Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

"What?" Chu Chenxi looked at Yun Ping in confusion.

The old rogue turned around and stared at Chu Chenxi with a smile.

"The national treasury I'm referring to is not this national treasury."

"But another one, something deeper..."

"Chu Lantian's treasure trove."

66. Learning Materials

Chu Lantian's treasure trove?

Upon hearing this, Chu Chenxi was completely stunned.

From beginning to end, she had never heard of Chu Lantian, the founding ancestor of the Lantian Empire, having any so-called treasure trove of his own. The Lantian Empire only had one national treasury, so where would a second treasure trove come from?

If anyone else had said this, Chu Chenxi would have taken it as a joke and let it go in one ear and out the other.

But it was Yunping who said those words.

If her memory serves her correctly, according to Chu Xin and the others, Yun Ping, this mysterious and powerful figure, was once on friendly terms with Chu Lantian, the founding emperor of the Lantian Empire. Although she wasn't entirely sure, she had vaguely heard Fang Yan and Chu Xin mention that Yun Ping was very likely the Wen Emperor who hadn't yet perished.

His words are undoubtedly credible.

That being said—

"This... I've never heard of it before..."

Chu Chenxi lowered her head in shame, her face stiff, feeling extremely apologetic for being completely unaware of the secrets of the Lantian Empire.

However, the old rogue didn't care about this. He glanced at her and, after confirming that Chu Chenxi had no reservations, he nodded slightly, his expression showing a hint of understanding: "It doesn't matter if you don't know. After all, this is basically a secret among secrets for that kid Chu Lantian. I even suspect that he hasn't told anyone about his real treasure trove."

"Including his descendants."

"Eh?"

Chu Chenxi blinked blankly. If that's the case, then it wouldn't matter who comes.

Just now, she was wondering whether she should seek the opinion of the Emperor of the Lantian Empire and ask her father if he knew the secret of the Chu Lantian Treasure Vault.

If the founding emperor himself had chosen to bury that secret completely, then future generations would naturally never have known where it was.

The old rogue looked around, his gaze wandering over the mountain of magical artifacts piled high nearby. He glanced casually at those artifacts he wouldn't even look at, and chuckled, "I'm thinking that brat probably also hid his treasure trove in this vast Lantian Empire's treasury, layer upon layer. That's not a bad way to be safe."

His divine sense emerged from his body, sweeping around at an extremely fast speed, before suddenly stopping at a certain point, as if he had sensed something.

The old rogue began to scrutinize the internal structure of the national treasury once again.

The piled-up ritual implements resembled an endless mountain range, with overlapping peaks. Although they were arranged somewhat haphazardly, the lines of the overlapping peaks were remarkably smooth, as if it had been done intentionally.

The jade and gold bricks at his feet were scattered everywhere.

indeed.

For cultivators, magical artifacts are far more valuable than jade and gold bricks, so it's not strange that these gold bricks are carelessly discarded.

However, the old rogue was concerned because he had felt a sense of spatial unease from the very beginning.

He squatted down, as if measuring something, then looked up and gazed at the distant mountain of magical artifacts behind him, a sense of understanding gradually appearing in his eyes.

"In order to avoid alerting cultivators, they deliberately avoided using restrictive formations that would trigger a reaction. Instead, they created a small space and hid it, folding it up before the mechanism was activated..."

"This kid has been hiding his true colors well."

Seeing Yunping suddenly start talking to himself, Ye Yuchan and the others beside him were completely confused.

Organ? Folding?

What is that?

Gu Xingzhuo was the first to react, asking with a puzzled look, "Teacher, do you mean... there's a secret room hidden here?"

"Yes." Yun Ping nodded in agreement: "The secret room that Chu Lantian set up was specifically for hiding his little treasure. Before the mechanism is triggered, it is in a folded state, looking as if it has been integrated into this space. It is difficult to detect even with divine sense."

"So, teacher, how did you discover that?" Jiang Shaoguang couldn't help but ask.

"Why don't you, you old rogue, demonstrate it to us first? Where's the mechanism?"

As Ye Yuchan spoke, she kept scooping up gold bricks from the ground and stuffing them into her storage ring: "Is it hidden among these gold bricks? I'll take some out first..."

"..."

Chu Chenxi gave a helpless bitter laugh. Seeing Ye Yuchan's actions, she didn't have anything to say, and could only sigh that she was indeed worthy of Ye Yuchan.

After all, the Lantian Empire's treasury is piled high with gold and silver. At Ye Yuchan's speed, it might take several years to empty the treasury. Letting her take some back is not a big deal.

Yun Ping rolled his eyes at Ye Yuchan, who was frantically accumulating wealth, then his gaze fell on the magical artifact mountain in the distance. As if he had thought of something, he suddenly stomped his foot.

boom!

A violent impact ripped apart the interior of the several magical artifact mountains in the distance, and countless swords, spears, halberds, and magical artifacts transformed into a torrential rain that fell from the sky.

"Waaaaah—!!"

Ye Yuchan, who was collecting the gold bricks, exclaimed in surprise. Fortunately, she reacted quickly enough and accurately avoided the rain of magical artifacts falling from the sky.

Gu Xingzhu shook his head helplessly. He had transformed into a handsome man with long hair. With a flick of his hand, a black shield suddenly appeared at the top of his hair, protecting him like a giant umbrella in a downpour.

Jiang Shaoguang, however, acted only as a gentleman, standing in front of Chu Chenxi and forming a Taiji Mystic Array to shield her from the torrential rain.

The old rogue... he just stood there, and the magical artifacts in the sky seemed to have a mind of their own, unwilling to get any closer to him, and flew past him on their own.

After the nearly minute-long torrential rain of magical artifacts subsided, everyone discovered that at the very center of each mountain, there was a unique sword stuck in the ground.

Upon closer inspection, there were a total of sixty-six swords. Each sword looked quite ordinary, but what was strange was that the bricks on the ground where these swords were stuck were slightly different colors.

With a wave of his hand, Yunping sent sixty-six swords soaring into the sky.

That is, in the next second.

crunch--

The sudden sound of machinery startled everyone, followed by a fleeting feeling of rising, as if the entire treasury had been slightly tilted.

Do not--

Gu Xingzhuo, who was particularly sensitive to space, reacted instantly.

It didn't tilt; it was restored.

From the very beginning, the entire treasury was not positioned upright, but rather tilted slightly forward.

An area that should have been beneath their feet was folded up, its volume greatly reduced. When that area was restored, its volume rapidly expanded, briefly lifting them up, which is why they had a brief feeling of rising.

"Holy crap... what is this thing?"

A gasp came from Ye Yuchan behind Jiang Shaoguang.

Everyone quickly turned around and were astonished to find that right inside the gate of the treasury, a stone door suddenly split open, revealing a staircase leading downwards.

Through the glittering gold of the treasury's interior, people could glimpse—

At the end of the steps was a simple, dusty brown door that was tightly closed.

On the brown gate, there were clearly imposing words, seemingly capable of swallowing the heavens and earth—

[Study Materials]

—What the heck is that weird symbol?!

67. Relics

Suspicious, highly suspicious, extremely suspicious.

The words engraved on the simple gate came into view.

Anyone with a brain knows that no one would actually hide so-called study materials so secretly. The words engraved on the door only make people feel that there is something strange about it.

The principle of "there's no silver buried here" is something everyone understands.

Moreover, that eerie ♂ symbol...

Ye Yuchan shuddered. She actually knew a little about this symbol. Most of the time, once this symbol appeared, it meant that what would be presented to everyone next was likely to be the dark history of the founding emperor of the Lantian Empire.

"This is—"

Chu Chenxi stared blankly at the simple gate below the steps, swallowing hard: "So, our ancestor really did hide something in the national treasury..."

"Given that kid's personality, it's not surprising that he would do this."

Yunping was prepared for this, but even he felt a strange stomachache when he saw the four big characters 【Learning Materials】.

In truth, this whole mess is his fault. He was the one who told Chu Lantian that if he wanted to hide some little treasures that no one would know about, it would be best to label them with tags like "study materials," "computer accessories," or "in-depth research results."

Unexpectedly, Chu Lantian actually learned it and even put it into practice.

Filled with doubt and curiosity about what lay behind the door, the group, led by Yunping, slowly descended the steps.

Arriving at the dusty door, Yunping gently touched the dust on the doorknob—it had indeed been a very long time since anyone had cleaned it.

It is worth mentioning that he noticed that the dust on the doorknob was slightly thinner than the dust on the door and in the door seams. Although it was still thick and heavy, it had been cleaned up to some extent.

Maybe Chu Lantian would occasionally come here to check things out before he died, wiping the doorknobs and such, but he never went inside. That's why there's less dust on the doorknobs.

Thinking of this, a barely perceptible hint of heaviness flashed in the old rogue's eyes, but it vanished in an instant.

"Well... let's see what treasure that kid is hiding."

A playful smile appeared on his lips. Yunping simply pushed the door open with a gentle shove, even though it was a lock meant to confine ordinary people.

The next second, what appeared before everyone was a room that was not spacious, and even somewhat cramped.

The interior is furnished like a small house.

The wooden table was so dusty it made you want to cough. Several scrolls were folded up on the small hardboard bed next to it, and famous landscape paintings hung on the four walls. Tea cups and tea sets were placed on the cabinet in the distance, and a few scattered black and white chess pieces were on the ground.

The blankets were wrinkled and so dry they were unusable, like a stone, and were placed in a corner of the bed.

In the corner, there was a box that looked very clean but was locked. Its spotless appearance made it seem out of place with everything around it.

"Where is this place...?"

Ye Yuchan frowned. She felt as if she had come to a ruin, and the dust in the air made her want to cough.