Chapter 651

The Second Prince of the Hanhai Kingdom, Xia Yi, did not speak further, but closed his eyes and focused, sensing the energy signature of the clay figure in his hand. He remained motionless for a long time, making the surrounding people somewhat impatient!

Someone whispered: "Why doesn't he cut it? Could it be that he's afraid?"

"Impossible, that clay figure has nine apertures; just now when the Second Prince looked with his Dharma Eye, it already revealed a trace of extraordinary energy; there must be an earth-shattering object inside!" Xia Yi's supporters retorted.

In the end, it was Brother Qian Chen's turn to explain: "Such extraordinary treasures need to be extracted with caution, because the treasure itself possesses powerful strength; once the method of opening the treasure is improper, it might provoke the treasure to backlash against oneself!"

"You all watch carefully how he unravels that nine-aperture clay figure! You will have a great harvest!"

Xia Yi suddenly opened his eyes; he swiftly activated the jade seal and suppressed it in front of the clay figure.

Brother Qian Chen explained: "That jade seal contains a wisp of the Hanhai Kingdom's national fortune and can suppress fortune; he is currently suppressing the treasure's fortune to avoid his own fortune being insufficient, which would provoke the treasure to backlash!"

Xia Yi tilted his head and glanced at Brother Qian Chen—this person had no cultivation, but his eye for detail was quite good; every time he could hit the nail on the head, saving him from having to explain anything!

Such a person was truly too suitable to be taken in as a servant!

If he were in the Hanhai Kingdom, he would definitely have him castrated to serve as the chief steward by his side; having someone like this to flatter him would be quite interesting!

He pulled out a gold needle magic tool, his Dharma Eye fully opened, the pupils of both eyes splitting again, shooting out a divine radiance that enveloped the clay figure.

The clay figure's nine apertures swallowed and spat out spiritual energy; Brother Qian Chen, who didn't know he had already been earmarked as the Hanhai chief steward, continued to explain to the crowd with a straight face: "This is to pierce into the clay figure's life-aperture to discharge that strange vitality."

"As the saying goes, things that grow old become demons; it's because when objects with spirituality are left for too long, the spirituality becomes a bit strange and can transform into a demon, giving birth to its own consciousness!"

"The treasure inside this clay figure has been hidden in the Kun's belly for who knows how long, and it has already developed a strange nature, so one must use a gold needle to break its life-point and discharge that demonic qi!"

"But among the nine apertures, there is only one life-point; if one breaks the other false apertures, although it can also severely injure that strange primordial energy, I'm afraid it will provoke the strange entity to resist to the death, which is extremely dangerous!"

The onlookers were all amazed, not expecting that such a simple matter as opening a treasure would have such intricacies. People without ability, even if they bought a treasure, would face a calamity when opening it!

Swish!

The gold needle in Xia Yi's hand was like lightning, piercing into the clay figure's right eye. As a trail of blood flowed from the eye, the clay figure seemed to let out a scream, exceptionally shrill, as if provoking ghosts and gods to weep, causing even the onlookers around to suddenly feel an inexplicable sorrow, and some even shed tears. Brother Qian Chen shook his head and sighed: "What a pity! In another thousand years, I'm afraid this clay figure could truly become a demon!"

The old man on the side laughed: "Not a pity; cultivation is about seizing the creation of heaven and earth; when there is achievement, ghosts and gods all weep! This creature, only half-gestated, is just the most ordinary example on this path!"

After discharging the demonic qi from the clay figure, Xia Yi's gold needle began to dismember the clay figure like a knife. If the shrill wail from before only made people's hearts tremble, the subsequent dismemberment was even more hair-raising.

The severed limbs had complete tendons and bones, and the tiny blood vessels were clearly visible; it was just that no fresh blood flowed inside, but some of the clay chunks were already red, just like flesh and blood.

Someone said in terror: "That clay figure is about to grow flesh and blood! I'm afraid it's already a new life... I feel like we are committing a sin!"

"What kind of treasure is this, to be able to gestate a new life?" A Core Formation cultivator muttered: "I'm afraid this is a kind of creation!"

Brother Qian Chen revealed a cold smile and whispered: "It's too much like a human! A true spirit creature born from sensing heaven and earth should only have a part that resembles a human..."

Like my Ear-Dao God, but Brother Qian Chen did not say this sentence out loud!

"Many people think that only animals and plants far from humans that have been left for a long time and have swallowed the essence of the sun and moon can be transformed into demons. Actually, it is more difficult to become a demon this way!"

"Because demons want to be like humans! Those that are not like humans, even if they swallow the essence of the sun and moon and cultivate great supernatural powers, remain in the form of beasts and maintain their original appearance; these are spirit beasts and divine beasts, how can they be considered demons? Those that are like humans and transform into humans are demons! Because humans are the spirit of all things; human souls, human wisdom, human integrity and kindness are also a type of high-quality primordial energy!"

"Deities absorb human wisdom, integrity, and kindness; they are intelligent, upright, and thus become gods!"

"The soul is human integrity, benevolence, kindness, and courage... it is the various consciousnesses that shape a human! The Heavenly Soul is—the spiritual emotion like a god, the part of a human that resembles a god; the Earth Soul is the part that enters reincarnation and becomes a ghost, including resentment, obsession, etc.; and the Spirit Soul is the sum of all acquired consciousnesses such as intelligence, memory, and emotion!"

"Only the Life Soul resides in the body; it is the convergence of the seven spirits and the sum of the physical body's conscious activities; when the body dies, the Life Soul dissipates!"

"The seven spirits are the instincts of the physical body!"

"Souls are a type of spiritual energy, human spiritual energy! So if one wants to become a demon, inhaling human spiritual energy and stealing human souls is the fastest way!"

Brother Qian Chen warned: "There is a saying in the human world: 'Chickens don't live past six, dogs don't live past eight'! Ordinary demonic creatures have to inhale the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the wilderness for a hundred years to become demons, but chickens and dogs that live closest to humans can transform into demonic entities in six or eight years. This is because they may have swallowed a wisp of a soul dissipated from a dead human, or swallowed the soul of a child with an unstable soul, obtained human qi, gradually imitated humans, developed greed for human souls, and became demons!"

"The reason there are so few such demons in the human world is because people beat them to death as soon as they discover something is wrong!"

"However, once war breaks out, the world is left empty, white bones are exposed in the fields, and human spiritual energy and souls are everywhere, so demonic entities increase, and all kinds of demons, monsters, and ghosts emerge!"

Brother Qian Chen taught Hua Seeing Hua Daier: "The demonic entity gestated by this clay figure is so like a human, I'm afraid it has already stolen quite a bit of human qi and swallowed human souls; in such a situation, one must kill it as soon as possible!"

"Humans and demons cannot coexist!"

Brother Qian Chen said solemnly, thinking of the Qiongming World; it was precisely because so many people died that a wolf pack could have hundreds of thousands of demonic mouths.

How could there be such large demonic groups in the Central Lands? They were all eaten into existence.

If there really were a type of spirit stone in the world containing spiritual energy, then 'humans' would be the most precious spirit stones for demons, and they could be inexhaustible.

If one day the demonic path flourishes, humans will definitely be the most miserable, because humans are their spirit stones!

Hua Seeing Hua Daier stared at the clay figure that had already grown various organs and nodded earnestly: "Humans and demons cannot coexist! Uncle Li, I understand! Can that little marten still be kept?"

"As long as it's not like a human, it's fine! Strange objects that are not like humans are not demons! Demons, monsters, ghosts, and freaks all view humans as cultivation resources and eat humans to cultivate! Spirits, essences, beasts, and gods are closer to divine beings; although they can also eat humans, they absorb human aspiration and faith, which is not as naked as demons!"

Brother Qian Chen explained the boundary between demons and spirits in heaven and earth, shocking many bystanders!

Everyone knows a little about demons, but very few understand the taboos involved so clearly.

Many people now realize that humans are also a type of spiritual energy!

The old man on the side looked at Brother Qian Chen thoughtfully and praised: "It is rare to see someone like you, Sir, who is so well-versed in the way of demons! People often say that cultivation requires inhaling the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, but who knows that heaven, earth, and humans are the three talents! Besides the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, there is also human spiritual energy, and among the three, human qi is the most precious?"

"It is not that human qi is the most precious, but that human spiritual energy is what all things lack!" Brother Qian Chen only said this one sentence, seemingly not wanting to say more.

Hua Seeing Hua Daier said ignorantly: "Human spiritual energy, I've been cultivating for so long, I don't feel any spiritual energy on me?"

Brother Qian Chen only mentioned: "Core Formation requires gathering the Great Medicine; the Great Medicine is produced by the human body itself, has five elements, and is divided into yin and yang; even at the entry level, the saliva in the mouth turns into rain and dew; what kind of creation is this!"

The old man smiled and said: "Sir is afraid to say it plainly! Actually, it's fine to say it plainly. Little girl, let me ask you, if a stone had heaven-defying supernatural powers, could move stars and change the world, but was ignorant and unfeeling, not thinking or contemplating, is it a great supernatural being?"

Hua Seeing Hua Daier hesitated: "Naturally not!"

"Yes! At most, that's a divine artifact, how can it be considered a great supernatural being? One must be able to run and jump, be able to think, possess wisdom, to be considered a complete individual of cultivation. So for those existences that are becoming demons, is it more precious to inhale the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to make their powers stronger while their behavior remains like a beast, or is it more important to be able to think, possess wisdom, understand consciousness, and know greed, jealousy, and cunning?"

The old man smiled.

Hua Seeing Hua Daier was speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say.

The old man laughed and replied: "So, wisdom, courage, integrity, greed, jealousy, and cunning, how can they not be a type of spiritual energy? This is human spiritual energy!"

"It is precisely because humans are born with wisdom, know good and evil, understand life and death, and know the heavenly principles, that they do not know the preciousness of human spiritual energy. They cannot perceive this spiritual energy... however, those ignorant dead objects, and even beasts becoming demons, know the nobility of humans!"

Brother Qian Chen interrupted the old man and pointed to the stage: "The clay figure steals human spiritual energy, so it is like a human and is called a demonic entity! However, the spirit object gestating it is about to be born! Aren't you going to watch carefully?"

Xia Yi on the stage was fully focused; his gold needle was like a sword, having already picked open the clay figure's internal organs. The lifelike organs made people feel cold, as if dissecting a living person. At the same time, having heard Brother Qian Chen's explanation, the crowd became increasingly repulsed by this human-like demonic entity.

Someone muttered: "Things that are like humans but are not humans are demons; demonic entity, demonic entity, indeed so. If this clay figure is born, it will inevitably be a great demon of a generation that will eat countless humans; the Second Prince is strangling a great enemy of the human race!"

"To be able to gestate a great demon, how extraordinary must the spirit object in the clay figure's belly be?"

Huh!

Xia Yi picked open the internal organs, and the crowd couldn't help but crowd forward, letting out an exclamation. Between the clay figure's internal organs was a jade cocoon, the size of a basket, glowing with five colors. At this moment, Xia Yi's needle movements became slower and slower, fearing to damage the divine object inside the clay figure!

Everyone's eyes converged toward the tip of the needle, and the atmosphere at the scene was near suffocation!

Their eyes didn't blink, gazing at Xia Yi in the center of the field, only to see him pick open the jade cocoon, a point of spiritual light suddenly appearing, rich spiritual energy suddenly overflowing, and a mysterious energy signature flowing from under Xia Yi's hands.

At this moment, the spiritual energy transformed into the shapes of a hundred birds: there were the Bi Fang, Chongming, Vermilion Bird, Golden Crow, Azure Phoenix, White Crane, Swan Goose...

All were manifestations of spiritual energy, flying out from the jade cocoon.

"Qi manifesting into true form! The spirit object extracted from the clay figure seems to be related to the Phoenix!" Brother Qian Chen exclaimed in a low voice, immediately triggering a commotion in the crowd!

"Dragons and Phoenixes are equally famous, but only the True Dragons of the Four Seas remain in the human world, and there has been no trace of the Phoenix! Once such a spirit object is born, it is even more precious than a True Dragon!"

"Dragons and Phoenixes are auspicious; if it really is a Phoenix egg, I'm afraid the Long Gong will be determined to get it!"

"The overseas region is not for the Long Gong to act recklessly; if a Phoenix is really born, I'm afraid all the major Daoist and Buddhist traditions will compete to take it into their sects."

Hua Seeing Hua Daier, appearing young and ignorant, whispered: "The blue-clothed brother is going to lose! If a Phoenix is extracted, what else can compare to it? Even if it's just a spirit object related to the Phoenix, I'm afraid there aren't many things in the entire Jiazi Sea Market or Flying Boat Xiancheng that can compare!"

As she spoke, she blinked her eyes at Xia Yi, as if looking at a fat sheep.

Xia Yi looked at her, but actually looked away; even if she were a pervert, he would never give away such a precious treasure!

"Pfft..." Hua Seeing Hua Daier stuck out her tongue and whispered: "What a jerk!"

The jade cocoon was completely picked open, and the crowd let out a sigh of disappointment; it was not a Phoenix egg, but a Phoenix-shaped broken jade.

Inside the white-as-mutton-fat jade body, there seemed to be threads of bright red, like blood flowing.

The Phoenix-shaped pendant was missing a small half, but the remaining part could still detect a trace of the Phoenix's divine charm, with threads of pure spiritual energy to the extreme entwined upon it, as if gestating some kind of vitality.

Brother Qian Chen sighed: "So it is Phoenix Blood Divine Jade! This jade, like the Profound Huang Shenyu, is one of the seven great divine jades in the universe. The Profound Huang Shenyu is formed by the accumulation of Profound Yellow Qi at the time of heaven and earth's opening, while this Phoenix Blood Divine Jade requires Phoenix essence blood to drip onto a jade mountain and be gestated for a million years."

"The Phoenix is supreme and noble; the divine jade gestated in this way also possesses miraculous abilities, and can allow one to be reborn from the ashes!"

"Although it is not a true Phoenix, it is still extremely precious!"

At this moment, everyone was already convinced by Brother Qian Chen's insight; this appraisal could be considered a final verdict! Xia Yi also put away that trace of regret, looking at the envy, exclamation, and even the look of regret from the shopkeeper of the Twelve-Story Building, becoming increasingly proud, and turned back to Seeing Lan Jiu: "It's your turn!"

Everyone shook their heads one after another, clearly not optimistic about the clay lump Seeing Lan Jiu had chosen.

Today, the birth of the Phoenix Blood Divine Jade was already shocking enough, comparable to the few treasures that were the finale of the treasure assembly, and on par with the Ganli Seven-Treasure Flame Light Pill; and if not for the special significance of the Seven-Treasure Pill to alchemists, the value of the Phoenix Blood Divine Jade would actually be even higher!

Such a rare and exotic object, the entire Twelve-Story Building didn't have many things that could compare.

It was already bizarre that one appeared in this stall! For a second one to appear, everyone didn't hold such expectations!

At this moment, even Seeing Lan Jiu was a bit uneasy. He said to the Flower Fox Marten in his heart: "Little thing, this is what you chose, don't screw me over!"

If this extracted some poisonous insect that the Flower Fox Marten loved to eat, Seeing Lan Jiu would definitely vomit blood!

Seeing Lan Jiu held his breath and observed for a long time, still unable to detect any clues, so he had to condense the Metal-attribute Profound Light into a short sword and cut a slice outside the clay skin. The mottled clay skin peeled off, revealing the interior like a dry clay lump. The crowd sighed one after another: "Not a single sign of anomaly; it looks like this is just a clay lump!"

"The previous nine-aperture clay figure had such extraordinary movements; this one has no reaction at all, and you still dare to compare?" Tian Tian Nanxing said with disdain.

Brother Qian Chen, however, stared at the milky-white Profound Light between Seeing Lan Jiu's fingers, revealing a look of satisfaction. Although he pitted his disciple, there were benefits after being pitted; at least this time, Seeing Lan Jiu was sure to win!

With a movement of his thoughts, he activated the broken mirror in his sleeve!

This mirror originally belonged to He Lu Qilang; when Brother Qian Chen buried himself, he brought it along to the Return to Ruins, and it had been placed on the Taiyin Star outside his tomb, turning into that bright moon together with the Dao-Mysterious Spirit Pearl.

This time it was also brought out, just for this game!

It was precisely that—the fragment of the Dew-Receiving Plate, the Moon-Soul Silver Plate!

Seeing Lan Jiu steeled his heart and completely unraveled the clay lump, slicing it from the very center. A point of silver light reflected, making everyone's hearts stir.

Someone opened their mouth and said: "There really is something inside!"

Regardless of whether the object was good or bad, the fact that something could be extracted from this Kun-treasure with no spiritual energy was already surprising.

But when everyone saw clearly that it was just a broken fragment, they all sighed: "It's just a broken mirror!"

"Even if it's a magic treasure fragment, it can't compare to the Phoenix Blood Divine Jade! Not to mention it's broken; even if it were a complete magic treasure, I'm afraid it would be hard to compare to the Phoenix Blood Divine Jade. It looks like Seeing Lan Jiu is sure to lose!"

At this moment, only Brother Qian Chen frowned and hesitated: "Although this mirror is cast from Taiyin Silver Soul, it is ultimately broken; compared to the Phoenix Blood Divine Jade, it is still a notch lower, however..."

This sentence of his whetted everyone's appetite, and everyone pricked up their ears; did it seem there was some turning point?

The old man on the side also frowned and said: "This is a bit like that legendary object; if it is that thing, then this bet is hard to say!"

Brother Qian Chen nodded slowly and said: "It seems, Fellow Daoist also saw it! That's right, this object is somewhat similar to the spirit treasure left by the Immortal Han—the fragment of the Dew-Receiving Plate. If so, I'm afraid the value of this object is comparable to that Phoenix Blood broken jade! However, the Dew-Receiving Plate had already gone missing in the late Immortal Han period, so it is difficult to judge whether this object is really a part of it!"

At this moment, the broken mirror suddenly vibrated, as if it had finally been awakened, emitting an awe-inspiring aura.

The Twelve-Story Building's magic treasure was suddenly pierced by a ray of brilliance; clearly inside the magic treasure, a wisp of moonlight was actually captured by the mirror light, piercing through the seal, and shining on the mirror surface!

Above the entire Flying Boat Market, the Taiyin Star appeared, and the bright moon was actually shining with the same brilliance as the Great Sun, dropping a wisp of brilliance that submerged into the Twelve-Story Building!

This celestial phenomenon had already alarmed all the cultivators in the Xiancheng, and many great beings soared into the sky, flying toward the Twelve-Story Building...

Everyone in the building was dumbfounded; such an astonishing phenomenon had shocked everyone. Only now did Brother Qian Chen nod and say: "With such a phenomenon, it is indeed the Dew-Receiving Silver Plate!"

The old man's eyes also moved slightly, and his expression finally revealed a trace of being moved!

Just as everyone had slightly adapted to this shock, the broken mirror floated up, and a world that seemed real emerged in the mirror, like everyone's dream!

In that world, a giant divine turtle, simply covering the entire Xiancheng, appeared in front of them; in its presence, the entire Flying Boat Sea Market seemed small. The divine turtle had towering horns and carried an incomparably vast aura, emerging from the mirror like a continent, rushing out of the broken mirror, as if that piece of broken mirror had reflected a true world.

The divine turtle swam in an incomparably deep sea area, and countless spiritual energy and cosmic light surged with that seawater; the water seemed to be a strange form of space-time, surging and opening up layers of illusions.

This incomparably vast scene rushed into everyone's eyes, shocking everything.

Brother Qian Chen below let out a near-lamenting groan: "This is the Illusion Sea Return to Ruins!"

"The Dew-Receiving Silver Plate is like a mirror, reflecting the illusion refracted by its other part; that is the Illusion Sea Return to Ruins!"

At this moment, the mirage-like scene sank back onto the back of the divine turtle, unfolding a vast burial land!

Countless ruins, countless exotic beasts and heavenly demons, and countless ancient relics flashed by in the illusion; towering giant trees, ancient and mysterious temples, and ancient palaces and dragon towers that looked like immortal palaces, all formed a secret realm in the Return to Ruins!

Brother Qian Chen stared with wide eyes, looking at the giant tree in the illusion, and said tremblingly: "No... the Undying Medicine!"

The crowd exploded...

The fragment of the Dew-Receiving Plate appeared in the world, actually reflecting a burial land in the Return to Ruins, incomparably mysterious, possessing an ancient aura that was hard to describe, burying countless rare treasures and exotic objects, and even the legendary Undying Medicine had been glimpsed!

In just a few breaths, this news had bombed the entire Flying Boat Sea Market through countless flying transmission jade talismans!