Chapter 41: An Ominous Premonition

Three thousand taels of gold!

Seven thousand taels of silver!

Various antiques and paintings, valued at twenty thousand taels!

Listening to Dong Qingsheng's report, Shen Changqing's expression froze in surprise, and he couldn't help but remark, "Truly, a magistrate for three years can amass a hundred thousand taels of silver!"

Three thousand taels of gold was equivalent to thirty thousand taels of silver.

With that, the total had already reached fifty-seven thousand taels.

Shi Qingsheng continued, "Aside from these, the Zhao family also owns several shops and some real estate within Lin'an City. The current estimated value is a little over one hundred and fifty thousand taels. Combined with what was obtained earlier, the total is approximately two hundred and ten thousand taels."

Two hundred and ten thousand taels!

Shen Changqing took a deep breath.

The annual expenses of an ordinary household would, at most, be one or two taels of silver.

For the Zhao family of Lin'an City to be worth two hundred and ten thousand taels, one could only imagine how much wealth they had extorted from the common people.

Furthermore, the Zhao family in Lin'an was merely one of the main branches; in reality, the Zhao family had branches spreading across various regions.

If calculated seriously, the combined value of all the branches might even break the threshold of five hundred thousand taels.

"Per your instructions, those antiques, paintings, and properties will begin to be sold off tomorrow. The proceeds will be converted into cash and fully deposited into the yamen's treasury. Once spring arrives next year, they will be escorted to the capital along with the tax revenues!"

As he spoke, Shi Qingsheng handed the ledger in his hand to Shen Changqing.

"These are the specific records. Please review them, My Lord."

"Mhm."

Shen Changqing reached out to take the ledger and began reading it seriously.

After a long while, he handed the ledger back.

"Then proceed as planned!"

"Yes!"

Shi Qingsheng took his orders and withdrew.

***

After a simple lunch, Shen Changqing did not go anywhere else, remaining within the yamen to focus on cultivating his Heavenly Martial Astral Qi.

In his bedroom, he sat cross-legged and took out a Pulse-Opening Pill, swallowing it directly.

As the pill entered his stomach, it instantly transformed into a powerful current of warmth.

With a thought, the Heavenly Martial True Qi rose from his dantian, merged with that warm current, and then surged toward a meridian.

*Rumble!!*

A sound like rolling thunder erupted from within his body.

A meridian that would normally have taken an entire night to break through was now breached with ease.

Time passed.

Every so often, once the effects of a Pulse-Opening Pill wore off, Shen Changqing would swallow another.

One by one, the pills were consumed.

It was only when he went to pour out another pill that he suddenly realized the porcelain bottle was empty.

"Gone!?"

Shen Changqing looked startled, but he quickly regained his composure.

A single bottle of Pulse-Opening Pills contained, at most, only eight pills.

In the cultivation of a normal martial artist, one would only consume a pill when encountering a bottleneck; the rest relied on bitter, solitary cultivation. To rely on Pulse-Opening Pills for the entire process, as he was doing, was exceedingly rare.

However, as the pills were fully digested, the results were gratifying.

The Heavenly Martial True Qi in his dantian had grown significantly. Although it could not yet contend with the Pure Yang True Qi, it was no longer being squeezed helplessly within his dantian as before.

The two powerful currents of True Qi showed faint signs of conflict.

However, the Heavenly Martial True Qi was still too weak; for the time being, it had no way to devour the Pure Yang True Qi.

Looking at his panel again, his Heavenly Martial Astral Qi had jumped directly from the first layer to the third layer.

"A high-grade martial art that points directly to the Xiantian realm. To think it only took half a day to break from the first to the third layer... using external aid is indeed much faster than bitter cultivation!"

Seeing the data on the panel, Shen Changqing took a sharp breath.

If the supply of Pulse-Opening Pills were unlimited, he might have been able to strike the Xiantian realm within a month even without the help of the panel.

But this was merely a passing thought.

Firstly, the effects of the Pulse-Opening Pills were staggering, and their preciousness went without saying; obtaining them was absolutely not easy.

Secondly, no matter how good a pill was, it had a side effect: pill toxicity.

While swallowing the Pulse-Opening Pills, Shen Changqing had sensed that a significant amount of impurities had been generated within his body.

Fortunately, those impurities had been refined by the Pure Yang True Qi.

If the impurities had been one or two times stronger, even the Pure Yang True Qi would have found it difficult to refine them.

"Forget it, I can't think about relying on pills for the entire cultivation process for now. Reaching the third layer of Heavenly Martial Astral Qi has already saved a lot of time. Once I obtain more Slaughter Value later, I can comprehensively upgrade the Heavenly Martial Astral Qi."

Based on the convention that higher levels require higher consumption, Shen Changqing estimated that the two-layer increase in his Heavenly Martial Astral Qi had saved him at least eight to ten points of Slaughter Value.

Killing a monster that was about to break through to the Grievance rank had only given him fifteen points.

In other words, an ordinary Ghost-rank monster would contribute at most around ten points of Slaughter Value, perhaps even less.

By this time, the night was deep.

Shen Changqing had specifically ordered that no one was to disturb him while he was cultivating, which was why no one had knocked on his door.

By the time he finished his cultivation, the surroundings were pitch black.

Getting out of bed, Shen Changqing lit the oil lamp in his bedroom, which immediately dispersed much of the darkness.

But for some reason, as the light drove away the darkness, an uncomfortable feeling welled up in his heart.

That feeling caused Shen Changqing's brow to furrow instinctively.

"What is it?"

He felt something was wrong with this inexplicable premonition, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

"It is said that the deeper a martial artist's cultivation, the more accurate their intuitive perceptions become."

"I am already at the Xiantian realm. If something bad is truly about to happen, I might actually sense it."

Thinking of this, Shen Changqing immediately became alert.

He had to be.

On the surface, the situation in Lin'an City appeared stable, but underneath, undercurrents were surging, and they could erupt at any moment.

Especially since they had just detained the Zhao family members earlier today, which had caused quite a stir—

"Wait!"

"The Zhao family!"

Connecting the thought to the Zhao family, Shen Changqing's expression changed slightly.

Could it be—

Someone is actually coming to break them out of prison!

With this thought, he immediately walked out of his room. The full moon was hanging high in the sky, so it was not as pitch-black as usual.

Particularly in the inner halls of the yamen, most areas were equipped with stone lanterns that were lit by the bailiffs at night, unlike other places that were entirely dark.

Even so, he could not calm his heart.

"Someone!"

Shen Changqing shouted loudly.

Before long, a bailiff hurried over.

"What are your orders, My Lord?"

"Are all the members of the Zhao family currently detained in the cells?"

"They were all successfully detained during the day."

"Has there been any unusual activity in the cells or within the yamen?"

"No! Nothing has been discovered so far!"