Cannon Fodder’s Guide to Getting Rich

Chapter 111

The spirit chamber, serving as the core of the formation array, was the most critical area of the entire spirit vessel.

The moment Wen Shuangbai and Xie Ziyin burst through the door, the captain of the city lord's vessel—who had been deep in meditation within his quarters—immediately sensed something amiss.

The man opened his eyes and was already out of his room in an instant, intending to rush straight to the spirit chamber. But then, he abruptly halted.

In the lavishly decorated corridor, lined with luminous pearls, a silver-haired man with waist-length hair leaned weakly against the wall, propping himself up with his sword.

Perhaps unused to the blinding brightness around him, he squinted uncomfortably, his brows and lashes trembling faintly.

...How long had this man been lying in wait outside his room? And he hadn’t even noticed!

The captain’s eyes sharpened with wariness as he summoned his bonded sword, yet he refrained from striking first. Instead, he waited for the other to make a move.

This was his habit—letting his opponent strike first, waiting for the moment they revealed a flaw. That was when he would counter and deliver the killing blow.

One, two, three... He counted to ten in his mind, but the other showed no intention of attacking. In fact, the man had now fully closed his eyes.

The captain: "......"

A primal instinct for danger kept him from acting rashly. He spoke in a low voice, "Who are you? What do you want?"

Yin Xuan rubbed his eyes, recalling a point emphasized during their earlier discussions. He answered politely, "We’re just here to borrow something."

"Borrow what?"

"The city lord’s vessel," Yin Xuan replied courteously.

"...??" What?! Borrow... the city lord’s vessel?! Such audacity!!

A sharp glint flashed in the captain’s eyes, though his expression remained composed. He probed further, "And what do you intend to do with it? If you tell me, I might even lend it to you—perhaps even assist you."

Yin Xuan only acknowledged the latter half of the statement, nodding gently. "Alright, thank you."

Then, he fell silent again, peacefully feigning sleep with an air of serene detachment.

As long as the captain didn’t make another move, he saw no reason to act either.

The captain seethed inwardly, but his instincts had never failed him. Suppressing his fury, he warned, "If you try to take it by force, the city lord’s estate will never let you go. Even if you flee to the ends of the earth, even if only one of us remains, we will hunt you down!"

Yin Xuan: "Hmm..."

"...I suspect your cultivation surpasses mine. The city lord’s estate welcomes capable cultivators. If you join us, you could easily replace me as captain. Then, you could do as you please without making enemies. Wouldn’t that be ideal?"

"Hmm..." Yin Xuan stopped listening after the first few words, letting them drift in one ear and out the other. By the time the captain finished speaking, he hummed thoughtfully—or perhaps absentmindedly—for a long while, failing to produce a single coherent response.

The captain finally snapped. With a furious roar, he swung his sword at Yin Xuan!

"Go. To. Hell!"

Yin Xuan sighed in resignation.

Did this fight really have to happen?

This man stood no chance against him. What was the point?

---

Meanwhile, the dozen or so guards in the spirit chamber were momentarily stunned at the sight of Wen Shuangbai and Xie Ziyin.

For outsiders to reach the spirit chamber, they would first have to bypass countless lethal formations and traps—no easy feat.

Even a supreme expert would inevitably trigger alarms along the way. It was impossible to arrive without a sound.

"Who are you?!" The guard captain barked, gripping his blade tightly. He was about to signal his subordinates to form a defensive formation when—

Thud. Thud-thud. Thud-thud-thud.

One by one, his men collapsed around him, lifeless in the blink of an eye.

In mere moments, his entire squad had been wiped out, leaving him the sole survivor.

This was... poison!!!

Horror gripped the guard captain. Holding his breath, he channeled every ounce of his cultivation and, without hesitation, swung his blade toward the vessel’s formation core!

If he couldn’t defeat these two, he would destroy the vessel—taking them all down with him!

At the critical moment, Wen Shuangbai’s Firefeather Whip lashed out like a serpent, coiling around the blade.

Under the scorching radiance of her Dawn Spirit technique, the blade melted into molten metal, absorbed by the whip.

Simultaneously, the green-robed woman darted forward, her skirts flaring as she delivered a palm strike that sent the guard captain flying toward the entrance.

There, Xie Ziyin caught him midair and, without giving him a chance to retaliate, ended him swiftly.

Since they had already decided to borrow the city lord's spirit vessel, they were fully aware of the etiquette of borrowing—namely, not giving others a chance to refuse.

If there was no refusal, then it counted as consent.

And so, within the time it took an incense stick to burn, the six of them successfully reunited inside the spirit vessel, having quite triumphantly "borrowed" it.

Their smooth success was largely thanks to their earlier experience wandering around the Qingling Vessel before heading to Dizhou for the Xuantian Trials.

Without that, they wouldn’t have been so familiar with the structure of a spirit vessel.

Though five hundred years had passed, and the Qingling Vessel far surpassed the city lord’s vessel in every aspect, the overall layout remained ninety percent the same.

Back then, Wen Shuangbai had even fantasized about owning one herself—she would’ve been overjoyed in her dreams.

And now, that dream had come true.

Nearby, Li Zhuohua stood tall, proudly surveying their new territory like a crimson swan: "We’ve really outdone ourselves this time!"

Lu Jiayao, still unable to believe their luck, asked nervously, "Is this spirit vessel really ours now?"

"Do you always have to state the obvious?" Shen Hefeng was already running his hands over the luminous pearls embedded in the walls, his boyish face twisting into a mischievous grin. "Everything we’ve won in the trials so far, we’ve been allowed to take out of the Sacred Tower. The spirit vessel won’t be any different."

Wen Shuangbai was also eyeing the luminous pearls, her fingers twitching with the instinct to pry one loose—but then she remembered, wait, the entire ship was theirs now! No need to steal!

After quietly reveling in their victory for a moment, Wen Shuangbai cleared her throat and patted her cheeks, refocusing. "Alright, let’s not forget why we’re here. Time to get to work."

While the others prepared, Wen Shuangbai stood before the vessel’s central formation array, steadying her mind to study it intently.

The entire spirit vessel’s operation relied on this.

Truthfully, the hardest part of crafting a spirit vessel wasn’t the formation itself but the exorbitant cost of materials and the lengthy construction time—far beyond what any individual could afford. Only major sects had the resources to build them.

The formation array, however, wasn’t particularly complex—just a combination of common arrays like teleportation, flight, and defense.

Wen Shuangbai focused on the teleportation section and noticed a glowing white scroll placed at one end, depicting a map of the Shenguixu Valley. A spot on the map pulsed with light, marking the exact location where the six had crushed their jade tokens earlier.

At the other end lay an obsidian-black token inscribed with the characters "Zhuoguang."

This confirmed that the city lord’s vessel was currently dedicated to shuttling between Zhuoguang City’s headquarters and various points in the Shenguixu Valley.

For the city lord’s faction to dedicate such an expensive vessel just to harvest the valley’s sinister Shenguicao herbs meant those herbs were critically important to them.

Recalling the trials they’d faced so far, Wen Shuangbai easily deduced that the great calamity five hundred years ago—triggered by spectral entities—had likely been caused by the Shenguicao.

Those herbs, when consumed, gradually turned people into spectral beings.

The Sacred Tower’s emergence had always been about resolving the spectral threat.

So, to maximize their gains in the trials, they needed to eliminate as many spectral entities as possible—or better yet, address the root cause.

That was likely the key to securing first place.

With the vessel about to leave the Shenguixu Valley in half the time it took to drink tea—which would also mean exiting the Sacred Tower and returning to reality—Wen Shuangbai acted without hesitation. Her fingers flickered with spiritual energy as she swiftly altered the teleportation array.

The vessel lurched to a sudden halt in midair.

Caught off guard, the other five, who had been happily inventorying their spoils, stumbled forward.

"Wen Shuangbai, are you trying to kill us?" Shen Hefeng snapped. "Couldn’t you have warned us before messing with the formation?"

"Or," Wen Shuangbai replied with a sweet smile, "maybe I deliberately didn’t."

"...I’ll curse you, I swear—" Shen Hefeng’s mouth was promptly bound shut by a fiery whip, though he still managed to mumble, "—you brat!"

Amid their grumbling, the vessel turned around and shot toward a new destination.

Soon, the six found themselves back in the Shenguixu Valley, facing the sprawling, deepening expanse of the mass graves.

With precise control over the formation, Wen Shuangbai guided the vessel downward. But the terrain here formed an inverted cone, and after descending a certain distance, the vessel could go no further.

She halted it and first tossed down several explosive talismans, but the depths below remained eerily silent, like a black hole swallowing everything.

Xie Ziyin, watching her furrowed brow, suggested, "I’ll go down and investigate."

Wen Shuangbai turned to him, considering for a moment. "No. I’ll go with you."

She didn’t want him going alone—what if he didn’t return?

Hearing this, Li Zhuohua instantly burned with excitement, rushing over with her sword raised. "I’m coming too!"

Though Lu Jiayao was afraid, he was willing to go with his teammates, so he also said, "T-then I'll go too."

Yin Xuan drifted over, rubbing his sleep-messy hair, and unusually offered, "I'll go as well." He didn’t feel right letting them venture into the danger below alone.

Shen Hefeng looked at one person, then another, and chuckled. "Then this old man will stay on the city lord’s airship. In an emergency, just give a signal, and I’ll immediately set the spirit vessel fleeing. How’s that? Don’t worry—I’ll remember to burn some paper money for you during the holidays."

The group silently stared at him.

Wen Shuangbai: "...Then let’s leave Jiayao behind instead. I’d feel better with him in charge."

The others nodded in agreement.

In the end, after much deliberation, the six unanimously decided that both Shen Hefeng and Lu Jiayao would stay behind.

After Wen Shuangbai explained to Lu Jiayao how to quickly activate the spirit vessel and escape if needed, he donned the armor stripped from the city lord’s guards, gathered every usable artifact from the ship’s treasury, and stood at the hatch alongside Xie Ziyin, Li Zhuohua, and Yin Xuan—all fully armed.

The four fastened the dark-iron ropes from their armor waists securely to the ship.

Exchanging a glance, Wen Shuangbai reached out and pulled the lever beside the door.

With a deafening clang, the hatch slowly opened.

The moment it did, a violent gale rushed in, tousling the loose strands of hair on their foreheads.

With a shared smile, the four leaped heroically from the airship, riding the wind as they descended into the depths of the eerie Divine Abyss Valley.