Chapter 36: Breaking Through Four Realms in Succession, Reaching the Fifth Layer of the Innate Realm

At the same time, the Huang Manor west of the city.

Three figures, faces masked, lightly vaulted onto the high wall; after a brief look they leapt into the courtyard.

The man on the left was named Ding San, his voice somewhat shrill: "This manor looks impressive, but why has no one lived here all this time?"

The man on the right was Ding Er: "No one being there is better? You forgot how we were discovered once and chased like dogs."

Earlier, these few had been staking out this manor for several days; the manor's exterior looked quite ordinary, with only a handful of cleaning servants coming and going, all of them lacking any cultivation.

This situation continued until this morning, when three carriages stopped outside the manor; the coachmen lifted ten chests inside and then all departed.

They also realized it was time to act.

As soon as it grew dark, they slipped in over the wall.

The person in the middle was clearly the leader of the three, named Ding Yi, and he lowered his voice.

"All right, stop bickering, you two. Move together and first find those ten chests."

The three hurried over to the building on the left, approached the window, and Ding San lightly poked a hole in the oiled paper with his fingertip; using the moonlight, he made out the interior layout.

Ding San grew excited, his voice rising a few notches.

"Big brother, we've struck it rich! We've struck it rich!"

Ding Er, anxious, slapped him on the buttocks: "Struck it rich? Struck it rich—what did you strike rich?"

Ding San turned his head, face full of excitement: "All the furniture in this room is made of zitan wood—obviously belonging to someone either rich or noble."

"You say this might be a house a high official uses to keep a concubine? Look, the outside is plain white walls and black tiles, but inside—good heavens, the furniture is all zitan wood…"

Ding Yi and Ding Er pondered for a moment, feeling this possibility was quite high; if it wasn't a high official, then it was still someone extraordinary.

"All right, stop looking. Even if the furniture were huanghuali wood we couldn't carry much of it; priority is to find those few wooden chests—maybe this trip will secure our fortunes for the rest of our lives."

Ding San gazed longingly but still left the room.

Suddenly, Ding Er lowered his voice and said:

"Big brother, I've found a trail."

The two approached and saw that there was indeed a string of dense footprints on the ground; the three followed the prints to a small hut, gently pushed aside the window paper, and saw ten wooden chests placed conspicuously inside.

The three exchanged glances, eyes blazing with fervor, and spoke in unison:

"Let's go!"

After confirming there were no mechanisms or traps, they entered the room; Ding San held a piece of wire, gave it a light twist, and the lock opened.

Full of anticipation, they opened the chest—only to be dumbfounded the next moment: the chest contained none of the treasure they expected, but was packed full of soybeans.

Ding San picked up a soybean, examined it closely, but however he looked it was just an ordinary soybean.

"Soybeans? These people went to all the trouble of bringing in ten chests of soybeans?"

"Could it be some special medicinal ingredient?"

Ding Er, obviously a body‑refiner, grabbed the lock, squeezed hard, and snapped it shut; the chest was also full of soybeans, and the two turned their heads toward the eldest brother.

All they saw was Ding Yi standing in thought, and the chest before him was likewise full of soybeans.

Ding Er snorted: "Whether they're soybeans or not, I'll eat one and find out."

Ding Er displayed the smooth forehead characteristic of a body‑refiner; not knowing what this was, he wanted to rely on his strong physique to test its saltiness.

The instant the soybean entered his mouth, Ding Yi's hand shot out and slapped Ding Er's hand away.

"Do you have a brain? You don't even know if it's poisonous and you just shove it in your mouth?"

Suddenly a commotion came from outside the courtyard; the few of them fell silent, quickly shut the chests, and hid somewhere inside the house.

Soon, footsteps approached and the door was pushed open, as if someone were inspecting the chests inside.

Ding Yi and the others held their breath, ready to flee at once if things went wrong; although they were confident in their hiding skills, one chest's lock had been broken by Ding Er.

But it seemed they had not been discovered.

One voice, low and covert, said: "Lord Sasaki, rest assured—this whole route is perfectly safe, no one suspects a thing."

Another, clearly of higher status, snapped: "Dammit! I told you not to call me Sasaki—call me Huang Fu."

The voices faded away, and Ding Yi and the others emerged from the shadows.

Ding San scratched his head, puzzled: "Sasaki? What a strange name."

"But they seem to value this batch of beans highly—could it really be something good?"

However, no one replied for a long time; Ding San turned his head, Ding Yi's brows were tightly knit as he pondered something, while Ding San had already hoisted two chests onto his shoulders and was figuring out how to carry all three at once.

After a brief hesitation, Ding San stepped forward to help.

Just then Ding Yi suddenly said: "Sasaki doesn't look like a personal name; it's a surname used by the Wokou."

Ding San and Ding Er stopped what they were doing and glanced at each other.

"Big brother, you even know about the Wokou's affairs? You know way too much."

Ding Yi glanced at his two brothers, sighed, and said: "One of you has a smooth head, the other sees money and won't budge on the Dao; if I didn't know a bit more, I'd have lost my head by now."

"Put the chests down first—this might not be anything good."

"The Wokou pillage, burn, and loot along the coast, committing every evil; they wouldn't go to all this trouble to send goods to Yongning Prefecture just to do good, would they?"

A glint of sharp light flashed in Ding Yi's pupils.

"If it's not good, then it's bad—these seeds are problematic!"

Time flew by, and soon it was morning of the next day.

Seated quietly in the room, Shen Qing slowly opened his eyes; a fierce aura burst forth.

In just one night, Shen Qing had completely transformed all the medicinal potency into true qi, his cultivation leaping straight from the first layer of the Innate Realm to the fifth layer.

In only a single night's time, Shen Qing had covered the path that other Innate Realm martial artists would take years to walk.

If Zhang Shan found out, he'd probably resent it for half a day.

Suddenly, the sound of firecrackers and fireworks entered his ears, accompanied by the joyful voices of the townspeople; his nose twitched slightly, and he could still smell the fragrance of wheat cakes.

Shen Qing rubbed their belly.

"Is there a holiday? My stomach's hungry too; wheat cakes sound good..."

Shen Qing rose, slightly restrained their true qi, pushed open the main gate, and walked out of the courtyard.

The usually stern Hundred Households Office now had more laughter.

Turning their head, Shen Qing saw the scholar, the black dog, Lin Zikai, and Lao Li sitting in a circle, intensely discussing something.

The scholar immediately spotted Shen Qing and hurriedly pulled the others up, saying, "Boss, you're up!"

Shen Qing nodded and smiled: "I slept well; what's going on out there?"

The scholar hurriedly explained: "These days are the Autumn Harvest Festival; everyone outside is preparing for the sacrifice."

"A sacrifice?"

"Exactly, our Autumn Harvest Festival is a grand sacrifice held every three years, offering to the God Ji to thank last year's abundant harvest and pray for favorable weather in the years to come."

"There are even free wheat cakes being handed out on the street."

Shen Qing also recalled that the dynasty had Autumn Harvest Festivals everywhere, the dates varied slightly but were roughly the same.

"The capital's Autumn Harvest Festival is even more extravagant: each sacrifice requires offering powerful ferocious beasts, and even innate-realm beasts don't qualify for the altar."

Shen Qing walked over to them and also saw what they had been intensely discussing: a map.

"What were you just talking about?"

Lin Zikai hastily moved aside, revealing the map behind him: "Sir, we plan to club together to buy a courtyard on Academy Street; Academy Street has the best Peach-Plum Academy in Yongning Commandery, and we want to bring our younger siblings over to study there."

Shen Qing nodded thoughtfully: nowadays martial prowess is supreme, but cultivating martial arts isn't the only path; studying is also a broad road to success.

The dynasty seems to give special treatment to civil officials; although they say martial arts brings longevity, those officials' lifespans are not short either—Shen Qing recalls that the current prime minister's position has remained unchanged for four hundred years, meaning that prime minister has lived for four hundred years.

"Where do you plan to buy, and how many taels of silver?"

Lin Zikai gave an embarrassed smile, pointing to a spot at the end of Academy Street: "Here, at the end of Academy Street, it only costs over three hundred taels of silver; with our pooled funds we can just afford this place."

Shen Qing peered: "Where is the most expensive?"

Lin Zikai, thinking Shen Qing also wanted to buy, hurriedly pointed: "Boss, the most expensive is here, in the center of Academy Street; a set would cost over seven hundred taels of silver."

"Don't worry, with the scholar around he can haggle; this place originally sold for four hundred taels of silver, but after the scholar negotiated last night it's down to three hundred fifty."

Shen Qing nodded: "Fine, you wait here for me."

After saying that, Shen Qing turned back to their own courtyard, and before long came out again.

Shen Qing slapped thirty hundred-tael silver notes directly onto the table.

"Four people buying one set? If word got out, others would think we couldn't afford it."

"Take it, each person buys a set, pick the expensive ones!"