280 The Annual Event on the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month

"Congratulations on your success in acquiring a gold level guide. Although there are already quite a lot of Western Continent people in Nine Regions, and many came from powerful families, but someone that is a better guide than Aya, I’m afraid it would be really hard to find. Before ascending the throne, she was a distinguished noblewoman. The queen has a broad vision and vast knowledge, moreover… because of her innate tendency, she has an unusual interest in treasure hunting, collection, and other aspects, which is renowned for everyone. Although she has been away from the Western Continent for nearly a century, but you don’t need someone to help you find the fashion of the holy land, but the legendary immortal treasure. As such, there’s no more suitable guide other than Aya."

On top of Non-Phase Peak, Wang Wu sighed with emotion as she patted the shoulder of her disciple.

It was indeed not easy to persuade Aya. In fact, many years ago, she has also thought of the method that Wang Lu thought out, but unfortunately, she did not have the capital to fulfill it. Although Aya has a prejudice side in her, she was not a stupid person. Trying to deceive her using sensationalism would only provoke her displeasure.

The key problem of Aya was the way to win every war, so the most direct approach to convince her was to show the way to win every war. In the past, Wang Wu has also thought of this method, but unfortunately, she really couldn’t be like Wang Lu who fiercely patted himself on the chest and vowed to win every war, making his own life’s track record as the way to win every war.

Although at that time she has already reached Jindan Stage, with the title of number one Jindan, but her cultivation base came from earlier time’s fiasco. Thus, she really didn’t have the qualification to call herself able to win in every endeavor. Similarly, the other elders were also so.

Only Wang Lu alone, who started his debut with irresistible force, was the chosen one who could succeed in every endeavor. Only he has the qualification to boast of such a thing, has the qualification to bear the trust of Aya.

"Heh, it’s not even close."

Wang Lu picked up his teacup, which only has a shallow layer of tea in it, and swayed it for several times. "Aya’s trust in me is mostly on the same level as the tea in this cup. After all, she is an experienced and knowledgeable monarch, so it is impossible to persuade her in just one breath; I can only proceed gradually."

"But somehow, she agreed to go down the mountain with you."

"Mm, currently, right now, it is barely possible for her to survive leaving the support of this mountain’s Feng Shui line. But, it’s also limited to the bare minimum survival. Most of the time, she might not even be able to maintain her entity form. I must prove myself through many victories so that she can gradually restore the power of her soul of the brave departed. But this is not just a few days of work, therefore, for a long time, she probably can only maintain the feeble-grandma-that-needs-to-be-carried-away level of existence."

"Speaking of this, I heard that in order to persuade her to go down the mountain, you vowed to not enter the Jindan Stage as long as her country has yet to be restored, is that right?"

Wang Lu said, "What about it? It’s already my intention to postpone the Jindan Stage for a few years, so I just took this opportunity to raise Aya’s goodwill towards me. That girl usually can have a good conversation with anyone, but her innermost feeling is still very much closed to everyone, which makes it very difficult to raise her goodwill... Moreover, in this trip to the West, we would unavoidably have to deal with local forces. If we have a monarch with us, we can deal with them behind the scene much more conveniently."

"That’s easy to say. Her country has been subjugated for a century, so to revive it is easier said than done."

"That depends on what the standard of something can be called a country there, and in this, I have a bit of confidence. In fact, in my opinion, Aya is a type of person that is very easy to convince. She is very opinionated and has a strong sense of morality, which makes her very easy to manage."

The smile on her Master grew even thicker. "It seems like you already have a solution even to the hardest question. Then I only have one question left."

"Sure, ask away."

Wang Lu seemed very patient with his Master’s constant questioning. After all, his Master had provided him with a very important background information, which made him able to persuade Aya.

"When is your wedding party so that I can toast you a drink?"

"Puff!"

Wang Wu calmly launched her sword light using her primordial spirit to block the spraying tea. "Really? You’ve been drinking that tea for so long, but only now you spurt it out? Don’t you think that’s disgusting?"

"You’re the one disgusting here! Toast a drink your ass!"

Wang Wu said with a smile, "So you never thought about it? Although Aya’s seniority is a bit higher than you, height a bit short, figure a bit tiny, cook a bit abysmal, but you can’t deny that she’s still a rare beautiful girl. Moreover, she has vast experience, noble identity, and is powerful… The most important thing is that she has the body of the soul of the brave departed, meaning that you don’t need to worry about pregnancy, so what else is not to like about her?"

"I will remember to say these words of yours to Aya. In this mountain, she has the support of the mountain’s Feng Shui line, so she should be able to display a near Deity Stage power. I wish you good luck Master."

"... Humph, do you think I’m afraid of you? Big deal, I’ll just go down the mountain. But seriously, you’re not a teenager anymore and could even be said to have reached adulthood, so you should carefully think about this big life’s decision." Wang Wu lifted up the teacup to her lips and then lightly said, "You can’t stay single forever you know? The way I see it, although there are many beautiful girls around you, the one that is really your match is perhaps only Aya. Liu Li is like your younger sister, Bai Shixuan is more like your daughter, and we don’t need to say about Zhu Shiyao…"

Wang Lu shook his head. "Give me a break, Aya and I are not a match at all, the two of us could never have a future." After thinking for a moment, he added, "At most, we can only we be friends with benefits."

Wang Wu was stunned for a moment, and then she could not help but smile. "You’re really looking for trouble here."

"What?" Wang Lu frowned, and then his heart was moved. He immediately turned his head back and saw Aya was carrying a mealbox, agile-ly standing behind him, with an indifferent face that was increasingly turned indignant.

Then, a faint voice slipped through her pair of pale lips, "Friends with benefits?"

"..." Wang Lu thought for a moment. In a twinkling of an eye, hundreds of possible explanation already flashed through his mind, but seeing those pair of clear green eyes of Aya, all of his justification and lies failed to pass through his mouth.

That being the case, he might as well be honest about it.

"Don’t you want to come in, girl?"

The next moment, all of the assorted dishes in that mealbox came right at his face.

—

It has been a month since Wang Lu’s uneven team left Spirit Sword Mountain.

The structure of the team was not complicated. Wang Lu as the team leader, Aya as the guide, while Liu Li, Bai Shixuan, and Quan Zouhua were team members. Initially, they also considered asking Big Sister Zhu Shiyao to join their team. Unfortunately, she was already called out by her Master Feng Yin to be a member of the Excavation Management expeditionary force to the West. As for other people like Yue Xinyao, Wen Bao, and the others, although their cultivation base has also advanced greatly in these past years, but because of the different immortal cultivation law that governed the two continents, immortal cultivators that have yet to reach Jindan Stage would be greatly suppressed. Only Wang Lu and the other Successor Disciples have the guts to take this risk.

During this one month, the team used most of the time to prepare various materials under the direction of Aya. The team collected many rare treasures of the Nine Regions, as much as possible, just in case. At the same time, their trip to Western Continent has already been fully planned.

"If you want to find the immortal treasure, the first stop should be at the Golden King’s Treasure-House. According to legend, it has a collection of treasures from all over the world; but later on, it continues to dwindle. The legendary treasures in many stories are actually coming from the collection of Golden King. Of course, this legend is just an exaggeration, after all, solely on the numbers of inherited immortal treasures in the Nine Regions alone, they are no less than that of Golden King's. However, Golden King’s Treasure-House has always had a peculiar nature, which is its ability to converge all of the world’s ownerless treasures. Any treasure, once separated from its Master, is likely to be summoned by the Golden King’s Treasure-House to appear inside there.

"Whoa, that seems awesome."

"But the Golden King himself has been dead for a long time, and the Treasure-House itself is precisely an ownerless object. Thus, there would be a lot of people going to the Treasure-House to dig up the inexhaustible treasure. In my lifetime, the Treasure-House is in the area called Taobao1."

"…"

"Oh right, according to the western continent calendar, the eleventh day of the eleventh month2 each year is the day where the Treasure-House of Golden King will open more widely, meaning that the chance to find treasures will improve a lot."

"... I believe more people would instead lose their fortune there."

"Of course, although the Treasure-House is ownerless, it still has its guardians. At the same time, all of those who died in the Treasure-House would then become the guardians of the Treasure-House. Therefore, every year on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, when a large number of treasures are excavated, there would also be a large number of adventurers who stay forever in that Treasure-House. Speaking of which, that’s a bit like the immortal tomb that you’re trying to dig up."

"It can clearly be seen that no matter whether it’s the East or the West, there are always some senseless people. So, do you think the key to the group of immortal treasures is probably hidden in that Golden King’s Treasure-House?"

"Yes, because I know that based on your description, the treasure that you are looking for is the Golden King’s Sword. That sword is not originated from Western Continent at all, and is likely to be hidden deep inside the Treasure-House. At the same time, even if it’s not the Golden King’s Sword—because of the difference in the time period, then, as far as I know, it would still be likely to appear in the Treasure-House."

"That’s a very logical reasoning, then let’s go straight to Taobao!"

—

With Aya there with them, they did not doubt the accuracy of her opinion. As a monarch of a (former) country in the Western Continent, her knowledge about Western Continent was far superior to that of average men. For example, many people in the Western Continent indeed knew about the existence of the Golden King’s Treasure House, but the principle behind the Treasure-House was still little known, not to mention the Golden King’s Sword.

In fact, the Excavation Management team didn’t put too much importance on the Golden King’s Treasure-House because it seemed to them that the Golden King’s Treasure-House was merely a heritage that has been excavated for years, thus it didn’t have too much value anymore. The planned first stop of the Excavation Management Team was at the Intellectual City, the Capital of the Dragon Country in the Western Continent, where they were hoping that they could find clues in the Library of Inexhaustible Secret that contained eighty percent of the knowledge in the continent. Only then would they advance according to the clues.

"Intellectual City is indeed a really good choice, but too much knowledge would only increase the difficulty of filtering. If we have to find the necessary information there, I’m afraid it would take a very long time… Of course, if we don’t get the result that we want at our first stop, then we may have to go to the Intellectual City."

"Rest assured, I have a hunch that this thing would not be too troublesome. The thing that we want is definitely at our first stop. No, I expect it would be even more than that."

...Literally to dig for treasure. Taobao here is referencing to Chinese online shopping website with the same name, which is similar to eBay, Amazon, and Rakuten, which is operated in Hangzhou, Zhejiang by Alibaba Group.Referencing to Chinese Singles' Day or Guanggun Jie is an entertainment festival famous among young Mainland Chinese people, to celebrate the fact that they are proud of being single. The date, November 11th (11/11), is chosen because the number "1" resembles an individual that is alone. The event is not an officially recognised public holiday, but as an official national festival, it has become the largest offline and online shopping day in the world.