Chapter 106: The Treasure in the Cave

Chapter 106: Chapter 106: The Treasure in the CaveThis battle, which went on for about half an hour, was short but intense; outside the cave, dozens of bodies lay sprawled in disarray, and some of the injured were in agony. The mountain wind carried the thick scent of blood, which pervaded the entire valley, causing nausea. After this battle, within the four martial sects, the Shaolin Temple was completely wiped out, and Bian Xiqi, a Profound Level Martial Artist from Myriad Medicine Valley, had died, thus losing the qualification to compete for the treasure left by the Heaven Level Martial Artist. Misty Rain Tower and Qingcheng Temple suffered relatively smaller losses, but only had a little more than ten disciples each who were still capable of fighting. Fortunately, the Profound Level Martial Artists from both sects were still alive. The few surviving disciples of Myriad Medicine Valley, led by Ghost Hand, retreated far but did not leave, obviously still harboring some hope of luck regarding the Heaven Level Martial Artist’s treasure. "Taoist Qingxuan, now that the White Ape is dead, the treasure left by the Heaven Level Martial Artist is within our reach. Currently, only our two sects are qualified to obtain the treasure left by the Heaven Level Martial Artist. What do you say as to how it should be divided?" Wen Xiangrong instructed two disciples to tend to the injured of Misty Rain Tower and then asked with a smile to Taoist Qingxuan of Qingcheng Temple. Taoist Qingxuan tossed the long sword in his hand back to the disciple from his temple and asked with a grin, "What does Mr. Wen think would be a fair division?" Both men were cunning old foxes, each not wanting to be the first to reveal their hand, preferring the other to make the first offer so they could then negotiate. Wen Xiangrong said, "No matter what treasure is inside the cave, we shall split it fifty-fifty, how about that?" Taoist Qingxuan shook his head and replied, "That’s not fair." "What’s unfair about it?" "Before coming here, we had agreed that whoever contributes more gets more. I killed the White Ape, so naturally, our Qingcheng Temple should get more." Wen Xiangrong also shook his head and said, "That’s not right. Before the White Ape was killed, it was already gravely injured and hardly had any strength left to resist. You were just faster, taking advantage of the situation, but that doesn’t mean you killed it." Taoist Qingxuan’s gaze turned sharp, and with a cold laugh said, "The number of our Qingcheng Temple’s disciples who were killed or injured is more than those from your Misty Rain Tower, which shows that we have put in greater effort!" Wen Xiangrong raised his eyebrows and countered, "Your disciples dying in larger numbers is a reflection of their own strength, or lack thereof. It cannot be blamed on others and does not prove that your Qingcheng Temple put in more effort than our Misty Rain Tower." Taoist Qingxuan said angrily, "Are you implying that my Qingcheng Temple’s disciples are weak?" Wen Xiangrong did not respond, which was tantamount to an agreement. With a sweep of his horsetail whisk, Taoist Qingxuan said, "If Mr. Wen is interested, why don’t we have a fight to see whether my Qingcheng disciples are indeed weak, or if your Misty Rain Tower disciples are worse." A shade of cunning passed through Wen Xiangrong’s eyes as he waved his hand and said, "The disciples of Myriad Medicine Valley are still watching us like tigers out for prey. It wouldn’t be good for us to fight among ourselves, would it? How about this, let’s split the treasure seventy-thirty, with seventy percent for you and the remaining thirty percent for our Qingcheng Temple. Does this satisfy the Taoist Priest?" Taoist Qingxuan laughed heartily and said, "That’s how it should be!" "Then, let’s go into the cave and see what good things are inside." "Let’s go." Saying this, Taoist Qingxuan and Wen Xiangrong walked side by side towards the interior of the cave with large strides. The disciples of the two major sects followed closely behind, each gripping their weapons tightly, on guard against each other. The cave wasn’t very deep, and after walking about ten meters or so, he reached the end. The farthest end of the cave was quite spacious, covering an area of more than a hundred square meters. With the help of the dim light, one could make out stone beds, stone tables, stone chairs, and other such items within the cave. On the stone bed, an elderly man was sitting cross-legged. Most of his clothes had already disintegrated, leaving only a few shreds hanging on his shoulders. It seemed he had died many years ago, and his clothes had weathered away. What was remarkable was that the old man’s remains were perfectly preserved. His facial features and expressions still looked lifelike, even his hair was still as black as ink. If it wasn’t for the absence of a heartbeat and breath in the old man, one might have thought he hadn’t died but was merely closing his eyes to rest and recuperate. On the wall behind the old man, there was a line of characters the size of a palm, inscribed with some sharp tool. The content of those characters was: "In my life, I traversed the Hidden Sects, rarely meeting an adversary. Later, villainously ambushed, I sustained severe internal injuries. Fleeing to this place, knowing my days were numbered, I’ve left behind a few treasures for the fated. Regrettably, my Heaven Level prowess has no successor, making it hard to rest in death." Previously, a disciple of Qingcheng Temple named Dongxuan had entered this cave by chance with his fellow disciples and, after seeing this line of characters, ascertained that the deceased was a Heaven Level Martial Artist. This revelation kicked off the joint treasure hunt by the disciples of the four major sects. "My nephew Dongxuan was right, the one who died was indeed a Heaven Level Martial Artist. This Martial Artist must have left behind treasures to be given to the destined. Haha, the destined, isn’t that referring to us?" Taoist Qingxuan swept his gaze over the characters and burst into laughter. Laid out in front of the Heavenly Martial Artist on the stone bed were a sheathed dagger, two slightly yellowed booklets, two fist-sized porcelain vases, and additionally, a wooden box. A dagger wielded by a Heaven Level Martial Artist would undoubtedly be a weapon capable of slicing through iron as if it were mud. Those two yellowed booklets could very well be Cultivation Techniques suitable for Heaven Level Martial Artists to practice. seaʀᴄh thё novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. As for the porcelain vases and the wooden box, it was unknown what they contained, but since they were carried by a Heaven Level Martial Artist, they must be treasures too. The disciples of the two major sects kept their eyes greedily fixed on the six items laid out in front of the deceased Martial Artist, their hearts racing. If not for the caution needed towards their rivals, they would have pounced forward to grab the items and examine them closely by now. "Taoist Qingxuan, there are six items: the dagger, the Cultivation Techniques, and the porcelain vases can be easily divided, but we don’t know what’s inside the wooden box. I think we should open the wooden box first to see what’s inside before deciding how to distribute them, what do you say?" "Fine. Let me see what treasure is in this wooden box." Qingxuan approached the stone bed, picked up the wooden box, and slowly opened it. He glanced inside and couldn’t hide his disappointment. Inside the wooden box, there were exactly ten jade stones the size of pigeon eggs. The stones were a fiery red color, resembling ten balls of flame, emitting dazzling and captivating light. To ordinary people, each of these ten red jade stones was worth a fortune, but for a Martial Artist like Taoist Qingxuan, no matter how expensive the jade stones were, they were not as valuable as a Cultivation Technique or even a single pill. Just as Qingxuan opened the wooden box, Fang Bai, who was hidden in the small woods outside the cave, felt streaks of Essence Energy spreading out. "Essence Stones!" Fang Bai immediately became excited. Although the Essence Energy that spread from the cave was not very strong, Fang Bai instantly guessed it came from Essence Stones, and it was most likely the lowest grade among the seven colors — the Red Essence Stone. For Fang Bai, who was desperately in need of cultivation resources at the moment, even if the effectiveness of the Red Essence Stone for cultivation was slightly poor, it was still far better than having nothing at all.