Treasures Left Behind

The first line on the page immediately caught Hao Nhien's attention.

“Saintess, Hoang Sam has betrayed the clan, taken the Immortal Heart, and called upon the branch lineages to submit to him. Those who refuse are being hunted down. You must not return under any circumstances.”

The handwriting below remained sharp and steady, showing no trace of panic, yet the contents seemed to make the atmosphere inside the administrative chamber grow heavier.

“Immediately seal the headquarters of the Heavenly Spirit Merchant Association in Spirit Cloud, disband all personnel, and have them hide among sects, clans, merchant associations, and cities. Every branch under the headquarters must cut off contact and must not reveal their identities as members of the Heavenly Spirit Clan.”

Hao Nhien continued reading.

“At the same time, carry out the plan to seal the Spirit Cloud-Firmament passage. Do not allow Hoang Sam or his people to locate the passage coordinates before the seal is complete...”

The section below had faded, and part of it was missing. Several of the final lines seemed to have been affected by some unknown force, leaving many characters as little more than blurred black marks. Hao Nhien tried to read further, but aside from a few isolated characters, he could not piece together a complete sentence.

He placed the letter on the table and remained seated for a long time.

The administrative chamber of the Heavenly Spirit Merchant Association remained completely silent. The ancient painting behind him had already closed, while the light from the stone lamps outside the auction hall reached only partway into the room, causing the empty wooden cabinets along the walls to drift in and out of shadow. Hao Nhien rested one hand on the table and tapped his fingertips against the wood in a slow, steady rhythm, not out of impatience, but because he needed time to sort through everything he had just read.

The letter was not long, but this time there were several things he no longer needed to guess.

The place where he now stood had once been the headquarters of the merchant association in Spirit Cloud, and this headquarters had a direct connection to a force known as the Heavenly Spirit Clan. The recipient of the letter was addressed as the Saintess, while the writer possessed enough authority to order the sealing of the entire headquarters, sever contact with all subordinate branches, and scatter their personnel among sects, clans, merchant associations, and cities.

That alone meant the scale of the Heavenly Spirit Clan had certainly been far greater than this underground auction house suggested.

Hao Nhien lowered his gaze to the words on the letter once more.

What he could confirm was already clear: Hoang Sam had betrayed the clan, the Immortal Heart had been taken, and the branch lineages that refused to submit were being hunted.

If that were all the letter contained, the most Hao Nhien could conclude was that the Heavenly Spirit Clan had once suffered an enormous internal conflict. But the line that drew his attention most came afterward.

The Spirit Cloud-Firmament passage.

Hao Nhien stared at those final words for a long time.

Until now, the Firmament had existed for him mainly through fragments of memory, incomplete records, and scattered traces connected to the ancient war in the Western Wastes. He knew that forces from the Firmament had once appeared in this world, and he knew that the battles of that era had left behind countless spatial fractures and unstable regions. Yet he had never possessed concrete proof that an actual route connecting the two places had once existed.

The letter before him gave him something much clearer for the first time.

The passage had existed.

More than that, the Heavenly Spirit Clan had known how to seal it.

That fact alone made the letter far more valuable than the pills, weapons, and other items he had just found in the hidden chamber.

Whether the Heavenly Spirit Clan originated from the Firmament or had merely traveled between the two places, Hao Nhien did not know. He had even less basis to determine whether Hoang Sam's betrayal had anything to do with the war that devastated the Western Wastes. As for whether the Immortal Heart was a treasure, an inheritance, or something else entirely, that remained unknown as well. But at the very least, he now had specific names and clues to search for.

Hao Nhien leaned back slightly in the chair.

If one day he could find someone who still knew about the Heavenly Spirit Clan, or discover traces of the passage mentioned in the letter, then the road to the Firmament might no longer be completely obscure. As long as that possibility existed, he could not ignore it.

Anh Nhien remained the greatest reason.

That thought left Hao Nhien silent for a while longer.

He had traveled very far since the day he first awakened in this world, yet the distance between him and anything connected to Anh Nhien still felt like a veil of mist with no visible end. The Fire Qilin Tribe, the Western Wastes, the Heavenly Eye Tribe, the Firmament, and now the Heavenly Spirit Clan. Things that had once seemed unrelated were gradually beginning to connect, but he still did not know where those connections would ultimately lead.

Hao Nhien withdrew his gaze from the letter.

The last thing he wanted was to construct an entire story from only a few fragments of information. He understood too well that missing a single crucial fact could send every conclusion in the wrong direction.

For now, he only needed to remember what had actually been confirmed.

He carefully folded the letter and stored it separately inside his storage ring, away from the other items he had taken from the hidden chamber.

At that moment, Hao Nhien remembered the ancient bow that had once appeared at the auction house outside Thanh Van City.

The requirement back then had been strange. Anyone who wanted the bow needed more than wealth. They had to prove that they could draw or activate it. Now, Hao Nhien had found a real arrow hidden inside a painting at the headquarters of the Heavenly Spirit Merchant Association.

He took the black arrow out of his storage ring.

The arrow rested silently in his palm. The cold, razor-sharp aura remained buried deep within its material, unlike anything one would expect from an ordinary weapon that had survived for countless years.

He slowly rotated the shaft, recalling the shape of the bow in the painting.

There was a strong possibility that the bow and arrow had originally belonged together.

But why had the bow appeared near Thanh Van City while the arrow remained hidden here? He could not know. Whether the person who put the bow up for auction had some connection to the Heavenly Spirit Clan or had merely obtained it by chance was equally unclear. Even the requirement that someone be able to use the bow might have served a purpose he had yet to understand.

Hao Nhien did not continue guessing.

He stored the arrow again.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“At least now I have a direction to follow.”

His voice was quiet in the empty chamber.

If he encountered traces of the bow, the Heavenly Spirit Merchant Association, or the name Hoang Sam again, he would know what to pay attention to.

Hao Nhien stood.

The most important thing now was still finding a way out.

Earlier, when the Cosmic Ark absorbed the spiritual qi accumulated inside the chests of nearly exhausted supreme-grade crystals, Hao Nhien had only noticed that the patterns along its hull had become brighter. At the time, he had been busy examining the hidden chamber and had not observed it carefully. But now that everything had settled, the connection between him and the Cosmic Ark still felt distinctly different.

This was not merely a minor change caused by replenishing some energy. Something deeper had happened.

Hao Nhien moved his will.

The Cosmic Ark appeared before him and shifted into its Cave Dwelling form.

The moment he stepped inside, he immediately sensed the difference.

The familiar space remained, but the feeling had changed. The Wood-attributed spiritual qi inside the Cave Dwelling was clearly denser than before. It no longer flowed only in thin, gentle streams, but had gathered into a faint layer of qi that seemed to fill the entire space. The ancient patterns along the walls had also become clearer, including several sections Hao Nhien had never noticed before.

Even the solidity of the Cave Dwelling itself felt different.

It had not visibly expanded, but Hao Nhien could sense that the structure of the space was more stable than before. The connection between his Sea of Consciousness and the Cosmic Ark had also deepened slightly, as though a faint barrier that had always existed between them had opened a little further.

He stood there for a while, sensing the changes.

“Was it because of the spiritual qi it just absorbed...?”

The crystals in the hidden chamber had indeed lost most of their energy, but there had been many of them, and they had once been supreme-grade crystals. The spiritual qi that had escaped from them over countless years had also been trapped almost entirely within the sealed chamber, so the total amount absorbed by the Cosmic Ark had been far greater than he had expected.

The Cosmic Ark was no longer the same as before.

Hao Nhien did not try to force it to reveal any new abilities. The treasure still held far too many secrets, and every transformation seemed to require an enormous amount of energy. For now, it was enough to know that it had become stronger and more stable.

He sat cross-legged in the center of the Cave Dwelling and began circulating his cultivation method.

The surrounding Wood-attributed spiritual qi slowly gathered toward him.

After nearly three days of unconsciousness and natural recovery, the major injuries in his body had almost stabilized. The next half day of cultivation was mainly spent repairing the smaller injuries still hidden within his meridians and restoring the spiritual power that had not yet fully recovered after Berserk and the spatial shock.

When Hao Nhien opened his eyes again, his aura had stabilized considerably. The lingering damage within his meridians had almost entirely been soothed by the Wood-attributed spiritual qi, while the spiritual power of Foundation Establishment layer two flowed more fully than before.

He did not leave the Cave Dwelling immediately. Instead, he took out the items he had obtained from the hidden chamber and inspected them again.

He began with the jade boxes from the final shelf. The pills inside still retained considerable medicinal power, but each box was engraved with ancient characters Hao Nhien could not recognize. He tried comparing them with the ancient script he had encountered before, yet he still could not determine the names or effects of the pills. With medicines that had existed for an unknown number of years, guessing based only on color and aura before swallowing them would be no different from using his own body to test poison.

For that reason, Hao Nhien did not open them again. He sealed each box and returned them to his storage ring.

Afterward, he took out the small stone box he had found near the weapon rack.

Back in the hidden chamber, Hao Nhien had only confirmed that there were no obvious dangerous fluctuations inside before taking it with him. Now that he examined it carefully, he realized the box had been made in a rather unusual way. There was no lock and no complicated restriction on the outside, yet the surrounding stone layer was extremely thick, suggesting that its main purpose was not to keep people from opening it, but to isolate whatever was stored inside.

Hao Nhien set the box down in front of him and slowly opened the lid.

Inside were three dark purple-black spheres, each small enough to fit comfortably in his palm. Their surfaces were not completely smooth, but covered in countless tiny lines that at first resembled natural cracks. Upon closer inspection, however, Hao Nhien realized that the lines connected to form a complete structure.

He did not touch them immediately. Instead, he extended his spiritual awareness first.

The moment his spiritual awareness entered the first sphere, Hao Nhien stopped.

Inside was an extremely condensed mass of Lightning-attributed energy.

The energy had been compressed tightly into the core, while multiple layers of runes on the outside kept it stable. Although Hao Nhien could not understand the full structure, he could still sense that if even part of the internal balance were disrupted, the compressed lightning power would immediately be released.

He observed it for a while longer, then carefully left an extremely faint trace of spiritual awareness on the outer runic layer. A vague connection immediately formed. At such close range, he could sense the sphere quite clearly and even had the impression that a sufficiently strong thought would be enough to activate the structure within.

Hao Nhien immediately withdrew his spiritual awareness.

He had no intention of testing it.

An object stored separately inside a box in ancient ruins like these, while containing such a large amount of lightning power, was certainly not meant to produce a few harmless sparks. If his guess was correct, the three spheres were likely single-use artifacts that would release all of their sealed energy once activated.

In the terms of his old world, they were very much like grenades.

The difference was that these required no fuse or physical mechanism. As long as a spiritual-awareness connection had been established beforehand, the user could likely activate one through thought within a certain range. Exactly how far that range extended, how destructive the release would be, and whether the energy inside remained completely stable after so many years were all things Hao Nhien did not yet know.

Precisely because he did not know, he had even less reason to test them casually.

Hao Nhien studied the three dark purple spheres for another moment before speaking softly.

“If my guess is right, calling you Thunder Burst shouldn't be too far off.”

He did not store the three Thunder Bursts together with his pills or weapons. Instead, he reserved a separate section of his storage ring for them and kept them apart from items that might be affected by lightning energy. Until he understood their actual power, it was best to avoid any unnecessary accidents.

After dealing with the three spheres, Hao Nhien finally took out the heavy sword he had obtained from the hidden chamber.

The sword was gray-black, with a broad, thick blade. Part of its tip had been chipped away, yet the body remained solid enough to satisfy him. Its weight and current balance alone already suited the style of combat he had been lacking.

He sent a portion of spiritual power into the sword.

At first, there was no obvious reaction.

Hao Nhien considered it for a moment, then mobilized the Fire affinity within his body, allowing his spiritual power to carry a heated aura into the patterns near the spine of the blade.

The change came immediately.

One dark red line lit up, followed by a second, then the remaining patterns across the sword gradually appeared.

The Fire power did not erupt outward as visible flames. Instead, it remained compressed within the blade, causing the gray-black metal to gradually turn dark red, like iron freshly drawn from a forge. The sword's weight did not change, but Hao Nhien could clearly feel that power traveled through the blade much more smoothly.

His eyes brightened.

“As expected, it's a Fire-attributed weapon. From now on, I'll call you the Fire Spirit Sword.”

Hao Nhien withdrew his spiritual power, left the Cave Dwelling, and returned the Cosmic Ark to his Sea of Consciousness.

He then passed through the corridor and returned to the stone courtyard near the underground river dock.

The ancient structure of the Heavenly Spirit Merchant Association remained silent behind him. The stone lamps along the corridor still gave off a faint glow, while the stone gate he had broken through stood motionless in the darkness, as though the place had only briefly awakened before preparing to sink back into its long slumber.

Hao Nhien looked back once more.

This place had given him far more than he had expected: an arrow, several weapons and unidentified pills, a letter, a name, and most importantly, proof that a passage had once existed between Spirit Cloud and the Firmament.

He memorized the ruins' relative position in relation to the underground river, though he still had no idea how deep beneath the Western Wastes he currently was. If he could determine the coordinates from the surface in the future, he would definitely return and investigate more thoroughly.

Hao Nhien stepped onto the stone dock.

The black water still flowed slowly through the darkness. He could not see where it began, nor did he know whether it would lead to an underground lake, a deep fissure, or another network of subterranean rivers.

He did not have enough information to make a perfect choice.

But at least the river gave him a direction.

Trying to dig upward through an unknown number of layers of earth and stone was almost impossible with his current cultivation. The underground river, on the other hand, had to connect to a larger water system, even if there was no guarantee that it would lead directly to the surface.

Hao Nhien summoned the Cosmic Ark and stepped aboard.

Before leaving the dock, he turned back one final time toward the headquarters of the Heavenly Spirit Merchant Association.

Then his will moved.

The Cosmic Ark left the stone dock and slowly traveled against the current. Ahead remained only boundless darkness, and no one knew where the underground river would lead. But for Hao Nhien, the road before him was no longer the same as when he had first entered the Western Wastes.

From this point onward, his goal no longer lay only within this wasteland.

Beyond the clues that had just appeared was another place he was determined to reach.

The Firmament.