There was no way he could have killed Qin Zhen and the other man.
So where had things gone wrong?
Let's just say you miscalculated.
Lu Yuan tightened his grip. "Tell me why you came after me. Who are you people? And what kind of sect is this so-called Holy Cult?"
The pressure on his throat grew heavier, and terror spread through Li Yu's whole body. His face twisted in sheer horror. "Don't kill me! I'll talk! I'll tell you!"
"Go on."
Lu Yuan eased his grip slightly.
"I guessed you had the Pill Recipe for the True Essence Blood Refining Pill..."
As expected, Lu Yuan thought.
"What if I don't?"
"Then you don't. We lose nothing either way."
Li Yu took a few greedy breaths. "We're all members of the Taiping Sect. The two men who went after you tonight were the Helm Master and his trusted subordinate. We all work for Qin Zhen. He's the Taiping Sect's highest-ranking official in Taikang Prefecture."
"Where are we?"
"This is a secret Taiping Sect base. Only a handful of people know about it."
"If it's a base, it must be hiding plenty of the Taiping Sect's good stuff. Take me to it!"
Under threat of death, Li Yu led Lu Yuan without hesitation to the secret room where the valuables were kept.
From the outside, the residence looked ordinary, but it was surprisingly spacious. It had four courtyards, and its corridors twisted and turned in every direction.
All the way there, Lu Yuan kept a hand around Li Yu's neck. If Li Yu made even the slightest move, Lu Yuan could snap it at any moment.
Li Yu was sensible enough not to try anything.
Once they entered a room, Li Yu pushed aside a bookshelf and triggered a mechanism.
With a click, the stone door rumbled open on its own.
Lu Yuan didn't rush inside. Instead, he slapped Li Yu unconscious and tossed him into the secret room. After waiting a while and hearing nothing, he went in.
The secret room was tiny, a little over ten square meters, with five boxes on the floor.
He opened them all. Three were filled with silver ingots.
One was filled with gold, though it was only a third full.
The last box held porcelain bottles, each containing a pill. Lu Yuan couldn't tell what kind they were.
A sword, a bow, and another bow hung on the wall. Lu Yuan took them all without hesitation.
"So much money!"
Lu Yuan's eyes shone with excitement as he looked at the fortune in the boxes.
"All this silver must come to nearly a hundred thousand taels. The gold is worth another twenty thousand taels of silver. If they've stashed this sword, this blade, and this bow here, they must be fine weapons, even if they aren't divine arms. As for these pills..."
Lu Yuan couldn't identify the pills or guess how much they were worth.
The wealth in the secret room was roughly equal to the entire Lu Family's fortune.
That wasn't all that surprising. Qin Zhen was the Taiping Sect's head in Taikang Prefecture and controlled staggering resources. This room probably held only a small fraction of them.
"And there's still more..."
Lu Yuan found a hidden compartment in the wall. Inside it was a small wooden box.
The box held two martial arts manuals.
Yellow Court Sensing Chapter
Heavenly Dipper Horizontal Training Method
Lu Yuan immediately tucked them into his robe and muttered, "This hidden compartment is so crude. I barely had to feel around before I found it."
But it wasn't really the compartment's fault. This was a secret base, known to only a handful of Taiping Sect members in Taikang Prefecture. Under normal circumstances, outsiders had no way of discovering the secret room.
There was no need to put much effort into hiding the compartment.
After ransacking the room and accomplishing his goal, Lu Yuan stepped on Li Yu's neck and snapped it, ending his life while he was still unconscious.
He found some ropes in the base, stacked the five boxes together, and tied them up. With a little effort, he hoisted all five onto his shoulders and left.
It was still dark, and the streets were nearly empty. Lu Yuan stuck to the back alleys on his way home. No one saw him as he returned to the small courtyard.
He set down the five boxes and gazed at the immense fortune, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
"This is so much faster than painstakingly refining pills and selling them. They say murder and arson bring golden belts, while bridge-building and road-paving leave no bones behind..."
Setting the gold and silver aside, Lu Yuan opened the manuals he cared about most.
He started with the Heavenly Dipper Horizontal Training Method.
What he wanted most right now was a horizontal training method.
Repeated blood exchanges during martial training strengthened the body in every way—speed, strength, defense, agility, and more. Different methods emphasized different aspects.
A horizontal training method, naturally, focused on strengthening the body until blades and swords could no longer harm it.
What Lu Yuan feared most at the moment were ranged attacks like bows and crossbows. A powerful bow or strong crossbow could pierce his body. If he mastered a horizontal training method, he could at least withstand some of their shots.
Once he reached a certain level, he would become impervious to blades and spears.
After reading the Heavenly Dipper Horizontal Training Method, he realized it was definitely a mid-grade technique, far better than any of the methods he had practiced before.
Of course, that didn't include the Dragon Elephant Longevity Art.
It was too early to judge that method.
As for the Yellow Court Sensing Chapter, Lu Yuan had barely opened it before realizing that this breathing method had lofty principles—far loftier than the Dragon Elephant Longevity Art. Its depths seemed endless.
After finishing the Yellow Court Sensing Chapter, Lu Yuan pondered.
"This technique is incomplete, not even half of the full version. If it were complete, it would be at least a high-grade technique. But as a fragment..."
With his current knowledge, Lu Yuan could roughly judge the quality of a technique after reading it.
That was why he could easily tell that the Yellow Court Sensing Chapter was extraordinary. He couldn't tell whether it was an internal Taiping Sect technique or something Qin Zhen had obtained elsewhere.
"But this technique has a very high threshold. Most people, even if they obtained it, wouldn't have the comprehension to master the basics. They could practice until they died and still never get started..."
The night faded, and dawn approached. With the time about right, Lu Yuan hid the boxes and left to buy Mithril and Snow Fox Heart Blood.
After last night's huge haul, Lu Yuan had no plans to visit the Leiji Town Ghost Market again anytime soon. He bought a hundred portions of Mithril and heart blood in one go.
He wasn't trying to stock up on as much as possible. He was afraid that buying too much would attract unwanted attention.
A hundred portions of Mithril alone were worth nearly twenty thousand taels of silver.
If he bought more, he couldn't be sure Shopkeeper Qiao wouldn't rob him.
The man did business in a furtive way. It was obvious he wasn't involved in anything respectable.
Perhaps, out of consideration for Xu Ziyi, he wouldn't usually entertain any crooked ideas. But if the profit were too great, even the favor of a Bronze Badge Constable might not be enough to hold him back.
After selling the Mithril and heart blood, Lu Yuan bought a carriage, loaded all the boxes onto it, and returned to Lingbao County.
Afraid his father and brother would worry, Lu Yuan didn't tell them about the boxes.
After returning home, Lu Yuan began practicing the Heavenly Dipper Horizontal Training Method.
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