Soul of the Revered Banner
Chapter 56: Precaution

Shizhu abruptly opened his eyes. What met his gaze were solid wood beams and a light brown ceiling.

As if suddenly recalling something, Shizhu flung aside the quilt covering him and was about to get out of bed.

He didn’t even have time to put on his shoes, stumbling straight toward the door.

Before his body could adjust, thud, he fell to the floor.

A medical hall apprentice, rushing in after hearing the commotion, hurriedly helped the fallen Shizhu back onto the bed and explained, “Officer, your internal organs are injured. You need to rest. Don’t get agitated.”

“Cough, cough.”

Shizhu coughed twice. As he covered his mouth, he noticed traces of fresh blood seeping into his rough palm.

Instantly, he felt the warmth and dampness spread across his hand.

Clenching his palm, he struggled to get up.

Perhaps recalling he was in a medical hall, he reached for his money pouch while asking, “How much is the consultation fee?”

The apprentice, no more than ten years old, replied while tidying the bedding, “Someone has already paid the consultation fee for you, Officer.”

“Already paid? Who?”

Shizhu’s face showed a bit of confusion as he pulled out the money pouch he had fumbled from his inner pocket.

Because he had no parents, wife, or children, Shizhu never saved money. He kept only a few bits of broken silver for emergencies. Most of the rest was spent at taverns and brothels. Especially after returning from assignments, he would always go looking for familiar girls, so his pouch was always flat.

But now, the pouch seemed to have a little more in it than before.

“It was a tall, skinny, middle-aged man with a goatee, dressed in a long robe.”

“The teahouse worker who brought you here for treatment was later followed by that man, who came again and paid the rest of the consultation fee before leaving.”

The medical apprentice didn’t dare lie.

People who wore long robes were already not someone those in short clothing like him could afford to offend, let alone someone like the officer before him, dressed in a black embroidered robe. Naturally, he had to be extra cautious and even a bit ingratiating.

The speaker meant no harm, but the listener took it to heart.

Shizhu frowned, and memories surged in an instant.

Wasn’t that robed man the very one who had taken the item left behind by Old Xiang?

That person had originally wanted to kill him, yet in the end brought him for treatment and even returned later to pay the full fee?

The man’s attitude shift was far too extreme to make sense.

“Do you know where he went?”

“Officer, that I don’t know,” the apprentice replied awkwardly with a laugh. “The gentleman left in a hurry without saying where he was going.”

Shizhu thought it made sense. That person wasn’t likely to leave his whereabouts behind. Letting out a long sigh, he waved his hand to indicate the apprentice could leave him be.

“Wait.”

Shizhu called the apprentice back again. After all, the boy had answered many of his questions, he should be rewarded with a couple of coins.

Opening the pouch, something familiar appeared before his eyes.

It was the very item Old Xiang had entrusted to him.

That item, which seemed to be some sort of treasure, had returned.

“Is there something else, Officer?”

“Oh.”

The apprentice’s question snapped Shizhu out of his daze. He took out a corner of silver from the pouch and tossed it over. “Here. Your reward.”

The apprentice caught it, a bit surprised. When he looked down and saw it was silver, he immediately beamed with joy and hurriedly bowed in thanks: “Thank you, Officer. Thank you for the reward!”

“You may go.”

After sending off the delighted apprentice, Shizhu finally looked at the item in his money pouch.

It looked exactly the same as before, about a foot long, wrapped in black banner cloth, with traces of blood red visible at the edges.

If it weren’t for the dull pain still lingering in his chest, he’d have thought he was dreaming that the treasure had been recovered.

What made him happy wasn’t that he knew it was a treasure, but that he could finally fulfill the responsibility Old Xiang had entrusted to him.

Meanwhile, Tu Shanjun could only shake his head in frustration, thinking back to half an hour ago, within the cluster of Offering Pavilion.

Tu Shanjun, controlling Zhou Liang’s body, charged directly into the inner courtyard.

He was met by another silver lock.

To destroy that four-ring planar formation silver lock, he used up twenty percent of his spiritual power.

The silver lock shattered in response.

Without the lock’s energy binding them, the surrounding formation runes flickered briefly before dimming completely.

Tu Shanjun pushed open the inner courtyard gate and entered the main hall.

It was a dark chamber, windowless on all sides, constructed of blue stone blocks. Only a single beam of light shone in from the doorway.

At the end of the beam of light stood a stone door.

And on that stone door was a five-ring interlocked gold lock.

The moment Tu Shanjun saw the gold lock on the stone door, he knew there was trouble.

Judging by the time, even if he blasted the gold lock open, he’d be intercepted by the incoming offering cultivators.

With his current strength, facing that many Qi Refining cultivators would be difficult.

What’s more, once the banner slave used up its spiritual power, it wouldn’t be replenished. It would take at least thirty percent of his power to break down the door, which would leave him with less than forty percent remaining.

He definitely wouldn’t be able to win against those people.

If he forced it, he might end up losing both the bride and the troops.

It simply wasn’t worth the risk.

After some thought, Tu Shanjun decided to retreat for now. He would seek out a new host for the soul banner and make another attempt later.

The three-foot-long Revered Soul Banner shrank into a small foot-long flag and was hidden within the sleeve of the banner slave.

Without lingering, he summoned all his spiritual power and walked straight toward the gate of the Offering Hall.

Not long after Tu Shanjun left, Old Daoist Lu was the first to arrive.

That was partly because he used a low-grade flying sword.

Even a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator could use it to briefly fly.

The distance from the Marquis’ residence to the Offering Hall wasn’t far, so Old Daoist Lu arrived quickly.

Outside the gate, many child servants had already gathered, but none dared enter the treasury grounds without an order.

Old Daoist Lu rushed in, passed the damaged silver lock, and stepped inside.

What he saw made him breathe a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, the gold lock was still intact.

The restriction hadn’t been triggered either, indicating the thief hadn’t made it into the Offering Hall’s treasury.

But then Old Daoist Lu had a thought.

Although the thief hadn’t entered the treasury, only one last door remained between them and it.

Conveniently, the gold key was in his possession.

All he needed to do was open the door and take out the treasure inside, and he could pin the blame on the thief.

Not to mention, inside, there was a mid-grade flying sword.

With that sword, the vast world would be his to roam!

Who’s to say he might not even find the chance to break through to the late stage of Qi Refining?

A glint of excitement flashed in Lu Chengyi’s eyes as he poured spiritual power into a storage talisman and took out the gold key.

“Whew, that nearly killed me.”

Before he arrived, a voice came ahead.

A round, panting cultivator appeared at the door.

He didn’t go in, just stood at the entrance shouting, “Old Daoist Lu, did you catch the thief?”

“Old Daoist Lu?”

“Old Daoist Lu, what are you doing in there?”

Lu Chengyi’s hand, clutching the key, stiffened. Veins bulged on his forehead.

He hadn’t expected that fat bastard to arrive so quickly.

And he was yelling outside, not coming in.

That meant any plans for scheming were now impossible.

“Damn fatso, how dare you ruin this old Daoist’s plan!”

Lu Chengyi ground his teeth in hatred.

In the end, he had no choice but to put the gold key back into the storage talisman.

With the fat cultivator already at the door, even if he entered the treasury and took the goods, he probably couldn’t get away.

As the round cultivator shouted, the rest of the loose cultivators began to arrive one after another.

A middle-aged man with drooping brows marched straight into the room.

No one stopped him. Since someone had taken the lead, the rest were happy to follow.

“Fellow cultivators, the treasury is intact. The thief didn’t have time to break the gold lock.”

Hurriedly, Lu Chengyi exited the dark chamber. With a relieved smile, he looked around at the others.

The loose cultivators didn’t quite believe him, so they all went in and indeed saw the gold lock untouched.

Their tense minds finally relaxed.

“This humble woman thinks it’s still best to open the treasury and check. What say you, fellow Daoists?” the beautiful woman said, her eyes gleaming as she parted her red lips.

“Yes.”

The bald-headed monk chimed in, “Amitabha.”

The four all turned to look at Old Daoist Lu.

Whatever Lu Chengyi had considered, they had naturally also considered.

If Old Daoist Lu was guarding the vault only to rob it himself, wouldn’t they all be played for fools?

“No problem. I’ll open the treasury right here and now, in front of my fellow Daoists.”

On the surface, Lu Chengyi acted completely unbothered. Instead, he generously pulled out the gold key.

He unlocked the treasury gate.

(Chapter End)