"Tsk, tsk! It's a treasure room, too!"
After entering the secret chamber behind the stone door, the first thing he saw was a heavy gate forged from finely refined iron in the opposite wall. That was probably the entrance to the tunnel.
There were quite a few things in the chamber: dozens of boxes of different sizes. The boxes alone were exquisitely made, so the things sealed inside had to be extraordinary.
He opened a long box nearby and found a sheathed longsword inside.
Clang!
He drew the blade, and a flash of cold light shot out.
"A fine sword!"
With Wang Hao's eye for such things, he could naturally tell the longsword's true worth. It was somewhat better in quality than his greatsword. It, too, had been forged from thousand-refined steel, but it had been folded and forged twelve times, making it two grades better than his greatsword.
It was probably only because Wang Heihu practiced a saber art and was unsuited to such a light, agile longsword that he had put it away on a shelf.
A thought struck Wang Hao, and he fastened the longsword to his waist.
After such a great find, Wang Hao was even more interested in the remaining boxes.
Wang Heihu truly lived up to his name as one of Chaoyang City's local overlords; his accumulated wealth was substantial. Everything here was worth a fortune, and there was a great variety of all kinds of things.
He even found a thousand-year-old ginseng root. To a martial artist, it was a real treasure; even taken on its own, it could increase one's internal force by at least sixty years.
If it were not for pairing it with other supplementary herbs, increasing one's internal force by a hundred and twenty years would be no problem.
"What a pity it's only ginseng!"
In the end, Wang Hao sighed regretfully. Among medicinal herbs, ginseng ranked first for replenishing Qi, notoginseng ranked first for replenishing blood, and lingzhi ranked first for nourishing the spirit.
These three corresponded to the human body's essence, Qi, and spirit. What he needed most right now was a medicinal herb like notoginseng, which replenished blood and essence and was immensely beneficial for cultivating hard-body arts.
Ginseng replenished Qi. For someone cultivating internal arts, it was a treasure one could encounter but never seek out. But he did not have even a trace of internal force, so eating it would be a waste.
"Xiao Mengmeng, if I gave this ginseng to that girl Dongfang Bai to increase her strength, do you think I could get another batch of Fortune Points?"
Seeing the ginseng, Wang Hao quickly thought of Dongfang Bai.
Compared with the effects of Fortune Points, things like ginseng were pathetically weak. If he could use it to get a batch of Fortune Points from Sister Dongfang Bai, that would be wonderful.
Unfortunately, Xiao Mengmeng's next words shattered his idea.
"Stop dreaming. There's a limit to how much internal force a person's meridians and Dantian can withstand. Dongfang Bai has already taken a Great Rejuvenation Pill, and her internal force has reached her limit. Even if she swallowed this thousand-year-old ginseng, it wouldn't add much internal force, much less get you Fortune Points. You'd better think of some other trick, Uncle!"
"Is that so? What a pity!"
Sighing in regret, Wang Hao carefully sealed the thousand-year-old ginseng back in its brocade box and put it in a bundle made from a bedsheet he had found in Wang Heihu's bedroom.
Besides the thousand-year-old ginseng, there were several other precious medicinal herbs here, and even a Small Return Pill unique to Shaolin Temple. All of those, however, went into Wang Hao's stomach.
As a cultivator, he needed nourishing things rich in energy like these most of all, so naturally there was no reason to pass them up.
"Five Tigers Breaking Gate Saber?"
Wang Hao picked up another manual. The five large characters on its cover read "Five Tigers Breaking Gate Saber." After flipping through it briefly, he found that it was the very saber art Wang Heihu had used earlier.
Moreover, like the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle, this saber art leaned toward hard-body martial arts. Although it could be performed with internal force, it was considerably weaker than when performed with the power of hard-body cultivation.
Wang Hao casually flipped through it, then lost interest. After all, he already had the more perfect Ten Stances of Bloody Battle, so he really looked down on the Five Tigers Breaking Gate Saber.
Even so, Wang Hao put it in the bundle. At this point, he had taken everything here except for the last large chest.
"Hiss! What riches!"
The moment he opened the chest, dazzling golden light met his eyes. It was a whole chest of gold, at least ten thousand taels by his estimate.
In the Smiling Proud Wanderer World, the exchange rate between gold and silver was one to eight, and that was only the official rate. In reality, it was close to one to ten.
In other words, this chest of gold alone was worth a hundred thousand taels of silver.
That was not all. On top of the gold was a thick stack of silver notes, all in denominations of ten thousand taels. At a rough glance, there were dozens of them.
In other words, there were hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. He was really going to strike it rich this time.
Wang Hao tied the full bundle to his back, bent down, and hoisted the chest directly onto his shoulder.
Ten thousand taels of gold worked out to about seven or eight hundred jin. With his current strength, he could naturally carry it.
Clang!
Wang Hao casually split the lock on the iron gate with a stroke of his sword and prepared to step inside.
"Benefactor, wait!"
Just then, Qing'er suddenly spoke up to stop Wang Hao. She bent down and patted a fat, short bulldog that looked rather goofy, sending it into the passage behind the gate.
The sight left Wang Hao covered in cold sweat, and he silently berated himself for being careless.
So many treasures were hidden here. Given Wang Heihu's nature, there was no reason he would have set up only an iron gate for protection. There were very likely some vicious traps in the passage.
If he had walked in like that, he would have lost a layer of skin even if he survived.
Clang, clang, ding, ding, ding...
Not long after the bulldog went in, strange sounds came from the passage, as though arrows and crossbow bolts were striking stone.
"Woof, woof!"
A short, fat figure soon ran out of the passage. It was the bulldog from before.
Surprisingly, the fat fellow was completely unharmed, but after a moment's thought, Wang Hao understood.
The fat fellow had avoided the arrows fired by the traps precisely because he was short. After all, the traps were mainly intended for people, and the vital points of the human body were mostly in the upper half, so the traps would surely be aimed higher.
Wang Hao looked at Qing'er as she gently stroked the bulldog. After giving it some thought, he suddenly said, "Miss Qing'er, would you be interested in becoming my sworn sister? You don't have to agree right away; I'll give you some time to consider it. You don't need to worry about the injury to your face, either. Although scars like that are difficult to treat, they aren't beyond repair."
"Qing'er greets her sworn brother!"
Qing'er was a decisive woman. Without even thinking, she bowed to Wang Hao, acknowledging him as her sworn brother.
"Haha... Good! From today onward, you're my, Wang Hao's, sister!"
Wang Hao laughed heartily, even more pleased with Qing'er.
Without another word, Wang Hao strode down the passage with the chest on his shoulder, and Qing'er followed close behind with a large pack of dogs.
The two soon reached the end of the passage, where a wall stood in their way. But Wang Hao already knew what was going on and kicked it directly.
A thousand jin of force, combined with the destructive power of explosive strength, brought the wall crashing down, revealing a room covered in dust.
This was a courtyard that had clearly been abandoned for a long time, and it was not far from the Black Tiger Gang's headquarters. Even here, they could feel the rolling waves of heat coming from it.
With so much fierce fire oil feeding the blaze, nearly the entire Black Tiger Gang headquarters had caught fire. The flames lit up the sky, and not even the pouring rain could put them out.
After this, the Black Tiger Gang's headquarters would probably be reduced to bare ground. On top of that, having lost both Wang Heihu and the vice gang leader Wang Zihong, two experts, the other forces in Chaoyang City would never pass up this excellent chance to beat a drowning dog!
It was even uncertain whether the Black Tiger Gang would continue to exist afterward.
Wang Hao had only wanted to stir up a big commotion earlier, but who would have thought the Black Tiger Gang had hidden so much fierce fire oil, making things turn out so big?
"Follow me!"
Calling to Qing'er as she came out of the passage behind him, Wang Hao strode out of the courtyard and headed for the place he had agreed on with Wu Tai.
"Benefactor, you finally came out!"
Wu Tai, who had been waiting anxiously at the mouth of an alley, heard the movement and turned to see Wang Hao's distinctive tall figure. He was instantly overjoyed, but when he saw the familiar figure following behind Wang Hao, his whole body froze.
Even though they had not seen each other for four years, and even though Qing'er's face was covered with cloth, Wu Tai recognized her at first glance as his wife, the childhood sweetheart he had grown up with.
Tears filled Wu Tai's tiger-like eyes as he started to rush forward and embrace Qing'er, but his movement stirred up the dogs guarding her.
"Woof..."
With dozens of fierce, ferocious dogs staring at him, even Wu Tai, in his agitated state, was frightened into standing still, not daring to move.
"Fool, what are you staring at? Hurry up and help Benefactor put the chest on the carriage."
Seeing Wu Tai like this, Qing'er pressed her lips together in a smile and urged him on with a chiding tone.
"Huh? Oh, I'll do it right away!"
Coming back to his senses, Wu Tai hurriedly helped Wang Hao take the large chest off his shoulder and put it in the carriage, along with the big bundle Wang Hao had been carrying on his back.
"Whimper..."
Little Erha also climbed down from the carriage and began circling Wang Hao, his little tail wagging back and forth.
Wang Hao picked the little fellow up and asked Wu Tai, "How many people have rushed back to the Black Tiger Gang's headquarters during this time?"
The reason he had caused such a huge commotion was to draw back the gang members stationed at the city gates so they could break out.
So the number of men he could lure back was crucial, and that was also a major reason he had left Wu Tai here.
"Benefactor, things don't look good. Earlier, I saw two of the Black Tiger Gang's vice gang leaders ride out from inside, each taking two hundred men toward one of the two city gates. They still haven't come back. I'm afraid they've seen through our intentions."
Wu Tai's expression was extremely grave as he spoke. Clearly, the current situation was truly bad.
"So the commotion I caused was too big?"
Wang Hao was taken aback, but he quickly realized what had happened.
It really was his fault. He had plunged almost the entire Black Tiger Gang headquarters into a sea of fire. Clearly, there was no longer any need to defend the place and fight the fire, so they had steeled themselves to abandon it and block the two city gates instead, intending to seal them inside the city.
"How many horse carts and ox carts can you find in a quarter of an hour?"
After thinking for a while, Wang Hao came up with a plan and asked Wu Tai.
"A hundred. I'll go find a hundred horse carts and ox carts right now."
Wu Tai was no fool and immediately understood Wang Hao's idea. Gritting his teeth, he prepared to rush off in search of carts.
"Brother Tai, buy some straw and tung oil too."
Just as Wu Tai was about to leave, Qing'er suddenly added this. Wu Tai's body jolted, and he nodded before hurrying away.
"Your mind is quick, Sister!"
Slapping his forehead, Wang Hao praised the idea Qing'er had voiced. If they could add tung oil, their plan to break out would be even more perfect.
"Sworn Brother is the one with great wisdom. I merely picked up what others left behind!"
Qing'er replied modestly.
"You saw through me even though I hid it so deeply. You really have a good eye, Sister!" Wang Hao said proudly, as though he truly possessed great wisdom.
"..."
Qing'er looked speechlessly at Wang Hao, who had tilted his head to gaze at the sky, his face as lonely as snow. She felt that this sworn brother of hers seemed a little shameless!
Wu Tai worked efficiently. Before long, he found thirty horse carts and fifty ox carts, packed densely with clay jars and firewood and covered with oilcloth.
The three carefully prepared the ox carts with tung oil and straw, then immediately set off for the city gate.
The dozens of dogs followed behind them. They were another major trump card.