Dragon's Origin

After carefully sensing the surroundings, Wang Sheng determined that there were no human auras within the tunnel. Furthermore, the snow rats that had rushed ahead hadn't sent any warning signals. Reassured, Wang Sheng confidently proceeded along the path.

The path was long, and there seemed to be nothing of note around. The Xia family apparently hadn't bothered to explore the surroundings, simply tunneling straight ahead along a narrow path.

As Wang Sheng continued, he began to sense something was off. He used the hammer and chisel custom-made for him by the old Taoist, chipping away at the sides of the tunnel. Before long, he had carved out an area more than ten feet deep.

As expected, the tunnel sides revealed what was clearly farmland. No wonder the path narrowed and the tracks resembled those on a field ridge; it was a path leading to fields. The crops that once grew half a person high were now frozen in ice.

Clearly, this couldn't lead to the Lin family's manor or a city. Wang Sheng didn't intend to continue forward. Instead, he controlled several snow rats to quickly scout the tunnel ahead. Soon, the rats returned, indicating the path ended. Calculating the distance, the tunnel extended about two hundred meters. The Xia family experts likely discovered this dead end and abandoned it.

Returning to the small village, Wang Sheng proceeded along another tunnel. This one wasn't a road; judging by the direction, it likely connected to the tunnel from the icehouse side. Sure enough, after a few hundred steps, Wang Sheng saw a collapsed section.

The other end of the tunnel was still open, so Wang Sheng ventured forward. This area was chaotic and directionless, likely the result of the experts' haphazard digging in hopes of getting lucky. Finding the village was probably due to luck or perhaps because they were digging from the surface rather than deep underground, giving them a slight advantage over the Shi and Gan families.

Following the main tunnel, Wang Sheng explored several branching tunnels, spending nearly a full day. Unfortunately, the longest tunnel in this direction stretched for dozens of miles in multiple directions, but he found nothing of substance.

Just excavating this tunnel and the small village would probably take the Xia family's dozens of experts nearly half a year. Factoring in the time spent selecting the site, building the icehouse, and setting up defenses, it would likely take another half-year. And the excavated ice couldn't be stored on-site; it had to be transported outside, adding even more time. In total, it would probably take over a year.

It was important to remember that not everyone could maintain their initial enthusiasm. After months or even a year of fruitless searching, even legendary experts would become frustrated. Especially since they were suffering from scurvy, their bodies weakening day by day, slowing them down.

What exactly were the Xia family searching for? Wang Sheng pondered this, returning to the village and sorting through all the storage rings he had obtained from the Xia family members. It didn't take long for him to find a map.

Looking at the roughly three-foot square piece of animal hide, Wang Sheng was speechless, unsure how to react. It was a treasure map that couldn't be any simpler, with markings that resembled formations and a large circle, thicker than Wang Sheng's finger, marking the supposed location of the treasure in red, possibly blood.

This circle, in reality, would cover an area of over twenty miles. Was this a treasure map or a hide-and-seek game? Relying on this circle to find what they were looking for in this area was a pipe dream!

This was the only map, and Wang Sheng found no explanation of what it depicted. It made sense; the Xia family's ancestral records wouldn't be entrusted to the searching experts. The map was enough. Xia Feihong certainly knew what they were looking for, but he had no chance to speak. Even this map was a copy, not the original.

In the village, tunnels led in several other directions, all carved along the traces of roads. Wang Sheng continued along these paths for a while, but they were all abandoned, either short or long. Or perhaps it wasn't abandoned; they had finally found clues and were planning to excavate along these paths when Wang Sheng arrived, cutting off everyone's hopes.

It could be said that in the past year and a half, the Xia family had found nothing of value besides this village. More than eighty legendary experts had lived like groundhogs underground for over a year, contracting scurvy, all for this small head start.

Perhaps they were extremely excited when they discovered the village, thinking they could follow the roads to find the real target. Unfortunately, they were already seriously ill. Even if Wang Sheng hadn't come, these people would have died in another six months to a year, without Wang Sheng even lifting a finger.

This was based on the fact that they were legendary experts with strong cultivation bases that could withstand some of the disease's effects. Ordinary people would have died within two months. Perhaps they had opportunities to go out and have people rotate in, but now, there were no more maybes.

Emerging from the tunnels dug by the Xia family, Wang Sheng sighed silently. Was it really worth sacrificing their lives here for something? Besides the books and treasures in the Lin family's secret vault, what else was worth the eight great families searching for so desperately five hundred years later?

Wang Sheng didn't know the answer, but he knew that no matter what they wanted to dig up, he would help them. He just wondered what their expressions would be when they finally faced it.

Since Xia Feihong had written a last letter, Wang Sheng didn't plan to keep it a secret. Dealing with the Xia family was Wang Sheng's revenge, and how could he not let the main family know what stupid things they had done and what price they had paid?

Half a month later, the Xia family's camp in the Thousand Absolutes Land was on high alert. The camp, rebuilt after the attack by the Mountain Yue Land, was surrounded by an army of man-eating ants, nearly causing everyone inside to collapse. Who didn't know about Wang Sheng's feud with the Xia family? Could the man-eating ant army surrounding the Xia family's camp leave anyone alive?

To everyone's surprise, Wang Sheng didn't kill them all. Instead, he appeared at the entrance of the Xia family's camp. In full view of everyone, Wang Sheng took out a scroll of animal hide, placed it at the entrance of the Xia family's camp, and then disappeared with the man-eating ant army.

The Xia family leader, trembling with fear, personally went out to retrieve the animal hide scroll. Upon opening it, he spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted on the spot.