Chapter 66: Finding The Clan’s Vault
Chapter 66: Finding The Clan’s Vault
Chapter 66
Liyu spent some time familiarizing himself with the layout of the Li Manor. The place was huge... no, literally speaking, it was very, very huge. It was so enormous that it could fit countless houses inside without ever feeling cramped or overcrowded.
One might wonder why he was bothering to familiarize himself with the layout, but the answer was actually quite simple: although the idea of stealing from the clan treasury was far too risky and had therefore been pushed to the very bottom of his "Ways to Get Legally Disowned and Become a Free Man" list, it was still a possibility.
Because, sincerely speaking, if the dangerous part were removed, then Liyu had absolutely no qualms about robbing the Li Clan blind.
Heck, his storage space was enormous; it could store an unbelievable amount of things, and if he robbed them properly, they probably wouldn’t even realize what had disappeared until much later.
"Hey, Host... we’ve discussed this before, and you promised not to do something this risky and stupid," the system’s voice sounded strained, as though it were suffering from a terrible migraine.
"Calm down, Sys. I don’t plan on robbing them," he paused for a brief moment before adding, "At least... not yet. I just need to know where everything is, just in case. You can think of this as some kind of undercover assignment."
The system didn’t bother replying; it merely scoffed before falling silent. Liyu, however, was too focused on his self-assigned mission to pay the system much attention.
It took him quite a while, yet he couldn’t find it. He moved as stealthily as possible, searching everywhere he could think of, but still, he couldn’t find anything resembling a treasury.
He even browsed through the original Liyu’s memories, hoping to discover its location, yet no matter how deeply he searched, he found absolutely nothing.
Ever since Liyu had become the target of everyone’s scorn because of his broken spirit root, he had desperately tried to change his fate.
He had become a cultivation maniac, training tirelessly day and night; he had also spent countless hours reading books... whether they were related to cultivation or not... all in the hope of one day changing his destiny. The bastard hadn’t even thought about emptying the clan treasury and running away with everything.
At least, that was what Rayden believed he would have done if their positions had been reversed. Instead of trying so desperately to prove to everyone that he wasn’t useless, the fool should have been planning an escape.
He hadn’t even bothered learning where the clan treasury was located; that alone annoyed Rayden so much that he almost felt like strangling Liyu.
At this point, however, Rayden was simply being dramatic and unreasonable. Who in their right mind would expect their body to one day be taken over after dying such a tragic death?
And even if Liyu had somehow known, there was no way he would have wanted to learn the treasury’s location anyway. He genuinely cared about the Li Clan; he wouldn’t have wanted any harm to come to them.
So naturally, he had never bothered learning where their treasury was hidden. After nearly an hour of endless searching, Liyu still couldn’t find even the slightest clue about its location.
Heck, he had even gone as far as asking people around the manor. The reactions he received were rather interesting; the expressions on their faces shifted from their usual disgust to confusion... and finally suspicion.
Every single one of them looked at him warily. Was he trying to rob the clan treasury? They couldn’t help but suspect him; still, none of them could be certain.
After all, regardless of whether Liyu was the disgraceful and useless heir of the Li Clan or not, everyone knew how deeply he cared about the clan. At the very least, they believed he would never even think about stealing from the treasury.
However, the people were wrong about two very important things. The first was that the person standing before them wasn’t actually Liyu... it was Rayden... and the second was that Rayden wasn’t planning on stealing just a few things from the treasury.
Heck, the guy was planning to rob the treasury completely blind. Still, after seeing the many gazes that were following him with suspicion, Liyu tried to act as normal as possible as he walked through the garden like a responsible and wise young master, leisurely observing the scenery.
At least, that was how it looked to all those who were suspicious of Liyu. But in truth, he wasn’t simply observing for observation’s sake; he was still looking for the treasury.
Surely, a great clan such as the Li Clan must have something worthwhile hidden away. With that thought, he continued walking, continuing to look out for any clue that might give away the location of the treasure vault.
After a while, though, Liyu found something... or rather, he heard something. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with what he was looking for. Instead, what he found was a large open training ground where the disciples of the Li Clan were having friendly sparring matches.
The disciples were all dressed in black and red robes; every single one of them was in the Body Refinement Realm, ranging from the early stages all the way to the peak of the realm.
Liyu couldn’t help but be amused by a thought that flashed through his mind as he looked at the disciples who seemed about to clash in a fierce sparring session.
He could remember almost vividly that all these people had started cultivating about two years ago, and yet some of them still hadn’t broken through to the late stages. In fact, many of them were still lingering around the third and fourth stages of Body Refinement.
Liyu couldn’t help but shake his head in mild amusement. To think that he used to be impressed by and even jealous of this bunch back when he hadn’t gotten the chance to cultivate. But now... he could cultivate.
And within just a month, he had already surpassed all of them, reaching the pinnacle of the Body Refinement Realm. He would’ve gone even further if not for the fact that he had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to step into the Qi Gathering Realm.
The system had also warned him against trying to consume beast cores just to see if anything happened; if he did, and things went badly wrong... which was almost guaranteed... then he might once again find himself standing at death’s door.
And sincerely speaking, the rate at which he kept getting closer and closer to death wasn’t funny anymore. So, he decided that he would only advance after finding a legitimate method to proceed with his cultivation without the chances of dying being involved.
Liyu’s face remained calm and relaxed as he watched two of the strongest disciples of the Li Clan step forward to spar. The first was a man who stood around six feet tall; he was dark-skinned, with an overall larger and tougher build.
His dark hair was, in Liyu’s opinion, cut ridiculously short, not even enough to properly cover his entire head. The second disciple who stepped forward was light-skinned and around five and a half feet tall.
Although he was slightly shorter than the dark-skinned one, he was by no means inferior in the aura he radiated. He, alongside his sparring partner, was at the peak of the Body Refinement Realm. The two stood a short distance apart, gave each other a firm nod, and then assumed their respective battle stances.
The moment Liyu saw their stances, he couldn’t help but snort inwardly. Newbies... he shook his head slightly. The dark-skinned disciple’s battle stance was far too rigid; it would make it extremely difficult for him to react to attacks coming from strange or unexpected angles.
As for the light-skinned disciple, his battle stance was much more flexible, but with how widely his legs were spread, any good strike aimed at his thigh would immediately break his defense apart. Liyu couldn’t help but shake his head once again.
And yet... the two of them looked incredibly proud of such stances. What stupidity. Meanwhile, the rest of the disciples present were all hyped beyond belief. Brother Zhu and Brother Gong were considered the strongest among the ordinary disciples.
Of course, they excluded the true geniuses who had already stepped into the Qi Gathering Realm, such as the Anomaly Brothers and a few others, with the Battle Princess standing at the very top as the strongest disciple of the Li Clan.
Gong, the dark-skinned warrior, had a sharp, calm, and precise gaze. He took a deep breath before suddenly rushing forward; his kick caused the very ground beneath him to tremble ever so slightly as he dashed ahead.
Within only a few seconds, he was already standing right before Zhu. Zhu, however, wasn’t fazed in the slightest; he calmly blocked the incoming blow before immediately launching one of his own.
His strike landed squarely across Gong’s face, and a loud sound reverberated through the training ground as Gong’s head was pushed backward from the impact. But that was all it managed to accomplish.
The larger man simply attacked even more ferociously the very next second, striking at an insanely fast speed. Zhu was forced to move quickly as well, blocking every one of the incoming attacks.
The battle quickly got underway as the two sides moved faster... and faster... until the watching disciples were no longer able to see either of them clearly anymore.
"Brother Zhu is getting the upper hand! I believe he will win this spar!"
"Why would you think that? After all, we all know that Brother Gong has proven time and time again that he is the stronger of the two."
"I know, but can’t you see that Brother Zhu is far more skilled? I heard even the Clan Lord himself was impressed by the fact that he managed to learn the Gale Whip Skill. Trust me, if he ever uses that against Brother Gong, then even with his iron-like skin, he still wouldn’t be able to escape it unscathed."
The argument played out between four enthusiastic disciples as they each tried to support the one they believed had the better chance of winning the battle.
Meanwhile, the other disciples were all shocked by the way the two moved at such insane speed. It was almost as if they were disappearing.
Well, they were moving so fast and so sharply that it certainly looked that way. While the others were impressed by what they were seeing, believing that the two fighters were extremely talented and deserved a prestigious title just like how Li Yuexin had received the title of Battle Princess, there was one spectator who didn’t share the same opinion.
While everyone else looked at the sparring duo with admiration and awe, Liyu only watched with disappointment.
They were so... so... so weak, he couldn’t help but think to himself. In fact, he found it extremely disappointing that these two guys were supposedly at the same cultivation level as him.
Their guards were full of holes; he could easily exploit countless openings to take them down. Their offensive power, movement speed, reaction time, and overall combat abilities weren’t much different from how he himself had been back when he was only around the third stage of Body Refinement.
Perhaps they were only slightly stronger than his former self, but compared to his current self... they didn’t even qualify to look him in the eye.
And the most cringe-worthy thing about all of this was the flashy movements and the so-called combat skills everyone kept rambling about. It was all so unbearably cringeworthy that Liyu actually had to look away. He couldn’t help but feel annoyed.
These guys thought they were displaying some magnificent battle... yet in his eyes, they were nothing more than monkeys putting on a show. The spar continued for quite a while, as both fighters were indeed talented by ordinary standards.
After five full minutes of intense combat, Zhu finally claimed victory. The main reason was because he managed to outmaneuver Gong, whose movements were slowed by his overly stiff battle stance.
Using the Gale Whip Skill.... the newest clan technique Zhu had learned... he struck the back of Gong’s head, knocking the latter unconscious on the spot.
For a long moment, silence filled the entire training ground. Then, the crowd suddenly exploded into loud cheers. "Brother Zhu is the best!" "Did you all see that last skill he used?!"
"He really deserves to be called a battle genius!" More and more praise showered over Li Zhu, and he couldn’t help but smile proudly to himself.
That was... until an unwanted voice suddenly spoke and shattered the pride swelling inside his chest: "Tch... His performance was horrible at best. I can’t believe he’s supposed to be at the peak of the Body Refinement Realm. Disappointing."
Li Zhu’s expression immediately darkened as he looked toward the direction the voice had come from. Standing there calmly and composed as ever was none other than the failed heir of the Li Clan, Liyu.
The latter was looking at him as though he were nothing more than a junior.
"What did you just say?" Li Zhu asked coldly, the smile on his face disappearing completely. Liyu raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t exactly been speaking loudly... at least, not louder than the cheering crowd.
But he had forgotten that Li Zhu was also a cultivator. Maybe the guy simply looked so weak in Liyu’s eyes that he subconsciously forgot to even count him as one. "Say what you just said. Repeat it."
Li Zhu’s voice had become cold... murderous, even. Hearing the threat, Liyu couldn’t help but find it amusing. Was he supposed to feel threatened by this clown? Wasn’t this no different from a baby cat trying to threaten a fully grown tiger? How foolish.
Still, another thought crossed Liyu’s mind. This might be a good time to try it out. The moment that thought appeared, he grinned before looking straight at Li Zhu.
"I said... you are a newbie at fighting, dude. You swing your fists like a chicken. I can’t believe you’re supposed to be a cultivator. And did you see the way you shook your ass around at the end?
You looked more like a clown than some battle genius or anything of that sort." Liyu spoke with a perfectly straight face, as though he were merely stating undeniable facts. Li Zhu’s blood instantly boiled.
He forcefully calmed himself before looking at Liyu with a smile that was anything but friendly. "Oh my... I must have made a mistake. As the honorable heir of the clan, surely you must possess far greater knowledge. Why don’t you step forward and teach me?" he asked with a small smile plastered across his face.
Clearly, it wasn’t a good smile. "I’ll beat the shit out of him if he dares to agree,".Li Zhu thought inwardly, fully expecting Liyu to reject the challenge. After all, he was nothing more than a weakling.
But to his utter dismay, Liyu simply stepped forward with a warm smile on his face. "Of course. It would be my pleasure to teach you." Internally, however, Liyu wore a maddening grin.
"Hey, Sys," he spoke within his mind, his tone calm yet strangely dangerous, "I want you to watch carefully. The art of face-slapping that I told you about... is about to be unleashed. And Li Zhu has been unlucky enough to become the very first person I’m going to use it on."