The entire treasury was utterly empty!

The Spiritual Plants that should have been piled mountain-high were gone.

The shelves once filled with Magical Artifacts and Ores were also gone.

Even the chests containing Elixirs had vanished without a trace.

On the ground, there was only a thick layer of gray powder.

Aside from that, absolutely nothing else remained.

City Lord Takahashi stood frozen in place, his mind a complete blank.

He rubbed his eyes, thinking he must be hallucinating.

Gone?

All of it was gone?!

He had just been here yesterday to take inventory. The Eighth- and Ninth-Grade Spiritual Plants had been piled as high as small mountains!

How could it all have turned to ash today?!

"Wh-what... what’s going on..." he muttered to himself, completely unable to comprehend what had happened.

This was the most central underground treasury of the City Lord’s Mansion! The security outside was so tight, not even a fly could get in!

Who could have possibly emptied the place out so stealthily?

And why did those Spiritual Plants turn into a pile of ash? What kind of sinister technique was this?

At that moment, the goatee-wearing envoy’s face had grown so dark it looked as if ink might drip from it.

He stared daggers at City Lord Takahashi, his eyes filled with rage.

His mind raced, and he immediately arrived at a conclusion that was, to him, perfectly logical.

"Well, well... you’ve got some nerve, Takahashi!"

The envoy strode forward, gritting his teeth, and grabbed City Lord Takahashi by the neck.

"You’ve got a lot of gall!"

"Did you catch wind of something beforehand? Did you know we were coming to confiscate the resources, so you moved all the good stuff out of the treasury overnight?!"

City Lord Takahashi was scared out of his wits and frantically waved his hands.

"No! I didn’t! When I came to check yesterday, everything was still here!"

"I swear I absolutely did not move anything!"

"Still making excuses?!" The envoy viciously slapped City Lord Takahashi across the face.

SMACK!

The force of the blow spun City Lord Takahashi half a circle, and several bloody teeth flew from his mouth.

The envoy pointed at the ashes on the floor and roared.

"Do you take me for a fool?!"

"Without your permission, who could possibly enter the depths of this City Lord’s Mansion?!"

"Not only did you move the Magical Artifacts and Elixirs, but you were even crazy enough to destroy all the hard-to-move Spiritual Plants! You burned them to ash!"

"You’d rather destroy them than hand them over to the state! This is an open provocation against the authority of His Majesty, the Holy Emperor!"

In the envoy’s mind, this was the only logical explanation.

Other than the City Lord pulling an inside job, there was simply no other possibility.

After all, the Protection Array of the City Lord’s Mansion treasury was at least Celestial Tier. Who could break in so silently?

Not even a Sovereign Realm expert could do it!

It couldn’t have been some Emperor Realm master, could it? That’s just ridiculous. Why would an Emperor Realm master even be interested in this stuff?

"My lord! I’ve been framed! It really wasn’t me!"

City Lord Takahashi knelt on the ground, a blubbering mess of tears and snot.

He had no way to defend himself; even jumping into the Yellow River wouldn’t wash him clean now.

He didn’t have the guts to oppose the National Mansion! If this crime was pinned on him, his entire family would be put to death!

"The Array! Look at the Array! It was broken by force! Someone must have snuck in!" He tried to prove his innocence by pointing at the hole in the door.

"Still playing dumb!"

The envoy kicked him in the chest again, sending him flying several meters.

"Breaking the Array yourself to fake the scene? You dare show off such a low-level trick?!"

"Seize him! Take him back to the National Mansion’s dungeons for interrogation and torture! I refuse to believe he won’t confess where he hid the goods!"

The other two envoys immediately rushed forward and, in a flash, had City Lord Takahashi tied up tightly.

City Lord Takahashi let out a desperate scream, but it was all for naught.

Meanwhile, Chu Sheng, stuck to the corner of the wall, almost burst out laughing as he watched this dog-eat-dog drama unfold.

’This is too brilliant!’

’This City Lord Takahashi is the perfect fall guy. He’s been screwed over so badly he’s lost everything, and he still doesn’t even know who did it.’

However, as he watched the chaos unfold, Chu Sheng’s mind began to race.

He didn’t leave right away. Instead, he carefully mulled over what the envoy had just said.

’The Holy Emperor of the Sakura Country is going to confiscate all the Cultivation Resources in the entire nation within three days?’

’He’s even willing to paralyze the country’s entire economy to execute this so-called "ultimate plan"?’

Chu Sheng’s eyes narrowed slightly.

’This is definitely not normal.’

’No national leader, unless they’ve gone mad, would ever do something so self-destructive.’

’Unless...’

’They’re facing some kind of enormous crisis, or they’re about to launch an earth-shattering war that could change the global landscape!’

’Only in one of those two scenarios would they drain the nation’s strength without a second thought, gathering every last resource.’

Connecting this to the five Emperor Realm auras he had sensed at the National Mansion before...

...Chu Sheng had a sudden epiphany.

’I get it!’

’Those five avatars of the Sakura Ancient Gods are definitely charging up some kind of ultimate move!’

’With that old coot Qin Yuan gone, this bunch must feel like they have an opening. They plan to frantically plunder a wave of resources, forcibly increase their strength, and then go stir up trouble in Great Xia!’

’Those bastards. Just as I thought, they’re up to no good!’ Chu Sheng snorted inwardly.

But then, a flash of inspiration struck him.

’Wait a minute...’

’Isn’t this a massive stroke of good fortune for me?!’

Chu Sheng’s eyes instantly lit up like a pair of high-beam headlights.

’Just a moment ago, I was still worrying.’

’I was thinking that robbing over nine hundred treasuries one by one would be too exhausting and time-consuming.’

’And now look at this.’

’I was just getting sleepy, and these Sakura Ancient Gods went and delivered a pillow right to my door!’

’Since they’ve ordered all the nation’s resources to be gathered at the National Mansion within three days...’

’...doesn’t that mean all the good stuff will basically grow legs and run straight to the capital’s main treasury?!’

’So why should I bother running all over the country like I’m trying to outrun the storm?’

’I can just go camp out at the entrance to the National Mansion’s main treasury, right?’

’It’s just like playing a video game.’

’Everyone else grinds hard, jungling and farming across the whole map to max out their gold...’

’...and then I just wait at the finish line and wipe them all out in one go!’

’This is an epic-level all-you-can-eat buffet!’

At this thought, Chu Sheng was so excited his wings began to tremble.

"These delivery guys from the Sakura Country really have the best customer service."

He glanced at City Lord Takahashi, who was already beaten black and blue and being dragged out of the treasury, and silently offered his thanks.

Then, he activated his Boundless Wings.

HUMMM!

An extremely faint spatial fluctuation flashed past.

Chu Sheng’s figure instantly vanished from the underground treasury of Haimachi City.

...

When he reappeared, he was already high in the sky above Dongdu City, the capital of the Sakura Country.

He looked down at the magnificent National Mansion complex below.

Chu Sheng did not rashly release his Mental Power to investigate as he had last time.

He knew those five Emperor Realm masters were down there; he absolutely could not risk alerting the enemy.

He didn’t need to investigate, though.

As long as all the nation’s resources were being transported here, he just had to keep an eye on the transport convoys to easily find the location of the main treasury.

’A craftsman must first sharpen his tools if he is to do his work well.’

Chu Sheng hovered in mid-air and opened his system panel.

He looked at his more than nine hundred thousand Evolution Points.

He knew that the biggest problem he faced right now wasn’t a lack of resources.

It was that he couldn’t "eat" them fast enough!

If the National Mansion’s treasury was truly filled with the resources of an entire nation, the quantity would be hundreds, or even thousands, of times greater than that of the Haimachi City Lord’s Mansion!

If he continued at his current absorption speed...

...even if he lay inside and absorbed with all his might, it would probably take him several days.

’That won’t do.’

’Although I have the Secret Technique, Formless Myriad Phenomena, and don’t have to worry about being discovered, what if the Holy Emperor of the Sakura Country needs to use these resources in a few days? I can’t just absorb them right in front of him, can I?’

’I have to boost my "eating" speed!’

With a thought, Chu Sheng opened his system panel, his gaze falling upon a particular Skill.

[God-devouring Needle]: Current Level 30. Evolved from a normal proboscis. Can pierce a target, ignoring physical Defense, and absorb the target’s Qi Blood/Energy!