Enduring humiliation for three years, seizing the elixir, the treasure, and the holy maiden.

I don't know how many hours have passed.

Wang Yuyan was soaking in the water, her arms wrapped around Su Chen's neck and pressed against him.

Su Chen brushed a strand of her wet hair behind her ear.

The spiritual energy shifted.

A protective shield opened up from the two people, pushing the pool water outwards.

The cover sank down.

A pool that's seven or eight zhang deep—you only realize how much deeper it is when you sink in.

Forty feet.

Five more feet down.

Su Chen stopped.

A dark object was embedded in the silt at the bottom of the pool, with only a small corner, about the size of a palm, showing.

The spiritual energy flows from that thing.

Over countless years, the entire pool of water transformed into a sacred pool.

This is no ordinary thing!

It's very rare to encounter one in this generation!

"This is......"

Wang Yuyan reached out and touched the dark surface with her fingertips, then immediately withdrew her hand.

"siderite."

Su Chen frowned.

This kind of thing is extremely rare and hard to come by.

If I hadn't read such records in the Luoyun Sect's library back then...

Su Chen absolutely did not recognize this object.

The lingering echoes of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth!

"This is something from outer space!"

"It fell into the ground and was pressed under this mountain for who knows how many tens of thousands of years."

"The entire pool of water was transformed into a spiritual pool."

"It would be a pity to forge this meteorite iron like this."

Su Chen carefully pulled the meteorite out of the mud, inch by inch.

It was smaller than I expected, no more than three feet in length, but extremely heavy, so heavy that even a cultivator at the Void Refinement stage would have to suppress their spiritual power.

"Let's find a master weapon refiner."

"The best one."

Su Chen put the meteorite iron into his storage bag.

"This thing can yield a pair of swords."

"Give me one."

"Here, take one."

Wang Yuyan was stunned for a moment.

Then she snuggled into Su Chen's arms and buried her face in his.

"Yu Yan doesn't know how to use a sword."

"If you don't know how, learn it."

Su Chen lifted her up.

"You currently possess only the cultivation level of the Nascent Soul stage, but you lack even a single means of killing."

"Just now when I faced Han Ye, a wisp of my spiritual energy was blocked by a layer of protective spiritual light."

"This won't do."

The protective shield rises.

When it emerged from the water, the thin layer of white mist on the surface of the pool was scattered and could not be gathered back for a while.

...

At night, mist rose over the tea fields below the Misty Rain Pavilion.

Only two lamps were lit in the main hall.

Wang Chongshan personally bolted the palace door, and when he turned around, he was holding a wine pot in his hand.

"My dear son-in-law."

"sit."

The wine poured from the pot was amber in color, and a little splashed onto the table as it entered the cup.

Wang Chongshan didn't wipe it either.

"You didn't just come back to spend time with Yu Yan, did you?"

"My father-in-law is a wise man."

Su Chen didn't beat around the bush.

"I want spirit stones."

"The amount is not small."

Wang Chongshan paused for a moment while holding the cup.

"Name a number."

"Fifty million."

Su Chen put the cup on the table.

"I plan to open a pill-making workshop on the Xuanhuang Continent, and also make a living by reselling magical artifacts."

"Luoyan City is currently weak, but these two businesses can sustain the city."

"But this business is most expensive in terms of spirit stones in the early stages."

"Shops, artisans, prescriptions, and supplies—everything needs to be financed upfront."

"Fifty million is the minimum number."

Wang Chongshan did not answer immediately.

The hand tapped three times on the edge of the table, then sighed.

"My dear son-in-law."

"Logically speaking, you should have more than 100 million in your name from the profits from the seven spirit mines over the years."

"But it's not in the account."

Su Chen's eyebrows twitched.

"How so?"

"I've been harassed for over three years."

Wang Chongshan downed the wine in one gulp.

"In the past three years, no fewer than forty incidents have occurred at the West Mine and the two high-grade mines in the south."

"The ore trucks were intercepted on the way, the disciples guarding the mine had their legs broken, and the support array in the mine tunnels was dismantled twice during the night."

"No one dares to directly attack the gates of Yanyu Pavilion."

"Those who came were all rogue cultivators, their faces covered, and they scattered after the fight."

"I sent people to guard the area for three years, but we didn't catch a single one."

"But I understand this in my heart."

Wang Chongshan pressed the empty cup down on the table.

"In Qingzhou, who has the guts to provoke the affiliated sect of Luoyun Sect?"

"Apart from the people of the Falling Cloud Sect themselves."

Su Chen didn't speak.

The incense in the incense burner at the corner of the hall had burned down to half its original size, and a small patch of ash had collapsed.

"I'm turning a blind eye."

Wang Chongshan poured another cup.

"I dare not investigate."

"So what if we find out the truth?"

"What can I, a Nascent Soul cultivator, do against a Deity Transformation Elder?"

"If it weren't for my son-in-law's kick that came down from the sky today..."

"That western mine is gone."

Wang Chongshan rolled up his sleeves.

"so."

"Within three days, I will directly transfer 80 million from three mines."

Su Chen raised his eyes.

"Eighty million?"

"Eighty million."

Wang Chongshan nodded.

"This also emptied the reserves of Yanyu Pavilion over the past few years."

"If Curry leaves behind 30 million or so, it'll be enough for the entire sect to live on for two years."

"Any more and the sect will fall apart."

Su Chen picked up the glass of wine, looked at it for a while, and then drank it in one gulp.

The wine is good.

Five-hundred-year-old spirit wine is something even second-rate sects in Qingzhou wouldn't serve at their banquets.

"Eighty million is enough."

Su Chen placed the cup upside down on the table.

"Another one."

"I'll give the spirit contract from the West Mine to my father-in-law tomorrow."

Wang Chongshan's hand froze on the wine pot.

"From now on, that mine will belong to the Misty Rain Pavilion."

Su Chen spoke very calmly.

"This is also the last time I will take spirit stones from the Misty Rain Pavilion."

"No matter how many coins are produced from the mine in the future, I will not take a single one."

The wicks of the two lamps in the hall both popped.

Wang Chongshan remained silent for a long time.

Cultivators have long lifespans.

A mine that produces 50 million high-grade spirit stones a year.

Ten years is just a blink of an eye.

Five hundred million in ten years.

2.5 billion over 50 years.

This is the number that can transform a small sect into a first-rate sect.

Su Chen just let go like that.

"My dear son-in-law..."

Wang Chongshan's shout sounded a little hoarse.

"This is no small matter."

"Not for me."

Su Chen leaned back in his chair.

"What do cultivators at the Void Refinement stage need spirit stones for?"

"I can't cultivate a higher realm with pills, and I don't lack magical artifacts either."

"To advance, one must gain an understanding of the laws."

"A mine in my hands is just a number."

"In the hands of Yanyu Pavilion, it is the food supply for several thousand people on the thirty-seven peaks."

Only then did Wang Chongshan pick up the wine pot again.

The hand that was pouring the wine trembled slightly, and the glass was filled to the brim, with the wine spilling down the side of the glass onto the table.

"My dear son-in-law!"

"Come, come, let your father toast you again."

The "son-in-law" he called out was three times louder than before.

Wang Chongshan raised his cup, then put it down halfway, glancing at Su Chen twice.

Refining the void.

My son-in-law was just a rogue cultivator who had just broken through to the Nascent Soul stage back then.

It is now the second largest city in Qingzhou.

Look at me.

Wang Chongshan pointed the glass at his chest, and some of the wine spilled out.

"Mid-stage Nascent Soul Realm"

"We started from the foundation building stage five hundred years ago and have persevered to this day."

"If your lifespan is one thousand years, subtract five hundred, and you'll have five hundred left."

Su Chen did not answer.

He simply picked up the glass of wine again.

In his mind, however, he went through the whole story of his father-in-law.

In the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm, although the primordial spirit is thick, the pathways to the spiritual apertures have long been blocked.

The path to becoming a Nascent Soul cultivator isn't about enduring hardship.

Talent is necessary, but opportunity is even more important.

...