Chapter 288: Stealing Treasures

Although saving people also came with mission rewards, Lin Dong felt no pressure to seek out extra payments that others might deem insignificant. Seeing Yun Lan and Xiao Tianchi standing with their hands behind their backs, he eagerly asked, “Are the traps and spirit arrays taken care of?”
Yun Lan nodded slowly.
Overjoyed, Lin Dong rushed to the first row of bookshelves. On the shelves, jade bottles, jade carvings, and jade pendants were arranged from top to bottom. He glanced at the note beneath a nearby jade dish: “Green jade dish, sealed in the 17th year of the Fengtong era, crafted by Liu Fenglin. Made of plain green jade from Qingyu Mountain in the Sixth Ring Province. Thirteen exist in the world today, priced between 4,000 and 5,000 taels.”
Lin Dong was stunned speechless. Just one such dish was worth as much as Lin’s Inn in Xilan City’s monthly net profit. This treasure-stealing business was truly lucrative! If he ever ran short of funds, he could simply ask Yun Lan to browse the treasure vaults of some mid-tier sects.
A Seventh-Level Spirit Array Master—how impressive!
Lin Dong took a breath and carelessly placed the jade dish into the mobile counter, then tore up the note with his left hand and tossed it in as well. Jade bottles, jade carvings, jade pendants… At first, he checked their values, but later he stopped bothering—each item was worth at least a thousand taels, so he just grabbed whatever he saw.
From afar, watching Lin Dong happily scouring the bookshelves, Xiao Tianchi felt both amused and exasperated. These worldly treasures were hardly worth anything in terms of value. With so many high-grade spiritual materials and fruits at his disposal, just a few would be more than enough.
In Xiao Tianchi’s eyes, Lin Dong seemed like someone who had a treasure mountain at home yet was obsessed with trivial stones outside. He had no idea that in Lin Dong’s view, selling high-grade spiritual materials and fruits could easily bring trouble. As for these worldly treasures, selling them would at most attract a few bandits. Moreover, exchanging them for silver or spirit stones, combined with his small garden, still held value comparable to those high-grade items.
Yun Lan, dressed in flowing white robes, smiled as she approached a bookshelf covered in countless jewels and began collecting them one by one.
Lin Dong grinned and turned to look at Xiao Tianchi, slightly dissatisfied. “Seignior Xiao, although these things belong to me, we’re allies after all. There’s no need to stand there with your hands behind your back.”
Xiao Tianchi was taken aback before forcing a wry smile. Glancing at Yun Lan out of the corner of his eye, he felt relieved. If the heir of the Heavenly Sword Sect wasn’t bothered by these worldly treasures, what was there for him, the head of a small sect, to be so pretentious?

Three people working is naturally much faster than one person. In just fifteen minutes, the dozen or so large bookshelves were already empty.
“Done. Let’s go upstairs!”
Seeing no more valuable items, Lin Dong clapped his hands and pointed to the stone stairs in the corner.
The three of them slowly climbed upstairs. Halfway there, Yun Lan suddenly stopped and said softly, “There are guards up there! Wait a moment.”
The two nodded. After checking for any spirit array traps ahead, Yun Lan soared upward with great agility.
A moment later, a voice came from above, “You can come up now.”
Xiao Tianchi rushed upstairs. Anything further up had nothing to do with Lin Dong. Thus, compared to Xiao Tianchi, Lin Dong was much more calm. He slowly climbed up and found that, just like the first floor, the stone chamber on the second floor was also a huge open space.
“Where are the people?” Lin Dong couldn’t help but wonder.
“They’re inside the spirit array. You need to break it to see them,” Yun Lan explained.
Lin Dong understood. He found a dry spot, sat cross-legged, and let his spiritual energy flow slowly from his dantian into his meridians, then circulate within them.
Yun Lan smiled calmly and focused on breaking the array.
Downstairs, he had complained that others weren’t helping by standing around, but now that there was nothing for him upstairs, he started cultivating right away. His somewhat selfish behavior made Xiao Tianchi mutter under his breath.
Fortunately, he also knew Lin Dong couldn’t help. Though he muttered, he didn’t dare to cultivate on the spot like Lin Dong did. Instead, he pretended not to notice and held two low-grade spirit pills in each hand, waiting for Yun Lan’s instructions.
An hour passed in the blink of an eye. At Yun Lan’s signal, everything repeated as before. Xiao Tianchi shot the spirit pills from his hands like bullets, embedding them into the traps on the stone walls to block them.
As the gust of wind dissipated, rows of weapon racks came into view. On the racks were countless spirit weapons of various shapes. A rough estimate showed there were at least ten thousand of them.
Even if they were all low-grade spirit weapons, their value was still far higher than that of the jewels and treasures downstairs.
Beneath the weapon racks, several disciples of the Xingli Sect, dressed in combat gear, could be seen lying unconscious. Since they seemed unharmed, they must have been knocked out by Yun Lan.
“Third floor!”
Just as Xiao Tianchi was about to call Lin Dong, he turned around and saw Lin Dong standing up at the perfect moment.
“I didn’t expect Manager Lin to be able to pay attention to what’s going on outside while cultivating,” Xiao Tianchi couldn’t help but praise, implying he wanted to find out if Lin Dong had any special spiritual skills.
Lin Dong smiled leisurely, “It’s just a habit from eating three meals a day.”

Xiao Tianchi was confused, but Yun Lan couldn’t help but laugh softly—only she could understand the meaning behind Lin Dong’s words.
Upon reaching the stone stairs on the third floor, as before, Yun Lan noticed someone else and left the two of them waiting halfway up, flying in alone.
Almost at the same time as last time, Yun Lan appeared and summoned them to go upstairs.
They continued climbing layer by layer, and by the time the spirit array on the fifth floor was broken, the sun was already rising outside the stone chamber.
Inside the fifth-floor chamber, there weren’t as many treasures as in the previous floors. In the vast space, only two thick black wooden blocks stood in the center.
Above the blocks, on the left, was a brocade box, and on the right, a spirit sword that glowed with a radiant light.
“It seems we don’t need to find a way to deliberately activate the spirit array this time,” Yun Lan said with a smile.
“Why?” Lin Dong asked, puzzled.
“There are fourth-tier Lianli arrays beneath these two blocks,” Yun Lan explained. “Once a Lianli array is broken, all Lianli arrays within a thousand meters will sense it and emit a rapid ringing sound. With my strength, I can easily break these two arrays, but it’s impossible to break them both at once.”
Lin Dong suddenly understood—even spirit arrays below the sixth tier weren’t enough; there were still such arrays. The Xingli Sect was indeed very cautious.
“This spirit sword must be a seventh-tier spirit weapon…” Looking at the glowing sword, Xiao Tianchi couldn’t help but lick his lips, his expression like that of a child seeing candy. The difference was that Xiao Tianchi had greater self-control; the thought of claiming it for himself flashed by briefly before disappearing.
Compared to the Xingli Sect’s methods of refining weapons and spirit techniques, though the seventh-tier spirit sword was of infinite value, it was still several levels below.
After discussing their plan of action, Yun Lan’s Blue Chen Sword instantly pierced at the spirit array protecting the seventh-tier spirit sword. The moment they made contact, suddenly, a harsh, rapid roaring sound arose beneath the other block. The noise was so loud that it made Lin Dong’s ears ring; only by shielding his ears with spiritual energy did it improve slightly.
“Bad news—someone has broken into the treasure hall!”
“Inform the sect master—someone has invaded the treasure hall!”
“Help! People from the Ningji Sect have attacked the treasure hall!”
Chaos-filled shouts echoed continuously beneath the stone chamber. Xiao Tianchi stepped forward and punched the ground fiercely.
Boom…
The ground shook violently, the stone surface trembled before returning to calm, but the stone wall directly in front of Xiao Tianchi collapsed with a roar.
The warm sunlight instantly filled the entire stone chamber.

“Let’s go!” Yun Lan grabbed Lin Dong’s arm and flew diagonally toward the ground twenty or thirty meters below. With her graceful figure, if she covered Lin Dong beside her, one might mistake her for a fairy descending from heaven.

Xiao Tianchi snatched up the seventh-tier spirit sword, bent his legs, and suddenly flipped downward. Less than ten meters above the ground, he uncurled his body and struck the ground repeatedly with his palms. Amidst thunderous noises and surging waves, he managed to stand firmly on the ground.

Compared to Yun Lan, who was still carrying Lin Dong, Xiao Tianchi’s movements were not only clumsy but also lacking in grace. Yet in Lin Dong’s eyes, he still inspired envy. From such a great height, with his strength, he should be able to use his spiritual energy to offset most of the falling force at critical moments. But jumping down might not be fatal, but at least one of his legs would surely break.

Seeing the thief descend straight from the sky, the disciples of the Xingli Sect, armed with spirit swords, surrounded him. Those who were heading toward the stone building also turned around to form a circle around him.

“Block them! Kill them!”

Wielding the seventh-tier spirit sword, Xiao Tianchi felt invincible. With a loud shout, he charged ahead at the forefront.

With a clashing sound, the disciples of the Xingli Sect, whose strength was already far inferior to Xiao Tianchi’s, and whose spirit swords shattered into pieces or showed large cracks upon contact, were utterly unable to stop his advance without any elders present.

Behind him, Yun Lan was also relieved. Holding Lin Dong’s arm, she followed closely behind Xiao Tianchi.

Lin Dong wasn’t idle either. His spiritual energy flowed through his meridians along the pathways of the air-control realm. Seizing an opportunity, he tripped a disciple of the Xingli Sect who was moving a bit faster.

Xiao Tianchi advanced rapidly toward the main gate of the Xingli Sect. In the distance, Qian Changjian rushed over with two elders.

The expressions on the three of them were deathly pale.

They all recognized the spirit sword in Xiao Tianchi’s hand. They had been pressing Yu Beide for over two months without ever uncovering the method to activate the Lianli Formation. Who would have thought that the sect’s treasure, passed down for hundreds of years, would be stolen at such a critical moment?

If this became known, Qian Changjian believed he would never be able to face anyone again.

Seeing the three of them break through the gate, not understanding why the spirit formation hadn’t activated, the only thing Qian Changjian could do was keep ordering them to pursue—pursue, and pursue again. Whatever it took, they must retrieve the spirit sword.

In terms of strength, Qian Changjian and the others were slightly superior to Xiao Tianchi, who had consumed the Qinglan Fruit. With the disciples of the Xingli Sect blocking the way ahead, the distance between the two sides gradually narrowed.

“Daring to come to my Xingli Clan to steal treasures! If I don’t tear you all to pieces, I won’t mention Qian Changjian!”
Just as Qian Changjian’s wildly pounding heart finally calmed down a bit, and he was about to muster his strength to circle around and intercept the three of them, Yun Lan moved swiftly, bringing Lin Dong with her to catch up to Xiao Tianchi, before grabbing his arm.
The speed of the three of them increased slightly instantly, and before long, they left Qian Changjian and the others far behind.