Inside the secret room was a warehouse of over eighty square meters, dust motes floating in the light of an emergency lamp.
At least half of it was cash, stacked in heaps. There were also gold bars piled high, like several shimmering golden walls, an overwhelming sight.
When Zhai Jia and Liu Zhengming rushed over to look, they were dumbfounded.
"I’ve never seen so much money in my life!"
"Me neither... With this much money, what’s the point of even trying anymore!"
Zhai Jia suddenly turned his head, his eyes burning. "Is there a way to take it with us?"
Liu Zhengming paused, then gave a bitter smile. "It’s dirty money, you get it? If we touch it, the nature of what we’re doing changes."
"Can’t we be a little flexible?" Zhai Jia retorted in a low voice.
Liu Zhengming fell silent, his eyes downcast.
Seeing this, Zhai Jia snapped, "Then get lost! None of this is for you!"
Liu Zhengming didn’t answer. But as if he’d made a decision, he suddenly rushed forward. With rough movements, he grabbed several wads of cash and started stuffing them into his clothes, then scooped up a handful of gold bars, making his clothes bulge.
Zhai Jia was stunned for a second, then burst out laughing in exasperation. "You son of a bitch, Liu Zhengming! I’m starting to think you’re completely shameless! Weren’t you just lecturing me about principles?!"
"I thought about it, and principles can’t feed you, damn it!" Liu Zhengming said without looking up, continuing to stuff his pockets. His voice was very low. "But there are only three of us. How could we possibly clear this place out? Besides, the police will be here any second; there isn’t enough time. Most importantly, the higher-ups are already onto Li Xun. Do you really think we can snatch food from a tiger’s mouth? Even if your master came in person, he couldn’t guarantee he could take it all. So we just have to get what we can."
This time, Zhai Jia didn’t argue.
He ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
’What a damn shame we can’t take all this wealth with us!’
’I’m keeping a tally! A tally!’
’Today, Yu Yang owes me a hundred million!’
And while the two were whispering, they completely failed to notice Wan Ze in a corner, continuously touching the old artifacts.
...
"Let’s go, let’s go!"
Through the window, Zhai Jia spotted police cars approaching from a few kilometers away.
He gave a quick shout.
Grabbing Wan Ze, he bolted outside.
Liu Zhengming splashed a good amount of gasoline around, then took out a lighter and simply tossed it down.
WHOOSH! A pillar of fire shot up.
Without looking back, he quickly retreated.
The moment they got in the car and shut the door, a CLANG and CLATTER echoed as gold bars that hadn’t been secured properly fell onto the car floor.
That was the sound of wealth!
"Old Liu, if you’d told me this guy was such a deep-pocketed bastard, I would’ve brought more men!" Zhai Jia was grinning from ear to ear.
Liu Zhengming was about to smile, but the memory of his teammate dying in front of him a few hours ago made the curve of his lips disappear completely. "Who could have known..."
He murmured to himself.
Hearing this, Zhai Jia didn’t press the matter.
He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Wan Ze lying in the back, seemingly asleep, so he stopped talking and focused on driving.
In fact, Wan Ze wasn’t sleeping. He was reviewing the three instances of Stealing Celestial Secret from just now.
Who would have thought that among the dozen or so old artifacts that guy had collected, he would actually manage to find three Celestial Secrets!
[Stealing Celestial Secret 1: Tiger and Wolf Momentum +80%]
[Stealing Celestial Secret 2: Stubborn Stone +100%] (Effect: Body like a stubborn stone, indestructible; mind like a stubborn stone, free from distractions)
[Stealing Celestial Secret 3: Tiger and Wolf Momentum +90%]
...
Three Martial Dao-related artifacts had resulted in three Stealing Celestial Secret Effects.
Tiger and Wolf Momentum was an old friend.
It had dropped to 120% after the intense battle, but now it had coolly shot up by another 170%, bringing the total to a soaring 290%... The feeling of that surging Power suffusing his body was simply intoxicating.
It was more than he could ever use. Utterly inexhaustible.
As for the Stubborn Stone Effect,
Wan Ze was quite surprised; this was a completely new experience.
’If the Effect is ’free from distractions,’ does that mean I can extend my Deep Meditation time?’
He was dying to find a place to test it out right now.
The car soon reached the city.
Liu Zhengming used his connections to requisition an inconspicuous official car for Zhai Jia, complete with a driver. After that, they all gave each other a firm hug, producing the wealthy clinking sound of metal, before finally parting ways.
Zhai Jia sat in the front passenger seat, offered the driver a cigarette, and made some small talk.
Wan Ze lay in the back, still with his eyes closed, Nourishing his Spirit.
Neon lights streamed past the car window.
His mind was incomparably calm.
He silently chanted, "Enter the dream."
The circulation of the Thunderbolt Breathing Technique relaxed his entire body and mind. His muscles loosened, and his consciousness felt light as it descended.
The roaring sound of air rushing past the window soon seemed to be automatically filtered out. In an instant, Wan Ze entered a dreamlike state.
A great scarlet fire blotted out the sky, and a boundless sea of flames once again churned within his consciousness, blotting out the heavens and the sun.
He had arrived here again.
Wan Ze took a deep breath.
"Standing" before this mindscape of fire,
With a thought, he activated the "Stubborn Stone" Effect. A cool sensation washed over him, and he no longer felt the searing pain of before. All distracting thoughts automatically dissolved.
He gazed at the roaring fire in his heart. The pressure that had once made him shrink back in fear now seemed harmless.
It wasn’t that the flames had weakened, but that his "mind" had become as solid as a stubborn stone; external demons could not invade, and internal thoughts would not arise.
He took a step.
And entered the sea of fire.
The blazing flames parted automatically. Or rather, they were still burning, but they could no longer affect him in the slightest.
Wan Ze walked as if through an ordinary field, heading straight for the Core of the fiery sea, until he saw the thick earth that symbolized the foundation of his five viscera.
Yellow, green, red, white, and black—five colors of light lit up in sequence from the locations of his organs. They were clearer and more solid than ever before, filled with a certain vigorous life force, attempting to converge toward the Central Palace.
However, just at the critical moment when these five elements were about to connect...