The three of them crouched through the darkness without hearing a single noise until they reached the hidden vault’s location, a study containing blackened desks and burnt papers. Supposedly, Liu Yingting's father had told him the inheritance vault was in here. The book from the grave would help him uncover the secret.

  While Liu Yingting individually inspected the bookcases in the room, a chill continued to run down Lu Qingshan's spine. He controlled his breathing. Anything to not alert the monster that could be roaming around here.

  Liu Yingting gave him a nod, having somehow found something even though he was just looking around. He pointed at the bookcase beside him. It would require Qin Ye to muffle the sound though, and so the three of them huddled together in the middle of the wall, slowly inching the bookcase away.

  Underneath the floorboards was a small, dark, rectangular hole. It was empty, but it was also a perfect match for the book in Liu Yingting's hands. The man carefully slid the book inside the hole and waited for something to happen.

  A small click told them something did happen. They froze, listening to the sound of their heartbeats. Lu Qingshan focused on his nearby flies.

  Several breaths passed in silence. Nothing appeared in the time it took to brew a cup of tea, and so they carefully stepped into the direction of where they heard the noise. Liu Yingting was able to quickly locate the difference in the room hidden in another corner of bookcases.

  A small opening had appeared in the wall, thin enough to force them to walk sideways. Lu Qingshan kept his arms at the ready while he went in first. It took a long time for him to descend down the thin tunnel into a musty cave.

  Liu Yingting and Qin Ye joined him a few moments later. They lit up a candle they had taken with them and stepped into the room. Scattered around the cavern walls were several closed boxes, a single table, and a tiny iron container lying on the ground.

  Lu Qingshan’s flies were sent to investigate everything first. They crawled all over the room, confirming there were no abnormal phenomena before flying back into the tunnel. He had them patrol back and forth in case anything invisible tried to sneak up behind them.

  "It should be safe," he whispered.

  Liu Yingting crept closer. His trembling hands went to pick up the iron box first. He slipped a key out from his robes and inserted it into the box's opening.

  "Thank you," Liu Yingting whispered into the air.

  Liu Yingting then carefully went to open up the rest of the boxes one by one. It was as he said. Everything contained inside this cave was easy to transport. Sealed bags carrying aromatic scents were placed onto the floor, and various martial arts manuals started to pile up on the table. Other bags clinked like metal, or swayed with soft powders.

  “These contain sand for our martial arts technique,” Liu Yingting explained, pointing towards a manual. The Black Sand Palm, it read.

  "What's the difference between this and the Iron Sand Palm Technique we have?"

  "It's a speciality of our family. We use a special type of sand instead that can absorb liquids well. With it we can temper our bodies with poison."

  Lu Qingshan brought the candle closer to the table. The dim light brushed over the various books on it. Included within the Liu family’s repertoire were the Black Sand Palm, Flowing Cloud Inner Force, Hundred Poisons Body, and medicinal recipes for all kinds of medicinal concoctions and poisons.

  “I don’t normally have access to these,” Liu Yingting muttered as he stared deeply into the recipes. “You know, I’m not the heir. I wasn’t anyone special. I never expected this to happen.”

  Lu Qingshan didn't know how to respond. He busied himself by taking inventory of what was there. This batch of martial arts supplies rivaled years of preparation from Miao Mei’s store.

  “What was in the box?” he asked.

  “...A Hundred Poisons Elixir.”

  “For the Hundred Poisons Body?”

  Liu Yingting nodded, his gaze still scanning through the recipes. “It’s a rare elixir made only for the best and the brightest in our family. Those who contribute the most can also get a share. I never thought I’d be the next to have a chance.”

  According to the texts written in the manual, the Hundred Poisons Body granted the practitioner an immense resistance to poisons. What Liu Yingting had wielded before was only the surface of what the Liu family discovered.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  "Can I...have this for myself?"

  "Of course," Lu Qingshan said. "Your family gave it to you, not the Seven Mysteries Gate. I am not in the habit of snatching things from disciples."

  "Thank you." Liu Yingting took one final look at the papers before starting to pack them into his bags. They would be able to carry everything out in one go.

  In the meantime, Lu Qingshan's flies poured out of the tunnel and swarmed in a circle around the entrance of the tunnel. Either the monster could manipulate space to hide, or it was truly not there. In that case, it was time to leave.

  But before Lu Qingshan left the room, he gave a pointed look at Qin Ye. The Bloodsense Bug flew through the air and landed on the boy’s shoulder. “You’ll need it,” he whispered to answer Qin Ye’s confused face. "Remember you have the sword to protect you."

  They crept back into the tunnel and exited out the other side. Lu Qingshan took a look above the tall bookcases. The darkness prevented him from seeing anything, even if he had the fly swarms travel through there. If there was ever a place for an ambusher to hide after hearing that click, it would be there.

  The three of them slowly came out of their wall of bookcases, heading back from where they came. Lu Qingshan barely counted five steps before a voice jolted the silence.

  "Hand over what you found and I'll leave you with an intact corpse," a figure in the darkness said. “Hand over what you found and I’ll leave you with an intact corpse.”

  Lu Qingshan frowned. That thing did not sound human. Did it see him?

  “Hand over what you found and I’ll leave you with an intact corpse.” A shuddering breath whistled through the room. Out from the darkness stepped a towering monster, complete with red eyes and pointed bloody teeth. What had once vaguely resembled a squirrel had transformed into a twisted, hulking mass.

  “Is this a demon?” Lu Qingshan asked Liu Yingting.

  “Hand over what you found…”

  Lu Qingshan did not wait for it to repeat its statement for a fourth time. He struck first, the first level of the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique writhing in his body. But he was still a touch too slow.

  The demon howled. The sound caused blood to leak from Qin Ye’s eardrums, who stumbled and fell out of fear. It leapt backwards, avoiding Lu Qingshan’s following attacks, diving towards the boy with a ravenous light in its eye.

  Lu Qingshan launched himself forwards again. He grabbed the demon’s leg before it could reach Qin Ye and hurled it across the room. A few bookcases crashed onto the floor.

  Lu Qingshan did not hold back this time. He threw himself after the demon and collided into it while it was trying to get back up. His claws ripped open the creature’s skin, sending blood splattering all over.

  The demon screeched. Though stronger than the monster beasts he’d faced in the mountain forest, this monster was still no match for the improved Lu Qingshan. It tried its best to escape, wriggling and writhing in every direction while he mangled whatever he could reach. Its tail was torn off before Lu Qingshan found his hands empty of the demon’s flesh.

  Somehow the thing managed to slip out of his grasp. But the fight had provided him with some crucial information - it had already been injured beforehand. That was why the monster had been so weakened.

  As Lu Qingshan chased after the demonic squirrel, he thought about who could do such a thing. It had to be immortal cultivators. Mortal martial artists didn’t have the strength to contend with the demon. If it wasn’t injured, he guessed it might truly have the strength of an Innate realm expert.

  Perhaps the monster had also been created by cultivators. Demonic cultivators, to be exact.

  Lu Qingshan caught up to the demon right as it was about to reach the main manor’s exit. He readied himself to slaughter the royal guards outside. As it tried to propel itself forwards to jump out the exit, Lu Qingshan’s hands were just about to seize it back.

  Then the monster exploded in a shower of blood. It disappeared so quickly Lu Qingshan almost thought it had died. But he managed to catch a glimpse of it moving at a speed far beyond what he knew.

  And it was traveling back to where Qin Ye and Liu Yingting were. Immediately, he stopped, and tried to connect with the Bloodsense Bug. It had already fed on the blood of the squirrel demon earlier once Lu Qingshan had chased it away.

  Qin Ye was still looking around frantically and trembling when the Bloodsense Bug tickled his chin. He gradually focused on what it was trying to tell him. The bug was waving its body parts intensely in a single direction.

  The boy stayed quiet. His breath had all but disappeared as he stood there, focusing on his next move.

  Nothing had appeared in the darkness, but the Bloodsense Bug started to violently thrash. Qin Ye stopped breathing. He closed his eyes, hands slowly moving towards his side. As the bug twisted itself into a mess, Qin Ye unsheathed the red flying sword and slashed.

  Blood spiraled through the air. Both from Qin Ye and the demonic squirrel. As the monster fell from its injury, its claws took the boy with it.

  Liu Yingting shoved the monster off from Qin Ye and pressed it into the floor. Lu Qingshan was there a few moments later, impaling his fist into the wound nearly bisecting its body. It took until he ripped the demon’s heart and head apart before the thing would stop moving.

  Breathing heavily, they made sure Qin Ye was only unconscious. The boy had a chunk taken out of his side, but he had dodged the worst of the blow. His heavy bleeding was stemmed with a medicinal concoction from the Liu family’s vault. Still, he would need lots of time to recover.

  Lu Qingshan looked down at the corpse and frowned. Even the Bloodseeker Flies refused to eat it. Some of them even died the moment he ordered them to take a bite of the flesh.

  “Did your family do this?” he asked.