The deep darkness of night shrouded the entire Cangwu City.
Shen Manyi changed into a suit of night clothes suited for moving about and traveled beneath the cover of darkness.
Her figure slipped through the layers of corridors within the Shen Family, blending seamlessly into the shadows.
Tangyuan lay sprawled across her shoulder and transmitted his voice through divine sense, in a voice only the two of them could hear.
“I’m saying, Little Girl, you’ve got quite a bit of nerve.
“Your first target is the Treasure Pavilion? The restrictions there are the strongest in the entire Shen Family.”
Shen Manyi did not slow her steps in the slightest. Her voice was cold.
“What’s there to fear? The more dangerous the place, the less they’ll expect me to go there.
“Besides, my good father is in that outside woman’s courtyard tonight. He won’t have time to worry about anywhere else.”
The moment she recalled what those two had said that evening, Shen Manyi’s gaze grew even colder.
“Even if what you say is true.”
Tangyuan gave a soft snort. “But don’t blame this divine beast for not warning you. The restrictions on the Treasure Pavilion are connected to the Shen Family’s earth veins.
“If you force your way through them, the entire Shen Family will be alerted.”
“Who said I was going to force my way through?”
Shen Manyi silently arrived at a concealed corner of the Treasure Pavilion.
There was a weak point in the formation there. Her mother had set it up before her death, and she was the only person in the entire Shen Family who knew about it.
She forced a drop of vital blood from her fingertip and pressed it against one of the cyan bricks.
The formation rippled with a circle of waves invisible to the naked eye. Shen Manyi slipped sideways and entered.
“Tangyuan, you said that as long as I have enough spiritual power, anything my divine sense can touch can be collected, right?”
“That’s correct.”
Tangyuan lazily yawned, his golden pupils gleaming with anticipation at the show to come.
“But you’re only a third level of Qi Refining little rookie right now. Can your divine sense even reach three zhang?
“Don’t end up unable to touch anything while turning yourself into an idiot first.”
Shen Manyi did not argue with him.
Instead, she gathered all her mental power and cautiously extended it through the crack beneath the door, probing into the interior of the Treasure Pavilion.
In an instant, all the dazzling rare treasures appeared in her mind.
The first floor contained ordinary low-grade spirit stones, spirit herbs, medicinal pills, and all sorts of miscellaneous items.
“Collect!”
The instant the thought arose, everything on the shelves vanished without a trace. Not even the slightest fluctuation of spiritual power remained.
“Hmm… not bad, I suppose. Better than nothing.”
Tangyuan smacked his lips, sensing the concentration of spiritual energy in the spatial realm rise slightly.
Shen Manyi had used the spatial realm for the first time. Before she even had time to rejoice at the disappearance of the items, she felt a slight stabbing pain in her head—the sign that her mental power had been overdrawn.
She did not stop. Gritting her teeth, she extended her mental power toward the second floor.
This floor contained mid-grade spirit stones and various magical artifacts.
“Tsk, tsk. What kind of junk is this? Is this all the foundation your Shen Family has?
“Even the pillow this divine beast used to sleep on back then had more spiritual energy than these things!”
Tangyuan’s words were full of disdain, but his movements were not slow in the slightest.
He rapidly collected everything Shen Manyi’s mental power touched.
The second floor was soon empty as well.
The sharp pain made cold sweat break out across Shen Manyi’s forehead, and her breathing grew hurried.
Concern appeared in Tangyuan’s eyes. “Little Girl, if you can’t hold on, don’t force yourself.”
“Overdrawing your mental power is no trivial matter. That’s enough. Your life is more important.”
“No. It’s not enough.”
A ruthless determination showed in Shen Manyi’s eyes.
“This is still far from enough to cripple them. I want everything.”
She held her breath and stuffed several medicinal pills she had just collected into her mouth.
Then she gathered the last of her mental power and threw it with all her strength toward the third floor of the Treasure Pavilion!
The third floor was not large and held only a few items.
Yet every one of them radiated astonishing spiritual power, proving that this was where the most valuable treasures were kept.
Shen Manyi had no time to concern herself with what they were. She would collect them all—that was all that mattered.
The instant she activated the power of her spatial realm and the treasures on the third floor vanished, the protective restrictions of the Treasure Pavilion were finally triggered, releasing a sharp, buzzing cry.
“Oh no! The restrictions reacted!”
Tangyuan’s voice immediately grew tense. “Get out! Get out!”
The guards outside had already been alerted.
“What was that sound?”
“Not good! It’s the Treasure Pavilion!”
Shen Manyi made her decision at once and turned to leave.
But then a crazed thought rose in her mind.
She turned back and swept her mental power across the now-empty Treasure Pavilion once more, finally letting it settle on the polished floor.
Those floor tiles were all Azure Spirit Jade containing faint traces of spiritual energy!
“Tangyuan! Collect the floor tiles too!”
“Have you gone mad?” Tangyuan’s voice broke with panic.
“At a time like this, you still want to dig three feet into the ground and leave them not even a single hair? Is that something a person would do?”
“These beasts don’t deserve to have a single hair left!”
Shen Manyi’s voice was terrifyingly calm. “They wanted to destroy me, so I’ll let them taste what it means to have nothing at all.”
“Fine, you’re ruthless enough! This divine beast likes that ruthlessness!”
Tangyuan let out an excited growl. With a flash of thought, the originally magnificent Treasure Pavilion became an empty shell, leaving behind only a pitted stretch of bare earth.
After finishing all this, Shen Manyi’s divine sense was completely exhausted.
Her vision went black, and her body swayed.
Still, she forced herself to use the last bit of her strength and quickly disappeared into the night.
A white sheet of letter paper remained where she had just been standing.
Almost at the same moment she left, Shen Hong and a group of family Elders hurried over.
When they pushed open the doors of the Treasure Pavilion and saw the empty interior, every one of them was dumbstruck.
Some even began to wonder whether they were seeing an illusion.
“My spirit stones! My magical artifacts! My thousand-year blood ginseng!”
An elderly, white-haired Elder pounded his chest. He nearly fainted when he could not catch his breath.
Shen Hong was even more furious, his entire body trembling.
He rushed inside and stared at the exposed floor. His vision went black, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
“Who did this?”
“How were the family guards patrolling? How could they not know a thief had entered?”
At that moment, a guard walked in trembling.
He held a snow-white sheet of letter paper in his hand, and even his voice shook as he spoke.
“Family Head… this was… found outside…”
Shen Hong snatched the letter from him and swept his gaze across the graceful yet glaring line of writing.
“May the daughter of the outside woman and the old monster of the Hehuan Sect enjoy a hundred years of marital bliss.”
The ultimate humiliation sent Shen Hong’s blood surging once more.
“Pfft—”
Another mouthful of blood sprayed out, staining the letter red.
Shen Hong clenched the letter tightly, his eyes bloodshot and his expression twisted into something terrifying.
“Shen—Manyi—!”
He raised his head and roared toward the sky. The spiritual power contained in his voice made the entire Shen Family residence hum and tremble, sending countless birds flying from their nests.
On this night, no one in the Cangwu Shen Family was destined to sleep.