Chapter 646

In a quiet side room, a cultivator with a sallow face and an unremarkable appearance pinched a sound-transmission jade talisman and frowned slightly. He flipped his hand and took out a red copper alchemy furnace from his sleeve. The alchemy furnace was decorated simply and was unremarkable.

A black-faced cultivator beside him sighed: "I don't know if it's fortune or disaster!"

"That cave on the island was clearly just a temporary residence opened by Daoist Qian! According to our inquiries, he had only lived there for two years, and he didn't leave any powerful formation or magic treasure to guard it. Hearing that Daoist Qian had gone missing, the cultivators within the Seven Great Immortal Alliances instigated us to break the cave's seal, just plotting for the pill formulas and alchemy inheritance he might have left behind. Who would have thought that after breaking the seal, there would be such a tricky thing!"

The sallow-faced cultivator was named Zuo Liangyu, a Core Formation rogue cultivator who hung around the Flying Boat Sea Market, and was also the leader of a group of robbery cultivators under his command.

Hearing this, he just sneered: "What kind of person is Daoist Qian? One of the seven great grand events of this Sea Market auction—the treasure assembly of Mount Hundred-Grass—the main axis, the Qian-Li Seven-Treasure Flame-Light Pill! It was refined by this person!"

"A pill containing seven kinds of true fire, it was taken out from the treasure vault by the Luo-Zhen Immortal Gate only to deal with the danger of sect extinction. And that Reincarnation Divine Pill that shocked many Soul Transformation experts overseas also came from his hand."

"And I also found out that Daoist Qian himself is not ordinary!"

"This person is not only an alchemy grandmaster, but has also defeated two Soul Transformation ancestors. He himself should be some Soul Transformation ancestor who has changed his appearance! Several Soul Transformation ancestors fell in the Chaotic Star Sea, involving the Demon Sect and the Qing-Yu Gate lineage. Legend has it that this person is one of the masterminds... including those who hinted that we could move against his cave, their purposes are not simple, and behind them might involve a very big secret!"

"These past few days, people have been constantly testing me through various channels, wanting to ask what things were in Daoist Qian's cave?"

The black-faced Daoist's face sank, and he gritted his teeth: "Soul Transformation ancestor!"

"The owner of that cave might actually be a Soul Transformation ancestor!"

He gritted his teeth: "Those people really pitted us deep. They didn't dare to break the seal left by a Soul Transformation ancestor, so they used us brothers to muddy those waters!"

Zuo Liangyu sneered: "If it weren't for the fact that when we broke the seal, we alerted the alchemy furnace gestating in the cave, causing it to spew out the first furnace of elixirs, attracting many nearby rogue cultivators to snatch treasures, muddying those waters!"

"After we took the treasures, I'm afraid we wouldn't have been able to escape their grasp, and would have had to face those people turning their backs on us!"

The black-faced cultivator was named Sha Lituo. He looked at the unremarkable red copper alchemy furnace and exclaimed: "Fortunately, Daoist Qian left us such a treasure! Who would have thought that this ordinary alchemy furnace was actually refining three furnaces of spirit elixirs at the same time!"

"The first furnace already had external medicines like the Green-Pearl Deer-Blood Pill, which is helpful for Core Formation. Unfortunately, half of our dozen brothers were killed by the vicious magic seals left by Daoist Qian to break the seal. After breaking the seal, it immediately triggered the alchemy furnace to erupt, and many people came to snatch it, and several more died. As a result, of the dozens of spirit elixirs, less than one-third fell into our hands!"

"Fortunately, Big Brother has always been quick-witted, and took the alchemy furnace away before fleeing! It's just a pity that we didn't know the key to it, and seeing that there were still things in the alchemy furnace, we hurriedly probed it, triggering the second furnace of pills to erupt seven days later!"

"The nine spirit elixirs were all supreme grade. The commotion of opening the furnace attracted pursuit, and Old Nine, Old Four, and others were unfortunately killed, and most of the nine pills were snatched away!"

Zuo Liangyu touched his newly grown right arm, his expression hiddenly carrying a trace of lingering fear: "If it weren't for that Pill-Repairing and Life-Extending Pill, I would have died there! It's a pity! That elixir could have moved the tripod to extend life. If used to transfer the residence, it could have extended life for half a lifetime... Using it to heal wounds was truly a waste!"

"However, when opening the furnace for the second time, I already heard the sound of a dragon's roar in the alchemy furnace, which was triggered but not released. Now that I have joined the black market medicine-seeking organization, I know that the last elixir in the alchemy furnace is the True Dragon Gall!"

"This pill can reshape the immortal bone, and can even change the foundation that has already been set, allowing one's own golden core to be swallowed and spat out again, refining it into a third-rank dragon pearl!"

"The True Dragon Gall is where the dragon pearl is gestated!"

"This is my only chance to change my foundation. This pill is incomparably important. It is said that even the overseas Long Gong has been alerted! When you get down to it, it is only one step behind the Qian-Li Seven-Treasure Flame-Light Pill... That Seven-Treasure Pill is used by alchemists and refiners, and has no fierce relationship with us. When you get down to it, the True Dragon Gall is more suitable for me!"

"A true dragon lives for eight thousand years. If it gestates an immortal bone and spirit root True Dragon Gall, it is half-human and half-dragon, and can at least extend the physical life for a thousand years. I don't know how many old monsters with exhausted lifespans are eyeing it!"

"Now many Nascent Soul old monsters of major sects are looking for us. If we let the third furnace of pills be born normally, the vision of the pill's birth will alert countless people in the Sea Market, let alone snatching that spirit pill! I'm afraid we will die without a burial place!"

"So we must take out the elixir in advance!"

Zuo Liangyu looked at the alchemy furnace in his palm and sighed: "Originally, I planned to forcibly snatch an alchemist to take the pill for us."

"Unfortunately, in the Flying Boat Immortal City, alchemists are all essential personnel of various trade alliances. Now many forces are looking for us, so it's hard to take action. However, the medicine-seeking organization gave me a surprise! Wait until I 'invite' the person mentioned by the medicine-seeking organization, take out the True Dragon Gall, and we brothers will fly far away. With the True Dragon Gall, we will recast our foundation!"

"After that, we don't have to hang around in this East Sea, we can go to the territory of the overseas Long Gong."

"Dragon nature is inherently lecherous, and I don't know how many bastard seeds were left behind by those true dragons. Ordinary human cultivators are like slaves to the dragon race there, being called and shouted at by the Long Gong. But if I transform into a half-dragon, it will be much simpler to hang around there!"

…………

"Uncle Li, are you looking for something?"

Hua Daier looked curiously at Qian Chen, who kept using the six jade coins to divine something after leaving the stall, and at the same time, he would occasionally take out a silver mirror from his bosom, manifesting various hexagrams with his qi, and dropping them on the broken silver mirror, seemingly sensing something!

"The Jiazi Grand Market of the Flying Boat Market gathers many products from overseas. I want to try my luck and see if I can sense a part of this treasure that was lost!"

Qian Chen followed the direction calculated by the jade coins, walking through the corridor bridges and alleys, stepping over one huge flying boat after another, and finally the silver mirror in his hand emitted a faint light, seemingly sensing something.

Qian Chen's gaze followed that wisp of moonlight and stopped at a towering pavilion on a huge white jade flying boat ahead.

Hua Daier counted slightly, and there were twelve stories from top to bottom, exclaiming in surprise: "This is the Twelve-Story Building of the Seven Great Immortal Alliances! The most famous feature of this immortal alliance is this kind of cloud building with twelve stories!"

"Because this family operates twelve kinds of businesses, one story is one kind of commodity. The first story sells elixirs, the second story sells magic treasures, the third story sells techniques, the fourth story sells demon soldiers and monsters..."

"What does the ninth story sell?" Qian Chen's figure paused, and he said to Hua Daier behind him.

"It sells miscellaneous strange objects! Any ancient objects unearthed from ruins that have no seals and are not elixirs, as well as various materials with rare uses that are not spirit herbs or mineral materials, will all be sent to this building for people to pick!" Hua Daier said, nodding her little head.

"Let's go in." Qian Chen smiled, nodded, and then entered the building.

Qian Chen looked around casually and saw that the Twelve-Story Building was decorated quite elegantly and with charm. The ornaments and decorations inside were not overly magnificent, and what was laid underfoot was not white jade steps, but a kind of simple and unadorned Yang-Green stone slab.

The corridor pillars supporting the ten-mile-wide hall were also not any precious metal or stone, but giant trees that several people could embrace. A faint fragrance lingered in the air, and the spiritual energy in the building flowed and circulated like a fairyland. Every step was a scene, with rockeries, flowing water, wall shelves, and treasure windows, which were very exquisite.

But that Yang-Green stone was a spirit material for the Celestial Han to build tombs, and its value was more expensive than white jade.

And the giant trees were also Flame-Yang Nanmu, produced in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains of the Southern Barbarians, which was a supreme spirit material for refining wood-fire magic treasures. Under the elegant and atmospheric appearance, the extravagance was enough to make those who knew their stuff feel shocked!

The carefully arranged feng shui, formations, and furnishings, as well as the garden construction, made the space here clearly large and open, yet without a feeling of emptiness, instead like being in a mountain forest blessed land, everywhere was a garden of the immortals!

Beautiful maids in gauze clothes, with graceful postures, either held trays, or carried lanterns, holding one or two bottles of spirit elixirs to display.

There were many kinds of spirit elixirs here, but they were not crowded in front of people, but only displayed one or two bottles, and would even place the spirit elixirs in rockeries and jade stones, letting the pill qi evaporate with the spiritual energy, transforming into rainbows.

If one walked past, one would definitely be able to inhale one or two mouthfuls of pill qi, feeling that one's cultivation had improved slightly.

"Heavens!"

Hua Daier exposed the fact that she was actually a country bumpkin as soon as she entered the door. She clicked her tongue and said: "The spirit herbs our family sells in a year are probably not worth the elixirs displayed here. They just let these spirit elixirs emit pill qi? How many spirit elixirs does this consume every day?"

Qian Chen smiled calmly: "It's not that exaggerated! Don't look at how every kind of spirit elixir has one displayed outside, emitting pill qi. But if it really emitted like this, if a spirit elixir was exhibited for five or six days, wouldn't half of its medicinal properties be lost? There is still lore in this..."

"Although good goods need to be shouted about! The shopkeeper also needs to show the strength of their shop, but there is no need to spend such a huge cost!"

Hua Daier was a bit puzzled.

"This Twelve-Story Building itself is a magic treasure. This one should be the main building, transformed from a cloud-building magic treasure. Look at those flowing spiritual energies and lingering clouds, they are all part of this magic treasure, so the pill qi will not be emitted, so the loss of medicinal properties is not as exaggerated as you think. Just relying on the little bit that we guests inhale, a spirit elixir could emit for three or five years and not be used up, so..."

Qian Chen pointed to the spirit elixir held by the maid: "Those are really just specifically for looking at and smelling, they are for exhibition!"

"However, behind this Twelve-Story Building, I'm afraid there is still some relationship with the dragon race!"

Qian Chen swept a glance at those maids who were like jade and whispered: "Otherwise, besides the Long Gong, which force could find so many clam maids to hold trays and bottles? Wild monsters don't have this kind of demeanor!"

"I heard that many immortal sects will also raise some clam maids to act as maids and the like. It might not necessarily be related to the Long Gong?" Hua Daier looked at those beautiful big sisters and was a bit puzzled.

"They can't afford to raise them... Clam maids need to swallow the essence of the sun and moon to cultivate, but their own strength is very weak, and they can only rely on illusions to resist foreign enemies. How much territory do those immortal sects have to provide so much sun and moon essence for those clam maids to cultivate? At most, they can raise a group of a hundred or so to put on a show! Only the Long Gong, ruling the vast sea areas overseas, with water tribes in the sea all like slaves, can protect so many clam maids, letting them cultivate arbitrarily, as long as they pay tribute to various maids for the Long Gong to use!"

Qian Chen looked a few times and continued to climb the building.

Although there were many elixirs here, there were not many that could catch his eye. The Qian-Li Seven-Treasure Flame-Light Pill, Sun-Moon Combined Pill, Reincarnation Divine Pill, and True Dragon Gall that he had refined casually before were already considered treasures of the building here!

On the next floor, magic treasures were placed one by one in various scenes in the building!

There was a rolling yellow sand desert, about several dozen acres, connected to the mirage qi emitted by bright pearls, truly like a vast desert, with an ancient Buddhist temple inside, enshrining a Buddhist treasure wheel.

Dozens of demon soldiers had their heads shaved and were piously worshipping in the Buddhist temple, chanting scriptures!

The power of vows wrapped around the treasure wheel, emitting a wisp of Buddhist sound and Zen chanting, with endless compassion and mystery.

This treasure wheel was soon bought by a monk from a mixed-blood dragon clan, who threw down a large handful of spirit pearls and various heavenly treasures, along with those dozens of ascetic demon soldiers and the ancient Buddhist temple!

Then Qian Chen and Hua Daier saw the people of the Twelve-Story Building immediately move another ancient temple from the mountains, which was in the style of several hundred years ago in Southern Jin, to the original place, cleaned up the sand, and raised a quiet little mountain, planted with pines, cypresses, and bodhi trees, and soon created a quiet scene of a mountain orchid temple.

Then a few mountain monsters were driven out and scattered in the small temple to chant scriptures.

But this time, the Buddhist magic treasure enshrined became a vajra pestle!

Qian Chen was dumbfounded, finally witnessing a consumerism trap more developed than in his previous life—sure enough, such high-end places don't just sell magic treasures! They also sell atmosphere, and even Zen intent and immortal qi are sold together!

There was a water-attribute magic treasure, which was sunk into a deep pool, transformed into a red carp, and the attendants of the Twelve-Story Building even found a group of carp monsters to accompany it!

There was a banner inserted into an ancient battlefield. This battlefield didn't know where it was moved from, but the ghosts and evil spirits residing in the battlefield were not original.

Qian Chen asked the attendant—this banner is also a ghost-path magic treasure, these evil spirits are considered gifts!

There were also flying swords enshrined in a Zen room with extreme artistic conception, as if before being unsheathed, to wash away the killing intent on them!

A bamboo sword, inserted in a purple bamboo forest!

The stream flowed murmuringly, and the bamboo leaves floated like little boats...

Thousand-mountain wall blades, on each mountain peak, there were divine weapons of swords and blades, spitting out wisps of light, emitting divine power that deterred the soul, making those who passed by feel a bit suffocated!

In the abyss, hundreds of wronged souls shuttled, black mist surged like boiling water, and below the abyss was a blood pool, inside which was a pure black long stick, wrapped in ominous qi, seemingly with shrill screams and wails lingering on it!

Qian Chen passed through those magic treasures and couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "Too good at playing! The consumerism of this world is too good at playing! By comparison, what are those luxury shops with luxurious decorations in the previous life?"

"Here, people are willing to re-decorate once for a piece of merchandise, a big hand! Who in later generations can compare?"

Qian Chen even saw a formation map magic treasure, occupying the southeast corner of this building, about a quarter of the area.

It actually evolved into a vast ocean, with magic treasures suppressed at each formation eye, emitting awe-inspiring power, suppressing a piece of space, incomparably terrifying...

That was the magic treasure area of this building, and other scattered, non-boutique magic treasures were also thrown into the formation, transformed into swimming fish.

Many guests walked by the sea, watching the fish school shuttle, and if they took a fancy to which magic treasure, they could throw in a jade ring to fish it up and transform it into a magic treasure to check.

Qian Chen saw this scene and couldn't help but feel very itchy, his heart as a fisherman was eager to move!

Hearing the introduction of the maid beside him, guests could even spend a fixed price to buy a few jade rings, and then rely on their eye for treasures and observation to fish for the magic treasures they liked. As long as they caught them, no matter the original price of the magic treasure, it only counted as the price of the jade ring.

Hearing this, Qian Chen fled, took Hua Daier and hurried up to the third floor.

"Too terrifying! This is a collection of various 'krypton gold' routines like unboxing, card drawing, doll catching, ring tossing, etc., to lure us!"

Qian Chen said in a terrified tone to Hua Daier beside him.

Hua Daier didn't know what 'krypton gold routine' was. Originally, she saw a few beautiful jewelry magic treasures and wanted to try it with her pocket money! But she was pulled up by Qian Chen without explanation. At this time, she couldn't help but look back, wondering if this thing was really that terrifying? Even scaring the unfathomable Uncle Li to turn and run?

"When you get down to it, none of the magic treasures on the second floor can compare to those I refined!"

"Not to mention life-bound magic treasures like the Xuan-Huang Ruyi and Dao-Marvelous Spirit Pearl! Even the Great Saint Thunder-Sound Qin and the Hun-Tian Green-Luo Umbrella can't compare to them! Those boutique magic treasures with detached cave dwellings and demon soldiers to support them are not as good as the Dragon-Sparrow Ring and Magnetic-Light Bottle I bestowed upon the Gold-Silver Boys..."

"But they followed me, so why could they only be placed in the Qiankun bag and see no light?"

Qian Chen sighed in his heart: "Fortunately, they have made a name for themselves now! Now they are buried with me in the Return to Ruins, and each of them also has a terrain of earth veins extending for a thousand miles, with countless weird yin ghosts worshipping them. They can be considered magic treasures with status!"

"One day, I must let them show off in front of countless Nascent Soul giants, Soul Transformation ancestors, and even Primordial Spirit True Immortals in the Heavens of Reincarnation, letting them know that my Qian Chen's magic treasures are not inferior to others!"

For the next few floors, Qian Chen had no intention to look anymore, going straight up to the ninth floor, arriving at a region like ruins!

The layout of this floor was the most strange. It was actually disciples and sect members arranged by the Twelve-Story Building, who placed various strange objects on the ground as if setting up a stall, looking like a big market formed in ruins.

But most of the goods on the stalls were ordinary ancient objects, and only one item in each person's stall was the true commodity they were responsible for selling.

As long as you ask them, they will tell you!

But if a guest finds it by their own eye for treasures and explains its origin in detail, once they can state the marvelous uses that even the Twelve-Story Building doesn't know, there will be a discount.

This floor created a realm of treasure hunting, which was very interesting...

Because the strange objects on this floor were inherently rare and peculiar, and one had to rely on eye for treasures and knowledge to exert their effects.

So such a layout didn't make people feel like it was mysterious, but instead had a bit of role-playing fun! Hua Daier was quite playful, and seeing this scene, she also cheered and pulled Qian Chen into the crowd.