Chapter 15: The Flower Wine Monk Inheritance - Part 3
Day 44, late evening. Twelve hours inside the inheritance.
The storage chamber door is different from the others. Reinforced bronze instead of wood, formation lines etched deep into the metal. Not lethal defenses—the patterns are wrong for that—but complex enough to make me sweat.
"Formation analysis: Alert-based security rather than offensive. Primary function: Notify owner of unauthorized access. Secondary function: Seal contents if breach detected. Recommendation: Solve formation puzzle rather than force entry. Estimated time required: 15-20 minutes with current knowledge base."
Twenty minutes. I can spare that.
I activate Moonlight Gu, letting pale light illuminate the formation patterns. The runes are old—pre-clan standardization, back when Gu Masters used regional variations. Flower Wine Monk's personal style, probably.
First attempt: I channel essence into what looks like the primary activation point. The formation flares red. Wrong.
Second attempt: Different sequence, starting from the outer ring. Yellow flash. Still wrong.
My hands are shaking. Sweat drips down my back despite the cool air. Through the walls, distant combat sounds echo—screams, explosions, the grinding noise of formations activating.
Third attempt. I trace the pattern Great Sage suggests, feeding essence in careful pulses.
The formation glows green. Clicks. The door swings open.
Inside: wealth.
Not Fang Yuan levels of wealth. But for someone like me? Significant.
Primeval stones stacked in neat rows along one wall—sixty of them, each one glowing faintly with stored essence. Refinement materials organized by type: Spirit Grass bundles, Formation Cores, Metal Essence fragments. And on a central shelf, two jade slips covered in protective formations.
Ancient Gu recipes. Knowledge worth more than stones.
"Total estimated value: 140-160 primeval stones equivalent. Strategic assessment: Significant resource gain. Recommendation: Prioritize portable high-value items. Time window for safe extraction: 8-12 minutes before potential patrol."
I work fast. Stones into my pack—the weight is considerable but manageable. Select the most valuable refinement materials, leaving bulkier items behind. Carefully extract the jade slips, wrapping them in cloth to prevent damage.
Eight minutes. I'm almost finished when voices echo from the corridor.
"—don't care what you saw, we're not going back there!"
"The main passage is a death trap. We need supplies, a place to rest—"
"Then we take it from someone weaker."
Bai Clan. Three of them from the sound of it. And they're coming this direction.
I grab my pack and move toward the exit. Too late.
Three Gu Masters round the corner. Bloodied, desperate, one limping badly. Their eyes lock onto me. Onto my pack bulging with resources.
"Gu Yue dog," the lead one snarls. "Hand over your findings or die."
"Threat assessment: Three opponents, Rank 2, combat-degraded. Estimated capability: 60% of baseline. Host victory probability: 42.3%. Recommend: Attempt negotiation. If failed, tactical retreat."
"There's enough in the storage room for everyone," I say carefully. "No need to—"
Wind Blade Gu activates. The lead attacker doesn't bother with conversation. The blade screams toward my head.
Iron Skin Gu activates on pure instinct. My left arm hardens, gray-brown, just enough to deflect the strike. The impact still hurts—sends me stumbling backward.
The other two spread out, flanking. Professional tactics despite their injuries.
I'm going to die here. Three on one, and I'm not a fighter.
Shadow Step Gu. I burst forward and left, the brief speed boost carrying me past the limping one. Grab a primeval stone from my pack, hurl it at the lead attacker's face.
He dodges. But it buys me two seconds.
Two seconds to activate Moonlight Gu and strike at the injured one's knee. He goes down hard, screaming.
The lead attacker's next wind blade catches my shoulder. Shallow cut—Iron Skin partially deflected it—but blood soaks through my robe.
"You're dead, scavenger!"
Then the roar comes.
Massive. Primal. From the passage behind them.
All four of us freeze.
The Wine Construct rounds the corner—ten feet of animated barrels and preservation formations, spiritual energy radiating like concentrated alcohol. Its barrel-fists are the size of heads, and its eye-sockets glow with residual power from formations centuries old.
The Bai Clan members turn to face it.
Mistake.
The construct moves with terrible speed for something so large. First punch crushes the injured one's chest. The sound is wet, crunching. He dies before he can scream.
Second punch catches the lead attacker mid-dodge. Sends him flying into the wall. His body makes a sound like a dropped melon, then slides down leaving a red streak.
The third one runs.
The construct follows. Footsteps like thunder. Another wet crunch, then silence.
I don't wait. Shadow Step again, every drop of essence I can spare, fleeing deeper into the servant quarters while my shoulder bleeds and my heart tries to escape through my throat.
WINE CONSTRUCT
Intruders detected. Combat noise threshold exceeded. Primary directive: Eliminate threats to inheritance integrity.
Three targets neutralized. Returning to patrol pattern.
The construct processed no emotions, no triumph, no regret. Just ancient programming executing flawlessly.
I collapse in an alcove three corridors away. Can't run anymore. Legs won't cooperate.
The shoulder wound isn't deep but it won't stop bleeding. My hands shake so badly I can barely open my pack.
Shen Cui's healing Gu. The one she insisted I take.
I activate it.
Warmth floods through the wound, tissue knitting together at visible speed. The bleeding stops. The pain recedes to a dull ache.
The Gu flickers once, twice, then crumbles to dust. Single-use. Consumed. Gone.
"Injury assessment: Moderate laceration, successfully treated. Additional injuries: Bruised ribs from impact, minor essence depletion from combat. Recovery time: 4-6 hours recommended before continued exploration."
Four hours. I can manage that.
I lean back against the stone wall, breathing hard, processing what just happened.
Three Bai Clan members dead. Crushed by an ancient security system that doesn't distinguish between righteous and demonic, deserving and innocent. Just: intruders eliminated.
I would have died too if they'd caught me. Would have killed me without hesitation for the resources in my pack.
This is the world. This is what survival means.
I consume a primeval stone to restore essence. The energy tastes bitter going down.
Outside my alcove, the inheritance ground continues its chaos. Distant screams. Explosions. The grinding of formations activating and deactivating.
Sixty primeval stones gained. Two Gu recipes. Valuable materials.
Three people dead. And I'm alive because a mindless construct happened to intervene at the right moment.
Luck. Not skill. Just luck.
"Quest progress: 33% complete. Time elapsed: 20 hours. Estimated remaining duration: 40-44 hours before structural collapse. Current resource acquisition: Above baseline. Survival probability: 64.7%."
Sixty-four percent. Better than the thirty-four I started with in this world.
Still means I have a one-in-three chance of dying before I escape.
I close my eyes and rest.
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