A Bountiful Haul
Lin Qing reached out and could clearly feel that the soil in this place was looser.
Since he didn't have any suitable tools, he simply used his bare hands to quickly pry up the soil in that area.
As he dug down about a meter, his fingers suddenly touched a wooden plank. He quickly cleared away the surrounding soil, and the plank gradually came into view.
Lin Qing was overjoyed. With a creak, he lifted the wooden plank, revealing a dark staircase underneath.
He hurried down the stairs, and after about thirty-six steps, a heavy iron door suddenly appeared in front of him, locked.
The lock was made of some unknown material, its entire surface gleaming with Purple Gold luster. He reached out and grabbed it, then suddenly twisted it with force, trying to break the lock directly from the iron gate using brute force.
However, Lin Qing did not expect that the lock was made of an extraordinary material. It creaked but showed no signs of breaking.
Lin Qing didn't try anything brute force. He had the key, and the Bronze Key easily inserted into the copper lock. With a gentle turn, the lock opened with a click.
Lin Qing pushed open the door and entered. Inside was a rather small Hidden Chamber, about three steps square. The walls on both sides were inlaid with many stones that emitted a faint blue light. He didn't know what they were, but the dim light allowed him to see everything inside the Hidden Chamber.
Lin Qing glanced around and saw a mahogany box at the very back of the Hidden Chamber.
He stepped forward, opened the package, and was immediately astonished, thinking to himself that he had struck it rich.
He first saw many gold bars, each about a finger's length and width.
He calculated it carefully and estimated it to be about three hundred taels, which is three thousand taels of silver.
He rummaged through the box again and found many other things inside, such as jewelry, antiques, paintings, elixirs, and minerals.
Lin Qing quickly found what he was looking for. He saw a square black wooden box filled with crystal blue sand grains that smelled of rust. This was the Heavenly Dust Sand.
He had consulted many books and had seen it many times in local chronicles.
Lin Qing felt a huge weight lifted off his shoulders. With Heavenly Dust Sand around, he could upgrade the Rebirth Record to the Fourth Tier, and his combat power would increase dramatically. He was even more confident about the assessment in the Prefectural City six months later.
Lin Qing continued searching and found more than a dozen bottles of medicine, most of which were for healing. However, one bottle was special; it was a small, palm-sized, emerald-green porcelain bottle with nothing written on it.
Lin Qing pulled out the medicine plug and suddenly smelled a bitter smell, with a hint of spiciness.
He hesitated for a moment, then a glint of joy flashed in his eyes.
"This is Bone-Shedding Pill!"
He once asked Yun Tianxing, "If Low-Grade Yin Bone quality, how can one improve it?"
Yun Tianxing replied that there are many miraculous pills and rare treasures in the world that can improve the Yin Bone Quality, among which the easiest to obtain is the Bone-Shedding Pill.
A person with low-grade Yin Bone can upgrade their quality to mid-grade by consuming one Yin Bone Pill.
However, this kind of pill can only be taken once in a lifetime. It is said that there are some special materials in the pill, and after a person swallows it, a considerable portion of it will remain in the body, which will cause the pill to be ineffective when swallowed again.
"This trip has been incredibly fruitful," Lin Qing thought to himself. "Putting aside everything else, these three hundred taels of gold, the Heavenly Dust Sand, and the Bone-Shedding Pill will be of immense help to me."
"This place is not safe to stay for long."
Lin Qing picked up the box and left. It contained some miscellaneous items, which he decided to examine more closely when he got back.
Emerging from the Hidden Chamber, he found himself alone, as Wang Ling had ordered the Han residence to be sealed off and no one was allowed to enter. Thus, his actions of digging and exploring the Hidden Chamber went unseen.
However, even if they saw it, it wouldn't matter. Apart from Han Shantong, no one else in the Han Family knew about the existence of this Hidden Chamber, and even if others saw it, they wouldn't understand what he was doing.
Lin Qing carried the box and hurried out the door. Outside the Han Family mansion, the squad of Prefectural Soldiers hadn't left yet. Seeing Lin Qing's appearance, they didn't ask any questions, but simply turned a blind eye.
By this time, it was already late at night. Under the cover of darkness, Lin Qing quickly returned home.
He did not return to the rented courtyard, but went back to his own home.
Tonight, he decided to stay with his parents, mainly because he had brought back such a large box of things without warning, which would be difficult to explain to Ran Hongxia and the others.
The night was deep.
After having dinner with the two elders, Lin Qing got up and returned to his room, where the wooden box was placed on the open ground in front of him.
Lin Qing stepped forward and carefully inventoried the items. The remaining items were mostly antiques, paintings, minerals, and miscellaneous objects, which were of little value to him.
There were also some things among them that he had absolutely no idea what their purpose was.
For example, he found a grayish-white porcelain bottle filled with blood, which emitted a foul odor.
He opened the bottle, smelled the odor, and almost threw up everything he had eaten for dinner.
However, after the initial nausea subsided, a sudden surge of bloodlust arose within him, making him want to go out with a knife and kill anyone he saw.
Lin Qing didn't notice this at first, but when the feeling grew stronger, he suddenly woke up, hurriedly went to the window, blew a gust of cold wind, and quickly suppressed the murderous urge.
However, Lin Qing still felt a lingering fear.
"Is there something wrong with this bottle of blood, or is it the Bloodflame Incineration causing the problem?"
Lin Qing didn't know the answer. If it was the former, he could accept it, but if it was the latter, then the problem was very serious.
This means that he will have to reflect on himself from time to time in the future, lest he unknowingly be controlled by his bloodlust and become a pure killing machine.
"Don't rush, observe further. If it still flares up unexpectedly, then we must find a way to solve this problem."
Lin Qing tossed the gray porcelain bottle into the wooden box and continued searching. At the very bottom of the box, he made another discovery: five Land Deed from the Prefectural City and a letter.
Lin Qing's heart stirred slightly. A Land Deed meant a shop, and whoever held the Land Deed was the owner of the shop.
The Prefectural City is not like Jiangyin County; every inch of land there is incredibly valuable. Even five shops in the Outer City are worth a fortune.
Although Lin Qing had never been to the Prefectural City, he vaguely felt that the value of these five Land Deed might be higher than all the other things in the wooden box combined.
Most of the Han Family's wealth accumulated over the years is contained in these five Land Deed.
He immediately opened the letter, quickly read it through, and couldn't help but frown.
The letter came from the Luo Family in the Prefectural City. It mentioned that if Han Shantong wanted the Luo Family's support, he would have to hand over five shops to them to manage for five years.
Five years later, Han Shantong can send someone with the Land Deed to the Prefectural City Yamen for handover.
There are also some details inside, mainly about the cooperation agreement between the Luo Family and the Han Family.
Han Shantong intended to send people to the Prefectural City to develop new industries for the Han Family, and the Luo Family was the backer he found.
After reading it, Lin Qing suddenly felt a bit troubled. Now that Han Shantong was dead and the Land Deed was in his hands, he might not be able to get it back from the Luo Family.
Although by custom, whoever owns the Land Deed is the owner of the shop.
However, if the Luo Family is domineering and unreasonable, they may not follow the rules.
In this world, laws and rules only take effect when the power disparity between the two parties is not too great.