The day after Ling Zhiyuan's fifteenth birthday, Ling Hongyun found an excuse to punish him by making him kneel in the ancestral hall for an entire night to reflect on his mistakes.
No amount of pleading on anyone's part was any use!
Nor was this the first time Ling Zhiyuan had received such punishment.
But unlike before, when he had knelt until late at night and was drowsing in a haze, Ling Hongyun quietly appeared.
He brought him to this room in the rear courtyard and taught him how to activate the hidden chamber's mechanism!
This hidden chamber now lay before Wang Chen.
The chamber was not large. Storage shelves lined three walls, filled with boxes of all sizes.
Without even looking, Wang Chen swept every last box into his storage space.
Not a single one remained!
For what had been kept in this hidden chamber was the wealth passed down through generations of the Ling Family. Besides gold, silver, jewelry, and antiques, there were cultivation manuals, weapons, medicinal herbs, and more.
Considering that he might not return for a very long time, Wang Chen naturally intended to clear it out completely.
At worst, after fulfilling the blood oath, he could hand the remaining portion over to the Ling Family's successor.
In mere moments, the hidden chamber had become completely empty.
Only after Wang Chen withdrew, closed the mechanism again, and restored everything to its original state did he leave the room.
Naturally, he did not forget to hang the lock back on the door.
Just then, Wang Chen suddenly sensed something amiss and spun around sharply.
Under the eaves ahead stood an elderly man with a lantern in hand, his hair white as frost.
At the sight of him, Wang Chen blurted out, "Third Granduncle?"
This old man was