The Gold Vault was a circular tall building hundreds of feet high.
In front of the building stood a Golden Cauldron.
The cauldron was filled with gold ingots, which shimmered with a sacred golden light, inspiring three parts reverence and reflecting ten parts greed.
"Who's in charge?" Kang Shenjun stomped his foot impatiently in front of the Golden Cauldron.
"Me." Before his voice faded, a black ball wrapped in a grey robe rolled out, looked at Kang Shenjun, cupped his hands, and said, "Wang Dahei, the Gold Vault manager, may I ask what Senior Brother commands?"
Wang Dahei, the black ball, had two round eyes that rolled around, looking from Kang Shenjun to Qian Duoduo, then from Qian Duoduo back to Kang Shenjun.
"Protectorate's Kang Shenjun." Kang Shenjun squinted, glancing at the dark-skinned Fat Man.
He pointed at Qian Duoduo, "Elder Bi of the Protectorate ordered me to send Jin Buhuan to the Gold Vault as a Vault Attendant. He has been delivered. I'll take my leave."
Wang Dahei bowed, smiling as he asked, "Senior Brother, won't you come in to rest your feet and have a cup of tea?"
Kang Shenjun waved his hand and left directly. At this moment, his heart was extremely bitter, worrying about how to report to Jin Buyong, having failed his mission and had the bounty confiscated by Qian Duoduo.
After he walked far away, Wang Dahei's eyes held a smile. He didn't dislike the strange smell on Qian Duoduo, took the small bag from his hand, and put an arm around his shoulder, "Jin Buhuan, what a great name, you should indeed be in our Gold Vault."
Through the grey robe, Qian Duoduo felt his fleshy body and warm temperature.
Entering the tall building, as soon as they reached the main hall, Wang Dahei bellowed, "Brothers, come out quickly, we have a new brother!"
His voice was still echoing in the building when several figures emerged, floating before them and surrounding Qian Duoduo.
"This is your Second Senior Brother, Yi Xiaoyun, Third Senior Brother, Bai Machi... Eighth Senior Brother, Lei Jiashu," Wang Dahei introduced them one by one.
The Senior Brothers were of varying heights; their grey robes and the smiles on their faces were equally clean and proper. Their auras were similar to Wang Dahei's, and their Cultivation was all at Qi Condensation third layer.
"I am Wang Dahei, your Great Master. This is Jin Buhuan, the youngest, your Junior Brother. You must take good care of him. From now on, it will be the nine of us Senior and Junior Brothers, living together, guarding our sect's Gold Vault, the unique Gold Vault."
Wang Dahei clapped his hand, and light shot out from all directions, instantly illuminating the interior of the building.
If there was a single spider web in the corner of the building, it would definitely be illuminated.
"Junior Brother, look, in our Gold Vault, there are ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine treasure chests, nine hundred ninety-nine gold storage kilns, and ninety-nine gold hiding caves."
Wang Dahei's voice rose, and his thick chest puffed out like a large mountain of flesh, "If we say we are poor, then no one in our sect would dare say they are rich!"
In the light, the interior of the tall building left Qian Duoduo dumbfounded.
Each floor of the building was divided into small rooms, where treasure chests were stacked layer upon layer, and gold coins and ingots were piled into mountains.
There were also hundreds of rooms with closed doors, marked differently, but all the doors shimmered with golden light.
Wang Dahei smiled slightly, very pleased to have stunned Qian Duoduo.
And the other Senior Brothers also looked at Qian Duoduo gleefully. Perhaps they had also gone through such an initiation.
"Are these... all... ours?" Qian Duoduo stammered, almost biting his tongue.
Qian Duoduo's question was like a thorn, piercing the proud black ball.
Wang Dahei deflated his fleshy mountain, "Hehe, they're not ours. But we are responsible for guarding them. Isn't that responsibility equally worthy of, ah, pride?"
"Yes, pride!" Qian Duoduo's seven new Senior Brothers shouted in unison.
Wang Dahei returned the small bag to Qian Duoduo and instructed Lei Jiashu, "Eighth Junior Brother, take Ninth Junior Brother to his residence."
A fair-skinned, shy young man approached Qian Duoduo, "Junior Brother, this way."
Passing through the main hall, along a green-floored corridor, they went through the tall building and arrived at the back of the Gold Vault. Behind the building was a small courtyard, about seven or eight mu in size, with several large trees in the middle. Behind the courtyard was a row of Wood Houses, about ten of them.
Pushing open one of the Wood Houses, Eighth Senior Brother Lei Jiashu introduced:
"This room is empty, you can stay here. I live next door to you. Both inside and outside the Gold Vault have Formations. You're not familiar with them yet, so just stay in the courtyard, don't leave it. We haven't finished our work for today, so I'll go get busy first."
Before Qian Duoduo could answer, Lei Jiashu's face turned red. He twisted his head and hurriedly left.
Inside the room, there was a bed, a table, a chair, and a meditation cushion by the bed, identical to the one in Jin Buhuan's residence, only its color was grey.
Putting down his small bag, Qian Duoduo closed the door, and Liu Boli had already appeared in the room.
"This place is very safe. You don't have to worry about food anymore. However—" At this point, Liu Boli suddenly disappeared.
Soon after, Qian Duoduo heard footsteps outside the room. Someone knocked on the door, "Ninth Junior Brother."
Qian Duoduo opened the door; it was Lei Jiashu.
He handed over a cloth bag, "Inside are your grey robe, the first to third layers of the Gold Light Condensing Money Cultivation Technique, the 'Gold Vault Formation Compendium,' a wooden sword, and a token."
Pointing to the meditation cushion, he explained, "This is a Spiritual Platform for Cultivation. You can use it by placing the token on it, and it charges based on the Spiritual Qi absorbed."
He paused, his face turned red again, "The west end is the bathing room, you can take a bath."
Lei Jiashu left as if fleeing, and before he left, he didn't forget to close the door for Qian Duoduo.
"Elder Liu—" Qian Duoduo sat on the edge of the bed, leaving the chair for Liu Boli. "I'll go take a bath first."
After bathing and returning to the room, Qian Duoduo put on his brand new grey robe, feeling like a turtle that had shed its shell, scrubbing away the long-accumulated grime and the Mortal life of You Sha Village.
Although his new shell was not yet hard or shiny, he was in a new world, enough for him to grow completely new claws and wings.
As dusk approached, Lei Jiashu returned to the courtyard to start cooking. Qian Duoduo quickly stopped Cultivating and went to the kitchen to help. When the food was cooked, the other Senior Brothers dragged their legs back, and Wang Dahei was so tired that the flesh on his face sagged.
Qian Duoduo was a bit curious, "Isn't the Gold Vault just about watching the money? Is there anything else to do every day?"
The Senior Brothers chuckled, looking at Wang Dahei.
Wang Dahei cleared his throat, "Ninth Junior Brother's question is a good one; it hits the root of the Gold Vault. But first, let's eat. We'll chat in detail after we've had our fill."
The Vault Attendant's dinner consisted of two dishes and one soup. One meat, one vegetable, plus a pot of spirit mushroom soup, and spirit rice could be refilled freely.
Qian Duoduo ate with relish, his belly round.
But when he looked up from his bowl, he saw that the Senior Brothers had long put down their chopsticks, chatting in twos and threes, only Wang Dahei remained at the table, watching him devour his food with interest.
"Youth is truly wonderful!" The Great Master said enviously, "We've lost the joy of eating many years ago."
"Great Master, it's probably because our menu hasn't changed for many years," Second Senior Brother Yi Xiaoyun interjected.
When the crucial topic came up, the Senior Brothers all gathered around.
"A few days ago, I met Little Zhang from the sect's reception. He was bragging about the Meng Yuan Eight Bowls and Xiong Jin Ten Famous Dishes, which really annoyed me," Third Senior Brother Bai Machi skillfully interjected, fanning the flames.
Wang Dahei's round eyes widened, "Don't be ungrateful. Although our Gold Vault doesn't live as well as the Reception, Protectorate, or Qilin Pavilion, we're sheltered from wind and rain inside the building, a hundred times better than those sweeping and cultivation teams who eat irregularly."
Yi Xiaoyun said resentfully, "If you want to talk about good, the Artificer Hall is the best. You just lie down and win; others rush to give you money. They only worry about what to eat and drink."
Wang Dahei's eyeballs almost popped out, "Enter the Artificer Hall? You have to be an Artifact Refiner. If you're an Artifact Refiner, let alone in our Lower Road Refining Spirit Sect, even in the Middle Road Fortune Sect, you'd walk sideways."
Qian Duoduo looked at their somewhat excited faces and thought to himself, "Could it be that life in the Gold Vault isn't as rich as I imagined?"