Theft

Gradually, night fell. The matter of the He Family obtaining a batch of Body Tempering Pills had been confirmed beyond doubt. Near the He Family's entrance, Huo Hai had heard at least several people discussing it.

The return of important He Family descendants also confirmed it from another angle. Most of these important figures were only at the Spirit Body Realm. Huo Hai had not seen a single person who had reached the Spirit Blood Realm, which made even more sense.

"Heh heh, every time the He Family distributes Body Tempering Pills, they hold three days of selection. These next few days will be the best opportunity." Huo Hai thought calmly as he returned home. During the day, Huo Hai still showed nothing unusual. Only after night had deepened, when all was quiet and everyone had fallen asleep, did he begin to act.

"Go. Scout the route tonight; we'll act tomorrow." At some point, Huo Hai had left the Huo Family and arrived in the woods not far from the He Family. With a lift of his hand, a golden streak of light shot out in an instant.

Even experts of the Spirit Bone Realm would likely have found it difficult to see clearly what that golden light was. It was Little Gold. The golden centipede fluttered wings far smaller than its body, flying at a speed so terrifying it made one shudder.

With the aid of spiritual energy, Little Gold's speed had nearly surpassed the limits of what the naked eye could observe. In an instant, it entered the He Family compound. Huo Hai was only a low-level Spirit Body Realm cultivator now and could not yet use Mental Power to communicate with Gu Insects.

After Little Gold set out, Huo Hai sat amid the bushes, quietly using their scant connection to control it from afar. In his hand was a simple map of the He Family compound. Holding a pen, Huo Hai continuously wrote and drew upon it. These were the obstacles and information Little Gold had just relayed back. The information was brief, but it would have to do.

It was only a tiny insect. Flying through the darkness, it rarely drew anyone's attention. Under such circumstances, Little Gold quickly figured out the entire layout of the He Family. At that, Huo Hai smiled in satisfaction.

"He Family, if I remember correctly, the layouts of these lineages are all similar. At the very least, the outlines and scope of their important buildings are roughly the same." Huo Hai recalled where the Huo Family stored medicine and treasures, then began comparing them with the He Family map.

The map Little Gold sent back was not very precise. Roughly three buildings were the most likely places for the He Family to hide medicine. Huo Hai's heart stirred, and he ordered Little Gold to begin searching. Little Gold shook itself and swiftly arrived beside the first building. Its whole body clung to the wall as it crawled inside inch by inch, without attracting anyone's notice.

Insects could slip through every crack and hole. Who could have imagined that an inconspicuous little bug would actually be the enemy's watchful eye? No matter how many guards there were, none discovered Little Gold. Perhaps some had seen it, but they had merely swept their gaze past it.

Under the cover of night, Little Gold's wings were difficult to make out. Even its golden body looked dull from afar, like an ordinary centipede. Before long, Little Gold crawled into the first building.

After making a round, Huo Hai frowned. "Nothing. This may not be the right building, so let's change to another." Huo Hai muttered to himself while ordering Little Gold to crawl back out. Little Gold was a Gu Insect; when it encountered herbs, its senses were far keener than those of ordinary people. If they were Spirit Medicines containing spiritual energy, that sensation would be even stronger.

Otherwise, what would Huo Hai use to investigate? Little Gold evaded the patrolling guards along the way and entered the second building. Huo Hai could not see through its eyes, while Little Gold's mind was not yet clever enough to distinguish human objects.

Using the same method as before, it crawled in and out of the room again. The final information it brought back was that there was a great deal of water inside. Huo Hai did not know whether to laugh or cry. "So this is the He Family bathhouse. No wonder it's so large."

With the bathhouse ruled out, only the final location remained. Following the previous method, Little Gold quickly flew over. After entering the room, it swiftly sent Chu Yuntian a powerful message. "Such strong hunger—looks like it found Spirit Medicine. There's a lot of food, which means there's a lot of Spirit Medicine. Then this must be where the He Family stores its medicine."

Huo Hai quickly reacted. This time, he had found the right place. There was also an aura nearby that made Little Gold uncomfortable. This was, after all, a place where medicine was stored, so its defenses against insects were relatively strict.

That scent was something used to repel mosquitoes and insects. This made Huo Hai even more certain that he had found the right place.

"Little Gold, search around and see whether there are any bottles or similar objects." After Huo Hai gave the order, Little Gold quickly began moving. Its body was small enough to enter many places ordinary people could not.

Sure enough, not long afterward, Little Gold sent back information that it had found quite a few bottles inside a cabinet. From Little Gold's description, they were medicine bottles. Anything stored in a place like this could not possibly be ordinary medicine; it had to be pills. The only question now was how to get the medicine out. Little Gold could get out itself, but that did not mean the bottles could.

Huo Hai had long since devised a solution to that problem. Controlling Little Gold, he had it begin digging beneath the cabinet in a concealed spot. He wanted to dig a hole large enough for medicine bottles to pass through, making it easier to transport the Body Tempering Pills.

Little Gold moved quickly. Relying on its venom and strength, even the high-grade wooden cabinet the He Family used specifically to store pills could not withstand Little Gold's jaws. After most of the night had passed, the hole was finished.

Seeing that dawn was about to break, Huo Hai shook his head. "There isn't enough time. We can only come back tomorrow. Little Gold, clean up. Don't let anyone see the wood shavings." Huo Hai was worried that if the hole were discovered, tomorrow's operation would be walking straight into the net. Little Gold acted swiftly. After clearing away the wood and disguising the opening, it crawled back out.

Once Little Gold returned, Huo Hai hurried toward his home. He did not enter through the main gate; Huo Hai was not an idiot. Sneaking out in the middle of the night—wouldn't that seem suspicious? Reaching a concealed place behind the courtyard, Huo Hai slipped inside in just a few moves.

Inside was the courtyard where Huo Hai lived. He had to thank fate that his courtyard was right at the edge of the lineage compound; otherwise, getting in would not have been so convenient. For the entire day, Huo Hai behaved as usual without revealing the slightest irregularity.

Without anyone noticing, Huo Hai slipped out again the following night. Yesterday had merely been an advance reconnaissance; today would be different. Little Gold flew out along a familiar route and headed toward the He Family compound. Moments later, it entered the He Family's medicine storehouse. Under Huo Hai's control, Little Gold cautiously observed its surroundings. After a long while, it confirmed that it had not been exposed.

Only then did Huo Hai finally relax. "Very good, Little Gold. Bring out the bottles. Don't let anyone discover you." The route had already been scouted. As a Gu Insect, Little Gold could naturally travel through many passages that ordinary people could not.

Clutching a bottle, Little Gold flew out through the hole, then flew up onto the roof. Little Gold's strength was such that carrying one bottle was nothing; it could even take a metal ball into the air. Such was the power of a Gu Insect.

Holding the bottle, Little Gold made no sound at all. From a blind spot above the beams, it slowly flew outside. No one could possibly have imagined that an insect would sneak in to steal things—and that the insect's intelligence would be so high.

Under these circumstances, Little Gold transported the bottle to a small opening at the corner of the eaves. This was a hole left behind when the house had been built. An ordinary person could never enter it, but Little Gold was different. After leaving smoothly, it hid atop the roof in a place ordinary people would never inspect. It bypassed the patrol posts all the way and, with only fright but no danger, brought the bottle out.

When the bottle landed in Huo Hai's hand, he could not help but smile. "Well done. I didn't raise you for nothing."

As he spoke, he opened the bottle and took a sniff, then nodded. "They're Body Tempering Pills. The medicinal potency is right, and so is the name." Taking in a breath of the medicinal aura wafting from the Body Tempering Pills, Huo Hai felt as though his body had improved slightly, much like when he cultivated the Spirit Art.

Now that it had been confirmed, he could not let them go. "Little Gold, follow this example and bring out every identical bottle." Huo Hai pointed at the writing on the Body Tempering Pill bottle. Little Gold conveyed that it understood, then set off once more.

In the dead of night, a tiny insect moved things bit by bit beneath people's very noses, like ants moving house. Through the entire process, not one person sensed anything unusual. In their minds, the only things that could threaten them were humans and large Spirit Beasts. Insects had never fallen within the vigilance of Spirit Masters on the continent.

After working for most of the night, Huo Hai had twenty additional bottles in his hands. Each bottle contained ten Body Tempering Pills, for a total of two hundred. This batch of Body Tempering Pills alone was worth an astonishing amount.

With these Body Tempering Pills lost, the He Family's income for the day had been reduced by at least more than one-third. Chu Yuntian could already imagine what would happen within the He Family over the next few days.

"What a pity. I can't frame He Ya directly. Forget it, I'll wait for another opportunity." Huo Hai played with Little Gold for a while, feeding it several venomous insects as a reward for tonight's contribution. Suppressing the excitement in his heart, he came quietly and left quietly. Without alerting a single person, he returned home, and nothing unusual happened.

Looking at the twenty bottles in his hands, Huo Hai was incomparably excited. What excited him most was not the value of these Body Tempering Pills. "With these Body Tempering Pills, I'll be able to carry out the most perfect Foundation Establishment. This is something only a small number of people in top-tier lineages can enjoy." Huo Hai spoke to himself. This was the foundation of his rise in this world.

Before cultivating, he still needed to make preparations. Cultivating rashly was not a good thing.