Chapter 249: A Chance Encounter with Scarlet Moon Dew · Arrival at Tingtao Sea

Chapter 249: A Chance Encounter with Scarlet Moon Dew · Arrival at Tingtao Sea

"Ah, fellow cultivator, you're mistaken!"

The storyteller snapped his folding fan shut and tapped his palm with it. "While spiritual artifacts are powerful, true skill lies in wielding them with mastery."

"But since we're discussing the mysteries of spiritual artifacts..." He paused dramatically, "Have you all heard about the most astonishing feat at this year's competition? The Eight Vajra Guardians from Qianji Valley!"

The crowd's chatter died down instantly. Even the cultivator who'd argued earlier leaned forward eagerly.

"Now, the name 'Eight Vajra Guardians' might sound like eight separate warriors..."

"Nonsense!" someone interrupted. "Surely it refers to a single cultivator and their eight Vajra Puppets?"

"Exactly!" the storyteller confirmed. "The Qianji Valley's chief disciple commands eight Vajra Puppets, each embodying the five elements and three talents!"

"No matter who they duel, one of those puppets will always counter their opponent's weakness!"

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

"Old man, don't try to fool us!" A clear female voice rang from the second-floor private room. "If they're so formidable, why did they only reach fourth place?"

The storyteller smiled, plucking his beard in a dramatic flourish. "Excellent question! You see..." He paused to sip his cloud-mist tea, drawing out the suspense.

A spirit stone sailed through the air. "Get to the point! Who was this 'monster' they faced?"

The storyteller deftly caught a dozen spirit stones thrown by impatient listeners. "The semifinals brought them face-to-face with a true prodigy - the former sect master of Yun Tao Sword Hut, and current direct disciple of Lüshuang True Sovereign, the Heavenly Sword Sage!"

"He wields a life-bound flying sword forged from a meteorite fragment! It defies the five elements and three talents classifications, making it the perfect counter to Qianji's puppets!"

Murmurs of astonishment spread.

"But surely eight puppets could overwhelm him?" someone challenged. "Can one man really fight eight?"

"Ah, you've hit the nail on the head!" The storyteller snapped his fan open, revealing an ink painting of puppets. "Qianji Valley's secret Soul Division Manual allows spiritual sense to control puppets with thread-like precision." He demonstrated with glowing white threads weaving through the air.

"Unfortunately, the Eight Vajra Guardians is still young - currently limited to controlling only three puppets at once. And the Heavenly Sword Sage's sword techniques proved devastating. His attack shattered the protective mystic light before the puppets could be deployed."

Xiao Chen nodded thoughtfully. He'd heard of two schools of puppetry - the brute-force approach of overwhelming numbers, and the refined art of precision. While he personally favored numerical superiority, Qianji's secret technique clearly held unique merit.

"Eight Vajra Guardians? Overrated!" The same arrogant cultivator scoffed. "Just a spoiled brat relying on elders' craftsmanship! Each puppet costs hundreds of thousands of spirit stones. Who can afford that without sect support?"

"Enough of your sour grapes!" someone retorted. "Then who do you consider the real champion?"

The cultivator thumped his chest. "Me! Or rather, Tian Gang Sect's Senior Sect Brother Kaiyue Sage - the runner-up!"

Xiao Chen nearly choked on his tea.

"Runner-up? You only got second place through luck!" another shouted. "Face it - you'd have lost to the Heavenly Sword Sage in the first round!"

The competition results were clear: Yun Tao Sword Hut claimed first, followed by Qianji Valley and Mo Zhang Sect in third and fourth. Cangming Immortal Sect brought up the rear.

As the Spirit Intelligence Pavilion erupted into brawling arguments, Xiao Chen slipped outside to gather materials. The Mo Shi Bazaar sprawled across a vast area, its shops offering everything a cultivator could need. After visiting seven stores, he'd collected 119 of the 120 required spirit herbs.

"This ritual altar is costing a fortune", he muttered, organizing the herbs. The 893,000 spirit stones spent so far meant the final cost would easily reach two million - rivaling the Eight Vajra Guardians' construction.

Without sect support, such an expenditure would cripple most cultivators. Fortunately, Xiao Chen's recent windfall from selling artifacts in the Eastern Territory left him well-prepared.

"Just need to find coarse-threaded twistleaf", he checked his list. The final herb was out of stock here, but auction houses often held surprises.

While waiting for the auction, he entered the bazaar's grandest tavern. These places were goldmines for rumors.

"Did you hear about Guiyun Forbidden Realm?" two Foundation Building cultivators whispered. "Old Qi already left for Tingtao Sea after finding Scarlet Moon Dew!"

"Scarlet Moon Dew? Sounds ordinary, but it's worth a fortune!"

"Try three hundred thousand spirit stones per ounce!"

Xiao Chen's eyes lit up. Though he couldn't purchase it immediately, learning Old Qi would attend the auction eased his mind. A mere Foundation Building cultivator shouldn't pose much competition.

"Golden Core Zhenren often demand special conditions", he mused, "but Foundation Building cultivators usually settle for spirit stones alone."

A nearby table erupted in laughter. "I swear on my cultivation - I saw three Golden Core Sea Fish swimming past the Spirit Ship!"

"Nonsense! The Mercy Sea Domain has no such phenomena!"

Xiao Chen's thoughts darkened. He'd encountered twelve Golden Core Sea Fish in three days himself. Now he noticed spirit fish bones and meat prices had dropped nearly ten percent.

Could it be...? His heart pounded. If Golden Core Sea Fish populations were increasing, Yao beast materials would become cheaper! Spirit wines and delicacies would follow suit.

This was excellent news! The more abundant and affordable Yao beast resources became, the better for his cultivation.

Xiao Chen could now purchase spirit wine similar to White Jade Xiao Qinglong with fewer spirit stones to aid his cultivation.

Additionally, he could more easily obtain sea beast meat and demon cores. For refining a Flawless Golden Core, this was undoubtedly advantageous.

Although Xiao Chen’s progress in Body Cultivation had surged ahead, surpassing even his Law Cultivation path, he remained diligent in both.

An extra path meant double the strength and security. If he hadn’t chosen Body Cultivation back then, he wouldn’t have reaped the benefits of the Blood Crystal. By the same logic, Law Cultivation might prove even more valuable in the future.

“Customer, your wine and dishes are here.”

The tavern servant placed an exquisite jade pot on the table. “This is our finest Hongsang Jade Liquor—unmatched across the entire Mercy Sea Domain!”

He raised his thumb proudly, then set down four small side dishes. “The extra two are complimentary. Please enjoy at your leisure.”

Xiao Chen glanced at the dishes, surprised to find they were dried and sliced spirit beast meat. He took a bite and found the free side dishes oddly more flavorful.

“Come, pour another round for Fellow Cultivator Yan!”

At the table to the right, two newly arrived Golden Core Initial Stage cultivators were chatting. “Long time no see, Fellow Cultivator Wu! Where’ve you been making your fortune these past two years?”

“Ah, Fellow Cultivator Yan, don’t tease me,” the man replied with a wry smile.

Fellow Cultivator Yan’s face tightened. “You know I have a relative working at the Cangming Bazaar? They’d been begging me to help out for years.”

“I finally caved and visited last year—big mistake. I regret it bitterly.”

Fellow Cultivator Wu frowned. “That can’t be right! They’re family—how could they mistreat you?”

“It’s true! I couldn’t stand it myself.” Yan shook his head. “But it wasn’t about mistreatment.”

He lowered his voice conspiratorially. “Fellow Cultivator Wu, you don’t know this, but the Cangming Bazaar’s been strange lately. Remember the Wealth Wall there?”

“In just the past half year alone, I’ve personally seen bounties for no fewer than seven Golden Core cultivators disappear.”

In the cultivation world, disappearances were common. Wu countered, “If they’re just missing, maybe they got trapped in some forbidden realm relic. That’s nothing unusual.”

After all, a Golden Core cultivator vanishing for a year was like an ordinary person going missing for two months. Sometimes they’d stumble into a chance encounter, hide as Bandit Cultivators, then resurface years later when the coast was clear.

“This time is different,” Yan insisted, his voice trembling. “They didn’t vanish together—they disappeared one by one.”

“That alone might be manageable, but the visible cases are just the tip of the iceberg.” He held up two fingers. “Most victims never even posted bounties. According to insider intel, at least twenty to thirty cultivators have gone missing in the past two years.”

Hearing this, Wu’s eyes widened. “How reliable’s this intel? What’s going on?”

“My friend’s older brother works at the Cangming Immortal Sect,” Yan swore. “He told me directly. And my relative runs a small shop at the bazaar—every holiday, they had to hand over 10% of profits to the ‘Golden-Faced Tiger’ there.”

“Last December,” Yan leaned in, “the Tiger himself vanished without a trace.”

Hearing this concrete example, Wu hissed in shock. “This must be something huge!”

“Exactly!” Yan nodded. “That’s why I made an excuse to come back here. I’m not going near that place again.”

Xiao Chen had been listening intently, intrigued by the rumors of missing Golden Core cultivators. He’d heard similar whispers before, but now a familiar name caught his attention. Though he didn’t know the Golden-Faced Tiger personally, his gut told him this was the same bandit who’d once extorted him. After all, there were only so many bullies powerful enough to run rampant.

Rumors often exaggerated, twisting facts beyond recognition. Xiao Chen dismissed the warnings about missing cultivators and focused on finishing his meal. Later, he rested at an inn across the street and departed for Tingtao Sea the next morning.

“Huh? Why’s there fog here?”

Midway, Xiao Chen noticed thick white mist ahead. Checking his sea chart, he found this area had been marked safe four months ago.

This was already his third encounter with Yin Spirit Calamity—a sign that another relic was about to open somewhere in the Mercy Sea Domain.

“I wonder if Tingtao Sea has reliable intelligence sources,” he mused. “If so, I might check it out later.”

He noted it down but didn’t rush. His priority was gathering the remaining Spirit Herbs. Everything else would wait until after the auction.

“Good thing I left extra travel time to handle emergencies,” he thought.

Avoiding the Yin Spirit Calamity, he encountered no further issues. Sixteen days later, on the afternoon of March 14th, Xiao Chen reached Tingtao Sea.

To ensure the success of this major auction—three years in the making—Yun Tao Sword Hut and the Feiye Merchant Guild had made extensive arrangements. Since New Year’s, red notices had been posted everywhere in inhabited areas of Tingtao Sea.

Xiao Chen easily spotted one. The top listed several well-known auction items: no fewer than fourth-grade Talismans Treasures, Dao Crystals, and a mysterious Fourth Stage spirit pill. Many items were only half-revealed, like the Talismans Treasure’s defensive properties, to pique curiosity.

With so many Spirit Herbs available, cultivators would inevitably buy things they hadn’t planned to. Naturally, there were legacy cultivation manuals too, but Xiao Chen paid them no mind.

His eyes shifted to the bottom half of the notice, where a simple map outlined Tingtao Sea. The central Tinglang Island was highlighted.

“Not holding it at Tingtao Island itself, but a nearby satellite island,” he realized. Clever—they didn’t want to scare off solitary cultivators. While such events primarily targeted major sects, the extra attendees boosted the atmosphere.

Guided by the ubiquitous notices, Xiao Chen found Tinglang Island without trouble. The oval-shaped landmass stretched over 300 kilometers long and 250 kilometers wide. At some point, its mountains, rivers, lakes, and beaches had been flattened into a uniform plain.

Massive construction followed. From above, Xiao Chen saw orderly streets and a central plaza. The rest was filled with buildings of varying sizes. The inner ring housed shops, while the outer ring featured inns with diverse signs.

Thanks to the blank slate, Tinglang Island’s layout was nearly perfect, with strict regulations on building height and roof styles. From afar, it resembled a masterpiece.

Lucky for them, this was a cultivation world—constructing such a grand project would’ve taken centuries without cultivators’ help.

Notably, Xiao Chen observed no Skyflight Sealing Formation on the island, nor any large-scale formations. The few flickers of spiritual light he saw came from small defensive formations in the inns. This matched the organizers’ intent—to make attendees feel safe.

Indeed, cultivators arriving respected the unspoken rule. No one flew recklessly overhead, instead landing quietly at the island’s edge and walking inward. Xiao Chen followed the crowd without drawing attention.

Due to the Yin Spirit Calamity delay, only three days remained until the auction. His first stop was the auction hall.

“Apologies, Fellow Cultivator,” a golden-core female cultivator at the entrance politely said. “The auction starts on the 18th. It’s still preparing.”

“If you wish to submit items for auction, please visit the Treasure Appraisal Pavilion to the right. Entry to the hall is currently restricted. Thank you for your understanding.”

The golden-core cultivator was exceptionally courteous. However, Xiao Chen noticed a Foundation Building cultivator trying to enter the hall, only to be blocked by guards.

“Senior, please come upstairs!”

A servant led Xiao Chen to a second-floor private chamber, where an appraiser awaited.

“I’m Senior Appraiser Zhao of the Feiye Merchant Guild,” the man bowed. “How may I assist you?”

Xiao Chen retrieved the Dual-Origin Spirit Earth from his Han Hai Ring. “Start with this.”

Zhao donned ice-silk gloves and carefully lifted the jade box’s lid.

…

“Senior, please wait a moment while I fetch my master.”

Zhao bowed deeply before hurrying out for help.

As a senior appraiser, he could handle most third-stage items. Dealing with solitary cultivators was usually straightforward.

But who could’ve predicted Xiao Chen would immediately present a fourth-stage Spirit Herb? This was way beyond his expertise!

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end