Chapter Six: Entering the Secret Vault (Please Keep Reading!)

Su Ren was naturally afraid of death. Sensing the cold indifference in Su Ye’s eyes, he realized this unfamiliar son of his truly would not hesitate to kill him.

“Put down that whip. I’ll give you the key to the secret vault right now!” Su Ren shouted, seeing Su Ye raise the whip once more. His corpulent body scrambled off the bed and, in haste, retrieved the key to the secret vault.

With a flick of the whip, Su Ye deftly coiled the tip and snatched the key from Su Ren’s hand.

Su Ye knew precisely where the entrance to the vault was. After obtaining the key from Su Ren, he turned and left Su Ren’s bedroom.

He made his way toward an unused room in Rong’an Hall, which had once been his grandfather’s study. The entrance to the Lin family’s secret vault was constructed here.

After taking over the Lin family’s estate, Su Ren had moved into Rong’an Hall to hide the vault’s location, leaving the study unused so that no outsiders would suspect this abandoned room concealed the entrance to the Su family’s vault.

Su Ye kicked open the sealed door and strode into the room.

Its furnishings were sparse, but because it had been regularly cleaned, it was spotless and orderly.

He paused at the threshold, sweeping his gaze around the room, then walked toward the wall directly opposite the door.

The wall gleamed pristine white. Drawing upon the memories of his body’s former owner, Su Ye fixed his gaze on the wall, then knocked three times lightly at a spot below and to the left of center, followed by three knocks to the right.

After the six knocks, a crack suddenly appeared in the previously seamless wall, and a person-sized entrance revealed itself before Su Ye.

“What a sophisticated design,” Su Ye murmured admiringly, then entered through the opening.

Beyond the entrance was a long, twisting stone staircase leading downward. Su Ye descended, only to be stopped at the end by a massive bronze door.

He took the key from Su Ren and inserted it into the mouth of a lion’s head at the door’s center.

In an instant, the heavy bronze door slowly swung open, revealing the true face of the Su family’s secret vault.

Withdrawing the key, Su Ye entered the vault.

Within were the Lin family’s accumulated riches: countless gold, silver, jade, heaps of antiques, and calligraphy scrolls.

Su Ye walked to the center of the vault, closed his eyes, and began circulating the Yin-Yang Five Thunder Heart Method, quietly sensing the flow of spiritual energy within the vault.

After a moment, he went to a chest filled with jade. With a single palm strike, he broke the iron lock and, overjoyed, retrieved two dull-colored pieces of jade.

Though these jades did not appear of exceptional quality, Su Ye had singled them out because they contained the essence of heaven and earth, closely resembling the spirit stones described in ancient texts he had read.

In his previous world, spiritual energy was so scarce that such stones had become exceedingly rare.

“With these two pieces of jade, I can craft some talismans of decent grade!” Su Ye smiled. Even with ordinary materials, the presence of these jades meant he could now produce talismans of significant power.

The grade of a talisman corresponded to a cultivator’s rank. The lowest, first-grade talismans, matched the ninth rank of cultivators, but even within the same grade, power varied by type.

Cultivators’ strength was divided into nine ranks, the ninth being the lowest and the first the highest.

Before entering these nine ranks, a cultivator had to undergo a process of accumulating mana, itself divided into three stages.

Only after these three stages could one enter the nine ranks.

In his previous life, Su Ye had reached the ninth rank. Now, he needed only to amass sufficient mana to regain his former level.

With the jades, even a first-grade talisman he crafted would be formidable—enough to claim the life of a cultivator like Su Ming with a single use.

Besides the two spirit-filled jades, Su Ye also found some ancient medicinal herbs in the vault, their potent properties a great boon for his cultivation.

What delighted him most, however, was a brush of unknown material. The shaft contained a faint trace of spiritual energy. If he inscribed a spiritual gathering rune upon it, he could refine it into a graded talisman brush.

With such a brush as a conduit, Su Ye could craft talismans more swiftly and of higher grade.

“The spiritual energy here is abundant enough. I’ll inscribe the rune right here in the vault!”

Eager, he set aside his spoils, then carefully picked up the brush.

He began circulating the Yin-Yang Five Thunder technique; his fingers moved like carving knives, gathering spiritual energy at their tips.

His fingers traced swiftly over the shaft, leaving lines of spiritual energy that formed a simple rune pattern—the most basic spiritual gathering rune. Once complete, this rune would continuously draw in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, gradually refining the brush into a graded talisman brush.

“At this concentration of spiritual energy, with the help of the rune, it should take about half a month for this brush to become a basic graded talisman brush.”

Even if it would be only of the lowest grade, Su Ye was nonetheless delighted.

Having inscribed the rune, he gathered up the treasures he had found and prepared to leave the vault.

Meanwhile, Su Ren, after Su Ye had taken the key and entered the vault, flew into a furious rage.

After tending to his neck wound, he summoned a large group of guards to station themselves at the entrance of Rong’an Hall, waiting to catch Su Ye upon his exit.

Many of these guards were skilled fighters whom Su Ren had hired at great expense. They had not appeared earlier because Su Ren had kept them away from Rong’an Hall.

Su Ren also sent for Su Ming, his son who had followed a Daoist to train in cultivation, and had gained considerable ability over the years. No matter what, Su Ren was determined to teach Su Ye a harsh lesson today.

Unfortunately, the men sent to fetch Su Ming could not find him. Instead, they encountered Su Jiao and Madam Hua, arriving in a fury.

After returning from Rong’an Hall, Su Jiao had exaggerated the humiliation she suffered there to Madam Hua.

Malicious and narrow-minded, Madam Hua already despised Su Ye. Upon hearing that he had the audacity to strike her daughter, her fury exploded, and she set off for Rong’an Hall with Su Jiao in tow.

She, too, sent people to call for Su Ming, hoping he would support her, but like Su Ren, her messengers failed to find him.

This was because Su Ming had already left Jinhua County in haste to seek out his master, departing so abruptly because of Su Ye that he hadn’t even had time to inform his parents.