Chapter 137: The Glowing Tree (Bonus for 400 Monthly Votes)

As a cavern deep within a mountain, common sense dictated that the environment should be dark and dim. Even with luminous objects present, they would, at most, only cast light into various corners, much like the cave where the ancestors of the Wei family once hid the "Nine Steps to Heaven" manual—where any light served only as stars dotting a night sky.

However, this subterranean cavity was as bright as day.

Bright! Dazzling, white light; it was far too bright!

The entire underground space was roughly the size of a football field. While the surrounding walls and the vaulted ceiling featured glowing crystals, the primary light source was a tree in the center of the cavern. It resembled a willow, yet it was three times the size of a normal one. The tree was not particularly lush, and Su Jingxing could not be certain if its leaves were green, as the entire tree was emitting a brilliant, incandescent white light.

This white light flooded every corner of the cavern, illuminating the ground, walls, and ceiling with absolute clarity. If Su Jingxing had not been certain it was a living tree, he might have mistaken his location. It felt less like a two-hundred-year-old treasure cache and more like a high-tech underground base, similar to the secret refuge used by Shi Jinnian, where incandescent lamps kept the space as bright as daylight.

Why would Jin Mushen place a glowing tree in his treasure vault? Could the tree itself be the treasure? That did not seem right either. In the northwest corner of the cavern, over a dozen wooden crates were scattered across the ground. Those crates were surely meant for storing the treasure.

Wait.

Suddenly, Su Jingxing realized something. As he scanned his surroundings, he muttered to himself. Jin Mushen was a notoriously corrupt official from two hundred years ago; it would not be an exaggeration for him to have hidden a hundred crates of gold and jewels. Two hundred years ago, there were no heat-based weapons, so hiding a hundred legendary or semi-legendary weapons would not be excessive, either. Martial arts manuals, medicinal formulas, and other rarities—placing those in several dozen more crates would be expected.

Especially considering that he had a giant, invisible crocodile capable of masking its own breath and heartbeat guarding the entrance. The treasures here should have been enough to make anyone’s eyes turn green, right?

Yet, after scanning the entire cavern three times, Su Jingxing saw no other crates. There were only the dozen or so in the northwest corner, scattered along the bank of an underground river. Some of the crates had even broken open, their contents spilling into the water.

From this, he could conclude that he had found the correct treasure site. The weapons, gold, and jewels that people had recovered from the mudflats in the photos and videos the Shi family had used to deflect attention must have come from those broken crates. But the problem remained: was that all the treasure Jin Mushen had left behind? Could a dozen crates really be called a "treasure"?

Refusing to believe it, Su Jingxing used his movement technique, his figure flickering as he flew over to inspect the remaining boxes. Half contained calligraphy, paintings, and porcelain, while the other half held gold and jewelry. The only unique crate contained a large stack of silver notes and over a dozen account books.

The silver notes had been issued two hundred years ago by a major bank in the Yu Kingdom—a bank that had since grown into a massive multinational financial institution with immense power and influence. These notes totaled eight million taels, though it was unclear if they could still be redeemed today. As for the account books, Su Jingxing leafed through them briefly before tossing them aside. There was no point; the people and organizations recorded within them, along with their debts and expenditures, had long since vanished.

The calligraphy, paintings, and porcelain were equally useless to him. He was not short on money and had no need to liquidate such items. When it came down to it, there was nothing here that truly piqued his interest.

"Could this tree really be the treasure?"

Su Jingxing tucked away the silver notes and approached the glowing willow. Before getting too close, he released his flying daggers, sending them in a circuit around the tree, weaving through the branches and checking every gap. Only after confirming there were no invisible, monstrous creatures like the giant crocodile did he step forward.

Upon close inspection, he noticed the tree was indeed unusual. Its bark and trunk were covered in faint, vein-like patterns. Because the bark itself was glowing, these details were easy to miss. This confirmed it was not a standard willow, though Su Jingxing could not identify exactly what it was. The tree bore no fruit and emitted no distinct fragrance; it simply glowed. The white light it radiated lacked any offensive or supernatural effects. It stood in the center of the cavern like a giant lightbulb, illuminating the entire space.

"Did Jin Mushen set up a glowing tree here just for lighting?"

Su Jingxing circled the tree, unable to fathom its purpose. A glowing tree would indeed have been considered a treasure two hundred years ago.

No, that wasn't it!

Suddenly, Su Jingxing thought of the Shi family. They had been the ones to find the clues, and they were the ones who had dubbed it "Jin Mushen’s Treasure." Jin Mushen himself had never claimed to have left behind countless treasures.

The whole "treasure" narrative had been a fabrication by the Shi family to divert attention. In reality, this site might have been chosen by Jin Mushen solely to hide this glowing tree. When he brought it here two hundred years ago, it might have been nothing more than a sapling. It had grown to such a size simply because two hundred years had passed. Without sunlight, it had thrived, and as it grew, its luminescence had only become brighter. In that sense, the tree was indeed a treasure.

The talk of a great hoard was the work of the Shi family, but the tree was undeniably a treasure. He just didn't know what its utility was.

After some analysis, Su Jingxing was convinced of the tree’s value. Since it lacked fruit or scent, its secret likely lay in its bark, leaves, branches, or roots. With that in mind, he snapped off a branch and stored it in his palm space to take back for testing.

Of course, the best approach would be to uncover the tree's true identity—to find out exactly what kind of rare plant it was. He also needed to figure out the nature of the strange ring he had discovered in the Shi family’s vault.

Such information could not be found online. In Qinghe City, there was only one place that kept records on rare treasures, unique species, and mystical phenomena: the library of Xuantian University. With over a thousand years of history, the library’s collection of ancient texts and records was incredibly vast. If something was unknown to the outside world, the answers could usually be found there.

Of course, those precious documents were guarded by masters and kept on the top floor of the library. Su Jingxing had read online that very few people were permitted access to that level. In the past, he would have been no exception.

But now...