Chapter Fifteen: Strange Treasure

Gu Xiechen lay on the ground, his entire body emitting black smoke, his vital blood absorbed by his nascent dao. He appeared utterly lifeless, and even professional physicians using advanced instruments found no trace of life.

As for Ru Hua, who had fallen five to six meters away from Gu Xiechen, he was even more 'lifeless.' If it came to faking death, who could be better at it than a zombie?

Several beautiful women carrying firearms walked up to Gu Xiechen. They kicked him a few times, and upon confirming he was indeed 'stiffly dead,' they left him alone.

A large contingent of female soldiers stormed Lawrence Lee's ancient castle. Gunfire continuously echoed from within, and Lawrence's clansmen and servants were found one by one in their hiding places and executed. Female soldiers emerged carrying valuable items from the castle, and a mountain of antiques and cultural relics was piled up in front of it.

Gu Xiechen tilted his head, squinting as he watched the castle. He had no intention of intervening to save Lawrence Lee. That bizarre silver-haired man was a 'Realm Master,' while Gu Xiechen was merely an ordinary Pluto-level Innate Fighter. He didn't want to risk his life against a Realm Master with such mystical powers. Ru Hua was also faking death nearby, and he didn't step forward to uphold justice. Gu Xiechen felt he didn't possess that strong a sense of public duty.

A massive airship slowly descended from high above. The female soldiers loaded antiques, famous paintings, gold and silver ware, and other items into the airship. As the amount of goods on the ground dwindled, the female soldiers transformed into streams of light and were absorbed into the Siren standing at the castle's entrance. The Siren's aura grew stronger with each stream of light that entered his body; his power seemed to increase with every infusion.

Finally, a female soldier carrying a specially made metal chest emerged from the castle. She saluted the Siren and said, "Master, all valuable items in the castle have been moved."

The Siren nodded noncommittally. He reached out, grabbed an assault rifle from a female soldier's hand, and unleashed a barrage of gunfire at the more than twenty purebred horses in the stables. One by one, the tall, magnificent horses screamed and fell to the ground, their pungent blood flowing everywhere. The Siren shook his head and sighed softly, "What a pity, these horses couldn't be transported in time."

Ru Hua, also feigning death, instinctively licked his lips. He seemed quite interested in the horse blood.

Gu Xiechen looked at the female soldier carrying the metal chest in astonishment. If his memory wasn't faulty, Lawrence Lee's study contained three such metal chests, all filled with Lawrence Lee's family treasures. Why was only one being moved out?

His heart skipped a beat, and in his surprise, Gu Xiechen lost control of his vital energy flow.

From a hundred meters away, the Siren spun around sharply, his eyes flashing with silver light. He pulled out an incredibly thin and resilient soft sword from somewhere and swung it at Gu Xiechen. A crescent-shaped sword energy, no more than half an inch wide but over ten meters long, tore through the ground and swept towards Gu Xiechen. However, as fate would have it, Ru Hua was lying directly between Gu Xiechen and the Siren. The sword energy was certain to cut Ru Hua in half before it could reach Gu Xiechen.

"What the f*ck! You won't even let the dead rest?" Ru Hua roared in anger. A large amount of black corpse energy, carrying intense malevolence and chill, surged from his body. The ground trembled violently, and Ru Hua leaped up, soaring a hundred meters into the air. His eyes blazing with blood-red light, Ru Hua crushed the head of the crystal staff in his hand, muttering a few strange incantations. Blood-red light surged within the crystal staff, and the shattered head transformed into a plume of black smoke, emitting a piercing shriek as it merged with the staff.

With a wave of his hand, the staff, trailing a plume of smoke, shot towards the Siren.

The Siren sneered. He casually waved his left hand, and a vast expanse of silver light shimmered before him. Nearly a hundred fully armed, stunningly beautiful women appeared. As soon as they materialized, they pulled the triggers of their firearms, and a hail of bullets whistled towards Ru Hua. Several of them carried small-caliber machine cannons, their dull roars causing a dull ache in the ears.

The silver sword energy swept past Ru Hua's feet. In the dense forest behind him, dozens of tall birch trees were severed at their trunks by the sword energy.

Ru Hua hastily looked down and was shocked to find that Gu Xiechen had vanished!

As soon as the Siren drew his sword, Gu Xiechen had shot out like a slippery banana peel, hugging the ground and darting into the dense forest for over a hundred meters. By the time Ru Hua crushed his crystal staff and launched his counter-attack, Gu Xiechen had already sprung up and disappeared with over a dozen afterimages in just a few leaps. The movement technique Gu Xiechen employed originated from a subsidiary text of the Hanyuan Zhen Dian, and it was also his father's masterpiece, 'Miao Yun Bu,' painstakingly refined over a hundred years. When fleeing at full speed, its speed was even faster than that of an ordinary sports car.

"People these days are all so disloyal!" Ru Hua roared in exasperation. He suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood onto the rapidly receding black smoke.

Five water-vat-sized demon heads emerged from the black smoke, baring their fangs and emitting sharp shrieks as they greedily lunged towards the Siren, who was surrounded by the female soldiers.

The barrage of bullets hit Ru Hua, especially the nearly one hundred cannon shells that exploded on his chest almost simultaneously. Ru Hua grunted and was blasted flying backward a great distance. He plummeted unsteadily from the air, and as his feet touched the ground, he stomped down hard. The ground within a radius of over ten meters simultaneously sank several inches, and several large trees nearby exploded from their roots. Using the force of his stomp, Ru Hua shot forward like a cannonball, covering over two hundred meters before disappearing into the dense forest in a few leaps.

The black smoke, carrying the demon heads, descended upon them. A bone-chilling cold swept through the area, and the lake beside the Siren was suddenly covered with a layer of black ice nearly an inch thick. The Siren was terrified and retreated rapidly. The hundred-plus female soldiers in front of him were engulfed by the black smoke, and unpleasant chewing sounds could be heard from within the dense blackness. The Siren's face suddenly turned pale, and two streams of blood slowly trickled from his nostrils. He had lost all sense of his hundred-plus female soldiers.

"Such terrifying demonic arts!" the Siren muttered, "Quick, retreat! This isn't Western dark magic; it must be the demonic arts of those damned Easterners. Damn it, what are they doing in London? This is Holy See territory, why are Easterners here?" Clearly, a hint of apprehension flickered across the Siren's face.

After muttering a few curses, the Siren hastily absorbed all the female soldiers back into his body as streams of light. He then jumped onto the airship and commanded it to ascend rapidly, fleeing eastward.

Gu Xiechen took a wide detour and arrived at the hillside behind the castle. Sure enough, he found Jack nestled in a thicket beneath several chestnut trees on the slope.

Jack, his clothes torn to shreds by the thorns, was tightly clutching two metal chests and curled up in a hole in the ground. His forehead was pressed to the ground, his backside facing the sky, and he kept muttering, "Oh, my God! Oh, my Lord! Oh, my Holy Mother Mary! Protect me from these terrifying people!"

After making a series of vows to various Christian deities, Jack began to pray again, "Great, almighty, and omnipresent Tathagata Buddha, protect me from this calamity! Oh, I am your devout follower. Merciful Guanyin Bodhisattva, please forgive my past sins and ensure my safe return to the base. Thank you so much!"

Gu Xiechen watched Jack, who was trembling like a quail, with amusement. Jack then began praying to the Daoist deities: "Supreme Jade Emperor, sacred and inviolable Sanqing Dao Venerables, and all the gods in heaven, protect my safe return to the base! If I can leave London safely this time, I will offer you roasted pig heads during the Spring Festival!"

"Jack! You're f*cking amazing!" Gu Xiechen kicked Jack's backside hard.

Startled half to death, Jack sprang up from the ground like a spring. He nimbly pulled out a small pistol and aimed it at Gu Xiechen. Gu Xiechen slapped the pistol away, sending it flying over ten meters. He pointed at the two metal chests on the ground and asked, "What are these?"

Finally recognizing the 'black person' covered in soot, as if he had been burned for three days and nights, as his captain, Jack excitedly threw his arms open to embrace Gu Xiechen. Gu Xiechen quickly grabbed Jack by the neck, preventing him from getting close. He pointed at the two chests again and asked, "What are these? Huh? Did you steal Mr. Lawrence Lee's family treasures?"

"No, it's not stealing!" Jack quickly waved his hands. "I'm not stealing them, I'm saving them! These treasures shouldn't fall into the hands of those women! They killed the poor Lawrence Lee and his kin. I'm just saving them from those bandits!"

Jack grinned slyly at Gu Xiechen. "I think they'll be happy with my actions too. Those women were enemies of their former owner, and I am a friend of their former owner!"

Gu Xiechen scratched his nose and glared fiercely at Jack. When the Siren's subordinates only carried out one chest from the castle, he knew something must have happened, but Jack was likely the only one in the castle capable of doing this.

He crouched down and opened one of the metal chests. Gu Xiechen coldly sneered, "You can take one-third of the treasures in here; the rest are mine. You can choose to disagree, but do you know the consequences of disagreeing? Your actions are tarnishing the reputation of our mercenary group!"

Jack stared at Gu Xiechen, a mixture of anger and fear. He was about to say that Gu Xiechen's actions were no different from those of a bandit, and he wanted to emphasize that he had painstakingly 'saved' these two chests from a hail of bullets, risking his life. However, before he could speak, the dozen or so treasures within the chest, emitting a faint glow, silenced him completely.

"My Jade Emperor, my God, and my Buddha! This is too f*cking beautiful! How much is this worth?"

Jack's saliva was about to dribble down his chin, and Gu Xiechen was also momentarily dazed.

The metal chest, about two feet long and wide, was divided into delicate compartments, each lined with thick velvet. A total of eighteen treasures, secured in the small compartments with soft satin ribbons, lay peacefully within, constantly emitting a captivating and enchanting radiance.

Pear-shaped diamonds the size of a child's fist, top-quality sapphires as blue as the ocean, rubies as crimson as pigeon's blood – the various jewels made Jack's heart pound violently, and blood rushed to his head, making his vision blur. With his eyesight, he could tell that the value of just these dozen or so treasures was in the billions. Even one-third of it would be enough for him to live a life of drunken bliss and enjoy wealth and honor for the rest of his life.

Gu Xiechen was not attracted by these diamonds and gemstones. He was staring blankly at a jade tablet inside the chest.

It was a rare purple jade tablet, and Gu Xiechen couldn't even be sure if the material was truly jade. However, judging by its luster, this peculiar object, about a foot long, round on top and square on the bottom, should be of the finest jade. But deep purple, semi-transparent jade? Gu Xiechen had never seen anything like it.

It was twelve inches long, six inches wide, and one inch thick, round on top and square on the bottom, with ornate cloud patterns carved around the edges. The carving of each cloud was so exquisite and intricate that it was unbelievable it was carved onto a jade tablet. Each thin cloud seemed to be rolling in the wind, and after only a few glances at the jade tablet, Gu Xiechen had the illusion that a strong wind was blowing around him, about to sweep away the clouds on the tablet.

The edges of the jade tablet were adorned with cloud patterns, while the side facing Gu Xiechen was carved with a complex star chart. The constellations of the twenty-eight Mansions and eighty-four thousand stars were carved onto the interior of the jade tablet using some incredible technique. Each star faintly emitted a soft silver light, and at first glance, it seemed as if these stars were moving along some profound trajectory.

Looking closer, this semi-transparent jade tablet contained layers of clouds and mist. Patches of purple, gold, silver, red, white, cyan, and blue clouds continuously formed and dissipated within the tablet, creating the illusion that the tablet itself contained a pocket dimension.

Gu Xiechen felt as if he were riding on a cloud, constantly traversing endless layers of clouds, gradually arriving in a wondrous void.

Here, surrounded by the stars of the heavens, in the center of an infinite space, was a colossal Tai Chi diagram.

The black and white yin and yang fish rotated slowly before him. Countless tiny golden particles swirled around this massive Tai Chi diagram at high speed. Each golden particle was filled with spirituality, giving the feeling that they were living beings. The yin and yang fish drove the rotation of the heavenly stars, and within it was a profound and ineffable 'charm.'

Gu Xiechen's nascent dao suddenly began to beat rapidly, and streams of pure energy continuously surged from his heart, gradually filling his entire body.

A profound and transcendent aura slowly emanated from Gu Xiechen's body. It was as soft as water yet possessed an irresistible latent force that pushed Jack far away. The aura surging from Gu Xiechen and the aura emanating from the depths of the jade tablet's Tai Chi diagram seemed to merge subtly.

The eighty-four thousand stars within the jade token flashed simultaneously, a silver mist covering a space of several meters. The purple jade token suddenly transformed into a streak of purple energy, lunging directly at Gu Xiechen.

Before Gu Xiechen could react, the purple energy flowed through his pores and integrated into his body.

The seventeen treasures inside the metal boxes were still emitting a radiant glow, but the magical jade token had vanished without a trace. Gu Xiechen vaguely felt a clear stream surge through his meridians, heading straight for his Purple Mansion and Sea of Consciousness, merging with his already mutated Purple Mansion and Sea of Consciousness.

Jack's face twitched. He exclaimed in disbelief, "Where's that purple jade token? Oh my god, purple jade, purple jade! This is rare purple jade! And judging by the craftsmanship, it's definitely an artifact from an extremely ancient dynasty of Ancient China. The inscriptions on it are identical to their oldest oracle bone script. This is an incredible cultural relic, a treasure! Where did it go?"

Inscriptions? Gu Xiechen shook his head. He didn't recall any inscriptions on the jade token.

Calming his mind, Gu Xiechen picked up the boxes. He glared fiercely at Jack and barked, "If you don't want to die, follow me and leave. The jade token? What jade token? Are you hallucinating?"

Jack stared blankly for a moment. He looked at Gu Xiechen, whose clothes were completely scorched by the close-range bomb explosion. It was true; Gu Xiechen couldn't possibly hide such a large jade token on his person.

But where did the jade token go?

Was it really a hallucination?

Seeing Gu Xiechen walking dozens of meters away, carrying two metal boxes worth hundreds of millions, Jack glanced back at the ancient castle, reduced to ruins by the bomb on the hillside. He quickly let out a startled cry and chased after him.

By the time Gu Xiechen and Jack were over ten kilometers away from the ancient castle, three silver-white helicopters, exuding boundless arrogance and majesty, slowly descended before the ruins of the castle.

Dozens of priests, clad in white robes, disembarked from the helicopters. They meticulously began to search every inch of the castle ruins.

The Holy See's people had finally arrived.

Comrades, where are the recommendation tickets? Work hard to get those tickets! It's the beginning of the month, and these tickets are plump and juicy! (To be continued)