CHAPTER 112: SUDDENLY A WEALTHY MAN.

"Moonjade cauldron," Adrian muttered as he noticed the writing scribbled onto the lid.

Adrian turned the cauldron over in his hands, admiring its craftsmanship. A Soul-ranked cauldron was no small treasure, especially one as refined as this.

The problem he had been having previously had now been solved in the most unexpected way. It had been getting more difficult to refine pills and potions with the Bronze rank cauldron.

He had been managing it previously because he didn’t have a choice, but now it seems he wouldn’t need to anymore. With the moonjade cauldron in his hand, refining pills would become much easier for him.

Most alchemists would kill for such a tool, as it could significantly increase the success rate of pill refinement and even enhance the quality of the final product.

Adrian was so excited that he wanted to use it right then and there. However, he quickly restrained himself.

The question now was, why did the Hundred-Faced Thief have this?

Adrian had assumed the man was purely a rogue cultivator, a thief who relied on stealth and assassination. But an alchemy cauldron of this level suggested something else entirely.

Did he dabble in alchemy? Or did he steal this from someone important?

Either way, it didn’t matter now. The cauldron was his.

Adrian set it aside and turned his attention to the remaining artifacts. There were a few more weapons, a few swords, a spear, some sabers, a whip, and a set of throwing needles, but none were above the Soul rank. Still, they were valuable and could be sold or traded later.

Adrian was particularly satisfied when he was staring at the swords. Among them, he chose a particular one named the ’Skyveil Sword.’

The Skyveil Sword was a double-edged sword. From his estimation, the blade was about 90cm or 1.2 metres in length. The blade has a mirror-like surface that resembles the water of a lake reflecting the sky above.

It wasn’t too large and was the perfect size for someone of Adrian’s stature. While holding the sword, he looked like a handsome and dashing warrior.

He nodded his head in satisfaction before storing it.

After taking care of the weapons, he turned his attention towards the other treasures in the storage ring. With a thought, a small pile of bright, blue Qi stones appeared in front of him.

It wasn’t as much as the pile that Julian found. Not nearly close. A cursory glance from Adrian was all it took to know that it was only about five thousand Qi stones in number.

However, these five thousand Qi stones were more valuable than everything Julian got from the two levels. That was because these thousand Qi stones were high-grade Qi stones.

For context, one high-grade Qi stone was equivalent to a hundred mid-grade Qi stones. That was ten thousand low-grade Qi stones.

In just a few seconds, Adrian had become a wealthy individual. Even for large noble families, this was a staggering sum. Most rogue cultivators would never see this much wealth in their entire lifetime.

And now, it was all his.

A slow, satisfied smile spread across his face.

"This is enough to fund a mid-sized sect," he muttered.

The spiritual energy radiating from the stones was dense and pure, forming soft blue motes that danced in the air like fireflies. Just standing near them was enough for Adrian to feel his own Qi stirring in response, as if his cultivation base were urging him to begin refining immediately.

But he restrained himself. Barely. This wasn’t the time for that. He would get to it soon.

He decided to finish checking the ring before tallying all his wealth, before making any plans or doing anything. He was excited to see what other treasure he could find in the ring.

However, he was soon disappointed. Aside from a box full of some talismans, there was nothing else that was important inside the ring. It was just filled with junk and what Adrian considered useless, compared to the others.

He furrowed his brows in confusion.

He had expected to find more things inside the ring, while the items he had found were already great, they were nowhere near enough to be the treasure of a thief of the calibre of the Hundred-Faced Thief.

However, Adrian quickly relaxed. He had some clues as to why there wasn’t much treasure in the ring. The Hundred-Faced Thief said he escaped into the mystic realm.

When he realised that he wasn’t going to survive, he created the maze as a test for someone who wanted his legacy. He probably used most of his treasure when he was creating the maze.

Adrian had an inclination that the other paths he didn’t pick would also have their own special tests. In order to create such a complicated structure, a massive amount of resources would be needed.

That would mean that the Hundred-Faced Thief only left the bare minimum for the one who would complete the maze. Thinking about the massive amount of resources that would have been used to make the maze, Adrian was left slightly in awe of the hundred-faced thief.

Unknowingly, his respect level for this thief had risen quite a bit.

After sorting out all the treasures, Adrian realized that a few hours had passed. Since he dropped the Blood Star into a rapid, he was sure that he would not be in the same location anymore.

He wanted to go outside and check where he had ended up. With a whoosh, his body disappeared from the mystic realm, and he landed in the river with a splash.

Adrian found himself in a river that was flowing in a particular direction. It seemed that the Blood Star had gotten lodged among some rocks on the river bed.

He quickly swam to the shore, where he was able to get out without issue. Luckily for him, the speed of the river had slowed down drastically in this area.

Now it was just a slow-moving current, gently flowing down its path. While the water looked calm, Adrian didn’t want to stay inside for too long. Who knew if there were any aquatic magic beasts inside the river?

It was better to be safe than sorry. Still, it seems that he was lucky to find the river. The mist in the area he was currently in was not as dense as where he was before.

While he was still in the inner region, it seemed that he had found a route that could lead him back outside. He quickly decided to follow the river and hoped that it would lead him back to the outer region.

Adrian moved through the trees as his gaze wandered across the mist-veiled forest that flanked the riverbanks. He had been walking for a few hours now and had been lucky enough not to encounter any spirit beasts.

Up ahead, the sound of rushing water grew louder once again, but this time, it wasn’t coming from the river itself.

To his right, past a cluster of moss-covered boulders, a smaller waterfall cascaded down a rocky cliffside, its waters feeding into a hidden stream that ran parallel to the river for only a short distance before vanishing beneath a thicket of ancient trees.

It wasn’t part of the river’s path; rather, it seemed like a separate spring-fed flow, tumbling down the stone wall with a soft roar. And behind that falling sheet of water, barely visible through the mist and falling spray, Adrian caught a glimpse of something, a shadowed recess tucked into the rock.

A cave.

Curious about the seemingly large cave hidden beneath the waterfall, Adrian approached slowly, his instincts on high alert. The roaring curtain of water was loud, but not loud enough to mask the strange sensation that was rising in his chest. He could feel a faint pressure radiating from the depths of the cave.

He was initially skeptical at first and wanted to immediately leave this area, but his curiosity got the better of him. As he reached the pool that collected beneath the falls, his eyes narrowed.

He could hear a faint rustling from among the grass around the area. His body immediately tensed up, and he immediately retrieved his new Skyveil Sword.

Adrian’s eyes darted around, sweeping the surroundings carefully. For a moment, he detected nothing out of the ordinary, no beasts lurking, no traps hidden beneath the surface. But just as he was about to dismiss it, he heard it again, this time with the faint cry, coming from somewhere just to the left of the cave entrance.

He moved toward it cautiously.

There, nestled in a hollow formed by two moss-covered rocks, partially hidden by a cluster of fern-like plants, was a small creature.

A small silver-colored cat that was lazing around in the grass without a car in the world could be seen. Only when the shadow of Adrian’s body loomed over it did it open its eyes and stare at him.

Adrian was very surprised when he saw this small beast and immediately bent down to pick it up.

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Note: Should I change the term magic beast to spirit beast? I’ve had a few people ask me why I’m using the word magic in a cultivation novel. Let me know in the comments.