Chapter 371 - 366: Robbery Is Too Low-Tech

The three Core Formation Masters weren’t exactly trembling, but their will to fight was clearly weak.

Du Youqian sighed. "How about you each leave two Treasures?"

The other party chuckled. "That’s fine, as long as you’re the one leaving two Treasures."

Du Youqian was speechless. ’Why aren’t they following the script?’

’You’re supposed to say, "No, if you’re leaving something, it’ll be your life!"’

Since they weren’t playing their parts, Du Youqian lost interest. He stopped hiding his Cultivation and released the aura of a Golden Core Middle Stage Cultivator.

After a moment of stunned silence, the opponent laughed. "So, you’re a Fellow Daoist of comparable Cultivation. How about this? We won’t make things difficult for you. You can go."

Du Youqian slowly drew his Flying Sword, Jinhuan. "Go? I said you could go if you each left two Treasures. Since you don’t want to leave your Treasures, you can leave your lives instead."

The Golden Core Middle Stage Cultivator standing on the triangular Flying Treasure sneered. "So you’d rather do this the hard way? Fine. Let’s see what you’ve got."

It wasn’t that Du Youqian enjoyed fighting and killing. If his opponents had a Golden Core Late Stage Cultivation, he might have hesitated slightly. He could still win, but it would come at a cost, which would hinder his subsequent plans.

But two at the Golden Core Middle Stage... to him, killing them was as easy as killing Cultivators at the Initial Core Formation Stage. There was no difference.

The ensuing fight was brief.

Du Youqian killed the first Golden Core Middle Stage Cultivator almost instantly. Then, before the other could even react, he pursued the second one who had leaped from a tree trunk and finished him off with a few effortless swings of his sword.

It was hardly a praiseworthy battle, nor was it much of a spectacle.

After killing them and looting the bodies, he returned to the three Core Formation Early Stage Cultivators, who were too scared to move a muscle. He smiled. "Shall we continue? Find the Inheritance, and we’ll each make a copy."

The three Core Formation Masters looked at each other and found their gazes were surprisingly in sync—

’So terrifying, so terrifying!’

’If I hand over a Treasure right now and leave, is it still an option?’

With the four of them working together, it didn’t take much effort to find the Beast Taming Art Inheritance.

The Beast Taming Art Inheritance was surprisingly carved onto a conspicuous rock on Lake Heart Island.

Du Youqian hadn’t even considered such a possibility.

’Is this really a test?’

’There’s no challenge to it at all...’

But in any case, he had successfully obtained the Beast Taming Art Inheritance.

After performing a quick Divination to confirm it was authentic, Du Youqian generously allowed the three Core Formation Masters to each make a copy.

He never went back on his word—unless it was absolutely necessary.

A Tier Four Beast Taming Art Inheritance, while valuable, wasn’t precious enough for him to break his promise.

After working together once, the three of them lowered their guard around him a little. They then worked with him to retrieve the nearby Daoist Soldier Technique Inheritance, and once again, everyone made a copy.

Finally, when it was time to part ways, each of the three Core Formation Cultivators took out a Treasure, voluntarily removed its Restriction, and handed it to him.

"Oh, how can I possibly accept this?" Du Youqian said, feigning reluctance as he gripped the Treasures tightly.

"You should, you should! Fellow Daoist, you kept us safe. This is just a small token of our appreciation. Please don’t refuse!"

"I didn’t really do much."

"Fellow Daoist, you killed those two Tribulation Cultivators and shared the Inheritances with us. Words cannot express our gratitude. This Treasure is the only way we can show a fraction of it."

"Well, since you all put it that way... it would be rude to refuse."

"Your kindness is greatly appreciated, Fellow Daoist! We will surely repay you generously in the future. For now, we’ll take our leave!" They didn’t even ask for Du Youqian’s name; their talk of "generous repayment" clearly meant they hoped to never cross paths with him again.

From their perspective, obtaining two Tier Four Inheritances—even if they were somewhat niche—was a great boon. Tier Four Inheritances were incredibly precious and couldn’t simply be bought with money.

And all they had to give up was a common Tier Three Treasure. All things considered, they had made a huge profit.

Therefore, they had no complaints about proactively handing over a Treasure to Du Youqian. In fact, they were happy he was willing to accept it.

Because if Du Youqian accepted their Treasures, he wouldn’t be shameless enough to turn on them afterward.

There were many shameless people in the Cultivation Realm, but those so depraved as to kill someone after taking protection money were virtually nonexistent.

That was because everyone would worry about being backstabbed by such a person and would band together to eliminate them preemptively.

Thus, in the Cultivation Realm, one could not be a good person; the kind were always preyed upon.

But one couldn’t be too evil, either. If you made others feel unsafe, you couldn’t blame them for ganging up to kill you.

Only those who were ruthless yet principled—with a flexible moral bottom line—could thrive.

At this point, Du Youqian had achieved all his goals for entering Su Miao Master’s Cave Mansion.

For the remaining time, he could do whatever he wanted.

Du Youqian wasn’t in a hurry to go on a killing and looting spree.

That was too classless, too crude.

He wasn’t some common robber, after all.

If he was going to play, he was going to play for high stakes.

Was he supposed to block the path and rob people one by one?

That would be far too unsophisticated.

Du Youqian had already pinpointed several possible locations for the Array’s control hub.

He quickly moved between each potential spot, and easily found the control hub—a small building built into the side of a hill covered in Sunflowers.

Below the building was a small Spirit Field where some very old, but poorly grown Spirit Medicines were planted densely, competing for nutrients. The Array’s control hub was inside the building.

Normally, the first thing one should do when exploring a predecessor’s cave mansion is to try and find the Array’s control hub.

However, the Arrays in Su Miao Master’s Cave Mansion were mostly inactive, presenting no real dangers or obstacles. So, everyone went straight to plundering the Inheritances instead of wasting time on the control hub.

Du Youqian first carefully harvested all the Spirit Medicine. Although their quality was poor, their age was sufficient, making them worth at least 170,000 to 180,000 Spiritual Jade.

He then inspected the Array’s control hub and found that while Su Miao Master’s Cave Mansion didn’t have many Arrays, they were all of high quality.

One was a Tier Four Grand Array that enveloped the entire cave mansion. It was highly sophisticated, integrating both offense and defense, but it was primarily designed to guard against external threats.

There was also a mobile Array, whose main function was to trap and injure people. Its area of effect was small, but its power was likely immense.

Du Youqian observed that it seemed to be a modification of a personal Portable Array. It was primarily designed to target threats within the cave mansion, allowing it to move underground along a preset track.

Besides these, there were some Tier Three functional Arrays, each with its own unique characteristics.

For example, there was an Array that limited the range of Divine Sense. Otherwise, a Golden Core Middle and Late Stage Cultivator could scan the entire cave mansion with a single sweep of their Divine Sense.

There were others, too.

Most of the Arrays could be activated, but they required a large amount of Spiritual Diamonds.

Du Youqian didn’t touch the Tier Four Grand Array that enveloped the cave mansion. It required too many Spiritual Diamonds, and he was short on funds; he couldn’t afford the expense.

The small, mobile Array, however, was interesting.

Although it had fallen into disrepair over the years, Du Youqian had obtained Jie Yu’s Tier Four Array Inheritance, so he was just about able to make some minor repairs.

Activating this Array also required Spiritual Diamonds, but the amount was within what Du Youqian could afford.

So, he immediately began the repairs. In about half an hour, he had essentially finished the work.

He then inserted the Spiritual Diamonds, and the Array activated smoothly.

Next, it was time for a test.

’Who should be the guinea pig?’

Du Youqian thought for a moment, then used the control hub’s amplification to break through the local Array’s restrictions on his Divine Sense.

In an instant, everything within the cave mansion appeared in his consciousness.

Du Youqian quickly located the Kun Cultivator in the hip-hugging miniskirt who had called him a bumpkin earlier. She was currently with a dozen or so other Cultivators, seemingly divided into several factions, in a standoff over some object.

Du Youqian looked closer and saw that the object of their dispute was a Treasure.

It was a small sword made of jade.

Du Youqian gave it a rough scan. The Treasure’s Spiritual Qi felt unstable, as if it was about to drop a Realm, but its essence was likely Tier Four.

Although it was shaped like a sword, sensing its function revealed it wasn’t for offense or defense. Du Youqian guessed it was a rare Treasure with a special function.

’Alright, I’ll use you all to test the Array’s power!’

With a single thought, Du Youqian controlled the mobile Array, sending it silently along the preset tracks underground to the location of the standoff, and then activated it.

A dozen or so Core Formation Cultivators were warily eyeing each other, the tension so thick it felt like a battle could erupt at any moment.

The Secret Techniques Inheritance from Su Miao Master, or her other Cultivation Techniques, were of little interest to Cultivators from major powers, as they already possessed better ones.

This Tier Four Treasure, however, was extremely precious. It was a special kind of Defensive Treasure.

Those in the know were aware that Su Miao Master had relied on this Treasure’s special function to escape the pursuit of multiple powerful experts and settle in the Northern Domain.

Its function was to automatically intercept a fatal attack on its master, shattering itself in the process to block the deadly blow.

Furthermore, it could repair itself over time, returning to its original state in about a month.

An item like this, which could save one’s life, was naturally far more valuable than a typical Tier Four Defensive Treasure.

It was an object that the dozen or so Core Formation Cultivators were willing to fight for at any cost.

Just then, without any warning, the ripple of an Array activating emanated from beneath their feet.