Inside the world of the golden lotus.
Song Shuhang and Sixteen locked onto Senior White’s aura and quickly rejoined with the rest of the seniors.
“Yo, Shuhang, where did you go with little Sixteen just now?” True Monarch White Crane leisurely looked at Song Shuhang with a teacup in hand. It was not able to help with the Heavenly City Fragments, so it was standing by the side idly.
Song Shuhang said, “We met a fellow daoist at the entrance and we chatted for a bit.”
However, because of that effect similar to that of the Wielder’s small black room, after he and Sixteen entered the world of the golden lotus, they had already forgotten what the driver uncle looked like.
It was only the existence of the ❮Buddha’s Giant Palm of Punishment❯ in his magical bracelet that proved to Song Shuhang that his previous experience was real.
At this time, Senior White was walking in the air, observing a nine-layered pagoda.
This pagoda and the giant stone platform below were both fragments of the Ancient Heavenly City. These two were the only fragments that they were able to smoothly transfer into the world of the golden lotus.
“Come here, Shuhang. Do you notice anything different between the Heavenly City Fragments here and outside?” Senior White spoke to Song Shuhang while seemingly having already found something.
Song Shuhang leaned over and reached out to touch the pagoda.
He said doubtfully while touching the pagoda, “Eh? Why do I feel like there’s something about this pagoda that’s missing compared to the other Ancient Heavenly City Fragments?”
Senior White nodded and said, “Yeah, I felt the same.”
The eyes of True Monarch Eternal Fire lit up. Have Senior White and little friend Shuhang figured out something?
Sister White Dragon also came out and said, “There is indeed something amiss with this pagoda.”
In short, this pagoda was giving her the same feeling as that fragment that had been transferred into Song Shuhang’s Inner World and got licked repeatedly.
“Let me try something and see what exactly might be different with it.” Song Shuhang willed it, and the fingertips of the glove of the Thirty-Three Divine Beasts’ Combined Magical Treasure on his hand partially receded, allowing his bare fingertips to touch the pagoda.
At the same time, his body scattered as he entered his pseudo-eternity smoke form.
The price required to appraise an Ancient Heavenly City Fragment would definitely be high as it was something from a long time ago. As such, Song Shuhang had already mentally prepared himself.
Sister White Dragon said, “Wait, Shuhang. Before you use your strange appraisal technique, let me tell you some information about this pagoda so that the price you have to pay can be decreased a bit.”
She knew that Song Shuhang had an appraisal technique that would cause him to start spewing blood and bring him mental pain ten times as intense as what he would feel physically. However, the more he knew about the object that he was appraising, the less the appraisal’s cost would be.
Sister White Dragon used to be the ancestral golden dragon of the Heavenly City, so she knew about most of the structures in the Heavenly City. She was especially familiar with this pagoda, which could be seen all over the Heavenly City.
But… She was too late.
When Sister White Dragon spoke, Song Shuhang had already cast the secret appraisal technique and began paying the price.
Large clouds of smoke began scattering out of his body and flowing upwards. A small, black mushroom-shaped cloud soon formed above his head.
Song Shuhang said with a trembling voice, “S-Sister White Dragon, next time, if possible, please remind me earlier…”
As expected, the pain that came with appraising an Ancient Heavenly City Fragment was extremely high. His body was trembling from the pain, and the only thing he could do at this moment was enduring as best as he could.
Sister White Dragon: “…”
Who would think that despite you knowing how painful using that technique is, you wouldn’t even have second thoughts when using it? It honestly even seems like you enjoy using this magical technique!
In the meantime, information on the pagoda had already been fed back into Song Shuhang’s mind.
[A dilapidated Thousand Mile Pagoda. This pagoda was used by the Ancient Heavenly City to monitor foreign foes remotely. It was an integral part of the Heavenly City’s defense system. A total of 80,000 Thousand Mile Pagodas were distributed all over the Ancient Heavenly City to provide absolute security for the city. The prototype of the Thousand Mile Pagoda was the Ten Thousand Mile Sensing Pagoda designed by the ancestral golden dragon. This version was mass-produced with some of its functions taken off. Due to its connection with the Ancient Heavenly City having been cut off, as the years passed, it lost the nourishment of the Heavenly City and turned into an ordinary Heavenly City Fragment.]
Song Shuhang: “…”
He turned his head to look at Sister White Dragon.
As he looked at her at this time, he found her to be full of historical charm.
The big shots around him were all extremely old, and they would quite often inadvertently display the brilliance of their past.
The secret technique that Senior Turtle had copied down, the Heavenly City Fragment from the Almighty Merchant, which turned out to be the old home of the virtuous lamia, and also that ancient tomb he ventured into, which had been created by Senior Seventh Cultivator of True Virtue and was part of the inheritance of the Cultivators of True Virtue…
Now, the very designer of the Ancient Heavenly City Fragment that he had just appraised turned out to be right beside him.
He could only offer his respect to Sister White Dragon.
Song Shuhang asked, “Sister White Dragon, is it expensive to manufacture Thousand Mile Pagodas like this one?”
He was preparing to create a watertight defense in his Inner World. This Thousand Mile Pagoda had been an integral part of the Ancient Heavenly City’s defense system, and the original designer was right by his side. It would be a crime to waste such a good opportunity to make use of what he had available to him.
“No, manufacturing these doesn’t cost that much,” Sister White Dragon said. “Each pagoda only needs 10 Ninth Stage spirit stones at most in order to be manufactured.”
Song Shuhang’s whole body suddenly began trembling. “Ten… Ten Ninth Stage spirit stones?”
He began converting the value in his mind. Ten Ninth Stage spirit stones were equal to 100 Eighth Stage spirit stones, 1000 Seventh Stage spirit stones, 10,000 Sixth Stage spirit stones, or 100,000 Fifth Stage spirit stones.
Spirit stones of the Fifth Stage were the most used ones in the world of cultivation.
100,000 Fifth Stage spirit stones, this was an enormous amount of spirit stones that Song Shuhang could not even imagine having.
Other than the time when he borrowed a spatial magical treasure filled with spirit stones from Senior White, Song Shuhang had never had such a large amount of spirit stones.
Song Shuhang asked, “Are there any discounts?”
Sister White Dragon said calmly, “That’s just the price of the raw materials.”
Song Shuhang said, “I will try my best to make money.”
“You can do it!” Sister White Dragon encouraged. It was a good thing for a man to want to make money. As long as he did not intend to do anything illegal or immoral, it was worth encouraging them.
True Monarch White Crane approached and said, “This pagoda is called ‘Thousand Mile Pagoda’?”
Song Shuhang nodded and began recounting the information he got from the appraisal.
After listening, True Monarch Eternal Fire thought for a moment and said, “That is to say, the difference between this Thousand Mile Pagoda and the fragments outside is that it has lost its connection with the original Heavenly City and something has disappeared from it with the passage of time. Is that why the world of the golden lotus doesn’t reject it and allows it to merge with itself?”
But then what is that thing that has disappeared from it with the passage of time?
“I have a suggestion,” Sister White Dragon said. “How about we bring out that Heavenly City Fragment into the world of the golden lotus and see if it accepts it?”
Senior White nodded. “I agree.”
Apparently, both he and Sister White Dragon were aware of certain details and had made the same speculation.
“I almost forgot about that,” said Song Shuhang hurriedly. “That Heavenly City Fragment is in my Inner World. When Sixteen and I were pulled aside by that big shot fellow daoist, the other party told me to bring a Heavenly City Fragment into my Inner World before testing out if it would be accepted by the world of the golden lotus.”
True Monarch Eternal Fire asked with a frown, “Who’s this big shot you’re talking about?”
Song Shuhang rubbed his eyebrows. “I can’t remember… My memory has been affected.”
“It was the man who drove us here,” Sister White Dragon said slowly. “My memory has also been affected. It seems that that man is under an effect similar to that of the Wielder’s small black room.”
True Monarch Eternal Fire’s heart thumped. When he heard this, he immediately thought of the leader of the 13 Tribulation Transcenders of the scholarly faction.
Song Shuhang said, “Senior White, let’s work together and move the Heavenly City Fragment out first.”
Senior White’s clone said, ”Alright.”
“Shuhang, open sesame!” The virtuous lamia jumped out all of a sudden, posing like a white crane with its wings spread out behind Song Shuhang—she shouted “Shuhang” using the voice of Senior White, and the words “Open Sesame” using what she heard from a TV segment.
The virtuous lamia was becoming better and better at spouting random lines.
Immediately afterward, Fairy Creation appeared. As she was one step late and had been bested, she stomped her feet in anger. “Song~ Stupid~ Stupid!”
Song Shuhang: “…”
They’ve even begun snatching Senior White’s lines?
Senior White reached out and pinched his chin, feeling amused. “That’s right, open sesame!”
Song Shuhang did not know whether to laugh or cry. Nevertheless, he opened the Inner World.
The black Scarlet Heaven Sword suggested, “Fairy, at this time, you should try and imitate the rumbling sound of the opening of a stone gate.”
The virtuous lamia was taken aback for a moment. She had only ever snatched other people’s lines, but she had never recorded the sound effects of a door opening.
“Rumble~ Rumble~” Fairy Creation immediately began manually dubbing the sound.
Although it wasn’t exactly the same, it was better than nothing.
Song Shuhang stretched out his hands and grabbed the two fairies, stuffing them back in his body.
Senior White jumped into the Inner World, and then jumped out again a moment later.
With a flick of his sleeve, the Heavenly City Fragment was transferred out and landed in an open space in the world of the golden lotus.
The Heavenly City Fragment lay where it was quietly.
This time, the world of the golden lotus did not reject it.
Song Shuhang checked the world of the golden lotus through the Inner World and sensed that it no longer felt nauseous.
True Monarch Eternal Fire asked, “Huh? Why did it work this time?”
Just what exactly was the problem?
This Heavenly City Fragment had only stayed in Song Shuhang’s Inner World for a while, but after being transferred out, it suddenly became able to stay in the world of the golden lotus.
Could it be that little friend Shuhang’s Inner World has an authentication function that validates a Heavenly City Fragment, allowing it to be taken in by the world of the golden lotus?
Senior White said, “It’s exactly as I thought.”
Sister White Dragon nodded and added, “When the Heavenly City Fragment was in Shuhang’s Inner World, it seemed to have lost something. And that something was what caused the world of the golden lotus to reject it… After that something was lost, the world of the golden lotus no longer rejected the Heavenly City Fragment in question.”
True Monarch Eternal Fire looked at Song Shuhang in puzzlement.
“Senior, don’t look at me.” Song Shuhang gestured with his hand. “I don’t know anything.”
“Little friend Shuhang, how about we work together?” said True Monarch Eternal Fire.
If it was the leader of the 13 Tribulation Transcenders who had requested Song Shuhang’s help in carrying out the experiment, then the scholarly faction should cooperate with him.
Anyhow, the scholarly faction needed to expand the world of the golden lotus with new Heavenly City Fragments. Even if certain properties were lost during the transfer, the ability of the Heavenly City Fragments to expand the world of the golden lotus did not disappear, and that was enough for them.
