The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 292 Treasure Room

But the so-called treasure room couldn't possibly be that small. The space behind the small door is actually a staircase leading downwards.

Wu Chengyu walked down about twenty steps and came to another door. The door was locked, and it matched the key that the leader had pretended to take from the second leader's corpse.

Opening the door again reveals a surprisingly spacious interior, at least seventy or eighty square meters. It's an unpartitioned, completely open space, actually sharing the same area as the dungeon on the other side, separated only by a thick stone wall.

However, within this 70-80 square meter space, there were only a dozen or so boxes of various sizes, not as many as one might imagine, filling the entire space.

This is actually quite normal. After all, the Ziwu Ridge area has been ravaged by these bandits countless times. All the villages are abandoned, and people have scattered and fled. Where would there be so much to rob?

Moreover, according to the chief, most of the treasure had been offered to Wanyan Hongsheng and the other two powerful gentry, and what they were left over was just what they had eaten.

Wu Chengyu estimated that this band of bandits must have their own source of income, or perhaps they were double-crossing each other; in any case, they couldn't have robbed so many ordinary people.

However, since all the bandits had been killed, this source of income was no longer traceable, so Wu Chengyu didn't care.

He casually opened several boxes, which were filled with gold and silver. There were also several smaller boxes containing stolen gold and silver jewelry, and even some jade artifacts.

The gold and silver treasures were very straightforward; there were no antiques or paintings used as decorations, as antiques and paintings were simply not of interest to these bandits in this chaotic world.

In a corner of the treasure room, Wu Chengyu discovered some unusual items. They were stones, but they shimmered with a metallic sheen. There were more than a dozen of them, each quite large.

The difference is that some of the larger pieces are black, while the other three or four smaller pieces have a dark gold hue.

Wu Chengyu picked up the black piece in his hand and weighed it in his hand. Then he used the Nine Yin Divine Claw technique, exerting force with his five fingers. However, the finger strength that could usually crush gold and split stone had no effect on this stone, only rubbing off some powder.

These powders are clearly impurities on the stone, and the parts with a metallic sheen remain undamaged.

Next, he picked up the dark gold one, which was much lighter than the black one, but seemed harder.

These stones weigh over a thousand kilograms in total.

Interesting. Wu Chengyu immediately realized that these were treasures, otherwise the chief would not have treasured them so much and placed them together with the gold.

He didn't touch the gold and silver, but instead picked out two stones, one black and one dark gold, and hugged them to his chest before walking out of the treasure room on his own.

When he returned to the first floor of the castle, Li Geda and Xiao Lu were standing with the children outside the murals in the treasure room, not daring to go down. When they saw Wu Chengyu come up, their eyes lit up and they surrounded Wu Chengyu, calling him their great benefactor. Only Li Geda kept calling him big brother.

Wu Chengyu led them to the castle hall, where the slaves who had dealt with the corpses had returned. They gathered in the hall, silent and waiting.

The seven craftsmen, standing on the other side, were terrified when they saw the horrific scene outside. They had only been captured recently and had never seen anything like this before. Several of them had their legs go weak and almost collapsed to their knees.

However, when they saw Wu Chengyu appear, everyone knelt down. They were all grateful to Wu Chengyu for saving their lives, but at the same time they were deeply afraid of Wu Chengyu, knowing that Wu Chengyu held the power to decide their lives.

Only the children seemed confused and didn't know what to do. Xiao Lu also arranged for them to kneel down, but Wu Chengyu stopped them. He didn't want these children to keep kneeling to him. Children should retain some innocence, even if they had long been used to suffering.

Wu Chengyu placed the stone on the ground, then called Li Geda over and asked him to bring a chair so he could sit down leisurely. "Get up, everyone. Does anyone recognize these stones I'm holding?"

Among the seven craftsmen was one in his thirties, with a large frame, though he was also very thin. From the moment Wu Chengyu entered, his eyes lit up as he stared intently at the stone in Wu Chengyu's hand.

“In reply to my benefactor, my family has been blacksmiths for generations. These are iron ore, and they are obviously not ordinary. May I come closer to take a look?”

Wu Chengyu nodded, and the blacksmith quickly stepped forward, first examining it carefully, then touching it with his hands, and finally even licking it with his tongue.

“My benefactor, this large piece is Xuan Iron, a Xuan Iron that is priceless. I once forged Xuan Iron weapons with my master.”

No matter what kind of weapon it is, with just a little something added, it instantly becomes a divine weapon. Something as large as this is truly rare, a priceless treasure.

"Yes," Wu Chengyu nodded. When he saw these black ores, he had a vague idea of ​​what was going on. After all, he had personally handled Dugu Qiubai's Xuan Tie Heavy Sword. He wondered if the Xuan Tie here could also be used to forge a similar sword.

After all, ores need to be refined, and the grade is related to the quality. Just like gold, it is said that 1-40 grams of gold can be extracted from one ton of ore. The common grade in China is 2-5 grams. However, the ore in front of us looks like it can definitely yield more than that.

The blacksmith then picked up the smaller, dark gold-colored ore, as if it were a rare treasure.

“My benefactor, this is also a metal ore, but it is even harder to find than black iron. I have only heard my master mention it, but I have never seen it before. However, my master once explained the characteristics of this metal to me in detail. This is black gold, which is even rarer than black iron.”

Wu Chengyu now looked at the dismembered leader with new respect. The black gold had never appeared in Jin Yong's martial arts novels, but he had read a book called Black Gold Blood Sword back then, though he had forgotten who wrote it.

The descriptions inside are even more exaggerated than those for black iron, and can even rival those for vibranium.

"Don't get excited. You should have seen where I came out from. That was the bandits' treasure room. There are still quite a few ores like this in there. You guys go to the treasure room and move all the gold, silver, and ores here."

As soon as he finished speaking, the slaves and craftsmen headed towards the treasure room, and the children, under the deer's direction, temporarily put down the miscellaneous items they were carrying and ran to help.

Wu Chengyu watched their retreating figures, lost in thought.

Wu Chengyu had no interest in these gold and silver treasures; he couldn't take them all by himself, at most he could take some as travel expenses.

But if we give it to them, we will harm them. They will be killed and robbed before they can even leave the Ziwu Ridge area.

Since Wu Chengyu had saved them, he didn't want them to return to the same fate, otherwise it would have been a waste of his efforts.

Therefore, Wu Chengyu could only leave with peace of mind after he had found a place for these guys to settle down and make a living.

Before long, these people had moved all their belongings into the hall. They were malnourished and suffered greatly, and their health was poor. They were already panting heavily after just a short while.

Wu Chengyu looked at them and asked, "What are your plans for the future?"

(End of this chapter)