Chapter 112: The Danger Brought by Treasure!

In the Xu Clan’s Council Hall, Xu Haoran and the others sat there with furrowed brows. Three days had passed, and Brother Tang, who had left, had not returned. The Zhou Family of Canglang City, the Yang Family of Nanlin City, and the Han Family of Juque City also showed no signs of movement. This made Xu Haoran and the others very confused, and their hearts grew more panicked. They did not know if this was the brief calm before the storm.

A sword light suddenly arrived, flying straight in through the main door and hovering in front of Xu Haoran. Xu Haoran was startled at first, but when he saw the appearance of the flying sword, he felt a surge of joy. That was because the flying sword was not attacking Xu Haoran; it was the communication flying sword of the Taixuan Sect. Xu Haoran quickly grabbed the flying sword and channeled his spiritual power into it. A stream of information immediately flooded into his mind. After Xu Haoran finished reading the information, he sat there in a daze, still holding the flying sword.

“Big brother, what exactly is going on?” Xu Haobo asked softly.

By then, everyone had recognized that this flying sword was indeed the communication flying sword of the Taixuan Sect. They thought it must be a message from the Taixuan Sect, so everyone looked anxiously at Xu Haoran at the head of the table.

Xu Haoran snapped out of his shock, gathered his thoughts, and showed a smile on his face. He said in a loud voice, “The Nascent Soul Patriarch of the Taixuan Sect reached the end of his lifespan not long ago and passed away within the Taixuan Sect. The Huayang Sect, led by their Family Patriarch Xiang Ziyun, did attack the Taixuan Sect. However, what the Huayang Sect did not expect was that Elder Liu Qinghan of the Taixuan Sect broke through at the right time, becoming the new Nascent Soul Patriarch of the Taixuan Sect. So, not long ago, Xiang Ziyun had already led the Huayang Sect to retreat from the Taixuan Sect. The Taixuan Sect has already reopened its mountain gate.”

“Great! That’s really great!”

Everyone in the hall rubbed their hands excitedly. The heavy stone that had been weighing on their hearts for the past few days was finally lifted.

“Big brother, please quickly report the events of the past few days to the Taixuan Sect and thoroughly expose the Han Family that betrayed us at the critical moment.”

Xu Haoran nodded. He pressed the flying sword to his forehead, transmitted a stream of information into it, and then released the sword. The flying sword flashed with a faint light and flew out of the main door.

“Hurry and send people to find Qier and the others. They can return to the clan now!” Xu Haoran laughed heartily with joy.

The others were equally happy. They thought about how the clan was safe and sound and, at the critical moment, had not betrayed the Taixuan Sect. Even though this lack of betrayal was partly because the Huayang Sect did not give them the chance, who would care about the process? What mattered was the result. The Xu Clan had not betrayed the Taixuan Sect during its dangerous situation, and this was an achievement.

But three days later, in the same hall, with the same people, the atmosphere was very heavy, even somewhat sorrowful. That was because all the people secretly sent out to find Xu Qi and the others had returned. They found no trace of Xu Lin and the others, but they did discover many signs of intense battles. They did not know if these were left by Xu Lin and the others.

Originally, because they were afraid that the escape route they had arranged might be guessed by forces familiar with them, when Xu Qi and the others left the clan through the secret passage, the elders did not tell these young people how to escape. They left it entirely to them to act freely. But no one had expected that their free actions would result in the elders being unable to find them now. A group of children with little life experience, their minds focused on fleeing, who knew what kind of things they would do or what dangers they would encounter? At this moment, everyone’s hearts were filled with worry.

In a private room of a restaurant in Bowang City, Xu Ziyan and the others were sitting inside eating. When everyone had almost finished eating, Xu Qi reached out to take money from his storage pouch, but he suddenly froze. It turned out that when he left the clan, his parents only thought about giving them more defensive talismans and healing elixirs, but they forgot to give him money. Looking at his younger siblings around him, Xu Qi said with a red face, “Does anyone have money?”

“Money? I have some here!” Xu Lin took out some gold and silver from his storage pouch.

Xu Qi glanced at it and could not help but laugh bitterly. “Second brother, this amount of gold and silver won’t support the ten of us for many days!”

At that moment, the others, including Xu Ziyan, also took out all the money they had. After everyone calculated, if they spent frugally, it could still last for three months. But what about after three months? Thinking that their parents had only given them talismans and elixirs but forgot to give them money, a few of them could not help but look at each other and smile wryly. It wasn’t that they couldn’t sell some of the talismans and elixirs they had, but on one hand, those were life-saving items, and on the other hand, they did not want to reveal themselves. So at this moment, they all felt somewhat lost. After all, they were still just children.

Xu Ziyan was also thinking of some solutions when she heard a timid voice speak up.

“I have money!”

Everyone immediately looked toward that person. It was Xu Lan, who had not taken out any money earlier. Xu Ziyan did not know much about this Xu Lan in front of her. During these three days of escape, she had always been quiet and withdrawn, usually giving off a timid impression.

“How much did you bring?” Xu Qi asked casually. As the eldest son of the Clan Leader, Xu Qi naturally understood the situation within the clan. The family circumstances of this Xu Lan in front of him were not very good, and her parents did not have much status in the clan either. So Xu Qi did not expect her to have much money.

“Well… a lot!”

“How much is a lot?” Xu Qi rolled his eyes, feeling quite helpless.

“A lot is just a lot…” Xu Lan said softly.

“You didn’t fill your storage pouch with money, did you?” Xu Peng joked. “During the fights with others these past few days, we didn’t see you throwing talismans. Did you only bring money and not bring any talismans or elixirs?”

Xu Lan’s face flushed bright red. She said quietly, “My parents didn’t have many elixirs or talismans to give me, so they gave me more money. Also, I had saved up money to buy a bigger storage pouch. I put all of it inside.”

“You mean, almost your entire storage pouch is filled with money?” Xu Ziyan could not help but ask.

“Yes,” Xu Lan said in a low voice.

“Good!” Xu Ziyan reached out and gently patted Xu Lan. She said, “You did very well! When we return safely, I will take responsibility for buying you a large storage pouch.”

“No,” Xu Qi quickly said. “Little Sister Lan solved our big problem. The clan should reward her with a large storage pouch. After we return to Zhongdu City, I will talk to Father about it.”

“Thank you.”

Xu Lan said softly, casting a grateful glance toward Xu Ziyan. Then she stood up, moved the bowls and plates on the table to one side, untied the storage pouch from her waist, and poured it out onto the table. A series of clinking sounds followed. Xu Ziyan and the others were speechless at the sight. The entire table was covered with gold and silver, most of it in small, scattered pieces. It was clear that saving it had not been easy. Xu Ziyan felt a pang of sadness. She looked at everyone and said slowly, “Let’s divide this gold and silver into ten equal shares, one for each person. Then everyone should take out some of their talismans and elixirs and give them to Xu Lan so she can also defend herself and heal from injuries in the future.”

After saying this, Xu Ziyan first took out some Third Grade talismans and some cultivation, qi-replenishing, healing, and antidote elixirs from her own storage pouch and placed them in front of Xu Lan.

“That’s not necessary, that’s not necessary!” Xu Lan hastily waved her hands and said.

“Little Sister Lan, just take them! We are a team. Since you provided the travel expenses for everyone, we should naturally provide you with defensive talismans and healing elixirs,” Xu Lin also said, taking out some talismans and elixirs from his storage pouch and placing them on the table.

“Yes, what Brother Lin and Little Sister Ziyan said is right!”

Xu Qi also took out some talismans and elixirs from his storage pouch and placed them on the table. Then he personally mixed all the gold and silver that everyone had just taken out together and divided it into ten shares. Everyone put their own share of gold and silver into their storage pouches, then pushed the talismans and elixirs they had taken out toward Xu Lan. Looking at everyone’s sincere expressions, Xu Lan’s face turned red as she collected the gold and silver on the table and all the talismans and elixirs into her storage pouch.

After everything was prepared, Xu Ziyan’s gaze swept over everyone, and she felt somewhat helpless in her heart. These people were still just teenagers, with no experience of traveling outside, let alone escaping. Even Xu Qi, who had helped the clan with some matters, spent most of his time within Zhongdu City. He had hardly ever left Zhongdu City. Along the way, they encountered countless attacks from masked men. They barely managed to fight their way out relying on talismans, and also because the cultivation level of their pursuers was generally not high. But Xu Ziyan had already sensed that the cultivation level of the pursuers was increasing each time. It seemed the other side had also realized that these ten people were not so easy to deal with. So their future escape journey would only become more difficult.

She raised her hand to stop Xu Qi from wanting to leave. Xu Ziyan said softly, “Everyone, have you noticed that the cultivation level of the people chasing us is higher each time?”

Hearing Xu Ziyan say this, everyone was initially stunned, then they all pondered and nodded. Seeing that everyone agreed with her, Xu Ziyan continued softly, “It’s likely that on the first day we left Zhongdu City, someone recognized us, or some of us. Combining that with the events that happened to the Xu Clan these past few days, I think they have probably basically figured out our purpose. Then they will spare no effort to capture us. Because even if we aren’t carrying excessive wealth, they would surely deduce that the clan, in order to rise again, must have told us about the clan’s hidden treasure location.”

Hearing this, Xu Qi’s expression became somewhat uneasy. He explained softly, “The reason Father didn’t tell everyone about the treasure was because one more person knowing meant one more risk…”