Chen Qing returned to the small courtyard and shut the doors and windows tight before taking out everything he had obtained.
There was a thick stack of banknotes, all high-value notes redeemable on sight at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion. A rough count put them at nearly one hundred and fifty thousand taels.
There was also a small pouch of gold leaves, several gemstone-studded pieces of jewelry, and three white porcelain pill bottles.
He pulled out the stoppers and took a light sniff. A rich medicinal fragrance rushed into his nose. They were Condensing True Qi Pills, suitable for Core Embracing Realm cultivators to advance their cultivation. Each bottle held ten pills and was worth a considerable sum.
Chen Qing's gaze remained calm as he looked at the wealth before him.
Adding in the precious herbs and weapons he had previously obtained in the Ten Thousand Poisons Swamp but had yet to dispose of, they would surely fetch no small amount if exchanged for silver.
"Without realizing it, I've managed to build up some savings."
Chen Qing muttered softly.
These resources would be enough to support him for a long time without worrying about cultivation materials, and would also allow him to make more thorough preparations for his eventual charge into Gang Jin.
His brows drew together slightly as scenes from the other courtyard replayed in his mind.
That man called Zhang Gan... his strength could not be underestimated. That final retaliatory palm strike before death had been cold, venomous, and strangely angled. It was certainly not an ordinary righteous-path martial art, but bore a striking resemblance to some of the methods rumored to belong to the Demonic Sect.
And then there were the phrases from their conversation: "small gathering," "the rules from above," "resources," "three-month intervals"...
Linked together, those words