I woke up with no fatigue at all. Strangely, I felt that today was going to be a very tiring day.
The voice from the inheritance echoed again, this time with clear surprise.
"You really are a lunatic to think that you can sleep peacefully in front of an inheritance. People tend to either avoid it to explore later or rush straight toward the core, but you are as calm as if finding an inheritance is the most normal thing in the world."
It gasped, perhaps because I was already looking back at the pitfall I had fallen from. I started gathering all the possessions of my dead enemies without wasting a single second.
I managed to collect four skill scrolls:
Gushing (ability to change the direction of wind),
Drift (light that helps with turning while levitating),
Fire Spear (only usable to throw a fire spear),
Stone Stealth (to hide in rocky areas).
There were also some thin beast hides, wooden spear handles, and strings made from whip plants. I began assembling them according to my needs while using their dew stones to replenish my karma. I didn't want to learn the skills slowly — I tore the scrolls immediately to activate them on the spot. The last thing I needed was to get caught because of some loose money lying around.
A little time passed. I wasn't confident enough to create fire to cook meat — who knew what kind of traps were hidden here. I ignored the continuous blabbering of the inheritance's voice and started jumping on the walls, trying to climb out of the pitfall.
The voice mocked me for my futile attempts.
Finally, the glider was ready. It was a tool I had been forced to master in my previous life. I leaped with all the height I could reach after several tries. I activated Gushing to make it fly, Stone Stealth to gain momentum, and Drift to prevent myself from falling due to the added weight.
It was tiring. I felt nauseous and wanted to throw up. The world started to swirl — maybe because this was my first time flying in this younger, less experienced body. I got out at the price of scratching my whole body from the rough fall. Still, it was no big deal compared to trying any other method to escape.
The voice said, almost in disbelief, "Is it your time to even hear about the inheritance? I could have sent you out if you had simply asked, as per the inheritance's rules."
I thought, Curses. They didn't think that a Rank 1 cultivator would stumble upon an inheritance, so they hadn't included any information about it in the outer library. That was why Bayley was completely clueless about this option.
Since I had escaped the pitfall and could still hear his voice, I paid utmost attention and asked him various questions about the level of the inheritance, its rules, and general inheritance knowledge.
I was surprised to hear that this was a Rank 6 inheritance, but he was unwilling to tell me anything more than that. He said it would hinder my cultivation if I knew too much before becoming the owner. I assumed that was what he was worried about.
I went through the path toward the Wen Clan stronghold in the chilly midnight air. The lonely and eerie darkness was accompanied only by the rumbling of my hungry stomach. I stayed in full alert, dealing swiftly with threats I barely sensed and running from others that found me first. It was not wise to fight in the midnight darkness, which I was not suited for.
Finally, I reached the Wen Clan.
The guards at the southern gate post asked, "Show your identity token and the purpose you went out for. Any sighting of other members of our clan?"
I answered calmly, "Bayley Lone. I went out to hunt beasts for some contribution points. As for others, I prefer to act as a lone wolf and tend to avoid groups so as not to disturb their rhythm during beast hunts."
One of the two guards thought to himself, From what I heard, they wanted to teach him a lesson and loot his gains, but it seems he still has his two sacks.
I thought, Good thing that I left one sack in a certain place in case something like this happened, so I barely meet the requirement to reach the surface from the pitfall.
I entered while confirming that I would not be treated as a suspect if they became aware that ten cultivators were missing.
In the next scene, I finally reached my room and checked if there was anything wrong with it because of those deceased cultivators, but found nothing for now. There was always a way to spy on someone without being noticed.
I woke up and walked around aimlessly in crowded places. The injuries I got from the fight with the ten cultivators and the attempt to check a suitable area for gliding had left deep wounds that needed some time to heal. Since it was my rest time, I started selling information privately about the location of that inheritance. I was not optimistic about successfully returning from such a high-level inheritance — who knew what trials waited inside. So I simply sold the location. It was easy money that made the fight with the ten cultivators far more profitable.
Many cultivators dashed toward me without care for others, eager to trade information with me. The good times didn't last long. I was suddenly ordered by the clan leader to explore that inheritance.
The command made me shiver in fear — not because of the inheritance itself, but because the clan leader had found out about it far faster than I had expected. That felt abnormal.
I thought, Maybe his rank makes it easier to fetch information, or there's a spy among us who secretly watches us and reports for money. In any case, I sold the jade box as secretly as I could. Even if I got caught, I could only say I found it on the road and was selling it because I had a problem — a hungry family, gambling debts, or whatever pitiful excuse sounded believable enough for a moment.