The sky had already darkened.
There was no sound of frogs in the lotus fields.
The ancient sword hung quietly under the bridge.
Lu Fei looked at the mirror-like river and dived in headfirst.
The water rippled.
His tall figure, like a flexible fish, disappeared instantly into the water.
Huzi and the small black dog crouched on the shore, their heads full of question marks.
"It's rare to see the boss so anxious, Hei. Do you think he found a treasure in the water?"
"Woof?"
A man and a dog, with four curious eyes, stared at the gradually calming river.
Underwater.
Lu Fei walked freely on the riverbed as if he were on land.
Thanks to the dragon scales, even in the dark, he could see clearly underwater.
"Hmm? What's this?"
After taking a few steps, he felt an uncomfortable sensation under his foot, as if he had stepped on something hard. He looked down.
Something seemed to be buried in the thick mud.
He took a closer look, and his eyebrows twitched slightly.
It was vaguely a coffin wrapped in chains, exuding a chilling and grim aura.
"It wasn't here during the day. It suddenly appeared; could it be because of the darkness? I wonder if the Dragon Slaying Sword is suppressing this coffin."
Lu Fei didn't pay attention to the coffin and gently moved around it.
In a thick patch of aquatic grass, he skillfully found the Golden Toad Cave.
The cave entrance was still open.
Clearly, the lame golden toad was waiting for him.
There's a chance!
Lu Fei felt a surge of joy in his heart as he entered the pitch-black cave opening.
Opening his eyes, he found himself already inside the cave. He quickly walked toward the golden and radiant bottom of the cave.
However, after a few steps, he suddenly stopped. After a moment's thought, he put away the golden thread and replaced it with an inconspicuous small stone.
Then, he composed his expression and slowly walked into the golden light.
"Lord Golden Toad, I have kept you waiting."
Lu Fei first bowed to the stone statue of the Golden Toad, then raised his eyes to look at the treasure chest behind it.
The chest was still tightly locked.
"Lord Golden Toad, how about exchanging this treasure for that key?"
Lu Fei smiled and opened his palm, revealing the small stone.
"This is a rare treasure. It has been worshipped in the temple, imbued with the power of incense offerings, and it is most suitable for your kind of spirit beast's cultivation."
Saying this, he placed the small stone in front of the Golden Toad with a smile.
The stone eyeballs of the Golden Toad rolled around, examining the small stone for a while, then quickly retracted, seemingly unimpressed.
"Is this not acceptable?"
Lu Fei's eyes widened, revealing a shocked expression, as he picked up a small stone from the ground.
Hesitating for a moment, wincing in pain, he then took out a pitch-black beast horn.
"This should do, right?"
He placed the beast horn in front of the Golden Toad.
"This is a horn from atop a flood dragon's head! You must surely know what a flood dragon is! This was also a flood dragon that was about to become a true dragon. It is said that the essence of the flood dragon's cultivation is all in this beast horn."
"Once the main beast horn transforms into a dragon horn, it truly ascends to become a dragon."
Lu Fei's eyes were filled with reluctance.
The Golden Toad's stony eyes rolled, staring at the black flood dragon's horn over and over, seemingly somewhat tempted.
However, after a moment of hesitation, it retracted its gaze.
"This is still not enough?"
Lu Fei was greatly startled.
"Lord Jin Chan, these are all rare treasures of the world. You shouldn't be too greedy. If you don't like them, I don't necessarily need the key either."
He shook his head, picked up the dragon horn, and made a show of leaving.
However, after just a few steps, a croaking sound came from behind.
"What is it?"
Lu Fei took two more steps forward before slowly turning back.
Jin Chan's stone eyes watched him, and with a click, the treasure chest on its back opened, instantly illuminating the entire cave with a golden light.
"Are you willing to trade now?"
Lu Fei squinted his eyes and reluctantly walked back.
"Do you want the willpower stone or the dragon's horn?"
The toad didn't move, its stone eyes fixed on Lu Fei.
"What do you mean, do you want it or not?"
Lu Fei pretended to be confused.
This type of toad has an extraordinary sensitivity to treasures. It definitely knew that Lu Fei had something even better on him, but Lu Fei couldn't let it get its hands on it so easily.
Croak!
A small toad jumped out from behind the statue and hopped onto Lu Fei's shoulder.
"Eh, you're not dead?"
Looking at the little toad that had come back to life, Lu Fei was both surprised and delighted.
This was no act.
He genuinely felt happy for the little creature.
It's quite difficult for an animal to cultivate spirituality. If it truly perishes, it is indeed a pity.
The little golden toad croaked twice, stretching out one of its paws and pointing at Lu Fei's pocket.
"Oh no! I can't give this to you!"
Lu Fei looked down and saw a corner of the golden thread peeking out of his pocket. He was greatly surprised and quickly covered it with his hand.
"No way! This is my most precious treasure. I won't trade it. I don't want the key anymore!"
He quickly put away the wishing stone and the dragon horn, then turned to leave.
Croak! Croak!
The little golden toad became anxious and hastily jumped into the treasure chest, taking out the jade key and chasing after Lu Fei.
It held the key up with both paws, offering it to him.
"No, there's no room for discussion! The golden spinning thread is my most cherished treasure. What would I do if I gave it to you?"
Lu Fei shook his head repeatedly.
Ribbit!
Little Golden Toad blinked its small eyes, filled with pleading.
"Don't try this on me..."
Lu Fei showed a look of reluctance, hesitated for a moment, and then relented.
"This is called Golden Silk, impervious to water and fire, and resistant to blades and bullets... This will cost extra. If you really want to trade, one key won't be enough."
Upon hearing this, the Little Golden Toad jumped up excitedly, stuffed the jade key into Lu Fei's hand, and then hopped back into the treasure chest, rummaging around inside.
Seemingly not finding anything satisfactory, it croaked at the limping golden toad statue twice more.
The stone eyes of the limping golden toad seemed to reveal a hint of helplessness.
After a few seconds, under the urging of the Little Golden Toad, the stone mouth opened and spat out a copper coin.
The little toad held the copper coin, hopped back in front of Lu Fei, and enthusiastically handed the coin to him.
"Alright, seeing how adorable you are, let's make the trade then."
Lu Fei first felt a pang of regret, then reluctantly accepted the copper coin, and handed over the small bundle of golden silk to the little toad.
Ribbit! Ribbit!
Holding the golden silk, the little toad jumped up and down excitedly.
"The deal is done, no backing out!"
Lu Fei suppressed his smile, quickly put away the jade key and the copper coin, bowed to the stone toad statue, and hurried out.
"Farewell, both of you!"
The stone statue remained stern-faced.
But the little toad happily saw Lu Fei off from the cave.
Lu Fei got out of the water, and it still had a pair of small eyes poking out, watching Lu Fei leave.
"Boss, is there something valuable in the river?"
On the way back, Hu Zi couldn't hold it in any longer. Gripping the steering wheel, he asked the question.
"Yes."
Lu Fei took out the copper coin and gave a big smile.
"Is this a copper coin?" Hu Zi looked at it a few times, not quite understanding.
This copper coin was different from the hungry ghost money he had encountered before. The hungry ghost money was in the shape of an ancient copper coin, looking rather ominous.
But this copper coin had no trace of any dynasty; it only had the single character 'toad' on it. Just looking at it made one feel comfortable.