Chapter 289 - 287: Secret
Inside the room.
Bai San set down the heavy sack from his back, his eyes darting around uncontrollably. He rubbed his hands together and whispered, "Boss, since we’re already here... and this is a Celestial Sword Sect Elder’s room... how about we help ourselves? We might find something good."
Chen Li frowned slightly. "This place is dangerous. We shouldn’t linger."
"Boss, don’t be hasty. Bai San has a point."
Gossip pulled Chen Li aside, lowered his voice, and pointed at the two bulging sacks. "The noise from the Black Market outside has died down. It must be almost 3:45 AM. By convention, that’s when all the merchants who’ve finished selling their goods leave together. The crowd is thickest then, and the disciples at the gates are at their most lenient.
If we go out now carrying these huge bags, we’ll be too conspicuous and definitely get questioned. It’s better to wait here until 3:45 AM and blend in with the wave of merchants leaving. We can slip out unnoticed."
Hearing this, Chen Li slowly nodded.
Gossip did have a point. Rushing around inside the castle right now, carrying a large number of golden secret orders, was far riskier.
He looked at Bai San and nodded. "Be quick, and be careful."
Overjoyed at getting Chen Li’s approval, Bai San immediately set down the sack from his shoulder and darted off.
He first tiptoed over to the desk, rummaging through the ink, brushes, paper, and inkstone, as well as the drawers. Then he crawled under the bed to feel around, and even lifted the wall scroll to check behind it. His movements were so practiced it was startling.
Unfortunately, after all that commotion, he found nothing of note besides several hundred taels of silver and some ordinary clothes and accessories.
Gossip couldn’t help but roll his eyes, watching Bai San rummage around like a headless fly.
He walked over to an inconspicuous corner of the inner room on his own.
The floor there was paved with stone slabs, identical to the rest, except for one whose edge seemed slightly more worn.
Gossip crouched down and pressed on that slab from a specific angle.
"CLICK!"
A faint mechanical sound came from beneath the stone slab.
The slab popped up slightly, revealing a narrow gap.
Bai San immediately rushed over, his eyes shining. "Holy shit! Old Bao, you’re amazing. How did you know about this spot?"
"This is where the Pig Emperor used to hide his treasures."
Gossip explained, carefully lifting the slab.
Underneath was a small hidden compartment containing a small, unadorned, foot-square box made of red sandalwood.
"He really dared to hide it here."
Gossip smiled and lifted the box out.
He opened the lid. There wasn’t much inside.
A stack of gold leaves, roughly forty or fifty of them, worth several hundred taels.
A few small Jade Bottles with labels, apparently containing Elixirs for healing or aiding Cultivation.
At the bottom were two thick, thread-bound booklets with worn corners.
Bai San took a look and pouted. "Is that all? This isn’t even a fraction of what’s in our sacks."
Chen Li walked over and picked up the two booklets.
He flipped one open. The pages were densely packed with records of the Ruins Market’s income and expenses on various dates.
These had to be the Black Market’s ledgers. They were valuable, but he wasn’t interested.
Just as he was about to close the ledger, his gaze was drawn to a thin sheet of stationery tucked between the pages.
The paper was of high quality, and the handwriting on it was neat.
"Last year’s Jiangkou Lion Spring Longjing Tea: total production, ten jin. Proposal: three jin to be sent back to the Sect, two jin for the Governor, one jin for the Governor, and one jin each for the State Minister, the Jingwu Bureau, the Governor of Linjiang, and the Governor of Liyang. Please advise if this is appropriate."
The signature at the bottom was a simple, stylized flourish that was hard to make out.
Chen Li’s gaze lingered on the four words for "Governor of Liyang" for a moment, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
’Lion Spring Longjing Tea... this definitely isn’t referring to actual tea.’
"CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!"
Just then, the bronze bell tolling the hour was struck. Its distant, clear chimes pierced the night, echoing to every corner of the castle.
It was 3:45 AM.
"Aiyo! Boss, it’s time. We have to go! Any later and they’ll lock the place down and start searching. We won’t be able to slip out."
Bai San urged in a low, anxious voice, jolted by the sound.
Chen Li carefully put away the letter and the two ledgers.
Bai San and Gossip quickly and deftly packed the gold leaves and Jade Bottles from the small box into their sacks, placed the empty box back in the hidden compartment, and replaced the stone slab.
The three of them slipped out of the room without a sound.
To their surprise, on their way from the room in the core area to the outskirts of the trading hall where the Black Market was held, they only encountered a single patrol of disciples.
"Who goes there?"
The lead disciple had just shouted the question when his vision blurred, and his consciousness instantly sank into darkness.
The whole process was so fast that no one had time to react, and it barely made a sound.
The trading hall was no longer the bustling, noisy place it had been a few hours ago.
Most of the stalls were already packed up. All sorts of people, some alone, others in groups of three or five, were heading in a continuous stream toward the castle’s exits with their goods.
The three of them exchanged a look and quickly blended into a group of merchants.
The disciples at the gate were clearly used to the peak departure time of 3:45 AM. They just gave the group a casual glance before waving them through.
...
Barely ten minutes after Chen Li’s group left Hidden Emperor Castle.
"GRIND... RUMBLE..."
The stone wall that had just sealed shut emitted a dull, grinding sound once more.
The Stone Gate was slowly pushed open from the inside. A dozen or so figures, carrying a damp, cold aura with them, emerged one by one from the secret passage.
The one in the lead was none other than the Sword Madman, Xie Jinglan, his expression so dark it looked like it could drip water.
"This... this is?"
The group stepped onto the floor of the washroom, and before they could even catch their breath, they were stunned by the familiar sight before them.
They had expected it to lead to a secret exit. Never in their wildest dreams did they imagine that the end of the passage would be their own Elder’s bedroom.
Xie Jinglan’s expression, in particular, was ghastly.
He turned his head to look at the stone wall. He had inspected this place several times, but he never imagined there was another hidden mechanism.
His gaze swept across the room, finally landing on the two limp bodies on the floor of the outer chamber.
His pupils contracted. With a flicker of movement, he was beside the corpses.
He extended two fingers and placed them on the necks of the two disciples who had been on night watch.
All signs of life were gone—killed in the exact same way as Dian San and Dao Si outside the castle.
Xie Jinglan squeezed the words through his teeth. "The same method..."
He slowly stood up, his eyes shot with blood. A terrifying Evil Qi spread from him uncontrollably, making the surrounding disciples feel as if they were suffocating.
’Not only did they get to the secret chamber first, but they dared... to just brazenly walk out of my own bedroom!’
’This is a complete humiliation!’
Something suddenly occurred to him. His expression changed drastically, and he said to Luo Hanfeng and the others, "All of you, get out. Wait outside the door. No one is to enter without my command!"
Luo Hanfeng sensed that his master was not in a good state and didn’t dare ask any questions. He immediately led the other disciples out of the room.
Once he was alone in the room, Xie Jinglan spun around and strode to the inconspicuous corner of the inner chamber.
He found the slightly different stone slab, channeled his energy into his fingers, and pressed down.
"CLICK!"
The mechanism clicked, and the slab popped up.
Xie Jinglan impatiently lifted the slab and pulled out the small red sandalwood box.
The box felt very light in his hands. A bad feeling welled up inside him.
He quickly opened the lid.
It was completely empty!
Not only were the emergency gold leaves and Elixirs gone, but even the two important ledgers had vanished without a trace!
Xie Jinglan practically spat the words through clenched teeth. "Damn it!!!"
He slammed the lid shut with a BANG, his chest heaving violently.
’The gold, silver, and Elixirs being stolen isn’t the biggest problem... but those ledgers!’
A biting killing intent burst forth from his entire body.
He shot to his feet, yanked the door open, and stalked out, his face ashen.
Outside the door, Luo Hanfeng and the others saw his expression and felt a chill run down their spines, not daring to even breathe too loudly.
Xie Jinglan’s eyes were filled with undisguised murder. "Hanfeng! Immediately fire the highest-level warning signal. Send word to Elders Jian Dian and Jian Xi, who are guarding their posts, and to all patrol disciples. Seal every exit and main road.
Everyone who just left the Ruins Market—don’t let a single one go! Detain them all. Search and interrogate every last one of them. Even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, find those thieves for me!"
This command stunned everyone.
Detain all the merchants who just left?
Every single one of those people had powerful backing.
Otherwise, who would dare do business in this Black Market!
Acting so tyrannically would undoubtedly cause a huge uproar and would be a devastating blow to the Ruins Market’s reputation.
A slightly older disciple couldn’t help but step forward, steeling himself, and cautiously advised, "Master, please reconsider! We have long-term business with these merchants. Acting so forcefully might alienate them..."
Before he could finish, he was cut off by Xie Jinglan’s furious roar: "Alienate my ass!"
Xie Jinglan’s bloodshot eyes stared daggers at the disciple, his terrifying aura crashing down like a volcanic eruption. "What fucking bullshit business are you talking about? If we don’t catch those thieves, not a single one of us is going to live!"
The roar echoed down the hallway, seeming to make the very walls tremble.
Oppressed by this frightening pressure, the disciples’ faces turned deathly pale, and they didn’t dare utter another word.
"What are you still standing around for?"
Xie Jinglan, looking like a crazed tiger, swept his gaze over the disciples who were silent as cicadas in winter. "Go! Fire the signal! After them!"
"Yes, Master!"
Luo Hanfeng was the first to react. He pulled a specially designed signal flare from his robes and rushed to the window at the end of the hall.
The next moment, a blinding streak of crimson light shot into the sky.
It was immediately followed by two more identical red signal fireworks exploding in the air.
...
The sky was beginning to show the first pale light of dawn.
A long line of assorted carriages and mule trains was slowly inching its way along the road leading away from Hidden Emperor Castle.
Chen Li, Bai San, and Gossip, driving a shabby, green-canopied carriage, were mixed into the middle of the line, completely inconspicuous.
"What the hell are they doing today? It’s almost dawn, and they’re searching everyone endlessly!"
A gruff curse came from up ahead.
Further up the road, dozens of disciples in Celestial Sword Sect attire had set up a roadblock, inspecting the merchants trying to leave the castle one by one.
The long line was blocked solid, and a sense of impatient discontent was spreading through the crowd.
Just then.
"WHOOSH... BANG! WHOOSH... BANG! WHOOSH... BANG!"
Three sharp whistles cut through the silence as three crimson fireworks shot up from the center of Hidden Emperor Castle and exploded against the gray sky.
"A Celestial Sword Order! Three signals—it’s the highest alert!"
Seeing this, the faces of the Celestial Sword Sect disciples at the roadblock all changed drastically. They exchanged horrified glances.
The lead disciple barked, "Wait! Everyone, halt!"
The column of merchants instantly erupted into chaos.
"A Celestial Sword Order? What’s that?"
"What happened at Hidden Emperor Castle? Did a powerful enemy attack?"
"Don’t tell me we’re being attacked by some other power again?"
"Let us go! Let us through!"
Carriages and horses jostled together, voices rose to a fever pitch, and the scene grew even more chaotic.