Su Yu slowly walked over to Qin Bashan’s corpse.

He looked down at the mangled body, which had collapsed in the mud like a torn sack, a terrifying, bloody hole pierced clean through its chest. A discerning glint flashed in his eyes.

’Stacking Hundred Fierce Peaks to the sixth punch can shatter the ultimate defense of someone at Flesh Refining Realm Perfection with overwhelming force. With this kind of extreme, violent destructive power, I’m truly invincible among those in the Flesh Refining Realm in the Outer City!’

Composing himself, Su Yu squatted down and skillfully ripped a bulging leather pouch from Qin Bashan’s waist.

He untied the knot and dumped all the assorted items inside onto a clean rock.

CLANG! A few crisp sounds rang out.

A heavy, ten-tael gold bar, a stalk of tiger bone ginseng with its roots perfectly preserved and glowing with a faint, bloody light, a simple, old-fashioned brass key, and several porcelain vials containing medicinal pills.

’No silver notes?’

Su Yu’s brow twitched. He glanced helplessly at Qin Bashan’s obliterated chest. ’He probably kept them close to his chest. That last punch was too powerful; they were likely blown to smithereens along with his flesh and blood.’

Meanwhile, Qin Yu had deftly looted the bodies of Xia Lie and Huang Chong. She walked over quickly, carrying two blood-stained leather pouches.

"Senior Brother, these two were quite rich. I found over two thousand taels’ worth of silver notes, along with dozens of taels in Broken Silver and a few vials of high-quality medicinal pills."

Su Yu glanced at the pouches Qin Yu handed him and nodded slightly. "Hm, take half of the silver notes and pills. You killed Xia Lie yourself, so it’s only right that you get half the spoils."

"What are you saying, Senior Brother? Are you looking down on me?"

Hearing this, Qin Yu’s slender brows shot up, and a trace of annoyance flashed in her bright eyes. "You took down Ghost Mist Island by yourself. Naturally, everything belongs to you."

With that, she gave Su Yu no chance to refuse, forcefully shoving the two pouches into his arms.

Seeing her angry expression and knowing her temper, Su Yu accepted them. He then casually stored the pouches, along with the gold bar and precious herb from the ground, into his storage ring.

"I’ll go clean up and loot the other Water Bandits’ bodies on the island." Seeing Su Yu accept the items, Qin Yu’s expression softened. "It’ll be trouble if a plague breaks out with so many corpses piled up here. I’ll gather them together and burn them to ashes."

"Thank you for your hard work, Junior Sister." Su Yu nodded. "I’ll go check the main strongholds and see if I can find Ghost Mist Island’s treasury."

...

「Half an hour later.」

In the deepest part of Ghost Mist Island, before a sturdy, black stone house built into the mouth of a mountain cave.

Su Yu looked at the heavy, iron-bound wooden door and the brass lock hanging from it—a lock as large as a soup bowl—and a grin touched his lips.

’This has to be the treasury of Ghost Mist Island!’

He walked forward, took out the old-fashioned key he had just looted from Qin Bashan’s corpse, inserted it into the keyhole, and twisted with a bit of force.

CLICK!

The heavy mechanism sprang open, and the brass lock fell with a thud.

Su Yu put his strength into his arms and slowly pushed open the heavy stone door. A dull grinding sound echoed as a mixed odor washed over him.

When he saw the scene inside the treasury, a blazing light erupted in his eyes.

Inside the spacious stone cave, seven or eight large, iron-bound redwood chests were neatly stacked. The surrounding rock walls had been artificially carved with neat rows of niches, which were dazzlingly filled with all sorts of rare items in brocade boxes.

Su Yu strode to the nearest redwood chest and threw open the heavy lid.

There were at least seven or eight red sandalwood chests on the floor, and the surrounding walls had recessed niches holding rows of treasures.

In an instant, his vision was filled with a brilliant golden light!

Gold ingots!

A massive chest filled to the brim with gold ingots, neatly stacked like a small mountain!

’I’m rich!’

Su Yu couldn’t help but gasp.

Ghost Mist Island had occupied the Ten Islands Waters for years. It seemed they had plundered a great number of passing merchant ships; otherwise, they could never have amassed such a fortune.

He reached out and weighed one. A standard gold bar was ten taels. According to the current market price in Black Stone City, one tael of Gold exchanged for ten taels of Silver, meaning this one gold bar was worth a hundred taels of Snowflake Silver!

Su Yu did a quick count. There were at least fifty gold bars in this chest. In other words, this single chest was worth a full five thousand taels of Silver!

Five thousand taels!

That was enough to buy twenty or thirty ordinary treasure fish! And based on the current conversion rate for Breakthrough Points, twenty ordinary treasure fish would be more than enough for him to accumulate a full Breakthrough Point!

’In other words, this one chest of gold ingots can get me a heaven-defying opportunity to achieve a Martial Arts Breaking Limit!’

Su Yu couldn’t help but look at the other chests and quickly moved forward to open them.

’More gold ingots!’

’This chest is full of top-quality East Sea pearls!’

’Whoa! Is this high-grade Hundred-Forged Dark Gold? There’s so much! It’s enough to forge several heavy weapons or a top-tier inner armor!’

’Is this... high-quality Ice Silk? It feels so light, thin, and smooth. It’s quite similar to the material Qing Hong wears on her legs. It’s most likely some sought-after goods plundered from a wealthy clan’s merchant ship.’

...

In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Su Yu had finished taking stock of the eight large chests.

Three of them were filled with gold ingots. Including the pearls, agates, precious silks, and other hard currency, the rough value of this treasure hoard definitely exceeded twenty thousand taels of Silver!

Su Yu didn’t have time for a detailed inventory. Like an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, he stored all eight large chests in his storage ring. The once-empty mustard-seed space instantly became packed.

After securing the bulk of the loot, Su Yu turned to the niches on the wall and began to inspect the brocade boxes that were displayed individually.

He opened the first exquisite Zitan wood box, and a rich, heavy medicinal aroma instantly filled the air.

Inside the box lay a tuberous plant, about the size of an adult’s fist. It was a lustrous, dark yellow color and its surface was covered in natural, cloud-like patterns.

"Earth Yellow Essence!"

Having seen much of the world, Su Yu recognized it at a glance.

This was a genuine high-grade precious herb!

Commander Li Jingxuan had once gifted him a small piece, but it was incomparable to this one in terms of size and age.

Su Yu took it in his hand and started eating it directly.

His Qi and Blood had been depleted in the previous battle, so eating this Earth Yellow Essence was the perfect way to replenish it.

[Breakthrough Point Progress +3%]

While taking large bites of the Earth Yellow Essence, Su Yu eagerly opened the second brocade box.

Inside was a strange spirit fruit, shaped like an orange but with a peel that shone a dazzling crimson-gold.

The surface of the peel was naturally wound with fine, vein-like golden threads. It emitted a clear, rich fruity aroma that cleared the mind upon smelling it.

After swallowing the Earth Yellow Essence in a few bites, Su Yu gauged the tolerance limit of the meridians in his body. Feeling he hadn’t reached his limit yet, he unhesitatingly peeled the crimson-gold spirit fruit.

The pulp was crystal clear. The moment it entered his mouth, there was no sourness or bitterness; instead, it transformed into a sweet, cool nectar that flowed down his throat.

This cool energy rushed straight to his mind, invigorating his spirit and instantly sweeping away the fatigue from the battle.

[Breakthrough Point Progress +2%]

’Its medicinal power is a bit weaker than the Earth Yellow Essence. It’s probably a Middle Grade precious herb.’

Next, like a whirlwind scattering clouds, Su Yu rapidly went through the remaining seven or eight brocade boxes.

He harvested another five rare precious herbs—three high-grade and two Middle Grade.

Su Yu stored all of them in his storage ring.

After looting the treasury clean, Su Yu left the stone house and continued his carpet-bomb-style sweep through the other buildings on Ghost Mist Island.

Any weapon, ore, or ancient text of even the slightest value, regardless of size, was swept into his storage ring as if by a plague of locusts.

Only when the storage ring’s vast interior was more than half full did Su Yu reluctantly stop.

By now, the precious herbs he had swallowed earlier were mostly digested.

[Breakthrough Point]: 0 (Progress 51%)

"The progress has finally passed the halfway mark!" Su Yu looked at the panel, his mood soaring. ’At this terrifying rate of consumption, it won’t even take a few days to accumulate another full Breakthrough Point!’

As he calculated, he extravagantly pulled another purple spirit fruit from his storage ring, tossed it into his mouth, and began chewing with a CRUNCH, CRUNCH.

’Eating these precious herbs like this is wasteful. It would be best to use them in conjunction with the Black Stone Body Forging Skill to stimulate my Qi and Blood during training, or to try soaking them in a wine gourd to see if that enhances their effects.’

However, his haul this time was enormous, so Su Yu didn’t care too much. He was only focused on quickly accumulating Breakthrough Points.

Chewing on the spirit fruit, Su Yu strolled leisurely toward a black stone house deep within the water stronghold.

A thick, pungent stench of blood was wafting out from the partially open crack of the stone house’s door.

He frowned, lifted his leg, and kicked the heavy stone door open.

The scene before him left him stunned.