“You two, stand up properly. I’ll engrave a mark on your bodies. This mark will be the proof of your identity and will allow you to get inside the treasure house.” Venerable White stretched out his hand and lightly tapped on Song Shuhang and Su Clan’s Sixteen’s bodies.

Afterward, two runes fell on their bodies.

After receiving the empowerment of this rune, Song Shuhang’s eyes suddenly shone. He saw that the entrance to the treasure house was concealed in the center of the large lake below. It was the entrance to a different dimension, and Venerable White’s treasure house was concealed in there.

Since the treasure house was in a different dimension, even if the surrounding area underwent great changes—like the large lake drying up—ordinary people and cultivators would be still unable to find the entrance to the treasure house.

❄️❄️❄️

Next, Venerable White used his finger as a sword and gently slashed down, with the sword qi heading downward.

The surface of the lake was cut open, with the water splitting into two halves and standing up like walls, not coming together for a very long time.

“Let’s go inside.” Venerable White took the lead and jumped downward.

Song Shuhang and Su Clan’s Sixteen closely followed behind him. The runes engraved on their bodies shone; it was a sign that their identities had been confirmed. As such, they weren’t blocked while entering that other dimension, and could successfully get into the treasure house.

❄️❄️❄️

In the treasure house No. 3453.

The first thing that came into view as they entered that other dimension was a long and narrow tunnel made of stone.

Song Shuhang thought that he would directly fall onto a pile of spirit stones after entering this other dimension. But now, it seemed that the defenses of Senior White’s treasure house weren’t that simple.

“Follow me and don’t lose your way. I set up various traps in this treasure house before, and it would be dangerous for you guys to lose your way,” Venerable White urged.

After hearing his words, Song Shuhang and Su Clan’s Sixteen closely followed after him.

❄️❄️❄️

The duo closely followed after Venerable White and advanced forward.

No traps were activated along the way, but Song Shuhang and Su Clan’s Sixteen had faintly felt the presence of over 500 deadly mechanisms… and these were the mechanisms that even mere cultivators of the Third Stage like them discovered. The real number was likely much higher. From the looks of it, even an elite disciple of the Penniless Thief Sect would be unable to go back alive after entering Venerable White’s treasure house.

“We have arrived.” At this time, Venerable White stretched out his hand and pushed open a metal door.

After the door was pushed open, a dazzling light seeped through the crack.

Song Shuhang and Su Clan’s Sixteen instinctively stretched out their hands to block the blinding light.

The treasure house No. 3453 had almost exclusively spirit stones inside.

There was a large pile of spirit stones inside that formed a small mountain. It filled the entire space, and had transformed the whole place into a sea of spirit stones.

Amidst these spirit stones, the ones with the lowest rank were those of the Fifth Stage rank. The number of spirit stones of the Sixth and Seventh Stage rank was also huge.

The number of spirit stones of the Eighth Stage rank wasn’t small, either.

“So many!” Song Shuhang sighed with emotion.

Venerable White sized up his treasure house, very satisfied. “Not bad. The spirit stones reproduced quite a bit.”

“Spirit stones can reproduce?” Song Shuhang had a confused expression on his face. Spirit stones could marry and have children?

Su Clan’s Sixteen pondered for a moment and understood what was going on. “Senior White, is it possible that there is a ‘spirit stone vein’ concealed in this treasure house of yours?”

“Your guess is correct,” Venerable White said with a smile. “However, there is also a special ‘spiritual vein’ here that can do wonders when joined together with the ‘spirit stone vein’. Therefore, as long as it’s carefully nurtured, the spirit stone vein can produce over 10,000 spirit stones of the Fifth Stage every year, and there is also a chance to produce spirit stones of the Sixth, Seventh, and even Eighth Stage rank.”

“Senior White, how many spirit stones are there here in total?” Song Shuhang asked.

“I can’t remember the exact number. The number is simply too high, and I’m too lazy to count them all. Hmm… I’ll lend you a spatial magical treasure. You can pick up all the spirit stones of the Eighth Stage you can find and take them away. If you see spirit stones of the Ninth Stage rank, you can pick them up as well. At first, I was thinking of lending you all the spirit stones here, but it seems you don’t have the means to take away all of them,” Venerable White said.

One could use this sentence to describe rich people—after their wealth had reached a certain degree, it would just turn into a series of meaningless digits.

On the other hand, the number of spirit stones in Venerable White’s possession had reached the degree where even digits had become useless. He couldn’t even remember how many spirit stones he had. He only knew that they were more than enough for him to use.

“Thank you, Senior White,” Song Shuhang said gratefully. With a spatial magical treasure full of spirit stones of the Eighth and Ninth Stage rank, he would have a very large chance of buying everything he needed whenever ‘Venerable Seventh Cultivator of True Virtue’ brought him to see that mysterious ‘Almighty Merchant’.

If the ‘forbidden area’ that Daoist Priest Li Tiansu had discovered didn’t have the cure to Li Yinzhu’s cold disease, he could only hope to buy something to cure her from that ‘Almighty Merchant’.

“You are welcome.” Venerable White stretched out his hand while speaking and waved it. Afterward, a box flew over, landing in front of Song Shuhang.

The box opened, and it turned out to be full of blades of ‘Saber Intent Condensing Grass’.

“There are around 50,000 blades of ‘Saber Intent Condensing Grass’ in there. Shuhang, we can exchange according to a 5:1 rate. As such, 50,000 blades of ‘Saber Intent Condensing Grass’ are worth 10,000 ‘Saber Intent Condensing Lotus Seeds’. As for the extra seeds, I can buy them for a spirit stone of the Fifth Stage each. You can use your lotus seeds to pay me back!”

“No problem, Senior White.” Song Shuhang happily took the small box and stored it inside his size-reducing purse.

The nearby Su Clan’s Sixteen blinked her eyes.

She felt as if Song Shuhang had just sold himself into servitude to Senior White when he took that box of ‘Saber Intent Condensing Grass’ and that spatial magical treasure that he was going to fill with spirit stones.

A spatial magical treasure full of spirit stones of the Eighth and Ninth Stage rank, as well as those 50,000 blades of ‘Saber Intent Condensing Grass’… just how much time would Song Shuhang need to pay off this huge debt?

First was that transaction for 10,000 ‘Saber Intent Condensing Lotus Seeds’… if Song Shuhang didn’t do anything for the whole day aside from eating blades of ‘Saber Intent Condensing Grass’—and ate a hundred of them—it would still take him a hundred days to complete this transaction.

Then, there were all the spirit stones he had borrowed… would he be able to clear this debt within a thousand years?

This was undoubtedly the same as selling oneself into servitude for the sake of money!

Just as Sixteen was in deep thought, Venerable White stretched out his hand and waved it again. Afterward, a string of prayer beads fell into his hand.

He gave the prayer beads to Su Clan’s Sixteen, and said, “Little Sixteen, this is the thing that Seven borrowed from me on your behalf. It’s a precious buddhist treasure called ‘Sarira Beads’. From what I know, this thing is very valuable, and even the buddhist faction doesn’t have many of these things left. Wearing this thing will be helpful while transcending the tribulation.”

“Thank you, Senior White.” Su Clan’s Sixteen took the string of Sarira Beads.

“You are welcome,” Venerable White said with a smile. To borrow these ‘Sarira Beads’, Su Clan’s Seven had agreed to go to the land of extreme cold to look for the ‘Icy Spring of the Sea Snake’. The water of that spring was… very tasty and good to prepare tea.

❄️❄️❄️

After half an hour, Song Shuhang was holding a jade bracelet in his hand and wiping his sweat away.

This jade bracelet was precisely the spatial magical treasure that Senior White lent him. The space inside had a surface of 100 square meters and a height of 10 meters.

Even with Venerable White and Su Clan’s Sixteen’s help, Song Shuhang had spent quite some time filling up this bracelet… and now, it was finally full.

Song Shuhang sighed with emotion, and said, “It’s a pity that I can only take away this many spirit stones in one go.”

At first, he was considering buying a few things to Venerable White’s liking from that ‘Almighty Merchant’ whenever they met.

For example, some treasures that had already disappeared from the world. If he could successfully buy them, he would be able to compensate Venerable White a little for this favor he had done him by lending him all these spirit stones.

After hearing these words, Venerable White held his chin and pondered for a moment, saying, “Shuhang, if you feel that the number of spirit stones is still not enough… we can go to look for the raw materials necessary to forge a ‘spatial magical treasure’. I have some very good main raw materials with me, and if we add some supplementary raw materials, we should be able to forge a pretty nice spatial magical treasure. At that time, I’ll bring you here again to pick up some spirit stones. How does that sound?”

“Ah~ Senior White, you’re too polite. I was just thinking aloud. Actually, the number of spirit stones inside this jade bracelet should be more than enough for what I need to buy,” Song Shuhang said in a hurry.

“I see. If you really need a few more spirit stones, you can come looking for me. I’ve already lent you this many, so it’s not a problem to lend you some more,” Venerable White said with a smile.

“Thank you, Senior. But the current number of spirit stones should be enough,” Song Shuhang replied.

Just as he was speaking, Song Shuhang’s Heart Aperture shook a little. That nucleus inside his Heart Aperture had started to shake.

Following, his heartbeat sped up.

In the next moment, his forehead became icy cold, and all his body shivered. From the looks of it, something not too good was about to happen.

Su Clan’s Sixteen looked at him and asked, “Shuhang, what happened?”

Song Shuhang didn’t even have the time to reply that a dazzling ray of light exploded from his chest. This ray of light was like a movie projector and projected the picture of a golden lotus in the air.

“Eh?” Venerable White looked curiously at Song Shuhang’s chest. “What’s happening?”

“I think that the nucleus in my Heart Aperture received some kind of stimulation and was thus activated.” Song Shuhang covered his chest and activated the ❮Thirty-Three Divine Beasts’ Technique❯ in an attempt to subdue the shaking nucleus, or key, in his Heart Aperture.

After revolving his true qi, his heartbeat slowly returned to normal. However, the nucleus in his Heart Aperture didn’t calm down.

At the same time, that ray of light shooting out of his chest and projecting the picture of the golden lotus in the air was getting bigger and bigger.

“What is that? A golden lotus?” Venerable White curiously stared at the golden lotus made of light. Then, he sniffed and said, “Is this thing edible?”

“I don’t think it is,” Song Shuhang replied.

“What’s the deal with that nucleus inside your Heart Aperture?” Venerable White asked.

“After coming out of the ‘world of the golden lotus’ of the scholarly faction, I discovered that there was this nucleus in my Heart Aperture. As for its ability… it should be the same as the Virtuous Golden Lotus of the scholarly faction,” Song Shuhang replied.

“It has the same ability? Are you talking about the ability to create a small world?” Su Clan’s Sixteen opened her eyes wide.

“Yes. However, I’m not the golden lotus, and I can’t absorb the energy from the demons of the Netherworld. As such, it’s impossible for me to create a small world.” Then, Song Shuhang also added, “Therefore, I was planning to look for an opportunity to research this nucleus that had suddenly appeared in my body together with Senior White and see if it would influence my practice… but it suddenly activated today and started to act on its own.”

Venerable White pondered for a moment, and guessed, “The Virtuous Golden Lotus of the scholarly faction had to absorb the energy from the demons of the Netherworld Realm in order to create its ‘world of the golden lotus’. As such, if the nucleus inside your body wants to create a small world, it’s also going to need a source of energy.”

A source of energy? Song Shuhang gaze immediately fell on those spirit stones scattered everywhere…