Dragon's Origin

Chapter 55: The Exquisite Seal Box

With the incidents in Linchuan City, naturally, fewer people sought Wang Sheng's treatment. However, it wasn't nonexistent; Wang Sheng still had five or six cultivators coming each day for help with recovery. In times like these, being as healthy as possible was paramount.

The four branch family heads met and engaged in a fierce debate. Two families demanded that the Shi family of the city's south hand over Shi Lixing for investigation. Naturally, the Shi family of the city's south was unwilling, leading to a stalemate and an unpleasant parting.

In the following days, due to the strict precautions taken by each family, no further deaths occurred. However, in Wang Sheng's view, this wasn't due to the Shi family's efforts but rather because those mysterious individuals simply hadn't appeared.

They seemed to have appeared solely to disrupt the order of Linchuan City, but coincidentally, they became entangled with Shi Lixing. So, they went all the way, and the second murder solidified this narrative of a feud.

No one kills without a reason; there must be a purpose. Wang Sheng was waiting, waiting for the moment when the Shi family would relax. There's only a thousand days to be a thief, but no thousand days to guard against one. He believed those mysterious individuals were also waiting for this opportunity.

As Wang Sheng predicted, after several days of tension, the Shi family gradually calmed down. Linchuan City slowly returned to order, and Wang Sheng's customers increased.

Perhaps due to the impact of those events, there were significantly more injuries during practice these past two days. For over ten days, Wang Sheng's schedule was packed, even extending into the evenings.

The Chiwen Yuan Soul had enough of a feast in these ten days, its mouth growing much larger. It looked like it could swallow the smallest boulder, but it was still one step away.

Seeing this situation, Wang Sheng understood that he had reached a small bottleneck. Relying solely on his own practice and absorbing spiritual energy from others was no longer sufficient for a breakthrough; he needed another opportunity.

Wang Sheng was patient and not in a hurry to break through. Similarly, he was patiently waiting for that group of mysterious people to reappear. Wang Sheng's patience wasn't in vain; after waiting a few more days, those mysterious individuals finally reappeared.

However, it was clear that Wang Sheng wasn't the only one with patience; the four branches of the Linchuan Shi family also had plenty of patience. This time, the mysterious individuals couldn't kill as easily as before. Not long after they separated, Wang Sheng heard a great commotion in the Shi family manor in the city's south. Fires blazed, and countless people shouted and fought, echoing across half of Linchuan City.

Here, only the activity from the Shi family in the city's south could be heard. It was unknown what was happening in the other directions, but judging from the light that reddened the night sky, fires were definitely burning in all four directions.

A figure stumbled and ran quickly down the street outside, followed by a group of chasing experts. Judging by his running posture, he was clearly injured.

In Wang Sheng's infrared telescope's view, the fleeing figure's clear outline was visible. Even more miraculously, in a corner he passed, there was a figure curled up.

As the fleeing figure passed that curled-up figure, he clearly threw something to that person. The curled-up figure, bathed in red light, didn't move after receiving the object, allowing the fleeing figure to escape and draw away the group of pursuers.

Afterward, that figure remained hidden in that corner, motionless. Only after two waves of pursuers had passed did he carefully get up and stealthily make his way to the riverbank.

In Wang Sheng's telescope, this hidden figure carefully hid something under the water's surface. Then, he looked around, and after confirming that no one was there, he quickly left.

The river where he hid the object was right next to the backyard of Wang Sheng's small clinic. The guy who hid the object thought he was being secretive in the dark of night, but little did he know that Wang Sheng was watching the whole time.

Wang Sheng waited another hour, as various chaotic sounds echoed from here to there. After no one paid attention to this direction, Wang Sheng carefully climbed out and silently slipped into the river.

At the place where that guy hid the object, Wang Sheng groped around for a while and found a metal box about the size of a brick, embedded in a gap in the riverbank.

Without hesitation, Wang Sheng took the metal box in his hand. With a thought, the metal box was stored in his Nering. Now, unless someone caught Wang Sheng and obtained his Nering, no one would know where the metal box was hidden.

Returning to his small courtyard from the water, Wang Sheng blocked the windows, lit an oil lamp, and took out the metal box to examine it.

The square metal box was made of a very peculiar metal, the material of which Wang Sheng couldn't identify under the oil lamp. What was certain was that it was very sturdy and waterproof; otherwise, it wouldn't have been placed underwater.

Each of the metal box's four sides had a small hole that looked like a keyhole. Gently shaking it, there was nothing rattling inside. There was nothing visible on the outside, but there must be something important inside; otherwise, those mysterious individuals wouldn't have gone to such lengths and spent so much time to obtain it, and then hide it so carefully.

Drawing out a few thin metal wires from his military watch, Wang Sheng fiddled with the four keyholes, and a smile appeared on his face. It was just four linked locks, requiring four different keys to be turned simultaneously to open.

The lock was very intricate, especially considering it was placed on such a small box, and it needed to be sturdy and secure. It was clearly the work of a master.

Unfortunately, such an intricate thing in this world was like a toy in Wang Sheng's eyes. Wang Sheng didn't know how many kinds of precision safes he had opened on Earth. Could a purely mechanical structure without any electronic protection measures stump Wang Sheng?

Now, compared to Earth, Wang Sheng's senses were more acute, his hands were steadier, and he could use spiritual energy to more skillfully control the thin steel wires. His lock-picking skills had improved more than just a little.

Just by the feeling in his hands, without even using a stethoscope to listen to the mechanical sounds inside, Wang Sheng found the key to opening the lock. In just twenty minutes, the four linked locks were opened one by one by Wang Sheng with three thin steel wires.

With a soft 'click,' a small crack appeared on the metal box. It must be said that this metal box was truly exquisite. Unless the lock was opened, it looked like a metal brick, with no visible seams. The craftsmanship was very unusual to make it waterproof.

Applying a little force at the crack, the metal plate on top was removed, revealing the contents inside.

The box was originally the size of a brick, and with such a complex locking structure, the space inside was actually very limited. In the space smaller than a fist, there was a rolled-up animal skin scroll. The animal skin scroll almost occupied the entire space, no wonder Wang Sheng didn't hear any sound when he shook it.

Picking out the animal skin scroll, Wang Sheng carefully opened it. Looking at the contents, Wang Sheng was speechless.

If it were some advanced cultivation manual or something, Wang Sheng might be interested. Or if it were some advanced pill formula or some kind of manufacturing process, it would be worth preserving in such a box. Unfortunately, the animal skin scroll didn't record these things; it was just a map.

Strictly speaking, it was only half a map. Because the animal skin scroll was only half, there was a very smooth edge that looked like it had been cut open with a sharp weapon. Many of the lines on it ended here.

It was still the kind of backward, low-level, primitive map without even a scale or contour lines. The lines and such on it were drawn very complexly, with thick and thin lines, and a few red dots in certain locations.

There were no words throughout; it was indeed unprofessional. Wang Sheng shook his head and still looked at it carefully. During special training, there was specialized training in memorizing maps. Wang Sheng could completely memorize this level of map, which didn't require strict precision, in at most ten seconds.

However, to be safe, after memorizing a copy in his mind, Wang Sheng took out his individual combat terminal and took a photo with the built-in camera. A good memory is not as good as a bad pen. It was unknown when this map would be used, so it was appropriate to record it in the individual combat terminal.

Of course, the reason he dared to record it like this was because the individual combat terminal had a solar charging function. Wang Sheng didn't have to worry about the combat terminal running out of power and not being able to open it.

After making a double insurance, Wang Sheng originally wanted to directly replace it with a rag, but after thinking about it, he carefully rolled up the animal skin scroll according to its size, put it back in that small space, put the metal plate on, aligned it, and pressed it hard. After four soft 'click' sounds, the box was locked again.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, Wang Sheng once again sneaked into the water and carefully stuffed the metal box back into the gap under the water's surface. Such an important thing would definitely be fought over and searched for by many people. He would just wait for the good show after dawn.

After doing all this, Wang Sheng erased all traces related to himself and carefully returned to his room. Thinking about the good show he might see tomorrow, Wang Sheng couldn't help but secretly laugh.

If those mysterious individuals knew that the thing they had worked so hard to obtain would be seen so easily by him, he wondered what their mood would be.

Wang Sheng was awakened by the sound outside after only resting for half an hour.

The Shi family of Linchuan City seemed to be crazy, frantically searching along the route that the guy who stole the thing last night had escaped along, and all the courtyards along the way were broken into and searched regardless of anything.

Wang Sheng's small courtyard was also broken into at least four times, and it was turned upside down. After not finding anything, those people left dejectedly.

It didn't stop until almost the afternoon after tossing around from midnight. In the afternoon, the Shi family released news in Linchuan City, offering a high reward for finding an exquisite Linglong Seal Box made by Linglong Pavilion. From their description, it was the metal box from last night.

"No one can open the Four-Phase Linglong Seal Box. Without four keys, it's useless to anyone who gets it." The Shi family members who released the news declared in Linchuan City: "Whoever sees the Linglong Seal Box and hands it over to the Shi family will be rewarded with ten thousand gold coins!"