“That thing? I got it at a night market. It looks quite ancient. If you want it, please take it,” he said.
Fatty Diao was secretly happy. He did not mind parting with the old and tattered silk scroll if it meant that the kid would leave his jade antiques alone.
“I’ll take this then!”
Tang Hao thought for a while, then closed the wooden box and kept it.
“We’re even now. Don’t look for trouble with me again!” Tang Hao said coldly.
“Yes, yes!” Fatty Diao nodded frantically.
“Let’s go!” Tang Hao led the way and Qin Gang followed.
Chapter 312 - Windfall
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“I’ll treat you to dinner, Younger Brother-in-law!”
Qin Gang’s face was shining as they stepped out of Fatty Diao’s mansion.
They returned to the factory for a while, then went to the city center to have a meal.
After saying goodbye to Qin Gang, Tang Hao returned to his mansion, went into the study, and spread out the ancient silk scroll on the table.
His intuition told him that the silk scroll hid a secret. However, he could not understand what the weird symbols meant.
He looked at it from all directions and even flipped it over, and discovered nothing.
Tang Hao furrowed his brows, feeling extremely frustrated.
Suddenly, he had an idea. The qi on the silk scroll was extremely strong, even much stronger than any antique he had seen before.
He thought that it was because the item was from the Warring States period, but he had a hunch that there was something unusual about the item itself.
He carefully touched the silk scroll.
He had a brainwave. He narrowed his eyes and channeled qi into them.
After opening his Third Eye, he saw the symbols on the silk scroll twist and morph. Finally, the symbols stopped moving. A map was presented in front of him.
Tang Hao grinned.
‘So there is a secret behind it after all!’
He felt incredibly excited. If the map required one to open their Third Eye, it meant that it had something to do with cultivators.
He turned on his computer, then scoured the map for the place indicated on the silk scroll.
About three hours later, he had a discovery. The location was near the western border of Province Z.
He thought for a while and immediately set off. He was eager to find out the secret behind the location indicated on the map.
The sun was rising when he arrived at the province border.
Tang Hao drove along the mountain road, parked near a clearing, then walked deeper into the mountains.
He arrived at the destination half an hour later.
He found himself standing in front of a pool. Tang Hao looked at the map carefully again. Indeed, the location marked on the silk scroll was the pool.
“Don’t tell me… the secret is in the pool?” Tang Hao furrowed his brows.
He hesitated for a while, then kept the map and dove into the water.
He immediately sank beneath the surface and into the ice-cold pond water.
His ears rang as he descended, though he headed straight to the bottom.
The pond was bigger than it looked on the surface. The deeper he dove, the wider the area was, and the darker his surroundings were. When he reached the bottom, he looked around and noticed a cave.
Tang Hao immediately swam over there.
The underwater tunnel was wide and deep. There seemed to be no end to it.
For a normal person, they would not have been able to swim so far without diving equipment.
About fifteen minutes later, he finally saw the end of the tunnel. The tunnel sloped upward and eventually, he broke out of the surface again.
He found himself in a wide cavern.
After sensing no danger, he climbed up the slope while drying his clothes.
He found a stone door at a corner of the cavern.
The stone door was massive and heavy. He could faintly sense some qi on it.
It was evident that someone had cast a sorcery spell on the door. However, many millennia had passed and the spell had faded away. He detected that there are no traps on the door, and pushed it open.
Tang Hao was shocked when he saw the interior.
Beyond the door was another wide cavern. It was illuminated by the gentle light of nightglow pearls embedded on the walls.
There was a huge tree in the middle of the cavern. Tang Hao looked closely and saw that the tree was made of bronze, though oxidation had turned it green. An altar was built at the base of the tree, and a coffin of green bronze was placed on the altar.
The bronze tree was also adorned with nightglow pearls. The gentle light fell on the bronze coffin.
Something seemed to be reflecting light on the lid of the bronze coffin.
Tang Hao narrowed his eyes and looked closely. When he discerned what it was, his expression changed drastically.
His breathing became faster.
The items embedded on the coffin were spirit stones!
“One, two, three… Oh my god, there’s so many!” Tang Hao was ecstatic.
Spirit stones were rare treasures! He had only managed to find two so far, in the pool near Dragonrock Village.
He was impressed at the ancient cultivator who embedded so many spirit stones on the coffin.
“There shouldn’t be anything weird about the coffin, right?” Tang Hao mumbled. He flicked his wrist and a few jade talismans appeared.
He carefully walked forward while looking at his surroundings.
About twenty to thirty bronze coffins were arranged densely around the cavern. Each coffin was brimming with negative qi.
Tang Hao took a few more steps. Suddenly, all the bronze coffins started shaking. The lids flew open, and many figures burst out from them.
They were hairy, horrific beings dressed in tattered, ancient armor. They were none other than ‘dumplings’, zombies.
Each one of them was a hairy zombie.
Back in Corpse Cave, Tang Hao had only encountered one hairy zombie.
However, Tang Hao was not afraid. He flicked his wrist and a handful of jade talismans shot out.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The battle erupted instantly.
The hairy zombies charged at him. Some of them were wielding bronze weapons, while some tried to grab him with their hands.
Tang Hao dodged and evaded. He threw jade talismans at opportune times. Fire and lightning filled the cavern.
The hairy zombies were thousands of years old, and every one of them was extraordinarily tough. He needed a lot of jade talismans to kill one.
He managed to kill about five before his supply of jade talismans ran out.
Tang Hao snatched one of the weapons and started battling them, enhancing his weapon with sorcery.
More than half an hour later, after a prolonged, tough battle, he managed to kill all of them.
After the last hairy zombie fell, Tang Hao fell sitting on the ground, utterly spent. He counted his lucky stars that the hairy zombies were not very intelligent. If they had ganged up on him, he would not be able to defeat them.
He sat cross-legged on the ground and rested for a while before standing up again and walking toward the bronze tree.
After walking around it several times and confirming that there was no further danger, Tang Hao climbed up the altar and went near the bronze coffin.
He knocked on it, but there was no response. He took out a short sword and started prising the spirit stones off the coffin lid.
“One!”
“Two!”
Each extracted spirit stone made Tang Hao even more excited. His eyes were sparkling.
“I’ve struck a fortune this time!” Tang Hao was trembling with excitement.
The coffin lid was filled with diamond-shaped holes. A rough count showed that there were more t
han a hundred holes, but about half of them were empty. There should be about sixty to seventy spirit stones.
That was more than enough for Tang Hao.
He was so happy and excited that he almost fainted.
After prising about a dozen spirit stones, the coffin suddenly trembled, as though something had woken up and was struggling.
Tang Hao was shocked. He quickly retreated.
However, nothing came out as he waited. Tang Hao gathered his courage again and continued prising the spirit stones.
The movement from the coffin weakened as the number of spirit stones on the coffin decreased, as though the spirit stones were the source of energy of the being within.
After realizing that, Tang Hao worked even faster.
Very soon, all the spirit stones were in his pocket.
Chapter 313 - Tremendous Growth In Cultivation
Tang Hao breathed a satisfied sigh of relief once the final spirit stone was prised out.
He lowered his head and looked at the stone that rested in his palm.
This batch of spirit stones was different from the two he had picked up the last time.
The two spirit stones he found near Dragonrock Village were round in shape. One of them was like an egg, while the other was like a marble. The stone in his hand was diamond-shaped, as though a jeweler had worked on it.
Its size was almost as big as the egg-shaped spirit stone.
Tang Hao could not stop grinning.
His cultivation base would increase greatly. He might even complete the State of Qi Channeling.
He kept the spirit stone in his pocket dimension and his eyes fell on the green bronze coffin.
There was no movement from the coffin.
Tang Hao hesitated for a while, then pushed the lid of the coffin slightly open.
He was shocked when he saw what was inside.
A corpse was laid in the coffin. His body was twisted, and his hands were lifted with the fingers opened wide. The face was sunken and rotted like a mummy.
It looked as though the corpse had been struggling and was suddenly frozen.
Tang Hao examined closely and found out that the corpse was truly dead.
He thought for a while and guessed that the corpse must have been kept alive by the spirit stones through some heretical sorcery spell. Perhaps one day it might wake up.
Without the spirit stones, the corpse was truly dead.
“I’m sorry! I’ll put your spirit stones to good use!” Tang Hao mumbled. He threw a ball of fire from his hands and reduced the corpse into ashes.
He went around the cavern and took everything that he could carry, including the bronze tree, which he dismantled and kept in his pocket dimension.
All of those items were antiques worth a lot of money.
He clapped his hands in satisfaction and left the place.
The sky was bright when he resurfaced again. Tang Hao rested next to the pond while he waited for his clothes to dry. After that, he left the place.
He found his car where he had parked it and drove it back to Provincial City.
It was about two o’clock in the afternoon when he returned to Provincial City. He did not bother with attending classes but instead stayed in his apartment to absorb the spirit stones.
He had been taking the Liquid of Spiritual Condensation to grow his cultivation base. However, progress had been slow. He could feel his cultivation base growing in leaps and bounds when he absorbed the spirit stones. It was hard to describe the euphoria he felt.
By the next morning, he had fully absorbed three spirit stones and his cultivation base had increased greatly.
He stood up and felt that his body was incredibly energized. He had never felt so good before.
Happily, he picked up his backpack and went to the university.
“Brother Hao!”
Cao Fei and the others crowded around him as he stepped into the classroom. They were eager to find out the story behind the beautiful lady that picked him up.
Tang Hao rolled his eyes and made up a story about her.
He received a phone call from President Ling at noon.
President Ling looked for him to update him on the collaboration. They talked about starting a restaurant business the last time they were in Imperial Kitchen.
President Ling had called him a few days ago to discuss the details.
“The proposal is ready, Tang Hao. Come look for me if you’re back in Provincial City. If the details are confirmed, then we can proceed with signing the contract.” Ling Wei’s sweet voice was heard over the phone.
“I’m already in Provincial City. I’m at the university now!”
“Oh! Are you free now? I’ll come and pick you up.” Ling Wei sounded ecstatic.
“Don’t! Please don’t!” Tang Hao said urgently.
The students of Z University were still talking about the incident before. Fortunately, no one knew that it was him. He would rather not have rumors start again.
Ling Wei burst out laughing when she heard that.
She pretended to be angry. “So many people dream to be in the same car as me, but you don’t want to!”
Tang Hao laughed awkwardly. “So are we meeting now?”
“Yup! I happen to be free. We’ll meet at Imperial Kitchen then! I’ve already discussed it with Master Chef Ding two days ago. He says that if we start the company, he’ll shut down Imperial Kitchen and join us.”
Tang Hao was shocked when he heard that. He could not believe it.
A culinary expert like Master Chef Ding was willing to close down his established restaurant and join them?
“Why, don’t you believe me?” Ling Wei said smugly, “I’ve spent a long time convincing him. He was finally persuaded.”
“You’re amazing!” Tang Hao exclaimed.
A person as famous as Master Chef Ding was in no need of money and fame. It was incredible that Ling Wei managed to persuade him.
Ling Wei smiled and spoke sheepishly, “Actually… I told him that if he joins us, you will teach him how to recreate that dish.”
Tang Hao was shocked. Then, he laughed drily.
The crucial ingredient in the snake stew was the white cobra meat. Without that, he could not possibly recreate the extreme deliciousness.
However, he could still pass other techniques to Master Chef Ding].
Master Chef Ding should be happy to learn how to incorporate medicinal herbs into his cooking.
“Is that inappropriate?” Ling Wei asked sheepishly.
“No! It’s good news that we can get Master Chef Ding to join us. We’re halfway to succeeding before the company even starts,” Tang Hao said.
Ling Wei breathed a sigh of relief.
After ending the call, Tang Hao immediately rushed to Imperial Kitchen.
Master Chef Ding and the other chefs were sitting in the restaurant.
Imperial Kitchen was not open for business in the daytime. That was why there were no customers.
Ling Wei was there too. She lifted her head when Tang Hao walked in.
“Hey, Little Brother! Long time no see!” Master Chef Ding and the other chefs stood up when they saw Tang Hao. They were incredibly excited.
“Little Brother, I’ve tried to recreate your medicinal recipes, but why isn’t the taste the same? The effects aren’t as amazing either!” Master Ding said. He sounded frustrated.
“There’s a secret behind it!” Tang Hao said with a smile. “I’ll discuss some matters with President Ling first, then I’ll tell you my secret.”
After that, Tang Hao went to sit at Ling Wei’s table.
“Here’s the business plan and the contract. Take a look!”
Ling Wei pushed two documents in front of Tang Hao.
The Mightiest Little Peasant c1-799 Page 141