Chapter 557: The Steady Great Dao!

Right!

This is the Supreme Dao Sect, a place where schemers lurk around every corner.

What she was selling were materials for refining techniques used at the Nascent Soul and Soul Transformation stages—cultivators at this realm can truly be called the backbone of the Supreme Dao Sect's "Steady Stream."

How could that group of scheming old foxes possibly come to such an obvious, crowded place to buy crucial refining materials!

What if someone saw through their true identity and specifically researched a flaw in their divine ability!

So of course, the more hidden, the better!

No wonder, when she was choosing her spot earlier, so many stalls in prime locations were still available...

"My fault, I should have mentioned it to you first," Zhao Ruohan said.

Seeing a stall in a "prime location," Chi Jiuyu was afraid it would be snatched up and claimed it before Zhao Ruohan even arrived.

Hearing her say that, Chi Jiuyu scratched her head a little sheepishly.

"Can we switch to another one now?"

"Can't switch, you can only pick again tomorrow." Zhao Ruohan picked up her phone again. "But don't worry, once it's later, someone should come ask."

"Alright then." Chi Jiuyu had no choice but to pick up her phone again. "Then I'll keep browsing the Spirit Net for a bit."

She swiped the screen once, and the forum interface she'd been idly browsing was replaced by a talisman and dense lines of small-text annotations.

*The Book of Talismans Expounding the Dao on Derived Emptiness* — Annotated Edition by Hong Qianqian.

Whenever she had time, she would take it out and have a look.

"Mm, I'll browse for a bit too."

She swiped her screen once as well, and her interface likewise changed to dense lines of small text.

As for the content, it was some experiences summarized by predecessors regarding the divine ability she had most recently refined.

Zhao Ruohan actually felt a little guilty about secretly grinding away like this.

At the same time, there was also a tiny bit of remorse.

These past two days she had sparred with Chi Jiuyu once more, yet within less than ten exchanges, she had gradually fallen on the back foot.

Compared to their bout before the Biqixian Sect Grand Competition, Chi Jiuyu had actually improved again.

This gave her a slight sense of urgency.

As the daughter of a True Immortal, she was born with an Innate Divine Ability accompanying her, and had never once slackened in her cultivation.

Yet Chi Jiuyu, who spent all day eating, drinking, and having fun, was improving faster than her!

If the last sparring session made Zhao Ruohan recognize that she still needed to work hard, then this session made Zhao Ruohan feel defeat for the very first time.

Defeat in terms of talent.

And so, from that point on, she quietly started grinding away.

Although doing so did seem a little underhanded...

But since her talent couldn't compare to Chi Jiuyu's, she could only make up for it through effort.

Just like that, both of them secretly started grinding.

Only one did it heartlessly, out of long habit, while the other had just begun doing so, with a tiny bit of guilt still lingering in her heart.

To keep it hidden from each other, they would chat for a few sentences every now and then.

Time slipped away bit by bit, and evening arrived before long.

The sun sank in the west, and under the refraction of all manner of mystic lights, the golden sunlight transformed into rainbow streaks spread across the sky—utterly magnificent.

The trading district had far fewer people now.

Most of the stalls selling sundries, magical artifacts, and the like had already packed up and left.

Only some stalls tucked away in remote corners remained, selling refining materials, rare spiritual herbs, and special items obtained from expeditions into dangerous lands.

Among the goods, some were real and some fake—being able to buy the real thing depended entirely on one's own eye.

"Mm~!"

Chi Jiuyu laid her phone face-down on the stall and stretched.

She looked around for a while, saw that there were still hardly any people nearby, and prepared to pick up her phone and keep reading.

She'd wait until dark.

If there was still no one once it was dark, she'd pack up and come back another time after finding a suitably remote spot.

But just then, a shadow the size of a bean popped out of nowhere and hopped right onto the stall.

It had hands and feet, was dressed head to toe in a set of black armor, carried weapons on its back, and its entire body was yellow as if carved from a kernel of corn.

Chi Jiuyu noticed it instantly.

But... this was the Supreme Dao Sect's body-substitution technique?

The legendary "sow beans and make soldiers"?

They even do this just to buy some refining materials.

Silent complaints aside, Chi Jiuyu still perked up.

"What'll it be?"

"I want this, this, and this—can I get a discount if I take all three together?"

He pointed at three jade boxes on the stall, his tone somewhat urgent.

As if he were facing some enormous risk.

"Can't, this is already the discounted price," Zhao Ruohan replied from the side.

Chi Jiuyu paused, then nodded rapidly: "That's right, that's right! Fair to young and old!"

"..." He was silent for a moment, then gritted his teeth. "Fine! Wrap them up for me!"

The divine ability he was currently refining just happened to be in urgent need of high-quality refining materials.

Unfortunately, high-quality refining materials are very hard to come by...

Someone like Chi Jiuyu, a sword cultivator with a big reputation, astonishing divine abilities, and a love of face, probably wouldn't stoop to selling shoddy goods!

Precisely for this reason, he braved extraordinary risks, laying down several formations to sever karma and block divination, and sent a secondary avatar controlled by his puppet to come to such a crowded place to buy refining materials.

"You got it! I'll pack them up right away!" Chi Jiuyu beamed.

Sitting here doing nothing all day, he'd finally made his first sale.

He pulled a black bag from the side of the table and put the three jade boxes he'd selected into it.

"Here, all packed!"

The puppet avatar was seen taking off the black ring from its head, holding it in both hands and giving it a shake, whereupon a jade card inlaid with several crystals and imprinted with a yin-yang fish pattern appeared on the stall.

And it also tucked away the black bag containing the three jade boxes.

"Swipe the card!"

Chi Jiuyu took the card and also produced a blank jade card of his own, imprinted with a yin-yang fish pattern.

He gave a light swipe against the crystal-inlaid jade card.

In an instant, the four radiant crystals vanished.

In their place, four crystals appeared on Chi Jiuyu's blank card.

This new payment method of the Grand Supreme Dao Sect is quite something, huh!

Too bad it only supports small payments; for large amounts, you still have to use the old method.

After returning the jade card to the puppet avatar, before he could say anything, the puppet avatar leapt off the stall and vanished in a flash.

Having taken such a huge risk this time, he had to hurry back.

If someone recognized him and analyzed the divine abilities behind the refining materials he sold, and from that deduced his identity, that would be dangerous!

All the painstaking effort to conceal his cultivation, the persona he'd so carefully built, would vanish in an instant.

Just thinking about such an outcome sent a chill down his spine!

"..."

Those sly old foxes of the Grand Supreme Dao Sect are truly bizarre enough.

While he was silently grumbling, another paper figure came drifting over and landed on the stall.

"This one! This one, and this one too."

Perhaps it had done its homework, for this paper figure didn't even bother haggling.

After speaking, it simply tapped the talisman on its body, took out a crystal card with just enough to pay, tossed it down, then collected the three jade boxes and self-immolated.

As for why it didn't conceal its identity and just snatch a few...

That would invite karma!

Fair trade, buy and walk away.

Only thus can one avoid entangling karma — truly the great Dao of 'steadiness.'

Chi Jiuyu: "..." (End of Chapter)