Chapter 455: I Don't Know Him

Jiang Ding concealed his form, flying along the border between Chu and Tu, his speed reaching a terrifying degree—even a peak Jin Dan cultivator burning all their essence blood could not catch up by a third.

"Sword Flight is the same; the speed just won't go up."

Jiang Ding sighed.

He rummaged through his storage jade pendant for a while, pulling out several blood-red metal fragments from within, pieced them together, and a small knife appeared before his eyes—about a chi long, entirely blood-red, without a hilt, its blade curved, slender, and thin.

The blade embryo of the Blood-Dissolving Divine Saber!

It came from the Nine Heavens Ruins, dropped from slaying the Blood-Dissolving Old Ancestor's avatar; because he considered it still useful, he had kept it for over a hundred years, gathering dust in his storage jade pendant all this while.

Jiang Ding's magic power and divine sense poured into the blood saber; he did not refine the already badly damaged array patterns, only probing, gathering, and collecting the residual auras within, drawing them together.

Soon, wisps of blood light nearly invisible to the naked eye converged, gathered, and condensed into a single strand—bright red, emanating a vicious aura of bloodiness and curse.

"Aura locked."

Jiang Ding flicked a finger; a wisp of blue-gold sword qi appeared, then shed his own aura, reverting to a translucent color with no distinguishing features. Inside, the sword qi trembled constantly, shifting its frequency and aura—hundreds or thousands of variations every second, brute-forcing through every possibility.

Three days later.

Hum!

Accompanied by a hum, the translucent sword qi and the extracted bright-red aura resonated, showing a phenomenon of mutual induction.

"That's it."

A trace of joy appeared on Jiang Ding's face.

It was no brilliant secret art, merely a simple understanding of cultivation and magic power; against a Jin Dan cultivator, it was already enough.

He took out several mineral ores, refined them, and formed a sword qi with substance—translucent—then shrank it to the size of a cow-hair needle.

He casually tossed it onto a stone, where it adhered and embedded itself.

"Within a hundred kilometers, I should be able to sense Mu Mu Tianxue's aura; unless she has Nascent Soul-level concealment methods, she cannot evade it."

Jiang Ding closed his eyes to sense for a moment, then judged.

This is the fate of offending a high-level cultivator!

Even with layers of restrictions, as long as one still remembers, finding a loophole or going around it is effortless.

Immediately, he spewed dan fire and refined another large batch—several thousand cow-hair fine needles.

"If you have Nascent Soul-level concealment methods, I'll accept it."

Jiang Ding concealed his form, flying in the sky along Chu's border line, non-stop the entire way, tossing down three cow-hair fine needles every seventy or eighty kilometers, while casually inspecting the livelihood of the people in each country.

The three countries had been at peace for over a hundred years.

One could see that the population had grown enormously—each country had several hundred million people, almost reaching the governance limit of a feudal dynasty. Barring the unexpected, in at most several more decades, large-scale riots and uprisings would occur, leading to the dynasty's collapse and the birth of a new one.

This kind of pattern was almost unavoidable.

Cultivators could manage it, forcibly violating this natural law, but it was like a dam—one could block it, yet every year it required spending enormous amounts of spirit stones and mobilizing large numbers of cultivators to manage the mortal world.

This was not worth the cost.

Tu was much the same. The system initially formulated by Li Li Qingyun to suit local conditions—the Tu court seated at the center, feudal lords guarding the four directions, the state and wild systems operating in parallel—had, with population growth, the elimination of wild yao beasts and beasts in the countryside, the extravagant indulgence of the feudal lords, and the proliferation of clan relatives, become no longer quite suitable.

Too many people, too little land, the interior rotten beyond repair.

Conflicts in the mortal world were intense; they simply did not dare allow large casualties.

The method adopted by Tushan Xiancheng was also to gradually relax control, no longer imposing restrictions. After all, the Tu court was not the bloodline of Tushan Xiancheng's city lord, and they would not pour spirit stones into this bottomless pit, leaving the feudal lords to annex and slaughter each other unchecked.

The only strict restriction was that the mortal order must not be affected, and large casualties must not be caused.

Otherwise, the local ruler would be executed; no one cared about the reason—whoever caused it, that person dies.

Even direct, harmless soul-searching investigations, killing with a borrowed knife, and the like could only make Foundation Establishment cultivators laugh.

He spent over a month circling Chu once, laying down a net of heaven and earth; the moment Mu Mu Tianxue stepped outside, she would be discovered immediately.

"This is it—the jurisdiction is ambiguous, how to handle it…"

Jiang Ding was about to head back when his steps paused.

His divine sense swept past; on the border between Chu and Tu, on the side closer to Chu, an auction was being held. Many Jin Dan cultivators and Foundation Establishment cultivators had gathered, auctioning living souls, furnace cauldrons, Mo Dao Fa magic tools and treasures, and other items expressly forbidden by Tushan Xiancheng.

……

"The final grand finale item, the Thousand Soul Banner, has been acquired by this fellow Daoist Li."

On the stone platform, a Jin Dan Zhong Qi cultivator from the Spirit Treasure Trading House called out: "Fellow Daoists, if you wish to trade items, you may come forward in turn. Our house only charges a ten percent fee, which can be offset against spirit stones."

This was customary; the Spirit Treasure Trading House would provide tight security and escape measures, item appraisal, and other services. The many cultivators showed no surprise—they were long accustomed.

Here, no less than thirty-odd Jin Dan and nearly a thousand Foundation Establishment cultivators had gathered, a most lively scene.

Although many people disliked it.

They had to admit, however, that although many Mo Dao items were a bit more cruel, and the risk of backlash a bit greater, their relatively low price and sharp, powerful characteristics were undoubtedly true.

Hence, there was a large market among many cultivators, who were willing to take the risk for it.

"The grand finale item is just one Yi Chun Jian Xia Pin magic treasure?"

"This is not what a once-every-twenty-years auction of the Spirit Treasure Trading House should look like."

Some Jin Dan cultivators were dissatisfied and heckled: "Thinking back nearly a hundred years, in Tushan Xiancheng there were blood-relative spiritual root secret arts, heavenly spiritual root furnace cauldrons, Jin Dan forming pills, realm-breaking pills, and the like appearing—now it's far inferior."

"Could it be you're afraid of the Tushan City Lord, and don't dare bring out truly good things?"

"Right!"

"This lord has plenty of heavenly materials and earthly treasures…"

Many Jin Dan cultivators shouted along, their eyes burning with desire.

Realm-breaking pills, secret arts, heavenly spiritual root furnace cauldrons, and the like were things they craved beyond measure—things that could advance their cultivation further.

"Fellow cultivators, indeed there are none."

The Jin Dan of the Shang clan was a scholar with no white beard; hearing this, he gave a bitter smile: "The Spirit Treasure Trading House will not take the initiative to clash with the master of any place, even if that place is a Foundation Establishment family."

"Due to the war and chaos in the Northern Plains, the loss of treasures was too great; added to this place being remote, there may not be a need for too many heavy treasures. The elders in the house deliberated… I too am helpless; fellow Daoists, please do not blame me."

His words were somewhat tactful, but every Jin Dan present could read between the lines, and their faces could not help but darken a few shades.

They were far too poor!

They had fled here as refugees, and the highest cultivation among them was only Jin Dan Zhong Qi. The upper echelons of the Lingbao Trading Guild did not pay much attention to this place. Of course, that was the thinking of the upper echelons; those one tier below naturally valued it greatly, since it concerned the cultivation resources they could obtain.

A pity their voice carried little weight.

But no one dared say anything. Although the Lingbao Trading Guild was a merchant guild with a humble bearing, it was still a renowned great power of the Northern Plains, with a Nascent Soul old ancestor seated within — not to be lightly insulted.

"Sigh!"

"The seniors of the Shang clan have certainly thought things through thoroughly."

A Jin Dan cultivator sighed: "I have already been cultivating in Tushan Xiancheng for close to a hundred years. The spirit stones I have spent over these years are like Rushan and seas, and I have not had much income, so in truth my savings are nearly exhausted."

"Even with a heavy treasure before me, there is simply nothing to be done."

"Sigh, what this fellow Daoist says is not wrong…"

The surrounding Jin Dan cultivators also sighed, their worry seeming contagious, spreading in all directions.

Jin Dan,

required territory, required spirit veins, required patronage!

Otherwise, they would end up like them, eating through their mountain of savings. Relying solely on being a third-tier talisman master, third-tier array master, third-tier artifact refiner, and so on was not impossible, but it still required a broad market.

Tushan Xiancheng clearly could not satisfy this; in fact, there were only three or four places suitable for cultivation, and they were outrageously expensive.

This small place had been flooded with far too many Jin Dan cultivators, far too crowded. Even if every Jin Dan cultivator was willing to set aside his pride and refine artifacts or draw talismans for Foundation Establishment cultivators, he could not earn much.

"Since we are poor and in hardship—"

"How about Tushan Xiancheng?"

A black-robed Jin Dan cultivator with his figure concealed spoke in a ghostly voice: "In this Xiu Xian Di Gao Jie, the one who can truly be called immensely wealthy is only that one person. There are more than forty of us Jin Dan — could we possibly be afraid?"

Wisps of cold, resentful yin souls coiled around his body; clearly he was a cultivator who licked blood from the blade's edge, and did not fear any reputation for power.

The surroundings fell suddenly silent.

One could hear a pin drop.

The clamor vanished. Every Jin Dan cultivator's eyes held a deep meaning as they glanced at this man.

"Ahem,"

"I still have some matters to attend to. I'll take my leave."

"Farewell for now."

"I plan to make a trip to the State of Yue. Is there any fellow Daoist who will come along? Although Bai Mei True Person has always been upright, after all it is not Master Tushan City — it is better to be on guard."

"Brother Liu, we may accompany you…"

In the blink of an eye, a group of Jin Dan cultivators fled on swift escape lights and vanished without a trace. The Foundation Establishment cultivators scattered even more like birds and beasts, as if some great terror lurked here.

Status declining

(End of this chapter)