Chapter 231: Raiders of the Lost Ark

Everyone moved to a different tent.

Xue San stared in disbelief at Fan Li, who was crouching alone in the distance drawing circles on the ground.

“Why the hell was I born from the same comics studio as that idiot?”

The Demon Child’s ruthlessness.

A’Ming’s eerie charm.

Liang Cheng’s sinister gloom.

The Blind Man’s schemes.

Siniang’s allure.

And Xue San’s own handsomeness.

Why did Fan Li have to be added into the mix?

“Master, the fact that you could tolerate your staff creating a comic with Fan Li as the protagonist explains perfectly why your studio eventually went bankrupt.”

Zheng Fan smiled.

“Your sales and his were tied for last place.”

“…”

Xue San.

Everyone sat down on the ground.

At this point, the savage captives and the wealth looted from the savage settlements had become almost insignificant.

All anyone could think about was the Helian Clan’s treasure vault!

The wealth of Jin’s imperial region had already been astonishing.

Yet the Jin imperial house had gone several generations without real power, and even so it had still managed to leave behind such enormous riches.

Then what about the Helian Clan a true hegemon of the Three Jin lands?

How terrifying an amount of wealth would they have hidden away to fund their future restoration?

There was something precious about succeeding through steady effort, one step at a time.

But if a single steel-wool ball could let you obtain everything you wanted in one leap and skip the entire process of struggle, there were probably quite a few people who would gladly take that option.

If they truly seized this treasure vault, then for a very long time afterward they would no longer need to worry about money.

It would be like starting a strategy game, cheating yourself an enormous pile of gold, and immediately clicking through building upgrades without restraint.

“The problem is that when Master and the others captured this girl, none of the guards around her were left alive,” the Blind Man said, rubbing his temples with obvious frustration.

How old was this child?

How much could she possibly know?

Xue San said, “They were all deathsworn. I checked. Each of them had poison embedded in a rear molar. Unless a few of us had personally acted from the beginning, it would have been very difficult to take one alive.”

A’Ming opened his waterskin, took a drink, and said, “This Helian Baozhu was probably hidden in that stronghold under the protection of the clan’s deathsworn.”

Zheng Fan pursed his lips, thinking as he spoke.

“The Great Yan Dynasty’s attitude toward the Helian Clan and Wenren Clan was very simple: exterminate the clans.

“Those two clans took the initiative to attack Yan first, so neither the Marquis of Zhenbei nor the Marquis of Jingnan showed them any mercy.

“Anyone of the Helian or Wenren bloodlines who was caught was executed on the spot.

“For Helian Baozhu to have reached this place under the protection of those deathsworn, they must have paid an enormous price.”

Indeed, if one counted from the moment Yan crushed the Helian Clan and Wenren Clan until Zheng Fan took the long route around and eventually became City Defender of Shengle City, nearly two full months had passed.

That alone showed how difficult it must have been for them to evade the Yan troops searching around Quhe City, and how great a price they had paid.

“Treasure vault, treasure vault…”

Liang Cheng spoke.

“Since Helian Xiongbi arranged and buried it in advance, I doubt it was stored like some movie-style treasure left behind by the Qing court.

“There’s a good chance a force is stationed near the vault itself, guarding it and waiting for Helian Baozhu—the Young Master of the Helian Clan—to arrive and claim it.”

“The Helian Clan has called itself Jin for centuries, but its roots really do lie among the savages,” Zheng Fan said.

“So leaving their last escape route somewhere inside the Tianduan Mountains would make perfect sense.

“And it should have been concealed extremely well.

“Judging by how these great clans operate, either they don’t do something at all or they do it thoroughly.

“So I suspect there’s probably an entire wild-savage tribe specifically responsible for guarding that treasure vault.

“At least, on the surface it would look like an ordinary wild-savage tribe.”

“Then finding it will be difficult,” the Blind Man said.

“Tamed savages are actually the minority inside the Tianduan Mountains. Wild-savage settlements are countless, and they’re much harder to deal with.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

His gaze swept over everyone present.

“But no matter what, we have to try looking for it.

“Take Helian Baozhu with us and search.”

There was no possibility of simply giving up.

Now that they had this clue, even if it meant searching for a needle in an ocean, even if it ultimately came to nothing, they absolutely had to try.

Failing to find it would cost them little.

But if they found it and brought it back, then the treasure vault the Helian Clan had prepared for its return to power would become the true capital behind Zheng Fan’s rise!

An ocean of wealth could be exchanged for an ocean of grain, armor, warhorses, and military equipment.

It could also open countless doors.

Money could not solve every problem.

But for ninety-nine point nine percent of problems, the root cause was simply not having enough of it.

“There should still be someone else,” Xue San said.

“Since they were waiting inside that settlement, they were obviously waiting for someone to come meet them.

“It’s possible the deathsworn who escorted Helian Baozhu here didn’t know the treasure vault’s exact location themselves.

“They probably sent someone to make contact with the people on that side, only for us to attack these savage settlements at exactly the wrong time and cut them off.”

Liang Cheng immediately stood.

“I’ll have every savage captured from that settlement interrogated. Wait here.”

With that, Liang Cheng personally went to summon Zuo Jiqian, Ding Hao, Xu Youcheng, and the others, giving them instructions.

The armored soldiers who had only just begun resting were mobilized again and started questioning the captives.

Fortunately, this was a tamed-savage settlement.

Quite a few people could speak the Xia tongue, so finding interpreters to assist with questioning was easy.

If these had been wild savages, it truly would have been a headache.

They might all be called savages, but sometimes two wild-savage settlements could speak completely different languages and fail to understand one another.

It sounded strange, but in truth it was hardly unprecedented.

Zheng Fan remembered a city called Nantong from his previous world. Within the same city, people from two different districts could speak their local dialects and potentially fail to understand each other.

While Liang Cheng took men to conduct the interrogations, Zheng Fan continued, “If San’er is right, then for now we can’t take Helian Baozhu back to Shengle City.

“In fact, we ourselves probably can’t return either.

“The contact may arrive within the next few days.”

“But we already broke the settlement,” Xue San said helplessly.

If the contact returned and saw the stronghold had been destroyed, he would obviously become suspicious.

The Blind Man waved a hand.

“That’s not particularly difficult.

“We should actually thank Yan’s extermination policy toward the Helian Clan for being carried out so thoroughly.

“Otherwise, the remnants of the Helian Clan wouldn’t have been forced to elevate a little girl into the position of Young Master.

“Which means Helian Baozhu is someone they absolutely cannot abandon lightly.

“Besides, this is a world with certain mystical elements.

“I even suspect the treasure vault may contain some mechanism—perhaps something that cannot be opened without Helian blood.

“If they return and discover the settlement has fallen, they probably won’t simply turn around and leave.

“There’s a high chance they’ll refuse to abandon her so easily.”

A’Ming wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.

“That’s easy enough.

“The settlement is already destroyed, so let it stay destroyed.

“We hide in the mountains nearby with the girl.

“Then carve some Helian Clan emblems into trees around the area.

“She was wearing that needle armor, wasn’t she? I still have the needles I pulled out earlier. I didn’t throw them away.

“When the time comes, we can scatter some near our hiding place.

“Or simply leave behind one of the girl’s hairpins or a strip of her clothing.

“Make sure whoever returns can track us down.

“Then when they come, we move in and capture them alive.”

“That’s probably our only option,” Zheng Fan said.

“And the sooner, the better.”

At that moment, Liang Cheng returned.

“We got lucky. We found the answer immediately.

“Someone from that settlement said the girl was an honored guest of their chief.

“When she first arrived, she had nine guards with her.”

“Nine guards. Are you certain?” the Blind Man asked.

“The savage woman worked in the kitchen and was responsible for bringing their meals. She’s certain there were nine.”

Xue San immediately said, “We killed eight guards in the settlement.

“That proves one guard went out to deliver the message and is waiting for someone to come receive them.”

“Arrange the manpower,” Zheng Fan ordered.

Then he looked toward the Blind Man.

“Master, I need to stay.

“If we truly obtain clues about the treasure vault, having me present while searching means you won’t have to dig holes everywhere blindly.

“I can serve as a detector.”

The Blind Man was being practical.

When searching for something, having him around often produced twice the result for half the effort.

“I need to stay too,” Xue San said.

“I’m good at tracking through forests and valleys.

“Whether it’s scouting for information or assassination, I’ll probably be useful this time.”

A’Ming continued drinking his “wine.”

He didn’t particularly care.

He had already recovered some strength, so naturally he could afford to be a little reserved.

He had also filled up on “wine” during this trip and honestly didn’t particularly want to go.

Liang Cheng took the initiative.

“I’ll lead the army back.

“Siniang can temporarily take over your administrative work, Blind Man, but we can hardly have her drilling troops.

“I’ll take the soldiers back, get them properly organized, and prepare to enter the mountains again to support you if necessary.”

At a moment like this, the fact that Liang Cheng wasn’t insisting on going along was already a tremendous sacrifice.

Zheng Fan pointed at A’Ming.

“A’Ming comes too.

“It feels strangely lonely when you’re not around.”

A’Ming turned his head away and took another drink of “wine.”

Wine entered a sorrowful heart indeed.

Of course he knew why Master had specifically named him.

Master wasn’t reluctant to part with him as a person.

Master was reluctant to part with his body.

At that moment, Xue San furtively pointed toward Fan Li, who was still crouching alone in the distance.

“Bring him?”

The Blind Man looked at Zheng Fan.

“Master, we should bring him.

“If we need to dig pits or break into caves, he’ll be useful.

“More importantly, rather than leaving him in Shengle City where he might cause an accident, it’s safer to keep him beside us.”

“Fine. It’s settled.

“A’Cheng leads the army back. He and Siniang will keep Shengle City under control.

“The rest of us will take Helian Baozhu, find somewhere in the mountains near the settlement to hide, and wait for the contact to return.”

Zheng Fan made the final decision.

He stood, stretched lazily, then sighed with some emotion.

“Come to think of it, it feels like we’ve been fighting wars nonstop.

“It’s been a long time since just a few of us acted together like this.

“I’m actually looking forward to it.”

————

A moment of silence.

[End of Chapter 231]