Chapter 523

Yu Fei sighed: "I was originally hunting demon beasts nearby, but got swept up in an undersea volcanic eruption, corroded by fire evil, unable to fly and fell into the sea. Then I encountered a school of star-sword banner fish, fought fiercely, exhausted my strength, and finally passed out."

Yan Buji looked at Yu Fei's wounds, most caused by weapons, nodded and believed his account.

Naturally, relations between demons and humans aren't great, but normally each side keeps to its own.

But after the demon-human war, cultivators of both sides rarely exchange more than greetings when they meet, unless there is a dispute of interests.

"This time, I must thank you two fellow cultivators for your help. I have an impertinent request; may you two lend me a hand?"

Yan Buji frowned: "You are a demon, while we two are cultivators; why do you seek our aid?"

Yu Fei said solemnly: "To be frank, the various demon tribes in the waters ahead have fallen into chaos."

"Chaos?" Yan Buji and Gu Yue started: "What's going on?"

"Earlier, the Winter Court sent word that a certain spiritual material abundantly produced in the Boundless Sea was greatly needed by them and bought at high prices. At first everyone got along, but as resources dwindled, some scheming demons began eyeing the earth veins."

Gu Yue furrowed her brows: "First, tell me what spiritual material this is."

"Mixed Fire Gold." Yu Fei produced a piece: "The Winter Court urgently needs this, yet because of it the once fine sea has become riddled with scars."

Yan Buji looked puzzled: "Why would the demon court want this? Although it's rare, it shouldn't be impossible to purchase from the Heavenly Spirit Realm, right?"

"Well..." Yu Fei hesitated, thought, then asked: "How much do you know about the Heavenly Spirit Realm, Daoist?"

"The major guilds of the Heavenly Spirit Realm handle trade across the five regions and nine heavens; even if this mixed fire gold is rare, it couldn't be completely unobtainable." Yan Buji countered: "If so, the demon court surely has means to buy it from the Heavenly Spirit Realm; why go to such lengths to have you fetch it—could there be something wrong with this mixed fire gold?"

Yu Fei thought it made sense, yet said: "But the Heavenly Spirit Realm does not allow demons to enter."

"Is it forbidden, or simply impossible to enter?" Yan Buji asked.

"Well..."

Yan Buji shook his head: "It seems you haven't even grasped the basics, you don't know why the demon court wants this, yet you readily help others— or perhaps you simply distrust humans, making it impossible to explain things clearly to us."

Seeing that the old Daoist was hard to fool, Yu Fei let out a long sigh: "Well, since you've said so, the truth is that the Winter Court discovered a special use for mixed fire gold and has bought up all of it in the Heavenly Spirit Realm. With no source left, they turned to us, offering high prices to purchase it."

Yan Buji stroked his chin, frowning in thought.

Gu Yue pondered, then suddenly thought of something: "The 'Parched Fire' currently all the rage in the Heavenly Spirit Realm—could it be refined from mixed fire gold?"

Yu Fei's face twitched, he nodded: "Yes."

"What is Parched Fire?" Yan Buji inquired.

Gu Yue explained: "Parched Fire is a spiritual material sold by the Heavenly Spirit Realm's guilds; it can boost the success rate of refining artifacts and pills below the Sixfold Transformation by twenty percent."

"Twenty percent?!" Yan Buji's eyes widened in disbelief: "Such a spiritual material exists? I've never heard of it!"

"After all, Parched Fire is produced in tiny quantities; it sells out instantly, and those who obtain it rarely part with it." Gu Yue smiled.

Hiss!

Is Parched Fire a spiritual material produced by demons?

Yan Buji didn't care how demons cultivated this material, but as an Alchemist he knew even Fivefold Transformation pills he couldn't guarantee every batch; yet with Parched Fire's aid...

"Are there any restrictions on Parched Fire?"

"No, whatever you refine, adding Parched Fire boosts the success rate by twenty percent."

"Then it's no surprise." Yan Buji nodded, smiling: "If I mastered the method to cultivate this material, I'd surely have grown rich by now."

Yu Fei said helplessly: "Precisely for this reason, the major demon clans of the Boundless Sea have fallen into dispute—not only due to the Winter Court's purchase price, but also because of profit shares from Parched Fire. Consequently, some demons risk danger, shaking the earth veins to seek Mixed Fire Gold, and now that region is in utter chaos."

Gu Yue raised her brows: "But telling us this is useless; even we two couldn't help you much."

"It's not that I want you to settle the demons' internal strife; I merely ask you to help me locate a rumored secret realm."

"A secret realm?"

Yan Buji and Gu Yue exchanged glances, their faces odd: "What kind of situation is this secret realm you speak of?"

Yu Fei said: "In our records, a human cultivator once battled a great demon power in the Boundless Sea; the scene was sun and moon overturned, heaven split open. Seawater boiled, the heavenly river poured backward, forming a secret realm that flies upward from below, which our tribe calls the 'Heavenly Palace'."

Heavenly Palace?

Yan Buji looked at Gu Yue; Gu Yue shook her head, meaning it's not the place she intends to go.

"Then why don't you go with your tribe's cultivators to seek the Heavenly Palace?"

Yu Fei's face darkened: "I'm the only one left."

"......"

"So now I have no choice; the fewer cultivators who venture into the Heavenly Palace, the certain death. Though you two are humans, having saved me, I trust your character."

"That can't be guaranteed; I may trust you, but I, the Daoist, do not trust you."

Yu Fei gritted his teeth: "Then let us swear an oath to Heaven: upon entering the secret realm, we advance and retreat together, with no intention to harm each other—how about that?"

Yan Buji nodded: "All right, then how shall we divide the spoils?"

"Whoever finds it keeps it."

Gu Yue pondered: "Then you must first describe what the Heavenly Palace is like and what it contains, so we can decide."

"Well... frankly, I don't know what's inside either. I only know that perhaps there is a great treasure in the Heavenly Palace capable of stabilizing the earth veins, which I must obtain!"

Yan Buji directly sent a mental message to Gu Yue: "Do you believe him?"

"I don't believe him; do you?"

"I, the Daoist, also don't believe him, but there's no harm in going with him to look; perhaps we'll truly find treasure."

Gu Yue and Yan Buji nodded together: "Fine, then tell us the location of the Heavenly Palace."

"Um... it should be nearby, but because of the ground movement, I cannot now determine where the secret realm lies." Yu Fei said.

"Then how do we resolve it?"

"We can only first calm the ground movement around here, then go search." Yu Fei said helplessly.

After all that talk, we still need Yan Buji and Gu Yue to help him deal with the earth-vein creatures that appeared after the undersea volcanic eruption!