Chapter 650: The World Has Monsters That Steal Human Qi, A Round Moon Shines on the Return to Ruins

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

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

"That cave dwelling on the island was clearly just a temporary residence opened by Daoist Brother Qian! According to our inquiries, he had only lived there for two years and hadn't left any powerful array or magic treasure to guard it. I heard that after Daoist Brother Qian disappeared, the cultivators within the Seven Great Immortal Alliances instigated us to break the cave dwelling's seal, only 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 thorny thing!"

The sallow-faced cultivator was named Zuo Zuo Liangyu, a Core Formation loose cultivator who mixed around the flying boat sea market, and also the leader of a group of robbers under his command.

He only sneered upon hearing this: "What kind of person is Daoist Brother Qian? One of the seven major events of this sea market auction—the Great Axis of the Treasure Assembly of Myriad Grass Mountain—is the Ganli Seven Treasures Flame Light Pill! It was refined by this person."

"One pill contains seven types of true fire, and it was only taken out from the treasury by the Luo Zhen Immortal Sect to deal with the crisis of sect destruction. And that Rebirth Divine Pill that shocked many Soul Transformation experts overseas also came from his hand."

"And I also heard that Daoist Brother Qian himself is not ordinary!"

"This person is not only a grandmaster of alchemy, but has also defeated two Soul Transformation ancestors. He himself should be a Soul Transformation ancestor who has changed his appearance and come... Several Soul Transformation ancestors fell in the Chaotic Star Sea, and it even involved the Demon Sect and the Qingyu Sect lineage. Legend has it that this person is one of the masterminds... Including those who hinted that we could attack his cave dwelling, their motives are not simple, and behind them might involve a great secret!"

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

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

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

He gnashed his teeth: "Those people really pitted us deep. They didn't dare to break the seal left by the Soul Transformation ancestor, so they used us brothers to stir up that pool of water!"

Zuo Zuo Liangyu sneered: "If it weren't for the fact that when we broke the seal, we alerted the pill furnace nurtured in the cave dwelling, causing it to spew out the first furnace of pills, attracting many nearby loose cultivators to snatch the treasures and stir up that pool of water!"

"After we took out 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, named Sha Lituo, looked at the unremarkable red copper pill furnace and exclaimed: "Fortunately, Daoist Brother Qian left us such a treasure! Who would have thought that such an ordinary pill furnace would actually be refining three furnaces of spirit pills at the same time!"

"The first furnace already had external medicines like the Green Bead Deer Blood Pill that help with Core Formation. Unfortunately, more than half of our dozen brothers were killed by the ruthless magic seal left by Daoist Brother Qian in order to break the seal. After breaking the seal, it immediately triggered the pill furnace to erupt, attracting many people to snatch it, and several more died. As a result, of the dozens of spirit pills, less than one-third fell into our hands!"

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

"All nine spirit pills were top-grade. The commotion of opening the furnace attracted pursuit, and Old Nine, Old Four, and others unfortunately died, and most of the nine pills were snatched away!"

Zuo Zuo Liangyu touched his newly grown right arm, his expression hidden with a trace of lingering fear: "If it weren't for that Pill for Replenishing the Cauldron and Extending Jade, I would have had to account for myself there! It's a pity! That pill could have transferred the cauldron to extend life. If used to transfer the residence, it could have extended life for half a lifetime... Using it to heal injuries is truly a waste!"

"However, when opening the furnace for the second time, I already heard the sound of a dragon chanting in the pill furnace, which was triggered but not released. Now that I have defected to that black market medicine-seeking organization, I know that the last pill in the pill furnace is the True Dragon Gallbladder!"

"This pill can reshape the immortal bone, and can even alter the already fixed foundation, allowing one's own Core to spit and swallow again, cultivating into a Three-Rank Dragon Pearl!"

"The True Dragon Gallbladder is where the Dragon Pearl is nurtured!"

"This is my only chance to alter my foundation. This pill is incomparably important. It is said that even the overseas Long Gong has been alerted! Speaking of which, it is only one step behind the Ganli Seven Treasures Flame Light Pill... That Seven Treasures Pill is used by alchemists and weapon refiners, and has no fierce relationship with us. Speaking of which, the True Dragon Gallbladder is more suitable for me!"

"A True Dragon is eight thousand years old. If it nurtures an immortal bone spirit root True Dragon Gallbladder, it is half-human and half-dragon, and can at least extend the flesh's lifespan by a thousand years. I don't know how many old monsters with exhausted lifespans are eyeing it!"

"Now many old monsters of the Yuan Infant stage from major sects are looking for us. If we let the third furnace of pills come out normally, the vision of the pill coming out will alert countless people in the sea market, and we won't just be unable to snatch the spirit pill! We will probably die without a burial place!"

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

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

"Unfortunately, in the flying boat immortal city, there is no alchemist who is not a key figure in various merchant alliances. Now many forces are looking for us, so it is difficult to take action. However, the medicine-seeking organization gave me a surprise! After 'inviting' the person mentioned by the medicine-seeking organization to take out the True Dragon Gallbladder, we brothers will go far away. With the True Dragon Gallbladder, we will reshape our foundation!"

"After that, we don't need to mix around in this East Sea anymore. We can go to the Long Gong's territory in the outer sea."

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

…………

"Uncle Li, are you looking for something?"

Hua Hua Daier curiously watched Brother Qian Chen leave the stall and constantly use those six jade coins to divine something, while also taking out a silver mirror from his bosom from time to time. The aura manifested various hexagrams, falling on the broken silver mirror, seemingly sensing something!

"The Jiazi Great Market of the flying boat market gathers many products from overseas. I want to try my luck to see if I can sense a part of this treasure that has been lost!"

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

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

Hua Hua Daier counted slightly, a total of twelve stories from top to bottom, and couldn't help but exclaim: "This is the Twelve-Story Building of the Seven Great Immortal Alliances! The most famous feature of this alliance is this kind of cloud building with twelve stories!"

"Because this family operates twelve types of business, one story is one type of commodity. One floor sells pills, the second floor sells magic treasures, the third floor sells cultivation methods, the fourth floor sells demon soldiers and monsters..."

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

Brother Qian Chen examined the Kun-treasure on the stall, then smiled and said: "This is a Kun-treasure produced by a wild Kun. Wild Kuns roam the overseas seas and may swallow anything, so there is a lot of miscellaneous debris; it doesn't have a higher probability of yielding spirit herbs than the Kun-treasure produced by Kun fish that are raised and fed spirit herbs. But the range wild Kuns roam is vast, and anything could appear within the Kun-treasure; some extremely precious treasures, spirit herbs, or even ancient relics would not be found in the bellies of captive giant Kuns, but they might be swallowed by the wild Kun's instinct!"

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

Brother Qian Chen looked around casually, only to see that the Twelve-Story Building was arranged quite elegantly and had charm. The ornaments and decorations inside were not overly magnificent, and what was laid out underfoot was not white jade steps, but a kind of simple and unadorned Yang green stone slab.

The corridors and pillars supporting the ten-mile-wide hall were not precious gold and 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, with scenery at every step, rockeries and flowing water, wall shelves and jade windows, very exquisite.

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

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

The carefully arranged Feng Shui, arrays, and furnishings, as well as the garden construction, made the space here clearly large and open, yet without a feeling of emptiness. Instead, it was like being in a mountain forest blessed land, with immortal garden scenery everywhere!

One by one, beautiful maids in gauze, with graceful postures, either held trays, or carried lanterns, holding one or two bottles of spirit pills for display.

There were many types of spirit pills here, but they were not squeezed in front of people's eyes. Instead, only one or two bottles were displayed, and they were even placed empty in rockeries and jade stones, letting the pill Qi evaporate with the spiritual energy, transforming into clouds and 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.

"Heaven!"

As soon as Hua Hua Daier entered the door, she exposed the fact that she was actually a bumpkin. She clicked her tongue: "The spirit herbs our family sells in a year probably aren't worth the pills displayed here. They just let these spirit pills emit pill Qi? How much spirit pill does this consume every day?"

Brother Qian Chen smiled calmly: "It's not that exaggerated! Don't look at every type of spirit pill displayed outside, emitting pill Qi. But if it really dissipated like this, if a spirit pill was exhibited for five or six days, wouldn't half of its medicinal properties be lost? There is still a trick to this..."

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

Hua 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 energy and lingering clouds, they are all part of this magic treasure. Therefore, the pill Qi will not dissipate, so the loss of medicinal properties is not as exaggerated as you imagine. Just relying on the little bit that we guests inhale, a spirit pill's medicinal properties wouldn't be used up even if it emitted for three or five years, so..."

Brother Qian Chen pointed to the spirit pill held by the maid: "Those are really just for viewing and smelling, for exhibition!"

"However, there might be some relationship with the dragon race behind this Twelve-Story Building!"

Brother Qian Chen glanced at those jade-like maids and whispered: "Otherwise, besides the Long Gong, which force could find so many clam maids to hold trays and bottles? Wild spirits don't have this kind of demeanor!"

"I heard that many immortal sects will also raise some clam maids to serve as maids. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the Long Gong?" Hua Hua Daier looked at those beautiful big sisters, a bit puzzled.

"They can't afford to raise them... Clam maids need to spit and 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 only raise a group of a hundred or so to make up the numbers! Only the Long Gong, ruling the vast sea areas overseas, with sea water tribes all like slaves, can protect so many clam maids, allowing them to cultivate at will, as long as they pay tribute to various maids for the Long Gong to use!"

Brother Qian Chen took a few glances and continued to climb the building.

Although there were many pills here, there were really not many that could enter his eyes. The Ganli Seven Treasures Flame Light Pill, Sun-Moon Combined Pill, Rebirth Divine Pill, and True Dragon Gallbladder he had refined casually before were already considered treasures of the building here!

The magic treasures on the next floor were placed in various sceneries in the building!

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

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

Vows entangled the treasure wheel, emitting a trace of Buddhist sound and Zen singing, 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 heaven and earth treasures, along with the dozens of ascetic demon soldiers and the ancient Buddhist temple.

Then Brother Qian Chen and Hua Hua Daier saw the people of the Twelve-Story Building immediately move another ancient mountain temple in the style of several hundred years ago in the Southern Jin, swept away the sand on the spot, and raised a quiet small mountain, planted with pines, cypresses, and bodhi, and soon created a quiet scene of a mountain orchid.

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

Only this time, the enshrined Buddhist magic treasure became a Vajra pestle!

Brother Qian Chen was dumbfounded, finally seeing a consumerism trap more developed than his previous life—sure enough, this kind of high-end place sells more than just magic treasures! It even sells atmosphere, and even Zen and immortal Qi are sold together!

A water-attribute magic treasure was submerged in 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!

A flag was inserted into an ancient battlefield. This battlefield was moved here exactly as it was, but the ghosts and evil spirits residing in the battlefield were not original.

Brother Qian Chen asked the attendant—this flag is also a ghost-path magic treasure, and these ghosts are considered gifts!

Flying swords were enshrined in a Zen room with extreme artistic conception, as if they were about to be 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 small boats...

Thousand-mountain wall blades, on each mountain peak, had sword and blade divine weapons, spitting out wisps of light, emitting divine power that deterred the soul, making people passing by feel a bit suffocated!

In the abyss, hundreds of ghosts shuttled, black mist boiled like boiling water, and under the abyss was a blood pool, in which a pure black long stick was entangled with ominous aura, seemingly with miserable screams and wails lingering on it!

Brother Qian Chen walked through the 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! Compared to this, what are those luxury shops with luxurious decoration in the previous life?"

"Here, people are willing to redecorate once for a product with such a big hand! Who can compare to this in later generations?"

Brother Qian Chen even saw an array 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 on the array eyes, emitting awe-inspiring power, suppressing a piece of space, incomparably terrifying...

That was the magic treasure area of this building, and other scattered magic treasures that were not considered fine products were also thrown into the array, transformed into fish swimming.

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

Seeing this scene, Brother Qian Chen couldn't help but feel itchy, and the heart of a fisherman was eager to move!

Hearing the introduction of the attendant next to 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 set the magic treasures they liked. As long as they set them, no matter how much the magic treasure was originally worth, it would only count as the price of the jade ring.

Hearing this, Brother Qian Chen fled, hurriedly pulling Hua Hua Daier to the third floor.

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

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

Hua Hua Daier didn't know what a '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 Brother Qian Chen without explanation. At this moment, she couldn't help but look back, wondering if this thing was really that terrifying? It actually scared the unfathomable Uncle Li to run away?

"Speaking of which, none of the magic treasures on the second floor can compare to those I refined!"

"Not to mention the life-bound magic treasures like the Profound Yellow Yellow Ruyi and Dao Wondrous Spirit Bead! 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 worship are not as good as the Long Que Ring and Magnetic Light Bottle I gave to the Gold and Silver Boys..."

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

Brother Qian Chen sighed in his heart: "Fortunately, they have made a name for themselves now! Now that they are buried with me in the Return to Ruins, each of them also has a terrain trend that spreads for thousands of miles, and countless eerie ghosts to worship, which can be considered magic treasures with status!"

"One day, I must let them show off in front of countless Reincarnators, countless Yuan Infant giants, Soul Transformation ancestors, and even Primordial Spirit True Immortals, so they know that my Brother Qian Chen's magic treasures are not inferior to anyone!"

Brother Qian Chen had no intention of looking at the next few floors, going straight to the ninth floor, and came to a region like a ruin!

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 they were setting up a stall, looking like a large market formed in a ruin.

But the stalls mostly sold ordinary ancient objects, and only one item in each person's stall was the real 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 say something wondrous that even the Twelve-Story Building doesn't know, there will be a discount.

The layout of this floor created a realm of treasure hunting, which was very interesting...

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

So this kind of layout didn't make people feel like it was pretentious, but rather had a bit of role-playing fun! Hua Hua Daier had a playful heart, and seeing this scene, she cheered and pulled Brother Qian Chen into the crowd.

"Finally, the curtain has been raised on the great calamity!" Brother Qian Chen sighed inwardly; this seemingly accidental collision today would stir up a huge storm in the Flying Boat Sea Market, and even the entire overseas region! As a precursor to the great calamity...