The Demon Lords

Chapter 531 40 The Raiders of the Lost Ark_1

They all moved to another tent.

Xue Three stared incredulously at Fanli, who was squatting alone in the distance, drawing circles on the ground.

He said, "Why was I born in the same comic studio as this dimwit?"

The fierceness of Mo Wan, the enchantment of A Ming, the menace of Liang Cheng, the calculatedness of the blind man, the charm of Siniang, plus his own handsomeness as Xue Three... why did they also have to contend with Fanli?

"My Lord, it was truly fated for your studio to go under when you could tolerate making a comic with Fanli as the main character."

Zheng Fan chuckled and said, "Your sales are just as dismal as his."

"..." Xue Three said nothing.

They all sat down cross-legged. At this moment, the captured wild people and the treasures scavenged from their settlement seemed trivial.

Everyone was fixated on the Helian Family's treasure vault!

The capital city of Jin State was already wealthy. However, the royal family there had been powerless for several generations, yet they still managed to leave behind such vast riches.

How immense must the fortunes be that the Helian Family, the undisputed ruler of the Three Jin, accumulated in preparation for their future resurgence?

People, huh... Attaining success through the incremental process of hard work is precious. But if, by using a steel wool ball, they could obtain everything they wanted in a single leap and skip the entire struggle, I believe many would be willing.

If they could really gain control of this treasure vault, they wouldn't need to worry about money for a long time.

It's like using cheats to get unlimited in-game currency at the start of a game, allowing you to upgrade buildings directly.

"The problem is, My Lord, when you captured this child, you didn't leave any of her guards alive," the blind man said, massaging his temples and looking quite distressed.

How much could a child of her age possibly know?

Xue Three said, "Those men were all men of sacrifice. I checked; they all had poison hidden in their teeth. Unless we had personally captured them from the start, there was little chance of taking them alive."

A Ming took a sip from his waterskin and said, "This Helian Baozhu must have been protected by the family's men of sacrifice and hidden here in this settlement."

Zheng Fan pursed his lips, thinking as he said, "The Helian Family and Wenren Family took the initiative to attack Yan, so Yan's attitude towards them is simple: extermination. Neither the Earl of North Border nor Lord Jingnan showed them any mercy. Complete eradication awaits any member of the Helian Family or Wenren Family they capture. Thus, I think Helian Baozhu must have paid a hefty price to be protected by these men of sacrifice and brought here."

Considering the time, from when Yan overran the Helian and Wenren families to when I made a large detour and eventually became the governor of Shengle City, almost two full months have passed. This shows how difficult it must have been, and what a great price they must have paid, to evade the Yan Army's search in Quhe City.

"The vault... the vault..." Liang Cheng said. "Since it was prepared and hidden by Helian Xiongbi, it shouldn't be like those treasures in films, such as the Qing Dynasty hoards. It's likely that there are also guards protecting it, waiting for Helian Baozhu, the young master of the Helian Family, to retrieve it."

"Although the Helian Family has prided themselves as Jin people for several hundred years, their ancestors were wild people. So, it makes sense for them to hide their last resort in the Skybreak Mountain Range," Zheng Fan said. "Moreover, it must be extremely well-hidden. According to the practices of prominent families, if they do something, they do it to the best of their ability. So, I believe there should be a specific tribe of uncivilized men guarding the vault, or at least, one that appears to be a tribe of uncivilized men."

"Then it will be very difficult to find. In the Skybreak Mountain Range, Mature Barbarian tribes are relatively few, while there are countless settlements of uncivilized men, and they are much harder to deal with," the blind man said.

Zheng Fan nodded, glanced around, and said, "Regardless, we still have to try to find it. Bring Helian Baozhu along, and let's look for it."

Not trying is out of the question. Now that we have a lead, even if it's like looking for a needle in a haystack or if our attempts prove fruitless in the end, we definitely have to give it a shot. We lose nothing if we don't find it. But if we do manage to find and retrieve it, the treasure vault the Helian Family left as a contingency for their resurgence will become my true capital for rising to power! A tremendous amount of wealth can be traded for a vast quantity of food, armor, warhorses, and weapons. It can be used to forge many alliances. Money can't solve all problems, true, but 99.9% of problems stem from a lack of it.

"There must be others," Xue Three interjected. "Since they remained in the settlement, it's clear they were waiting for someone. It's possible that the men of sacrifice who escorted Helian Baozhu here didn't know the treasure vault's precise location themselves. They might have sent someone to make contact, but our attack on these wild people intercepted them just in time."

Liang Cheng immediately stood up and said, "I'll have all the wild people we captured from the settlement interrogated. You guys wait a moment."

After speaking, Liang Cheng personally summoned Zuo Jiqian, Ding Hao, Hsu Youcheng, and others to give instructions. The soldiers, who had just been resting, were mobilized to begin interrogating the captives.

Fortunately, this was a Mature Barbarian settlement, so many of them could speak the Xia language. Finding an interpreter to assist with the questioning was easy.

If they were uncivilized men, it would truly be a headache. Even though both are called wild people, sometimes the languages of two different settlements of uncivilized men are mutually unintelligible. This might seem strange, but it's not uncommon. Zheng Fan recalled a city called Nantong from a later age where residents from two different districts speaking their respective dialects might not understand each other.

While Liang Cheng was off handling the interrogations, Zheng Fan continued, "If what San'er said is true, then we can't take Helian Baozhu back to Shengle City yet. We can't even return ourselves, because the person they're supposed to meet might arrive in the coming days."

"But we've already destroyed the settlement," San'er said helplessly.

The contact will surely be alarmed when they see the settlement has been destroyed.

The blind man, however, waved his hand and said, "That's not a problem. The Yan Army's ruthless extermination policy against the Helian Family has been thoroughly implemented; otherwise, the remnants of the Helian Family wouldn't have elevated this girl to the position of young master. Therefore, Helian Baozhu is someone they absolutely won't give up easily. Besides, this world has a touch of the fantastical. I even suspect the treasure vault might have some mechanism, like only those of Helian blood can open it. If they return and find the settlement destroyed, they probably won't just turn around and leave. They're unlikely to give up so easily."

A Ming wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and said, "That's easy to handle. The settlement has been destroyed, so it's destroyed. We just need to hide with the girl in the mountains near the former settlement. We can carve some Helian Family crests on nearby trees. Doesn't the girl still wear that needle armor? I still have the needles I pulled out earlier; I didn't throw them away. We can scatter some near our hiding spot. Or, we could simply leave one of the girl's hairpins or a piece of her clothing to ensure the other party can find their way to us. Then we can make our move and capture them alive."

"That's the only way. And it should be done sooner rather than later," Zheng Fan said.

At this point, Liang Cheng returned and said directly, "We got lucky. We asked directly and found out. The people in the settlement said this girl was their chieftain's honored guest. Initially, she had nine guards."

"Nine guards? Is that accurate?" asked the blind man.

"The wild people woman who worked in the kitchen, responsible for delivering their meals, said there were nine of them."

Xue Three immediately said, "We killed a total of eight guards in the settlement. That proves one guard left to deliver a message and is waiting for backup."

"Make the arrangements," Zheng Fan ordered, then turned to look at the blind man.

"My Lord, I must stay. If we get news of the treasure vault, my presence will prevent you from having to dig around everywhere when searching. I can act as a sort of detector."

The blind man was being very practical; having him around when looking for things often made tasks much easier.

"I must stay too. I'm skilled at tracking in jungles and valleys. My abilities in reconnaissance and assassination should both be useful this time," Xue Three said.

A Ming continued to drink his "wine." He didn't care. Since he'd already been enhanced, he could naturally afford to be a bit more aloof. He had plenty of 'wine' now and didn't really want to go.

Liang Cheng volunteered, "I will lead the troops back. Siniang can temporarily take over your duties, Blind Man, but we can't have Siniang training the troops, can we? I'll take command of the soldiers and also prepare to re-enter the mountains to support you."

At a time like this, not insisting on going with them was already a huge sacrifice.

Zheng Fan pointed at A Ming and said, "A Ming, you should come with us. It's rather lonely without you around."

A Ming turned his head away and took another sip of "wine." Ah, wine to drown a sorrowful heart. He knew, of course, why his Lord had singled him out to go. His Lord wasn't reluctant to part with him as a person, but rather reluctant to part with his body.

At this moment, Xue Three surreptitiously pointed at Fanli, who was still squatting in the distance. "Should we bring him?"

The blind man looked at Zheng Fan and said, "My Lord, we should bring him. If we need to dig pits or tunnels, he'll be useful. More importantly, it's better to keep him with us than to let him stay in Shengle City and cause trouble."

"Alright, it's settled then. A Cheng will lead the troops back. He and Siniang will first manage the situation in Shengle City. The rest of us will take Helian Baozhu and find a spot in the mountains near the former settlement to wait for the contact to return."

Zheng Fan made the final decision. He got up, stretched lazily, and then said with a sigh, "You know, it feels like we've been constantly fighting. It's been a long time since it was just a few of us operating together like this. I'm actually kind of looking forward to it."

「Mourning.」