340: Chapter 340 Entering the Treasure Vault

The stone door of the treasury.

It was pitch black, its surface covered in dense, intricate runes. Seaweed was tangled in the gaps of the door, as if it had not been opened for a very long time.

A faint, cold light seeped through the cracks in the door, as if something was waiting inside.

Chu Sheng stood before the door and reached out to touch it; a cold, ancient sensation greeted his fingertips.

"We have finally arrived."

He said in a low voice, his tone filled with relief.

Jiuer stood beside him, her gaze fixed on the door, saying nothing.

The Bald Monk fingered his prayer beads, his eyes closed as if sensing something. A moment later, he opened his eyes and nodded slightly.

"The fragment is inside. On the east side of the third level."

Just as Chu Sheng was about to step forward to push the door open, a voice suddenly came from behind, filled with shock and anger.

"Y-you! You are trying to rob the treasury?!"

Their movements froze simultaneously.

Chu Sheng spun around sharply, his hand already resting on the hilt of his sword.

Jiuer and The Bald Monk also turned around at the same time, their gazes locking onto the direction from which the voice came.

However, the person who appeared before them was not the old Dragon or Zhu Qing, nor was it some expert from the Dragon Clan.

It was Zhu Yu.

He was wearing a garish brocade robe, his hair slightly disheveled, as if he had just crawled out from some corner.

His face was pale—so pale it was almost transparent—and his lips were trembling, clearly terrified by the scene before him.

He was clutching a jade talisman in his hand, as if about to crush it to send a message.

"Do you know where this is? This is my father's treasury! If you dare to move a muscle, I will call the demons immediately!"

His voice was shrill and hurried, carrying a sense of bluffing and feigned strength.

Chu Sheng did not move, merely glancing at Jiuer.

Jiuer's gaze fell upon that face, her pupils contracting slightly.

Her expression did not change much, but Chu Sheng noticed that her fingers had tightened around her cuffs.

Zhu Yu clearly had not yet realized what he was facing.

When he saw Jiuer, his gaze swept over her, and he suddenly seemed to recognize something, a frivolous smile appearing on his face.

"Oh—it's you. That girl from the Fox Clan, the one who rejected this Young Master's marriage proposal back then."

He looked her up and down, as if appraising a piece of merchandise that could be bargained for.

"Tsk tsk, I didn't expect that after so many years, you've become even more charming. If you had accepted this Young Master's proposal back then, you wouldn't have had to wander for so many years..."

He took a half-step forward, his face wearing a smile of someone who thought they had victory firmly in their grasp.

"How about this: this Young Master is in a good mood today. If you leave now, this Young Master will pretend he didn't see anything."

"If you are willing to stay and accompany this Young Master for a few days, this Young Master might even plead your case to my father..."

He did not finish his sentence.

Chu Sheng felt the airflow beside him suddenly change.

Without a word, Jiuer moved.

A streak of purple light slashed through the air like lightning compressed to its limit, passing by the side of Zhu Yu's neck before he could even retract his expression.

Zhu Yu's smile remained frozen on his face, as if he had not realized what had happened.

The next second, his head slid from his shoulders and rolled onto the ground.

It struck the stone door with a dull thud.

The lips of that severed head were still slightly moving, as if the last sentence had yet to be finished.

Jiuer withdrew her hand, not sparing the corpse another glance.

Her voice was calm, as if she had just brushed a fly off her shoulder.

"An eyesore."

Chu Sheng was silent for a moment, saying nothing further.

He turned to look at the stone door, took a deep breath, channeled spiritual power into his palm, and pushed hard against the door.

The stone door emitted a dull rumble and slowly slid open to both sides.

A long, dim passageway appeared before them, with glowing crystals embedded in the walls on both sides, illuminating the path ahead.

Deep within the passageway, spiritual light faintly shimmered, as if a river that had been buried for years was reawakening.

Chu Sheng did not hesitate and stepped inside first.

Jiuer followed behind him, and The Bald Monk walked at the back, the prayer beads in his hand emitting a faint golden light in the darkness.

The three of them disappeared into the depths of the passageway.

In the water corridor outside the door, only a headless corpse and a head still wearing its final expression remained.

Not long after, a black figure appeared outside the stone door.

Wan Qiba stopped his footsteps, his gaze falling on the corpse on the ground, his brows furrowing slightly.

He recognized that brocade robe.

"Zhu Yu?"

He muttered to himself in a low voice, his tone tinged with confusion, "Someone arrived before me."

He crouched down to examine the wound on the corpse.

Clean and swift, without a single wasted movement.

His expression turned somewhat grave.

"This is not the technique of the Dragon Guards... it looks more like..."

He did not finish the second half of his sentence, but he already had a judgment in his heart.

It was Jiuer.

His sister had arrived here before him.

Wan Qiba stood up, looked at the tightly closed stone door, and was silent for a moment.

He could have turned around and left.

He could have left from the flank of the Heavenly Pool before the chaos had fully spread, assumed a new identity to lay low for a while, and made plans once the heat died down.

But he did not move.

He looked down at the soul-withering yuan-absorbing lamp in his hand, then glanced at the cold, eerie light seeping through the cracks in the door.

He was not willing to give up.

He had planned for so long and paid such a high price—from the destruction of the Fox Clan to infiltrating the Dragon Palace, from cooperating with Zhu Yin to orchestrating this entire scheme.

He could not return empty-handed.

If he ran into his sister, perhaps he could continue to absorb her Bloodline.

His sister could not stay with that troublesome Human Race forever.

It was only because he had been caught off guard at the time; he certainly had ways to deal with the two of them.

As long as one of them was left alone, he was confident he could take them down.

Moreover, he knew clearly in his heart.

Once the old Dragon was truly dead and the Dragon Clan was free to investigate, he would most likely be listed as a target for capture.

Since he would have to run sooner or later, he might as well take advantage of the fact that he could still move to secure enough capital for himself.

He reached out and pressed his hand against the stone door.

A cold sensation came from his palm.

He pushed hard, and the stone door slid open to both sides again, emitting the same sound as before.

The long, dim passageway appeared before him once more.

Wan Qiba did not hesitate and stepped inside.

His figure was extremely fast, leaving almost no sound of footsteps, like a wisp of black smoke sliding into the shadows of the passageway.

Behind him, the stone door closed once again.