Chapter Ch204 - The Tracking Mouse
Chapter Ch204 - The Tracking Mouse
The foreign affairs manager looked at the investigation report in his hand. His face was twitching.
First of all, that Inner Sect disciple called Gongyi Tianheng had saved the Ling Clan siblings. They were being hunted down by the Mount An Bandit Gang because of a beautiful woman and an heirloom treasured sword. He quickly convinced the Ling Clan siblings to act as bait to draw out the Mount An Bandit Gang. After that, he exploited the other side’s overconfidence to ensnare quite a few batches. Finally, after the Bandit Master believed that he had seized control of the situation, the lone disciple relied on Snake Tail Mountain’s terrain to divide and conquer. The disciple eliminated all of the bandits encircling the mountain, and allowed the other three people to split away. The three issued an underground mission calling on some secretive folks who coveted the bandit gang’s treasury to wipe out the remaining bandit gang!
The lines and courses of his schemes weren’t shallow.
What shocked the foreign affairs manager even more was the true capabilities of the other party.
It could be said that the previously mentioned rescue of the Ling Clan siblings was a coincidence, and the ensnarement and complete elimination was classified as a cunning scheme. However, one man getting rid of two to three hundred people was purely the combination of schemes and martial strength.
One needed to know that the Bandit Master’s strength was Xiantian stage nine!
And based on what the manager knew, Tianheng, who was sent to do this mission, was no more than a Xiantian stage four disciple… As such, no matter what kind of methods the disciple used, this was a huge undertaking!
However, once he finished reading the report, the foreign affairs manager determined that the mission was indeed completed by Tianheng. As a result, he was going to prepare a detailed account, which he would make Tianheng take back at that time.
Meanwhile, Tianheng still needed to make another trip to the bandit den to bring back even more objects as proof.
As for Tianheng, at this moment, he was leading Tianyang and the Ling Clan siblings into the bandit den of Mount An.
There already weren’t that many people here. After going in, one would discover that lots of places had been plundered. Basically, anything of some value in the bandit den had been taken away. All that was left behind were just broken, ruined walls and some rubbish.
Right now, the Ling Clan siblings had obtained the head of Ling Tianen, which Tianheng had brought back especially for them. Their frames of mind were very good. Most of all, after the bandit gang had been completely eradicated, it was as if their heavy burdens had been unloaded all of a sudden. They became incomparably relaxed. The previous feelings of a fretful and loathsome torment were no more.
At this time, Ling Ziqi dared to take the initiative and said: “Benefactor, now that we’ve come, it seems that there’s nothing left to look for.”
Tianyang looked at the smiling face of his family’s elder brother, and his heart stirred: “Big brother, have you already thought of a way?”
Tianheng slightly nodded his head. Soon after, he took out a leather bag from his sleeve, and softly patted it: “That’s right.”
The next moment, a snow-white mouse leaped out from that leather bag. While it was born extremely cute, it was very timid. After looking at Tianheng, it unexpectedly didn’t dare to flee. It only shivered and curled up into a ball.
As it turned out, after exterminating the Bandit Master, Tianheng found this ownerless Tracking Mouse. He had also found a leather bag in the area where that Bandit Master originally existed.
Because of the leather bag’s existence, the Tracking Mouse didn’t run away. On the contrary, after Tianheng took note of it, the mouse swiftly burrowed into the leather bag. It was like it wanted to hide itself and avoid danger.
Tianheng picked up the leather bag, only to discover that the leather bag was engraved with words inside. What was written on it was a method on how to control this leather bag. As for the Tracking Mouse, it seemed that it was originally suppressed by the leather bag… When one thought about it, the Bandit Master should’ve accidentally obtained the leather bag and the Tracking Mouse inside of it. As for the Tracking Mouse itself, it definitely wasn’t caught by the Bandit Master.
In other words, rather than saying that the Tracking Mouse recognized the Bandit Master as its owner, it was better off saying that the Bandit Master was the Tracking Mouse’s user. The leather bag was its owner. Now, it was simple. The Tracking Mouse’s user had directly become Tianheng!
— Even when Tianheng tried to remove the handwriting on the leather bag, he found that it was basically impossible. It was clear that after the Bandit Master obtained this thing, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to hide this secret, but rather that he couldn’t hide it.
Of course, this wasn’t the whole story.
Besides the method of control, the written account on that leather bag also introduced the Tracking Mouse’s origin.
As it turned out, this Tracking Mouse wasn’t a pure Tracking Mouse. Its ancestor was even a Treasure-Hunting Mouse. Because it was a descendant born from the copulation of a Treasure-Hunting Mouse, this allowed the Tracking Mouse to carry the bloodline of the Treasure-Hunting Mouse.
The Treasure-Hunting Mouse was a rare breed of wild beast in the distant past. During the early stages, it didn’t have any strength. However, this was no match for its good luck. Regardless of what kind of enemy it encountered, it would never lose its small life. Also, it had an innate skill for seeking treasure. So long as something had a certain value, the mouse could find it.
In this way, the more treasure it found and the more it supplemented itself, the more strength it accumulated. However, this kind of accumulated strength didn’t have any strong points in combat. The best advantage this brought to the mouse was that its escaping speed got faster — Even if it was a powerhouse whose strength far exceeded the mouse’s, the mouse would still be hard to capture.
Thus, for anyone who wanted to get a Treasure-Hunting Mouse, most would obtain them during its infancy. Otherwise, once it matured and gobbled up treasures from all over the place, any traces of it would be difficult to find.
This Tracking Mouse had the Treasure-Hunting Mouse’s bloodline. Thus, besides being able to find people, it also had a certain ability to find treasure. Only, this kind of ability couldn’t be exploited very much for the time being. The rank of its ability to find treasure also hadn’t reached a heaven-defying degree yet.
That being said, when Tianheng sent Tianyang to issue the mission, it was indeed to cut the weeds and eliminate the roots. He knew that it might’ve been hard finding even more things to act as evidence after the fact, but while these things weren’t unimportant, the course of events could still be investigated. Moreover, he could still obtain evidence from the remains of other bandits.
On the contrary, if the opportunity to completely wipe out the bandit gang wasn’t seized, then the mission also wouldn’t be considered complete.
Such a choice was merely due to weighing the pros and cons.
However, after Tianheng saw the Tracking Mouse and the written record on the leather bag, everything was different — He understood almost immediately. There would certainly have been a treasury hidden extremely deeply in that bandit den!
With a Tracking Mouse which possessed the Treasure-Hunting Mouse’s bloodline in the hands of the Bandit Master for all these years, how couldn’t the Bandit Master have used it to hunt for treasure? Would the Bandit Master have completely used up all of the treasure he found without leaving himself an alternative course of action? From the many actions of the Bandit Master, it could be seen that he was a prudent person. Since he was prudent, he certainly wouldn’t have spent all his things.
As such, the things that he didn’t use would’ve automatically been properly stored away by him.
There was a smiling expression in Tianheng’s eyes.
Moreover, if he wasn’t mistaken, one would need to use the Tracking Mouse to find that treasury. Otherwise, if the dastardly Bandit Master was overthrown someday in the future and his treasure wasn’t hidden well, how would he have been able to make a comeback?
The things that those martial artists obtained after receiving his mission should’ve only been the things left out in the open.
Back to the main point.
Tianyang and the Ling Clan siblings all looked at the adorable Tracking Mouse.
Although the Ling Clan siblings were curious, because they weren’t close allies, they didn’t dare to get to the bottom of this.
On the contrary, Tianyang opened his mouth and asked: “Big brother, what’s this?”
Tianheng faintly smiled: “Just watch what it does afterwards.”
Soon after, Tianheng’s lips gently moved.
The Tracking Mouse’s short tail swung back and forth. At once, it shook, and looked towards a certain direction.
Immediately following this, its soft body shivered and bolted towards that direction at flying speeds!
Tianheng said: “Follow it.”
Tianyang hastily complied.
The Ling Clan siblings glanced at each other, and also promptly followed.
Very quickly, under the Tracking Mouse’s lead, they found a tract of yellow, loamy soil within a rock garden.
It seemed that the Tracking Mouse wanted to go underneath the loamy soil, but this loamy soil seemed indistinguishable from the other soils. Could it actually be the entrance?
Without the slightest hesitation, Tianheng’s right hand formed a fist and directly smashed down.
In the blink of an eye, a reddish-gold power bubbled out. That loamy soil, which originally appeared to have a hard texture, was melted into a huge, deep pit in a split second.
This pit was over five meters deep. At the bottom of the pit was a stone slab.
The Tracking Mouse jumped onto the stone slab. After hopping on it for several times in a row, that stone slab abruptly lifted open.
Following that, a passage was formed. Tianheng’s figure flashed by, and had already entered that passage.
The group went forward into the passage, and in the time it took for a joss of incense to burn, an indistinct light appeared before their eyes. Unexpectedly, there was an enormous Luminous Pearl underground, which completely illuminated the entire underground cave.
The underground cave had three iron doors, and all of them were closed securely.
It was still up to the Tracking Mouse — It hopped towards the first door and leaped at it several times. It was the same for the second door as well as the third door.
Then, those three doors opened wide.
Ling Ziqi was somewhat startled: “So it needed the mouse to open the doors…”
Indeed. For that Bandit Master to ensure that the treasury was safe, he actually installed these mechanisms, which could only be opened through the actions of the Tracking Mouse in his possession.
He originally hoped that even if someone found the treasury some day, they wouldn’t have been able to open it. This made him capable of leaving all of his savings there. But he didn’t expect that not only would he lose his own life, but the Tracking Mouse would also be lost. On the contrary, everything became very convenient for Gongyi Tianheng, who killed him.
Ling Ziqi and the others stood in front of the first door. At this moment, they sucked in a cold breath.
Tianheng looked at the things in that room. His expression was inscrutable.
In actuality, the treasure past the first door was a very common sight. It was so common that no martial artist would’ve been able to overlook it. Moreover, perhaps one would always be accompanied by it, even to the Immortal Realms and above.
This treasure was…gold.
The entire hidden chamber! With over thirty square meters, the interior was densely packed with quite a few mountains of gold!
These definitely weren’t golden banknotes, but if it was really calculated, there would be at least…several hundred million gold.
Of course, this amount wasn’t huge enough to make some people give sidelong glances. Merely, when it was all arranged together, that sight’s force of impact was truly too big.
Previously, those people ransacked the bandit den. The things they obtained weren’t worth as much as this treasury’s gold. But it was this gold that had just become the accumulated wealth of Tianheng’s team.
— It also wasn’t known how that Bandit Master got a hold of this wealth and concealed it here under everyone’s noses.
Tianyang was speechless.
With the reserves of such a large aristocratic family like their Gongyi Clan, it was impossible to have this much accumulated gold… Because the Clan’s industries were big and its expenses were large, while there were lots of resources, the gold itself was a consumable resource.
Right now, this gold, which surpassed the reserves of the Gongyi Clan, had become the possession of a single man, Gongyi Tianheng!
Tianheng didn’t say much. He raised an eyebrow, and waved his sleeve. All of the gold was put into his inter-spatial tool by him. Fortunately, the volume of the inter-spatial tool was big enough, so the gold was loaded without a hitch. However, although it was like this, the entire inter-spatial tool was filled up more than halfway. As for the things inside the next two treasuries… He hoped he was able to pack them up.
After the gold was put away, the dazzling radiance disappeared. The Ling Clan siblings and Tianyang composed themselves.
Then, they developed a strong interest towards the things inside the other treasuries.
What could it be?
The door to the second treasury was also wide open. Once they entered, what they saw were likewise several piles of things. However, this time around, the piles weren’t gold, but rather armors and weapons.
Each piece of weapon was incomparably sharp, and each set of armor twinkled with a cold light. The killing intent seemed astonishing. The forging should’ve been very labor-intensive, but clearly… These were only suited to Houtian martial artists. Regarding Xiantian martial artists, it wasn’t useful at all.
Generally speaking, this second treasury should’ve been counted as part of the Bandit Master’s comeback. Unfortunately, it wasn’t useful to Tianheng. On the contrary, if it was delivered to the Gongyi Clan, it would be regarded as pretty good things.
There were around two hundred sets of weapons and armors. Tianheng directly collected it all into a Fangcun Cloth, and handed it over to Tianyang — Later on, these would be given to his second brother to handle.
Tianyang promptly understood the meaning of his family’s elder brother. After receiving the armors and weapons, his mind started to plot out how it would be delivered back to the Gongyi Clan. But now clearly wasn’t the right time to do this.
The second treasury didn’t hold any other surprises. The group then arrived at the third treasury.
This treasury was strange. Unexpectedly, it was divided into two floors. As for that Tracking Mouse, it was crouching on the first floor, waiting for Tianheng’s arrival.
There were quite a few stone tables on the first floor. Arranged on the tables were hundreds of porcelain and jade bottles. What these bottles contained were all sorts of medicinal pills. At a glance, most were mid grade, and there were even a few bottles with high grade pills. It was clear what the Bandit Master had in mind.
It was a pity that these things, which common martial artists would be greatly happy to see, were too ordinary in Tianheng’s eyes. Even Tianyang felt a little disappointed after seeing so many of the medicinal pills that Gu Zuo refined.
Tianheng put away the other medicinal pills, intending to put them in Medicine of Life. As for those two or three bottles of high grade pills, he directly waved his sleeve and delivered them into the hands of the Ling Clan siblings: “You two have worked hard. Take these.”
When Ling Ziqi and Ling Ziwei saw these medicinal pills, they differentiated their product grades and immediately said: “We only followed along and ran errands. How can we accept our benefactor’s things? Please take back these high grade medicinal pills, benefactor!”
Tianheng smiled and said: “These are just trifling things. Just take them. There’s no need to sayso much.”
The two siblings heard this, and were inwardly apprehensive.
Even high grade medicinal pills were trifles? Perhaps this benefactor’s foundations were even bigger than they imagined!”
After that, they didn’t refuse any longer. They were only silently grateful, and didn’t mention it.
That Tracking Mouse was also very smart. Immediately after Tianheng’s indication, it repeatedly bounced against the large door of treasury’s second floor. A few moments later, this door was “kicked” open as well.
In a split second, a whiff of medicinal fragrance billowed out.
Tianheng had watched Gu Zuo refine medicine for a long time. In a brief while, he had already distinguished the distinct scents of the medicinal ingredients — Moreover, by the intensity of the medicinal fragrance, he knew that there were certainly some ancient ingredients!
His heart faintly stirred.
Following which, Tianheng entered with large strides. The remaining three hurriedly followed to widen their horizons.
They saw that there were four tables inside. On each table was placed one to three jade boxes and chests of varying sizes. Some were cold jade, and some were warm jade. Contained within each jade box or chest was a stalk of a medicinal ingredient.
Tianheng was rather knowledgable. Although he hadn’t carefully read through Gu Zuo’s item books, he still recognized most of these medicinal ingredients.
Their normal market values were all above ten thousand gold. But while there was a price, there usually wasn’t a market to buy them — It would’ve certainly been very difficult for that Bandit Master to get a hold of these through honest means. It was most likely due to the credit of the Tracking Mouse.
Reaching this point, Tianheng was finally somewhat satisfied.
Thirteen stalks of ancient ingredients. When he returned, they would be delivered to his little pharmacist.
With everything settled, Tianheng pondered slightly.
What could be taken as evidence after coming on this trip? The things in the three treasuries were all considered resources. It was better that he didn’t hand them over. It was even less possible for the Tracking Mouse…
Amid such thoughts, Tianheng’s gaze fell upon a book on a side table.
He walked over and opened it up to read. The edge of his lips carried a smiling expression.
The solution came to him without effort. That Bandit Master probably wanted to have complete control over the bandit gang. What this book recorded was all of the identities and information of the members of the bandit gang. It also had blackmail on some of the things they had done — It was probably used to threaten other people. This kind of secret thing could be used as proof of him eliminating the bandit gang. Otherwise, even if he wanted to steal it, wouldn’t it have been hard to seize such a secret?
On top of that, the bandit gang had indeed been wiped out. And this thing, which ordinarily wouldn’t have been enough as evidence, was very useful now.
Tianheng flicked his sleeve again, and all the medicinal ingredients were collected by him.
After that, he smiled and said: “We’re done here. Let’s go back to the tavern first!”
In the tavern.
Gongyi Tianheng sat at a table with a gentle smile: “Young Master Ling, Young Lady Ling. Now is the time to fulfill your promise.”
Ling Ziqi took a deep breath. His heart was naturally still reluctant, but he didn’t dare pull any tricks in front of Tianheng. Thus, he quickly took out the treasured sword. In front of Tianheng, he cut his own finger: “Benefactor, please wait a little bit.”
The dark-red blood was soon smeared onto the sword blade. The blood seeped into it, causing the entire treasured sword to shine with a glittering splendor. After a soft chant, the treasured sword seemed to glow with an extremely cold light, but there were no other peculiar changes to speak of.
Obviously, things weren’t so simple.
Ling Ziqi quickly cut his finger again, and started to write some characters on the treasured sword.
Those characters seemed like the names of several people. One name after another, and the accompanying blood gradually vanished into the sword. Soon after, the sword made a keening sound and abruptly broke in the middle!
At the same time, a simple and unadorned, pitch-black key fell out of the breach. It was caught by a long-prepared Ling Ziqi.
Ling Ziqi reluctantly palmed that key, and deferentially delivered it into Tianheng’s hand. He explained: “The first smearing of blood is to activate the treasured sword. The second smearing of blood is to write the names of the first ten generations of my ancestor. This is to confirm our descendant identities. If merely the blood of a Ling Clan child inattentively fell onto the treasured sword, it would only promote the treasured sword’s might, and affirm its reputation as precious and powerful. However, it won’t break in half to reveal the secret key.”
The Ling Clan’s ancestor had really put a lot of thought into this.
One could say that he considered many odds and ends and other strangely-shaped things that could’ve arisen.
Only, it was unfortunate that the Ling Clan’s good fortune seemed insufficient. In the end, this secret key had fallen into Tianheng’s hand.
Tianheng took the secret key. His palm flipped over, and it was already put away: “Where is the Human King’s tomb? How is it opened?”
Ling Ziqi replied: “The Great Tomb of the Human King is at Queying City. To open it, directly offer blood essence with the secret key.”
Tianheng finished listening, and thought deeply: “Queying City…” He suddenly spoke, “If I haven’t remembered incorrectly, the location of Queying City is only five hundred kilometers away from Danyun City? It’s indeed that Queying City?”
Ling Ziqi nodded his head: “It’s precisely that Queying City. It’s just that Danyun City is apparently in the middle of hosting the Pill Battling Assembly. I’m afraid there’s a lot of people. If you go there now, the timing won’t be good.”
Yet, Tianheng smiled: “So it’s like this.”
The smile at the corner of his mouth became gentle and warm: “I should go to Queying City right now… I’ll stop along the way at that Danyun City.”
The Ling Clan siblings didn’t understand, but everything already belonged to Tianheng. They were also incapable of raising any objections.
Immediately following this, they heard Tianheng speak again: “You two will go with me when the time comes. If you can obtain any opportunities, it’ll be completely yours for the taking.”
The Ling Clan siblings were jubilant: “You, you’re serious about this?”
Tianheng smiled and said: “Since your ancestor discovered this tomb, you two deserve the benefits of this legacy. Rest up, you two. Tomorrow at dawn, we’ll set off together.”
The Ling Clan siblings couldn’t have been more thankful. After repeatedly expressing their gratitude, they withdrew.
Once the two left, Tianyang asked: “Big brother, why do you still want to let them come along?”
If it really was to let the other party receive some benefits, that didn’t seem like his elder brother’s style…
Tianheng smiled: “Their ancestor discovered it. How is one to know if there aren’t any methods that would only allow his descendants to obtain benefits? Besides, we don’t know what’s in the tomb. If more people go, there’ll always be more opportunities. Those two don’t seem like the sort who’d bite the hand that feeds them. If they’re suitably tested on this trip, I’ll bring them to Qingyun Sect and allow them to join Qingyun Sect as disciples. That wouldn’t be a bad move.”
Tianyang suddenly understood: “What big brother says is right.”
T/N: Thanks for the corrections, Charysa.
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