After pursuing him, the two quickly entered the second branch of the secret passage by following Hong Qiming's method.
Wei Yuefu retrieved his golden melon hammer, his gaze falling upon the ropes scattered on the ground and the various daily necessities lying around.
"It seems this is a new secret chamber and passage Hong Qiming remodeled a second time," Shen Qianjun said.
As for how it had been built... trick a few craftsmen into coming here and kill them afterward.
Nine times out of ten, it had been constructed at the same time as the garden rockery entrance.
"The only question is where it leads," Wei Yuefu said as he hurried forward in pursuit.
"I'll chase ahead and take a look. Catch up, Bronze Badge Ding." Shen Qianjun did not offer an answer—what kind of answer could there be for something like this?
It was simply a matter of following it to find out; guessing back and forth right now was useless.
With that, Shen Qianjun picked up his pace and shot ahead in pursuit.
Wei Yuefu could not help it. He was already running, moving as fast as he currently could.
If he wanted to go any faster, he would have to discard his gear.
Yet for Wei Yuefu, that was utterly out of the question.
A suit of heavy armor like this could not necessarily be bought even with money.
Besides, with Shen Qianjun ahead, he was not particularly worried about Hong Qiming getting away.
Though the two of them did not see eye to eye, at a juncture like this, Shen Qianjun would not play any underhanded tricks on him.
Halfway into the chase, Wei Yuefu came to a halt.
His gaze landed on a man-made tunnel currently being excavated, surrounded by a large pile of dirt that had not yet been hauled away.
*This location...* Wei Yuefu ran through the layout in his mind and quickly determined that the area this man-made tunnel led toward was the treasure vault.
*This Hong Qiming is truly quite a talent.*
If the dragon-severing stone could not be breached, then simply do not dig at the stone—dig around it from the side.
Dirt was far easier to deal with than the dragon-severing stone; after all, the stone had been specially crafted from extraordinarily hard rock.
Tackling that would demand a vast amount of manpower and resources, but with soil, Hong Qiming could dig through it all by himself, and even cart it out for disposal.
Although it took time, over months and years it would eventually be breached. After all, the distance was not great, and the hole he dug did not need to be large.
It only needed to allow one person to squeeze through.
He estimated the depth in his head; it seemed... it was almost dug through?
*Hong Qiming really prepared thoroughly.* Wei Yuefu pondered for a moment. Barring any accidents, it was truly separated by no more than a thin line.
This was also part of the confidence that emboldened Hong Qiming to rebel.
Once he took Dingyuan City and brought the rebel army under his command, the resources in this treasure vault could serve as a fresh injection of funds.
With this capital, he could conquer the entire province. Snowballing from there, carving out an independent warlord domain would truly pose no problem.
Unfortunately, he had crossed paths with Wei Yuefu and Shen Qianjun. His grand advantage had been completely undone when they captured the leader first, costing him the entire game.
"What is this place?" Shen Qianjun returned, dragging the unconscious Hong Qiming.
With Hong Qiming's meager skill, he was by no means a match for Shen Qianjun.
As for repeating his earlier trick—where would he get that much shit?
It was not as if he were a dung machine that could produce it on demand.
Not to mention that Shen Qianjun had been on guard. The first time he encountered such a move, he might have been caught off guard, but how could he fall for it a second time?
"The treasure vault," Wei Yuefu said, glancing at Shen Qianjun. "You know it well enough yourself. Why bother asking me?"
The kid was just asking what he already knew. With his wits, how could he fail to deduce where this led?
"You can have the original Daluo Martial Classic, and I'll take a transcribed copy," Wei Yuefu said. "In exchange, I get first pick of one great medicine or medicinal pill for martial arts cultivation."
To tell the truth, what Wei Yuefu was wondering right now was whether the Dragon Marrow Blood-Tempering Pill might be inside the vault.
The reasoning was simple: whether it was Xia Miaozheng or Hua Shirui, both of them had traveled light when fleeing with the group.
It was unlikely they carried it on their persons, so could this so-called Dragon Marrow Blood-Tempering Pill be stored inside this former dynasty's treasure vault?
"You have high aptitude and aren't lacking in pills. My aptitude is poor, so I need enough resources," Wei Yuefu added.
This made Shen Qianjun narrow his eyes. *Ding Shoucheng is this confident? Could there really be something good inside?*
Connecting this with their earlier conversation, could it be that he had caught wind of something or knew something secret?
"If you're willing to make amends with Master and the others..." Shen Qianjun felt this was an opportunity to reconcile, so he spoke up.
If Ding Shoucheng was willing, forget letting him pick first—even handing over the original Daluo Martial Classic wouldn't be out of the question.
Yet before he could finish, Wei Yuefu cut him off. "We're talking about private business between us. Leave the others out of it."
Seeing how resolute Wei Yuefu was, Shen Qianjun shook his head and said, "Forget it, then. When the time comes, it'll be every man for himself."
Shen Qianjun had never even heard of the Daluo Martial Classic, and he understood well enough that biting off more than one could chew led to nothing good.
He was still cultivating the Pure Lotus Precious Scroll he had on him anyway. Besides, martial arts manuals could be transcribed; they wouldn't vanish once learned.
Moreover, with his footwork and agility, Wei Yuefu couldn't possibly keep up with him.
"Every man for himself it is, then." Wei Yuefu had anticipated this outcome. He turned his gaze toward Hong Qiming and asked, "What do we do with him?"
Before heading inside, they definitely had to deal with him first.
"Kill him?" Shen Qianjun said. "This Commandant Hong is no simple character. Keeping him alive is only asking for trouble."
"Barring any surprises, there probably isn't an exit to this secret passage."
"From start to finish, there has only ever been one entrance."
Since he was useless now, they might as well kill him.
Furthermore, Wei Yuefu surmised that the reason a new entrance had to be built by the rockery was that the original entrance had collapsed for some reason.
That was why it had needed to be re-excavated.
Hence, even if an exit existed, it had likely caved in as well.
"Then kill him. Why did you even bother dragging him all the way back?" Wei Yuefu chimed in.
"Just making sure you didn't have any use for him," Shen Qianjun teased, a rare moment of banter.
This left Wei Yuefu speechless. What kind of use could he possibly have... get up to something weird with another man?
"Just run a sword through him. I'm going to dig into the vault." Wei Yuefu completely ignored the remark, picking up the nearby tools and getting to work.
Shen Qianjun finished Hong Qiming off with a single thrust of his sword, ensuring he died thoroughly in his unconscious state.
Then he dragged the body toward the outer tunnel to dispose of it.
"Where does the other way lead outside?" Wei Yuefu asked.
Shen Qianjun picked up some tools to join in the excavation, then answered, "The moat."
"In all likelihood, he carted the excavated soil out and dumped it into the moat, letting the current wash it away."
Wei Yuefu did not care about the dirt; there was not much of it anyway, so leaving it right where it lay was fine.
"So that way is the way out?" Wei Yuefu asked.
"Yes, but we'll have to wait a bit," Shen Qianjun said. "I took a look. There are soldiers on the city walls."
"If we go straight out, we'll be spotted."
With so many people in their group, making that much noise would never go unnoticed.
They would have to wait until late into the night at the very least, or until the guard rotation.
Chapter 39