On the seventh floor of Tianyuan Tower.
The portly cultivator's expression changed drastically, filled with immense shock.
A dignified transformed demon sovereign had actually slipped into a human immortal island—this was a monumental affair.
If discovered, it could very well spark a massive war!
In the Mountain and Sea Realm, humans and demons were irreconcilable.
Ever since the ancient war concluded and a truce was signed, there had seemingly been no large-scale conflicts, with only small-scale wars of reclamation taking place. Yet everyone knew this was merely temporary.
Over three thousand years had passed, and that fragile peace was already teetering on collapse.
As a sacred ground of the Central Plains, the Tianyuan Dao Sect had access to the sharpest intelligence.
From what he knew, aside from the Central Plains, which was free of demonic troubles, the other four regions had all begun to rekindle the flames of war to varying degrees.
And nowhere was it fiercer than in the Northern Sea!
Over a hundred years ago, the united demon army had stormed the Arctic Yama Heaven and annihilated the Yuan Demon Sect, marking the most prominent turning point.
With the sacred ground overthrown, the Northern Sea cultivation world was left without a leader. Even with the emergence of new factions like the Canghai Righteous Alliance, it was no more than a drop in the bucket.
Everyone understood that once the demon race caught their breath, a fresh conflagration would sweep across the entire Northern Sea!
Because of this, adhering to the principle that internal stability must precede resisting foreign aggression, the major human factions of the Northern Sea had been clashing openly and in secret. They sought to determine a supreme leader who could guide them against the united demon forces when the time came.
Under such circumstances, an unknown transformed demon cultivator quietly infiltrating a major city of strategic importance in the southeast surely harbored ulterior motives.
An advance scout sent to gather intelligence?
Or a saboteur attempting to disrupt the alliance between the Penglai Immortal Sect and the Moluo Stream?
Or was this purely an individual act, completely detached from factional strife?
In the span of a few breaths, the portly cultivator gazed at the face in the bronze mirror, his thoughts racing.
Gradually, however, an expression of uncertainty and suspicion crept onto his face.
"Wait..."
"Her true form is a Tianxuan Battle Gull?"
"Once transformed, a demon cultivator's Nascent Soul can shroud their true form. Even under this Demon-Revealing Mirror, it should only be able to tell that she is not human."
"Could she merely be a Tier 3 demon beast?"
"Yet how could a Tier 3 demon beast take human form? Could she have gotten lucky and consumed the fabled Shape-Shifting Grass?"
Countless thoughts swirled through his mind.
Regardless, the portly cultivator could no longer sit still. He first sent down a voice transmission.
Then he quietly rose, masked his aura, and descended from the seventh floor.
Reaching the ground-floor hall, he spotted the slightly bewildered female cultivator and walked straight up to greet her.
"I am Fu Chaosheng, humble manager of this establishment. Whatever you might need, Fellow Daoist, Fu is at your service."
Seeing the beaming smile on his round face, Tianxuan's expression tightened.
A Golden Core cultivator!
She had been wondering earlier why no one came to attend to her when she entered the shop.
She had assumed the Tianyuan Business Alliance was so large and well-backed that they disdained enthusiastically greeting guests.
She had never imagined that the person coming to receive her would be a Golden Core cultivator!
Though he was merely at the early Golden Core stage, backed by the Tianyuan Dao Sect, Tianxuan dared not show the slightest disrespect.
"I am Tianxuan. I have a batch of demon beast materials on hand. I wonder if your shop buys them?"
Fu Chaosheng raised a brow. "Demon beast materials? From which species? Why not take them out so I can take a look?"
Tianxuan said hesitantly, "It is not quite convenient here, is it?"
Fu Chaosheng smiled and gestured invitingly. "Then let us go elsewhere. This way, please."
Tianxuan naturally had no objections. Following his lead, she climbed continuously along the stairs.
The spiral staircase gave the illusion of going on forever.
When she entered a vacant room, Tianxuan felt for an instant as though she had passed through a curtain of water.
Once inside, she took out the final batch of materials remaining in her storage bag.
Carcasses of Tier 3 Demon Crab Kings. The most prominent items were the crab pincers and legs, alongside thick sinews, eyeballs, and bones.
There was even a separate jade box containing ten demon cores of various attributes!
At the sight, experienced and knowledgeable though Fu Chaosheng was, he could not help but be thoroughly astonished.
"Tier 3 Azure Emperor Crabs, Overlord Crabs, Demon Spider Crabs... even a Poison King Crab. Fellow Daoist Tianxuan, did you overturn the ancestral nest of an entire demon crab clan from some Demon Sea domain?"
Tianxuan's expression remained aloof. "Never mind that. Just tell me if you'll buy them or not."
Fu Chaosheng rubbed his hands together with a chuckle.
"Of course we'll buy them! How could we not? However, I must appraise them first. You wouldn't mind waiting a moment, would you, Fellow Daoist?"
"Go ahead."
Tianxuan nodded and took a seat nearby.
Fu Chaosheng inspected the quality of the various materials while making casual conversation.
Though she remained on guard and dodged many of his questions, the answers did not matter to him. What he needed to observe was her reaction.
In the end, Fu Chaosheng offered a fair price for the goods.
Three million spirit stones!
Paid entirely in high-grade spirit stones!
Tianxuan had initially been somewhat dissatisfied, thinking she could squeeze out a bit more of a premium. But upon hearing that payment would be made entirely in high-grade spirit stones, she delightedly agreed.
Her master had instructed her earlier that if possible, she should try to settle transactions in mid-grade spirit stones, and high-grade would be best!
Previously, she had not understood the difference brought by spirit stone grades.
Yet after watching her master use the Fengshen Compass to set up formations several times—almost always consuming high-grade spirit stones—she realized that cultivators faced a threshold when driving dharma treasures.
*Taking back the earnings from this batch, combined with what came before, it will just make ten million. Master should be very pleased, especially with such a haul of high-grade spirit stones.*
Tianxuan happily agreed to the deal.
As expected of the Tianyuan Business Alliance, their generosity was unmatched, paying out entirely in high-grade spirit stones!
After a moment of marvel, the two parties concluded the transaction.
Seeing Tianxuan gingerly stash the three hundred high-grade spirit stones into her storage bag, Fu Chaosheng clapped his hands together and said with a broad smile:
"You aren't a local, are you, Fellow Daoist?"
"No."
"Since it's rare for you to visit, why not take a look around our shop?"
Tianxuan felt a stir of interest.
Fu Chaosheng struck while the iron was hot. "Our shop possesses not only the most complete cultivation resources in the Northern Sea, but also specialty goods brought over from the Central Plains. Take a look, Fellow Daoist—you might just find something rewarding!"
Tianxuan considered it and nodded.
Her task was basically finished anyway, and nothing had gone awry.
Her master had been in seclusion for over half a month with no signs of emerging, so he had no immediate need for her.
She might as well browse around and broaden her horizons.
Next, personally escorted by Fu Chaosheng, Tianxuan began viewing the diverse merchandise inside Tianyuan Tower.
Mineral ores of every attribute, medicinal ingredients of every grade, vibrant potted spirit flora, and magical artifacts and talismans of varying functions.
Even formation plates and high-tier medicinal pills, rarely seen in the outside world, were on full display.
During this tour, Tianxuan paid special attention to a few herbs.
Those were ingredients her master had specifically instructed her to look out for, which would be of great use to him.
After quietly noting down their prices and stock, Tianxuan paused in the dharma treasure section on the sixth floor.
Shelves displayed dharma treasures emitting powerful waves of spiritual qi.
They came in varied shapes and contained infinite wonders.
Her gaze, in particular, locked firmly onto a fan.
In her perception, wind-attribute spiritual qi swirled around it. Even without anyone channeling power, it stirred the surrounding space from time to time.
Of all the display shelves, this spot was the cleanest, spotless without a speck of dust, completely devoid of residual magic power from previous testers.
"Fellow Daoist, you have quite an eye!"
"This treasure is called the Nine Winds Plantain Fan. It was forged from the bough of a hundred-thousand-year-old plantain tree. Upon completion, nine strands of Untainted Wind were melded into it, granting it devastating power!"
"As a high-grade dharma treasure, this Nine Winds Plantain Fan is one of our shop's crowning treasures."
"If a Golden Core cultivator obtains it and refines it as a lifebound dharma treasure, they can summon wind, bring forth rain, and cleave mountains with dedicated nurturing. If one possesses a wind-attribute spiritual root, it would be like adding wings to a tiger, multiplying its might!"
Listening to Fu Chaosheng's introduction, Tianxuan stared fixedly at the plantain fan, her eyes brimming with longing.
She instinctively asked, "How many spirit stones for this treasure?"
Fu Chaosheng smiled faintly. "It's neither cheap nor expensive. An ordinary Golden Core cultivator would have to exhaust their entire family fortune to buy it. Yet it isn't truly exorbitant either—the three million spirit stones in your hands would be more than enough."
Tianxuan's eyes went wide!
Three million!
Why didn't he just rob someone!
She knew high-grade dharma treasures were extremely valuable and priced astronomically.
Her master had mentioned in his spare time that ordinary low-grade dharma treasures generally cost under a hundred thousand spirit stones. As long as an itinerant Golden Core cultivator wasn't destitute, they could afford one or two.
What constrained the number of dharma treasures a Golden Core cultivator could wield was not wealth, but strength.
For those with insufficient magic power, a single dharma treasure was their limit.
For those lacking potent divine sense, two was barely manageable.
Only when both were exceptionally strong could one drive two or three dharma treasures simultaneously.
Her master had usually relied on only three or four treasures in the past, and one had even been destroyed.
Once a dharma treasure reached the mid-grade rank, its price surged drastically, ranging anywhere from a hundred thousand to a million spirit stones.
High-grade dharma treasures were even rarer, something one could only encounter by chance.
Hardly anyone was willing to sell them.
Cultivators who wished to obtain one mostly relied on crafting it themselves, refining and nurturing it with their own essence over vast amounts of time until it advanced to the high-grade tier.
Such dharma treasures were far more than simple weapons.
During a cultivator's life, they served as treasures intertwined with body and soul.
After death, they could be passed down as the legacy treasure of a clan or sect.
Many formidable Golden Core sects possessed only one or two high-grade dharma treasures to serve as their sect-protecting treasures.
Thinking carefully, three million spirit stones for an exceptional high-grade dharma treasure was perhaps not overpriced at all.
However...
Tianxuan shook her head vigorously. "Forget it. I can't afford it."
Fu Chaosheng smiled. "Business is always open to negotiation. If you truly desire it, Fellow Daoist, we can discuss the price further."
His tone was laced with temptation.
Tianxuan parted her lips, but ultimately refused.
"The hour grows late. I must depart. Manager Fu, until we meet again."
Fu Chaosheng's face remained bathed in smiles. "We had a delightful conversation today, which proves our connection is deep. We shall surely meet again."
With that, he personally escorted Tianxuan down the stairs and out of Tianyuan Tower.
***
After leaving Tianyuan Tower, Tianxuan felt somewhat dejected.
Having a treasure that suited her so perfectly right before her eyes, yet being unable to claim it, was truly agonizing.
In the end, it came down to having empty pockets!
She wondered if her master would give her some pocket money for doing errands for him in the future.
Thinking about her empty pockets, her mood brightened once more.
This time, she had brought in ten million spirit stones for her master; she had performed an outstanding service.
Moreover, including previous transactions, the number of high-grade spirit stones amounted to four hundred!
Upon returning, she would surely be praised.
Perhaps once her master emerged from seclusion, he would pass down the cultivation method he had developed to her.
She had been stuck at the early Tier 3 stage for centuries.
Measured by human cultivator realms, it was roughly the peak of the third layer of Golden Core.
If she gained a suitable technique, she might break through to the mid Golden Core stage, taking another step toward fourth-tier transformation and condensing a Nascent Soul.
Yet as her heart filled with anticipation, she was unaware of eyes watching her from the shadows.
On a secluded mountain path, five figures sat in a circle, watching the water mirror before them.
Concealed by a formation, not a trace of their aura leaked out.
Yet they were all acutely aware of each other's Golden Core cultivation.
One of them looked down at the mirror and said, "This woman is quite capable, dumping demon crab materials in separate lots over a short period to reap massive profits. Yet she caused us to secretly suffer a hidden loss!"
Another chimed in, "Indeed. If our Qian family hadn't tried to sell that batch of demon crab materials to Lianfeng Firm only to be turned away, we wouldn't have known she was hoarding so many of the same materials."
If it were just one batch of crab materials, it wouldn't have mattered to any of the families.
Selling them off would still bring a profit.
Yet within half a month, Tianxuan had dumped the materials of over a thousand demon crab carcasses, creating an oversupply.
Large though Lengguang Island was, absorbing so many materials all at once would inevitably cause trouble.
Not only would raw material prices be driven down, but the artifacts and dharma treasures forged by armsmaking factions from demon crab materials would all be largely identical.
As a result, the finished product prices would naturally drop as well.
Consequently, raw material prices would be forced down even lower.
Fortunately, the factions backing the shops that bought the crab materials in Feileng City mostly knew one another.
Even with past grudges, they could reach common ground when interests aligned.
Thus, three families met, assembling five Golden Core cultivators to recover their losses.
As for how to recover those losses?
It was simple!
"Once that woman steps into the formation's boundary, all five of us will strike simultaneously, slaying her like a thunderbolt before she can react."
"Afterward, the spirit stones within will be split evenly among our three families."
"As for the remaining valuables, my Qian family picks first. None of you object, do you?"
Aside from the other Qian family cultivator, the remaining three nodded.
They then discussed the details of the upcoming strike.
Five Golden Core cultivators striking together would cause quite a commotion, but with the formation masking them, cultivators in the city would not react in time.
The most important factor was preventing Tianxuan from destroying her storage bag in a dying counterattack.
Having contributed the most, the Qian family was prepared for this as well, having readied a treasure capable of briefly severing the mental connection between a cultivator and their storage bag.
Though it lasted only a fraction of a breath, it was more than enough time for five Golden Core experts to obliterate Tianxuan!
"She's in!"
"Get ready!"
Just as they stood fully prepared to strike, an unusual pressure suddenly descended upon the area covered by the grand array.
The space where the five sat, in particular, seemed cut off from the heavens and earth, cast into a separate domain.
Not only could they not mobilize their internal spiritual qi, but they could not even sense the spiritual qi of heaven and earth outside.
Overwhelmed by shock, the five could only watch helplessly through the water mirror as the female cultivator drifted away.
Once she was gone, the peculiar pressure abruptly vanished.
Only a cold snort echoed in their ears.
"Business is not conducted like this. Scram back to where you came from!"
The five looked at one another, their eyes filled with horror.
After a long silence, a Qian family cultivator stammered, "Was that... Elder Fu?"
Fu Chaosheng, the principal manager of the Tianyuan Business Alliance in the Northern Sea, ranked among its four great elders.
His personal cultivation had reached the Nascent Soul realm.
Traveling abroad, anyone had to give him face.
Even well-known late Nascent Soul eccentrics of the Northern Sea treated him with courtesy.
For no other reason than that he represented the Central Plains' Tianyuan Dao Sect!
They had no idea why Fu Chaosheng was shielding Tianxuan, but regardless, this hit was completely off the table.
In fact, once they returned, they would have to prepare gifts and pay a visit to beg for his magnanimous pardon.
Without lingering, the five gathered their things and fled in disgrace.
***
On the ground, the portly man gazed at the streak of light in the sky, muttering to himself.
"A single demon beast could never gather so many Tier 3 demon crab materials; there must be a faction behind her."
"Moreover, when faced with a dharma treasure that suited her so well, she didn't dare touch the spirit stones in her hands. That shows she is merely an errand-runner without the authority to dispose of that wealth."
"To have a Tier 3 demon beast—and a transformed one at that—running errands on their behalf, the mastermind must either possess formidable cultivation or an extraordinary background."
"At such a turbulent juncture, which touches upon my Dao Sect's plans, no unexpected variables can be tolerated."
"I'd like to see which fellow Daoist quietly came to Feileng without showing their face."
As he muttered, his footsteps appeared slow yet moved with startling speed, tailing the streak of azure light from afar.
Before long, he came to a halt outside a valley.
Looking at the mist-shrouded, heavily guarded valley, Fu Chaosheng furrowed his brow.
"A Tier 3 grand array, with the aura of a Nascent Soul permeating it. My deduction was correct—it truly is a Nascent Soul cultivator."
"Yet this aura is remarkably unfamiliar; I have never encountered it before."
"In that case, I really must meet them to probe their depths."
He lifted his foot to enter the valley, but the very moment his foot rose, his expression changed drastically.
Inside the valley, the wind and clouds abruptly surged!
A towering aura erupted skyward!
Dragons and tigers converged, dark clouds gathered, and massive waves of spiritual qi were drawn from the earth veins.
Furthermore, the ambient spiritual qi drifting across the four quarters began converging toward the valley.
High above, faint flashes of silver light flickered across the sky.
Witnessing this familiar scene, Fu Chaosheng blurted out:
"Signs of Nascent Soul formation!"
Chapter 572