"Tch… I thought there'd at least be something shiny," Seeing the trash, Fatty Kui muttered. Disappointment heavy in his tone.

Wu Shuan shook his head, straightening up. "Looks like this room has been stripped bare already. Or maybe it simply didn't survive the years."

Han Yu sighed, sharing in their disappointment. He had been quietly expecting some clue or treasure, maybe even just a single usable talisman or scroll. Instead, there was only ruin.

But Senior Brother Duan, who had remained calm and composed through it all, let out a soft chuckle. "Do not be discouraged. This is often the case with tombs like these."

He stepped up to the altar, kneeling briefly to pick up a jagged piece of metal. He turned it in his hand so they could all see the grooves along its surface.

"While these complexes are indeed built to last centuries, or even millennia, not everything within them can endure. Many of the finer items will eventually decay. And there is always the matter of beasts that make their nests here."

He flipped the scrap to show another side, where deep scratches ran in uneven lines. "See these? Marks from teeth and claws. Some creature has been gnawing away at the things here for a long time."

Wu Shuan leaned in to get a closer look and frowned. "So the beast we fought… it destroyed whatever was here?"

"Most likely," Duan replied with certainty. "If there were treasures left behind, they are long gone, ruined by time and beasts alike."

A brief silence passed through the group, disappointment sinking in deeper now that they understood.

Han Yu clenched his hands, reminding himself that this was only the beginning. It would be foolish to expect treasures at every turn. Still, he could not help but feel a little let down.

But then Duan's voice broke the heavy mood. "All is not lost."

His tone carried a hint of amusement as his eyes flicked toward the rat-wolf's corpse sprawled a short distance away. "We still have one thing of value here."

The others looked toward him in curiosity.

Without another word, Duan strode to the beast's body, his boots echoing softly against the stone floor. He crouched and pressed a hand against the bloodied fur. With practiced ease, he tore into the beast's side, cutting open its chest cavity. The wet sound of tearing flesh filled the chamber, and soon his hand withdrew, blood dripping between his fingers.

In his palm sat a crimson-streaked orb, glistening faintly in the talisman's light.

Everyone's eyes widened.

"The beast's core," Duan said simply, holding it up for them to see.

Han Yu's breath caught for a moment as he stared at it. The orb was no ordinary stone. It pulsed faintly, as though some trace of the rat-wolf's life still lingered within. The power it held was undeniable, even to his senses.

Fatty Kui's face lit up instantly. "That's worth more than anything on this altar!" he exclaimed.

Wu Shuan nodded, a small smile tugging at his lips. "True. Beast cores are valuable, not just as cultivation resources but also as materials for forging or alchemy. Even if this tomb yields little else, finding something like this makes the trip worth it."

Han Yu silently agreed.

For cultivators, a beast core was a treasure in itself. Even if he could not use it immediately, it could be traded, refined, or even studied. The fact that they had secured one this early in their exploration was a good sign.

Senior Brother Duan wiped the blood from the core with a cloth he pulled from his sleeve, then tucked it into a small pouch at his waist. "See? We still did not lose out."

Han Yu couldn't help but admire the man's composure.

Where they had seen only trash, Duan had reminded them that rewards could take many forms. It was another clear reminder of why the elders insisted on having an Inner Court disciple in every group. The difference in experience and perspective was invaluable.

He glanced at the altar once more, then at the corpse of the beast, and finally back to Duan. A thought crossed his mind. If this was only the beginning, what awaited them deeper inside?

Would the treasures outweigh the dangers, or would the tomb consume them one by one?

But he kept those questions to himself. For now, they had their first gain, and the path ahead still waited to be walked.

The group moved on, leaving the ruined altar behind.

Their footsteps carried them into another narrow corridor, its walls pressing in close and its darkness broken only by the faint glow of Wu Shuan's talisman. The silence was heavy, broken only by the shuffle of boots and the occasional drip of water from somewhere in the ceiling.

Han Yu walked near the back, lost in thought.

At first, he was still replaying the scene at the altar, the disappointment of broken jade slips, the gnawed scraps of metal. But then his mind wandered to the one true prize they had found: the beast core now resting snugly in Senior Brother Duan's pouch.

His eyes flicked toward Duan's back. The man walked tall, his posture straight, the pouch at his waist swaying faintly with every confident step. And in that pouch sat the glimmering marble of concentrated beast essence.

Han Yu's expression twisted into something halfway between admiration and realization.

'Wait a minute.'

Duan had given them that little speech about how treasures come in many forms, about how they should not be discouraged, about how even in failure there are rewards. He had even gone as far as to make a show of digging into the beast's corpse, holding up the core as if he were a teacher showing a rare specimen to a class of wide-eyed students.

But when it came time to actually hand over the "lesson," he had simply… slipped it into his own pouch without so much as a blink.

Han Yu's lips twitched.

'So that's how it is, huh?'

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