Daoist Master of Qing Xuan

After several casual exchanges, both of them ended up starting a conversation.

Wu Qingzi was concise and precise, his words inspired contemplation. Shen Lian gave impromptu replies, and all of them were deep and deserved of serious contemplation and appreciation.

Throughout their conversation, Shen Lian could not help but be amazed by his wits and wisdom and to appreciate the rarity of someone of his caliber.

In spite of knowing that he was from Taishang Daoist Sect, Shen Lian still could not help but to admire him.

Wu Qingzi probably shared Shen Lian’s sentiments. The only difference was, due to Shen Lian’s success in the cultivation of Tongtian Skill and had thus hidden his Qi dynamic, Wu Qingzi could not tell what was the martial exercise practiced by Shen Lian. Moreover, he was unfamiliar with the changes in the human realm.

There were noises coming from some distance away. Wu Qingzi paused with what he was saying and smiled, “Even though the Treasure Auction isn’t here yet, but there are a lot of cultivators who organized underground transactions. There are plenty of strange occurrences in the Boundless Universe. Despite that, we probably would not be interested in most of the items there, but sometimes there might be one or two delicate pieces mixed amongst them. If you are not occupied, why don’t we head over and take a look together?”

Shen Lian thought that someone like Wu Qingzi would not be interested in such things, and yet surprisingly so, he was.

Little did he know that it was a tradition of the Taishang Daoist Sect to have its disciples to enter into the secular world and then to leave it!

The entering and leaving made a full circle.

The sect believed that it was impossible to see the truth of Dao without first seeing the people in the world.

“Daoist brother, since you are in the mood, of course, I would not object!” Shen Lian replied.

He rang the bell at the corner and it produced a crisp ringing sound. A female servant walked in. That would be Fenghe, the servant who was put in charge of catering to Shen Lian’s needs.

After noticing her arrival, Shen Lian told Fenghe, “I intend to visit the trade market with my fellow Daoist here. Could you please show us the way?”

As they were all cultivators of Dao, resting at night was optional to them. Moreover, Fenghe yearned to serve Shen Lian.

She bowed respectfully to Shen Lian and led the way for them. The ground was made entirely of The Forbidden Technique of Xiaozhu Clouds. It was fluffy and bouncy, yet sturdy. There was no danger of falling at all.

The silver moonlight fell on the clouds. The white mist made one feel as though one was in the heavenly palace. It was impossible to tell the bearings as well. Fenghe walked in front with a copper lamp. Wherever the light reached, the mist would be dispersed, showing the way up ahead.

It did not take long for them to reach the stage. It was built entirely with green divine wood. The name “Qingyun Stage” was flanked by a set of couplets that said, “The force of the good wind, it aids me to reach Qingyun”.

It was simple and easy to understand. Yet, the usage of it here was very apt.

Fenghe stopped. “Did fellow Daoist Xuantong write this couplet?” Shen Lian queried.

Fenghe nodded. “Dear esteemed guest, you are right. The King wrote this,” she replied.

Shen Lian noticed the strength of the penmanship, and yet, there were hints of gentleness within it. The two sentences had great continuity and were pieced together seamlessly. It would seem that the Xuantong Demon King was a cultured demon after all.

A thought occurred to him, and he spoke, “Since we are here, we might be getting something. The medium of exchange here is Yiyuan Elixir, right? Please exchange some for me.” Shen Lian proceeded to fish out two instruments.

Right at this moment, Fenghe spoke, “Dear esteemed guest, don’t worry about it. I have a bag of Yiyuan Elixir here. There are roughly ten thousand pieces and it should suffice for now. You can have it first.”

Fenghe produced a little pouch that looked like a perfume pouch and passed it to Shen Lian. The little pouch was still warm from her body temperature. It seemed that she carried it around with great care and was careful not to lose it.

Shen Lian accepted it. “Just the Ruyi pouch itself worth ten thousand Yiyuan Elixirs. How is it that you have it with you?” He queried softly.

“I am acting on the manager’s instruction. The King said that if you needed Yiyuan Elixir at the celestial market, you may borrow it from us first and we will record it. You just need to pay up when you are leaving,” Fenghe replied.

“Your King is so kind to his guests. Though, why is it that I was not offered this option the last time I was here? I was told to exchange Yiyuan Elixirs with two bottles of my holy water,” Wu Qingzi said cheerfully.

Fenghe blushed, and she did not know how to respond.

Shen Lian knew all too well that the Xuantong Demon King had a lot of informants and life experiences. It would seem that the King was aware of Shen Lian’s identity. A high social status was attached to the title, the chief of Qing Xuan. However, Qing Xuan was caught in a sensitive position, and Xuantong Demon King probably did not want to offend them or be overly close to them. However, the King could not ignore Shen Lian completely. Hence, the least that the King could do was to show him kind gestures as such.

Since he was aware of it, he replied, “Perhaps, fellow Daoist Xuantong wanted to give you elixirs and decided not to after seeing how fine your holy water was.”

Wu Qingzi replied with a smile and put the incident behind him.

Fenghe looked at Shen Lian with gratitude and Shen Lian smiled in reply. She led them up to the Qingyun Stage. The stage was at least a hundred feet tall and was extremely wide.

Fenghe spoke to someone. Then, they were led to the VIP seats. The view was great, as they could see the pond in the middle clearly. A cloud platform was suspended mid-air, and that would be the exhibition stand. At that moment, a flat and round jade that had a hole in the middle was being displayed on it. A female cultivator who stood next to the cloud platform introduced the jade as Mountain God Jade. It belonged to a Mountain God and had some form of divine power within it. When worn, it had the effect of deterring evil spirits.

Wu Qingzi and Shen Lian would not be interested in such things. Moreover, Shen Lian noticed that Wu Qingzi’s attention was not directed at the treasures on the cloud platform, but on the right side of the VIP seats. Unlike here, the VIP seats over there were veiled by clouds. A Dao restriction was placed. Unless one peeped into it with one’s spiritual sense, one would not be able to tell if someone was inside.

All Shen Lian could see was a white figure that was veiled by the clouds.

Though, the figure seemed to have looked at him for a while, as though both of them knew each other. Being the sharp and alert person that he was, Shen Lian immediately knew who the person was.

Shen Lian did not react, and he continued to look at the items being auctioned.

The Mountain God Jade was purchased by someone at the price of fifty Yiyuan Elixirs.

Despite that, the cultivators here were mainly non-formal cultivators, but they were all clothed in exquisite clothing and had servants catering to them. There were plenty of nations in the seas. Most of the cultivators who knew that they did not stand a chance at attaining immortality had seized an island and became influential. As the population grew, a nation was formed.

Even in Qing Xuan itself, there was a disciple, Zhao Siming who came from one of the nations in the seas. When he first joined, he was proud and even got into a bet against Lu Shouyi as he was not pleased with the fact that Lu Shouyi became Zhang Ruoxu’s disciple.

Throughout the years, he restrained himself and worked on his pride. He had now entered the state of Ruhua. Shen Lian intended to nurture him as well. In the future, both Zhao Siming and Lu Shouyi could be the backbone of Qing Xuan.

It was a shame that there were not any geniuses like Shen Lian and Chen Jianmei in Qing Xuan. For now, no one had shown potential for immortality yet.

This was perfectly normal. Unlike cabbages, immortal Zhenrens were rare.

The fact that Qing Xuan had managed to produce a few disciples that had limitless potentials like Shen Lian and Chen Jianmei in just a few hundred years was already in itself a blessing of the Grandmaster.

Ever since Shen Lian became the chief, he did not get to spend as much time with Lu Shouyi anymore. No one would have expected that Shen Lian could progress so quickly. No matter how hard everyone else worked, they could not even get close enough to see his back.

Shen Lian had mixed feelings about this, but he was not too bothered about it. After all, he could not possibly stop for anyone. He could only offer as much help as he could lend, and the final outcome still depended on the person himself.

The next item on auction was the Fengli Staff. The intriguing staff was capable of commanding beasts that were not spiritually active yet. However, Shen Lian was more concerned about its origins. This was so as the Fengli Staff was birthed together with the Fengsheng Beast and the origins of Fengsheng Beast was impressive.

The previous immortal Zhenren left behind a scroll of Daoist scripture detailing the various celestial elixirs in the world. There was a passage that described it as such – “Fengsheng Beast has the appearance of a mink. It is green and is as big as a raccoon. It lives in the forest of Nanhai. Even if you were to capture it with a net and to burn it with carts of firewood, it would still emerge unscathed amidst the ashes. Its fur would not be singed, and its body is extremely tenacious. It could only be killed if its head was bashed ten over times with a hammer. Even then, it could be resurrected when the wind blew into its mouth. Only be killed by stuffing sweet flag into its nose. Its brain could be extracted and consumed together with chrysanthemum. Consuming five Jin of it would give an extra five hundred years of lifespan.”

It basically meant that the Fengsheng Beast lives around Nanhai, and its body was extremely tenacious. It would only die after being hit in the head ten over times, and even after it had died, it could be resurrected the moment wind blew into its mouth. By extracting its head and mixing it together with chrysanthemum, one would be able to extend one’s lifespan by five hundred years after consuming five kilograms of it.

This was a rare elixir that could extend one’s lifespan. An extra five hundred years of lifespan was precious; it was something that could make all the humans and demons in the celestial market went crazy for.

However, the records on the Fengsheng Beast were probably unknown to the cultivators here. If it was not for the fact that Shen Lian hailed from a great sect and was privy to a lot of secrets in the world, he would have disregarded the Fengli Staff too.

With the Fengli Staff, he might be able to trace the clues that would lead him to the Fengsheng Beast.

Moreover, if the owner of Fengli Staff knew about this, there was no way that the owner would put it up for sale. Shen Lian needed to first secure the Fengli Staff in his possession, and he would proceed to search for the seller of the staff.

Before Shen Lian said anything, someone named their price. Shen Lian did not rush into it.

It was only until someone raised the price to fifty Yiyuan Elixirs that the price stopped hiking.

Unhurriedly, Shen Lian said named his price, “Sixty”. By just raising the offer price to ten extra Yiyuan Elixirs, the person stopped bidding against him.

Just when Shen Lian thought it was a done deal, some changes took place. On the VIP seats not far away on the right, someone said gently, “One hundred and twenty.”

The price was doubled. Shen Lian saw the white figure glanced at him through the veil of clouds.

Shen Lian was not shaken, and he was ready to raise the price further.

Right at this moment, Wu Qingzi spoke, “One hundred and fifty. Since Fairy you like this, I can just buy it for you,” he spoke calmly.

The figure chuckled behind the veil of clouds, and her laughter was crisp as the ring of a silver bell. “I don’t like it, I just want to get it,” she replied.

“Three hundred,” she raised the price again.

Wu Qingzi ceased bidding after hearing that. “Daoist brother, is there a grudge between you and Fairy Xiaoyu?” he directed his question at Shen Lian.

With someone of his caliber, it was no wonder that he noticed she was doing this because of Shen Lian.

“Three hundred and one,” Shen Lian whispered.

He glanced at Wu Qingzi, hinting him to be patient.

“Six hundred,” Zhao Xiaoyu spoke again.

Everyone else was just watching the commotion; they did not expect the experts on the VIP seats to go against each other. Some even thought that the owner of the Fengli Staff was in luck.

Unexpectedly, Shen Lian did not continue bidding. He remained silent, and the item went to Zhao Xiaoyu.

However, what happened next was out of even Shen Lian’s expectation, and he did not know how to feel about it.