However, Zhang Ling still muttered in his heart. He had encountered a Golden Core cultivator two months ago in the Scripture Pavilion, although he only heard the voice and didn't see the person. He didn't want to have much contact with such high-level cultivators, considering the many secrets he held. He didn't expect to encounter another one so soon. The two walked into the light screen one after the other and arrived in a white stone cave. The space here was not small, with passages in all directions leading to unknown places. In the center of the stone cave, there were some miscellaneous items, including stone tables, stone chairs, and several rows of bookshelves placed haphazardly, with many books scattered on the ground. In the middle of these items, a middle-aged, balding man was lying on a rattan chair. His hair was disheveled, and he was wearing a gray robe without any regard for his appearance. Zhang Ling couldn't discern the man's cultivation level at all. This was the first time he had been so close to a Golden Core cultivator. The man was playing with a small, blue, glittering bell in his hand. He tapped the blue bell, and a loud ringing sound entered their ears. Zhang Ling immediately felt a darkness before his eyes and a slight dizziness. He quickly circulated his cultivation technique, which alleviated the symptoms a little. "Junior pays respects to Senior Uncle Chen, and wishes Senior Uncle great progress in his cultivation." "Disciple Zhang Ling pays respects to Senior Uncle."
The man waved his hand, grabbed the blue bell, and turned his head to look at the two. "Young Zhou, how is Old Fu doing lately? I haven't had his spiritual wine in a long time." "Master has been busy with closed-door cultivation recently, and I haven't seen him in a long time either. Junior has a little self-brewed Clear Spring Spiritual Wine here, which I would like to offer to Senior Uncle for tasting." Zhou Yuantong looked at the man's appearance and smiled wryly. With a wave of his hand, a yellow gourd appeared. "Hehe, I knew you had some hidden away." Without any visible action from the man, the gourd in Zhou Yuantong's hand flashed and flew into his hand. The man pulled open the wooden stopper and took a big gulp. "Ah, although it's a little lacking in flavor, it's not bad." Then he took a few more big gulps of spiritual wine before turning to look at Zhang Ling. "Who is this kid? Did he hand over some rare treasure?" "Senior Uncle Chen, this is Junior Brother Zhang Ling, who just handed over two five-hundred-year-old White Velvet Ginsengs." Zhou Yuantong introduced Zhang Ling to the man. Zhang Ling naturally didn't dare to be negligent and respectfully bowed to the man again. "White Jade Ginseng, five-hundred-year-old spiritual medicine, barely passable." The man touched his head, which had only a few strands of hair, and sized up Zhang Ling before speaking to himself. "You take him. This old man still needs to study magical treasures and won't accompany you." The man leaned back into the rattan chair and waved his hand at the two, while a black disc flew in front of Zhou Yuantong. "Thank you, Senior Uncle." Zhou Yuantong quickly took the disc with both hands and led Zhang Ling into a passage on the right. Soon, the two arrived at a semi-circular space. Their path was blocked by a layer of red twilight. Zhou Yuantong raised his hand, holding the disc, and cast several spells on it. The black disc glowed, and dozens of mysterious lights flew out and merged into the red light screen. "Open!" Zhou Yuantong lightly shouted, and the red light screen split open from the center.
"Junior Brother Zhang, go in. This is the Treasure Cave. I wish you good luck in finding something you like." "Thank you, Senior Brother." Zhang Ling cupped his fist at the man and walked in. With a flash of light behind him, the red light screen closed. He arrived in a very large space with dozens of wooden shelves of varying sizes, arranged in a scattered manner, totaling fifty or sixty. This place was somewhat similar to the third floor of the Scripture Pavilion. Each wooden shelf had items on it, including magic weapons in the shape of knives and swords, medicine bottles, and some alchemy furnaces. These items were all shining with various colors of spiritual light within their respective light shields, which made Zhang Ling's eyes widen. This was a circular space, and there were several stone doors on the surrounding walls, many of which also had flashing spiritual lights. He quickly saw a wooden shelf closest to him, which contained magic weapons. The lowest grade of these magic weapons was high-grade, and there were seven or eight magic weapons on just one wooden shelf. There were many other kinds of treasures here as well, with a rough estimate of one or two hundred items. Next to a tall wooden shelf, he saw a set of dark green armor. Thumb-sized scales were stacked and linked together, looking extremely heavy, with a layer of cyan light on top. He scanned it with his divine sense, and the armor's information appeared in his mind: "Azure Scale Armor," a complete set of top-grade magic armor. It was made from the scales of a Tier 3 demonic beast, the Azure Scale Snake, and its defense was amazing, capable of withstanding several full-force attacks from a Foundation Establishment後期 cultivator. One thousand three hundred sect contribution points! The general value of a top-grade magic weapon was around one thousand five hundred spiritual stones, but this set of Azure Scale Armor was worth more than one thousand sect contribution points. It could be sold for four to five thousand spiritual stones outside. However, judging from its description, it could withstand several attacks from a Foundation Establishment后期 cultivator, so its amazing defensive power was worth the price. Afterward, he looked at a few more magic weapons, all of which were of high quality. He coveted several of them. However, he only had three thousand contribution points, so he could only look at them. Within half an hour, he had scanned most of the treasures in the space. Then he went to look at the stone caves next to him. These stone caves were engraved with large characters, such as "Magic Weapons," "Pills," "Arrays," "Talismans," and "Spiritual Mines," "Spiritual Herbs," and other raw materials. Each stone cave only contained one type of item, and the items inside were even more precious. He stayed in the Treasure Cave for an hour before leaving. Then, under Zhou Yuantong's guidance, he bid farewell to the bald, Golden Core cultivator and left the Treasure Cave. …… After returning to the Treasure Pavilion's hall, Zhang Ling smiled at Zhou Yuantong, waved his hand, and took out three fist-sized spiritual stones, placing them on the table. "Thank you, Senior Brother Zhou, for the trouble just now." "Haha, Junior Brother Zhang is too polite." Zhou Yuantong glanced at the spiritual stones on the table, which were three middle-grade spiritual stones, and chuckled, stroking his long beard. "I am the manager here, so these are all within my duties. Junior Brother is too kind." Zhou Yuantong waved his sleeve over the table and collected the spiritual stones. At the same time, a small, azure gourd and two white jade cups appeared on the table. "Senior Brother, this is…" "The gourd contains Clear Spring Spiritual Wine brewed by myself. Junior Brother, would you be interested in having a few drinks with me?" Zhou Yuantong picked up the gourd and started pouring wine. "Then Junior Brother will accept your kind offer." The two drank and chatted. This person was very talkative. Taking this opportunity, Zhang Ling also asked Senior Brother Zhou about some questions regarding Foundation Establishment cultivators, and he answered them one by one. After a long time, Zhang Ling bid farewell and left. When he left, this person even gave him a gourd of spiritual wine. This Zhou Yuantong also had a certain status in the Hao Yuan Sect, as he was a disciple of a Golden Core Elder.
With this relationship, he was able to obtain a managerial position in such an important place as the Treasure Pavilion. After returning to the medicine field courtyard, he never went out again. Until three days later, he left the sect on a flying boat.