40: Chapter 40 The Vanished Spirit Rice

Before the Great Array.

Lin Hao arrived here with Manager Liu Cheng and over ten of his trusted subordinates.

Seeing the Great Array in its activated state, Manager Liu Cheng's heart sank instantly, his face filled with anxiety and worry.

Inside this Great Array were stored two hundred thousand jin of Spiritual Rice that needed to be handed over to the Sect, as well as one hundred and fifty thousand jin of high-grade Spiritual Rice that the Lin family had embezzled.

If anything happened to this Spiritual Rice, as the direct overseer, he would certainly be held accountable. At best, his cultivation would be crippled and he would be expelled from the Sect; at worst, his life would be forfeit.

At the same time, Manager Liu Cheng's heart was filled with remorse.

Had he known such a mess would occur, he wouldn't have let himself be coerced by Lin Hao into handing over the Black Iron Token that controlled the Great Array, no matter what.

If the token were still in his hands, such a massive blunder would never have happened.

“Senior Brother Lin, this matter is of grave importance. For an intruder to dare lurk about late at night, I fear they are no ordinary Disciple. Should we... immediately report this to the Elder and let the Elder decide?”

In his view, only by inviting Lin Zhentian here could they ensure everything was foolproof.

“Report to my father?” Lin Hao sneered, his face full of disdain and arrogance. “It's just a Qi Refining Cultivator hiding their head and showing their tail, who took advantage of my lack of preparation to break into the formation. They won't be able to stir up any big waves.”

“Trapped inside, he is nothing more than a turtle in a jar. The few of us are enough to take him down; why bother my father to act?”

In Lin Hao's view, he himself was at the Peak of the Qi Refining realm. Combined with Manager Liu Cheng and over ten trusted subordinates, dealing with an intruder trapped in the Great Array would be as easy as turning over his hand.

He not only wanted to kill the intruder as quickly as possible but also wanted to save his own face.

Moreover, if Lin Zhentian found out, he would naturally discover the theft of the Spiritual Rice as well.

When that time came, he would certainly be punished by Lin Zhentian.

Hearing that it was merely a Qi Refining Cultivator, Manager Liu Cheng's hanging heart finally eased slightly.

“Senior Brother is right; this Disciple was overthinking. That little thief is trapped in the formation and will certainly find it hard to escape even with wings. Let's enter the formation and search immediately; we will surely capture him.”

He had only one thought in his mind: to catch the intruder as quickly as possible and secure the Spiritual Rice in the formation. Only then could he escape this calamity and avoid bearing the blame for the lost Spiritual Rice.

“Wait!” Lin Hao, however, stopped Manager Liu Cheng.

“Eldest Senior Brother, why is this?” Manager Liu Cheng looked at Lin Hao with some confusion.

“Let me toy with this little thief for a bit!” Lin Hao's face showed a hint of playfulness.

In Lin Hao's eyes, this little thief was already a turtle in a jar and couldn't cause any trouble at all.

Manager Liu Cheng knew Lin Hao's temperament, and since the little thief was trapped inside the Great Array, he didn't say anything.

“You little thief hiding inside, listen up!” Lin Hao's voice, bolstered by the aura of the Peak of Qi Refining, echoed through the Great Array.

“I know you're trapped inside and can't escape even with wings. If you're sensible, surrender peacefully, and perhaps I'll give you a quick death. If you continue to hide your head and show your tail, once this Young Master catches you, I will certainly grind your bones to ash and torture you well!”

Lin Hao deliberately slowed his pace, his every word full of mockery. He clearly wanted to toy with the intruder inside first, wearing down the opponent's will before capturing them at leisure to reclaim the face he had lost from being offended earlier.

The ten or so trusted subordinates also chimed in, shouting sternly at the Great Array. For a moment, the area before the formation was filled with Killing Intent as the shouting rose and fell.

But long after the words fell, the inside of the Great Array remained deathly silent, without the slightest response.

The playfulness on Lin Hao's face gradually faded, replaced by a hint of impatience.

He frowned and shouted a few more times at the Great Array, but there was still no movement inside.

Manager Liu Cheng, standing to the side, quickly stepped forward and bowed to Lin Hao, suggesting: “Senior Brother Lin, that little thief must be scared and is hiding in the formation, not daring to make a sound. Rather than wasting time here, we should open the Great Array and rush in as soon as possible. We can catch him while he's still unsettled and confirm the safety of the Spiritual Rice.”

Lin Hao's face was terrifyingly gloomy.

He never expected that the little thief would actually dare to ignore him, the Eldest Senior Brother of the Outer Sect.

He gave a cold snort and handed the Black Iron Token to Manager Liu Cheng. “Open the Great Array. Today, I will definitely make this little thief pay the price!”

“Yes!” Manager Liu Cheng hurriedly took the token, not daring to hesitate for a moment. He walked quickly to the stone platform and precisely inserted the token into the groove, while simultaneously injecting a sufficient amount of Spiritual Qi.

The light of the pale green formation runes suddenly surged, and the originally closed formation gate slowly opened inward.

“Rush in! Spread out and search; make sure to capture that little thief!” Lin Hao barked the order and took the lead, charging into the formation.

The ten or so trusted subordinates immediately followed behind, weapons in hand, swarming into the Great Array with Killing Intent.

Manager Liu Cheng also dared not delay and quickly followed into the formation.

After half the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Lin Hao, Manager Liu Cheng, and the others arrived at the place where the Spiritual Rice was stored.

But the moment Manager Liu Cheng and Lin Hao entered, they froze on the spot.

The area where two thousand bags of Spiritual Rice had originally been piled was now completely empty!

Forget the densely packed gunny sacks; not even a single grain of Spiritual Rice or a trace of debris remained, as if two hundred thousand jin of Spiritual Rice had never been stored there.

“How... how could this be?”

“Where is the Spiritual Rice?”

“Where did the Spiritual Rice go?”

Manager Liu Cheng's face instantly turned from pale to a ghastly green.

His eyes were filled with terror and despair.

That was two hundred thousand jin of Spiritual Rice that had to be handed over to the Sect!

Once it was lost and the Sect investigated, he, as the one directly overseeing the Great Array and responsible for the storage of the Spiritual Rice, would certainly be the first to bear the brunt.

Lin Hao also stood frozen, the smile on his face instantly solidifying, only to be replaced by extreme shock and fury.

“Impossible!” Lin Hao roared fiercely. “It's just a minor Qi Refining Cultivator; how could he possibly steal two hundred thousand jin of Spiritual Rice?!”

Lin Hao simply didn't believe this was real.

After all, even with his Storage Pouch, he could only fit two thousand jin of Spiritual Rice at a time.

He had been sneaking into the Great Array for several days and had only managed to steal ten thousand jin of Spiritual Rice.

How could a Qi Refining Cultivator have such a large Storage Pouch?

“The secret chamber, they must be in the secret chamber!” Manager Liu Cheng also thought of something.

His gaze was fixed intently on the secret chamber.

In Manager Liu Cheng's view, that little thief must not have left the Great Array.

They must have moved all the Spiritual Rice into the secret chamber.

Lin Hao also agreed with Manager Liu Cheng's words; after all, he had searched the entire Great Array.

Only the secret chamber had not been searched yet.

That little thief must be hiding inside the secret chamber.

“Let's go, catch this little thief in the secret chamber!” Lin Hao also walked toward the secret chamber.

Manager Liu Cheng no longer hesitated and activated the mechanism of the secret chamber.

Accompanied by the slight sound of the mechanism turning, the stone wall slowly moved aside, and the entrance to the secret chamber appeared before everyone.

Manager Liu Cheng was the first to rush toward the secret chamber.

However, just as he rushed in, Manager Liu Cheng's figure completely froze in place, the hope on his face extinguished as if doused by icy water.

The secret chamber where the Spiritual Rice had been stored was also completely empty. The ground was so clean there wasn't a single trace; forget the Spiritual Rice, not even the shadow of the intruder was to be seen, as if no one had ever stepped foot here.

Manager Liu Cheng's legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed to the ground, his entire body shaking uncontrollably.

Two hundred thousand jin of Sect Spiritual Rice and one hundred and fifty thousand jin of embezzled Spiritual Rice—a total of three hundred and fifty thousand jin of Spiritual Rice—had all been stolen. This was no longer a responsibility he could bear.

He knew very well that the Sect's punishment for the theft of resources was extremely harsh, let alone for such a massive amount of Spiritual Rice.

Once this matter was reported, as the direct overseer, he would certainly be the primary target for accountability.