Harvesting the Spoils, Contents of the Box

As for the bronze lock on the chest, he hadn't dared to mess with it last night, afraid of making any noise.

Now, naturally, there was nothing to worry about.

He grabbed a nearby woodcutter's axe and brought it down in one clean strike, splitting the box open.

When the first wooden chest was opened, it revealed a pile of silver directly inside.

It amounted to roughly seven or eight hundred taels.

Beyond that, there were dozens of silver notes, the smallest denomination among them being fifty taels, adding up to over a thousand taels of silver in total.

Seeing all this, Chen Feng's eyes held a hint of amazement. "This Huang Lao Si really was loaded."

Lin Xue beside him was equally stunned. "Husband, did you bring this back from the Huang Family?"

Chen Feng had a smile on his face as he laughed. "Yes."

"Once a few more things are settled, we'll head to the county town."

After last night's events, he'd already had the idea of moving in his heart.

Now, seeing these things, his heart was even more delighted. "With this silver, even if we go to the county town, we won't have too many problems."

Lin Xue was utterly awestruck beside him.

She could honestly say that in all these years, this was the first time she'd seen so much money.

Lin Xue said, full of shock, "Husband, you're really amazing."

Chen Feng smiled. "This is nothing. I'll make sure you live an even better life in the future."

Chen Feng wore a broad smile, but there was still a trace of worry in his heart.

From what Huang Lao Si had shouted last night, he'd initially thought it was about the Hunter Permit, but he hadn't expected it to be about Lin Xue. He didn't know what Yin Shengzi meant.

However, since Huang Lao Si was from the Demon Cult, mentioning such things clearly couldn't be anything good.

He could only wait and look into this information more on his own later.

Then came the second chest.

Chen Feng felt a sense of anticipation.

When he saw this second chest, a flicker of surprise ran through him.

Compared to the first, this chest was clearly more refined.

Yet it only had a single clasp, with no bronze lock.

It gave Chen Feng a feeling of being both valued and casually managed.

He could only think to himself, "Looks like Huang Lao Si probably thought these things wouldn't be lost, so he didn't bother locking it?"

Chen Feng mused over this.

Then, he opened this chest as well.

When he saw what was inside, surprise instantly flashed in Chen Feng's eyes.

"Is this actually that thing?"

Inside the chest, layer upon layer of soft silk tightly protected a Small White Porcelain Bottle at the center.

Within the bottle was bright red blood.

"Evil God Blood!"

Seeing this, Chen Feng's eyes lit up with delight.

He had previously refined a wisp of Demon God Blood by chance.

That had greatly advanced his Nutrient Absorption skill.

He'd felt a bit of regret last night when Huang Haisheng escaped with the Evil God Blood.

He hadn't expected to come across new Evil God Blood again today.

"A good find."

He could feel the surge of blood and qi within his body.

This bottle of Evil God Blood was full to the brim, far surpassing the wisp of blood and qi he'd refined on the ground before.

"I wonder if I can refine this whole bottle of Evil God Blood and push my Nutrient Absorption skill to an even higher level?"

Chen Feng thought about this.

Then, he quickly stowed away the porcelain bottle of Demon God Blood.

He turned to Lin Xue beside him and said gravely, "Xue'er, you must never reveal any of these things to anyone else."

Lin Xue's eyes were a bit confused, but she still nodded firmly. "Mm, I know, husband. These things are all very precious. I definitely won't tell anyone."

Chen Feng nodded. "Good."

Then he prepared to first check the situation outside. As long as there was no urgent matter, he would refine this bottle of 'Evil God Blood' right away.

For now, he was still inside the room.

But he could also hear some noisy sounds from outside.

It seemed like many people were out investigating the situation.

If he kept his door shut for too long without checking, it would look too deliberate.

Just as he stepped out of his house, a relieved voice sounded from nearby. "Chen Feng, you're really fine after all!"

"I was just thinking about whether I should go see how you guys are doing."

"Last night we heard some fighting sounds coming from the village, and one of them seemed pretty close to us. Are you all okay?"

It was Liu Yuan, standing to the side, with some worry in his eyes.

There was also a trace of fear in Liu Yuan's eyes as he continued, "And I heard that several corpses have already been found in our village. Those martial artists are really terrifying."

Chen Feng replied, "Yeah, we heard it too. Some of the shockwaves even hit our house. Those martial artists are truly ruthless."

Fortunately, after he returned yesterday, he had dragged the few corpses from his yard a bit farther away.

Otherwise, by this early morning, there would be bloodstains everywhere.

Liu Yuan nodded. "Then you were really lucky."

"At least the Great Qian Empire has laws—any martial artist who slaughters commoners will end up on the Demon Patrol Division's Blacklist Wanted Order, and that would be disastrous."

"Blacklist Wanted Order?" Chen Feng asked in surprise.

Liu Yuan said, "Yeah, it's a list of heinous criminals published by the Great Qian Demon Patrol Division, hunted by both the Division and the authorities."

"Every single one of them has a bounty of at least a thousand taels."

Chen Feng's eyes lit up. "There's something like that?"

"And what level of strength do you need to take on these Blacklist jobs?"

Liu Yuan shook his head. "There's no requirement. As long as you can bring back the head of the wanted person, you basically get the reward."

Chen Feng's eyes showed contemplation. "I see."

In his heart, he also felt a sudden understanding.

The current Great Gan Dynasty, though fraught with many crises, still maintained a surface-level calm.

He continued listening to the noisy chatter in the village.

All kinds of discussions reached his ears.

"How tragic—did you hear? That Steward Huang's entire family was supposedly slaughtered."

"What? Really? Were those thugs last night targeting Steward Huang's family?"

"No, I heard Steward Huang was a believer of the Demon Cult, and he was killed by a Demon Patrol Envoy from the Demon Patrol Division."

"Steward Huang was a Demon Cult believer?"

"That old dog Huang is finally dead! Heaven has eyes!"

All sorts of talk filled the air.

Especially when Steward Huang was mentioned, many people had shock and horror in their eyes.

A steward who had lived in this village for decades turned out to be a Demon Cult believer.

Some people still didn't believe it at first.

But then, when some saw that among the Huang Family guards, a few had bodies that mutated, manifesting partial demonic features, it directly stirred fear and shock among the many villagers of Black Mountain Village.

The anger that had been suppressed from years of being bullied by Steward Huang finally had a chance to erupt.

After all, over the years in Black Mountain Village, people had often gone missing.

In the past, the villagers hadn't known why.

But now, they immediately connected it to the Huang Family.

Many furious families even barged straight into Steward Huang's house, venting their rage on the corpses lying on the ground.