The scenery whizzed past the window, quickly transitioning from the desolate outskirts of the satellite city back to the bustling downtown street where the agency was located.
The whole way, Yue Wen kept the jade plaque cradled in his palm, thoroughly permeating it with his divine sense and true qi.
He rubbed and wore down its spiritual defenses again and again.
Given Yue Wen's current cultivation level, Huang Dahu was already dead, meaning the spiritual imprint left on the jade plaque could only diminish rather than regenerate. Even if it were still alive, it would have had no choice but to watch helplessly as Yue Wen breached its jade.
As they neared their destination, Yue Wen finally gained complete control over the mustard seed jade.
With a sweep of his divine sense, he sank into a pitch-black space within.
This pocket was roughly the size of a freezer chest, glowing with a soft, shimmering light and holding only a few items. Yue Wen could sense that with just a thought of his divine sense, he could draw any of them directly into his palm.
However, riding in He Caihua's car, he didn't rashly examine the contents. Instead, he tucked the jade plaque away, deciding to check them once he was back at the agency.
After getting out of the car, Yue Wen offered his thanks. "Thanks, Sister Hua, for driving us back and forth the whole time. Really appreciate the trouble."
"It's nothing at all." He Caihua gave him a lovely smile. "Let's work together again if another opportunity comes up."
"I'm looking forward to it too." Yue Wen shut the car door and waved to her through the window.
Once the car drove off, Yue Wen and Zhao Xing'er exchanged a look. "Let's head inside and get right to it—time to split up the loot."
"What's there to split among those battered hammers and wrenches? I'm not a plumber," Zhao Xing'er said, pursing her lips. "Check if there's anything valuable in the mustard seed jade. If there is, just cash me out for my share. If not, you can keep all of it."
"Generous as always, Assistant Zhao," Yue Wen thanked her on the spot.
Still, he understood the code of the jianghu. Since the spoils had been won by the two of them, he had no intention of keeping everything to himself. The two sat on opposite sides of the coffee table, and Yue Wen began taking items out of the mustard seed jade one by one.
Focusing his divine sense, Yue Wen first pulled out a stone slab.
It landed on the coffee table with a clack. On its surface was a visualization diagram, with the words *Thunder Tiger Shocking Heaven Fist* carved into the lower-left corner.
"So it didn't just practice it—it had the actual visualization diagram for Thunder Tiger Shocking Heaven Fist," Yue Wen said. "Makes sense. With a demon's natural aptitude and comprehension, it never could have mastered it without hugging the diagram day and night to contemplate it."
"Thunder Tiger Shocking Heaven Fist was probably created by a martial arts grandmaster inspired by the tiger form," Zhao Xing'er remarked. "That's why a tiger demon could reverse-engineer and practice it successfully. Otherwise, with its aptitude, it couldn't have comprehended anything even if it hugged the diagram all day long."
Even though Huang Dahu's comprehension made it something of a prodigy among demons, the two still traded remarks with blatant disdain.
"I could actually learn this boxing technique first, then take the slab out and sell it," Yue Wen mused.
Although he possessed Wandering Dragon Freehand, a top-tier martial cultivation method, it leaned more toward combining footwork and freehand strikes. In terms of pure explosive melee power, it might not be quite as explosive as Thunder Tiger Shocking Heaven Fist.
Once he finished learning it, the visualization diagram would be of no further use to him, and selling the slab should fetch a handsome price.
"Count me out," Zhao Xing'er said. "I mastered piles of techniques at this level by the time I was ten."
Yue Wen didn't argue. Judging from her recent combat performances, her words weren't the least bit exaggerated. Given how she wielded a different weapon in every fight and mastered every single one, Yue Wen would believe it even if someone told him she had received prenatal training in Baji Boxing.
Next, Yue Wen reached in again and brought out a black wallet, bulging at the seams as if stuffed with something thick.
His eyes lit up instantly.
Opening the wallet, however, he found a thick wad of newspaper wrapped around several dozen coins—one-yuan coins and fifty-cent pieces. The pile of coins spilled across the table with a clattering jingle, looking rather pathetic.
"Looks like whatever money they had went into hiring assassins," Yue Wen muttered, speechless.
By that logic, the roe deer brothers should have had money, but they didn't have a storage magic implement—only that single key, with no clue what lock it belonged to.
*What a shame.*
Yue Wen continued retrieving items. With another flick of his wrist, he produced a dark, irregularly shaped block of stone and tossed it onto the coffee table with a thud. But on closer inspection, it didn't seem to be stone at all; it was laced with red blood vessels and curved striations...
"Looks like a chunk of meat," Zhao Xing'er said.
"Yeah, looks like dried meat," Yue Wen said. "Since they were this broke, could this be their emergency rations?"
"This smell..." Zhao Xing'er drew a small knife and made a light slice across the meat with a soft hiss. Wisps of spiritual qi actually drifted out, stirring up one's qi and blood upon smelling it.
"This meat holds a ton of spiritual power!" Yue Wen realized.
"When I was little, my family refined meat from demonic beasts for food, and it was just like this. Some have special effects," Zhao Xing'er said. "Different beasts' meat serves different purposes. Who knows what this chunk comes from, so better not eat it carelessly. Some things can be eaten by evil entities, but humans can't stomach them."
"Yeah." Yue Wen nodded. "I'll take it over to Treasure Forest later to get it appraised alongside the rest."
Speaking of Treasure Forest, he recalled that Qi Dian should currently be doing security work there with his sect. If he went over, he could treat him to a meal while he was at it.
Being able to earn this much money this time was all thanks to Qi Dian's recommendation. Without him, how could Yue Wen ever have found an in with Wangyou Media?
As the saying went, *when you drink water, never forget the porters of nature*—he really ought to thank Qi Dian properly.
"There's no phone inside, nor anything easily converted into cash," Yue Wen said, feeling suspicious. "Maybe its younger brother took that stuff."
It made sense that there weren't any valuable immortal goods in the storage magic implement; after all, demons in the city were even worse off than rogue cultivators, with virtually no opportunity to obtain real treasures.
Still, could the mastermind behind the Tiger Head Gang, who had ruled the roost for over a decade, really be left with nothing to his name but a few dozen coins?
Only one final item remained in the storage magic implement. Yue Wen brought it out and saw a small square case. Opening it revealed three green injectors. One injector was only half full, seemingly having had half its contents administered.
"Is this some kind of combat drug?" Yue Wen inspected it. "Wonder what effect it has."
Modern medicine-refining could develop many drugs to aid in combat. They served the same purpose as traditional elixirs: consumed or taken before battle to enhance a specific physiological function.
Some boosted qi and blood, some reinforced defense, others increased speed...
The difference between modern drugs and alchemy was probably that drugs could be mass-produced, making them cheaper and more accessible to the masses. Of course, cheap always came with drawbacks: injections often caused side effects, a visible one being that the top of one's head might turn pointed.
Elixirs, on the other hand, had to be fired cauldron by cauldron. They were higher-end, with correspondingly better effects and steeper prices.
In recent years, the medicine-refining world had seen new-school medicine-refiners advocate replacing ancient alchemy with mass-produced pharmaceuticals, but they had never managed a breakthrough in potency. It remained a trendy notion without gaining much real traction.
Speaking of medicine-refining, he thought back to Old Bai in the psychiatric hospital.
Whether new school or old school, every medicine-refiner seemed thoroughly mediocre compared to him.
"We'll need to get these drugs appraised to know what they're worth too. Whether we keep them for ourselves or sell them off, I'll give you your share," Yue Wen said.
"No rush," Zhao Xing'er suddenly chimed in. "Boss, I know you're hard-pressed for money lately. You don't need to split my share just yet."
"How can someone work without getting paid? What's yours is yours," Yue Wen laughed.
"Not just this—if you really need the money, I can even lend you my share of the livestream payout," Zhao Xing'er said. "I'm very loyal to my friends."
"Huh?"
Yue Wen truly hadn't expected her to be loyal to this extent. While her share from the livestream over the past few days wasn't as large as his, it was definitely in the ballpark of a few hundred thousand yuan. Compared to her salary at the agency, that was an amount she wouldn't save up in who knew how long.
He hesitated a little. "I really do need money, and I'm not even sure how much I'll need. But... that's a huge sum. Aren't you worried I won't be able to pay you back?"
"Of course not," Zhao Xing'er said. "I have an idea: the money I lend you can be deducted from your earnings. Until you pay off the debt, your half of the agency's profits belongs to me too, and you'll just draw a base salary of three thousand a month."
Yue Wen scratched his chin. "Isn't that needlessly complicated? Why don't I just transfer the agency to you and let you be the boss?"
"No way. Your agency isn't worth that much—the only thing of value is your labor," Zhao Xing'er said with a sly smile.
"In other words, I'm still the boss and you're still the assistant, but until the debt is cleared, all the agency's income goes to you, and I get three thousand a month in base pay." Yue Wen couldn't shake the feeling that something was strange, but someone offering to lend him money was a good thing after all. "I'm fine with that. Thanks, Little Zhao... wait, no, Sister Zhao."
"Mhm." Zhao Xing'er crossed her arms in satisfaction. "You catch on quick, Little Yue."
Chapter 50