Chapter 620

Creak~ Creak~

The candlelight flickered, and the sound of Li Yan and Lu San's leather boots stepping on the green sandalwood floorboards made a faint noise, which was particularly noticeable because everyone else was focused on appraising treasures.

It is quite interesting, come to think of it.

Those who were able to enter in the first batch all represented various Dharma lineages and sects, so they naturally paid attention to their conduct, specifically changing into cloud-patterned cloth shoes and clean clothes.

As for Li Yan and the others, they had rushed over right after the great battle ended, still wearing their custom-made cowhide boots with copper buckles, which were naturally noisy.

The two of them did not mind and carefully observed the spiritual wood.

The Qingcheng cellar storage was arranged according to the Five Elements method and nurtured according to their characteristics; space was limited, so whatever could be placed inside was certainly not inferior.

Soon, the two stopped in front of a wooden shelf in the southeast corner.

Before them lay a piece of ebony, which appeared to be riddled with wormholes, pitch-black and worn, yet deep within the holes, golden threads faintly flowed, as if the wood were breathing like a living thing.

Li Yan stroked it lightly with his hand, and crackling static electricity actually flickered.

"It is lightning-struck sunken wood from southern Shu."

Lu San whispered, "Lightning-struck sunken wood is already rare, and looking at this appearance, it has already undergone three transformations. Falling into the water has added vitality to it; it can both enhance lightning techniques and suppress evil things in the water."

"With your current Daoist cultivation, the Cloud-Thunder Divine Drum could be re-forged. It is a pity that there are too many wormholes on it, and it has long been seen through by others."

Li Yan looked sideways at the introduction for this piece of wood.

Sure enough, it was not much different from what Lu San had said.

The items brought out from this cellar opening were all good stuff. Although they had opened the Bai family's cellar storage as a reward, the quality was too low, and they didn't know how much they could exchange it for.

He had wanted to use Lu San's ability to buy low and sell high, but looking at it now, there were many experts in appraising treasures on Mount Qingcheng, and it was difficult to take advantage of them.

Thinking of this, Li Yan shook his head and said, "Don't just worry about me. Since this thing is rare, see if you all need it?"

If he were alone, he wouldn't need to be so cautious.

But they were a whole; there are very few people who walk together for a lifetime.

Previously, because Sha Lifei's strength lagged too far behind, he had thoughts of leaving. He didn't want such a thing to happen again.

Lu San pondered slightly and said, "I saw one at the Zeng Grain Transport Gang, even smaller than this, carved into a water god tablet to suppress evil, hanging on the bow of the ship, and no evil things in the water dared to cause trouble along the way."

"We are heading to Yuzhou this time, and then to the capital. The fastest way is to take the Yellow River waterway, and once we reach the Qilu land, take the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal straight to the capital."

"If we have this item, the journey will be much more peaceful."

"Good!"

Li Yan raised his hand without hesitation, and a young Daoist nearby immediately walked over.

This was the procedure for purchasing spiritual materials.

Each spiritual material had a bamboo tally hanging on it. If someone took a fancy to it, they would take down the bamboo tally, collect the spiritual material, and then proceed with the transaction.

"Wait a moment."

Just at this moment, an old Daoist walked over with long strides.

He had the typical appearance of a southerner and spoke with a Southern Fujian accent. He first carefully looked at the introduction of the sunken wood, then smiled bitterly and said, "Greetings, Li Li Shaoxia. This poor Daoist is Qinglingzi from the Yuanmiao Temple in Quanzhou."

Yuanmiao Temple in Quanzhou?

Li Yan had indeed heard of it when he was collecting information on the Mystic Sect.

This Yuanmiao Temple in Quanzhou, commonly known as the "Heavenly Duke Temple," was founded during the Taikang period of the Western Jin Dynasty and is considered the first Daoist temple after Daoism was introduced to Southern Fujian.

In the Shenzhou, the southern Dharma lineages are prosperous and numerous as the hairs on an ox, while the influence of the Grand Void Orthodox Sect is insufficient, which makes the importance of Yuanmiao Temple even more prominent.

Li Yan cupped his hands slightly, "I wonder what business the Daoist has?"

Qinglingzi smiled bitterly and whispered, "To tell you the truth, our Yuanmiao Temple has also sent a large ship to travel overseas, but the winds and waves at sea are strong, and there are many demons and evil spirits."

"The Temple Master learned that Qingcheng was hiding this three-transformation lightning-struck sunken wood and ordered this poor Daoist to collect it by all means, but I was only focused on looking at other things and forgot about this matter. Can we discuss a compromise?"

Li Yan hesitated, "We also have to travel by water..."

"That is easy to handle!"

Qinglingzi smiled, "Li Li Shaoxia wants a Dharma artifact to suppress water evils, right? Inland ships are small and won't use much. Why don't we join forces to buy it?"

Li Yan nodded in agreement immediately, "That is fine."

This was indeed a perfect method. They were making ship-traveling talisman tablets and indeed wouldn't use much. If they bought it all, they would have to find a way to sell it.

Soon, both parties reached an agreement to purchase it together and then split the cost according to volume and weight.

This was a small interlude, but it also reminded Li Yan.

While following Lu San to select spiritual materials, he carefully observed what the people around him were saying and what they were buying.

Sure enough, he discovered some interesting information.

For instance, the Doumu Courtyard was very interested in a type of ironwood with silver threads, and they bought it all up directly, not leaving even half a piece.

There was a large quantity of this ironwood, and even with the immense wealth of the Doumu Courtyard, it would likely occupy a large amount of capital, yet they did not hesitate at all.

According to Lu San, this ironwood was also very rare, growing out of cracks in rocks, standing on mountain peaks year-round, buffeted by gale winds, and its texture was tough.

It is unknown what kind of opportunity it was that it actually absorbed a large amount of star-evil qi, and it could be used to forge star-astrology divination Dharma artifacts.

Li Yan immediately had a guess in his heart.

This arrival of the Little Ice Age was very sudden, and judging from the court's reaction, they were completely unaware of this matter.

Reformulating the calendar was a matter of urgency.

The Doumu Courtyard controlled the Imperial Observatory and naturally did not want to be laughed at; it is estimated that they were again forging some large-scale Dharma artifact...

There were also some large Mystic Sects from the coast, such as Mount Lao and the White Water Palace of Mount Siming, all collecting large amounts of spiritual wood, perhaps to forge treasure ships.

Compared to the inland, the coastal large sects and Dharma lineages had long joined the magnificent Age of Discovery, and therefore were no longer active within the Shenzhou.

When he was at Chaoyang Cave, he also heard people say that they were fighting against the Dutch, Nanyang, and Japanese pirate sorcerers at sea, and were very impressive.

The times have really changed...

Li Yan sighed in his heart, while Lu San was very busy.

He selected some walnut wood for everyone; this wood had a hard texture, beautiful grain, and strong impact resistance.

In addition, this type of mountain walnut spiritual wood was nurtured in a canyon created by an earthquake, never seeing light year-round, its texture was denser, and it had also absorbed the earth-vein gale qi.

It was most suitable for replacing gun stocks.

He also found some nanmu flagpole wood for Wang Daoxuan to use for setting up arrays and helped himself get a Nuo master's staff.

Seeing that he could handle it alone, Li Yan gave a word and left, heading toward the second and third floors...

On the other side, Wang Daoxuan was also very busy.

He was frowning and pondering in front of a nanmu box containing lucky coins.

Hundreds of lucky coins in the box were covered with verdigris, and among them, three "Taiping Hundred Coins" actually had cinnabar talismans embedded in their holes.

He rubbed hard on the surface of the coins with his fingers, only feeling a stinging chill at his fingertips. After confirming it repeatedly, he gritted his teeth and picked up the bamboo tally.

The talisman on it was the "Three Officials' Handwritten Letter" of the Five Pecks of Rice Dao from the Eastern Han Dynasty; this coin was an old object from Zhang Lu's Han Zhong administration.

It was most suitable for casting curses.

The lucky coins here were also mostly related to the Shu region.

For example, a "Changping Five-Zhu" coin, with a human-faced fish pattern intaglioed on the back, was used by the ancient Shu ancient sorcerers for the "Fish-Cormorant Sacrifice."

It had miraculous effects in suppressing water demons.

The Shenzhou has a long history, and there are many types of lucky coins. After becoming spiritual objects, their functions are all different.

Although expensive, it is very difficult to find them in other places, so the old Daoist still took it down with a painful heart.

"It is truly difficult to save money and easy to spend it..."

The old Daoist sighed while getting twelve "Guangzheng Tongbao" coins cast by Meng Chang of the Later Shu.

This type of lucky coin, with the twelve zodiac signs cast on the back and an eight-trigram pattern intaglioed on the front, was also a rare twelve-zodiac treasure coin.

Matching them with their original ones, they could be made into message-transmitting Dharma artifacts, one yin and one yang, transmitting messages over short distances by means of vibration...

Just as everyone was investigating, Li Yan had already gone up to the second floor.

The second floor of Hunyuan Pavilion sold Dharma artifacts, and the third floor contained ancient books and secret scrolls.

Finished Dharma artifacts were expensive, and there was also the issue of adaptability; they might not be suitable between different Dharma lineages.

For example, in the battle at the Shu Palace, the Thunder Department executed the law, and after killing Li Wenyuan, they left behind the Five-Direction Flags he used for setting up the array.

That Dharma flag was of high quality. Li Yan originally wanted to use it to house the Great Luo Dharma artifact, the Five-Direction Luo Feng Flags, but this flag was stronger in illusion techniques and had been damaged by lightning, so he gave it to the "Six Hermits of the Bamboo Forest."

Thinking of the "Six Hermits of the Bamboo Forest," Li Yan suddenly had a thought in his heart.

Although the "Six Hermits of the Bamboo Forest" had deep friendship, and when Situ Bo was in trouble, the others came from ten thousand miles away to help, fearing neither life nor death, they were already elderly and were all living in seclusion in their hometowns.

And they were all famous existences in their local areas.

For example, Liang Yu used the Mingxiang Pavilion to secretly grasp information; no matter how big or small things were in Chengdu, they couldn't be hidden from her, and behind her, she also had connections with the "Lingnan Tea Valley" and the "Xiangxi Grass Sorceress" lineage...

"Skin-Painting Craftsman" Cui Bai, born in the Qilu land, was an old senior of the local Craftsman Sect, with deep connections...

"Yinshan Chess" Fan Tieguai, specializing in robbing the tombs of the powerful and wealthy, was involved with the exploration lineage of the treasure-seekers, and most of the time he was drilling in tombs...

"Yin-Yang Pen" Wen Song, an old senior of official cultivation, lived year-round by the Qinhuai River in Jin Ling, and many yamen in the Shenzhou had his disciples and grand-disciples...

And "Earth-Listening String" Yue San'er happened to be from Yuzhou.

He was both a carpenter who knew the Lu Ban method and an Earth Master, who knew the "Yellow River Funeral Wail," making a living by helping people handle white affairs.

Although he was alone and bitter, he was familiar with the Mystic Sect of Yuzhou.

Heading to Yuzhou this time, perhaps he could ask him for help...

Li Yan pondered while walking up to the third floor.

These were all rare editions of classics, not treasures from the cellar opening, but rather Qingcheng releasing its library to trade with various sects.

The trading of classics had a characteristic, which was that they could only be exchanged with other classics, which was considered a knowledge exchange between the Mystic Sects.

Li Yan was most interested in these things.

He was not as learned as Wang Daoxuan, but because of the Great Luo Dala Fajie, he attached more importance to the evolution of various folk customs and myths.

Through these legends, perhaps he could get a glimpse of the secrets of the Great Luo Dala Fajie. Ordinary people could not judge the truth from the false, but he would be able to verify it in the future.

Sure enough, he found a few books.

For example, a book called "Miscellaneous Sayings of Chu Sorcerers." After flipping through it for no more than two pages, he saw a nonsensical poem on it: When the phoenix dies, the earth collapses; when the jade cong breaks, the gods move!

Li Yan shook his head as he looked at it.

It turned out that the matter of the Nine-Headed Phoenix Vein had long been noticed by people and recorded secretly, but unfortunately, no one paid attention to it, almost causing a great disaster.

Now, of the nine blood jade congs that opened the Nine-Headed Phoenix Vein, seven were suppressing the Five-Dragon Palace on Mount Wudang, Lu San obtained one at the Goddess Palace on Mount Wushan, which was secretly thrown by Li Yan into a bottomless pit connected to the earth veins in the Goddess Cave, and the last one was missing.

Zhao Changsheng wanted to use this item to cause trouble, but it is feared he had lost the opportunity.

There was also a book called "Snow Mountain Spiritual Response Scripture."

The original version was a Tibetan manuscript, translated and annotated by Qingcheng predecessors.

It was written on it: "There is a dragon girl in the snow region, named 'Gong Fei,' who governs the waxing and waning of glaciers. When Princess Wencheng entered Tibet during the Tang Dynasty, she used the Princess Jincheng Mirror to suppress her soul and bestowed the title 'Snow Tara'..."

It was another name he had never heard of.

According to previous information, whether it was the Heavenly Court, the Underworld, or the Western Pure Land, they were all in the Great Luo Dala Fajie.

Great Luo had the meaning of encompassing everything, which is why it was named as such.

All those who ascended to divinity, whether through feathering, sending a staff, or military release, all methods were to abandon the physical body, and even the True Lord Erlang, Yang Jian, had his physical body destroyed along with the Nine Tripods.

And Dharma artifacts of the Great Luo Dala Fajie like the Five-Direction Luo Feng Flags all existed in a special state of gale qi, and the underworld soldiers were also formless things.

So, to enter the Great Luo Dala Fajie, is it necessary to travel with the spirit?

Li Yan examined the classics and fell into deep thought. And the purchase of spiritual materials below had also entered its final stages.

After all, the people of the Dharma lineages were still waiting outside.

"Everyone, please go to the back hall for the transaction."

Ling Yunzi stepped forward and reminded them with a smile, leading everyone to the back hall, and the people of the Dharma lineages were finally able to enter and search among the spiritual materials left over by the Mystic Sect Orthodox Sect.

No one felt aggrieved.

The birth of every Mystic Sect Orthodox Sect was the result of the efforts of several generations of people. For example, the Grand Void Orthodox Sect even spanned the history of the Shenzhou.

And in the back hall, Li Yan also had a headache.

He let Wang Daoxuan and Lu San pick freely, but he did not expect that after they gathered the spiritual materials everyone needed, the money was actually not enough.

Even if all the secret treasures of the Bai family and the spiritual tea of the Tea Immortal were released, it would still be difficult to exchange for all the spiritual materials.

Compared to the foundation of the large Orthodox Sects, they were still far behind.

And looking carefully, he couldn't bear to throw any of them away.

For example, a piece of Earth Mother Copper Essence was expensive, but it was the key to forging finger tigers for Wu Ba and re-forging the Tiger-Crouching Cannon.

As an important output of the team, this poor child had been fighting empty-handed since his battle axe broke, and he didn't even have armor.

There were also some precious talisman paper, red rope, treasure candles, and other items for setting up altars. Although they were one-time use and expensive, they could save lives at critical moments.

"Why don't we forget it? This poor Daoist will talk to the Temple Master."

Seeing this, Ling Yunzi hurriedly whispered to persuade them.

Li Yan and the others looked at each other and shook their heads one after another.

Qingcheng could be generous, but as a wandering immortal team, they could not owe too many favors, otherwise, it would be difficult to handle in the future.

Wang Daoxuan had a thought in his heart and took out two Emperor Xuanyuan Shells, "Isn't there an auction later? Let's exchange the spiritual materials obtained with this."

"No need for an auction, Qingcheng will take it!"

Before he finished speaking, Qingcheng Elder Zhu Qingzi walked over. This pedantic old Daoist's voice was even a little excited at this moment.

Li Yan and the others were not surprised.

The Emperor Xuanyuan Shell was not a peerless item, but it was rare. Anyone who was an Earth Master or skilled in divination would not want to miss it.

At the same time, others who were trading also looked over, and several old Daoists were also eager to try.

Seeing this, Zhu Qingzi hurriedly said, "The Iron Rhinoceros you brought up the mountain is a treasure for suppressing water. Together with this item, Qingcheng will take them all."

"Qingcheng will cover all the auxiliary materials for your forging, and in addition, we will give you this amount..."

As he spoke, he took out several banknotes from his bosom.

"Deal."

Li Yan only took a look and agreed immediately.

Fifty thousand taels, this is not a small amount.

They had consumed a lot in Shu, and many jobs didn't earn money. The Five Commandery Princes were now very miserable, and the promised rewards had no follow-up.

With this money, they would at least not need to rush for money for a long time.

After the spiritual material transaction, everyone had nothing left to exchange.

Of course, they participated in the Dharma artifact auction as usual and gained a lot of knowledge.

For example, an ancient bronze sword auctioned by Qingcheng was both a Dharma artifact and an antique, just because it was engraved with "Cancong Clan buried sword to suppress the dragon at Yu Lei Mountain"...

There was also a bronze gui, with a round belly and two ears, covered with verdigris, but the inner wall faintly revealed golden thread patterns, shaped like tadpoles swimming. It was the "Jiri Gui" from the time of King Xuan of Zhou.

According to the Lushan Sect elder who sold the treasure, in the past, Yin Jifu conquered the Xianyun, and this vessel was cast to record the "both count and pray" sacrifice, containing the entire "Xiaoya · Jiri" chapter inside.

Of course, more importantly, this was a national sacrificial artifact.

Placing it in a cave dwelling could protect Earth Immortal old ghosts.

Such things were released, naturally attracting everyone to compete for them. The price was so high that Li Yan was tongue-tied, and he even wanted to take out the Qin jade pendant he got from Lu Sheng to sell.

There were also giant clam shells sold by the Xuan Yue Temple in Southern Fujian, containing seven dragon-eye pearls inside, which had been worshipped in the Mazu Temple for twenty years, named "Seven-Star Sea Suppression," specifically used for protecting ships at sea...

The "Folk God Patrol Map" of the Jin merchant bank could protect the merchant caravan when entering a place of evil spirits...

In short, they were all functional Dharma artifacts.

Perhaps they had no combat power, but they were very useful for large forces.

There were also some small interludes during this.

For example, for a "Zhang Jixian Heavenly Master Seal," Maoshan and Lingbao fought fiercely.

Finally, the cellar opening conference ended in this clamor, and Li Yan and the others also sold all the heavy objects and went down Mount Qingcheng...

(End of chapter)