Returning Laden

Xiao Yan reassembled the broken bone, raised the key in his hand, and gave it a shake. The crisp jingling of the keys striking one another immediately caught Xiao Zhan and Xiao Tie's attention.

Seeing that Xiao Yan had found the key to the stone boxes, Xiao Zhan and Xiao Tie hurried up and quickened their pace as they packed away the valuables.

Before long, the three gathered before the stone table.

Xiao Yan casually selected a key and inserted it into the hole in the stone box. His luck was good; he picked the right one on the first try.

The stone box opened, and Xiao Yan picked up the ancient, multicolored scroll lying quietly within.

"Is it a fire-attribute technique?" Xiao Zhan asked impatiently.

Although the wealth in this cave amounted to several hundred thousand gold coins, more than enough to buy an Advanced Profound Rank technique, such techniques were not cabbages sold at the market. Having money did not mean one could purchase them whenever one wished; spending time and effort searching for one was unavoidable.

And once that search began, no one knew how long it might take. The Jialie Family, one of Wutan City's three great families, had sought an Intermediate Profound Technique for years in hopes of reaching the level of the other two families, yet they had never gotten their wish.

Even Intermediate Profound Techniques were so difficult to obtain, let alone Advanced Profound Rank techniques.

Xiao Yan opened it and took a look, then shook his head. "This scroll is called the Seven-Colored Poison Classic. It teaches how to prepare poisons."

"Poisons?!" Xiao Tie asked in surprise. "Could the person who left this treasure behind have been from the Chu Yun Empire? Only people from the Chu Yun Empire like to fiddle around with poisons."

Xiao Zhan was greatly disappointed, but he did not lose his composure. Slowly, he said, "That is possible. The Chu Yun Empire frequently fought the Jia Ma Empire. Perhaps a powerful expert from the Chu Yun Empire was severely wounded and perished here in the Magic Beast Mountain Range near the Jia Ma Empire."

"Perhaps." Xiao Yan thought it made some sense, though there was no way to verify the truth. He put away the Seven-Colored Poison Classic and selected a key to open the second stone box.

"Is it a technique?" Having been disappointed once already, Xiao Zhan's expectations had dropped considerably. He no longer held much hope that it would match their attributes.

Xiao Yan picked up the black scroll from the stone box. "It is an Advanced Profound Rank Flying Dou Technique."

"A Dou Technique..." Xiao Zhan was excited at first upon hearing the words "Advanced Profound Rank," but when he heard the rest and learned it was a Dou Technique, he could not help feeling deeply disappointed. An Advanced Profound Rank Dou Technique was certainly excellent, surpassing the highest-grade Dou Technique of the Xiao Family, but it was not what they urgently needed.

Then he suddenly realized what he had overlooked. Thinking back, his voice abruptly rose several pitches, filled with excitement. "A Flying Dou Technique!"

"It really is a Flying Dou Technique!" Xiao Tie stared wide-eyed after making out the words on the scroll.

Techniques had attribute distinctions, while Dou Techniques had different categories. Apart from categories such as fist, palm, saber, and sword, Flying Dou Techniques were an exceptionally special type that allowed one to gain the ability to fly ahead of time.

Flight was an irresistible temptation for many people. Beyond increasing their strength, many cultivated desperately precisely to obtain the ability to fly.

Under such circumstances, Flying Dou Techniques that offered a shortcut were extraordinarily precious. Especially now, when the method of creating such techniques had nearly been lost, they had become even rarer.

To Xiao Zhan and Xiao Tie, this Advanced Profound Rank Flying Dou Technique before them was truly a priceless treasure.

Xiao Yan put away the scroll and used the last key to open the third stone box.

"What kind of scroll is this?" Seeing yet another scroll, Xiao Zhan's heart surged with emotion.

Though two disappointments had left him with no hope of finding an Advanced Profound Rank fire-attribute technique in the stone boxes, the appearance of an incomparably rare Flying Dou Technique showed that the items within these boxes were extraordinary.

Xiao Tie was equally curious. He had read and heard many tales of people falling from cliffs and encountering great fortuitous opportunities, but no matter how much he read or heard such stories, they could not compare to experiencing one firsthand. It made him feel the danger and excitement all the more keenly, causing him to hold his breath without realizing it.

Xiao Yan picked up the scroll and examined it carefully.

He already had some leads regarding a Profound Tier technique, but cultivating a technique alone was not enough. He also needed Dou Techniques to supplement it and multiply the power of his Dou Qi.

However, this time, he was somewhat stumped.

Based mainly on the novel, Xiao Yan only knew that this was also an Advanced Profound Rank Dou Technique called Mad Lion Roar. It was performed with a refined steel spear and could condense Dou Qi into a lion upon the weapon.

Yet because only Mu She, the leader of the Wolf Head Mercenary Group, had used it once, it was difficult to determine whether it required wind-attribute Dou Qi like Mu She's, or whether it was restricted to spears.

Mad Lion Roar was also considered a sound-wave Dou Technique. This was not because it had been confused with Jia Nan Academy's Lion-Tiger Shattering Gold Cry, but because of differences between the comic, novel, and other versions, not because anyone's account was wrong.

After studying it carefully for a while, Xiao Yan smiled. "It is an Advanced Profound Rank weapon-type Dou Technique. It has no Dou Qi attribute restrictions, and it is most powerful when used with a saber."

Mu She had originally been skilled with a saber and had also mastered a Basic Profound Rank Dou Technique called Wind Blade Saber Dance. The reason he later switched to a spear was because he had rescued his son and picked up a weapon nearby that he could also wield proficiently.

Having lowered his expectations by now, Xiao Zhan smiled upon hearing that it was another Advanced Profound Rank Dou Technique. "We did not obtain a technique, but it is not bad to start practicing the Dou Techniques first."

Xiao Tie sucked in a breath and looked with great admiration at the owner of the stone chamber, now reduced to a skeleton. Enormous wealth, a rare Flying Dou Technique, and Advanced Profound Rank Dou Techniques—someone who fell from a cliff and obtained such an opportunity would find it difficult not to rise into a powerful expert.

After opening the stone boxes, Xiao Yan distributed the herb-gathering tools he had brought to Xiao Zhan and Xiao Tie.

Looking at the various flowers and herbs, Xiao Zhan and Xiao Tie quickly recognized their names.

"Purple Leaf Orchid Grass, Blazing Sun Flower, Snow Lotus Seed, Ice Spirit Flame Grass..."

The more they named, the more shocked they became. The medicinal herbs piled in this corner were worth far more than the valuables stacked in the other three corners of the stone chamber.

While gathering herbs, Xiao Yan also carefully collected the seeds scattered across the ground. This was one of the reasons he had come here.

To ordinary people, the seeds of these precious medicinal herbs, which had long growth cycles and strict requirements for soil quality and other conditions, were nearly worthless. But to him, with the Palm-Heaven Bottle and its ability to hasten growth, they were incomparably valuable.

After sweeping the small herb garden clean, Xiao Yan and the others bowed to the seated skeleton, retraced their steps, and climbed back up the cliff.

"Patriarch, did you find anything?" the four people who had waited atop the cliff for some time asked.

"We'll talk after we return." Xiao Zhan spoke with great caution. The valuables, scrolls, and medicinal herbs together were worth at least ten million. If they could safely bring them back to the family, it would be equivalent to gaining a century's worth of accumulated wealth at once. Naturally, they could not afford to be careless.

Following their previous arrangement, the group swiftly left the Magic Beast Mountain Range as night fell. They then found the person guarding their horses at an inn and hurried back to Wutan City.

At dawn, not long after Wutan City's gates had opened, Xiao Zhan and the others swept into the city.

People beginning their busy days stared in surprise and curiosity at the travel-worn patriarch of the famous Xiao Family. They could not imagine what could have prompted such an important figure to personally set out.