Chapter 437

Chapter 437: Return to Dalong

Li Hui was astonished by Wu Zhao’s quietly cultivated connections and her formidable approach. In just a few days, she had used vast amounts of wealth to reshuffle everyone in the Crown Prince’s Residence, inside and out.

The guards on duty, the head chef in the kitchen, the maids serving dishes, and even the stable hands were all her people.

“Mei Niang, your spending speed is no less than mine!”

“Hehe, these past few days, I’ve been quite successful. You don’t know how hard it is for Mei Niang. People die for riches, and birds for food. Money can make the devil push a millstone. The main consort and a few other consorts bullied me to the point of having to pray to portraits, and it’s only because my family was supporting me. Now that I have my sworn brother’s help, let’s see who dares to harm my child!”

Li Hui chuckled, “Aren’t I part of your family then? Last night, I visited the Duke of Gong’s mansion, the Duke of Xun’s mansion, and the Duke’s residence. I didn’t dare touch the taboo items, but I gathered all the other treasures for you. I’m curious to see just how far Mei Niang can go!”

“Oh my! You dared to go to the Duke of Gong’s mansion too?”

“A horse cannot grow fat without nighttime grazing, and a person cannot grow rich without external wealth. If I don’t make a move on these mansions and noble residences, how can I acquire remarkable treasures for body refinement? These sealed vaults are nothing; next, I need five precious items, so I ask Mei Niang to look into them. They are: Verdant Leaf Heavenly Clarity Eye Water, Great Flame Poison Fire, Dragon Ring Jue Soil, Extreme Magnetic Shimmering Gold, and Heavenly Ruins Ghost Wood. Additionally, everything related to demons, take it all for me.”

“Wha… what?” Wu Zhao felt a bit dizzy. What cultivation method was her sworn brother practicing that required so many rare treasures?

“Do your best to find them. Just follow any leads you get,” Li Hui replied, not wanting to press her too hard. Although Huangting Mountain had countless treasures, he couldn’t find a single one. He needed to advance his Ideal Body further, but his external resources were holding him back.

“Understood! Leave it to me!” Wu Zhao, as the Crown Prince’s Side Consort, had an official background. Her family hadn’t completely fallen from grace, and she still had some relatives and old friends. If not for this, even with her cleverness to catch the Crown Prince’s eye and expecting a Dragon offspring, she wouldn’t have become the Side Consort.

Li Hui waved his hand, examining the dazzling array of treasures. The space inside the treasure cabinet was limited; he emptied his stash of wealth every time it filled up, and he had little use for many items used by royal family members.

With each rise in his realm, the era of large-scale talisman-making had come to an end. He no longer purchased talisman-making supplies in bulk like before. Instead, he targeted those spiritual treasures and rare items, each valuable beyond measure.

After visiting these mansions, he found nothing truly useful. Li Hui now had only talismans in his mind; no treasure talismans, divine talismans, or demonic talismans were within consideration.

“Sigh! No wonder the Jade Symbol Sect couldn’t present a single true jade symbol when it was overthrown. Jade symbols are too hard to produce and require incredible fortune and amazing transformation. If jade symbols are so difficult, then what of Celestial Talismans? How difficult must they be to create? So I must keep searching, first foraging through all the residences in the Royal City; at the very least, I can acquire some Miao Jade and accumulate talisman power with the silver snake bracelet.”

Ten days passed quickly, and the Great Xia royalty remained unaware that countless former royal relatives were secretly hiding their family assets in their residences for emergencies—wealth that had now vanished.

That was the skill: Bai Ze’s divine eye could see it, but others could not.

Of course, Li Hui was very cautious, only roaming through the noble courtyards and not venturing into the royal palace to make a fortune.

That wouldn’t be about gaining wealth; it would be like seeking death unless he could cultivate his Ideal Body to the level corresponding to the Myriad Forms Stage, then use the Seize the Day Talisman to achieve two hundred times the flow of time. Only then might he get a chance to enter the deep palace.

In fact, these royal relatives were not as wealthy as one might imagine. Some of them were downright poor, laden with debts, and each month they anxiously awaited their meager salaries, gritting their teeth to maintain appearances without realizing that valued possessions had been hidden away by past generations.

In the past three days, Li Hui began frequenting the mansions of high-ranking officials and wealthy merchants. He did not touch their wealth but searched for hidden chambers left behind by former owners. These dark chambers had been submerged in the tide of history for various reasons; their owners had been executed or exiled to the fringes; in short, they had died many years ago and were unable to reclaim their fortunes.

Wu Zhao’s storage ring, used to contain her treasures, could be strung together to wrap around the bed three times. Her storage bracelet was packed full of boxes, and she had asked her sworn brother to draw many storage talismans which she stacked high.

Li Hui calculated the time; Jieyin should be opening up now, and he needed to enter seclusion. He visited the Crown Prince’s residence one last time and saw three trays laid out on the table. He paused for a moment, then laughed heartily, “Hahaha, Mei Niang is thoughtful! The Dragon Ring Jue Soil and Extreme Magnetic Shimmering Gold, along with some demon energy gathering items—this must have cost quite a bit!”

“Sworn brother is too kind; all these treasures are provided by you,” Wu Zhao said, her pregnancy showing; “Some items are hard to find outside, but each mansion still has a wealth of hidden treasures that are easy to uncover. I only regret that Mei Niang is about to give birth and can’t personally help you search for the other three rare treasures.”

“Don’t worry!” Li Hui took out a stack of treasure talismans and said, “These are the talismans I drew for you, filled with talisman power and can be used at any time without the need to draw spirits. When you give birth, I won’t be able to be nearby for protection, but I need to guard against strange methods. The replacement talismans are a must, but the Fortune Ascending Talisman is even more essential. I recently destroyed a batch of royal edicts and forbidden items to absorb their fortune, ensuring that you and your child remain safe!”

Wu Zhao was overjoyed to the point of tears. These talismans were so important to her; how fortunate she was that the heavens had sent such a sworn brother to help her!

Li Hui waved his hand, releasing all the treasures, each one a rare gem, and instructed, “I’m going back to Qingyun Cave for a while. You handle these treasures and continue to help me gather what I need…”

The two of them sat together, conversing. For Wu Zhao, this was a rare moment of peace; she could share her feelings with someone. Li Hui treated her as a close friend, and becoming sworn siblings felt all the more intimate.

Dalong, in the Haotu Sect.

To be precise, it was underground in the Haotu Sect.

Fiery fireballs rumbled forward, scorching everything in their path and creating magma. When the magma cooled, it would form extensive underground tunnels. There were at least eight more such fireballs, spread throughout the deep places, entangled into a large net, waiting for their master to check on the project’s progress.

Having returned to Dalong three months ago, the External Transformation had gathered numerous refugees, using the underground palace at Yantai Mountain as a hub to dig pits, tunnels, and caves outward.

Poor people can thrive with just a place to live. Bringing sunlight underground was no issue for Jieyin; he had gathered a large number of talisman makers who used bamboo tablets to create numerous talisman manuals for their self-study.

By the time Li Hui arrived, he was astonished to discover that his External Transformation had stirred things up too much. He only allowed those with talisman-making abilities to draw one type of talisman repeatedly, day and night. If they lacked materials, they would draw on stone slabs—not cultivating talisman makers, but rather turning them into talisman artisans.

The most critical point was that he had been digging around in the Haotu Sect underground, reaching the Fire Bearer’s Inferno, the Abyss of Darkness, and the Demon Prison, penetrating various secret realms to form an underground nation.