath their feet continued downward.

They walked for who knows how long, until faint glimmers of light appeared in the depths of the lake.

As the three drew closer, they saw something astonishing: embedded in a massive boulder at the center of the lakebed was a rusty spirit sword.

Except for the oblivious Qin Du, both Lin Huaiqing and Mu Yunting felt their hearts skip a beat.

Wasn't this the life-bound spirit sword they had been searching for?

But the Qingyu Sword had yet to choose a master. It looked as though it had been abandoned here for a long time—any ordinary person passing by would never realize it was a top-tier divine artifact.

Mu Yunting stepped forward excitedly, ready to pull his life-bound spirit sword from the boulder.

But the moment his hand touched the hilt, a whirlpool burst forth from the lakebed.

With the boulder at its center, the vortex grew larger and the currents swifter. Mu Yunting gripped the sword hilt tightly, barely holding on and avoiding being swept away.

But Lin Huaiqing and Qin Du, with nothing to hold onto, were immediately sucked into the whirlpool.

It was like being thrown into a giant spin-dryer, tumbling over and over along the lakebed.

As luck would have it, Qin Du's back slammed hard into the boulder, and the water-repelling pearl in his mouth was knocked flying.

Unable to breathe, Qin Du was instantly swept away to a different spot.

Seeing this, Lin Huaiqing spared a glance at Mu Yunting, who was still safe, then turned and swam desperately in the direction Qin Du had been carried off.

After all, Mu Yunting was the protagonist—he had plot armor. This kind of thing was nothing for him.

In contrast, Qin Du, who had lost his water-repelling pearl, was in far more danger.

The light at the lakebed was faint, and it was pitch dark all around. Lin Huaiqing could only rely on instinct to find Qin Du.

The whirlpool's pull grew stronger, and even using his spiritual energy to resist had little effect.

So Lin Huaiqing had no choice but to draw the iron sword strapped to his back and plunge it into the muddy lakebed.

He pushed forward who knows how many meters until, miraculously, he spotted Qin Du's figure tangled in a mess of waterweed.

Qin Du's handsome face was flushed bright red, almost purple, and his feet were tightly bound by the weeds.

It seemed he had been struggling for a long time—his movements had grown sluggish, and he was severely oxygen-deprived, losing consciousness.

Seeing this, Lin Huaiqing rushed forward, used his iron sword to cut through the weeds wrapped around Qin Du's feet, and caught him in his arms.

Realizing Qin Du had lost consciousness, Lin Huaiqing anxiously patted his face and called his name via a sound-transmission technique.

"Xiaodu! Xiaodu!"

He called several times, but there was no response.

Lin Huaiqing could only hold up Qin Du with one arm while swimming upward with the other.

The whirlpool in the lake had yet to settle, and by the time the two made it back to shore, the time it takes to burn an incense stick had passed.

Lin Huaiqing used every ounce of strength he had to hoist Qin Du onto the bank.

Yu'er, who had been waiting on the shore, came running over.

"What happened to him?! Why are you two back? Where's Mu Yunting?"

The girl fired off three rapid questions in a row.

Lin Huaiqing had no time to answer her one by one.

The way Qin Du looked now—if he didn't clear the water from his airway, something bad was going to happen.

Right! CPR!

Following the method he'd seen in short videos before, he first checked Qin Du's mouth for anything blocking his airway.

Then he found the right spot for chest compressions and pressed quickly.

After a while, there was still no response.

What else was there? Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation!

Lin Huaiqing didn't think twice—he leaned in and planted a kiss right on Qin Du's lips.

Maybe his version of first aid actually worked, because Qin Du slowly opened his eyes.

"Master... Master?"

Lin Huaiqing: "?!"

How the heck did he recognize him?!

"You're awake... are you okay?" Lin Huaiqing acted like he hadn't heard, taking a second to wipe the sweat off his face.

Qin Du was just as confused. When he'd passed out from holding his breath, he clearly heard his master calling him.

Why was he on the shore the second he opened his eyes?

Seeing that Qin Du was fine, just a little dazed from getting waterlogged, Lin Huaiqing finally felt relieved.

"He's fine now, Fellow Cultivator Zhao. Have you seen Mu Yunting? He's still underwater!" Yu'er, who was nearby, asked once she saw Qin Du was okay.

Lin Huaiqing slapped his forehead in a panic.

How could he forget the male lead?!

This was a disaster!

He'd been so focused on saving the villain that the male lead was still soaking at the bottom of the lake!

So, barely catching his breath, he dove right back into the lake without a second thought.

The moment he hit the water, he spotted Mu Yunting floating near the middle of the lake, waving at him.

"Mu Yunting! Are you alright!" Yu'er shouted from the shore.

A golden flash lit up the distance, and Mu Yunting soared from the lake to the shore on his sword.

Hopping off his spirit sword, Mu Yunting was soaked to the bone but glowing with energy.

He'd finally gotten his life-bound spirit sword back.

At the same time, the system in Lin Huaiqing's head chimed in right on cue.

"Ding-dong! Congrats, host! You've helped the male lead secure a key item: Qingyu Sword. Male lead: attack +1000, favorability +10, pleasure +50. World progress: 50%."

Lin Huaiqing hadn't realized the Qingyu Sword meant that much to the male lead, which is why the progress jumped so high.

"Is this the treasure? Fellow Daoist Mu, can I take a look?"

Yu'er took the spirit sword carefully, and it was obvious the Qingyu Sword didn't resist her touch.

Lin Huaiqing nodded, feeling quite pleased.

Great, now both the male lead's love life and his career were making big strides.

Everyone was thrilled, except for Qin Du, who was off to the side, deep in thought.

Could that voice he'd heard at the bottom of the lake have just been his imagination?