Starting with the divine power of the Great Vajra, he traversed the heavens.

Chapter 282 Under the Crooked Tree, the Treasure Entrance
Three days later, at midnight.

Four figures, of varying heights and builds, leaped across the rooftops in a series of bounds, their speed so fast that even the wind and lightning could not describe it.

"Stop, stop, stop!"

One of the chubby figures raised his hand and called out softly.

Hearing the commotion, the three people in front couldn't help but turn around and glance back. They saw the little Taoist leaning against the wall, breathing heavily, his face flushed red, and his forehead covered with large beads of sweat.

"Oh, Fat Taoist, you're already exhausted after only fifty li," Hongxiu said in a coquettish voice. "And you call yourself the number one master of Wudang? How shameful!"

"Get out of here!" The little Taoist priest's voice cracked as he spoke, his face filled with grief and indignation. "Who can compare to you? Running all the way from Lion Mountain at full speed, and even circling the city, that's over a hundred miles! People will die!"

Ding'an said from the side, "How come my brother Donkey is alright running like that?"

The half-baked Taoist scratched his face: "You treat me like an animal?"

Ding'an chuckled: "You can't compare to Brother Donkey."

The half-baked Taoist was extremely ashamed and indignant.

"Alright." Ren Shaoyang looked at the wall of the alley in front of him and said calmly, "Follow the alley, the mansion at the end is the treasure trove."

"It's actually under the house?" the little Taoist priest exclaimed in surprise. "No normal person would think of that."

Hongxiu laughed and said, "No matter how cunning those barbarians are, in the end they'll still have to drink the foot bath water from our 'Dragon Slayer and Treasure-Hunting Squad'!"

"Wow!" Little Half-Taoist clapped his hands repeatedly and said, "Your name is quite impressive."

Hongxiu chuckled, and Ren Shaoyang asked, "Have you rested enough?"

The little Taoist nodded, patted his chest, and said, "All done."

The four of them used their movement techniques, the wind force flowing through their bodies, their sleeves billowing, and they passed over the wall like streaks of light.

This place is an old, dilapidated courtyard surrounded by red walls and green tiles. The green tiles are scattered, and the pavilions and towers have mostly faded and lost their luster.

Clearly, the passage of time has eroded countless moments of glory, leaving only the dilapidated house to bear witness to the tragic end of the courtyard's owner.

The four of them stood in the courtyard, their gazes falling on a crooked tree. It was so thick that several people could encircle it, and its branches and leaves were dense and abundant.

Ren Shaoyang said, "The entrance is right under this tree."

"Is it real or fake?" The little Taoist examined it for a long time. "The Yuan Dynasty was destroyed only thirty years ago. This tree must be two or three hundred years old."

“Oh dear, perhaps it was transplanted from the imperial garden by the Yuan Dynasty emperor?” Hongxiu laughed. “What an individual may not be able to do is not difficult for a country.”

Ding'an nodded repeatedly: "The little beggar is right!"

She put her hands on her hips and smiled haughtily.

"I need to see what's going on."

The half-hearted Taoist priest was skeptical, but he took out an iron awl, jumped in front of the tree, and repeatedly stabbed it.

Just as he was digging, Hongxiu nudged Shaoyang: "What about Xuan Yuanzi?"

Ren Shaoyang sneered, "This guy is a traitor, passing on our information. He claims to be discreet, but he's completely exposed. No rush, let's play along!"

"Huh? That old bastard is a traitor?" Ding'an realized belatedly.

Hongxiu laughed and said, "You're only just finding out?"

Ding An snorted and said in a deep voice, "I knew he wasn't a good person long ago!"

Hongxiu clapped her hands and laughed, "Hmm! Ding'an, you're full of energy!"

Ren Shaoyang, with his hands behind his back gazing at the moon, said calmly, "Once we've lured all the forces here, we'll trap them like turtles in a jar."

"Oh, Hongxiu, you're absolutely right!"

Just then, the Taoist priest's voice came: "This soil shows signs of being loosened; there's something underneath!"

Ren Shaoyang stepped forward, brushed the ground with his hand, and said with a smile, "This is it, let's start digging!"

"okay!"

Ding An jumped over immediately, his prosthetic arm suddenly extended, fingertips pointing to the ground, and shouted: "Lightning Poison Dragon Drill!"

A sudden buzzing sound rang out as the prosthetic arm spun wildly, its sharp edge sending dirt flying everywhere.

In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, two mounds of earth appeared on the ground. Ding An's prosthetic hand dug faster and faster like an electric drill, and his body gradually sank into the ground.

Suddenly, a "clang" was heard, and the sound of metal clashing was heard. The buzzing sound stopped abruptly.

Ding'an spat out two mouthfuls of dirt and shouted, "Come quick! We've dug something up!"

Everyone responded with a start and walked to the edge of the pit to observe.

Then a huge rock appeared at Ding'an's feet, inlaid with iron rings. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a stone gate.

"My God!" Hongxiu chuckled, "This is yet another entrance to an underground palace!"

Ding An grabbed the iron ring with one hand and tried his best to lift it, but the stone door did not budge. Unwilling to believe it, he shouted loudly, channeling all his strength, his face turning red, but he still could not lift it.

"Severed hand? Let me do it." Ren Shaoyang jumped down and patted Ding An on the shoulder.

Ding An, panting heavily, nodded and stepped aside.

Ren Shaoyang stepped forward, grabbed the iron ring with one hand, and shouted in a deep voice. The Great Vajra Divine Power burst forth, and the stone door suddenly lifted upward, revealing a dark crack from which a cold, foul stench gushed out.

"Whoosh!" Ding An pursed his lips and suddenly exhaled a cloud of mist that glowed with fire, its sheen visible through his skin.

In the blink of an eye, a flash of fire appeared, instantly burning away all the turbid air.

Ren Shaoyang continued to exert force, slowly lifting the stone gate.

Below the stone gate, a dark cave appeared.

The little beggar and the halfway man jumped down into the pit to get a closer look.

Hongxiu softly uttered a single word towards the cave: "Hey~!" Her voice carried heavily through the cave. After a moment, she raised her head and confidently smiled, "Ten zhang deep!"

It turns out that the little beggar used his "keen ears" to probe the depth of the cave, which made it clear to him.

Ren Shaoyang surveyed the cave, pondered for a moment, and said, "Fatty Taoist, are the water, food, and fire prepared?"

The little Taoist patted the large package behind him and chuckled, "It's all here!"

Ren Shaoyang nodded, rubbed the ring on his left hand, looked around, and suddenly snapped his fingers.

A constant hissing sound could be heard as fine threads intertwined and were laid out in the yard.

Ren Shaoyang said, "In recent years, besides forging a prosthetic hand, the severed hand has also upgraded the Divine Spider Sword, connecting the fine threads into one, making it a hundred feet long. As long as one has enough internal energy, flying a hundred feet is not a dream!"

The young Taoist asked, "Then, Shao Yang, can you fly a hundred feet?"

“Not yet,” Ren Shaoyang laughed. “A few dozen feet is still possible. Right now, I’m using the sword threads as a warning. If anyone touches the sword threads at the cave entrance, I can fly back in the blink of an eye.”

The young Taoist said, "That's great, then we don't need to leave anyone to keep watch."

"Everything is ready, let's go down."

Ren Shaoyang and Ding An exchanged a glance, then suddenly grabbed the little beggar and the half-Taoist, and leaped into the underground cave.

Ren Shaoyang, with the little beggar in tow, descended slowly in the darkness, like a kite in flight.

"laugh!"

The two landed on the ground and suddenly saw a flash of light. The little beggar lit a tinderbox, and the flame extended forward, illuminating a cave.

They looked around and saw that the cave was dark and damp, with jagged rocks all around, all showing signs of drilling and chiseling, indicating that the development was hasty and crude.

Ren Shaoyang looked at it and couldn't help but imagine the scene when Emperor Yuan Shundi hastily sealed the cave and fled in panic. He shook his head and laughed, "What use is a treasure left behind when people are dead and the country is destroyed?"

Hongxiu smiled and replied, "Let's leave it for fate."

Who is destined to be with us?

The little beggar pointed his thumb at his nose, beaming with joy: "That must be me!"

Just then, a sound of wind came from above, followed by a thud.

Then Ding'an was seen pressing down on a small group of Taoist priests, who were stacked like Arhats, and they kept groaning.

"Ding'an, you almost killed me!" Xiao Ban leaned against the wall, clutching his back and groaning, "My old back!"

Ding'an also clutched his head, feeling a bit dizzy. It took him a while to recover before he said, "Isn't it because you're too fat? You made me lose my grip and fall from mid-air!"

Seeing that they had fallen in a sorry state but were unharmed, Hongxiu stepped forward to mediate their fight.

Ren Shaoyang then lit a tinderbox to illuminate the road ahead.

Where the firelight extended, a cave appeared, its interior mostly composed of rock, appearing mottled and worn at first glance.

The little beggar gave Xiao Ban and Ding An an elbow each to "comfort" them, then walked up to Shao Yang and said in a deep voice, "This place is so dark and gloomy, it's perfect for sealing off the entrance and letting everyone rot here."

Ren Shaoyang turned to look at the cave entrance and nodded: "That's right, Fang Yeyu and his group probably think the same thing."

Ding An stepped forward and said, "They're so wicked, what should we do?"

Ren Shaoyang smiled and pointed to the cave ahead, saying, "People die for wealth, birds die for food. With the treasure right in front of them, they will never give it up. Now that we have the upper hand, we naturally have time to make preparations."

"That makes sense!" Little Half-Taoist gave a thumbs up. "Since we have the upper hand, of course we should lure them into a trap and catch them like turtles in a jar!"

As they talked, the group ventured deeper into the cave. The passageway was long, and the space became more and more open as they walked.

The carvings inside are becoming increasingly exquisite. Carved marks can be seen on the walls, and every ten steps or so, there are shrine reliefs with statues of gods and Buddhas, which are exquisite and strange.

The little Taoist priest scanned the statues, exclaimed "Eh!", and then said, "These statues are of the Great Yaksha King, a deity in Tantric Buddhism who controls the wealth of the world. It's quite fitting to place them here."

Ren Shaoyang laughed and said, "Fatty Taoist, you know a lot."

The half-hearted Taoist chuckled and said, "Passionate, passionate!"

Ding An looked at him suspiciously, then whispered, "Fatty, you know so much about tomb raiding, are you planning to dig up your ancestor's tomb and find the secret manual?"

The Taoist priest's face turned pale, and he stammered, "You, how dare you insult someone's innocence like this?"

Ding An said, "Wow, you actually want to?"

"Nonsense! I didn't, it wasn't me!" the fat man said, waving his hands frantically.

"Crippled man, one-handed man, fat Taoist priest, look at this!"

Suddenly, the little beggar's voice came.

The three of them perked up and rushed over, craning their necks to look in the direction she was pointing.

(End of this chapter)