Chapter 571: 570. Chapter 565: Extracting the Half-God Vein

570. Chapter 565: Extracting the Half-God Vein

It is good to have Ji Luo by one's side.

Although Ding Huan can arrange divine arrays, he has not yet touched the divine-level laws of heaven and earth; the divine arrays he arranges are also provided with array flags by Ji Luo.

Now that Ji Luo has arranged a divine-level concealment prohibition, Ding Huan easily bypasses numerous divine sense monitors and passes through the defensive Xian array of the Xi Xu Dao Fa Academy.

"It seems we do not need to act. After I extract this half-god vein, I will activate the teleportation talisman and leave." Ding Huan looked at the already arranged extraction Xian array, his tone very relaxed.

With a divine-level concealment prohibition, even the Xian Emperors here do not know that someone has locked their half-god veins.

Because the half-god vein of the Tian Hang Dao Fa Academy was forcibly extracted, the half-god vein of the Xi Xu Dao Fa Academy is almost locked by various ninth-level Xian prohibitions.

But in front of Ding Huan, these Xian prohibitions are equally useless.

With a series of booms, the half-god vein implanted beneath the academy was extracted, and the various Xian prohibitions on it automatically burst open.

After Ding Huan extracted the half-god vein, the experts of the Xi Xu Dao Fa Academy only then discovered that their half-god vein had been taken.

But by the time everyone arrived, the person had already teleported away.

All they could investigate was the silhouette of a black-clad figure left behind in the monitoring array.

The silhouette was intentionally left by Ding Huan; if he had not wished to leave it, the Xi Xu Dao Fa Academy would not even have known of this silhouette.

When Ding Huan and Ji Luo arrived at Wanshi Xiancheng again, the news that the black-clad figure who had extracted the half-god vein of the Tian Hang Dao Fa Academy had once again extracted the half-god vein of the Xi Xu Dao Fa Academy had long reached here.

Ding Huan felt secretly pleased; it would be best if these people found the dung beetle, preventing that fellow from cultivating wholeheartedly.

Otherwise, once that fellow advances to Xian Emperor, he will definitely come to seek trouble with him.

Because he had just impersonated Zuo Shanyi to extract the half-god vein of the Xi Xu Dao Fa Academy, Ding Huan decided to remain low-key.

He did not conceal his cultivation, but altered his appearance into that of a middle-aged man busy with family business.

In the Great Dao Corridor, where laws are harsh, commerce is the most prosperous.

This is completely different from other Xian realms.

In the Great Dao Corridor, as long as you are diligent, unafraid of hardship, and have a sharp mind, cultivation resources can eventually be earned back.

Like Ding Huan, even those who have cultivated to Xian Zun and still toil for the Xian clans are numerous.

Ding Huan immediately went to the largest commercial building in Wanshi Xiancheng, the Shixian Lou.

In Wanshi Xiancheng, there is a rumor: there is nothing you cannot think of that the Shixian Lou cannot sell.

"Fellow Daoist wishes to purchase top-tier body-shaping Xian materials?" The clerk of the Shixian Lou was startled by Ding Huan's words.

In the Great Dao Corridor, the most precious Xian materials are those for repairing the soul and spirit, and the second most precious things are body-shaping Xian materials; these are priceless and off the market.

"Correct. The Nine-Colored Xian Lotus, the Mist-Jade Xian Fruit, or the Double-Leaf Xian Reed would all suffice." Ding Huan said casually.

The clerk rolled his eyes.

If it were other body-shaping Xian materials, he might have heard of them.

These few types of body-shaping Xian materials are treasures of legend; not to mention his Shixian Lou, no commercial building in existence could produce such top-tier treasures.

Under normal circumstances, such treasures only appear at auctions.

Which commercial building would obtain such treasures and sell them on a counter?

Ding Huan raised his hand, took out a storage bag, and tossed it onto the counter: "Here are ten thousand high-grade Xian crystals. If you can provide the whereabouts of the three things I mentioned, they are yours."

Ding Huan was merely testing.

In his mind, only the clerks of the Xian Lou would be clear about such top-tier body-shaping treasures.

Indeed, the clerk's gaze fell upon Ding Huan's storage bag, his eyes flickering somewhat.

Ding Huan grabbed another jade bottle and placed it on the table: "This is a Xian pill for advancing to Great Luo Xian. If you know the news, even this is yours."

This clerk was in the late stage of Great Yi Xian, precisely at the critical moment preparing to advance to Great Luo Xian.

If he had hesitated before, now that he saw this Xian pill, he immediately said:

"Nine days from now, there will be an auction in Wanshi Xiancheng. It is said that body-shaping treasures will be auctioned inside."

However, this auction is an internal auction; few people know of it, and one must be a Dao Shi of four stars or higher to be qualified to attend."

A Dao Shi of four stars or higher?

Ding Huan casually took the Dao Shi identity token from his ring and was surprised to discover that his original blank probationary Dao Shi qualification token had already become six stars.

That is to say, he is now a six-star Dao Shi.

"Good, all these things are yours. Tell me how to enter this auction." Ding Huan casually sent the Dao Shi qualification token back into his ring.

"The auction is at the Wanshi Xian Hall. I must remind you that the entry tokens for this auction have already been sold." The clerk spoke with some awkward guilt.

Ding Huan said calmly: "Since you mentioned it, that means the entry token can still be obtained, correct?"

The clerk lowered his voice: "Yes, you can go to the black market and seek out Widow Chang to purchase one. Here is the entrance to the black market."

Having finished speaking, the clerk casually took a jade slip and handed it to Ding Huan.

Ding Huan projected his divine sense onto the jade slip and easily broke the prohibition within it.

After memorizing the information inside, Ding Huan said indifferently: "I have been to this black market a thousand times, or at least several hundred. Do you still need to tell me?"

Seeing Ding Huan turn and walk away, the clerk hurriedly collected the items Ding Huan had given him.

Previously, he thought Ding Huan was an outsider and had prepared to leak the news that Ding Huan intended to go to the black market to purchase an auction entry token.

Now he could not do that.

This was clearly a regular of Wanshi Xiancheng; the reason he did not know of this internal auction was likely because he had not been in Wanshi Xiancheng recently.

Ding Huan went directly to the black market.

The entrance to the black market is actually a small shop selling low-grade talismans, pills, and artifacts.

At the very back of this shop, a prohibition is locked; to open this prohibition, one must use a black market array talisman.

Ding Huan arrived at this small shop and walked straight into the shop.

No one came to stop him.

Normally, anyone who entered a shop and walked straight toward the back courtyard was almost certainly a familiar face—a cultivator entering the black market.

At a time like this, asking nothing was the best move.

A level-seven immortal formation barrier blocked Ding Huan's path.

For such a small level-seven immortal formation, Ding Huan didn't even need to summon his formation flags; he only turned a few times before vanishing through the formation's entrance.

The moment he entered the black market, Ding Huan saw a staircase leading downward.

This black market wasn't a separate space—it was built underground.

Clearly, this black market had to be connected to Xiancheng's administrators; otherwise, it would have been impossible to build an underground black market like this.

There were quite a few people inside the black market, yet no one made a sound.

Whether vendors or customers, everyone had a clear purpose.

The shops here came in two types: permanent storefronts and casual stalls set up on the spot.

Widow Chang's stall was a permanent one—Ding Huan's divine sense swept over it the moment he entered.

It was a modest shop; a pretty young married woman was negotiating something with a man whose face was concealed.

Ding Huan wasn't in any hurry; he simply stood behind the man and waited for their transaction to finish.

This young married woman was most likely the Widow Chang the clerk had mentioned.

Seeing Ding Huan approach, the man stopped wasting words. He took out a ring and set it on the counter, and the young woman casually handed him a jade box.

"What do you need?"

Widow Chang waited until the man had walked off with the jade box before turning to Ding Huan and asking, her tone very gentle.

"I want an entry token for Master Immortal Hall's exchange meet in nine days," Ding Huan said.

Widow Chang was slightly surprised. She sized Ding Huan up for a moment before continuing:

"It's not an auction—it's an exchange meet. And the date isn't nine days from now, but seven."

Ding Huan was stunned. The clerk at Master Immortal Tower had actually dared to lie to him.

As if she could read Ding Huan's displeasure, Widow Chang said, "The date was just changed. By rights, since you have the jade token to enter the black market, you should have known."

"I see—I didn't pay attention."

"There's still one entry jade token left for the exchange meet. I won't sell that one anymore." Widow Chang's expression was perfectly calm.

Ding Huan took out a fiery-red crystal and set it on the counter: "I'll trade this for it."

"A fire-origin crystal?" Shock flashed across Widow Chang's face.

Her divine sense settled on the crystal.

It was indeed a fire-origin crystal. The crystal wasn't large or pure, yet it carried a trace of origin aura…

Something like this could easily be a treasure at an auction—yet this person was casually using it to trade for a single entry token to the exchange meet?

_cO

Is he insane?

But she quickly came to her senses and, without the slightest hesitation, took out a jade token and handed it to Ding Huan: "Deal."

"Good." Ding Huan grabbed the jade token and turned to leave.

Widow Chang clutched the fire-origin crystal in her hand, her heart still pounding wildly.

Is this guy Bai Chi? Something this good, and he's trading it for just an entry token?

Or could there be something wrong with the fire-origin crystal itself?

Widow Chang's divine sense settled on the fire-origin crystal once more, no matter how deeply she tried to probe it.

This fire-origin crystal was merely a little mottled, its origin aura impure—truly, there was nothing else wrong with it.

No—this won't do. Her own entry jade token to the exchange meet had just been traded away; she absolutely had to find a way to get another one.

Anyone who could pull out a fire-origin crystal to trade for an entry token must have plenty more good things on them.

If she could somehow get a few more from him, would she still have to worry about stepping into the Immortal Emperor realm?

Ding Huan had no idea that this Widow Chang needed a Dao Charm Token for her Immortal Emperor advancement. If he had known, he would have tossed the Dao Charm Token to Widow Chang without a second thought.

When he advanced to Immortal Emperor, he had never planned to use the Dao Charm Token again.

If the Immortal Surveillance Office dared to make a move while he was advancing to Immortal Emperor, he wouldn't mind rooting out the entire Immortal Surveillance Office.

For Ding Huan, the Great Dao Corridor having an Immortal Surveillance Office was actually a good thing.

But for the Immortal Surveillance Office to interfere even in cultivators' advancement—that was going too far; it was tantamount to overstepping its authority.

Moreover, the Immortal Surveillance Office actually encouraged cultivators to attack wild cultivators' cave dwellings. That rule disgusted Ding Huan just as much.

Clearly, the Immortal Surveillance Office intended to strictly control the cultivation levels of cultivators in the Great Dao Corridor, and to keep a firm grip on the power of speech within the Great Dao Corridor.

That in itself was fine, but interfering with him, Ding Huan, was not acceptable.