Staying Alive Cautiously in the Celestial Realm and Becoming the Strongest

Chapter 615: Chapter 615: Windfall
 

By the time the guard stationed at Qian’s Wine and Rice Shop sensed something was amiss and rushed over with the swiftest speed,

the Purple Mansion Battle Cultivator was astonished to find the shop completely deserted.

Upon the counter lay an open accounting book, along with Qian Wancheng’s favorite magic artifact, the Golden Abacus.

The Purple Mansion guard’s gaze grew sharp, a bad feeling immediately washing over him.

Qian Wancheng had a habit.

Whenever he counted the books, he would send all the clerks and guards away, preferring to work alone.

Furthermore, Qian, the shopkeeper, kept the accounting records of the Wine and Rice Shop under strict control and would never allow others to touch them.

And he would never just leave them on the table and walk away.

Unless…

The Purple Mansion guard’s thoughts raced, as he reached for a talisman and infused it with mana.

The result was that the talisman ignited instantly, then extinguished just as quickly, its ashes silently drifting down.

A major incident had occurred!

A twitch involuntarily shot through the corner of his eye, and he immediately let out a piercing, warning howl.

An enemy attack!

And while Qian’s Wine and Rice Shop descended into chaos, alarming all of Flying Catkins Valley, Wang Chen had already made it back to his home through the barrier of the harsh wind and snow.

After sealing the door behind him, Wang Chen slipped into the secret chamber underground.

Having built his home outside Flying Catkins Valley, the once-retired Wang Chen excavated a long tunnel and a deep chamber that reached a hundred zhang underground.

The scale of the engineering was much greater than any of his previous endeavors!

That was because the power ceiling in the Haotian Realm was far beyond that of the Mountain and Sea Realm, with Golden Cores as common as hairs, and Nascent Souls everywhere, posing dangers far greater than any he had faced before.

Only such an underground chamber could make Wang Chen feel safe while cultivating.

Although his action of killing Qian Wancheng was filled with great risks, he had made thorough preparations.

Biding his time, timing the occasion, scouting, plotting, striking!

So far, the execution had been perfect.

Sitting in the secret chamber, Wang Chen began to review the entire operation from start to finish.

To see if there had been any oversight.

Actually, even Wang Chen himself hadn’t expected this revenge to go so smoothly; none of the contingencies he had prepared for various adverse situations had been needed.@@novelbin@@

It was as if the heavens themselves were aiding him!

And the True Form Chart of the Mystical Mirage Dragon played an extremely important role in this.

Wang Chen wasn’t using this treasure chart against his enemies for the first time, but this time, he was employing a new ability of the True Form Chart of the Mystical Mirage Dragon, and his first real battle had taken down a formidable Purple Mansion foe!

This made it abundantly clear to Wang Chen that he had previously underestimated the power of this treasure chart.

Even though he possessed the Ancient Taoist Stele, Heaven-Ensnaring Punisher Net, Thousand Mechanisms Changing, the Creation Cauldron, and the True Form Chart of the Mystical Mirage Dragon, his understanding and mastery of these treasures still remained at a superficial level.

Each excavation brought a pleasant surprise!

For Wang Chen, discovering another powerful ability of the True Form Chart of the Mystical Mirage Dragon was undoubtedly more delightful than putting an end to a corrupt merchant.

The ability of the True Form Chart of the Mystical Mirage Dragon was incredibly useful.

It reminded him of the Ancient Sky-reaching Tower in the secret realm of Azure Drop Heaven, causing him to suspect there might be some connection between the two.

However, employing the True Form Chart of the Mystical Mirage Dragon to deceive someone wasn’t without cost; the stored energy within the chart had been mostly depleted, and what was left wasn’t enough to achieve the same effect again.

He had to find a place rich in water and marsh to absorb and restore the dormant energy.

Given that it was the peak of winter season, Wang Chen suppressed his urge and shifted his attention away from the True Form Chart of the Mystical Mirage Dragon.

He took out a grayish-white ring.

The ring was simple in design, with no patterns on its surface, and it appeared to be made from a common, inexpensive metal—even if tossed on the ground, it might not compel someone to stoop to pick it up.

Yet it was Wang Chen’s unexpected gain for the night!

This ring was discovered by Wang Chen while disposing of a body to cover up a murder.

Interestingly, it was not worn on Qian Wancheng’s hand but on the foot of this wine and rice shopkeeper.

That is to say, it was worn on Qian Wancheng’s toe!

It was precisely because of this that Wang Chen took the ring back home.

A Sumeru Ring!

Wang Chen suspected that this Sumeru Ring was Qian Wancheng’s personal treasury, where he hid the spoils and even embezzlements he accumulated, which couldn’t be shown in the light and was feared lost, so it was kept on the foot.

Who could find it once the boot was on?

Wang Chen tried to inject mana into the Sumeru Ring.

The result was that it opened instantly!

When Wang Chen “saw” what was stored inside, he could only express his feelings with three “Holy shits!”

A horse doesn’t grow fat without night grazing, and a person doesn’t get rich without windfalls.

Wang Chen had made a windfall fortune before.

He also possessed treasures, so his horizons were never low.

Yet at this moment, he still felt like he had hit the jackpot!

The Sumeru Ring belonging to Qian Wancheng had an internal space several times larger than Wang Chen’s own Sumeru Ring.

It was filled with a massive amount of Spirit Stones, with Low Spirit, Middle Spirit, and Upper Spirit all present.

Besides the Spirit Stones, there were mountains of Spirit Rice and Spiritual Wine!

Qian Wancheng undoubtedly used this Sumeru Ring as a personal warehouse, with a very pure collection of items: just Spirit Stones, Spirit Rice, and Spiritual Wine, nothing else.

Wang Chen roughly estimated, and just the Spirit Stones alone were worth six to seven million.

That’s about sixty thousand Middle Spirits.

As for the Spirit Rice, there were mainly three categories: in addition to the Green Jingmi that Wang Chen was most familiar with, there were also Yellow Jade Rice and Golden Marrow Rice.

All of them were superior quality Spirit Rice suitable for cultivators.

Additionally, there were over a thousand jars of Spiritual Wine, the specific types of which probably only Qian Wancheng himself knew.

In short, these Spirit Stones, Spirit Rice, and Spiritual Wine immediately inflated the depleted savings of Wang Chen, allowing him to live comfortably for several years or even over a decade without any other source of income!

The pent-up frustration in Wang Chen’s heart was thus completely dissipated.

Speaking of which, the shopkeeper Qian was quite pitiful: He might have worked hard all his life for these savings only for all his belongings to fall into Wang Chen’s hands, and then he himself disappeared.

In the following days, Wang Chen officially entered a hibernation-like state.

He didn’t visit Flying Catkins Valley again.

However, Zhang Mushan did send him a few Talisman Messages, saying that the shopkeeper of Qian’s Wine and Rice Shop had suddenly gone missing, and then the Taoist Palace reported that the man’s Soul Lamp had been extinguished.

Inside Flying Catkins Valley there was a small Taoist Palace, the place of cultivation for Golden Core True Person Mu.

Shortly thereafter, the battle cultivators of Flying Catkins Camp conducted a thorough search of the valley, which surprisingly uncovered several spies and internal traitors.

But no one admitted to having killed Qian Wancheng.

True Person Mu was furious!

As a result, Zhang Mushan instead cautioned Wang Chen, advising him to stay out of Flying Catkins Valley if it wasn’t necessary.

To avoid unnecessary trouble.

Wang Chen was happy to go with the flow.

Time passed by day by day, and before long, the New Year festivities arrived.

Wang Chen’s first New Year in the Haotian Realm was spent at Zhang Mushan’s house.

It’s worth mentioning that the owner of the Wine and Rice Shop in Flying Catkins Valley had long since changed, even the signboard was replaced.

Qian’s had become Mu’s!