Chapter 348: Storage Ring
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Jiang Clan had integrated the Dark Blue Cold Iron into the iron door. It was thus reasonable that an ancient martial art practitioner in the Qi Nucleation realm would not be able to open it. After all, the Dark Blue Cold Iron was a material made in the world of Immortal Cultivators. Although it was something very average in the world of Immortal Cultivators, it was still very valuable on the whole.
A bright look flashed in Mo Wen’s eyes, and then he punched the iron door fiercely. In the next moment, there was a huge roar, and that iron door instantly shattered. It collapsed dramatically and caused the dust all around it to fly up.
Zhou Honglu was shocked. That iron door had not been affected a single bit by ancient martial art practitioners in the Qi Nucleation realm, yet it had been destroyed by Mo Wen with a casual punch. This youth’s capabilities were indeed frightening.
“Place these scattered pieces of the iron door in that furnace to melt. For those portions that can’t be melted, try to extract and purify them as much as possible,” Mo Wen instructed. Naturally, the melting point of the Dark Blue Cold Iron was different from the usual metal. The normal furnace for metals was definitely unable to melt the Dark Blue Cold Iron. Hence, placing it inside the furnace to extract and purify it would be easier.
Even Mo Wen was a little surprised. Back then, how had the Jiang Clan been able to melt the Dark Blue Cold Iron and even integrate it into the iron door? Clearly, normal methods would not have sufficed.
Naturally, Zhou Honglu and the others did not dare to delay carrying out Mo Wen’s instructions. Immediately, they ordered their lower ranking disciples to go ahead and do it. They knew that a door that could block out ancient martial art practitioners in the Qi Nucleation realm was naturally not as simple as it seemed.
After that iron door had broken into pieces, it revealed an entrance to a tunnel that was neither big nor small. It led deep into the ground. The inside was gloomy, and one could not see the end of it at a glance.
Mo Wen was the first to step into that underground tunnel. Because it had been shut for many years, there was not enough air inside. The average person would have definitely run out of oxygen upon going in. However, with Mo Wen’s Cultivation, it was naturally not an issue for him.
The tunnel was very deep and spanned over 100 meters. It was perhaps due to the Jiang Clan’s fear of a thief not being able to open the iron door and digging a hole to enter instead. Hence, they designed a long tunnel to serve as a buffer.
The path got wider as he ventured further. It was like an underground cave, as its area was wide and spacious. Once again, an iron door appeared before his eyes. Although that iron door looked very thick and heavy, and was much bigger than the iron door at the entrance, Mo Wen knew that based on their sturdiness, it could not even compare to the little iron door outside.
Most of the people following behind did not have to wait for Mo Wen’s instructions. Immediately, someone came forth and broke the lock. Then, with a click, the huge iron door opened completely. Behind the iron door was a huge storage space. There were rows after rows of items. At a glance, it looked like the entire storage area was stuffed full.
The resources that the Jiang Clan had hogged all those years were not little at all. They had basically moved all of the Dafang Sect’s resources into their own personal clan storage.
The group of people outside the door looked into the treasure trove with sparkling eyes. However, if Mo Wen did not go in, they would not dare to walk in front of him.
Mo Wen looked at the things inside the treasure trove with curiosity. With regards to the Dafang Sect’s treasure trove, he actually did not have very high hopes. It was extremely unlikely that an ancient martial arts sect would have anything that would attract him.
Indeed, inside the treasure trove, there were shining treasures that were mostly gold and silver. Other than that, jewellery also made up a huge proportion of the treasure. Basically, all of it was tangible wealth.
Of course, there were also some divine and powerful weapons. Those things would have perhaps been quite good in the ancient martial arts world. However, to Mo Wen, they were essentially not of much use. Disregarding the fact that he had the Sacred Flame Sword, even if he did not have it, he would also not be interested in those average weapons.
The inside of the treasure trove had been split into multiple areas. Other than the areas dedicated to the jewellery, gold, silver, and weapons, there were also areas dedicated to martial arts and techniques. A sect’s impartation, which included its spiritual gifts and martial arts techniques, was hidden. To any sect, it was very crucial. That was because only if the impartation treasure trove was present, could the sect be able to continue prospering and establish a stable presence in the ancient martial arts world.
However, Mo Wen did not even bother looking at it. That was because those martial arts techniques were not attractive to him in the slightest. Not even talking about average martial arts, even if it were the Dafang Sect’s most treasured martial arts, that so-called Flying Spirit Sword was of very little value to him.
His biggest motive behind finding the treasure trove was to have a look and see if there was anything good in the Jiang Clan’s medicine storeroom. Essentially every sect in the ancient martial arts world had their own medicine storeroom. Normally, they would dispatch a few disciples out into the mountains to find precious medicinal herbs. Then, after storing them, they would be prepared when the herbs were needed.
Those ancient martial arts sects that lived secluded deep in the forests would naturally not be able to head out into the world to find a doctor whenever they got sick or injured. Usually, there would at least be an old person in the sect who knew traditional Chinese medicine, and would have many methods and techniques that had been passed down at his fingertips. In many aspects, they may not necessarily be any worse than those internationally renowned doctors.
The Dafang Sect had lived in the depths of the forest for a long time and constantly extracted all sorts of medicinal herbs from the mountains. There definitely had to be some precious medicinal herbs in their medicine storeroom. If his luck was good, he might even encounter a few stalks of spiritual medicine. That was what Mo Wen was most concerned about.
A group of them wandered around in the Jiang Clan’s treasure trove. The people from the three aristocratic families who had followed Mo Wen in were all silently salivating at the sight. The Jiang Clan’s treasure trove was simply too abundant. Even if the three families had combined their treasure troves, it would not have been comparable to that of the Jiang Clan.
That pile of martial arts techniques and divine weapons especially was very crucial to an ancient martial art practitioner. With those resources, a clan’s overall abilities would be raised to a whole new level.
Mo Wen searched once around the treasure trove and found the medicine storeroom very quickly. He broke down the door and entered. Inside was a huge empty space. It was piled with large numbers of medicinal herbs. Many of the herbs were in bundles stacked on one another after being sundried.
A dense medicinal smell attacked his nose. The smell was not good, which caused Mo Wen to furrow his brows slightly. He held his breath and walked in.
The inside of the medicine storeroom was very big, and there were also many medicinal herbs inside. However, most of them were the average medicinal herbs and were not precious at all. One would not even be able to count just how much there was with those bundles stacked atop one another.
Mo Wen ignored those average medicinal herbs, as they had no use to him whatsoever.
“What did the Jiang Clan gather so much of the normal medicinal herbs for?” Mo Wen asked emotionlessly. Even though those medicinal herbs would be of use to an ancient martial art practitioner, why would they would need so much?
“The sect leader did not know about it, but the Jiang Clan had a medicinal herb business outside. These medicinal herbs would be shipped out after a period of time as a batch,” Zhou Honglu explained. Naturally, the sect did not have a use for so many medicinal herbs. However, the medicinal herbs played a huge part in the wealth of the mountains. Hence, many of the ancient martial art sects had businesses in the outside world selling medicinal herbs.
In recent years, the Jiang Clan had dominated the Dafang Sect, and the sect’s resources had essentially become the Jiang Clan’s sole property. The other three families could only be jealous and upset in silence.
“Does the Dafang Sect still have any business outside?” Mo Wen glanced over at Zhou Honglu oddly. An ancient martial art sect actually still had assets in the outside world. Their hands truly extended far. Weren’t ancient martial art sects supposed to live in secrecy?
“Of course there are businesses.” Zhou Honglu laughed bitterly and explained, “Although most of the ancient martial art sects live in the depths of the forest, they also often have to communicate and process transactions. After all, some resources are simply not available in all the ancient martial art sects. Some of them can only be obtained through purchase. Hence, all the ancient martial arts sects are now using money from the outside world for their transactions.”
Hundreds of years ago, the currency used for transactions in the ancient martial arts world was gold and silver. However, it was now very rare for gold and silver to be used directly in transactions.
Upon hearing that, Mo Wen nodded. Although the ancient martial arts world was segregated from the outside world, it was still a combined entity, and many things could not simply be cut off from the outside world just like that.
“There should be a smaller medicine storeroom within this medicine storeroom. Inside will be where the Jiang Clan stored their most precious medicinal herbs.” Naturally, Zhou Honglu knew of Mo Wen’s intentions. He did not feel attracted by the usual things. Hence, he went in front to lead the way. There had been some people in his clan who had already found the Jiang Clan’s smaller medicine storeroom. It was there that the real treasures could be found.
Mo Wen nodded. Following behind Zhou Honglu, they found that there was indeed another, smaller door inside the huge medicine storeroom. At the moment, that door had already been opened by the joint force of a few disciples.
Mo Wen walked into the smaller medicine storeroom and noticed that the space inside was not very big. It was only 100 to 200 square meters. There were rows of display shelves with boxes that were exquisitely wrapped, including a jade box, wooden box, ceramic box…
He randomly opened a few of the wooden boxes to find that there were indeed precious medicinal herbs inside. There was ginseng that was a few hundred years old, Tuber Fleeceflowers that were thousands of years old, Lingzhi that was as big as a stone grinding plate…
Those medicinal herbs were very beneficial to the training of ancient martial art practitioners. If they could be concocted into pills, their effectiveness would increase, and they could even be the medicinal herbs that facilitated the alchemy of a panacea.
If there was an Alchemist in a sect who knew how to concoct well, the medicinal herbs in the medicine storeroom alone would be sufficient to raise the standard of the sect an entire level. However, not every sect had an Alchemist. Even a major sect like the Dafang Sect probably did not have an Alchemist.
Many a time, the Dafang Sect had used these rare medicinal herbs to perform transactions with those alchemy families, such as the Ghost Physicians Hu Clan. In fact, they often exchanged precious medicinal herbs with the Ghost Physicians Hu Clan for concocted pills.
Although the smaller medicine storeroom was not big, there was quite a number of treasured medicinal herbs within. At a glance, Mo Wen had indeed noticed that there were many medicinal herbs that were very valuable. He had even noticed four to five panacea pills. The Jiang Clan had seemingly also known how precious those panaceas were, as evidenced from the careful way that they had been kept.
With this smaller medicine storeroom, there were many panaceas that Mo Wen would be able to concoct. He no longer had to worry about the supply of medicinal herbs. At least, he would not have to worry about facilitating medicinal herbs. They were in huge abundance in the Dafang Sect’s medicine storeroom.
A satisfied smile spread across Mo Wen’s face. Now, all of these precious medicinal herbs belonged to him. Indeed, with the support of a whole sect, many things had become more convenient.
“All of you, get out.” Mo Wen waved his hand and ordered Zhou Honglu and the others to exit the treasure trove.
Zhou Honglu and the clan leaders of the three aristocratic families exchanged glances before bowing and leaving one after the other. None of them dared to defy him. They naturally knew that Mo Wen had chased them out so that he could pocket everything for himself.
Once everyone had gone out, Mo Wen’s lips finally curled up into a smile. He reached out for the ancient ring in his pocket before putting it on his finger. It was as though that ring had a soul. After being placed on Mo Wen’s finger, it started to emit blurry green lights. Then, it automatically drew the lights back and bound itself tightly to Mo Wen’s finger without leaving a single gap. If Mo Wen did not take the ring off of his own free will, essentially nobody would be able to take it off his finger.