The main party of the Whispering Willow Sect, led by Sect Master Wu, finally reached the heart of the Cracked Heart Valley, guided by the sudden, auspicious clearing of the air—a feat Wu credited entirely to Lin Qi's "Rear Guard Purifying Aura."
"The Ancient Cave of the Silent Dao!" Wu whispered, staring at the monolithic stone archway ahead. "Legend says it contains the accumulated wealth of the Forgotten Emperor!"
The Cave was protected by thousands of intricate, deadly formations—traps designed to vaporize anyone below the Nascent Soul stage.
Sect Master Wu turned to his nervous disciples. "Remember the teachings! Approach with caution, respect the formations, and above all, rely on the luck that Lin Qi has infused into this valley!"
The disciples proceeded with excruciating slowness, carefully testing every tile and stone. They spent three exhausting hours disarming a minor illusion array that guarded the first hallway.
Meanwhile, Lin Qi, having secured his pet "Fluffikins" (the Basilisk was too large to squeeze through the entrance, so it stayed outside, guarding the sect's supply carts and scaring away all regional bandits), finally caught up to the entrance.
Lin Qi noticed the main party had just entered the cave. He quickly shuffled forward, worried about missing out on any snacks they might find.
He didn't notice the massive, perfectly placed Spirit Stone of Anti-Qi Deflection (10,000 years old, worth a major city) that the disciples had expertly bypassed, believing it was a critical anchor for a sealing array.
Lin Qi, focused on the small, buzzing fly that had followed him in, tripped over a loose root.
He went down hard, falling prone right in front of the cave entrance.
THUMP.
The force of his fall, coupled with the dense, sealed power of his Core of Infinite Density (which shuddered slightly from the shock), caused an instantaneous, microscopic ripple of true Cosmic energy to emanate from his body.
This ripple bypassed the thousands of years of sealing formations and directly struck the Master Activation Matrix deep inside the cave—a matrix designed to only open when struck by a being who possessed truly primordial Qi.
In the cave's center, the final chamber—which had resisted all attempts by the main party to open it—suddenly roared to life. A blinding golden beam shot out, hitting the stone ceiling.
A deep, resonating voice echoed through the entire valley: "The Ancient Emperor recognizes the presence of the Primordial Heir! The Inheritance is Yours!"
The cave's treasures, obeying the Master Activation Matrix, violently expelled themselves.
A tsunami of gleaming top-grade Spirit Stones, totaling over 1,000,000 pieces, erupted from the chamber. Eighty-eight jade bottles of Supreme Life-Extending Elixir shot out like corks from champagne bottles. Finally, a massive, leather-bound volume—the "Tome of Infinite Dao"—flew through the air.
All of the fortune piled up in a massive, shimmering heap right next to Lin Qi's prone body, who was still muttering about the fly.
Sect Master Wu and his disciples, who were miles inside the cave, were bombarded by the flying treasures. They were thrilled, but completely confused about how the final vault had opened without them doing anything.
"Master! Look! The fortune!" cried Feng, dodging a bottle of Elixir.
Wu stared at the light show heading towards the entrance. "The treasure is running away from us! It is fleeing to the source of the Primordial Qi!"
They rushed back to the entrance, battling the torrent of gold and jewels. They arrived to find the vast majority of the wealth piled perfectly around the still-prone Lin Qi.
Lin Qi had finally managed to sit up. He saw the huge pile of wealth and felt the hard, leather-bound Tome under his head.
"Ah," Lin Qi sighed contentedly. "A soft pillow. And this big pile of shiny rocks is quite warm." He pulled the Tome of Infinite Dao closer and promptly drifted off to sleep.
Sect Master Wu and the entire sect stood frozen, witnessing the incredible scene: a mountain of wealth and the supreme secrets of the universe, being used as bedding by their new Outer Disciple.
"He didn't activate the array," Wu gasped, collapsing onto a pile of spirit stones. "He didn't even touch the key. He merely became the destination. This is not cultivation, this is cosmic entitlement!"
Wu quickly recorded a new maxim, though he knew no one would believe it:
> "A fall in the ditch is a gain in the wits, but a face-plant at the entrance can gain you the entire universe."
>
They left Lin Qi to sleep, fearing that waking him would somehow reverse the miracle. The Whispering Willow Sect had, through the sheer incompetence and luck of one boy, become the wealthiest minor sect in the Eastern Continent.