“Is there really a hidden door?” Ge Ying stared incredulously at the slowly opening concealed door, her heart filled with curiosity. Could Li Feng have known in advance that there were good things here?
“Let us go in and take a look.” Li Feng turned back and said to the group.
“Alright.” Ge Ying responded, then started walking towards the hidden door. But after a few steps, Ge Feng pulled her back.
“Brother, why are you holding me back?” Ge Ying looked at Ge Feng in confusion.
Ge Feng ignored Ge Ying and turned to Li Feng instead. “Li Feng, could there be traps inside?”
Li Feng paused, then slapped his forehead. It seemed he had gotten a bit carried away and had not even considered that possibility.
“Traps? Would the Hongmen really set traps here?” Ge Ying asked doubtfully.
“Better safe than sorry.” Li Feng nodded gravely, then said to the group, “All of you stay back. I will go in first.”
Everyone nodded, with no objections to Li Feng’s words.
Li Feng cautiously entered the secret room, but contrary to expectations, there were no traps as imagined. He scanned several times with his divine sense and found nothing unusual.
“Come in, everyone.” After saying this to Ge Feng and the others, Li Feng began examining the secret room. It was not large, about ten square metres, and apart from four neatly arranged boxes in the corner, there was nothing else.
“Li Feng, this secret room does not seem anything special. Are the treasures you mentioned in these boxes?” Ge Ying came in, looked around, and asked.
“If there are any, they are in these four boxes.” Li Feng nodded.
“What treasures are inside?” Not only Ge Ying, but Ge Feng, Mu Jiajia, and the others were also extremely curious.
“We will know once we open them.” Li Feng smiled, stepped forward, and opened one of the boxes. Immediately, multicoloured lights filled the entire secret room.
“This is jade? So much jade.” Ge Ying exclaimed in surprise. She could feel abundant spiritual energy from these jades.
“It seems the Hongmen paid a heavy price to acquire these jades.” Li Feng said solemnly.
In this era of depleted spiritual energy, where heavenly spiritual qi was scarce, martial artists cultivated slowly and could only absorb spiritual qi through other means. In this age, spirit stones had long become rarities, so martial artists relied on absorbing the meagre spiritual qi from jade to cultivate.
Seeing so much jade now, Li Feng’s first thought was that the Hongmen had collected it for their ancient martial artists to use in cultivation.
“There are at least several thousand pieces here. They are worth a fortune. I never expected the Hongmen to store them here.” A trace of shock flashed in Ge Feng’s eyes. Even he was stunned by the Hongmen’s lavish expenditure. Though his family could produce this much jade, it was the first time he had seen such a quantity.
“Now it all benefits us.” Li Feng smiled. Setting aside everything else, just this box of jade meant a huge harvest tonight. With so many martial artists under his command, although the foundation-strengthening medicinal liquid had already increased their cultivation speed considerably, having this jade for them to absorb would raise it another level.
Hearing this, Ge Feng and Ge Ying also smiled. Following Li Feng always brought substantial rewards. It had been like this in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, in the underground city of the Ancient Martial Arts Association, and now again at Yuxing Lake.
“Let us see what other treasures are next.” Li Feng opened another box. Unlike the previous one, this box contained ten neatly arranged jade cases.
“Spiritual herbs?” Ge Feng picked up a jade case, opened it, and could not help letting out a cry of astonishment.
“Spiritual herbs?”
“Spiritual herbs?”
Ge Feng’s words drew everyone’s attention. Li Feng looked into the jade case in Ge Feng’s hand and saw an unidentified plant inside.
“It seems these spiritual herbs are even more valuable than the jade from before.” A glint flashed in Li Feng’s eyes.
“Yes, spiritual herbs are things one can only encounter by chance.” Ge Feng nodded.
“Ge Feng, do you know what kind of spiritual herbs these are?” Li Feng asked. His knowledge of spiritual herbs was very limited, and he did not recognise this one.
“I do not recognise it either. I have no idea what it is. What a pity…” Ge Feng shook his head.
“Pity for what?” Li Feng asked.
“If we do not recognise the spiritual herb, we will not know how to use it.” Ge Feng sighed.
“What do you mean? Can these spiritual herbs not be consumed directly?” Li Feng was taken aback. When he had obtained some spiritual herbs in Kunyang Town, he had chosen to consume them directly to boost his cultivation.
“Consume them directly? Absolutely not.” Ge Feng said quickly.
“Why?” Li Feng asked, puzzled.
“First, because these spiritual herbs contain abundant spiritual qi. Consuming them directly could cause the body to explode and die. Second, some spiritual herbs are highly toxic. If you do not recognise it and consume it directly, you could very well be poisoned to death. Third, before the near-ancient era, spiritual herbs were the primary material for alchemy. Even if consuming directly does not cause explosion from spiritual qi or death by poison, the absorbed medicinal efficacy would be less than one-tenth of the herb’s full potential.” Ge Feng explained gravely.
Li Feng’s expression changed. The last time he had consumed spiritual herbs, he had nearly exploded from the overwhelming spiritual qi. Thinking back now, he felt fortunate.
At the same time, Li Feng had not expected that some spiritual herbs contained deadly poison. This put him on high alert. He knew that certain poisons could kill even Innate Realm experts, or even Earth Martial or Heaven Martial Realm powerhouses.
“Ge Feng, is there no one who can identify these spiritual herbs?” Li Feng asked.
“At the headquarters of the Ancient Martial Arts Association, there is a book called the Mountain and River Exotic Records, which documents all the spiritual herbs and rare beasts under heaven. If you want to identify these spiritual herbs, you can only go to the Ancient Martial Arts Association headquarters.” Ge Feng replied.
“Are there no other ways?” Li Feng asked solemnly. The Ancient Martial Arts Association headquarters was in the Shennongjia, and Li Feng believed that viewing the Mountain and River Exotic Records would require a significant price.
“There are. Some ancient families have related records, and also ruins. Some ruins contain such documentation.” At this point, Ge Feng glanced at Li Feng and said, “I think your Li family also has books on this subject.”
Li Feng nodded and made a mental note. If he wanted to learn alchemy, he had to recognise these spiritual herbs. Otherwise, how could he refine pills in the future?
“It seems we cannot use these spiritual herbs for the time being.” Li Feng sighed.
“Though we cannot use them now, these are still rare heavenly materials and earthly treasures that one can only encounter by luck.” Ge Feng said gravely.
Li Feng nodded and said, “Let us see what else is good.” With that, he opened the third box.
“What are these for? A piece of clothing, a wooden staff, a parchment scroll, a ring.” Ge Ying looked at the contents and could not help feeling stunned.
“This could not be a dog-beating staff, could it?” Li Feng picked up the wooden staff and said with a smile.
“Dog-beating staff? Li Feng, only you could come up with that.” Ge Ying giggled charmingly.
“Ge Feng, take a look. What is this wooden staff?” Li Feng handed the staff to Ge Feng.
Ge Feng examined it and said, “Li Feng, this should just be a walking cane. It cannot possibly be a weapon, right?”
“Clothing, cane, ring, parchment scroll. Brother, these things could not have come from tomb robbing, could they?” Ge Ying suddenly said.
Li Feng and Ge Feng paused. Their gazes fell on the clothing, which was clearly Han Dynasty attire.
Tomb robbing. It really was possible.
Could the Hongmen people be involved in such things?
“Young master, could this ring be the legendary spatial ring?” At that moment, Lin Ge suddenly spoke up.
“Spatial ring?”
“Spatial ring?”
A glint flashed in the eyes of Li Feng, Ge Feng, Ge Ying, and Mu Jiajia. To them, the words “spatial ring” were not unfamiliar.
“Ge Feng, you and Ge Ying should have seen spatial rings before. Do you think this is one?” Li Feng asked Ge Feng.
“I do not know.” Ge Feng shook his head.
“How so? Is there no way to tell if it is a spatial ring?” Li Feng was surprised.
“Young master, to identify whether it is a spatial ring, one condition is required: divine sense. Without divine sense, a spatial ring is no different from an ordinary ring.” Lin Ge explained.
“Divine sense?” Li Feng paused. Spatial pouches only required consciousness to open. Could it be that a higher-grade spatial ring required divine sense?
“Old Lin is right. Spatial rings can only be opened by those who possess divine sense.” Ge Feng nodded. In their Ge family, spatial rings were owned only by a few high-level members. This was not solely because spatial rings were rare, but also because of the divine sense requirement. Only those with divine sense could use them.
“Is that so? Then let me try.” A glint flashed in Li Feng’s eyes.
“Li Feng, you do not actually possess divine sense, do you?” Ge Feng was first stunned, then realised something and looked at Li Feng incredulously.
Li Feng nodded.
“How is that possible? Li Feng, are you even human anymore? How are we supposed to keep up with you?” Ge Feng was filled with shock. Li Feng’s strength, nearing that of an Innate expert, had already stunned him, but he had not expected Li Feng to also possess the divine sense unique to Innate experts.
“Possessing divine sense is nothing strange.” Li Feng said indifferently.
“Li Feng, do you know what divine sense means? And you say it is nothing strange? I am truly speechless with you.” Ge Feng looked at Li Feng, not knowing what else to say.
Lin Ge curled his lip from the side. Li Feng did not merely possess divine sense; he possessed Innate Realm divine sense. In this era, probably very few people had such powerful divine sense.
Seeing the spatial ring, Lin Ge’s gaze burned with desire. He had previously been an Innate Third Layer ancient martial artist and had possessed divine sense as early as the peak of Innate First Layer. All along, he had wanted a spatial ring, but he understood even more clearly that with Li Feng present, even if this ring truly was a spatial ring, it would not fall to him.
Li Feng took the ring, examined it for a moment, then directed his divine sense towards it.
