Chapter 3 He was truly the ancestral emperor in his youth!

Xiao Qidi leaned closer and used his sword to pry open the ashes, discovering a jade disc the size of a palm.

He smashed the charred corpse with his knife and picked up the jade disc, wiping it clean.

Despite being burned by the raging fire for so long, the jade disc remained completely undamaged and remained cool to the touch.

From the front, it shimmers with a silvery-white light like flowing smoke; from the side, it is lush and verdant, as if rippling with water.

“This is…” Xiao Qidi’s eyes trembled, “A rare treasure of the world—the Azure Jade!”

The seven major vassal states of the Central Plains fought tooth and nail for this rare treasure.

Xiao Qidi's great-grandfather once tried to exchange fifteen cities of the Xuan Kingdom for the Canglan Jade, but he failed.

Later, the whereabouts of the Canglan Jade became unknown, and it was rumored that it was stolen by a notorious thief in the martial arts world.

I never expected it would be this bandit.

Xiao Qidi stuffed the Azure Jade into his bosom, stepped over the twisted, charred corpses, and arrived at the innermost wall of the cave.

He has made a decision to use the Azure Jade to exchange for more food and water to save the local people.

No matter how precious the treasures are, they are not as important as the lives of ordinary people.

As the ruler of a country, I have no power or influence, and can only watch my people suffer. I feel truly ashamed of myself.

Extend your palm, and the passage will appear.

He strode quickly inside.

Bang!

His face was caught off guard and bumped into something hard.

Xiao Qidi winced in pain, clutching his nose, and it took him a while to recover.

Why is something blocking the way?

He frowned and slowly reached out his hands to touch what was in front of him.

The strange object blocking the entire passage appeared to be a layer of metal with horizontal grooves and protrusions on its surface.

It wobbles when you push it gently, so it doesn't seem very thick.

"Although the bandits have been wiped out, the village is still in dire need of food and water. The lives of the people are at stake. How can I be stopped by this thing!"

Xiao Qidi drew his sword from his waist and slashed down with one hand!

Bang!

Sparks flew everywhere, and the object that blocked the way made a deafening noise, but it was only slashed and left a mark.

Xiao Qidi was so shocked that his hands went numb.

But he didn't give up. He gripped the knife with both hands and chopped with even more force!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Inside the warehouse, Ning Jinli was sleeping soundly with drool drooling, when she was suddenly awakened by a series of loud noises coming from the roller shutter door.

I opened my eyes in a daze and saw the roller shutter door at the back door shaking violently!

"Huh? What's wrong...?"

She yawned, got up, and walked over sleepily, forcefully lifting the roller shutter door.

With a whoosh, the roller shutter door rose.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a broken battle blade appeared in front of her and slashed down hard at the top of her head!

Fortunately, Xiao Qidi reacted quickly and managed to control his strength in time.

The sword stopped less than half a centimeter above Ning Jinli's head.

Her legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground, bursting into tears.

Xiao Qidi was taken aback for a moment, then put away his sword with an apologetic expression and reached out to help her up. "Miss, I didn't mean to."

"You...you...don't come any closer!"

Ning Jinli scrambled backward.

With a thud, my back hit the shelf, and a large box on top fell down.

Xiao Qidi strode forward and abruptly pulled her up, causing her to uncontrollably fall into his arms.

boom!

The cargo containers were smashed and scattered all over the ground.

Ning Jinli was startled again, screamed and jumped up, hugging Xiao Qidi with both hands and feet, burying her head in his arms.

At just over 1.7 meters tall, she looked petite and delicate next to the burly Xiao Qidi.

The soft, yielding touch made Xiao Qidi stiffen all over, and when he looked down, his nose felt burning hot.

A moment of silence—

Xiao Qidi's cheeks trembled slightly. He looked away and secretly wiped away the blood from his nose. "Miss, could you... get off me?"

Ning Jinli snapped out of her daze and hurriedly let go of her hand.

The touch felt so real, and I could feel his increasingly rapid breathing and pounding heartbeat.

“Little brother, you’re not a ghost?” She stared at him in disbelief.

"A ghost?" Xiao Qidi was even more incredulous. "I told you, I am from the Xuan Kingdom—"

"etc!"

Ning Jinli suddenly noticed that the back door of the warehouse was emitting an illusory light.

Under the warehouse lights, you could vaguely see the weeds outside the door, and a fluorescent vortex.

"You came from there, didn't you?" she asked hurriedly.

Xiao Qidi glanced back and nodded.

Ning Jinli sighed, “So… what I saw when I was a child wasn’t a hallucination.”

When she was seven years old, her parents were still alive, and they brought her to this factory to play.

She accidentally ran into the warehouse, and the same thing happened at the back door, where a wild rabbit also ran out.

She later told her parents, but they didn't believe her.

Now it seems that Xiao Qidi might actually be the ancestral emperor who unified the world more than two thousand years ago.

Just as described in historical records, he was tall and imposing, standing at 1.98 meters tall—truly impressive!

Oh, no, he's only eighteen years old.

According to historical records, although he was already the king of Xuan Kingdom at this time, he had no power or influence and it would take many years before he could take control of the government. He completed the unification at around the age of forty and became the ancestral emperor.

Ning Jinli looked Xiao Qidi up and down carefully, then suddenly raised her hand and poked his high nose with a finger.

Tsk...

Looks like that, charisma like that.

He certainly has the face to look like he could crush six kingdoms.

A gloomy look appeared between Xiao Qidi's brows. "Miss, I'm really not a ghost."

"Little brother, I have high hopes for you." Ning Jinli patted his broad shoulder with her arm raised, her face serious. "Keep it up! Just tell me if you need anything!"

Such words and actions made Xiao Qidi feel slightly uncomfortable.

But since he needed her help, he wasn't angry. He took out the Azure Jade from his pocket and said, "Give me more food and water, and I'll give you this. How about it?"

Ning Jinli thought that the jade pendant she had bought before could sell for 100,000 yuan, and now this palm-sized round jade ring looked even more beautiful than that jade pendant.

It can definitely sell for more money, it should be worth 200,000, right?

Only with more money can we possibly get out of our current predicament.

"Okay, deal!"

Ning Jinli's eyes crinkled into two crescent moons with a smile.

Xiao Qidi stuffed the Azure Jade back into his bosom and said seriously, "Then, I'll give it to you after it's done."

Ning Jinli nodded, "No problem, it's just food and water, take whatever I have here first."

Xiao Qidi looked at the pile of boxes containing biscuits.

This is the smallest warehouse in the factory, only about 100 square meters.

These are all cookies that are about to expire; there are about several dozen boxes of them.

Ning Jinli was about to explain that the cookies were about to expire and she could give them away for free, but Xiao Qidi said, "These are too few, far from enough."

“Ah…then come with me!” Ning Jinli grabbed Xiao Qidi’s big hand.

Xiao Qidi hesitated slightly, but still let her hold him.

Ning Jinli led him to the side door of the small warehouse, opened the side door, and turned on the light switch.

Sizzle, snap—snap—

The lights came on one after another, revealing a 5,000-square-meter food warehouse to Xiao Qidi...