36: Chapter 36 Let's pack everything first.

[Ding! Upgrade successful. Host's current level: LV3. Spiritual Rhyme energy consumed: -10,000 points. Remaining Spiritual Rhyme energy: 990 points. 2,000,000 points of Spiritual Rhyme energy required for the next upgrade to LV4.]

[System Space expansion: 15 cubic meters → 30 cubic meters] [Extra rewards: Combat Master (LV.MAX), Language Proficiency (LV.MAX)]

The moment the system notification exploded in his mind, Hu Tian's entire body shuddered violently.

A scalding torrent erupted from the base of his spine, rushing through his nerves and into his limbs like molten lava.

He clenched his fists suddenly, his knuckles cracking as muscle memory flooded in frantically!

Internal energy techniques of ancient martial arts, ground grappling from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, elbow and knee combinations from Muay Thai, explosive inch-punch power from Jeet Kune Do, and even lethal counters from Israeli Krav Maga...

Countless combat techniques seemed etched into his DNA; every power point and every vital spot became incredibly clear.

Subconsciously, he took a stance, stepping back half a pace with his left foot and lowering his center of gravity. The movement was fluid and terrifyingly standard, as if he were possessed by a grandmaster.

"Holy crap..."

He cursed under his breath and raised his palms to examine them closely.

His slender fingers now felt like precision instruments, capable of accurately calculating the optimal angle of attack.

Before he could recover, a second wave of impact followed immediately.

Countless unfamiliar syllables suddenly exploded in his mind—the elegance of French, the toughness of German, the complex phonetic changes of Arabic, the rhythmic flow of Swahili...

Over seven thousand human languages poured into the depths of his consciousness like a burst dam.

Hu Tian opened his mouth and subconsciously muttered in Russian, "Это невероятно..."

(This is incredible.) As soon as he finished, he switched to fluent Japanese: "まさか TRUEに..."

(It's actually real.) Then came Cantonese, Southern Fujianese, Hakka, and he was even intimately familiar with the pronunciation rules of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs!

He suddenly clutched his forehead, his temples throbbing.

The amount of information was too vast; his brain needed time to integrate it.

After a dozen seconds, that tearing sensation of pressure finally subsided.

Hu Tian took a deep breath—no, he took a short, sharp breath, forcing himself to calm down.

He moved his wrists, his joints making crisp clicking sounds.

Now, he could walk into any corner of the world and communicate without barriers.

Even more terrifying was that his combat skills gave him an illusion—that even if he faced ten armed thugs, he could take them all down within thirty seconds. It truly was a case of 'killing a man every ten steps, leaving no trace for a thousand miles.'

"This is interesting..." Hu Tian grinned, but his eyes were frighteningly cold.

These two skills had come at just the right time; it was like adding wings to a tiger.

This was probably the only moment Hu Tian felt happy while opening these blind boxes. He shook his head and continued.

By the thirteenth chest, Hu Tian's nerves were already somewhat numb.

He mechanically pried open the wooden boards, glanced inside, and stored it into the space.

The system notifications kept chiming in his head, but he couldn't even be bothered to look closely, treating them as background sound effects.

The fourteenth.

[Item Name: Qing Dynasty Official Silver, 99.1% purity, 256 ingots total, total weight 12,800 taels]

[Estimated Value: ¥5,120,000]

[Energy Absorbed: +2,560 points. Total Energy: 24,150 points]

The fifteenth.

[Item Name: Qing Dynasty Official Silver, 98.5% purity, 203 ingots total, total weight 10,150 taels]

[Estimated Value: ¥4,060,000]

[Energy Absorbed: +2,030 points. Total Energy: 26,180 points]

Hu Tian numbly finished collecting and straightened his back.

The flashlight beam swept around the empty cellar.

Fifteen chests, all empty.

He looked down at the numbers estimated by the system in his mind, and his pupils suddenly dilated.

Total value...

Over seventy million?!

The energy value had soared from 0 to over 26,000 points?

"I..."

Hu Tian opened his mouth, but couldn't say a single word.

This isn't treasure hunting, this is literally printing money!

Even the phrase 'raking in gold every day' wasn't enough to describe it!

Hu Tian numbly looked toward the next chest. The wooden box was locked, but the bronze lock had long since rusted; it opened with a gentle pry of his dagger.

Hu Tian let out a long sigh of relief; finally, it wasn't silver ingots.

Inside the chest were various gold items: gold bowls, gold plates, gold cups, gold hairpins, and more. The craftsmanship was exquisite, the carvings delicate; every piece was top-grade, and the golden glint was dizzying.

The system notifications chimed incessantly in his mind, but Hu Tian no longer paid attention, storing everything into the System Space as usual.

The third chest contained porcelain: blue and white, famille rose, underglaze red, and other masterpieces from famous kilns. Although they weren't extremely old, they were in perfect condition, each a treasure that seemed to speak of the prosperity of the Kangxi and Qianlong eras.

Hu Tian's technique became more and more proficient as he cleared one chest after another.

Bronzeware, jade, calligraphy and paintings, ancient books, jewelry—a dazzling array of everything imaginable.

Just like that, Hu Tian worked like a diligent porter, moving treasures into his space chest by chest. It wasn't 'watching the masts and oars turn to ash amidst talk and laughter,' but rather 'with a wave of the hand, hundreds of millions in treasures enter the bag.'

With every wooden chest cleared, he took a small step further into the depths of the stone chamber.

Time passed minute by minute, yet he felt no fatigue at all, his eyes fixed only on the red and gold halos that were drawing closer.

Finally, after clearing nearly thirty wooden chests, he was a few meters closer to the central area of the stone chamber. The treasures represented by those purple halos were now within reach.

Hu Tian wiped the sweat from his forehead.

The energy value had skyrocketed to a staggering 1.38 million points.

The system's estimated total value reached a number that made Hu Tian's scalp tingle—over five hundred and eighty million.

"This... this is more profitable than robbing a bank."

Hu Tian muttered to himself, his lips curling up uncontrollably.

No wonder those Tomb raiders risked everything. After a trip like this, an ordinary person couldn't earn this much in several lifetimes. The phrase 'wealth enough to rival a nation' was no longer just a legend.

He shook his head, forcing himself to stay calm.

Now was not the time for celebration.

The items had been found, but how to safely liquidate these treasures was the real problem.

If such a large quantity of antiques suddenly appeared on the market, it would definitely attract attention from all sides.

Cultural relic departments, antique dealers, and even those shadowy underworld forces would all have their eyes on him.

"One step at a time. I'll collect everything first."

Hu Tian took a deep breath and looked at the remaining dozen or so chests. Most emitted a yellow halo, a few had purple halos, and the three innermost chests radiated enchanting orange and red halos.

That was purple!

Orange!

And especially that red!

According to the system's classification, purple already represented top-tier cultural relics, let alone orange and red, which represented the pinnacle of treasures.

The white, blue, and green treasures from earlier were already worth hundreds of millions. How much would these purple ones be worth?

What about the orange ones?

And even the red ones?

Hu Tian didn't even dare to imagine.

He continued forward, his flashlight beam landing on a black lacquered wooden chest that was significantly larger.

This chest was a full 1.5 meters long and 70 to 80 centimeters wide. It was entirely carved with exquisite cloud-and-dragon patterns, the dragon scales so distinct they looked as if they might take flight at any moment.

The chest's edges were reinforced with bronze corners and iron plating, clearly showing that the original owner placed extreme importance on the contents.

Hu Tian's heart raced as he reached out to pry open the lid.

It didn't budge.

This chest was actually secured with three bronze locks, and the lock cores were complex—not ordinary mechanical locks.

"Looks like the stuff inside isn't simple..."

Just as he spoke, that familiar mechanical voice suddenly rang in his mind.

[Ding! Detected that the host is facing a lock-picking challenge. Special reward: Lock-picking Proficiency (including the inheritance of Lu Ban's craftsmanship)]

A warm current instantly flooded into his brain.

Countless pieces of knowledge regarding mechanisms, locks, and mortise-and-tenon structures surged in like a tide. His fingers began to twitch involuntarily, as if decades of muscle memory were awakening.

He froze for a moment, then raised his hand to look at his fingertips.

This feeling...

It was as if he were born with it?

"Interesting."

He picked up a piece of rusty iron wire from the ground and weighed it in his hand.

Too thick.

With a pinch of his fingers, the iron wire was easily snapped into two sections, which he then meticulously rubbed and shaped into what he needed—one end bent into a fine hook, the other ground to a slanted angle.

His movements were as smooth as flowing water; even he was a bit surprised.

Squatting down, he inserted the iron wire into the first bronze lock.

A subtle sensation traveled through his fingertips. Every slot and every spring inside the lock core was clearly presented in his mind, as if he had X-ray vision.

A gentle flick.

*Click.*

The first lock opened at the touch.

That was too easy, wasn't it?

He curled his lips into a smile and turned his attention to the second lock.

This lock was more precise, with a double-layered internal structure and an anti-prying device.

In the past, he hadn't even seen a lock like this.

But now...

The iron wire flipped nimbly between his fingers as if it had a life of its own.

He closed his eyes, operating entirely by feel. An image of the gears meshing inside the lock core appeared in his mind—break the outer layer first, then unlock the inner ring, and finally pop the safety bolt.

Three seconds.

*Click.*

The second lock was also open.

"Tsk, this Lu Ban craftsmanship is really something! It's practically 'Pao Ding carving the ox, doing it with ease'!"

He couldn't help but exclaim, his gaze falling on the final lock.

This lock was clearly different.

The surface of the bronze lock was engraved with complex cloud patterns, the keyhole was plum blossom-shaped, and he could faintly see intersecting metal wires inside—this was a mechanism lock, and specifically, the long-lost Nine-Turn Linked Lock!

Ordinary lock-picking techniques were useless here.

The nine catch points had to be triggered in a specific order; missing even one would cause the lock core to seize up completely.

He took a deep breath and got straight to work.

The iron wire probed into the keyhole, his fingertips trembling slightly as he felt every minute change in resistance from within.

First catch point, top left.

A light lift.

Second catch point, bottom right at the three-tenths position.

A light press.

Third, fourth, fifth...

Beads of sweat rolled down from his temples.

Not from nervousness, but from excitement.

This game of wits between man and mechanism, this precision felt through his fingertips, was practically addictive!

The final catch point—he held his breath and gave the iron wire a gentle push.

*Click—clack!*

The bolt of the Nine-Turn Linked Lock slowly sprang open, making a crisp metallic clatter.

"Done!"

He stood up abruptly, looking at the three fully opened bronze locks, his heart racing for some reason.

What on earth was in this chest that it deserved protection of this caliber?

His hand rested on the lid.

With a gentle push—[Item Name: 1 Qing Dynasty Gold-Chased Iron Whip, weighing approximately 8 catties, used by a famous general of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom]

[Estimated Value: 8,000,000 yuan]

[Energy Absorbed: +800 points. Total Energy: 1,381,920 points]

[Item Name: 3 Qing Dynasty Silver-Inlaid Swords, perfectly preserved, blades gleaming with a cold light]

[Estimated Value: 13,200,000 yuan]

[Energy Absorbed: +1,320 points. Total Energy: 1,383,240 points]

Hu Tian opened the second chest using the same technique, his movements as skilled as an old craftsman's.

He placed his hand on the lid and gave it a gentle push.