chapter 40

Su Chen hadn’t lied. If Shi Mingfeng could only choose a single person to enter the secret stores alone and retrieve what was inside, he would choose Su Chen as he trusted him the most.

It wasn’t because of Su Chen’s character but rather because the two of them were seeking two totally different things.

The Immortal Temple wanted the treasures themselves: precious Origin Tools, rare resources, exceptional cultivation techniques — anything that had value.

Su Chen, on the other hand, only wanted one thing: knowledge.

He was not lacking in money. A few billion Origin Stones were in his hands; even after spending them quite extravagantly, he still had around 1.2 billion Origin Stones left.

Su Chen would be able to buy any treasure as long as a price tag could be put on it. No one had as much expendable funds as Su Chen, not even the king of Long Sang Country.

To him, any item that could be bought was not valuable. He only cared for knowledge.

On the other hand, the Immortal Temple did not value knowledge at all.

They wouldn’t value it even if offered to them for free.

The success of their agreement was partly because they did not overlap in what they were after. Because of this, Su Chen was able to openly say that he was going to go search for the benefits while they did all the fighting.

Zhu Xianyao didn’t understand that.

However, she did realize at least one thing.

She stared at Su Chen. “You aren’t Shi Mingfeng’s subordinate?”

“What?” Su Chen was stunned.

Zhu Xianyao said, “You keep saying Shi Mingfeng’s name without using any honorifics and talking about him in an extremely casual tone, as if you’re talking to someone at the same level as you. You’re only a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, but you’re allowed to speak with Shi Mingfeng as if you’re on the same level. You definitely aren’t his subordinate, and…… and you might not even be a part of the Immortal Temple!”

Su Chen didn’t expect that Zhu Xianyao could pick out so much from just a few careless sentences of his. He froze momentarily before saying, “You’re thinking too much into it.

He turned around and continued walking forward.

Zhu Xianyao followed closely behind. “Your expression tells me that my guesses are right!”

Su Chen angrily stopped walking. “I say, why do you keep following me? We’ve already agreed that Kapius’s secret stores belong to us.

“You promised that you would help me recover my memories, so of course I need to follow you! What if you run away?”

“Shi Mingfeng has already made a vow. Once we take what’s in the secret stores, I will naturally help you remember your memories once we leave this place!”

“If that’s the case, what are you so worried about? I already agreed not to fight with you over the secret stores, so why do you insist on chasing me away? Do you have some kind of ulterior motive?”

“Ha!” Su Chen spread his hands. “What ulterior motives could I have? I just don’t like you always following me around.”

“I’m not following you around; I’m just walking with you side by side. Also, you can look for the secret stores, but so can I! I promised not to take anything from inside the secret stores, but not that I wouldn’t look for them. I just want to see what’s inside; that should be fine, right?”

“……”

Zhu Xianyao was quite sharp-witted. Su Chen discovered that he wasn’t actually able to refute her words.

He thought for a moment, then said, “Then why don’t you go and look for them yourself? Why do you keep following after me?”

“Because you still have some things of mine that you haven’t returned yet!” Zhu Xianyao replied self-righteously.

Things of yours?

Su Chen paused for a moment.

He suddenly thought of something and took off the Clarity Bracelet from his wrist. “Here.”

Since their hostility had turned into an alliance, holding onto what belonged to other people was a bit excessive.

“And the Nine-Eyed Jade Python Belt,” Zhu Xianyao said.

“This thing is quite good. I’d like it. I’ll pay you Origin Stones for it.”

“A hundred million Origin Stones.”

“Stop joking around. Three consciousness-type Origin Crystals for ten million Origin Stones is quite good. I only spent 3.25 million to get this Nightmare Snake Origin Crystal. The Nine-Eyed Jade Python Sash is probably worth another 2 million, so I’ll give you 12 million in total.”

“15 million. The Zhu Clan is not lacking in money.”

“13 million. I’ve never heard of anyone on this earth who truly has no need of money.”

Zhu Xianyao gazed at him meaningfully and said, “Who exactly are you? There aren’t many people who can pull out 13 million Origin Stones without batting an eye.”

“That has nothing to do with you. Now can you stop following me around?”

“You still owe me 13 million Origin Stones and my memories!”

“……”

Su Chen realized that he wasn’t going to be able to shake Zhu Xianyao off.

“Alright then. Since you like following me so much, then you can follow me, but let me tell you this now. Don’t hold me back.”

Zhu Xianyao pouted. “That depends on how I feel and how well you perform.”

Su Chen was too lazy to pay her any mind. He continued to walk forwards and search for the secret stores.

They searched as they walked until they quickly came to a stop in front of a large, pitch-black door.

“This door doesn’t exist in West Laina Castle,” Zhu Xianyao said.

“That was the same for the Ancient Summoning Ritual.” Su Chen walked over and took a closer look, sensing the surroundings inside the door.

Thankfully, the large door didn’t come to life this time.

Then, he motioned for Zhu Xianyao to back up a bit.

He placed his hand on the door and carefully pushed it open.

With a creak, the door opened.

No vicious creature came charging out at them. Behind the door was just a dark void.

Su Chen pulled out a crystal lamp from his Origin Ring and tossed it out, the light illuminating the massive cavern. A long hallway revealed itself, leading to some unknown destination. However, the walls of the hallway were lined with strange precious stones, all of them flickering under the light of the crystal and dazzling brilliantly.

“Purple Petal Stones, Soaring Rosy Clouds Stones, and Deceased Spirit Stones…… Did Kapius ever find a precious stone mine?” Zhu Xianyao walked over and tried to pull one off, but found that these precious stones were securely anchored in the wall. She had to expend quite a bit of energy to pry just one off.

Just as she was about to pull off another one, Su Chen stopped her and said, “Stop trying to pull them off. Let’s hurry up and go inside.”

“I just thought that they looked pretty. I know that they belong to you guys,” Zhu Xianyao said with a slight pout.

“It’s not that I can’t bear letting you have them. If it were just these precious stones, I wouldn’t care too much about giving you a few. But I have a sneaking suspicion that we’d better not waste our precious time on these things.”

Zhu Xianyao’s expression shifted slightly. “Is your suspicion right?”

“I don’t know, but if I were Kapius, I wouldn’t want the heir of my treasures to place all of their attention on a few beautiful stones.”

Zhu Xianyao’s face reddened. “Are you mocking me?”

“You’re thinking too much into it,” Su Chen replied.

He continued to walk quickly through the long hallway, refusing to even glance at these valuable precious stones.

As she gazed at Su Chen’s fading figure, Zhu Xianyao sighed, “Okay, I guess Shi Mingfeng wasn’t wrong to trust you.”

She stowed the stone away.

They walked along the hallway, which was strangely long, and only reached the end of the hallway after quite some time.

When they reached the end of the hallway, the two of them found themselves standing beneath a starry sky. The sky above them was filled with twinkling lights, while beneath their feet was seemingly an empty void. Even though there was nothing in the void, they found that they didn’t sink, as if they were truly in a vacuum. This gave them a feeling of desolation.

“What is this place?” Zhu Xianyao asked in awe.

Su Chen glanced at the surroundings, then replied, “Don’t be nervous. These aren’t real stars. If my guess is right, we’ve probably entered a space made from consciousness.”

“You’re saying that we’ve fallen under an illusion technique?”

“No, I’m saying that we’ve entered a physical illusion realm.”

“Is there a difference?”

“The difference is that…… it’s not our consciousnesses that have entered.”