Chapter 117: Gluttony Brings Trouble

"No way? Is there really something wrong here?"

Gu Weiyu paused in her tracks and hurriedly reached out to grab Little Bud. "Quick, we have to get out of here!"

Little Bud was not about to listen. She immediately began to struggle violently. "No! I still want to eat..."

Gu Weiyu had not expected such a fierce reaction, and caught off guard, she let the little one slip from her grasp. In a heartbeat, the tiny creature dove into the soil and vanished without a trace.

Gu Weiyu looked down at her empty right hand, her anger rising to the point of steam coming out of her ears. This promise-breaking little rascal! Yet, despite her fury, what could she do? She and Little Bud were bound by a Great Virtue Pact; by all reason and sentiment, she could not just abandon the little one.

"Little Bud, come here, I'll go with you!" Gu Weiyu coaxed, softening her voice.

"No!" Little Bud refused flatly, terrified of being caught by Gu Weiyu again.

Gu Weiyu almost ground her teeth in frustration. The little thing was cunning and sharp; she wouldn't fall for it at all! Sighing, she resigned herself to her fate and turned back.

The underground cavern was deep and bottomless, and the frequent tremors made Gu Weiyu walk with the utmost caution, as if treading on thin ice. Every second was spent in a state of sheer terror.

"Little Bud, I really am leaving now!" Gu Weiyu couldn't help but repeat every few seconds. Unfortunately, Little Bud was incredibly stubborn, and every time, her reply was a resolute "No!"

Just as Gu Weiyu was on the verge of a breakdown, a brilliant golden light suddenly flared before her eyes. She instinctively covered her face, and when she regained her vision, she found herself standing beside an underground river.

The water shimmered with a golden glow. When Gu Weiyu probed it with her spiritual sense, she discovered that the light was coming from oval-shaped stones at the bottom of the river. Little Bud was currently hugging one of these glowing stones, munching away happily.

Gu Weiyu stared speechlessly at the little glutton soaking in the water, her spiritual sense continuing to probe deeper into the underground river. She was curious as to why the stones glowed, and her senses stretched further forward.

Just as she was examining the riverbed, the ground beneath her feet shook again. Gu Weiyu steadied herself, thinking it would be best to leave as soon as possible. She tried to negotiate with Little Bud: "Bud, I'll help you move more of these stones into my storage ring, so you can take them out whenever you want to eat, okay?"

Little Bud bobbed her tender sprout in agreement. "Okay, okay!"

Gu Weiyu let out a sigh of relief. "Then we'll leave once I've packed them up, alright?"

"Hmm—" Little Bud pondered for a moment before agreeing.

Seeing the little one's consent, Gu Weiyu busied herself packing hundreds of the stones into her storage ring. As she gathered them, she noticed that the stones closer to the front were softer and contained a much richer golden luster. She found it quite puzzling; who would have thought these stones varied in hardness?

*Plop.*

*Plop.*

A splashing sound came from not far ahead. Gu Weiyu’s curiosity piqued, and she extended her spiritual sense to see dozens more golden stones appearing in the water, with more still falling from above.

Gu Weiyu’s spiritual sense followed the trajectory of the falling stones and saw them emerging from a dark, gaping hole. Even more astonishing was that the hole seemed to contract rhythmically, and with every contraction, several more stones would drop down. Gu Weiyu watched in stunned silence; this place was truly bizarre!

Not long after, the stones stopped falling. Just as she was about to retract her gaze, the black hole vanished. Through the cavern ceiling, she caught a glimpse of something resembling scales.

In a flash of realization, it hit her:

This, this, this...

Could she and Little Bud have stumbled into the nest of a giant monster? And were those glowing golden stones in the underground river actually the creature's excrement—its droppings?

Thinking of how some of those "stones" had been soft and squishy while others were hard, Gu Weiyu felt her theory was likely close to the truth.

Oh, heavens!

The mere thought that she had just stuffed a pile of dung into her storage ring made her stomach churn. Could she take it back now? Could she throw all those "stones" away?!

As Gu Weiyu stood there, paralyzed by indecision, another "earth-shaking" tremor rocked the ceiling of the cavern. Sand and rocks rained down, accompanied by a faint, low, guttural roar from above.

Gu Weiyu couldn't help but think: Perhaps... possibly... likely... the giant beast had realized some human "little pest" was peeping at its hindquarters and felt offended.

"Little Bud, I've already gotten you plenty of these, let's go, okay?" Gu Weiyu crouched down and whispered to Little Bud.

"Ah Yu, there's more over there, Little Bud wants them all!" Little Bud pointed her tender leaves toward the pile of "stones" that had just been excreted.

Gu Weiyu felt the veins in her forehead throbbing. She hadn't minded when she didn't know what they were, but now... she could only laugh bitterly. She felt she had been too indulgent with Little Bud, spoiling her until she didn't know the gravity of the situation.

Her chest heaving, she turned and began to walk away on her own.

"Ah Yu—" Seeing that Gu Weiyu was truly leaving, Little Bud panicked. She immediately let go of the stone she was "hugging," and her vines stretched out toward Gu Weiyu’s calf. "Ah Yu, don't go!"

Gu Weiyu continued walking, as if she didn't feel the tugging at all. This time, she was determined to teach Little Bud a lesson!

As the two of them pulled at each other, the cavern ceiling shook again, the tremors growing more violent by the second. Gu Weiyu felt a surge of anxiety and gripped the vine harder, trying to drag the little one away by force.

"No—no—" Little Bud struggled violently again.

But this time, Gu Weiyu was prepared. She held onto Little Bud tightly, quickening her pace to escape.

"ROAR—"

A deafening boom echoed through the cavern, a massive tremor as if the earth itself were turning over. The ground beneath her feet shattered into deep fissures.

Gu Weiyu stumbled, losing her balance and falling backward.

"Ah Yu!"

Little Bud’s vines wrapped tightly around Gu Weiyu, while the other end latched onto the rock wall, barely hanging onto the edge of the chasm. Gu Weiyu was left dangling in mid-air, swaying like the pendulum of an antique clock.

Just inches beneath her, heat steamed upward from the rift. Gu Weiyu looked down tremblingly and broke into a cold sweat:

A river of molten magma was surging and boiling below, as if the earth had opened its massive maw, waiting to be fed...