“Maybe it’s a curse, maybe it’s a deadly poison, maybe there’s a ninth-rank demon beast hidden inside—your imagination is really lacking!” Henry Clark guessed casually as he studied how to open the box.

The whole box looked seamless, but opening it was actually quite simple. Henry Clark stood at a distance and pushed it with a stick, and the upper layer of the box slid backward. There were no traps or mechanisms inside, just seven or eight sparkling demon cores of about the third or fourth rank.

“So it’s a box where the Fire Bear stored demon cores.” Henry Clark was a bit disappointed. He had high hopes for this box. Three years ago, when he first saw it, Henry Clark had a gut feeling that there was something especially important to him inside. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have risked so much and put in so much effort just for these fire crystals.

Edward Reed was also disappointed, pouting, “In the stories you tell, big brother, there’s never such a bland and anticlimactic ending.”

Henry Clark shook his head and sighed as well. “Looks like my intuition was off!”

Edward Reed picked up the box and turned it over, studying it for a while before saying, “There used to be a lot of runes carved on the box, and they looked pretty complicated, but unfortunately most of them are worn away and you can’t tell what they originally looked like. The main use of black crystal is to conceal the fluctuation of vital energy—it’s great for storing magical artifacts…”

At this point, Edward Reed’s bright eyes suddenly lit up. “Big brother, let’s smash it open and see.”

Henry Clark’s face darkened. This black crystal box was exquisitely crafted and had an ancient design; its value alone was higher than those seven or eight demon cores. If he took it back, it could be traded for enough to buy dozens of Condensing Essence Pills.

Up to now, Henry Clark didn’t even have a single Condensing Essence Pill on him. The Vajra Five-Aspect Wheel he practiced required all sorts of medicines to nourish his blood, energy, and bones, and the consumption was enormous. More importantly, Edward Reed needed to practice talismanic spells, and all kinds of talisman papers and materials cost ten times more than what Henry Clark needed.

Over the years, Henry Clark had done everything he could to barely get by. Having grown up poor, Henry Clark was used to splitting a single coin in half to spend, so smashing a box in such a wasteful way was something that never even occurred to him!

Hearing Edward Reed’s suggestion, Henry Clark hesitated a bit. “If there’s nothing inside the box, we’ll be crying!”

“What’s there to be afraid of? Money lost can always be earned back. With all these fire crystals and Fire Bear demon cores, it’s enough for us to use for five years. In another five years, what will this box matter?” Seeing Henry Clark’s reluctance, Edward Reed said indifferently.

Henry Clark couldn’t help but laugh. He’d gotten so used to penny-pinching that his vision had narrowed, and now it was Edward Reed reminding him.

“Snowy, you really have insight! All right, smashing open a box for treasure is my favorite thing!” Henry Clark said decisively.

Black crystal is hard but brittle, so smashing it is easy. But how to smash it is a skill in itself. If there were pills or magical artifacts hidden inside and they got smashed, that would be a real regret.

Fortunately, Henry Clark’s strength was extremely precise. He used the black iron rod to slowly grind away at the black crystal layer by layer. With Henry Clark’s current level of control, even if there was a hair inside the black crystal, he would be able to sense it.

This was a delicate task and couldn’t be rushed. Luckily, everyone who came along was dead, the Fire Bear was killed, and this cave was extremely well hidden, so there was little chance of running into anyone else. In the Fire Bear’s territory, there wouldn’t be any other powerful demon beasts showing up.

Edward Reed threw the corpses into a crevice, then collapsed the crevice to bury them completely. Of course, before that, Edward Reed had already stripped all the good stuff from the bodies.

Then all the fire crystals were packed into a leather pouch, and finally, using an extremely sharp broken jade blade, the Fire Bear’s hide was skinned off. Edward Reed had been used to blood and gore since childhood, so she did all this cleanly and efficiently, without getting a drop of blood on herself.

A bright and delicate young girl, handling bloody corpses as easily and happily as if she were playing with her own dolls, with a cheerful smile on her face. The sight truly made Henry Clark feel all sorts of emotions.

If it were in the previous life, Edward Reed would still be a little loli! She should have been enjoying a carefree and happy life. But in this cruel world, only by being like Edward Reed could one survive better.

“Ha, a Purple Shark leather inner armor—Susan Baker really had some good stuff. It’s too small for big brother, so it’s mine. Thirty-six Poison Feather Needles—these things don’t have an antidote, too troublesome to use, so I’ll give them to big brother. A black rhino waist belt with ten throwing knife slots—tsk tsk, this Linda Cooper was really devious. Such a wide and stiff belt, big brother can use it…”

Edward Reed finished tidying up, sat next to Henry Clark, and happily played with the spoils she’d gathered. “There are also nine Condensing Essence Pills, two bottles of tiger bone and bear gall ointment, three bottles of top-grade wound medicine, five packs of detox powder, a copy of the Gale Storm Sword Manual… la la la, la la la, we’re rich, we’re rich…” Edward Reed hummed randomly, her crescent-moon eyes sparkling as if countless little stars were about to burst out, indescribably cute.

Sitting next to Henry Clark, surrounded by so many spoils, Edward Reed felt an indescribable peace and joy in her heart, thinking, “If I could spend my whole life with big brother like this, how happy I would be…”

Chapter 008: Peerless Divine Artifact

The bright red bear meat sizzled over the charcoal fire, its aroma wafting out along with the fat from the meat.

In the underground cave, the space was relatively enclosed, and with no powerful demon beasts nearby, it was a perfect place to light a fire and cook food.