Zhong Yun's plan was proceeding smoothly at first.

After the ball ended, no one from the Kedong family noticed that he remained in their mansion instead of leaving.

In fact, everyone assumed he had left during the party and many witnesses saw Lady Junshu's dance partner exiting through the main gate. He even exchanged a few words with a security guard at the entrance.

Shortly after his departure, he returned to the estate secretly wearing his invisibility cloak. Hiding in one of the rooms, he waited until midnight before silently opening a door and sneaking into Chang Ben Kedong's chamber.

Chang Ben had grown complacent about safety measures within his own home. This time there were no guards stationed outside his door. Zhong Yun had already cracked the mansion's security system with an encoder and simply opened it manually.

The door closed soundlessly behind him, not a single noise escaping during the entire operation.

Inside the room, Zhong Yun observed **two entangled figures - Chang Ben's body showed none of the aging signs one would expect. His skin was smooth like that of a young man without even a wrinkle. The woman beneath him had an impressive figure; from Zhong Yun's vantage point, he could see her slightly compressed breasts which looked soft and elastic under his night vision goggles. Her youthful face suggested she couldn't be more than twenty years old - significantly younger than Junshu. He hadn't expected Chang Ben to prefer such youthful company.

Short on time, Zhong Yun didn't linger in this compromising scene. Using hypnosis again, he rendered **both the man and woman unconscious.

Chang Ben had been hypnotized before which made it easier this time. The sleeping man showed no reaction as he was lulled into unconsciousness, his companion suffering the same fate.

As expected, Chang Ben had inherited all the Kedong family's hidden wealth accumulated over two millennia since becoming head of the household. These secret treasures with only their patriarch knowing locations and access methods were buried beneath this very mansion.

Chang Ben hadn't visited these vaults yet after taking leadership - there was too much to manage initially, so he had no idea what lay inside.

Now Zhong Yun would have to explore it himself. After incapacitating **the two, he quietly left the room.

The treasure chamber entrance lay at the center of the estate in a council hall only opened during major events. Ordinary visitors were forbidden access under normal circumstances.

Stepping into the empty meeting space, Zhong Yun mused that no one would suspect such an inconspicuous location concealed Kedong's accumulated plunder over two thousand years.

Opening this vault proved challenging - he couldn't carry any energy-emitting devices like power cells. Even if armed with a particle gun, its power cell would need to be removed first. Without those energy sources, such weapons were practically useless.

Zhong Yun had no trouble solving this dilemma. The exosuit key could store more than just suits inside it. He removed all his power cells and even the communicator before entering the chamber.

Following Chang Ben's instructions step by step: he deactivated every device first, then manually opened and closed the door. After completing these procedures, a control panel rose from the center of the room where he entered both a password and underwent DNA verification.

His own DNA wouldn't match - he had conveniently collected some samples from Chang Ben beforehand.

The system accepted his credentials without issue.

Actually, it should have been more complicated than this since Chang Ben hadn't yet fully established the security protocols. Zhong Yun benefited from this oversight.

Gradually, a one-meter-high box emerged from below ground level and opened to reveal a small enclosed space.

"Please enter."

Zhong Yun gaped at the tight confines - even slightly built or overweight individuals would struggle to fit inside comfortably.

Determined to obtain his target, he squeezed through with difficulty. Once inside, there was barely enough room to move within this claustrophobic elevator-like chamber that slowly descended for at least thirty minutes before stopping.

When the door opened again, Zhong Yun rushed out and stretched, vowing never to ride this cursed device again.

Reaching his destination required passing through multiple verification stages with different passwords - an arduous test of memory. Finally overcoming all these obstacles, the treasure vault slowly revealed itself as he held his breath in anticipation. After almost a year's effort, he had finally arrived at his goal.

He always enjoyed that brief moment when opening someone else's treasure trove. Back during the conquest of Hongxian Federation's capital planet, he abandoned everything to personally open every discovered cache - this obsession was undeniably twisted.

As the vault doors fully opened, revealing two millennia worth of Kedong family treasures laid out before him for the taking.

This underground repository surpassed even Hongxian Federation's state treasury in size and wealth.

The collection was divided into numerous individual rooms with each item categorized appropriately. Before Zhong Yun floated a massive schematic displaying the entire treasure layout.

Accessing this vault had already recognized him as Kedong family patriarch, so he immediately extracted the inventory list from the system. "Search: 'T' stone," he commanded.

Within seconds, results appeared: "Sector Nine Room 23."

Zhong Yun's excitement soared and he ascended immediately toward Sector Nine with barely controlled eagerness.

The entire vault was divided into thirteen sections. Sector Nine occupied a central location which Zhong Yun reached in mere seconds at his top speed.

"Room 23... found it!" Spotting the numbered room, Zhong Yun halted mid-flight, sweat beading on his palms from sheer anticipation.

"Open it," he ordered.

The door slid open to reveal a vast chamber where, suspended centrally, was an unassuming black box. This cubic container measured about half a meter in every dimension and appeared entirely non-reactive - its material completely suppressed the distinct energy signature of raw stones.

"Retrieve it," Zhong Yun instructed calmly.

The hovering box descended slowly as mechanical arms extended from the walls to carefully transport it toward him.

Holding the box, Zhong Yun fought back his excitement before prying it open. At first glance alone, he felt his heart nearly burst - hundreds of stone compartments contained dragon-eye sized raw stones each radiating intense energy waves that sent shivers through his core.

After all those hardships, finally securing these precious resources, although less than half the expected amount, made the entire ordeal worthwhile.

Regaining control of his emotions, Zhong Yun carefully transferred the stones into his exosuit key for safekeeping.

His eyes lingered on the floating inventory display - having secured the raw stones, he couldn't resist taking more treasures. Given limited space in the exosuit key, he selected items based solely on value until it was completely full. At this point, Zhong Yun begrudgingly regretted keeping those three cumbersome suits that wasted precious storage space.

The Kedong family's two-thousand-year legacy proved truly invaluable - these treasures rivaled even the contents of Water Star Ship.

The greatest tragedy in life is standing at the foot of Mount Treasure while being unable to carry away all its riches.

"Moderation is key," Zhong Yun reminded himself, summoning immense willpower to turn away from the treasure vault without glancing back. He feared his self-control might fail if he looked again.

Yet misfortune struck just as he was about to celebrate - returning to the council hall triggered some unknown mechanism. A deafening alarm blared and an intense orange beam descended upon him, its searing heat nearly cooking him alive had it not been for his suit's superior thermal protection.

Although surviving this ambush, Zhong Yun discovered his invisibility cloak had melted away in the extreme temperatures.

This revelation enraged him - the cloak was his most cherished possession having saved his life multiple times. Without it, he might already be dead.

Now that the cloak was destroyed, Zhong Yun's fury reached its peak just as Kedong guards arrived on alert from the alarm.

Blind with rage, Zhong Yun drew his ion like a wounded beast and lunged forward. His blade cut through several bodies before they could react.

Wielding both knife and gun simultaneously, Zhong Yun fought to escape this place. Originally he had spared Junshu's life out of respect, but with the cloak destroyed, such reservations were long forgotten. Now his only thought was slaughtering everyone within this cursed mansion as retribution for his lost treasure.

Guards arrived in waves yet couldn't stop him. Zhong Yun moved like death incarnate, leaving no survivors among those he spotted.

But their numbers seemed endless and Zhong Yun quickly lost count of how many he had killed or wounds he had sustained - his armor absorbed all damage without injury.

Kill... kill... kill...

Driven mad by rage, Zhong Yun cycled through power cells until finally finding an opening to switch to his automatic fire gun. With relentless firepower, he carved a bloody path out and reached the outer courtyard.

Even worse crowds awaited outside in full protective gear, encircling him with several formidable experts among them.

Amidst attacks from multiple near-level-20 experts, Zhong Yun's progress halted until finally destroying his automatic fire gun to kill two adversaries.

The standoff soon ensued - without this devastating firepower, escaping proved difficult. Meanwhile Kedong family members were stunned by his combat prowess and hesitated to advance.

Just as the second-in-command of the Kedong clan began speaking among them, Junshu's incredulous voice suddenly rang out: "What are you doing here?"

One more chapter remains