Chapter 686: The Flower Fox Marten, the Mist-Spewing Beast; the Spirit Incense, the Burned Demon Flesh

Lan Jiu put away the silver mirror and said to the flower fox marten on his shoulder: "This overseas affair has truly become a major incident! The dragon clan has set up four arrays around the East Sea; apart from the one facing the Central Lands, which is slightly weaker, the other three are each anchored by a Long Gong!"

"If things proceed exactly as the dragons planned—with each array sealing off one direction and finally converging at the Airship Bazaar—who would dare defy the dragon's whiskers?"

"Unfortunately, before their scheme could succeed, it was utterly shattered!"

"First, the Ten Thousand Waters Array on the Central Lands side was breached by a lone swordsman with a single blade—he didn't just break through the formation, he humiliated them completely…"

Lan Jiu's gaze burned brightly; the Ten Thousand Waters Array blocked the mouth of the Great River, closest to the Airship Bazaar, and that day, the white-robed sword immortal from the Central Lands had sailed downstream, slicing through the Ten Thousand Waters Array—what happened was seen clearly by nearly everyone at the Airship Bazaar.

Lan Jiu now knew who that white-robed sword immortal was.

He was Wang Longxiang, ranked first among the Twenty-Eight Characters of the Central Lands' Shenzhou.

Having witnessed the power of his sword technique that day, Lan Jiu felt inferior—not because Wang Longxiang's cultivation base was two levels higher, but because that divine sword art alone forced him to admit: even if he and Wang Longxiang were at the same realm, with the flower fox marten aiding him, he still wouldn't be a match.

That first array had already cost the dragon clan its face, but the next message transmitted through the silver mirror was even more shocking—the strongest of the four great arrays, the Dark Water Array, was completely eradicated by the overseas immortal sects together with the Shaoqing Sword Sect.

This sea-blocking array, capable of wiping out Luo Zhen seven or eight times, was shattered by four sword immortals, and all the dragons were slain!

Hearing Lan Jiu's admiring description, the flower fox marten on his shoulder chirped sweetly: "Gugu…"

Lan Jiu laughed at the sound: "You want to eat a dragon? Do you know a true dragon, when mature, reaches the Nascent Soul realm? Every true dragon carries over ten thousand demon soldiers as guards—they could hang us up and beat us to death! What's gotten into you lately, daring to set your sights on true dragons?"

The flower fox marten bared its teeth and growled twice at Lan Jiu in a threatening manner.

"Good one—fox borrowing tiger's might—but the elder who planted your root back in Luo Zhen is said to have entered the Gui Xu; he can't treat you to dragon meat anymore!" Lan Jiu chuckled: "All these hidden currents these days have arisen because of that elder…"

As Lan Jiu spoke, a wave of reverence rose within him: "He casually left behind a single Qianli Seven Treasures Flame Light Pill—a supreme fire seed, something overseas alchemists would die for!"

"He gave you a new root and bone—and created you, this monstrous marvel!"

"Such a tiny creature, yet when it unleashes its power, it can swallow a Core Formation cultivator whole—I'm nearly at Core Formation myself, yet my combat power is still inferior to yours…"

"Even after leaving Luo Zhen to hunt the Tian Yuan Divine Turtle, he caused the deaths of several Soul Transformation True Persons, yet he alone rode the divine turtle deep into the Gui Xu, exploring secret realms—and even left behind fragments of the Chenglu Plate to guide others to the Gui Xu's hidden places. That's what stirred these hidden currents and brought all this turmoil…"

Lan Jiu summoned the Five Elements Mystic Light; the four colors—green, yellow, white, and black—were already complete, each radiating extraordinary magic power, yet the red point remained dim.

He thought inwardly: "Xia Yi, to frame his elder brother, has drawn three great enemies upon me!"

"But he also allowed me to seize the Chenglu Plate fragment and the true dragon gallbladder left by Brother Qian Elder—completing the Water Mystic Light. Now I only need to obtain the Qianli Seven Treasures Flame Light Pill to sever the last thread of karmic ties!"

"Then I can form my Golden Core!"

"I have a premonition—when I form this core, it will be at least second or first grade! But how high exactly depends on how many tribulations I can survive!"

"My past feud with Lady Lady Huayang will surely cause her to make trouble at this critical moment! I've heard the sect has already sent someone to this treasure fair, intending to use the proceeds from selling the Qianli Seven Treasures Pills to gather resources for the Nascent Soul cultivator they've chosen, aiming to cultivate a new Soul Transformation Ancestor…"

Lan Jiu let out a cold smile: "The sect takes what my uncle left me and uses it to boost the cultivation of Lady Lady Huayang's husband… Hmph!"

Even though his temper was well cultivated, resentment still slipped through—he had clearly severed ties with Luo Zhen.

If before, he still felt a faint thread of kinship with his home sect, still remembered himself as a disciple of Luo Zhen Immortal Sect…

Now, having risen among Luo Zhen's new generation, defeating other sects' young talents in multiple duels and stabilizing the sect's standing, winning the support of Luo Zhen's inner sect disciples, he still failed to obtain the Qianli Pill.

Even worse, Lady Lady Huayang schemed to sell the pill to the deputy sect master, so that a few powerful elders could exchange it for cultivation resources.

At this point, Lan Jiu's heart had grown cold toward the Luo Zhen Immortal Sect!

After obtaining the Qianli Seven Treasures Flame Light Pill and forming a high-grade core, he would break away from the sect!

Yet Lan Jiu always felt that elder was no ordinary person.

After obtaining the Chenglu Plate fragment, he too had the desire to enter and explore—if fate allowed, perhaps he'd find clues left by that elder…

"The true dragon pill Brother Qian True Person left in his cave was also accidentally acquired by me! Perhaps I truly have the fortune to become his disciple!" Lan Jiu thought inwardly, but the flower fox marten on his shoulder rolled its eyes and chirped twice: "Guo guo!"

If it could speak, it would surely say: You're dreaming!

Does anyone really think mastering Five Elements Mystic Light through various spirit items means they're a genius with exceptional talent and insight?

Do you know why you can't catch up to me? Because I—the flower fox marten! —am the true cultivation genius; I've already condensed my demon core and achieved the Great Belly Cosmos, a great technique of swallowing the heavens whole.

You're merely my human pet!

When Brother Qian True Person changed our root and bone, he never said who was master and who was servant…

Lan Jiu treated this exchange as nonsense and continued, hands behind his back:

"Yet when I proposed exchanging the Chenglu Plate fragment for the Qianli Seven Treasures Flame Light Pill with the Seven Immortals Alliance behind the bazaar, they refused! They claimed the auction announcement was already out and couldn't be retracted, and offered to lend me money against the Chenglu Plate fragment to bid for the pill…"

At this, Lan Jiu sneered.

Everyone knew the value of the Chenglu Plate fragment far exceeded that of the Qianli Pill—even if incomplete, reassembling such a spiritual treasure could grant entry into the Gui Xu's secret realm and seize its boundless opportunities…

Even just keeping the fragment, over time, the lunar nectar it collected would amount to an astronomical fortune!

Lan Jiu had heard that for days, the Twelve-Tier Tower cultivators had been channeling lunar energy onto the Chenglu Plate's silver mirror, condensing lunar essence for their own cultivation—treating the artifact as their own, never once asking him, its true owner!

Just this behavior confirmed it for Lan Jiu:

These people would never honestly hand over such a fortune to him.

"If I mortgage even a portion, I might not even get the Qianli Seven Treasures Flame Light Pill—and I'd lose the Chenglu Plate fragment too!" Lan Jiu sneered.

The flower fox marten beside him sensed his faint killing intent; its body swelled instantly to the size of a small elephant, its eyes blazing with ferocity.

Lan Jiu roughly patted it several times, then set it down before it could get angry.

"Xia Yi, Xia Yang, Yan Yan Fulong, Yu Ye… wait until I form my Golden Core, then we'll settle accounts!"

Lan Jiu swept his sleeve, and a secret acupoint within his five viscera and two kidneys trembled; the Water Mystic Light instantly extended, and rolling white clouds enveloped him.

He then activated the Cloud-Stepping Moon-Chasing Technique, vanishing a hundred miles away in an instant.

Ji Zhen led a creature that was neither horse nor beast, its entire body covered in silken white fur, with a single horn from which continuously issued swirling mist.

The creature spoke: "Well? Isn't riding me impressive?"

"This Airship Xiancheng is rarely seen—only once every sixty years do so many airship cloud pavilions gather here to build this immortal city! All the surrounding pavilions are magic treasures, and cultivators stream in and out. Along the way, how many powerful flying artifacts did you see?"

The mist-spewing beast boasted: "Only I, a mist-spewing beast raised in the Long Gong, am rare—second only to the Water-Repelling Golden-Eyed Beast! Had your grandmother not been a favored dragon princess of the Dragon King, you'd never have borrowed me!"

"Shut up!" Ji Zhen flicked his index finger, releasing a cluster of green-flame gu insects.

The mist-spewing beast recoiled several steps, muttering: "Fine, fine, shut up—but why unleash that Yin Fire gu?"

Though it complained, it obediently lowered its head, clearly afraid of the Yin Fire gu.

As Ji Zhen stepped into the Airship Xiancheng, a silver mirror in his sleeve trembled.

He knew someone was using magic to sense it; he quickly channeled a sliver of magic power, forming a four-winged golden cicada that landed on the mirror. Its golden wings fluttered, severing the other's perception. Soon, a swift light streaked from a cloud pavilion in the city and landed beneath the celestial pavilion.

The newcomer was a middle-aged cultivator in wide sleeves, his gaze sweeping over the crowd beneath the pavilion.

When it landed on Ji Zhen, seeing the cloud-stepping beast, he frowned, then used his spiritual sense to bypass him without daring to disturb him.

As Ji Zhen entered the city, a sharp-eyed young cultivator stared intently at the mist-spewing beast, beside him a tall, bulky body cultivator who looked dazed.

Suddenly, the latter spoke: "Seeing Seeing Xiao Yu, why are you staring at that guy's horse?"

The cultivator Seeing Seeing Xiao Yu looked up: "That's not a horse—it's a mist-spewing beast! Naturally able to emit mist and clouds, even juveniles can float six feet off the ground on a cloud, said to travel nine thousand li a day—it's one of the legendary heavenly horses from ancient Central Lands lore. During the great immortal dynasties, the Imperial Horse Bureau raised them; now they're rare!"

"Who'd have thought overseas still breeds such rare beasts… truly more exotic treasures than the Central Lands!"

On the other side, an old Daoist with a goatee stroked his beard: "We grave robbers can't afford such lofty mounts! You're clearly eyeing something else!"

Seeing Seeing Xiao Yu sighed: "You're right! This mist-spewing beast must be fed with water essence clouds from the azure heavens—extremely delicate! Without a high-speed cloud-restraining magic artifact, you can't raise it properly… but this one's clearly mature—it can walk on clouds and swallow mist on its own."

Seeing Seeing Xiao Yu eyed its horn with ill intent, whispering: "This beast controls clouds well, and its horn is a famed heavenly treasure called the Descending Cloud Spirit Rhinoceros. Legend says burning it produces thick, lingering fog."

"During the Han Dynasty, someone burned a piece of Descending Cloud Spirit Rhinoceros, and a fog covered the entire city for three years without dispersing!"

"I feel this might be a top-grade incense—if used in incense-making, it'll produce top-grade incense!"

The old Daoist shook his head slightly: "The one leading the beast isn't harmless! Just now he casually summoned what I suspect is Yin Fire gu. Don't be fooled by its tiny flame—it can silently reduce everything within dozens of mu to ash, extremely sinister."

"This artifact mostly appears among heterodox sects—a powerful technique. Someone who can casually produce such a flame? We'd better not provoke them."

The big man added: "Yeah! Seeing Seeing Xiao Yu, why don't we find out who this horned horse's dead relatives are and dig up their graves?"

Seeing Seeing Xiao Yu shook his head: "Where are your heads?"

"We often help unclaimed ghosts tidy their graves, but we never touch graves with owners—let alone living people's belongings!"

"Honestly, I don't even expect to get the Descending Cloud Spirit Rhinoceros—getting this beast's saliva would already be top-grade incense material! If worse comes to worst, even its shit would do!"

The big man stared at Ji Zhen's back: "What if we just buy some from him?"

The goatee Daoist hesitated: "Hmm… he probably won't sell it."

Seeing Seeing Xiao Yu's eyes flickered with a strange light: "Perhaps this beast traveled far and is suffering from altitude sickness?"

Ji Zhen led the mist-spewing beast, about to find an immortal inn and rent a temporary cave, when suddenly someone blocked his path—a trio of three, mysterious, each oddly shaped in height, build, and appearance.

The most normal among them, a young cultivator, bowed to Ji Zhen: "Friend, your mist-spewing beast is magnificent!"

"But…"

Ji Zhen knew there was more; sure enough, the young man changed tone: "But this beast feeds on clouds, its nature pure and noble. Though this place is among clouds, the countless cultivators passing through are thick with turbid qi, polluting the clouds! And with so many eyes, if you release your beast to forage, trouble will follow!"

"Why not buy a few sticks of my Cloud-Generating Incense? This incense produces mist to feed your mount!"

Ji Zhen smiled: "If the mist-spewing beast is so rare, how could there be specialized incense for it?"

The young man grinned: "Herb-eaters are good runners but foolish; meat-eaters are brave but fierce; grain-eaters are wise but clever; qi-eaters are divine and long-lived; those who eat nothing are immortal and godlike. Incense as spiritual food is a true art…"

"I sell incense for venerating deities, spiritual incense for cultivators, even Chan incense for Buddhist meditation and mental stillness!"

"This Cloud-Generating Incense is originally a cultivator's spiritual incense; when lit, it rises as a cloud for sitting meditation. It wards off yin spirits and, once seated in the cloud, as long as your mind doesn't scatter, you won't fall—perfect for tempering the spirit."

"The cloud qi can also be used to refine techniques—it has many uses. Though a niche spiritual incense, it's quite useful."

"Perfect for your mist-spewing beast's diet!" Seeing Seeing Xiao Yu grinned: "How about a stick, friend?"

He lit a stick of Cloud-Generating Incense; indeed, swirling mist rose from the tip. The mist-spewing beast, smelling the cloud qi, kept tugging at Ji Zhen's sleeve.

Seeing Seeing Xiao Yu laughed: "Friend, try it first…"

Ji Zhen released the beast's reins, letting it stretch its head to swallow the fine threads of spiritual cloud qi.

For some reason, the mist-spewing beast found the cloud qi incredibly sweet; the more it ate, the more saliva filled its mouth. It lifted its head into the cloud, gulping deeply, drool trickling from its lips. The big man chuckled and kicked a jade basin beneath to catch it.

The mist-spewing beast glanced at him gratefully, continuing to swallow the incense, mumbling: "Delicious, delicious!"

Ji Zhen looked at Seeing Seeing Xiao Yu and pulled out money from his sleeve: "How many spirit tokens per stick?"

Seeing Seeing Xiao Yu sold a handful of Cloud-Generating Incense, clutching a bundle of spirit tokens; the big man carried the jade basin; the group walked away laughing.

Ji Zhen watched their retreating backs, smiled faintly, and squeezed the spiritual incense in her arms: "Heretical arts—cultivating the Incense Dao, the Corpse Dao, and now a Fengshui Dao cultivator too! And their bodies are wrapped in fierce malevolent energies; clearly they follow the Earth path. Interesting! Very interesting!"

Brother Qian Chen rode his green ox, quietly entering the Xiancheng.

Beside him rode Ning Ning Qingchen on her phoenix steed; after consolidating her realm these past days, she had arrived at the Airship Bazaar and caught up with Brother Qian Chen two days prior.

Brother Qian Chen's spiritual sense swept silently over the Airship Xiancheng, and he chuckled: "So many familiar faces!"

Ning Ning Qingchen added: "This place gathers cultivators from all corners of the Central Lands and beyond the seas; it's no surprise to find acquaintances. Besides, Master, you've traveled far—I've even met several high monks from the Buddhist sects, renowned throughout Northern Wei!"

"Do high monks come to bazaars?" Brother Qian Chen joked.

Ning Ning Qingchen immediately smiled: "Then you're unaware! Most bazaars in Northern Wei are run by Buddhist sects—and they're thriving!"

"They have more of a worldly, bustling feel than the bazaars here in the overseas lands or Southern Jin."

"And anyone—ordinary cultivators included—can wander freely, called temple fairs! Many shops are operated by monks, selling incense halls, bookshops, magical artifacts, and spirit elixirs; some even serve Immortal Banquets and prepare spirit foods!"

"The roasted pork from Xiangguo Temple is legendary! The beast clans of the northern steppes have abundant blood qi and heavy demonic energy; aside from their demonic cores, they're hard to refine into elixirs. But after the monks of Xiangguo Temple perform their secret refining, the meat becomes impossibly tender, melting on the tongue, greatly strengthening the body—many martial cultivators adore it!"

For the first time ever, Brother Qian Chen felt a faint fondness for the Buddhist sect.

After all, how bad could a Buddhist sect be if it made delicious meat?

Instantly his appetite surged, and he cheered: "I wonder if any of these monks are from Xiangguo Temple? At this Dharma Assembly, maybe I can buy some to taste!"

Ning Ning Qingchen nodded: "Even if they're not here, Master, when you come to Northern Wei later, I'll take you there to eat!"