Chapter Seventeen: The Millennium Treasure

  Li Huaguang felt a surge of great anger in his heart as he faced the large crowd in front of him, wondering when his home had become so easily accessible to everyone. In Jiangbei, he owned dozens of houses, but this one was the most precious to him, and he always treated it like his own home, not even the mayor had come here before.

  His anger was burning in his heart, but he didn't dare to vent it out at this moment. The group of people who came were not someone he could afford to offend. Not only were they extremely powerful themselves, but they also had great economic capabilities and legitimate identities. For example, the three gods' company owned several listed companies on the market, no wonder they could hide in Jiangbei for so many years without being surrounded and attacked even once. It turned out that there was such a way to whitewash their reputation. As for the others, his own partners also had people from the other side, under such a combination of soft and hard tactics, he was actually the weakest one.

  However, this is not what makes him the angriest. What makes him the angriest is that his own subordinate betrayed him. It was Li Lan's betrayal that led to his current predicament of being unable to advance or retreat. Originally, after he had figured out the details of that young man named Lin Hao, he already had a brilliant plan, which would not only repay the favor to the two heroes of Jiangbei but also bring him benefits. But at the most critical moment, Li Lan betrayed him and did not follow his plan.

  This is the thing he can't tolerate the most. He had high hopes for Li Lan and her brother, not only did he adopt them from an orphanage himself, but also spent a lot of money to send them abroad to receive training in a mercenary organization. After they returned, he treated them extremely well, even entrusting the safety of his own children to their care. But now she is treating him like this, how can he not be furious?

  "Li Huaguang, speak up! Where is the person? Can you still protect that person?" A loud shout brought Li Huaguang back to reality. This time it was Xiang Zuoshi, a notorious figure from the Baihuo Sect's left faction.

  "I've already said it, the person is not in my hands" Li Hua replied with a gloomy face. This group of people are all crazy, they can't find the person themselves and come to ask him.

  "Hmph, stop pretending. Everyone knows about the Jiangbei Double Heroes' grudge and that Villa No. 7 is also yours. Now that the person has disappeared, who else could be hiding him besides you? And isn't your son's bodyguard also missing? Without his bodyguard, can your son just let it go?" Xiang Zuoleng said with a cold smile, glancing up at the floor above with intention.

  Following the gaze to the left, Li Huaguang's anger grew even more intense. The person living upstairs was his own son, and this time he was being blocked at home, not even having a chance to send his son away. "I've emphasized it many times already, I've repaid the favor of Double Heroes, there were words spoken beforehand, I guaranteed that person could only do their best, otherwise can you guys break into Villa No. 7?" Villa No. 7 was one of his important strongholds, if not for his own leak, how could it have been breached so easily last night?

  "Hmph, looks like you're not planning to hand over the person, Ling Yue Shi Nu. I heard that you still have control over the underground organ trade, I wonder how much this pampered young master can sell for." Xiang Zuo sneered, he didn't believe Li Hua Guang's account at all. In the eyes of ordinary people, Li Hua Guang was indeed a powerful figure, but to them, it wasn't enough. The Bai Huo Jiao only had a few strongholds in the country and no main base, he wasn't as restricted as San Shen Dao.

  "Li Gongzi looks tall and strong, I'm sure his internal organs must be very healthy. Well, let's make a deal, I can give you a preferential price." Ling Yue smiled, as if trading underground organs was a normal thing for them to do. After all, they were evil people, where there's white, there's also black. In today's society, what business can make money faster than illegal ones?

  However, Ling Yue's mind was not here today. She didn't even care about being forced to come to Li Huaguang's place. What she cared about was that the Holy Maiden of her Three Gods Sect had been injured, and it was a serious injury. In fact, in their latest attack, they still held back. On the surface, they launched an all-out attack, but they had already seen through Li Huaguang's deployment and knew he wanted to abandon Lin Hao and let him escape alone through the underground tunnel. So, they had found tomb robbers who used secret techniques to find the exit of the tunnel. Because there were many exits to the tunnel, they agreed that each person would guard one exit, and whoever encountered Lin Hao first would be lucky.

  Good fortune had it that the Saintess, who had just arrived in Jiangbei, ran into Lin Hao as he was making his escape. She didn't know what had happened during their encounter, but the result was that news spread like wildfire: the Saintess had been severely injured. This was a shocking turn of events for the Three Gods' Sect, which had suffered greatly from the siege by the Orthodox Sect several years ago and had lost much of its strength. However, those who remained were all elite members, which also meant that competition within the sect was extremely fierce. After all, only those with higher positions didn't have to fight desperately for survival. Everyone was a survivor of the catastrophe and didn't want to risk their lives again by going up against the Orthodox Sect. So when news of the Saintess' injury spread, Ling Yue's first thought wasn't about avenging her or continuing the search for the Wheel of Rebirth, but rather how to withdraw from Jiangbei and return to headquarters. She knew that according to the Three Gods' Sect's rules, a new Saintess would have to be chosen, and she, Ling Yue, was one of the top contenders.

  "You dare" to hear them openly discussing how to kill their own son, Li Huaguang was furious, after a loud shout, he drew out a silver pistol and aimed at Xiang Zuoshou, his subordinates also quickly pulled out their guns, instantly more than 20 guns were aimed at Xiang Zuoshou and others, and Xiang Zuoshou's side wasn't without guns either, of course, some people raised their guns to confront each other, the scene suddenly escalated, it seemed a fierce gun battle was unavoidable.

  "Hmph, Li Huaguang, you think this can stop us? Don't forget what we do. Are you sure your formation here can withstand us?" Xiang Zuoleng sneered, they weren't afraid of a fierce battle, but didn't want to waste their men here unnecessarily. What they wanted was to force Li Huaguang to hand over the person, not to annihilate him. If that were the case, they wouldn't have even appeared. Besides, most of the people here were infamous figures from the evil path, and a large part of them were ghost cultivators. Ghosts aren't afraid, so why fear living people?

  "You," Li Huaguang was trembling with anger, but he really had no choice, because he knew that outside the house it was already a hundred ghosts marching at night. If it weren't for the fact that there was also a large feng shui array here to maintain things, the bodyguards here wouldn't even be able to stand up, let alone hold guns. Now, Li Huaguang had completely lost the upper hand.

  "One last time, where is the person? If you don't hand him over, don't blame me for being ruthless." The left guard looked at him with a menacing gaze, his killing intent palpable. He didn't have much time to waste, and if Lin Hao hadn't run away so suspiciously this time, they wouldn't have been in such a hurry either.

  "I, I don't know, my subordinate betrayed me, we've lost contact, but that subordinate's own brother might know" Li Huaguang's eyes were somewhat despondent, he knew the other side had no more patience, persisting would only lead to death, so he had no choice but to push out a scapegoat.

  Li Huaguang waved his hand, and immediately someone pushed out a man with five flowers tied up. This person was Li Lan's elder brother, Li Ning. As soon as he returned, Li Ning was disarmed and captured. He had already guessed this ending, but he didn't dare to believe it. He didn't dare to believe that Li Huaguang, who had always treated them like a father, would hand him over. But reality was like a sharp knife, deeply inserted into his heart. So when he was brought out, he didn't resist at all, just staring blankly at Li Huaguang.

  Looking at Li Ning's desperate eyes, Li Huaiguang was also heartbroken and reluctant to part with him. After nearly twenty years of getting along, it wasn't without some emotional attachment, let alone that Li Ning was his trusted subordinate. He didn't know how many things Li Ning had taken care of for him, each time making him very satisfied. But all this became insignificant compared to his own safety and the safety of his family.

  "Take people away, we're leaving, or it'll be too late." Originally, pushing out a bodyguard to the left was not satisfactory, but Ling Yue quickly made everyone leave because she really didn't want to waste any more time here. Xiang Zuosi thought about it and also didn't want to get stuck with Li Huaguang, so he could only nod in agreement.

  ………

  Mt. Song, Taishan Mountain, Wulong Peak. In the ancient and simple cave, I looked at Lan sister who was still burning with fever and became a little absent-minded. I was too careless. Although it's summer now, this is a mountainous area, and it's evening, the temperature has dropped significantly. Lan sister was also injured internally, and she followed me for a whole day without getting a fever, which is strange. But what about me? Not only did I not take good care of her, but I also forced her to walk with me for so long. What should I do now? The medicine I brought was only some treatment for internal injuries, there's no antipyretic, what should I do?

  Picking herbs? I don't even know what herbs are, let alone go back. The distance from here to the small town at the foot of the mountain is extremely far, and I'm not sure if Lan Jie can make it there. But I do know that once we leave, those people will chase us down and kill us, and Lan Jie will be in even greater danger. I've reached a point where I don't know whether to advance or retreat, this feeling is really f**king unbearable.

  Helpless, I had to open the mountain cave's large gate first. Outside the gate was a very thick stone wall with nine extremely small murals on it. I knew that they were the nine cultivation diagrams of the True Classic of the Record, only lacking the oral secrets and in disordered sequence. So when I rearranged the movable diagrams in the correct order, the stone wall opened up.

  There is another world behind the stone wall, this is a not very large cave, from the stone wall and crevices of the revealed light can be estimated that here is about over 100 square meters, inside the stone bed stone table are all available, but those wooden furniture have long been rotten, touched and became a pile of debris, however it's good, this became my best fire material.

  The treasure that Kou Qianzhi left for me, I got it. Those things were placed on the stone table in the center, a black ancient sword with a sharp edge, when the scabbard was pulled out, there was still a clear sound, so let alone rust and other things. The hilt of the sword was engraved with the two characters "Ling Tian". In addition to the ancient sword, on the table there was also a Taoist robe, a jade pendant, a dozen bamboo slips and a gourd.

  The Taoist robe is made of unknown material, neither silk nor cotton. Not only does it not have any signs of decay, but it also looks almost new. I pulled it hard, but it couldn't be torn apart. The style of the Taoist robe is similar to those seen on TV. As for the jade pendant, it's also very special. The size of a palm, one side has an eight trigrams diagram engraved on it, and the other side has a seal script character that I don't understand. What's even more peculiar is that the color of the jade pendant is also half bright and half dark, as if it were born this way. When held in hand, the bright half feels slightly warm, while the dark half feels cool to the touch.

  As for the bamboo slips, they are much more ordinary, just made of ordinary bamboo, although they have undergone special treatment, but they are almost rotten and the characters on them are almost invisible. I had to use my mobile phone to take pictures of the contents one by one, and wait for an opportunity to translate them later. The ancient characters inside are still unreadable to me now. As for the gourd, I only poured out three black pills, which may be precious elixirs from a thousand years ago, but now I just want to throw it away. After more than a thousand years, even if it's an immortal pill, it must have expired, who dares to eat it?

  I got these treasures, but I didn't feel any excitement at all. This is not to say that these things are useless to me. The things that Kou Qianzhi handed over to me in the end must not be so simple. Moreover, this secret cave is already very important to me, because I know that here I am absolutely safe. As long as I quietly cultivate here, when my cultivation is successful, then I will not be afraid of those people.

  The reason I'm not happy is still because of Lan Jie. If she had died like this, I would have felt guilty for the rest of my life, because it can be said that she completely and utterly died because of me. If she hadn't followed her brother to retreat without bringing me into the tunnel, she wouldn't have gotten hurt either. If she hadn't been injured, she wouldn't have come to Mount Song with me, and she wouldn't have had a fever and fainted.

  Looking back on the past twenty years of my life, I have many friends, but who can do this for me? Kang Cheng is one, he even reminded me to get rid of the reincarnation eye after his death. But he's already dead. Li Mingxue might be able to do it too, but she's been missing for a long time. Li Huaguang has offered a huge reward but still can't find any news about her. And Lan Jie, this woman I've known for less than three days, almost died for me. Although being a professional bodyguard is part of the reason, I don't think that's it at all now.

  From the day before yesterday when she came to find me with a basket of wine, I regarded her as my benefactor and friend. And when she was beaten by that veiled woman until she vomited blood for my sake, I decided that I would treat her like one of my own family members.

  "Lan sister, wake up, okay? I'll take you away, I'll take you to the hospital, I won't stay here anymore, okay?" I've lost count of how many times I've whispered a prayer, now all I can do is use a wet towel to cool her down and pray sincerely, but after a long time, Lan sister still remains unconscious.

  "Cough, cough" I took down the towel on Lan Jie's head and was about to go get some cold spring water, but as soon as I turned around, I heard Lan Jie's coughing sound. My prayer had been answered, Lan Jie woke up.

  "Lan sister, wake up, how are you? I'll take you down the mountain." I turned back and shouted loudly, but Lan sister was only awake for a second, looked at me with a glance, then fainted again, scaring me to drop the towel in my hand.