Heavenly Treasure Vault

"Phew!"

Chen Qiu let out a long breath of stale air. Though he had not slept all night, he did not feel the slightest bit tired. After reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm, while he still could not go without food, his spirits had improved considerably. He even felt several years younger.

When he stepped out of the guest room, Fat Dragon was already waiting outside as he had yesterday.

The two left Heaven-Question Market together and found the scholar and the other man at their usual spot. As always, the scholar sat cross-legged on the ground, cracking melon seeds while reading the little picture book in his arms. The bearded, brawny man was not down the mountain soliciting customers today either. Instead, he stood beside the scholar in silence, solid as a rock.

"Let's go to that wasteland from the day before yesterday and test our methods."

"Alright."

After that brief exchange, Chen Qiu and the other three returned to the wasteland from two days ago.

Chen Qiu took a deep breath, shut his eyes tightly with some trepidation, then suddenly opened them moments later.

At once—

Three bolts of lightning as thick as wrists appeared out of thin air at his side. They shot toward the parched ground in the distance like aurora lights, exploding and blasting countless clouds of dust into the air. Once the dust settled, only three shallow pits the size of washbasins remained.

At the sight of this—

The corners of Chen Qiu's mouth rose slightly. He lowered his head to look at his right hand. So this was what it felt like to use a spell? This was his first time casting one, and it felt rather good. If he used this method to chop firewood, he could surely fell plenty of trees in one go.

No.

He shook his head, tossing that strange thought from his mind before turning his inner sight toward his Foundation Establishment. The spiritual energy he had painstakingly filled it with last night had dropped to only around thirty percent after those three Lightning-Channeling Arts.

This spell was powerful, but it consumed far too much spiritual energy.

Still, he had proven one thing: as long as he had enough spiritual energy, he could cast the Lightning-Channeling Art several times in succession.

"Young Master Chen."

After hesitating for a long while, the scholar, who sat cross-legged nearby, finally said uncertainly, "You cannot fight like that, Young Master Chen. The spell you cast should be the Foundation Establishment Realm mid-grade spell, the Lightning-Channeling Art. It seems to have already reached Major Accomplishment."

"Though its power is not weak, it consumes too much spiritual energy. A normal First Level of the Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator can cast it at most four or five times before the spiritual energy in his Dao Foundation is depleted. Once that happens, he will fall into an extremely dangerous situation."

"Therefore, Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivators normally pour their spiritual energy into spiritual weapons when facing enemies. That conserves spiritual energy while allowing them to bring out the greatest possible power of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Then, when they find the instant their opponent's spiritual energy is exhausted or they reveal a flaw, they unleash a spell to deliver the fatal blow!"

"If you throw several spells at them as soon as you meet, and they happen to dodge them or use some protective talisman to forcibly block them, then with insufficient spiritual energy, Young Master Chen, you will remain at a disadvantage for the rest of the battle."

"I understand."

Chen Qiu nodded lightly to indicate that he understood. He had only been testing the results. If he truly encountered calamity, he certainly would not fight this way. After all, his storage ring still held one hundred talismans, each equivalent to a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator's full-force strike.

Before the width of his Dao Foundation became broad enough, talismans were much more useful than his spells.

Just then—

The ground trembled faintly.

Before their eyes, a scarlet stone pillar grew from beneath the earth. It stopped when it extended four chi above the ground. At the same time, two lines of scarlet words formed from spiritual energy floated above it.

"Heavenly Treasure Vault."

"Those fated to find it shall come."

"What is this?"

Fat Dragon stared blankly at the scarlet stone pillar several zhang away, which had pierced through the earth and stood exposed in midair. For a moment, he was completely bewildered. Based on his experiences over the past few months, things that appeared out of nowhere like this were often accompanied by danger, so he instinctively took a step back.

"It's the Heavenly Treasure Vault!"

Seeing this, the scholar, still seated cross-legged, could not help crying out in shock. "Young Master Chen, you truly are a man of great fortune. The Heavenly Treasure Vault is one of the cultivation world's random opportunities."

"It appears without any warning, entirely at random, and each appearance lasts only the time it takes to burn a stick of incense."

"Over the years, I have often heard of lucky people encountering one, but I myself had never seen one before. Today is my first time as well. That scarlet stone pillar holds many excellent treasures, and many of them are exceedingly rare items that only have a chance of being produced in the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm."

"Every treasure has a listed price, though the discounts vary. As long as you have enough Spirit Stones, you can exchange them for the treasures."

Though he had once been a Golden Core Realm cultivator, he truly had never encountered an opportunity like the Heavenly Treasure Vault. There were countless opportunities in the cultivation world. Who could guarantee they would encounter every single one?

For an opportunity like the Heavenly Treasure Vault, how could one have the chance to encounter it without great fortune? Yet even if one did encounter it, if one happened to have few Spirit Stones in one's pocket, one could only watch helplessly as the opportunity slipped away. That merely meant one was not quite so fated after all.

But since Young Master Chen could give him 3,100 Spirit Stones, he certainly was not lacking in them.

"Let's go."

Hearing that this Heavenly Treasure Vault would last only the time it took to burn a stick of incense, Chen Qiu did not dare delay any longer. He immediately strode over. Only after approaching did he discover that the surface of the scarlet stone pillar was a full seven chi wide and seven chi long.

Its surface was a square.

Within that seven-chi-by-seven-chi square surface, six compartments had been neatly divided out. Each compartment held an item, with small writing beside it detailing the item's name and effects.

A translucent membrane covered the items. Even merely probing it with divine sense allowed one to sense the might of the Heavenly Dao within the membrane. Trying to seize anything by force was definitely not advisable.

The membrane above each item bore the item's name and price.

For example, the first compartment contained ten talismans stacked together.

"Foundation Establishment Realm mid-grade Qi-Absorbing Talisman ×10."

"Can increase your speed of absorbing spiritual energy tenfold for one hour."

"10 Spirit Stones."

"Ninety percent discount."

Worried that Young Master Chen might not know the market prices, the scholar had his younger brother carry him on his shoulders. Looking down at the six compartments on the scarlet stone pillar, he explained, "Foundation Establishment Realm mid-grade Qi-Absorbing Talismans are common talismans. They can be used together with Spirit-Replenishing Pills."

"During battle, these talismans can help you rapidly replenish the spiritual energy within your Dao Foundation, allowing you to have more spiritual energy for fighting enemies."

"The market price for one Foundation Establishment Realm mid-grade Qi-Absorbing Talisman is 10 Spirit Stones. Here, ten of them cost only 10 Spirit Stones. It is an excellent bargain, whether you use them yourself or sell them at the market."

"Compartment One can earn a little, but not much. Young Master Chen, look at the Spirit Beast Ring in Compartment Two. It has a certain chance of making a demon beast below the sixth level of the Foundation Establishment Realm, during its severely injured period, acknowledge you as its master and become a major source of combat strength."

"Though it will not possess the spirituality of a demon beast raised from childhood, nor the tacit understanding where master and pet are of one heart and mind, it is still quite good. Most importantly, it costs only 50 Spirit Stones."

"Its market price is 200 Spirit Stones."