Chapter 680: Myriad Phenomena Sect

"This is the Myriad Phenomena Sect..." Unlike Ning Zhuo gazed around; the surrounding scene was like a dream or illusion, clouds swirling, mountain peaks standing tall, like a fairyland.

Most eye-catching were the eight main peaks, each with divine and strange scenes, all towering into the clouds, majestic and upright, like giants standing on the horizon, with clouds gently brushing their waists.

The Heavy Formation Peak shone with mysterious light, cunningly forming layers of formation diagrams in mid-air, appearing and disappearing. Each layer of the formation disk rotated slowly, with massive amounts of talismans like stars, and also like swimming fish, shuttling between the formation diagrams. A group of cultivators all had Golden Core cultivation, some manipulating talismans to fill the formation diagrams,

others infusing magic power to weave formation lines out of thin air.

On the Myriad Beast Peak, tigers and leopards roam the forests, dragons and snakes hide in the void, and looking around, there are honeycomb-shaped beast dens. From the east side of the mountain, a large flock of blue birds flew leisurely, and on the back of the leading blue bird sat a shepherd boy. The boy played the flute, and the flute sound was melodious, drifting through the clouds.

On the Cinnabar Glow Peak, various pill furnaces operated, forming thousands of pill smoke paths. Some smoke was as coarse and hard as a pillar, rising straight to the sky, while others were graceful, dancing with immortal postures. Countless pill qi and pill smoke gathered above the main Cinnabar Glow Peak, and there was also the occasional pill light reflecting from opening furnaces, intersecting into a seven-colored, brilliant, ever-changing glow.

The Purple Thunder Peak was wrapped in giant chains. The chains were pitch black, like dragons coiling around a pillar, circling the mountain body several times. The chains connected the main peak and also crossed the sea of clouds, connecting to several secondary peaks around it. The mountain wind blew, shaking the chains and stirring up clanging sounds.

On the Sword Sound Peak, a stone sword was inserted upside down. Sword pavilions stood on the mountain, and the bamboo forest was dense.

On the White Grass Peak, the vegetation was dense, and enchanting giant flowers bloomed in the rainforest; when the thorny poisonous vines migrated, they were like ten thousand pythons crawling on the ground.

On the Soaring Peak, wild winds rolled, sometimes rushing straight into the sky, sometimes forming green wind vortexes.

On the Flowing Cloud Peak, the cloud layer was the densest. The mountain body seemed to be cultivating, constantly swallowing and spitting the surrounding cloud qi, forming countless cloud phases.

Eight main peaks!

Besides these, there were secondary peaks, small peaks, and broken peaks.

Unlike Ning Zhuo was currently at the waist of a small peak, behind him was a giant palace containing the teleportation array.

There were many of these small peaks and secondary peaks; Unlike Ning Zhuo even saw a hill floating in the clouds.

Some mountain peaks had flying pavilions and flowing cinnabar, jade buildings and towers, while others had flower gardens and medicine fields, beast pens and heavenly ponds.

Countless cultivators shuttled between these mountain peaks, like flying ants. Some flew on swords, some rode demonic beasts or cloud beasts, some drove mechanical flying boats, and others rode clouds and mist.

It was precisely—Cloud seals a thousand times lock the mysterious firmament, eight pillars hold up the sky to suppress nine dragons.

Heavy formation disks star talismans make a sea, ten thousand beast nests cloud-pasture green cowherds.

Cinnabar burns nine turns glow condenses blood, thunder prohibition three turns chains bind the fierce,

Sword sound hangs upside down the tears of all living things, vines dance among the hundred grasses to devour immortal traces.

Soaring anger rolls the qi of heaven and earth, flowing clouds breathe in and out ten thousand kalpas of emptiness.

Suddenly seeing jade buildings flying star rain, only then knowing this realm is not in a dream!

Wen Ruanyu was by Unlike Ning Zhuo's side and introduced at the right time: "The eight main peaks are not places ordinary cultivators can set foot on; even if I want to climb the mountain,

I have to report it in advance."

He stretched out his finger and drew a circle: "But on these small peaks are distributed the sixteen halls of the Myriad Phenomena Sect, which are places you will often visit in the future, nephew; it is best to get familiar with them early."

Unlike Ning Zhuo was curious and asked via spiritual sense: "Senior Wen, as a Golden Core true disciple of the Myriad Phenomena Sect, you cannot freely enter and exit the eight main peaks?"

Wen Ruanyu gave a bitter smile: "Even your mother did not have this qualification. Our Myriad Phenomena Sect is massive in scale and has a huge number of people, so there are—not a few Golden Core true disciples. And this involves many inside stories that your mother didn't tell you, which I fear also involves too much, plus the changes in the situation. Wait until I finish reporting on my duties, and then I will explain it to you."

After a pause, Wen Ruanyu added: "Of course, I also need some time to find out the current situation in the sect. After all, I have been away from the sect for too long."

"Do you really want to act alone and not live in my cave dwelling?"

Unlike Ning Zhuo shook his head and refused again: "Since the environment is safe, I prefer to use my own feet to measure this piece of spirit land. After all, this is the sect my mother joined."

Wen Ruanyu laughed and thought of his senior sister Meng Yao, then sighed.

He patted Unlike Ning Zhuo on the shoulder and gave instructions again before leaving: if there was an emergency, tell Unlike Ning Zhuo not to hesitate and directly crush the jade pendant to give him a warning. He would do his best to help!

Leaving the White Paper Xiancheng aside, Wen Ruanyu had already become the most reliable and borrowable person for Unlike Ning Zhuo within the Myriad Phenomena Sect.

This was not just the friendship between Meng Yao and Wen Ruanyu, Wen Ruanyu's admiration and respect for Meng Yao, but also Wen Ruanyu's high regard for Unlike Ning Zhuo himself!

The two talked a few more sentences and then parted ways in the square.

Wen Ruanyu took out a green cloud, put one hand behind his back, and left calmly with a dashing posture.

Unlike Ning Zhuo, like other cultivators, also left this place.

He was cautious by nature; upon entering a treasure land for the first time, he naturally would not take out the Ten-Thousand-Mile Wandering Dragon to use—this was usually used by Nascent Soul-level cultivators. If Unlike Ning Zhuo, a small Foundation Establishment cultivator, used it, it would be too high-profile.

The Myriad Phenomena Sect was about to hold the Flying Cloud Assembly, and a large number of cultivators were flocking in, all with the goal of joining the Myriad Phenomena Sect. Therefore, the Myriad Phenomena Sect also specifically issued tasks and dispatched many cultivators specifically to receive newcomers.

Unlike Ning Zhuo found one of the cultivators responsible for receiving and wanted to simply ask for directions, but the cultivator took out a pile of jade slips: "These are jade slips I made myself, with a rough topographic map of the sect, and many detailed introductions. If this fellow Daoist has a need, it only costs ten low-grade spirit stones."

The receiving cultivator was only at the Qi Condensation stage; facing Unlike Ning Zhuo, a Foundation Establishment cultivator from outside, he rubbed his hands, his eyes agile.

Unlike Ning Zhuo paid the spirit stones and bought a jade slip.

The content in the jade slip was a general introduction to the Myriad Phenomena Sect, which was exactly what Unlike Ning Zhuo needed most. Although the Buddha-Doctor Meng Yao left him a message jade slip, it did not involve these basic common sense items.

Following the map guide in the jade slip, Unlike Ning Zhuo first arrived on a cloud.

The cloud area was not large, with only one palace, and the plaque had the words "Twelfth Branch Hall of the Commerce Hall."

The Myriad Phenomena Sect had eight main peaks and sixteen halls, among which the Commerce Hall was responsible for internal and external buying and selling, governing many merchant teams.

The branch hall palace was cast entirely from red copper, the roof tiles were all cast in the shape of Pixiu swallowing gold, and the bronze abacus beads hanging from the eaves collided with the wind, making clanging sounds.

Unlike Ning Zhuo stepped over the green-gold threshold, stepped on the floor tiles where auspicious light appeared, and saw that the layout inside the hall was extremely simple.

All four walls were upright cabinets, the tops of which reached the ceiling. Outside the upright cabinets were long tables, spliced together to form a circle. Inside the long tables were cultivators handling business, and outside the long tables were people looking, bargaining, or selling.

In the center of the hall was an octagonal counter, forming the style of a Bagua formation.

The octagonal counter was very large, encircling at least fifty cultivators inside.

In the center of the counter stood a white jade square stele, with words visible on all four sides. As the stele text scrolled, it displayed real-time prices. Unlike Ning Zhuo scanned it and saw words like Heavenly Fire Sand, Mysterious Ice Marrow, Flowing Cloud Tea, and so on.

He had the receiving jade slip he bought earlier and knew that this octagonal counter was called the Eight-Direction Treasure Appraisal Platform in the Myriad Phenomena Sect.

The cultivators inside the platform were all responsible for appraisal.

Some used measuring rulers to measure the age of medicinal materials, some used water basins to trace the source of magic treasures, and some used the "Distinguish False and Preserve True Formation" above their heads. Wherever the formation light brushed, the truth or falsehood of the goods would appear in various rainbow lights.

Unlike Ning Zhuo looked around and walked to the counter in the southwest corner to state his needs and ask for the price.

What he wanted to buy was still information.

The Commerce Hall naturally had information buying and selling.

The cultivator quoted Unlike Ning Zhuo a price and provided five price levels. After Unlike Ning Zhuo asked around, he fell into contemplation.

The highest level had an extremely high price, which Unlike Ning Zhuo excluded first.

He also did not want to pay the second price level.

Even for the third price level, he estimated the cash he had on hand, and it was quite strenuous.

When Unlike Ning Zhuo was in the White Paper Xiancheng, in order to form the Qingjiao Army, he had invested all his effort, basically exhausting the war wealth of the two kingdoms.

Although he ultimately destroyed the Lord of Wangchuan Mansion's century-long conspiracy and collected the spoils of war.

These spoils of war could be piled into a small mountain, but to convert them, it would take a lot of time and a relatively long process.

This was because these spoils were all items from the Underworld; taking them out in large quantities would inevitably trigger market turmoil and a huge sensation.

It was too high-profile!

It would also leak many of Unlike Ning Zhuo's bottom lines.

Although Unlike Ning Zhuo had reached an alliance with the City Lord of White Paper, he had not used her channels to convert this batch of spoils on a large scale.

His previous statement to the City Lord of White Paper was just that the Qingjiao Army had fought in the Underworld for a while and then immediately returned. Now taking out a large amount of spoils, how to explain it?

The Qingjiao Army still needed to cooperate closely with the White Paper Xiancheng; this kind of showing a dishonest side just after forming an alliance was absolutely harmful and had no benefit.

Before leaving, Unlike Ning Zhuo exchanged Yang energy with the City Lord of White Paper for a batch of spirit stones. Knowing that Yang energy was quite important to the City Lord of White Paper, he did not take the opportunity to raise the price, fully demonstrating his sincerity in cooperation.

Unlike Ning Zhuo used the Ten-Thousand-Mile Wandering Dragon to travel, consuming a portion of spirit stones. Paying the teleportation fee consumed more than half.

The usage fee for the teleportation magic array was not based on the head count, but on realization measurement. The higher the cultivator's cultivation, the more treasures,

all would increase the cost.

The Ten-Thousand-Mile Wandering Dragon at Unlike Ning Zhuo's waist, as well as Qing Chi, Sun Lingtong, Chef Lao, and many mechanical pedestals hidden within it, all had to be counted in the price.

Of course, the Ten-Thousand-Mile Wandering Dragon itself had the ability to travel through the void, and Sun Lingtong had also absorbed the bone marrow of a void evil god. With the blessing of this aspect, the fee Unlike Ning Zhuo paid was still lower than the conventional price.

Cultivators with this kind of ability would have an advantage when passing through teleportation arrays. If a cultivator ran around and used teleportation arrays often, the amount of spirit stones saved by this advantage every year would be very considerable.

Unlike Ning Zhuo hesitated between the third highest price level and the fourth highest price level.

Just as he was about to ask the selling cultivator in detail about the difference between these two price levels, two cultivators walked up to Unlike Ning Zhuo.

One of them showed a smile and took the initiative to chat: "This fellow Daoist, I am Shen Xi, and this is my cousin Su Lingkou; we both come from the Jiugong Xiancheng."

Unlike Ning Zhuo's heart moved slightly, and he quickly recalled that they seemed to be the cultivators who boarded the teleportation array with him and came here.

One of the transit stations for Unlike Ning Zhuo and Wen Ruanyu was the Jiugong Xiancheng.

"I am Unlike Ning Zhuo; it is a pleasure to meet you two fellow Daoists." Unlike Ning Zhuo greeted them.

Shen Xi stated his intention: "It is not that I intentionally spied, but that our goal is the same as yours, which is also to come here to buy information about the Myriad Phenomena Sect."

"In my humble opinion, why don't we pool our funds and buy a third-tier jade slip? What does the fellow Daoist think?"

Unlike Ning Zhuo carefully sized up the two people before him.

Shen Xi was thin, his complexion like cold jade, his brows and eyes gentle like ink wash. His right palm was covered with thin calluses, and at this moment, he was holding a circular jade pendant, constantly rubbing it.

He used an ebony hairpin to tie his hair, and the hairpin head was embedded with a Sumeru mustard seed stone, emitting the aura of a magic treasure level. He wore a plain green straight robe covered with a mysterious silk cloud-patterned cloak, and the cloak corners were adorned with two-instrument glazed buttons, naturally producing protective clear light. The jade pendant in his hand was also a magic treasure formation disk.

Shen Xi's cultivation was at the Foundation Establishment stage, much more profound than Unlike Ning Zhuo's.

And on the other side, Su Lingkou had a light complexion, her eyes agile,

her hair ribbon was a plain silver interlocking buckle, she wore a honey-colored slanted-collar short embroidery with a moon-white pleated skirt, and both wrists were tied with five-colored ropes.

She was also at the Foundation Establishment cultivation stage, but the magic treasure aura of her hair ribbon was not concealed.

The appearance of the two was only considered upper-middle, but they had the bearing of a great family.

Magic treasures were usually used by Golden Core and Nascent Soul level cultivators, yet both of them carried one or two, revealing extraordinary financial resources. Their clothing was all Dharma artifacts, and their auras were connected, clearly a set. Based on this appearance alone, it was enough to make them stand out from the crowd.

Compared to them, Unlike Ning Zhuo's appearance, besides his large head being eye-catching and having a bit of handsomeness, whether it was his clothing or treasures, appeared plain and unremarkable (although the mechanical dragon was wrapped around his waist, it was covered under his outer garment and had also been treated to conceal its aura).

Unlike Ning Zhuo smiled at the two cultivators: "This is a good suggestion!"

But immediately, he looked at the selling cultivator in a dilemma and asked if pooling funds between two parties was in line with the rules of buying and selling?

The cultivator waved his hand, saying it was no problem, but also reminded Unlike Ning Zhuo that it contained risks. For example, one cultivator might view it first, then use spiritual sense to erase some key information, and have the means to do so without anyone knowing.

Shen Xi heard this and took the initiative to stretch out his palm to Unlike Ning Zhuo: "The jade slip can pass through Fellow Daoist Ning's hands first."

Unlike Ning Zhuo did not stand on ceremony and thanked him.

The two parties cooperated, and the jade slip was handed to Unlike Ning Zhuo by the selling cultivator. He immediately took out a blank jade slip and began to copy the content within.

Shen Xi asked the selling cultivator: "The content of this jade slip can be copied; if multiple parties pool funds to import, and then buy low and sell high, wouldn't that be a huge blow to the Commerce Hall's information business? Is there no such rule in the Myriad Phenomena Sect's sect rules?"

The selling cultivator waved his hand: "The scale and number of people in our Myriad Phenomena Sect can be considered one of the top among super sects, but the sect rules are pitifully few."

"It is precisely because they are few that such a massive number of sect members can fully exert themselves, making our Myriad Phenomena Sect always the number one sect in the Flying Cloud Kingdom!"

"Of course, such situations of buying low and selling high have not happened; after continuing for a period of time, they will all be cracked down on and heavily punished."

"You are clearly newcomers; allowing you to do this is my personal decision. Of course, you might also be lying to me. But overall, it's just a piece of information like this anyway."

The selling cultivator's answer was quite magnanimous, which Unlike Ning Zhuo, who was engraving the jade slip, also took to heart. ===== CHAPTER 681 =====