Spirit Hall's Raid Turned Up Nothing

Late the following night, at the rocky hill in Suotuo City's western outskirts.

During the hundred-breath window while the outer sentries changed shifts, a dark figure slid down the rock face into the hollow and silently made his way to the stone door of a previous dynasty Soul Master's hidden trove.

Qin Zhaoye pulled a note written in charcoal from his robes and checked the time by moonlight.

"Three quarters past midnight. The mechanism's spring resets, right on the mark."

Following the method recorded in the Suotuo City Hundred-Year Historical Materials Pack, he pressed the third gray brick to the left of the stone door three times, then twisted it half a turn to the right.

A soft click came from the mechanism inside, and the heavy door slid inward, opening a gap three feet wide.

Qin Zhaoye slipped into the stone chamber and surveyed its interior by the faint golden glow of the Wordless Ancient Scroll.

Two wooden chests with copper locks sat on the stone platform in the center, still bearing the previous dynasty's wax seals.

He stepped forward, held two fingers together like a blade, and struck the copper locks with the full force of his level-20 Soul Power. Both snapped at once.

He lifted the lid of the chest on the left. Several small pieces of Soul Bone lay neatly arranged on black velvet, giving off a faint glow. The chest on the right contained a thick stack of well-preserved cultivation technique fragments.

"One chest of small Soul Bone pieces, one chest of technique fragments. The Suotuo Branch Hall spent half a month scouting the place and saved me the trouble of finding my way."

Qin Zhaoye packed all the goods from both chests into a coarse cloth sack he had brought, closed the empty lids as they had been, and even swept the loose dust on the floor smooth with the hem of his robe.

As he backed toward the chamber's exit, his gaze stopped on a corner of the rock wall outside the door.

Spirit Hall had left a secret mark there to guide the raid. Besides indicating the chamber's location, a line of small characters had been marked beneath it in chalk, putting a family of herb gatherers at the foot of the hill on the list of people to be taken in for questioning the next day.

The materials pack had mentioned that the herb gatherers' ancestors had merely repaired a gravestone for this Soul Master of the previous dynasty. They knew nothing about the hidden trove, but in the original history, they had been shackled and taken away on the day of the raid as accomplices guarding it.

"It's no trouble. Your lives weren't meant to end here."

Qin Zhaoye drew the short blade at his waist and scraped the herb-gathering family's name and mark clean off the rock wall in a few strokes. After rubbing mud and moss over the blade marks, he vanished into the night in a few bounds.

Early the next morning, the rocky hill in the western outskirts was surrounded so tightly that not even water could have leaked through.

Li Chuan, captain of the enforcement team at Spirit Hall Suotuo Branch Hall and a level-35 Soul Tyrant, strode into the stone chamber with a hand on his saber and said:

"The person in charge gave orders. This batch of relics from the previous dynasty must be in the storeroom before noon today!"

Li Chuan walked onto the stone platform himself and reached out to fling open the lid of the wooden chest on the left.

The chest was empty. Apart from the black velvet lining the bottom, not so much as a hair remained.

Li Chuan's expression changed abruptly. He swung his hand back and slapped open the other chest.

It was empty too!

"Where are the things?!" Li Chuan's voice cracked. "We watched this previous dynasty trove for half a month, and all that's left for me is two empty chests?!"

The old storeroom clerk had followed behind, ready to count and catalog the contents. Hearing this, he shrank back toward the stone door, his neck nearly disappearing into his collar. He didn't dare breathe loudly.

Bang! Li Chuan kicked the empty chest in front of him over. The rotten wood struck the stone wall and burst into splinters across the floor.

"The stone door wasn't broken, and the wax seals were just opened!" Li Chuan ground his teeth until they creaked.

"Someone must have beaten us here and intercepted the goods! Back to the city! Investigate every Soul Master whose origins are unclear or whose cultivation has recently shot up, one by one! If this blame lands on us for good, none of us will get off lightly!"

While Li Chuan searched the whole hill for the culprit, what was Qin Zhaoye doing? In his A-grade private room at Perching Swan Academy, he had just locked the goods from both chests in a hidden compartment beneath his bed when the Wordless Ancient Scroll on his table trembled.

A golden frame popped up in the group.

[Historical deviation announcement · footnote level] The footnote in the Official History of the First Era: Suotuo Dossier originally stated: "Spirit Hall Suotuo Branch Hall raided a previous dynasty Soul Master's hidden trove in the western outskirts, obtaining one chest of small Soul Bone pieces and one chest of technique fragments, which were placed in the branch storeroom." Current status: deviated. The branch enforcement team's raid came up empty, and the hidden trove's contents have vanished. This footnote has been marked for revision.

[Golden notice: a footnote-level historical deviation has been confirmed. The group owner has received 300 conversation points.]

The trio from later generations were in the group waiting to see what Bibi Dong would do. As soon as the announcement popped up, all three saw it.

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Pfft! She was putting on airs as the Pope in the group just the night before last, and today someone robbed Spirit Hall's own backyard?]

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: They raided the place and came away with two empty chests? Hahahahaha, that Suotuo Branch Hall enforcement team must have gone to the western outskirts for a spring outing!]

[The Bystander Sees Clearly: Look at the location. Suotuo City again.]

[The Bystander Sees Clearly: The Suotuo Dossier only turned gray the day before yesterday because of that Qin Zhaoye, and today someone snatched the prize out from under Spirit Hall's nose. So eight times out of ten, it was the same group.]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: That makes sense! I'm starting to think this guy has a heavenly eye. He even knows exactly which day Spirit Hall is going to raid a place!]

The people from later generations built a melon-eating detective thread in the group, piling speculation upon speculation. Qin Zhaoye grinned as he read, took a sip of hot tea, then leisurely typed out a line.

[Group owner: Spirit Hall's storeroom accounts have always been a sieve. For every chest lost outside, three rot away inside.]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: That sounds familiar, group owner! I just happened to flip through the Official History of the First Era, and those old affairs of Spirit Hall's upper ranks are the real show!]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Let me start with a bit of historical research. The previous Pope, Qian Xunji, died suddenly back then, and the official history glossed over it in a single sentence. But the disputed unofficial accounts? They're full of question marks. And the Pope who succeeded him isn't on the same side as the Qian Family at all!]

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: Hiss, there's a story like that behind it? @Bibi Dong, come out and say something! Didn't you say you'd remember us the night before last?]

[The Bystander Sees Clearly: Stop calling her. The message where you tagged her shows as read; she just isn't replying.]

In the Pope's Palace in Spirit City, Bibi Dong sat upright on the dais, staring coldly at the name "Qian Xunji" as it flashed across the screen.

Her fingertips rapped hard against the throne's armrest. She opened the message box, then closed it again, ultimately sending not a single word.

She had suffered enough from having her messages throttled and being muted the night before last, and she had understood: what use was it to get angry and flood the chat in front of these weirdos? Apart from generating buzz for that group owner and his mystifying tricks, it was no use at all.

Though she remained silent, the Group Hub had no intention of letting the excitement pass and immediately displayed another golden frame.

[Group Hub: An undercurrent has been detected shifting in the First Era timeline. Historical wager opened. Betting question: "Will Bibi Dong take action in the real world to investigate the group owner?"]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: A new betting pool! His Holiness the Pope is playing dumb in the group, but she definitely won't swallow this insult in real life. I bet 400 conversation points that she'll definitely investigate!]

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: I'll bet 300 on her taking action too! Spirit Hall holds grudges more than anyone, after all. How could they swallow an insult in silence?]

[The Bystander Sees Clearly: I'll put 300 on her not taking action. If the Pope personally stepped in to investigate a group, she couldn't afford to lose that much face.]

In the blink of an eye, the betting pool reached 1,000 conversation points.

Qin Zhaoye watched the prize pool's fluctuating figures with a silent smile. For the group owner, the sure way to profit was not to bet, but to wait until the results were announced and take a ten-percent commission directly.

That same afternoon, at Suotuo City's south gate.

A carriage with a blue canopy entered the city amid the flow of people and came to a stop in the rear courtyard of a very quiet inn in the south of the city.

The carriage curtain lifted, and a pretty young woman held up her skirts as she stepped down.

She was Night Owl Terrace's most capable ace spy, code name "Crimson Sparrow," a level-44 Soul Ancestor. She had come to Suotuo under the Pope's secret orders, using the alias "Luo Tan" and posing as an independent Soul Master traveling the continent.

After entering her room and locking the door, Luo Tan immediately spread out the Suotuo City intelligence brief that the branch's undercover agent had just delivered.

Her gaze swept quickly over some of the routine activities at the city lord's residence and the major merchant associations, before settling on the first page at the top of the brief.

"Enrolled in name for three years without the slightest progress, then broke through in a single stroke and gained a thousand-year purple ring. Defeated a two-ring fighter from the city lord's residence in three moves at the Soul Fighting Arena..."

Luo Tan smiled faintly, picked up the vermilion brush on the table, and steadily drew a red circle around the words "Perching Swan Academy, Qin Zhaoye."

"I'll start by investigating this monstrous newcomer."

Toward evening, a freshly delivered, gold-stamped calling card appeared on the desk in the gatehouse of Qihong Soul Master Academy.

On its cover, a line of small, graceful characters read: "Luo Tan, a traveling Soul Master, has heard of your reputation and seeks your instruction."

A faint, alluring fragrance clung to the signature. Attached to the card was a copy of the Soul Fighting Arena's battle-record rankings. The name in first place had been heavily circled in vermilion, with two small characters added beside it:

"Long admired."