Taking the Treasure

Han Sen climbed the pine tree, but still couldn't see Bao'er.

"Bao'er, where are you?" Han Sen shouted.

"Here." Bao'er's head popped out from behind a metaphysical wall the tree brushed up against.

Seeing just her head, looking at him from outside what appeared to be a stone wall, he was perplexed, to say the least. He reached over with his arm and tried to touch the same wall Bao'er's head was sticking out from, and much to his surprise, it went right through. It was an illusion.

The wall looked rock-solid, but that was only in appearance. There was nothing physical there, at all.

"Daddy, come!" Bao'er said.

Han Sen pulled his whole body through, and when he looked up, he noticed he was in a large cave. Looking back, he could see the pine tree he had climbed, and the rest of the environment. It was like a one-way mirror of sorts.

The cave didn't seem like anything special, though. So, what might have been hidden there was not immediately apparent. There were plenty of stalactites, but that was it, in terms of decoration.

Bao'er sat upon a rock, gnawing on purple mushrooms.

Han Sen saw there were many other such mushrooms near the rock she sat on, and he thought they looked delicious.

But he knew the more colorful a mushroom was, the more poisonous it could be. Back in the world of the Alliance, he wouldn't have dared to eat one.

Seeing Bao'er happily munching away, though, he knew they couldn't have all been bad. So, he decided to try one.

He picked one up and sunk his teeth into its moist cap. Then, he ate it all. He immediately felt really cool, as a chill ran up and down his body.

"Sacred-Geno Point +1."

That came as quite the surprise. He was more than happy, discovering the mushrooms there could provide him sacred-blood geno points.

He and Bao'er then stayed there for a while, merrily chomping on as many mushrooms as they could. Over and over, the announcements popped for Han Sen.

But after downing the fifth mushroom, the announcements stopped. He couldn't receive any more sacred geno points off them.

Bao'er continued to eat as many as she could, though. After a while, she sat back and burped. She was done, too.

Han Sen decided to poke about the cave some more. It seemed rather deep, and there could be plenty of spelunking to do before he was done exploring it all.

"Might I be able to enter the shelter from here?" Han Sen wondered to himself.

If the entrance was as well-hidden as this cave was, he imagined he would never find a way in.

He'd probably have to inspect every inch of the mountain to find another not-a-wall wall that may have existed, just like the one that had led him there. Such a task would take years.

The idea of continuing to explore this cave, though, concerned Han Sen. It felt as if he could no longer make use of Dongxuan Aura.

He tried using it and felt its radius shrink down to one meter. Then, nothing. He couldn't use it at all anymore.

That must have been why he could not sense the boons the mushrooms would have provided, and only decided to eat them upon seeing Bao'er enjoy them.

"Bao'er, come on. We should go deeper," Han Sen said, and so off they went.

The cave was fairly straight, without any branching pathways. The duo walked for hours, and still, there was no end in sight.

The only remarkable thing to occur on that long travel was stumbling across another variety of mushrooms.

Bao'er was full, though, so she was not interested in eating them. Han Sen ate one, but found out they did nothing. There was no point increase.

So, he summoned Meowth and Golden Growler and got them to eat the mushrooms. He had continued feeding them waterdrops for quite some time, but it had been a while since the drops had influenced their growth. No longer did the waterdrops make them stronger.

After some more travel, Han Sen saw a light at the end of the tunnel. He was excited to see what might be ahead, but he doubted he'd find the entrance to Phoenix Shelter through that dingy cavern.

When he exited the cave, he was back outside. Strangely, though, there were no more peaks to climb. He had emerged on the absolute mountaintop.

When he looked down, the mountains looked like large lotus flowers. Every petal was one of the peaks. It was no wonder it had taken him a long time to reach the highest point.

Upon this main peak, there was a big tree. It had to be at least a hundred meters tall, but it was dead, dried up like charcoal. It was, however, hollow.

Also of note, the tree appeared to have been chopped in half. It must have been cut by some fearsome weapon.

"I wonder what sort of weapon would be able to cut through this tree?" Han Sen asked himself, as he examined the tree.

After noticing the tree was hollow, Han Sen decided to check it out. The space inside was about as wide as a basketball court.

Looking inside, Han Sen noticed a golden feather inside the trunk. It was there in plain sight.

The two-meter-long feather was shining gold, much like starlight. It was hot, too, even for Han Sen who was exceptionally talented when it came to dealing with fire.

It felt like metal when Han Sen touched it. And he tried lifting the feather by its hard tip.

Unfortunately, despite using all his strength, he could not move it. It was frighteningly heavy.