Volume One: First Signs of Brilliance Chapter 52: Another Bounty

“All right, enough with the small talk. Tell me about your situation.”
Lan Yiyi chose not to dwell on what had happened earlier; instead, she steered the conversation back to the matter at hand.
Even as the captain of the Hunting Squad, she couldn’t help but look grave when she realized someone from Dark Night had set their sights on Wang Jue—a promising talent she had been watching closely.
It wasn’t as if their squad hadn’t crossed paths with Dark Night before; their encounters had been fairly evenly matched, with only a slight edge in their favor.
Faced with such a troublesome adversary, Lan Yiyi felt a sense of helplessness. She simply couldn’t fathom how Wang Jue had managed to get entangled with Dark Night.
“Hmm…”
Wang Jue nodded, meeting Lan Yiyi’s probing gaze in silence as he weighed how best to explain. “Let me think about how to put this.”
He wasn’t trying to deceive her—there were simply some things he absolutely couldn’t say.
Besides, he was still reeling from what had happened and wasn’t sure where to begin.
“Just start from the beginning—I have all the time in the world,” Lan Yiyi said bluntly, disliking needless dithering.
“Uh… all right.”
Wang Jue paused, then organized his thoughts and began, “Here’s what happened: a few nights ago, on my way home, I came across someone who was badly wounded. This person handed me a jade box and told me to leave immediately. Given what happened afterward, I think those two who came after me were trying to get that item.”
He didn’t conceal anything about his location or the direction in which he fled, but he omitted any mention of the system, speaking only of the cultivation manual and the diamond-shaped gem.
“What sort of jade box? What cultivation manual?”
Lan Yiyi immediately seized on the key details. “Where is what you’re talking about? Can you show them to me?”
“The manual is called the Astral Soul Technique, but I’ve already started cultivating it—so I can’t hand it over now. And I honestly don’t know who that person was. They just gave me the item and told me to run. I didn’t really understand the situation and only knew there was danger, so I left.” Wang Jue watched Lan Yiyi’s expression as he spoke, feeling somewhat uneasy about the circumstances.
After all, he had taken someone else’s possession and hadn’t even considered saving that person—he’d only thought of running.
“You truly are lucky.”
A flash of envy flickered in Lan Yiyi’s beautiful eyes, but she quickly regained her composure. “If it happened as you say, I think I can guess what’s going on.”
Though she suspected Wang Jue hadn’t told her everything, she didn’t think he was lying outright. As for whether he’d left anything out, she didn’t particularly care—everyone had their secrets, and she was not one to pry.
“I’m lying in a hospital now—how is that lucky? I still don’t even know what’s going on, and I’ve been hunted for no reason.”
Remembering the state of his home, Wang Jue quickly asked, “By the way, Captain Lan, how long was I unconscious? Do my family know what happened?”
He remembered the fight—his entire house had nearly been torn apart. With such a commotion, the neighbors would have known something major had happened; it would have been impossible to hide, no matter how he tried.
“I know the situation, so I won’t say more. But as for that martial manual, you’re expected to hand it over—understood?”
Lan Yiyi spoke without the slightest hesitation. “As for your family, I’ve already informed them that the house was damaged during a criminal apprehension operation. I didn’t mention your situation. We’ve agreed to compensate them, pay for repairs, and provide new furnishings. The compensation will, of course, be deducted from your three hundred thousand.”

Wang Jue was speechless.
Deducted from his funds?
He felt a wave of dismay. With the current cost of living, renovations and replacements for furniture, plus labor, there might not be much left of his three hundred thousand.
Still, he had no complaints. Lan Yiyi had cleaned up his mess, and it was only right that he pay for it.
After all, she was under no obligation to help him; he was already very grateful. If not for her intervention, he’d never have been able to explain things to his parents.
Even though his family desperately needed money to pay off his aunt’s loan sharks, their present housing crisis had to take priority; they needed a place to live.
As for his aunt’s debt, he could only hope the contractors Lan Yiyi found would charge a little less.
“I don’t mind covering the expenses, but I can’t hand over the manual—I’ve already started cultivating it,” Wang Jue said, somewhat embarrassed.
He understood perfectly what Lan Yiyi meant: she was offering him her protection, provided he turned over the manual.
Lan Yiyi’s brows knitted. “It doesn’t matter if you’ve started cultivating—it’s fine as long as you hand over the original.”
“Captain Lan, it’s not that I don’t want to hand it over—I honestly don’t have the original.” Wang Jue managed a wry smile.
Lan Yiyi’s face grew cold, her tone tinged with frost. “Do you take me for a fool? Every manual has an original. How could it not? You just don’t want to hand it over, do you?”
She felt she had already been more than generous; all she asked for was the original manual.
She didn’t care whether he made a copy before handing it over—so long as the copy wasn’t altered, it was as good as the original.
“Captain Lan, I know you don’t believe me, but I’m not lying.”
Feeling wronged, Wang Jue decided to explain further. “I don’t even know what the original manual looked like, or how to give it to you. When I opened the jade box, there was a small orb inside. When I touched it, the orb vanished.
After that, a surge of obscure, unintelligible information appeared in my mind. I honestly don’t know how to describe it. I compared it to our written language, but not a single character matched.
What’s strange is that, even though I can’t make sense of the information, I can still cultivate the technique, as though it’s been etched into my very bones.”
Aside from omitting the “golden finger,” Wang Jue told her everything he could. Whether Lan Yiyi believed him or not was up to her.
In any case, there was no way he could produce the original manual.
“No original? You can’t understand it, yet you can cultivate it?”
Lan Yiyi frowned deeper, lost in thought. Suddenly, her eyes widened as a realization struck her. “Don’t tell me—you obtained a secret realm manual?”
“A secret realm manual?” Wang Jue asked, bewildered.
“That’s right. Very few people know about this.”
A look of envy emerged on Lan Yiyi’s delicate features. “Most people think that cultivation manuals drop from astral beasts, and while that’s true, the odds are minuscule. The vast majority of manuals we use actually come from secret realms.
The writing in those manuals is completely different from our own, so when someone acquires one, they often can’t read it and can only trade it in for cultivation resources. Those manuals are then translated by specialists and gradually disseminated.
I’ve heard that secret realm manuals—whether low, mid, or high grade—all have originals, but those are kept in the ancestral library, guarded by elders to prevent unauthorized access.”

At this, the envy on Lan Yiyi’s face turned to jealousy. Looking at the stunned Wang Jue, she felt more and more unsettled—was this what people meant when they said “fortune favors fools”?
She quickly suppressed the thought and continued, “Only the very highest-level manuals and techniques have no originals. If you’re telling the truth, then you’re exceptionally lucky—it’s as if a pie fell from the sky right into your lap, and all you had to do was pick it up.”
“So… Captain Lan, do I still have to turn over the original?” Wang Jue asked uneasily.
He worried they might decide to treat him like a guinea pig, dissecting him for research—he desperately needed reassurance. In fact, he was already considering escape if things turned sour.
He’d rather leave everything behind than be locked up and experimented on.
Lan Yiyi was silent for a moment.
At length, she sighed. “Let’s pretend I never asked about this.”
Her expression grew solemn. “You must remember—what you’ve obtained is much too important. No matter who asks, you must say you don’t know. Keep this secret even from yourself—take it to your grave. If you ever let your guard down and someone hauls you off for research…”
“Don’t worry, Captain. I swear I won’t tell a soul.” Seeing the gravity in Lan Yiyi’s face, Wang Jue nodded with equal seriousness.
For the sake of his own life, he wouldn’t breathe a word—not to a third person, at least.
“As long as you understand.”
Lan Yiyi nodded, changing the subject. “Now, about those two from the Dark Night organization—there’s a bounty on them.”
“Uh…”
At that, Wang Jue perked up, unable to hide his excitement. “Really? There’s a bounty? How much?”
This was a reward he’d earned with his own strength—nearly at the cost of his life.
The bounty would cover his medical bills, emotional damages, and even the cost of repairing his house.
He had been worried that his previous reward of three hundred thousand wouldn’t cover the renovations and new furnishings.
Now, this bounty was arriving at the perfect time—he needed money more than ever.
With it, he could settle his aunt’s debts, buy a new home for his family, and obtain cultivation resources—so many problems could be solved.
Money might not be everything, but without it, nothing could be done.
As the saying goes:
Money isn’t omnipotent, but without it, nothing is possible!