Chapter 180: Don't Be Afraid, I'm Not a Bad Person!

Nierbo, Gade City.

Ever since the first auction was successfully held last time.

New airports, new hotels, and new entertainment facilities have all been built here.

Furthermore, a highway and a railway have completed their preliminary work, just waiting for the funds to be fully in place to hire a professional team from the East to begin construction.

Thereby completely changing the difficult traffic environment of Gade City.

Under this series of changes, the local support for the Quxie Temple has been increasing with each passing day.

Even the local bullies who were previously pondering how to get a slice of the pie are now obediently bringing gifts to the temple to become devout believers.

Additionally, apart from these changes, after the auction ended, more people from all over the country have been mysteriously showing up to offer treasures.

They all heard through different channels that Huang Zong and the other Registered Disciples were willing to purchase all sorts of rare treasures, whether listed in the register or not, at high prices.

And it is not just money; even Immortal Fate is not off the table for discussion.

Consequently, the treasure-offerers almost caused a traffic paralysis in the factory district.

Huang Zong and the others were quite enthusiastic at first.

As it turned out, those mysterious sellers who treated their own items like treasures.

Only sounded impressive by reputation; their self-introductions were either as folk collectors famous for many years, or descendants of famous ancestors.

Some even directly claimed that their good items came from the palace through special channels.

As a result, the items they brought out were either from last week or custom-made just the night before.

There were even items with "microwave safe" engraved on the bottom that were passed off as ancestral treasures.

This made Huang Zong and his group deeply feel the rich and interesting diversity among individuals in the human species.

There was no other way, so Huang Zong and the others had to find the organization.

They requested a team of a hundred experts to come and sit on the front lines to conduct screenings.

After ensuring the quality, they—as Cultivators who at least counted as Half-Step Extraordinary—would then take a look.

Only then was the workload reduced, and a large wave of those wanting to try their luck were kicked out.

Naturally, as these people left with wounded hearts, rumors emerged in many circles that Huang Zong and the others were a group of scammers.

However, the genuine Extraordinary power was right there; those with real items naturally ignored the wails of those folk collectors.

As enough people came to offer treasures and the quantity increased.

A few items from the register Su Ping originally gave actually did appear.

After Huang Zong and the others confirmed through the Dharma Power in their bodies that these items truly reacted, they readily provided rewards or promises.

In addition, there were a few items that even Huang Zong and the others found interesting but could not identify, so they hurriedly kept them, waiting for Su Ping's appraisal.

Su Ping transformed into Shu Daoren.

In the Burial Ground of the Huzhong Dong, he summoned Huang Zong and the others.

The six of them, including Huang Zong, appeared familiarly in the residence on the mountaintop, and after drinking a cup of hot tea brought by the cat-girls.

They reported their gains from this period to Su Ping, feeling refreshed.

Naturally, this included the Space-Time Rifts that appeared in Bangzi Country and Sakura Country, as well as the latest intelligence they obtained from friendly parties, mentioning the Extraordinary that had appeared.

After listening, Shu Daoren smiled faintly and said:

"Set your minds at ease; I know most of those Extraordinary. Although they aren't on the same path as me, they aren't enemies either."

"Moreover, the Cultivation World has been in constant turmoil recently; it is a time of many troubles everywhere!"

"Alright, let's not talk about these things that are useless to both you and me."

"Take them out; let me see what those interesting items are."

After shaking his head, Shu Daoren spoke of the main topic.

Huang Zong hurriedly took out a large wooden box from his Storage Bag.

After opening it, Su Ping knew why these Registered Disciples were uncertain.

Unlike the raw materials in the register,

Everything in this wooden box was a processed finished product.

A palm-sized bronze statue with a strange appearance, a large head and small body, which did not conform to modern aesthetics.

A palace painting that was not very famous but used a great deal of materials.

And some antique utensils with many decorations.

These items were genuine antiques, and they were real things that were worth a fortune in ancient times.

Because of this, the probability of them containing good things was much higher than that of ordinary art pieces.

After all, regarding things like heaven-sent treasures, the ancients also knew how to distinguish the good from the bad, it was just that they had no Dharma Power, and the environment had no Spirit Qi.

Unable to bring out the true effects of these treasures, the ancients could only tend to utilize their ornamental value, using them as accessories for art pieces or even as precious pigments...

Just by glancing at it, Su Ping confirmed that part of the pigment on the Huijuan should be a kind of precious refining material, Star Silver Stone.

In the Cultivation World, this is a good thing that even Golden Core big shots would fight over.

It can be used as an auxiliary material for the embryo of a Spirit Tool.

If it were known that it was used by mortals as pigment.

And the resulting painting wasn't even famous... they would probably have the urge to destroy the country!

Su Ping's Divine Sense wrapped around the Huijuan, and he gently raised his right hand.

The useful substances in the Huijuan detached from the paper and submerged into the Storage Spirit Tool in Su Ping's sleeve.

Then, his Divine Sense left the Huijuan and submerged into those antiques.

Within just a few breaths, Huang Zong and the others saw shiny, tiny particles fly out from these antiques and submerge into Shu Daoren's sleeve.

Finally, Shu Daoren personally grabbed the bronze statue, hesitated for a moment, and said:

"The other items have very few usable things, which is what affected your Dharma Power."

"But this bronze statue... there is nothing extraordinary about it at all."

"Rather, it is because it stayed with a certain extraordinary item for too long and became contaminated, which is why it has a certain reaction of Dharma Power, leading you to mistakenly believe it is a treasure."

"Interesting!"

"Is the original owner of this thing still around?"

Hearing Shu Daoren ask, Huang Zong hurriedly lowered his head and said with a smile:

"Master, rest assured, these people have all been arranged; if Master has any needs, we can go and ask them in person at any time."

"No need, this matter is of great importance, I will go see for myself."

Shu Daoren chuckled, and after giving a few more instructions, waved his hand to send the Registered Disciples away.

Afterwards, he toyed with the bronze statue and clicked his tongue in wonder, vaguely suspecting that he might be able to find some more heaven-sent treasures comparable to Cold Ice Heavy Water.

Although Water Blue Star lacks Spirit Qi, there are still surprises waiting for him.

And more importantly, the surprises on this planet... all belong exclusively to him alone!

In the suburbs of Jiade City, by the highway near the suburban factories.

Inside a newly built hotel.

Zhang Ping'an sat cross-legged on the bed, silently practicing breathing exercises.

His family had been lay practitioners of the Daoist gate for generations, and they had passed down several breathing and meditation methods.

There was even a book of mysterious Divine Dao techniques passed down.

It could be considered a family with profound learning.

However, before the mysterious events broke out, Zhang Ping'an, as the only direct descendant of the younger generation, preferred studying science over cultivating the Dao.

And relying on his extremely high aptitude, after graduating early from a top-tier university, he became a member of the Young Scholar Program.

Then, the constant appearance of mysterious events, especially the major incident in Sakura Country, served to wake Zhang Ping'an up, making him resolutely decide to return home to cultivate.

For a period of time after that, Zhang Ping'an vaguely discovered that their generation and the older generation... seemed to be cultivating fake Immortals!

He didn't feel it before, but everything is afraid of comparison, right?

This also strengthened Zhang Ping'an's determination to seek the true Dao.

He had been to Mount Emei, and after learning it was closed off, he decided not to take the usual path; as a result, he didn't even make it up to the Golden Summit before he was caught, locked up for a day, and then released.

He had also been to Bangzi Country and found that the church there was a mess, simply the same old trick of Ghost Gods deceiving people.

Feeling that there was no point in staying in that place, he returned home, having learned his family's breathing techniques to perfection.

He was suddenly summoned back by his Old Ancestor.

It turned out the Old Ancestor was ill, very seriously ill.

Then, in the sickroom, he met several old Daoist friends who had come to visit him.

From them, he learned about the recent events and the affairs that Huang Zong and others were handling in Nierbo.

Thus, the desire to survive made him summon his direct grandson Zhang Ping'an, telling him to take the family heirloom to Nierbo to try his luck.

This led to Zhang Ping'an being arranged to stay in a VIP room after offering up the bronze statue.

Ding-dong!

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

It interrupted Zhang Ping'an's breathing cultivation.

Zhang Ping'an frowned slightly.

Ever since he was arranged to stay in the VIP room, he had encountered all sorts of people running over to find him.

Some were there to climb the social ladder, some were there to ask for favors, and some were wealthy and arrogant, opening their mouths to offer high prices just to buy a promise from him.

Zhang Ping'an had rejected them all.

He walked to the door, and instead of opening it, he pressed the intercom and coughed lightly:

"It's very late, I am not accepting any more visits, please return..."

"Please return? That won't do!"

Just as Zhang Ping'an finished speaking and was about to turn off the intercom, he heard an aged voice come out.

Then, without waiting for him to make any other move.

With a crack, Zhang Ping'an widened his eyes to find that the door had actually... opened!

Then, the hallway before his eyes was already filled with black Qi.

This black Qi surged until an old man in a black robe leaning on a cane walked out.

The black Qi then calmed down.

At the same time, the door automatically closed behind him.

However, the black Qi continued to seep into the room through the cracks in the door.

In just a few seconds, his ankles were already submerged by the black Qi.

"This old man is Shu Daoren from the Burial Ground, greetings, little brother."

"Do not be afraid, this old man is not a bad person."

Shu Daoren invited himself in, and after exchanging greetings, he used his divine abilities to pull Zhang Ping'an back to the living room, where they sat facing each other.

Feeling the fear of being unable to control his own body, Zhang Ping'an looked at the Daoist dressed as an evil cultivator before him.

The rhetoric he had originally planned for Huang Zong and the others was now something he didn't dare to say a single word of.

He kept swallowing his saliva, but he couldn't stop looking at the black Qi spreading on the floor, and he vaguely felt that the parts of his body in contact with the black Qi were ice-cold, and he could feel the cold air invading his flesh, making him increasingly panicked and uneasy.

"This is the territory of Boss Huang and the others; I am staying here at their invitation."

Zhang Ping'an gritted his teeth and brought up Huang Zong, hoping to intimidate this black-robed old man of unknown origin.

But very quickly, he heard an answer that made his whole body tremble:

"I know, I just heard Xiaohuang and the others mention you, so I came over to take a look."

"I forgot to introduce myself more carefully."

Su Ping looked at the restless Zhang Ping'an and said in a low voice:

"This Seat!"

"Is the master of those few people you spoke of!"