Chapter 650: Tiankui Sect

Hearing Li Li Mengchen's reminder, Song Song Qingming also knew the other party's good intentions, so he immediately cupped his hands to thank the other party before standing up and bidding farewell.

Although he spent quite a few spirit stones in the "Heavenly Secret Pavilion," he finally got what he wanted.

After leaving "Ye Fengyuan City," Song Song Qingming immediately stopped on a deserted small mountain nearby, took out the scroll he had just obtained, and opened it to look through it carefully.

After scanning the seven locations on the scroll one by one, the specific locations of these places slowly emerged in Song Song Qingming's mind.

Except for one place that was not within the territory of the "Song Guo" cultivation world, the other six, although distributed far apart, were enough for Song Song Qingming to visit all of them in ten years.

Song Song Qingming, standing on the hillside, thought for a long time before deciding on the first place to set off, put away the scroll in his hand, and disappeared from the spot as an escape light.

Three years later, on a high mountain with immortal energy floating in the Qingzhou territory west of "Song Guo."

A fifteen or sixteen-year-old little Daoist priest, holding a Qi Condensation cultivation technique book, carefully arrived at a courtyard at the foot of the mountain.

"Ouch!"

Just as he opened the door, the little Daoist priest bumped into a white restriction and was bounced back, falling to the ground and letting out a scream.

"Haha! So it's you. Why didn't you knock on the door first?"

Before the little Daoist priest could climb up, a man in cyan clothes appeared beside him and said with a smile.

"Greetings, Senior Song!" Seeing the person, the little Daoist priest hurriedly climbed up and bowed respectfully. Song Song Qingming nodded slightly and asked: "Your master sent you, right! Is there anything?"

"Master asked me to inform you that the Tiankui Sect assembly will be held on the first day of next month."

After the little Daoist priest stated his purpose, he placed the cultivation technique book he had been holding in front of Song Song Qingming and continued: "And this cultivation technique you lent me, I have already memorized it all. Please take it back!"

Seeing this, Song Song Qingming waved his hand at him and said: "No need, this thing is of no use to me, so I'll give it to you. And take this too, as a thank you for guiding me on the mountain last month."

Seeing a very exquisite storage bag taken out by Song Song Qingming, the little Daoist priest's eyes lit up instantly. He looked at the storage bag in Song Song Qingming's hand with surprise and didn't dare to reach out to take it for a long time, as if he couldn't believe it was true.

Being in a declining small sect, and with his cultivation only at the third layer of Qi Condensation, he was not qualified to obtain precious spiritual items like storage bags in the sect.

Every time he saw other senior brothers using storage bags, he was often envious. Now that he saw an exquisite storage bag in front of him, how could he not be excited?

"I am leaving here today. Thank you for your care over the past few months. Keep the things well, and remember to thank your master for me when you go back!"

After Song Song Qingming finished speaking, he took the initiative to place the storage bag in the little Daoist priest's hand, then turned and walked into the courtyard.

Soon, a white light flew out of the courtyard and quickly disappeared from the eyes of the little Daoist priest who had just left.

Song Song Qingming, standing on the "Phantom Boat," looked back at the high mountain behind him and couldn't help but sigh slightly. This was already the fourth place he had found called "Yuxuan Mountain," but it still left him with no clue.

In these three years, Song Song Qingming had crossed four major states of "Song Guo," traveling while searching for the several places on the scroll he carried with him.

It's just a pity that although the places found were called "Yuxuan Mountain," there was no information about "Taixu Palace" on them.

The place Song Song Qingming just left was already the fourth location on the scroll.

On that "Yuxuan Mountain," although there was a declining Foundation Establishment sect, Song Song Qingming had spent over a month on the mountain but still hadn't heard any information about the place he wanted to find, so he could only leave this place with some disappointment.

After leaving "Yuxuan Mountain," where he had stayed for nearly two months, Song Song Qingming flew south for half a day and arrived in front of a tall market called "Tiankui Market."

Seeing that there were many cultivators queuing to enter the city at the gate of the market, Song Song Qingming didn't pay attention and bypassed the queue, walking toward the city gate with big strides.

Those low-tier cultivators who were queuing, seeing someone not following the rules and wanting to cut in line to enter the market, cast surprised glances at Song Song Qingming.

However, when they felt the unfathomable pressure coming from Song Song Qingming, these people immediately put away their curious eyes and changed to a respectful look.

"It's actually another Jin Dan Senior. He must be here to participate in the Tiankui Sect assembly!"

"I didn't expect to see two Jin Dan Seniors as soon as I came here today. It seems this assembly will be even more attractive than the last one!"

"Haha! Fellow Daoist, you don't know. I heard long ago that the Tiankui Sect has prepared several third-tier corpse puppets for this assembly. These are spiritual items that even Jin Dan cultivators are tempted by. This time it will definitely be livelier than the last!"

"Oh! So that's it. It seems the Tiankui Sect has really spent a lot of money this time!"

"..."

Song Song Qingming didn't pay attention to the eyes of the people around him and walked directly to the entrance of the market gate!

Seeing that it was a Jin Dan cultivator, the Foundation Establishment cultivator of the "Tiankui Sect" guarding the door hurriedly bowed to Song Song Qingming.

"May I ask, Senior, are you here to participate in our sect's assembly five days later?"

"Not bad! I happened to pass by here and heard that your sect is holding an assembly, so I came to take a look. Are there any requirements to participate in this assembly?" Song Song Qingming nodded lightly to respond to the other party.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator of the "Tiankui Sect" shook his head upon hearing this: "Our sect's assembly does not prohibit outsiders from participating. Senior only needs to bring this item, and you can directly enter the auction."

After the man finished speaking, he respectfully gave a gold medal representing his identity to Song Song Qingming, and immediately ordered people to clear the way and send Song Song Qingming into the market.

Seeing that he had walked in so simply, Song Song Qingming was slightly surprised.

"It seems this 'Tiankui Sect' is really as they said, not excluding outside cultivators, and there are not so many rules. It's really convenient."

After thinking secretly in his heart, Song Song Qingming walked into the market happily and soon found an inn inside to stay temporarily.

Although most righteous sects in the cultivation world are relatively exclusive to the technique of refining corpse puppets, there are still a few sects that specialize in this technique.

"Tiankui Sect" is a Nascent Soul sect famous for refining various corpse puppets. Although their strength in the "Song Guo" cultivation world is not very strong and they are not among the Ten Major Nascent Soul Sects.

But when it comes to the technique of refining corpse puppets, "Tiankui Sect" is one of the top cultivation sects in this cultivation world and even the entire Donghuangxianzhou, and the sect's foundation cannot be underestimated.

Two months ago, after Song Song Qingming arrived at the nearby "Yuxuan Mountain," he learned from the cultivators of the Foundation Establishment sect on the mountain that "Tiankui Sect" was about to hold a large auction assembly nearby.

After Song Song Qingming heard about this, he also became interested in the assembly held by "Tiankui Sect," so he stayed there for a period of time until he learned the specific time of the assembly today, and then came here alone.

After staying in "Tiankui Market" for a few days, the market gradually became lively, and the streets were crowded with cultivators from all directions.

Some of these people were small cultivation sects and family forces attached to the "Tiankui Sect," and many were outside loose cultivators who rushed over after hearing the news like Song Song Qingming, and some were disciples of some Nascent Soul sects that were on good terms with the "Tiankui Sect."

Having traveled in the "Song Guo" cultivation world for so many years, Song Song Qingming had also participated in many such trading assemblies, but the trading assemblies he participated in before were relatively small in scale.

This was the first time Song Song Qingming had truly participated in a large-scale trading assembly held by a Nascent Soul sect like "Tiankui Sect."

Similar to the large-scale trading assemblies in the Fuyun Mountain Range, the trading assembly held by "Tiankui Sect" this time also separated the spiritual items needed by high-tier cultivators and low-tier cultivators in time and place.

In the first few days of the trading assembly, most of the items taken out were relatively low-tier first- or second-tier spiritual items, and there were very few spiritual items above the third tier, and there was no need for auction bidding. As long as you had enough spirit stones, you could basically buy them.

Starting from the fourth day, the auction hall in the middle of the market officially began to auction those high-tier spiritual items, and the cultivators above the Foundation Establishment stage in the market soon gathered here.

As a Jin Dan cultivator, as soon as Song Song Qingming entered the venue, he was immediately arranged by the "Tiankui Sect" cultivators to the second floor of the auction hall, a VIP area only qualified for Jin Dan cultivators.

"Tiankui Sect" was relatively generous to these high-tier cultivators who came to participate in the auction. Not only did they arrange a maid to serve in the separate private room, but they also thoughtfully prepared some spiritual tea and spiritual fruits. After Song Song Qingming sat down, the maid beside him immediately thoughtfully took the initiative to come up and briefly introduce the rules of the auction and some spiritual items that might appear next.

After listening patiently for a while, Song Song Qingming picked up two low-tier spiritual fruits on the table and handed them to her, asking softly: "You just said that there will be Jin Dan-level corpse puppets in this auction. Do you know about other spiritual items that will appear?"

Seeing the spiritual fruits in Song Song Qingming's hand, the maid, who only had Qi Condensation cultivation, although she had inadvertently revealed a few traces of unexpected surprise in her eyes, still resisted the temptation in her heart and waved her hand to decline Song Song Qingming's kindness.

"Senior! These spiritual items are for the sect to entertain distinguished guests like you. We people are not qualified to enjoy them. If the elders in the sect find out, Qingling will be hard to explain."

"If Senior has anything to ask, just order it. Qingling will definitely not dare to deceive you!"

"Haha! These spiritual fruits are of no use to me, they can only satisfy a few appetites. You don't have to be nervous. I won't mention this to anyone when I go out. Just be careful yourself!"

The low-tier spiritual fruits in Song Song Qingming's hand were indeed of no use to a Jin Dan cultivator like him, but it was different for a low-tier cultivator like Qingling who was in the Qi Condensation stage.

Even if she didn't refine and take them herself, she could exchange them for some spirit stones to accelerate her own cultivation speed.

"Then this junior thanks Senior!" After hesitating for a long time, seeing that Song Song Qingming was serious and not teasing her, Qingling happily accepted the spiritual fruits handed over by Song Song Qingming and carefully put them into her storage bag.

"Does your sect's auction assembly have any spiritual items that can improve the cultivation of these corpse puppets?"

Hearing Song Song Qingming's question, Qingling immediately nodded slightly and replied: "Senior, rest assured, there will definitely be. Our Tiankui Sect is the sect most proficient in refining corpse puppets in the entire Donghuangxianzhou. In terms of cultivating corpse puppets, naturally, there are many unique methods."

"No matter what level of corpse puppet Senior wants to cultivate, you can find corresponding spiritual items here. Senior, rest assured, I will remind you when the time comes."

"Mm! Then trouble you."

Unlike puppet beasts, corpse puppets can continue to improve their cultivation after being successfully refined. However, because they have no spiritual intelligence, they have lost the ability to practice independently.

Therefore, they can only rely on external forces or elixirs and spiritual items to continue to improve the cultivation of the refined corpse puppets. In this way, the difficulty is much more difficult than that of cultivators who can practice normally.

Since "Jin Feng" was successfully refined years ago, Song Song Qingming had been relatively wealthy over the years and occasionally fed him some elixirs and spiritual items, but his cultivation growth speed was too slow. Until now, he still only stayed at the peak of the first layer of the Jin Dan.

Coming to the "Tiankui Sect" auction this time, besides wanting to see if he could buy some spiritual items useful to him, Song Song Qingming also wanted to participate in the auction to try his luck to see if he could find a way to help "Jin Feng" break through his cultivation, so as to increase his strength.

After all, this guy had also contributed a lot to him for so many years. Being able to find a way to help him improve his cultivation was naturally a very beneficial thing for Song Song Qingming.

Song Song Qingming came out this time, besides looking for clues to the follow-up of the "Yuxuan Scripture" technique, he also had the intention to travel. He was not in a hurry to rush, and he naturally didn't want to miss such a very rare large-scale trading assembly.

As the two talked, the auction venue below also slowly filled with crowds, and even the private room seats on the second floor prepared for Jin Dan cultivators were mostly occupied by cultivators.

Song Song Qingming took a rough glance and found that the number of Jin Dan cultivators who came to participate in the auction was probably close to a hundred. The liveliness was no less than the "Star Assembly" held by the Star Sect in Song Guo that he had participated in years ago.

Seeing that the time for the auction was up, an old man with a ruddy complexion and late-stage Jin Dan cultivation went directly to the stage, said a few welcoming words in front of everyone, and directly announced the official start of the first auction.

"Tiankui Sect," as a Nascent Soul sect that was not weak, holding such a trading assembly that was held once every few decades, was naturally prepared for a long time.

The first spiritual item taken out was a third-tier low-quality alchemy furnace with good quality, which instantly ignited the atmosphere of the entire auction venue.

This kind of high-tier alchemy furnace had always been the treasure most liked by those alchemists. Not only could it be used for daily alchemy, but it could also be refined and used as a magic treasure, and its value was far from what ordinary magic treasures of the same tier could compare to.

After the auctioneer of "Tiankui Sect" finished introducing the treasure and announced the start of bidding, the price of this alchemy furnace immediately soared from eight thousand spirit stones to over twenty thousand.

Finally, after a competition among a dozen cultivators at the scene, it was successfully won by a man in white clothes at the sixth layer of the Jin Dan for a high price of twenty-six thousand spirit stones.

Taking advantage of the heat generated by the first auction item, "Tiankui Sect" immediately took out two third-tier spiritual talismans that had been prepared early, continuing to drive the atmosphere of the auction venue.

However, looking at the very hot scene at the scene, Song Song Qingming, sitting in the private room, always looked at the surroundings calmly and never participated in the bidding.

Although the spiritual items taken out by "Tiankui Sect" were indeed high-tier spiritual items that were hard to find outside, for the current Song Song Qingming, they were not the things he urgently needed, so he had no interest in competing with others.

In this way, until the end of the first day of the auction, Song Song Qingming only shot to bid for a bottle of third-tier elixirs needed for cultivation and did not harvest other spiritual items.

At the start of the second day's auction, "Tiankui Sect" finally took out the "corpse puppets" unique to their sect, reigniting the passion of the cultivators participating in the auction.

"Fellow Daoists have come from afar. I think many of you are here for the unique techniques of our Tiankui Sect. Then, don't miss these second-tier corpse puppets next."

"These corpse puppets are refined from the corpses of demonic cultivators or bandits killed by our sect. Each one can guarantee its origin, and it will definitely not bring you any trouble."

"However, I will state it clearly in advance. Our sect only guarantees that the origin of the corpse puppet is fine. If you encounter those who claim to be righteous and unreasonable and make things difficult for you because of this, we will not be responsible. I hope everyone will think clearly before taking action."

In the cultivation world, some righteous sect disciples with relatively extreme personalities are very disdainful of cultivators using the corpses of the dead to refine "corpse puppets." Once encountered, there are many people who will take action if they don't agree.

This situation is fine in small places with relatively scarce resources like the Fuyun Mountain Range cultivation world. But in a large-scale cultivation world like "Song Guo" where major sects stand in great numbers and cultivators move frequently, it is still easy to encounter such people if you are unlucky.

Because Bai Bai Yuxian had reminded Song Song Qingming about this before setting off, he had also been very careful not to reveal the identity of "Jin Feng" in front of others while traveling in the "Song Guo" cultivation world over the years.

Although "Tiankui Sect" had reminded everyone about this face-to-face, there were still many cultivators at the scene who came specifically for the "corpse puppets" on the stage, and naturally, they didn't care about this in their hearts.

Following the announcement of the start of bidding by the "Tiankui Sect" cultivator who hosted the auction, it instantly ignited the Foundation Establishment cultivators below, and one bid after another was continuously transmitted to the stage.

Seeing the "corpse puppets" standing in a row on the stage, all of whom had cultivation no less than the Foundation Establishment stage, a trace of interest also appeared in Song Song Qingming's eyes.

Qingling, who was waiting on the side, saw this and took the initiative to introduce some special features of the corpse puppets refined by the "Tiankui Sect" to Song Song Qingming.

"Tiankui Sect," as a Nascent Soul sect passed down for nearly ten thousand years, had many secret methods for refining and cultivating corpse puppets. They could use the divine souls of some low-tier demonic beasts or the essence souls of ghost cultivators to refine a large number of low-tier corpse puppets.

Then, using some special secret methods in the sect, they could slowly cultivate these corpse puppets step by step to a high tier, providing a steady stream of high-tier corpse puppets for the sect.

After a "corpse puppet" recognizes its master, it cannot be traded or transferred to other cultivators like a puppet. However, "Tiankui Sect" has its own unique secret method, which can cultivate a "corpse puppet" to the Foundation Establishment or even Jin Dan stage without recognizing a master.

Therefore, they could treat these things as ordinary spiritual items and auction them at the auction venue. Selling these corpse puppets every year could also bring a lot of income to the Nascent Soul sect "Tiankui Sect."

A Foundation Establishment-stage "corpse puppet," if used properly, can have strength no less than ordinary cultivators of the same tier, and it is far more powerful than puppet beasts of the same tier.

An ordinary early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator bringing a "corpse puppet" of the same tier to help can at least increase their own combat power by more than 30%. Sometimes they can even use this to contend with a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. How could this not make these cultivators who came here tempted?

Soon, the first early-stage Foundation Establishment "corpse puppet" was auctioned off at a price of six thousand spirit stones in front of Song Song Qingming.

Although he was mentally prepared and knew that the price of these "corpse puppets" would not be cheap, after seeing such a high price with his own eyes, Song Song Qingming still felt a bit surprised.

After thinking about it, he still felt it was not cost-effective, so he slowly put down the idea of wanting to auction one or two Foundation Establishment "corpse puppets."

After all, things like "corpse puppets" can only improve personal strength and are more suitable for those loose cultivators who are alone and eager to improve their own combat power. They are far less helpful to the family than puppet beasts.

Spending over seven thousand spirit stones to buy a Foundation Establishment-stage "corpse puppet" is not as good as adding some spirit stones to directly exchange for a Foundation Establishment pill, which might be able to cultivate a Foundation Establishment cultivator for the family.

Not only Song Song Qingming, but the Jin Dan cultivators sitting on the second floor almost didn't look at these "corpse puppets" that only had Foundation Establishment cultivation, and few people opened their mouths to bid. Almost all those who participated in the competition for this item were Foundation Establishment cultivators under the stage.

Song Song Qingming also knew that these Jin Dan cultivators sitting upstairs were almost all here for the few Jin Dan "corpse puppets" that "Tiankui Sect" had released news about before. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 651 =====

Song Song Qingming also knew that these Jin Dan cultivators sitting upstairs were almost all here for the news previously released by the "Heavenly Puppet Sect" regarding those few Jin Dan stage "corpse puppets." (End of chapter)