Chapter 239: The Integrity Gu Glows

At this moment, on the other side.

"Butler, why have you come? I am hosting a Marrow Cleansing Stage trading fair; you, a Gu King, cannot participate."

A jovial-looking youth walked over reluctantly, gazing at an elder whose eyes were filled with sternness.

"Young Master, the Family Head says you are likely using the pretext of hosting a trading fair to secretly select companions for an overseas expedition."

"Therefore, the Family Head has ordered me to watch you and prevent you from acting recklessly."

The elder watched the youth before him with a vigilant expression, sighing faintly in his heart.

This branch of the Family Head possessed every virtue: excellent cultivation aptitude, good looks, and high intelligence, yet it had one fatal flaw—an extreme penchant for court death.

People of the Family Head's line were born with the Adventure Gene, inclined from birth to explore every corner of the world.

Especially regarding the mysterious and unknown Overseas World, they harbored boundless curiosity toward realms beyond their own.

But curiosity kills the cat; those fond of exploration generally suffer low survival rates.

Thus, too many of the Family Head's lineage perished in the Overseas World, gradually dwindling until, in this generation, hardly any remained.

Now, the old Family Head had only Mo Bufan left as his sole scion; he was determined to protect him at all costs and absolutely could not allow him to venture overseas.

Until now, Mo Bufan had only viewed the sea from afar, never once boarding a ship, yet such actions only intensified his curiosity about the Overseas World, leaving the future uncertain.

Knowing one's son best, the father, upon detecting Mo Bufan's abnormal behavior, immediately dispatched someone to monitor him.

Upon hearing the old butler's words, Mo Bufan's jovial face instantly stiffened, slowly sagging downward.

"How could this be? I hosted this trading fair merely to meet heroes from across the land; I never contemplated any overseas expedition! How can you wrongly accuse me so!"

"I have not the slightest interest in maritime exploration, feel no curiosity whatsoever about the Overseas World, and especially have no desire to visit those Sky Island Ruins!"

Mo Bufan spoke indignantly, appearing as though he had suffered a grave injustice, utterly aggrieved.

The old butler nodded, saying, "If you say so, then I am relieved; however, since you do not wish to explore the seas, you should trade away those ten Nine-Hundred-Year Iron Wood trees at this fair."

"Iron Wood is an excellent material for ship hulls; since you are not going overseas, this item is useless to you, so you might as well exchange it for something useful."

"Presumably, your reason for hosting this trading fair was precisely to sell off this batch of Nine-Hundred-Year Iron Wood!"

Hearing this, Mo Bufan's expression froze...

Soon after, many servants within the manor began moving, holding iron shovels, unsure of what they were digging up; before long, every twenty people carried a thick, massive tree into the trading grounds.

Each Gu Cultivator carrying the trees panted heavily, drenched in sweat; upon placing the trunk, which seemed cast from iron, onto the ground, it emitted a crisp metallic clang, the sound deafening.

Everyone present froze, ceasing their conversations to gaze at the ten giant trees, their eyes revealing shock, instantly silencing the entire venue.

At this moment, it finally became quiet around Long Xuan.

"Giant trees resembling cast metal; could this be the legendary Iron Wood? This material is one of the finest woods for shipbuilding!" Someone in the crowd immediately shouted, eyes blazing.

"It is indeed Iron Wood; Iron Wood is neither quite wood nor quite iron, possessing both the hardness of metal and the buoyancy of timber when placed on water, making it the best material for ship hulls. Young Master Mo is truly generous to offer such a treasure for trade; what a good person."

"Heh, this isn't ordinary Iron Wood; I observe that these ten trees are nine hundred years old, infinitely close to Thousand-Year Iron Wood, yet alas, they are not quite Thousand-Year Iron Wood; even a mere hundred years' difference creates a vast disparity in value between hundred-year and thousand-year Iron Wood; what a pity."

"Is Young Master Mo too impatient? If he waited another hundred years for these ten trees to mature into Thousand-Year Iron Wood before excavating them, he could fetch a much higher price; doing so now is merely draining the pond to catch all the fish, wasting heaven's treasures; ultimately, young people are impulsive and lack patience, sigh..." An elder in the crowd spoke with heartache.

The crowd gathered around the ten Iron Wood trees, pointing and discussing, voices rising in a clamor.

Mo Bufan finally stepped forward, walking beside the ten hundred-year Iron Wood trees, and declared, "Enough! Silence everyone!"

"Do you truly believe I am so short-sighted? The Mo Clan is a great shipbuilding clan; no one values shipbuilding materials more than we do."

"Not all Spirit Medicines can grow indefinitely; most, upon reaching a certain age, will wither and die; all living beings in heaven and earth have lifespan limits, and Spirit Medicines are no exception."

"As a great shipbuilding clan, the Mo Clan naturally possesses methods to judge the lifespan of timber; the lifespan of these ten Iron Wood trees is just over nine hundred years; they will wither and die before reaching a thousand years."

"Otherwise, do you truly think I would be foolish enough to sell Nine-Hundred-Year Iron Wood? Does Young Master Mo lack that bit of money?"

"Even if I were truly wasteful, the clan would never approve of such actions!"

"Now that I have excavated these ten Nine-Hundred-Year Iron Wood trees, there is no reason to bury them back into the earth."

"As the Host of this trading fair, I shall initiate the proceedings; I wish to exchange these ten Iron Wood trees for Realm-Breaking Pills; anyone who has some, come forth and trade with me!"

After speaking these words, Mo Bufan's heart was practically bleeding.

Although he had been stuck at Marrow Cleansing Peak for a long time, he genuinely did not wish to breakthrough.

Because once he broke through to the Spirit Sea Stage, he would no longer be able to visit such fun places as Sky Island.

Yet he could not refuse the Realm-Breaking Pills; the old butler intended to completely extinguish his desire to go to Sky Island, forcing him to trade for the pills and enter secluded cultivation to breakthrough.

Even if he disagreed, it would matter not; the Mo Clan, being large and prosperous in Star Sea City, possessed ample channels to acquire Realm-Breaking Pills for him.

Hearing someone offer to trade these ten Iron Wood trees for Realm-Breaking Pills, unsurprisingly, Long Xuan's eyes immediately brightened.

Thousand-Year Iron Wood was the most suitable material for ship hulls; he naturally knew this, and originally assumed that Thousand-Year Iron Wood was simply too rare and demand too great to collect in the short term, so he had immediately resolved to abandon the idea of using it for his ship's hull.

Unexpectedly, after a dark turn came light; he actually had an opportunity to obtain ten pieces of Thousand-Year Iron Wood.

Correct; in his eyes, these were ten pieces of Thousand-Year Iron Wood.

Do not forget he possessed the Medicine Gu, a heaven-defying existence; the ability of the Medicine Gu was to accelerate the maturation of Spirit Medicines, and this acceleration ignored the lifespan limits of the Spirit Medicines.

In other words, if a Spirit Medicine had only a hundred years of lifespan remaining, after being accelerated by the Medicine Gu into a Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Herb, its remaining lifespan would still be merely a hundred years; the lifespan would not be affected.

Although he had left the Medicine Gu in the Medicine Garden for raising and did not bring it out, he carried several dozen drops of the Heaven-Soaring Creation Liquid spat forth by the Medicine Gu on his person, prepared for emergencies.

This was to handle situations where he needed Thousand-Year Spirit Medicine as alchemy ingredients but could not collect them, forcing him to accelerate their growth on the spot.

Precisely due to this mindset, he always carried several dozen drops of Heaven-Soaring Creation Liquid whenever he ventured out; unexpectedly, he truly needed it this time.

With a total of ten Nine-Hundred-Year Iron Wood trees, only ten drops of Heaven-Soaring Creation Liquid were required to accelerate them into ten Thousand-Year Iron Wood trees, which was entirely sufficient.

Bright light flashed in Long Xuan's eyes; unable to contain his eagerness, he immediately spoke out, "I offer ten Gathering Sea Pills! I wonder if you would exchange your ten Iron Wood trees for them."

However, with so many Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu Cultivators here, how could he be the only one desiring Iron Wood?

Long Xuan had merely spoken first out of urgency; no sooner had his voice fallen than an aged voice immediately shouted, "I am willing to offer eleven Gathering Sea Pills; I wonder if Young Master Mo would grant them to me!"

Long Xuan frowned slightly; after glancing sideways at that elder, he immediately shouted back, "I offer twelve Gathering Sea Pills!"

The elder glanced askance at him, shouting disdainfully, "I offer fifteen Gathering Sea Pills! Competing with me on the quantity of Gathering Sea Pills is truly overestimating one's own strength."

Long Xuan was amused by this remark; at this moment, he had already recognized this elder as another Second Grade Alchemist in Star Sea City known as Elder Sun, who naturally could produce such a large quantity of Gathering Sea Pills.

Unlike himself, an unlicensed Alchemist, this man was licensed; he was a heavenly Alchemist bestowed with a Second Grade Alchemist Medicine Badge by the Dan God Hall, and any Alchemist granted such a badge by the Dan God Hall possessed an extremely high value.

Unfortunately, he had chosen the wrong person to compete against regarding the quantity of Gathering Sea Pills; if only he had fifteen days for Alchemy, otherwise he could have crushed him to death with a shower of Gathering Sea Pills.

"My apologies, but I also need the Iron Wood, so I fear I cannot part with it; I offer twenty Gathering Sea Pills!"

As soon as Long Xuan offered his twenty Gathering Sea Pills, Elder Sun's face immediately turned gloomy.

Although he could also produce twenty Gathering Sea Pills, he could have secured the item with just ten moments ago, yet now someone had interfered, requiring him to bid over twenty to win; it was a bloody loss, and no matter how many Gathering Sea Pills he had, he did not wish to waste them like this.

However, he was determined to obtain the Nine-Hundred-Year Iron Wood and even more unwilling to lose face here, so he immediately shouted again: "I offer twenty-one Gathering Sea Pills! If you dare compete with me on Gathering Sea Pills, young man, do not let youthful impetuosity cloud your judgment!"

At this moment, the Manor was filled with sounds of discussion.

"I didn't expect Elder Sun and Master Ye, this rising star, to come into conflict; tsk tsk, it remains to be seen who will ultimately prevail."

"It should be Elder Sun; the Pill he is best at refining is the Gathering Sea Pill, his famous masterpiece; who could possibly compete with him in refining Gathering Sea Pills?"

"That is hard to say!" someone shook their head and said: "Although Master Ye has never sold Gathering Sea Pills, the quality of the other Pill Qualities he refines is truly too high, far surpassing Elder Sun's in appearance; I suspect Master Ye's skill in refining Gathering Sea Pills is also not poor."

"Hehe! It has already risen to twenty-eight Gathering Sea Pills; what a grand gesture! When have I ever seen so many Realm-Breaking Pills? If I had so many Realm-Breaking Pills, I would surely become a Spirit Sea Stage expert," someone said excitedly with a flushed face.

"I offer thirty Gathering Sea Pills! Kid! Do you actually have that many Gathering Sea Pills on you? Do not just shout recklessly there!"

After shouting out this price, Elder Sun could no longer remain seated; he hurriedly stood up and loudly rebuked.

This number was nearly his limit.

Although he was an expert in refining Gathering Sea Pills with an extremely high success rate.

Yet who would idly accumulate so many Gathering Sea Pills on their person?

Both Spirit Medicine and Spirit Pills have an expiration date; if left too long, their Spiritual Power will dissipate, causing them to spoil completely.

Therefore, no matter how high his success rate in refining Gathering Sea Pills was, he would absolutely not hoard large quantities of them on his person, nor was there any fool in this world who would do such a thing.

"Whether or not I actually have that many Gathering Sea Pills on me is not something you need to worry about; I offer thirty-two Gathering Sea Pills."

Long Xuan continued to bid without even turning his head.

Elder Sun clenched his fists tightly, looking at Long Xuan with a ferocious expression: "Good! I would like to see exactly how many Gathering Sea Pills you have; I offer thirty-four Gathering Sea Pills."

At this point, Long Xuan finally fell silent, turning his head to glance at him, his face showing a strange expression.

Just moments ago, the Honesty Gu hidden inside his clothes had suddenly flown into a rage, attempting to crawl out of his garments to devour the liar.

Long Xuan was greatly alarmed and hurriedly pressed down on this Honesty Gu in its enraged state.

Since only that Elder Sun had been speaking just now, it meant that Elder Sun had lied; he did not actually have thirty-four Gathering Sea Pills on him; he was making a false report.

Had he gone mad? Daring to make a false report? Was it merely to force him to spend money unnecessarily? To deliberately disgust him?

If he chose not to raise the bid at this moment, how would the other man save face? He was playing with fire.

(End of Chapter)