bit unwell." Hao Ren held his chest and wondered if it was because he caught the female student's head, causing internal injuries."Should we... take you to the medical room for a check-up" Zhao Jiayi...Chapter 237: Even Xiaobai Has Pride

The car continued to drive with a rumbling sound.

"Ah Ren, after a while we—"

(Yu Rong turned around, intending to speak to Hao Ren, but suddenly sensed something amiss about Hao Ren and Xie Yujia's expressions. He swallowed his words back down and pretended nothing was wrong before turning forward again.)

Ah Ren actually confessed on the bus That’s what Yu Rong thought in his mind.

"Give me a day to think about it," Xie Yujia said.

(Yu Rong, listening intently from the front of the car, thought: Damn! He did confess on the bus then Hao Ren, who looks so taciturn, is actually such a bold guy!

Hao Ren nodded. In his heart, he knew that Xie Yujia leaving would make him regret it eventually; yet, he didn’t have enough reason to stop her from being with her family.

The car screeched to a halt at the station and opened its doors.

(Yu Rong called out loudly: "We're here! We're here! Students, get off!")

He shouted as loud as he could to ease Hao Ren and Xie Yujia’s awkwardness.

The group of them got off the bus one after another before entering the hotel.

"Ah Ren, come play cards with us tonight!" Zhou Liren, excited and flushed red, shouted at Hao Ren.

Yu Rong saw this scene and quickly pulled on Zhou Liren’s ear to drag him away. "I’ll play cards with you! I’ll also call Gu Jiadong and Huang Jianfeng—Ah Ren probably has something of his own to do."

"Something of his own What is it" Zhou Liren was still a bit clueless.

(But he was kicked into the room by Yu Rong, then shut in there.)

"Rest well. You’ve been working hard today taking the whole class on a trip," Hao Ren said to Xie Yujia as he walked up to her room.

“Mm-hmm.” Xie Yujia turned and headed towards her own room.

Hao Ren stood by his door, watching Xie Yujia walk down the corridor and enter her room before sighing softly. Then he opened the door to go into his room.

Turning on the TV to create some sound, Hao Ren went into the bathroom for a shower. In this period of time, he practiced Sword Light Shadow Technique every night diligently; he could feel his strength growing steadily. However, breaking through the Dragon Orifice would require another push.

Xiaobai started jumping around restlessly inside its necklace, so Hao Ren let it out and had it take a hot shower too. In these seven days, it had already consumed all of Hao Ren’s Qi replenishment pills. It also took advantage of the moments when Hao Ren “let it out” to sneak away on its own to the library, where it caused a group of girls to gather around it. Using a method of rolling around on the floor, it managed to con seventy or more sausage sticks!

Wearing the hotel’s pajamas and carrying Xiaobai after coming out from the bathroom, Hao Ren was just about to head back for some rest when he suddenly saw two living people standing at his bathroom door!

In a panic, Hao Ren took a step back before finally recognizing who it was: Lu Linlin and Lu Feihuo!

"How many times have I told you not to scare me like this" Hao Ren helplessly looked at them and took a deep breath.

Seeing how flirtatious they were, Hao Ren held the little white one in his arms and stepped back half a step. "Did you guys see me bathing"

Lu Linlin covered her mouth and laughed, while Lu Lihuo blushed to the side of her face.

When Xiao Bai heard what Hao Ren said, it started shivering in his arms; Hao Ren glared down at it. "What are you trembling for You don’t usually wear clothes anyway!"

"Haha, haven't Lord Hao forgotten the trading conference this weekend" Lu Linlin deliberately stared at the gap in Hao Ren's robe and asked.

"I know about the trading conference," Hao Ren threw Xiao Bai onto the floor, letting it run around freely inside. "But I thought it was tomorrow."

“It’s today! But since Lord Hao spent time with another lady today, my sister and I didn’t dare to disturb you!” Lu Linlin said. There was a hint of jealousy in her voice.

Hao Ren could only look at her; he felt that dealing with the elder twin wasn't easy either.

He looked at their outfits for today: they were wearing ancient palace attire, one emerald and one green. It was the same as when they first appeared in school.

"Alright, no more chatting. Lord Hao, please put on this outfit quickly; otherwise, people will definitely suspect you." Lu Linlin conjured a set of clothes and a pair of shoes, passing them to Hao Ren.

Hao Ren looked down to see that the set of clothing in her hand was light-green Taoist attire.

"We’re going now" Hao Ren said with surprise.

“Of course. Otherwise, what did you think we were here for” Lu Linlin retorted.

Hao Ren followed her reasoning and realized that she was right; he then took the clothes and shoes from Lu Linlin to change in the bathroom.

Lu Lihuo peeked at her sister with an embarrassed gaze. "Sis, you’re really good at flirting, even daring to flirt with Lord Hao."

"I wasn’t flirting," said Lu Linlin, pouting. "I was just telling the truth."

Soon, dressed in Taoist robes, Hao Ren walked out of the bathroom. Lu Linlin pulled out a Taoist hat and put it on Hao Ren personally.

Lu Hehe laughed as she watched Hao Ren’s strange appearance.

"Let's not waste time, Lord Hao! Let’s go!" Lu Linlin grabbed Hao Ren’s hand, tossing a circular ring to him.

Lu Lihuo followed and took Hao Ren’s other hand. Seeing that Hao Ren was about to leave, Little White jumped into his arms before being summoned into the芥子空間by Hao Ren.

The ring gradually enlarged until it enveloped all three of them in a beam of white light and shot towards the sky!

From Layer One Heaven to Layer Five Heaven, they arrived in just an instant! Lu Linlin’s cultivation was definitely stronger than Zhao Hongyu’s!

Above the Fifth Heavens. It was equally dark, but here the spiritual energy was thick, and numerous immortal mountains floated in mid-air!

As they穿梭among these immortal mountains, if one’s sword technique wasn’t proficient enough, a slight mistake could cause them to fall down!

Suddenly, a white light appeared before the three of them.

"The trading conference is about to start!" Lu L琳琳said joyfully.

She controlled the ring and swiftly descended. The trio landed stably on the ground!

In fact, this was also a large immortal mountain. Only the peak had been flattened into an open area, becoming a flat-topped mountain that served as the venue for the trading conference!

One by one, temporary stone pillars were erected, each adorned with white lamps! These weren’t lanterns or night pearls, but they could light up a small area brightly!

Lifting their gaze, this trading conference venue was almost as large as the entire campus of Donghai University in terms of area! Thousands upon thousands of such white stone lamps illuminated this place like during the Lantern Festival, brilliantly lit up everywhere!

Lu L琳琳 and Lu Feihe held either side of Hao Ren’s hand without letting go. With two beauties accompanying him, although it attracted some male attention, no one paid undue attention to him. Hao Ren took a brief look around and noticed that each man was accompanied by three or four women; this was the ratio here! Moreover, everyone wore ancient costumes like Lu L琳琳 and Lu Feili, or cultivation attire. If Hao Ren didn’t know he was in the Fifth Heavens, he might even suspect he had entered a film set for an ancient costume drama!

Aside from these bustling crowds, various temporary stalls were also numerous!

From magical treasures to pills and cultivation techniques, there was everything!

"Sir need not worry. With your cultivation technique, no one will spot the flaw," Lu L琳琳 whispered beside Hao Ren.

Hao Ren’s body emitted a faint blue glow, but his attributes were complete with all five elements!

“Hmm.” It was Hao Ren's first time attending such a trading conference, so he remained cautious. He didn’t rashly choose items from various stalls but instead toured the place with Lu L琳琳 and Lu Hehe.

The flat-topped mountain was vast in area; roughly looking around, there were hundreds of stalls, with tens of thousands of cultivators gathered here. A large portion of them targeted the Nine Dragons Palace, and Hao Ren shuddered at the thought of so many cultivators besieging the Nine Dragons Palace.

There were also many women in ancient costumes or Taoist robes walking around; compared to city beauties, the ratio was at least five to six times higher, making Hao Ren somewhat weary of looking. He estimated that Zhou Liren would be thrilled if he came here and his blood vessels might burst from excitement.

However, when truly compared, these beauties still fell short compared to Lu L琳琳 and Lu Feili. Those stern-faced female cultivators were also slightly lacking in comparison with Su Han.

Hao Ren didn’t come here to look at women; he simply adapted to the environment before trying out nearby stalls.

"Distant Fire Technique," "Golden Light Technique," "Tortoise Breath Technique."

These seemed to be very basic cultivation techniques. True secret manuals wouldn't be sold on a trading conference, so these techniques were merely fillers. What was truly useful were pills, magical treasures, and talismans; Hao Ren had the Lu sisters with him but didn’t casually ask around. After walking for some time, Hao Ren suddenly asked Lu Hehe beside him, "What causes the lamps on these stone pillars to emit light"

"Sir doesn't even know this!" Lu Feili was surprised and then explained, "These stone lamps aren't rare at all. They just have simple arrays carved into them; the light comes from spirit stones placed in the cover, emitting light through combustion."

“Spirit Stones” Hao Ren wanted to ask more.

"Yes, spirit stones are the currency used by cultivation sects above the Fifth Heavens. They come in four grades: low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and top-grade. However, they're not just currency; they’re also a resource for cultivation. By absorbing the abundant spiritual energy from spirit stones, cultivators can achieve faster progress. Hence, they become a universal currency because everyone needs them. The burning ones are low-grade spirit stones that aren't valuable, so nobody bothers with them," Lu Feihe patiently explained to Hao Ren without tiring.

Hao Ren nodded, "Hmm, Senior Elder Lu didn’t mention anything about spirit stones to me."

"That’s because the Dragon Clan has never relied on spirit stones for cultivation; they merely use them to activate some formations. Young Master, you should know that the dragon cores inside a Dragon Cultivator's body are natural treasures for cultivation. It takes human cultivators countless spirit stones to reach the Core Formation stage, while Dragon Cultivators can easily achieve equivalent power in the Tremendous Realm." Lu Hefei continued.

Seeing her sister explaining so enthusiastically, Lu L琳琳 couldn't hold back and interjected, "Young Master, do you know what the Nine Dragons Palace is filled with that human cultivators would fight tooth and nail for"

"You guys really do know about the Nine Dragons Palace. Hmm, what do they want from inside the Nine Dragons Palace" Hao Ren asked.

"Spirit stones," Lu L琳琳 answered, "The Nine Dragons Palace is rich in spirit stones. Under every mountain range are veins of high-grade spirit stones! It’s said that within the Nine Dragons Palace, there's a main hall and nine branch halls, all constructed with top-grade spirit stones!"

Top-grade spirit stones Hao Ren thought about the situation inside the Nine Dragons Palace; those black, unremarkable large rocks were actually top-grade spirit stones! In the world of cultivation, spirit stones that were even more precious than gold and diamonds! Just thinking about how the main hall's towering array tower pierced through the clouds, each block was half a meter wide, long, and high, all deep-black stone blocks made entirely of top-grade spirit stones!

"However, it’s not easy to venture into the Nine Dragons Palace; it’s almost nine deaths for one life. The deeper you go, the more dangerous it gets because there are many primordial demon beasts inside!" Lu L琳琳 continued.

Primordial Demon Beasts Hao Ren was somewhat surprised; he hadn’t encountered any during his last entry!

But judging by the expressions of Lu L琳琳 and Lu He菲, their understanding of the Nine Dragons Palace came from book descriptions. In summary, the Nine Dragons Palace is no ordinary place—it’s full of treasures but also fraught with danger!

Mighty Mouse sensed a change in his environment and became restless again within Hao Ren's necklace.

Hao Ren, thinking it was fine to release Mighty Mouse since they were still in the world of cultivation, opened up his芥子空間 (jì zǐ kōng jiān).

Mighty Mouse jumped out and sensing the rich spiritual energy, immediately transformed into its large form.

"Mighty Mouse, you have to behave today. This time we’re here just for your feed; if you misbehave, I’ll sell you!" Lu L琳琳 bent down, pointed at Mighty Mouse’s nose with her finger and warned.

Although Mighty Mouse was a spirit beast, it had high emotional intelligence. Feeling the implied threat in Lu L琳琳's words, it hurriedly hid behind Hao Ren. But no matter how it tried to hide, half of its rear end was still exposed.

Hao Ren wanted to say not to scare Mighty Mouse, when suddenly a girl with a silk scarf floated down and landed directly before him, shouting at him, "Hey little junior brother, have you seen Senior Elder Lu"

"Huh" Hao Ren was confused and stared blankly at her.

The girl seemed impatient; she glanced at Hao Ren with some dissatisfaction. "I don’t recognize you. I’ve never seen you before. Are you a disciple of Senior Elder Lu, here to venture into the Nine Dragons Palace"

Seeing that Hao Ren wasn't responding, she looked at Mighty Mouse beside him and said, "Just raising a common beast; it hasn’t even reached the first stage. Looks like your qualifications aren’t too great either! Forget it, I’ll look for Senior Elder Lu myself!"

In an instant, a golden little lion shot out from her sleeve, transforming into a two-meter tall golden-furred giant lion in one swoosh, its four paws spewing fire as it carried the girl away quickly!

Hao Ren was bewildered, while Mighty Mouse blinked its large eyes and looked up at the golden lion with watery eyes. It felt a bit wronged. Although Mighty Mouse often acted cute, it also had self-respect.in the main hall, radiating dazzling black light!Eighteen black claws each holding eighteen weapons, while its mouth contained a massive golden bead!It was this golden bead that illuminated the entire...