Chapter 74

True Essence!

Third Rank?

Cao Yiyi herself had low strength, but she came from a family with deep roots and had some knowledge. Seeing the man opposite point at a distance and knock Ah Fu unconscious, she realized he was using True Essence, something only Third Rank warriors and above could possess. Her expression changed involuntarily.

This was truly beyond her expectations.

Half a month ago, when they met in Yuzhou, this person was clearly only Fifth Rank, as Ah Fu had said himself.

Could it be that he was hiding his strength back then?

Cao Yiyi felt a mix of surprise and doubt, but she never considered the possibility that she might have mistaken the person.

She had a natural ability to recognize someone by their eyes alone.

Last time, this person was masked, but when he appeared this time, she immediately recognized him as the one who almost killed her.

"Interesting."

Suddenly, Cao Yiyi's eyes lit up, and she said excitedly, "You were hiding your strength last time, right? You clearly had Third Rank cultivation, but you avoided fighting Ah Fu. That strike was also intentional, right? Just to scare me a bit, a small punishment?"

"..."

Gu Yang wanted to say, "You're overthinking it."

"You didn't want to conflict with me, but this time you didn't hide your strength and chose to act."

Cao Yiyi became more and more confident, as if she had seen through everything. "I think this Shadow Thief's treasure is very important to you, right?"

This crazy woman was actually quite smart, even though her guess wasn't entirely correct. But anyone would find it hard to believe that he had broken through from Fifth Rank to Third Rank in just half a month.

Gu Yang didn't want to waste words with her and was about to knock her out.

At that moment, a figure appeared behind Cao Yiyi, with a strong aura. It was likely the Third Rank expert protecting her.

This was the reason for her confidence, even after discovering that Gu Yang was Third Rank, she wasn't at all panicked.

...

The figure behind Cao Yiyi was a young man, Cao Xu.

He was 27 years old and ranked seventh on the Qianlong List. A few days ago, he was pushed to eighth place. In terms of talent, he was undoubtedly the best of the Cao family's current generation.

Embarrassingly, he came from a collateral branch of the Cao family but outshone the main line. To protect himself, he had to find a powerful ally within the Cao family.

He chose the strongest ally, Cao Yiyi's father, the Spear Saint, who had reached the Divine Realm.

Since the Spear Saint had only one descendant, Cao Xu's rise would not threaten Cao Yiyi's position. Instead, he could become her supporter.

Thus, Cao Xu became the Spear Saint's named disciple.

After Cao Yiyi left the family, she only brought a Fourth Rank with her, causing trouble everywhere. Cao Xu was worried that something might happen to his master's precious daughter, so he followed her to help clean up the mess.

However, Cao Xu was truly helpless.

This young lady didn't even listen to her father, let alone him, her senior brother.

He felt that she didn't treat him as a senior brother at all, but merely as a servant.

Even so, Cao Xu could only follow her to protect her. If anything happened to her, he would be in deep trouble.

Still, as the seventh, or rather, eighth on the Qianlong List, being ordered around by a young girl every day was a blow to his dignity. So, he usually didn't appear in front of her.

Until just now, Cao Xu sensed something was wrong and rushed over immediately.

He was very angry, who was this blind fool daring to lay a hand on the Cao family's young lady?

When Cao Xu arrived at the scene and saw the person opposite Cao Yiyi, he was shocked. How could it be him?

His anger instantly turned to fear, a chill running down his spine, making his scalp tingle.

Seeing him arrive, Cao Yiyi ordered, "Cao Xu, arrest him."

Cao Xu, ranked seventh on the Qianlong List, had received guidance from her father and was extremely powerful. In the Cao family, no one among the Third Ranks could surpass him.

In the entire Great Zhou, his strength was also top-notch among Third Ranks.

Dealing with an ordinary Third Rank should be easy for him, right?

However, Cao Xu showed no intention of acting and bowed, "This is Cao Xu, greeting Master Gu."

Cao Yiyi was stunned, seeing Cao Xu's humble demeanor, she was speechless.

Although she thought her father's named disciple was servile in front of her, she had never seen him be so humble to anyone else.

It was as if he was facing a senior expert, not just a Third Rank.

At this moment, she finally felt that something was wrong.

...

"It's you."

Gu Yang had found this person somewhat familiar. When he spoke, Gu Yang remembered that he was among the spectators during his battle with the Lin family's Second Rank a few days ago.

"Cao Xu, I remember you. You were the seventh on the Qianlong List. That day, you were in Pingjun City to challenge me, right?"

Cao Xu couldn't help but tremble and said, "Dare not, dare not. I am convinced and submit."

This person had defeated Chu Xiyue and Wu Xingyun with one strike. In terms of strength, he was undoubtedly the first on the Qianlong List.

After witnessing that strike, Cao Xu didn't even have the courage to draw his sword in front of Gu Yang.

"Are you Gu Yang?"

At this moment, Cao Yiyi said sharply, her expression somewhat excited, "The Gu Yang who recently ranked seventh on the Qianlong List and defeated three Second Ranks with one strike three days ago?"

No, why are you so excited? We are enemies now!

Gu Yang felt this woman was indeed problematic.

Cao Xu then said, "Master Gu, I don't know what my junior sister has done to offend you, but please forgive her. For the sake of my master, please don't take it to heart."

This was a good step down, showing good social skills.

Gu Yang secretly praised him and said, "I came here for the Shadow Thief's treasure."

"The Shadow Thief's treasure?"

Cao Xu was taken aback, clearly not knowing about it beforehand.

Cao Yiyi's eyes darted around and said, "The Shadow Thief's treasure was discovered by me first. We should follow the rule of first come, first served. How about this, we split it fifty-fifty?"

"Agreed."

Gu Yang immediately agreed.

So far, everything was developing as simulated.

Getting half wasn't bad, considering Cao Yiyi's strong background. It was better for her to back down. He couldn't just kill her; if her father came, it would be a loss for him.

Cao Xu, seeing the two reach an agreement, finally relaxed.

Then, Cao Yiyi led Gu Yang to the treasure location.

Gu Yang wasn't worried about any tricks. According to the simulation last night, he entered the treasure room, took the items, and left successfully without any unexpected incidents.

Entering an underground chamber, Cao Yiyi said, "The items are here. There are nine in total, each a rare treasure. How do you want to divide them?"

Gu Yang looked at the items on the table and suddenly froze.

He hadn't expected that the so-called treasure was just nine items. The simulation only mentioned that he got half of the treasure, worth a million. It didn't specify that they were antiques and artworks.

At this moment, he realized a serious problem: how to liquidate them?