A Thread of Vitality for Divine Gold! Xuanzheng: Heavenly Dao Bank, Here I Come! Lend Me a Hundred Million First!

Xuanzheng's "Father God Care and Pangu Hall Construction Advance Survey Team" continued its great "archaeological work" across the prehistoric land.

A scouting Grand Witch ran back excitedly. "Ancestral Witch! Three hundred li ahead, there's an ancient battlefield ruin with a piece of Grand Unity Essence Gold buried deep within it!"

Xuanzheng waved a hand, wearing the standard smile of an "Outstanding Employee Encourager," while thinking, Oh? Grand Unity Essence Gold? That's Hard Currency! The system really didn't lie to me. Follow the navigation and you'll get a seaside villa... no, a sturdier divine hall!

The survey team immediately changed direction and rushed toward the target.

Before long, an ancient battlefield ruin suffused with murderous aura appeared before them. At its center, earth energy churned, and faintly visible, profound and intricate restriction runes flickered, sealing the core area tightly shut.

"Good heavens, this restriction was probably set by some Grand Unity Golden Immortal-level big shot, right?" A Grand Witch clicked his tongue. "And it looks like there's a sizable underground dragon vein node beneath it. If we force our way in..."

Xuanzheng rubbed his chin. With a slight flicker of the [Script Mirror], he deduced countless miserable outcomes from forcibly breaking the restriction: including, but not limited to, getting blasted black and blue by the backlash, being hurled away by the dragon vein, or drawing out some ancient relic that had slept in the dragon vein for who knew how many tens of thousands of years to discuss "the meaning of life"—physically.

"Tsk, the risk is too high for the return." Xuanzheng immediately crossed out that plan in his mind. Charging in headfirst doesn't fit my strategic policy of sustainable development. I need a way that's elegant and timeless.

An idea suddenly struck him. The pattern of the [Karma Scale] in his left palm seemed to sense his thoughts and grew faintly warm.

"Got it!" Xuanzheng snapped his fingers. "[Karma Scale], buddy, come out and greet a customer! Let's discuss something, shall we?"

His consciousness sank into the [Karma Scale]. I've got my eye on that piece of Grand Unity Essence Gold, but I don't want to touch the karma of breaking the restriction, and I can't withstand the dragon vein's backlash either. How about this? I'll use a thread of "good fortune" or "vitality" from some unlucky bastard... ah, no, some fated living being in this place's future as collateral. Trade it with Heavenly Dao Big Brother for that piece of essence gold, and wipe the slate clean for me while you're at it. What do you say?

Light flowed across the surface of the [Karma Scale], and its pan swayed slightly. A moment later, a message entered Xuanzheng's mind. "Feasible. However, the host must precisely identify the bearer of the 'good fortune/vitality,' the specific event, and the time of occurrence. The value of that 'good fortune/vitality' must be equivalent to the value of the 'Grand Unity Essence Gold' itself, as well as the cost of 'exempting the karma of breaking the restriction and suffering the dragon vein backlash.'"

"Professional!" Xuanzheng praised. "As expected of a Golden Finger certified by Great God Pangu. Now this is meticulous!"

He immediately activated the [Script Mirror]. "Script Mirror, scan the scripts for the next several hundred or thousand years around here for me. Find a Potential Stock—preferably the kind that's about to kick the bucket, but will generate immense value if saved."

Across the mirror's surface, countless threads of fate flowed like a waterfall as fragments of future scenes flashed past at high speed. Xuanzheng expended a great deal of mental energy, nearly crossing his eyes, before the image finally froze.

"Found one!"

The mirror showed that several hundred years later, in a valley a hundred li beyond the edge of this ancient battlefield ruin, a mutated subspecies of an Innate Spiritual Root—the Seven Treasures Gourd Vine—would encounter a sudden Nine Heavens Gale Tribulation at the critical moment just before taking form. Without assistance, it would certainly die. But if it survived the tribulation and successfully took form, it would take root here in the future and protect the living beings of the region, accumulating considerable merit and good fortune within a thousand years.

"You're the one, you unlucky... lucky little gourd!" Xuanzheng grinned.

He communicated with the [Karma Scale] once more. Target locked! Approximately five hundred and thirty-seven years from now, one hundred and three li east by south of this location, a "Seven-Colored Fortune Gourd Vine"—a name Xuanzheng had just made up—will undergo its fatal transformation tribulation. I will use "helping it successfully pass the tribulation, and obtaining the merit and good fortune produced after it takes form and protects the living beings here" as collateral to apply to Heavenly Dao Bank for a special Grand Unity Essence Gold loan. I also request exemption from all negative karma involved in obtaining this treasure. As for interest... let's use 0.1 percent of the gourd vine's merit over the next thousand years. No more than that. I'm running a small business here!

With a solemn expression, Xuanzheng submitted this loan application in his mind, one worthy of being called a textbook example of getting something for nothing.

The [Karma Scale] suddenly trembled. Its originally ancient patterns burst into seven-colored radiance. A vague will seemed to descend, examining Xuanzheng's "Business Plan."

A moment later, the glow intensified!

It was as though an invisible hand descended upon the pan of the [Karma Scale] and, with a smack, stamped it with an "Approved" seal!

Immediately afterward, the space before Xuanzheng twisted slightly. A piece of divine gold the size of a human head, radiating pure metal essence, appeared out of thin air and landed steadily in his hands. It was Grand Unity Essence Gold!

At the same time, an unfathomable force brushed past him. Xuanzheng could clearly feel that the karma of breaking the restriction and disturbing the dragon vein that might have arisen between himself and this ancient battlefield ruin was instantly wiped away completely, as though he had merely passed by and picked up a wallet.

"Holy crap! Heavenly Dao Bank really knows its business! This efficiency—instant approval, instant loan!" Xuanzheng weighed the heavy Grand Unity Essence Gold in his hands, grinning from ear to ear. "Revitalizing Non-Performing Assets and cashing out future returns early—Heavenly Dao likes this model too? Looks like I should find more high-quality collateral in the future. Then I can achieve financial freedom as soon as possible and marry... ahem, lead the witch race to the summit!"

At that moment, far away in Pangu Hall, Dijiang and Zhujiuyin vaguely sensed the vast fluctuation from the level of Heavenly Dao, as well as the nearly out-of-nowhere appearance of that Grand Unity Essence Gold, through a faint trace of the Ancestral Witch Mark left on Xuanzheng.

Dijiang said, "...What was that just now? Over at Thirteenth Brother's place, it seemed like... the heavens personally delivered him a treasure?"

A trace of emotion appeared on Zhujiuyin's face as well. "Thirteen... must truly have received Father God's supreme favor. Such a method is unheard of."

The two exchanged a glance. Their understanding of Xuanzheng's "mystery" and his identity as "Father God's biological son" gained another entirely new layer.

Xuanzheng had no idea what his eldest and second brothers were imagining again. Happily storing away the Grand Unity Essence Gold, he clapped his hands and smiled at the still-bewildered Grand Witches behind him. "Done! Materials secured, time to scram! On to the next bugged spot!"