Zhang San, please behave yourself!
Chapter 232 - 223 - What Stealing? This is Called Transporting!

Chapter 232: Chapter 223 - What Stealing? This is Called Transporting!

At night, Zhang San, having had his fill, led everyone away from Governor Hu’s mansion.

Governor Hu was shocked that Zhang San left immediately after eating without taking the opportunity to wander around his mansion.

The steward, on the other hand, was astonished that although only about a dozen people came with Zhang San, they ate the equivalent of at least one hundred fifty people!

Moreover, this amount of food was calculated based on the consumption of fully-grown, healthy men.

How could these people eat so much?

Especially Zhang San, it felt like he ate more than his own weight!

Do all the people from the Town Martial Office eat like this?

In fact, for Zhang San and his comrades, as long as they circulate their Qi, they can help their stomachs quickly digest the food and replenish their strength. Practically all the martial artists from the Town Martial Office know this method.

After all, sometimes when facing an enemy, you don’t have enough time to eat; you can only grab something quickly and eat while speeding up the consumption to avoid the slow digestion process affecting the battle.

However, Zhang San did not pass on this technique to the Wen Family’s martial artists.

This led to Wen Ruchu watching Zhang San and his group eating so prodigiously, awakening his competitive spirit. Now, he was so stuffed he had to be supported by Uncle Liu, staggering as he walked.

Once back, Zhang San took a straw man out of the Gluttonous Bag, placed it on his bed, then used the "Grasses and Trees into Soldiers" method to make it look just like himself.

He then sneaked out of his dwelling through the shadows, heading straight for Hu Feipan’s residence.

Even though Hu Feipan’s residence was protected by many formations, Zhang San had already sent White Shadow to look for a weak spot on the way there.

To even guard against White Shadow being discovered, Zhang San had White Shadow steal some food from the kitchen first. If a master at Hu Feipan’s residence noticed White Shadow, he could explain that he was Zhang San’s guard, who got hungry and came out to steal some food, and then got lost.

Now, White Shadow led Zhang San straight to the place in Hu Feipan’s mansion where the gold was hidden.

It was a rockery with springs surrounding it, not at all resembling a location where gold could be hidden.

But Little Devils discovered that inside the rockery was a hidden door, though its mechanism was extremely intricate and they could not open it.

However, the Little Devils could infiltrate underground and discovered several secret chambers and some passage ways leading outside from the Governor Mansion.

In one of the chambers, there was a fat man gorging himself on food and drink.

There was also another chamber that contained a column. On the surface, it seemed like an ordinary pillar, but in reality, it was completely filled with gold.

With White Shadow’s assistance, Zhang San used the cracks around the hidden door to sneak into the secret chamber below.

Except for the chamber where Lv Dagen was present and had ventilation, the other chambers were completely sealed off and had protective formations. Forcing them open would lead to detection.

But the door to this chamber simply required a special key to be inserted and turned to the correct position.

While this might perplex others, it was no challenge for Zhang San.

Zhang San had learned the skill of Woodcraft Making from Master Ma.

Soon, through the Woodcraft Making Method, Zhang San discerned the design of the key for the door, crafted a wooden key on the spot, strengthened it with a simple Rune, and used it to unlock the door.

Understanding its inner workings, he managed to open the chamber door in a single attempt.

Since the chamber door was opened normally, the protective formation did not resist or trigger an alarm to alert Hu Feipan.

Once inside, Zhang San saw the room was filled with old objects that seemed like a pile of useless junk, even more so like things from Hu Feipan’s childhood home.

Zhang San guessed that if one day this chamber was discovered, Hu Feipan would say that these things were valuable since his family was poor during his childhood, so even after becoming an official, he didn’t discard them.

You have to admit, the guy was clever!

Zhang San looked at a perfectly square column in the center of the room, extended his finger, concentrated his Refining Qi into Gang with Blade Intent at its tip.

With a single slice, he cut through nearly an inch-thick layer of the wall, revealing the dazzling gold within.

Zhang San had always felt the scenes in films where chests were opened to reveal all gold were too fake.

But as Zhang San sliced through the outer wall and exposed the gold inside, he realized the truth of that old saying—that gold will always shine.

Zhang San immediately deployed the Golden Fluid Shape Refining technique and transformed this tall, square gold bar into golden liquid. He then cooled the golden liquid in his Gluttonous Bag.

Zhang San spent a full four hours in the secret chamber before he had completely refined the entire gold block.

Looking at the three remaining intact sides of the empty pillar, Zhang San revealed a satisfied smile.

Zhang San estimated the gold weighed about 40 tons. He had struck it rich; this time, he really had hit the jackpot.

But did the Heavenly Punishment Sect have any idea how much there actually was?

He would go back and divide it into several smaller pieces first, to test the waters with them. If he directly handed over 20 tons of gold, they wouldn’t actually know the total amount. Wouldn’t he be at a huge loss then?

After dealing with the gold, Zhang San used a technique to reassemble the shattered pieces of the wall on the ground, and even thoughtfully engraved a wooden seal that could reinforce objects. He gently pressed it onto the wall, which he had previously scraped.

After securing everything, he then left for another secret chamber.

Because the other secret chamber was well-ventilated, Zhang San directly entered the chamber along with the shadow’s shadow.

Inside the secret chamber, Lv Dagen was reading a book. Zhang San glanced at Lv Dagen from within the shadows, only to find that this guy was actually reading "Spring and Autumn".

Not bad at all!

It was unexpected that this guy, who seemed out of tune with his surroundings, actually shared a hobby with Lord Guan.

Zhang San allowed White Shadow to appear behind Lv Dagen and then stood up from Lv Dagen’s shadow.

Bowing his head, Zhang San noticed a phrase in the book, "Family members speak like a breeze by the ear, while outsiders preach as if reciting the golden sutras."

It was certainly fitting for the "Historical Records", as the content, though seemingly superficial, was actually quite reflective of common societal phenomena.

However, Zhang San suddenly realized that this didn’t seem to match the style of the "Historical Records".

And wasn’t this sentence from "Golden Lotus"?

Lv Dagen, what exactly are you reading beneath the guise of the "Historical Records"?

Suddenly, Lv Dagen felt something off behind him and whipped around sharply, only to have his shoulder firmly pressed down by Zhang San’s hand.

"Deputy Gang Master Lv, it’s been a long time since we parted at Eighteen Moon Lake!"

Lv Dagen recognized the voice. It was Zhang San.

He had also heard about what Zhang San had been up to lately.

As Lv Dagen journeyed southward, any news about the Town Martial Office inevitably involved Zhang San.

This man, who could now practically cause Sect signs to fall just by stamping his foot in the Chuan-Yu region, was the reason he had to seek out Hu Feipan, whom he had known initially.

But he hadn’t expected Zhang San to find him instead.

"Military Chief Zhang, I’ve heard about your affairs. I give up struggling. Whatever you say goes, just... can you spare my life?"

Zhang San said with a smile, "I only want the Bai Yucheng ledgers. However, seeing as you’ve managed to survive here for so long, you probably haven’t told Hu Feipan about the ledger thing, have you?"

Lv Dagen immediately took out four pieces of human skin from his bosom and handed them to Zhang San.

"Military Chief Zhang, I had guessed there might come a day like this, so I’ve prepared for it. These four pieces of human skin are yours."

"Yours!"

"No, don’t misunderstand, what I mean is they are now yours. Put together, these four skins make up a map left by Bai Yucheng. All his possessions are in that place. But I don’t know where that is, I didn’t dare to look."

Zhang San found Lv Dagen to be a smart man; Lv Dagen had handed over exactly what he wanted. If Zhang San killed him now, word would get out, and then no one would cooperate with him in the future.

But if he spared Lv Dagen’s life, it would also be good for his reputation, for as a Martial Artist of the Town Martial Office, sometimes power is needed, and sometimes prestige.

"Knowing that you can perform the Internal and External Bagua, slim down a bit, then I’ll take you out."

Lv Dagen nodded, and his body and facial muscles began to twist and change, finally transforming him into a thin man.

Then, Zhang San took the now slim Lv Dagen, sinking together into White Shadow’s shadow.