Chapter 48: Punishing the Enemy, Hiding Treasures

At the edge of the forest, Long Meng, the deputy leader of the Dragon and Tiger Gate, no longer showed any trace of greed or contempt. As more and more of his brothers fell among the corpses of the Black Wind Mountain bandits, fear grew increasingly evident in his eyes. Upon closer inspection, one could even see his body trembling slightly.
His eyes were wide with shock!
Long Meng could hardly believe what he saw…
In just under ten seconds, sixteen out of the forty-some brothers who went out had been killed—all of them skilled fighters from the Dragon and Tiger Gate, specially chosen to lead the attack. Yet these men couldn’t even pass through the challenge posed by Xiao Li the Cyclone and Xi Men Qing. While the enemy fought while retreating, the Dragon and Tiger Gate fighters struggled to advance, one after another being knocked down by Happy from behind. What was even worse…
One of the brothers took advantage of the chaos to sneak up behind the severely injured Happy and attack. Unexpectedly, Happy calmly rushed forward, blocked with his hand, and in a swift motion, strangled that brother who had reached the tenth level of swordsmanship.
After eliminating the immediate threat, Happy remained calm and continued throwing knives.
A cold sense of deep regret filled Long Meng’s chest!
It was only then that he realized just how utterly wrong he had been…
He regretted not following the advice of the Confucian Immortal and giving up his momentary greed. But it was already too late!
As the battle raged, Happy still managed to snatch the Qi Bag and valuables from the chief and deputy chiefs of the enemy clan. With a relaxed expression, he showed no signs of being seriously injured—truly like a human combat machine.
Xiao Li the Cyclone and Xi Men Qing took their swordsmanship to the extreme, using the Dragon and Tiger Gate novices as practice targets, mercilessly tearing their clothes to shreds and leaving them covered in blood.
“Retreat!”
Seeing that Happy’s performance seemed to get better and better, Long Meng finally remembered the pill Happy had swallowed before drawing his sword. Alarmed, he ordered a retreat before all his brothers were wiped out.
The members of the Dragon and Tiger Gate, as if granted amnesty, turned and ran without hesitation…
Xiao Li the Cyclone and Xi Men Qing each captured a few people, enjoying the feeling of being top martial artists. They had no intention of letting them go and grabbed their weapons, ready to continue the pursuit.
“No need to chase!”
Happy called out from behind.
“Let those bastards die all!”
Although Xiao Li the Cyclone grumbled reluctantly, he still stopped as ordered.

Ximen Qing was much more sober now. He put away his weapon and smiled, saying, “It was them who caused trouble earlier. We defended ourselves and killed a few of them—there’s nothing they can say about that. In the future, they’ll just run away at the sight of us… Pursuing them wouldn’t be right. Who knows, they might hold grudges against us. In the world of martial arts, there’s no need to create unnecessary enemies.”
“Mm.”
Kai Xin walked over to the two of them and nodded in approval after hearing this:
“Ximen is right. There’s one more thing… Don’t enter forests at will—this is a rule that those in the martial arts world must remember! Under no circumstances should you rashly enter an unknown forest.” He paused, then added thoughtfully, “You might not understand this now, but you will in the future.”
“…”
Xuanfeng Xiao Li and Ximen Qing exchanged a puzzled glance but took note of it.
For some reason, Kai Xin’s every word seemed to carry weight.
Of course, this was also related to Kai Xin’s strength!
Regardless of whether the two of them really listened, Kai Xin didn’t want to stay here any longer. He was still eager to raid Hei Feng Zhai’s stronghold. He immediately gave the second and third leaders their Qi Kun bags, instructing them to gather the loot at the entrance of the stronghold and clear the obstacles so they could enter.
Fortunately, the bodies of over sixty Hei Feng bandits and members of the Longhu Gate gradually disappeared after the battle. The three of them collected all the remaining loot and started searching inside the stronghold.
The stronghold wasn’t very large…
Apart from a training ground and a gathering hall, there were just two rows of side rooms!
They collected everything one by one, and the haul was quite substantial.
Besides some gold medicine and inferior martial arts manuals, the stronghold also had various weapons—over twenty in total—worth a significant amount of silver when exchanged.
In the backyard, Kai Xin found a chest of silver and a small chest of gold in a cellar that resembled a warehouse—worth roughly fifty thousand taels of silver!!
“Wow, I’ve really struck it rich now.”
Xuanfeng Xiao Li threw himself onto the chest of gold and silver, rubbing his face against it contentedly, looking exactly like a money lover.
“…”
Kai Xin and Ximen Qing were speechless. After exchanging a glance, Kai Xin suggested,
“Let’s keep looking for any hidden traps. Hei Feng Zhai should have one or two valuable treasures.” He looked around the cellar filled with wine jars.
Ximen Qing was also very excited. Nodding in agreement, he began searching carefully.
Kai Xin’s gaze then fell on a landscape painting placed against the wall where Xuanfeng Xiao Li was…
That landscape painting was very strange.

It was quite unremarkable compared to the chests filled with gold and silver in the cellar, but it appeared very new compared to the surrounding wine jars and miscellaneous junk, exuding a faintly distinct atmosphere.
After a while, Xi Men Qing walked around and returned with empty hands:
“The wine jars are quite ordinary; nothing valuable. But this painting is rather strange.”
“You noticed that too?”
“I just have a feeling.”
“Then take it back and take a look.”
“Okay, I’ll do it.”
Glancing at the greedy Li, who was still hugging and kissing the gold and silver, Xi Men Qing rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward to remove the seemingly new landscape painting.
“There’s something inside!”
As expected, Xi Men Qing suddenly exclaimed in delight after removing the painting.
Inside the hollowed-out compartment lay a lush green jade ruyi. Under the faint light, its green hue shone brightly, catching everyone’s attention.
“A jade ruyi?”
The greedy Li sprang to his feet like a spring, his eyes fixed on the item in the compartment.
“Full of green color and exquisitely carved… Tsk tsk… It must be very valuable.”
“…”
Xi Men Qing’s initial excitement faded slightly at Li’s words. He stared at him gloomily, as if to say, “How come I never realized you were such a money-grubber before?”
“Well, it seems this is the Black Wind Fort’s treasure vault. The item in this compartment is the chief of Black Wind Fort’s prized possession…” Happy was the only one who seemed relatively calm…
As he spoke, he walked between the two and stretched out his hand.
But…
What Happy picked up wasn’t the jade ruyi, but rather a rather unassuming rectangular black sandalwood box beside the soft jade stand holding it.
“What’s this?”
Xi Men Qing then noticed a small object in the compartment and his eyes lit up.
By then, Happy had already opened the black sandalwood box. Inside, a black glow emanated from a porcelain vase so dark as night, exuding an oddly captivating charm.
Taking a deep breath, Happy smiled brightly:
“This is the real treasure of Black Wind Fort.”
This battle had cost him his precious “Xiao Huan Dan”. Although the chief’s secret technique—“Black Dragon Kill”—could barely make up for it, losing such a valuable life-saving pill would make it difficult to handle similar dangerous situations in the future!