《Travels along the Astral Road》Treasury
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In truth, the treasury was not really filled up and its size did not permit for it to contain much. Still, they did not expect to find anything and for them, even a small and cheap treasure was a lucky find.
Even more, both of them were really poor. Wu Guang had asked Yuan Taotu before about it while they were traveling to eliminate the bandits and found out that his partner's funds were far lower than even his, consisting only of a dozen or so gold coins in total. Granted, they were now a bit richer thanks to the loot from the bandits, but still, the view that opened to them in the room fully overturned the sensation.
Wu Guang's memories contained riches unimaginable to cultivators of this or even higher realms. But right now he was a simple beginner Spirit realm cultivator. And as a wise person once said, 'Knowledge is the most valuable treasure, but for a hungry man, food is far more important'.
This treasury which was a dozen square feet in size indeed contained riches enough to impress even a Soul realm cultivator. Judging from a quick glance there were hundreds of gold coins present. But in truth, the real treasures should be the ones located on the small shelves that were built into the walls of the room. These shelves were fully occupied by herbs and spirit beast parts. Part of them would be actually not usable and most probably had lost all their value, but some materials would remain without deteriorating for several years even in the open, while this was a specialized and seemingly sealed until now room. So the possibility of at least some of them being in a decent condition was high.
Nodding to each other the pair took one of the sides each and started moving along the walls while confirming the items and their condition. Everything usable or sellable was instantly stored into their pouches, while the rest was left in their places. And when they met on the opposite side of the room, each one of them had almost filled a full holding pouch.
Before discussing what they retrieved, the pair decided to split the gold. It turned out that silver was also mixed into the piles, but in any case, after counting each of them got a total or equivalent to 197 gold coins. They also found several dozens of gemstones mixed with the coins, and albeit there were no useful gems, they still would sell. In truth, Wu Guang was ignorant about such common gems, but Yuan Taotu grew excited. Seemingly he also knew a lot about them as he easily sorted and priced them. While dividing it into two parts, he explained that normally the price would be subjective, but an honest jeweler would pay between 500 and 600 gold coins for the entire pile. So adding this, each of them increased their wealth for at least 450 gold coins.
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With such money, they could actually quit the sect and live richly if they wanted.
Strangely there were no armors, weapons, or battle techniques. In the end, Wu Guang concluded that there was a separate armory with such items, and most probably it was located in one of the now-destroyed buildings.
Only after cleaning the treasury and leaving only the items that were too rotten or had lost all their spirituality in place the pair left the room and returned to their camp.
A long discussion about their loot followed, but either because of the placing or the fact that half items were not in condition, both of them ended with items with a similar total value.
Yuan Taotu had a few more spirit herbs, from which the most valuable would be a perfectly preserved 'Storm Lily' while Wu Guang mainly got Spirit beast components from which the most valuable would be undeniably a pair of flasks containing 'Dissolving Poison'. It came from a dissolving snake spirit beast and if used correctly could kill, cripple or at least incapacitate any opponent below the Sage realm.
Yuan Taotu also found some books, but he was not really interested in trying to pry any secrets from them. And so he simply passed them to Wu Guang. These books were a diary and a three-volumed manual of sorts written in a mix of common and its archaic counterpart. The latter was unknown to Wu Guang, but he was a true scholar. Translating them should not be hard, especially as the archaic part seemed to be the normal common but written with old local characters.
"Well... This is an unexpected development. Judging from the general value of the herbs and beast materials that we gained there should be no need to hunt anymore"
"Indeed"
"But... I think we should still remain here for this following three days"
"Agreed"
Although they did not discuss the reason, both of them understood why they should not rush to the sect right away. First of all, there was much loot and so they needed to sort everything and decide what to exchange for points. They needed the points and the quicker they got them, the quicker they would advance their combat strength. The second reason also remained unspoken but Wu Guang's motion towards the now open secret passages was understood without any words by Yuan Taotu.
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This zone should be of common or in the best case of elder level knowledge in the sect, so most probably someone from the sect had been before here if not the scrolls they had obtained on Elder's Mo will not give so much information about it. So parting from this and the fact that both rooms were untouched before, a possible latter party will uncover the fact that they found and looted them. Spoils and loot were indeed things that went towards the finder or hunter but with the orb matter at hand, it was better if the discovery was not found out at all.
Wu Guang formulated a plan which he quickly relayed to Yuan Taotu
"We need to disguise the fact of these rooms being opened by us. We can't hide them as neither of us can replicate the runes used by the original inhabitants but if we leave no tracks of them being freshly looted then we can simply answer if asked that when we arrived they were already opened"
"But our spoils are a bit too much"
"Yes, but we can actually tell a bit of the truth... Basically, we found a few items between the discarded stuff"
"Discarded?"
"Yes, discarded by the person who found the rooms. We should also retain some herbs and beast materials commonly asked in requests in the mission hall. Acting like this we both keep the loot and the fact of the looting hidden... And even get a bit more points, after all, is of common knowledge that the store exchange rate is lower than mission rewards"
"Agreed. So how do we hide our looting?"
"Destruction"
A silent question could be seen from Yuan Taotu silent motion to explain further and so Wu Guang did so
"We simply need to destroy the interior of the rooms. I doubt that enforcers or Discipline Palace elders will come to confirm and most of the disciples will simply see that the rooms were violently ransacked... something that we should not be suspected of"
"I see"
With this, a plan was formed up and Yuan Taotu decided to start with it right away. Wu Guang offered to help but his partner saw the hidden desire in the glance towards the books and so said that one of them should be enough.
Being given free rein to start investigating the information in the books Wu Guang proceeded to do so and submerged himself in the world of letters for several hours. He only reacted when Yuan Taotu called to him. The time had indeed passed almost without him noticing as when glancing towards the entrance door that they did not close he only saw darkness.
"Interesting?"
"Yes... The manual is actually about potions"
"Potions?"
"Yes... It's an archaic form of medicine or pills. Actually, it can be considered the roots for both. Basically, potions are the first application of Spiritual or even common qi sensitive plants, minerals, and beast components"
"And the other?" Yuan Taotu practically interrupted Wu Guang after noticing that the latter was about to start explaining the matter in depth
"A diary from an administrative Elder. Well at least from what I could translate he was the treasurer of this place"
"I see"
"Well now that I know the name I can't really call it this place. We are right now standing in the main building of the 'Great Mountains Island Potions and Martial Arts School'. The sect records say that before the cataclysm the island was called Great Mountains"
"Great Mountains, huh? After the mountains that occupy the eastern part of the island?"
"Yes. It seems that half of the 'Demonic Plateau' was covered by mountains as well"
"And the other one?"
"Grasslands. We now call them Wildlands, but in actuality, they are called the 'Great Grasslands' and they extended from the hills and until the north sea. After the cataclysm and the Demonic Plateau surging a part of them disappeared, but still, they are indeed grasslands"
With this, their conversation ended while Yuan Taotu walked towards the doors, closed them, and then after motioning a good night laid down in his sleeping place.
The potions matter piqued his interest and so he returned to it right away.
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