txolops Chapter 19 Night Walk Through the Ruins, Gold and Silver Treasure Chest
Chapter 19 Night Walk Through the Ruins, Gold and Silver Treasure Chest
The night in Changning County is incredibly peaceful.
After last night's upheaval, which resembled a battle between gods, the people were already on edge, turning off their lights and locking their doors early.
Apart from the night watchman striking his trembling clapper, there wasn't even a stray dog to be seen on the street.
The Black Dragon Gang's headquarters was reduced to scorched earth.
The broken walls and ruins cast menacing shadows under the moonlight, and occasionally, embers crackled and popped in the depths of the ruins, sending out a few desolate sparks.
A dark figure blended into the ruins like a shadow.
Gu Yan wore an inconspicuous night outfit, a ghost paper mask on his face, and moved with light, silent steps.
Although Li Hu remembered that there were no traps in this place, he was still cautious and would release a few paper mice to scout ahead before taking each step.
After all, better safe than sorry, and he didn't want to be his own coffin.
Guided by his memory, he bypassed the collapsed main hall and arrived at the ruins of an inconspicuous side hall in the backyard.
This place was originally Li Hu's private residence, but now it has been half-collapsed by the falling roof beams.
It's right below here.
Gu Yan looked around and, after confirming that no one was around, gently patted the basket on his back.
"Come out and work."
A gust of cold wind swept by, and the imposing Yin Iron Rakshasa appeared out of thin air.
This puppet, now infused with the Yin Sha Yuan Dan, is thriving in the night.
It didn't even need to speak; it simply followed the thought and walked heavily toward the ruins.
"rise."
Gu Yan silently recited in his heart.
The Yin Iron Rakshasa stretched out its massive, metallic hands, grabbed a broken roof beam weighing hundreds of kilograms, and with perfect coordination of its waist and stance, lifted it up and gently placed it aside.
It didn't make a loud noise.
This is the advantage of having a strongman puppet. If it were Gu Yan himself, although he could move it, he could never control the force so effortlessly and silently.
After clearing away the surface rubble, the ground underneath, paved with bluestone slabs, was revealed.
Gu Yan stepped forward, squatted down, and groped around in the crack of the third bluestone slab for a while. Sure enough, he found a hidden pull ring.
Pull hard.
"Click-clack".
With a clanging sound, the bluestone slab slowly moved aside, revealing a dark hole.
A musty, musty smell mixed with the distinctive metallic odor of gold and silver wafted over.
Gu Yan didn't rush down. Instead, he threw in a burning talisman and used the firelight to see the situation below. After confirming that there were no ambushes or poison gas, he went down the stone steps.
The secret room wasn't big, only about ten square meters.
But when Gu Yan lit the oil lamp on the wall, the dim light was dazzlingly reflected by the glittering jewelry in the room.
Three large mahogany chests were neatly stacked in the corner.
Gu Yan walked over and opened them one by one.
The first box was full of silver.
The official silver ingots, each weighing fifty taels, were neatly stacked, and roughly estimated, there were at least two thousand taels.
The second box contained various jewelry items, including a jade ruyi (a type of scepter), a gold hairpin, and a pearl necklace.
Most of this was ill-gotten gains plundered by the Black Dragon Gang. Although it was difficult to convert it into cash directly, it would be a huge sum of money if it were taken to the black market in the neighboring county.
The third box is the lightest.
Gu Yan opened it and saw several account books, a palm-sized black scale, and a yellowed ancient book inside.
He first picked up the ancient book, the cover of which read "The Concealing Breath Turtle and Snake Technique".
Gu Yan's eyes lit up, and he began to read through the pages.
This is not an offensive martial art, but an extremely unorthodox auxiliary technique.
Practicing this skill can significantly reduce heart rate and breathing rate, and conserve the body's Qi and blood. When practiced to a high level, one can even appear as a dead person, thus concealing the perception of experts.
This is practically a divine skill tailor-made for someone like him who operates behind the scenes.
With this, even if I face a powerful figure like the Demon Suppression Division, as long as I don't make a move, they will have a hard time seeing through my true strength.
"Good stuff, I'll take it."
Gu Yan tucked the manual into his pocket and then picked up the black scale.
It feels icy cold to the touch, with natural patterns on its surface, and it exudes a faint sense of awe.
[Rare material detected: Black Dragon's Reverse Scale (fragment).]
[Uses: Can be used to craft high-level defensive magical artifacts, or as a breastplate for top-tier puppets.]
So that's where the Black Dragon Gang got its name.
The founder of this gang probably really did see dragon-like monsters.
Without hesitation, Gu Yan stuffed all the valuables into the large sack he had prepared beforehand.
Two thousand taels of silver is too heavy; I can't take it all with me.
Gu Yan only took the few hundred taels of gold bars and jewelry, as well as the secret manual and scales.
He took only a small portion of the remaining silver.
One should not be too greedy, for greed makes it difficult to keep up.
After loading was complete, Gu Yan did not rush to leave.
He took out some loose silver and copper coins from his pocket and scattered them on the ground. He also deliberately messed up the box to create the illusion that many people had hurriedly robbed it.
Finally, he carved a few large, crooked characters on the wall with a knife:
"The murderer is none other than the Flowery Monk Lu Da!"
Since the Shen family and the government both like to shift the blame to that unfortunate wanted criminal, he doesn't mind helping Lu Da gain more fame.
After finishing all this, Gu Yan dusted off his hands and directed Yin Tie Luosha to carry the two heavy sacks.
The man and his puppet left the secret chamber silently, just as they had come.
Before leaving, Gu Yan carefully pressed the huge roof beam back above the opening and sprinkled some old ash on it to cover up the traces of moving it.
Unless someone possesses Li Hu's memories like him, even if you turn this ruin upside down, you wouldn't realize that the space underneath has been hollowed out.
When I returned to the paper-making shop, it was still dark.
Gu Yan hid the spoils in the deepest part of the cellar, and then fed Yin Tie Luo Sha some iron sand and pig's blood as a reward before returning to his bedroom.
He lay in bed, but couldn't fall asleep.
He took out the book "The Concealing Breath Turtle-Snake Technique" and began to read it by the dim candlelight.
The panel appears.
[Martial Arts Skill Discovered: Turtle-Snake Technique of Concealing Breath (Not Yet Mastered)]
[Do you wish to consume 50 experience points to begin?]
Yes.
Gu Yan did not hesitate.
A cool breeze swept through his body, and his heart, which had been racing from his unexpected windfall, gradually calmed down.
His breathing became long and shallow, like that of an old tortoise in hibernation.
Although his internal energy was still surging, to outsiders he looked like an ordinary person, or even weaker than an ordinary person.
That's right.
Gu Yan closed his eyes with satisfaction.
In this perilous world, those who flaunt their talents often die the fastest.
Only someone like him, who possesses substantial wealth and exceptional skills, yet is content to remain an inconspicuous small business owner in the marketplace, can live a long and comfortable life.
It's almost dawn.
A new day begins, and the paper-making shop is about to open for business again.
This time, however, Gu Yan's confidence was even stronger than the snowstorm that blanketed the city.