Chapter 164: Betrayal
Once Vogue and all the others had each claimed their allocated items, the first floor’s treasures were completely distributed. Nothing remained on the black shelves except empty spaces where valuable items had rested moments before.
As for the meditative prayer mat that Mr. Yun had briefly examined earlier, Vogue noticed with some amusement that the white-clothed old man had already tossed it dismissively onto the floor without paying it any further attention. Apparently the mat had been deemed worthless after closer inspection.
Similarly, the small emerald-green plant that had been sitting by the window—the Yinfocus Herb that Sean’s assistant had commented on earlier—remained untouched. Several cultivators had glanced at it and clearly recognized what it was, but no one showed any interest in claiming it.
Vogue smiled wryly to himself. They all know that herb has grown far past its optimal harvest age. After reaching such maturity, the Yinfocus Herb’s medicinal properties actually decline rather than strengthen. Taking it now would be pointless—it’s essentially worthless except perhaps as a decorative plant.
These experienced Luminous Realm experts had examined everything present on the first floor with meticulous care. After all, it was entirely possible that truly precious items might be hidden among seemingly mundane objects, disguised through illusion techniques or spatial compression.
But after thoroughly investigating every corner, shelf, and surface using their spiritual senses, no additional discoveries were made. There were no hidden compartments, no spatial containers concealed in plain sight, no treasures disguised as common items.
Once the group collectively confirmed there was nothing else of value to claim on the first floor, Marcus gestured toward the staircase leading upward:
"Well then, shall we see what awaits us on the second level? I confess my anticipation has only grown stronger after seeing what was displayed down here."
The expedition members began climbing the stairs together, each person privately hoping that even greater treasures awaited them above.
The staircase was relatively short—just twenty or thirty steps—before opening onto the second floor landing.
When the first cultivators reached the top and entered the upper chamber, they immediately stopped in their tracks, visibly stunned by what they encountered. Several voices gasped in surprise.
As soon as Vogue himself emerged onto the second floor, he too felt a moment of genuine shock at the unexpected sight before him.
Positioned directly at the top of the stairway, there stood a small offering shrine with burning incense. The shrine held a golden statue approximately two feet tall depicting a fierce, demonic-looking creature.
The statue showed a single-horned beast with an aggressive, snarling expression frozen on its face. Most distinctively, the creature possessed six arms—all six limbs raised upward toward the heavens in what appeared to be either a gesture of worship or a challenge to the cosmos itself.
The craftsmanship was extraordinarily lifelike. The statue seemed as though it might animate and attack at any moment.
Marcus and the other cultivators appeared genuinely shocked to discover that —a legendary human Saint—had apparently enshrined and worshipped a demon beast in his private sanctum.
Why would a human cultivator maintain a shrine to a beast? several of them wondered. What could this creature represent to warrant such reverence?
But when Vogue’s eyes landed on the golden statue, his heart jumped violently in his chest for an entirely different reason.
The demonic creature depicted in the shrine looked exactly identical to the mysterious beast entity he had encountered in his internal world—the primordial dragon form that had manifested during his bloodline evolution!
It possessed the same fierce expression, the same configuration of six arms all raised to the sky, even the same slight tilt to the single horn on its head. The resemblance was so perfect that it couldn’t possibly be coincidental.
What does this mean? Vogue’s thoughts raced. Is this statue depicting the same bloodline that I carry? Did the Saint also possess a connection to this primordial dragon lineage? Or is this something else entirely?
Before Vogue could process these implications further, he forcefully suppressed his shock and carefully schooled his expression back to neutral curiosity. He couldn’t afford to show any special interest in the statue—that would only raise questions he had no way to safely answer.
Vogue deliberately turned his gaze away from the shrine, looking instead at the rest of the second floor’s contents.
The upper chamber appeared to be the Saint s personal living quarters rather than a treasure display room. The layout was intimate and residential rather than formal.
Positioned about ten meters away from the shrine, there sat a common-looking wooden desk and matching chair. On the desk’s surface were various mundane items: an ink stone for grinding ink, a writing brush resting in its holder, bamboo slips for recording text, and several other scholar’s implements.
On the side of the room opposite to the demon shrine, Vogue noticed something far more interesting: a bed constructed from pale blue jade that radiated a distinctly cold aura.
Even from this distance, he could sense that the bed emitted frigid spiritual energy—likely carved from genuine glacial jade, an extremely rare material. Such a bed would be invaluable for cultivators practicing Yin-type or ice-based techniques, as sleeping on it would naturally enhance and purify their cultivation.
But more importantly than the bed itself, resting on top of its surface were three jade boxes of moderate size. These containers appeared to be sealed with god locks and were clearly designed to protect valuable contents.
The jade boxes immediately drew every eye in the room. They sat there like prizes on display, practically begging to be opened and examined.
Those must contain the truly precious items, nearly everyone thought simultaneously. The real inheritance that a Saint left behind wouldn’t be casually displayed on open shelves—it would be sealed.
Before anyone could move toward the boxes, however, something happened that shattered the tentative peace of the moment.
In a sudden blur of motion almost too fast to track, Mr. Yun’s figure shot across the room. He appeared beside the cold jade bed in an instant and reached out to grab one of the three jade boxes with his hand.
"Wait a moment!" A sharp voice rang out in alarm.
Almost simultaneously with Mr. Yun’s movement, another figure materialized beside the bed as well. This person’s hand began glowing with ominous black light as they thrust it directly toward Mr. Yun’s back in what was clearly an aggressive, hostile strike.
Mr. Yun’s instincts and combat experience saved him. He immediately withdrew his reaching hand and twisted his body sideways, narrowly avoiding the sneak attack. The black-glowing hand passed through the space his torso had occupied just a fraction of a second earlier.
In his shocked fury, Mr. Yun glared at his attacker with open hostility and demanded:
"What do you think you’re doing?! Are you actually trying to attack me?"
The robes of the attacker fluttered as the figure came to a stop. Standing there with an expression of complete calm was Sir Collins, the formation master dwarf.
Sir Collins spoke in a reasonable tone as though he hadn’t just attempted to strike another expedition member:
"Brother Yun, please don’t act so hastily! I merely wished to confirm whether or not you intended to use your priority selection privilege on that particular jade box—which would mean renouncing your privilege on any other items we might discover. It’s important to establish that before you simply take things."
Mr. Yun’s expression showed he was struggling to regain his composure, though fury still burned in his eyes. He responded sharply:
"Naturally, I want to examine what’s inside the boxes first before making any selection decision! Why would I blindly choose something if it turns out to be useless to my cultivation path?"
Sir Collins maintained his fearless demeanor and instead shifted his calculating gaze to examine all three jade boxes sitting on the bed. After a moment of consideration, he spoke in a deliberately calm, measured tone:
"If I recall correctly, the agreement we all made was that you and Family Head Marcus would have priority selection rights, and then the rest of us would evenly divide whatever remained afterward. However..."
He paused meaningfully before continuing: "Doesn’t Brother Yun believe there’s a fundamental problem with that arrangement given what we’re looking at now? Once these three jade boxes are claimed by you two through priority selection, there will be essentially nothing left for the rest of us to divide fairly. The distribution becomes impossible."
Ah, Vogue thought with dark amusement as he watched this confrontation develop. So the betrayal is beginning even sooner than I expected. They’re turning on each other before we’ve even fully explored the inheritance.
Family Head Marcus took several aggressive steps forward and positioned himself directly alongside Mr. Yun in a clear show of solidarity. His face had transformed into an expression of malicious threat as he swept his cold gaze across Sir Collins, Madam Violet, and the other expedition members who hadn’t participated in their original agreement.