https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-556-The-Complete-Heavenly-Fire-Chart-Refining-the-Ziyang-Spirit-Flame/12938159/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-558-New-Grudges-and-Old-Grievances/12938161/
Chapter 557: Strange Behavior
Chapter 557: Strange Behavior
"I never thought that refining the Ziyang Spirit Flame would require external assistance."
Fortunately, the Purple Golden Fire Lotus, although a treasure for refining various high-grade fire-attributed pills, wasn't an extremely rare item.
I might be able to find it at the Spirit Herb Pavilion."
At this moment, Chu Ning had the intention to go directly to the Spirit Herb Pavilion.
However, after just viewing the Heavenly Fire Chart, going straight to the Spirit Herb Pavilion to search for the Purple Golden Fire Lotus seemed a bit too obvious.
He suppressed this thought.
Although the Heaven's First Sect had promised many cultivators before the trading event that they wouldn't interfere with the transactions during the event and wouldn't leak any information, Chu Ning didn't believe such words at all.
Even if the Heaven's First Sect didn't leak information, they would surely keep a record of it themselves.
They would naturally analyze and judge some special situations.
So, at this moment, Chu Ning remained cautious and didn't leave directly. Instead, he once again started browsing through the jade slips.
Chu Ning first looked at the ancient pill formulas.
After glancing through the general introductions, Chu Ning had a rough idea.
These pill formulas were quite similar to the ancient pill formulas he had obtained in the North Han Continent.
Due to the loss of various spirit herbs and refining techniques, these ancient formulas had become useless.
However, the pill formulas here were much more advanced than the ones Chu Ning had seen in the North Han Continent.
These formulas might not be of much use to other cultivators.
But Chu Ning's pill refining skills were far beyond ordinary cultivators, and with his Primordial Essence Spirit Body and his previous research and improvements on numerous pill formulas, these formulas held considerable value for Chu Ning at this moment.
So, he chose several formulas of great interest for further study.
Among them, he selected a few more fire-attributed pill formulas.
And within one of these formulas, he indeed discovered the spirit herb Purple Golden Fire Lotus.
After that, Chu Ning decided to take a look at the Spirit Herb Guide as well.
After all, it was a guide to numerous spirit herbs from ancient times, and Chu Ning wanted to learn more, which might be useful later.
As for some cultivation techniques and spell manuals, just as Chu Ning understood, although there were some of relatively high levels, most were incomplete.
They held little significance for Chu Ning, and he didn't want to waste his spirit stones on them.
After browsing through the various scrolls, when Chu Ning took the jade token and returned it to the middle-aged female cultivator, she scanned it and then smiled at him, saying, "Senior, you've spent a total of 187,000 low-grade spirit stones on various manuals."
Even though Chu Ning had prepared himself to some extent, knowing that the Heavenly Fire Chart alone had cost him 50,000 low-grade spirit stones, his face still twitched slightly upon hearing the amount.
He felt that this place was most likely set up by the Heaven's First Sect for people like him who wanted to try their luck.
The middle-aged female cultivator noticed Chu Ning's slightly displeased expression, but her smile remained unchanged.
"Senior, would you like to pay with spirit stones or treasures? The Script Pavilion is the only place where you can use spirit stones for transactions during the first two days of the trading event."
"Spirit stones!"
Chu Ning exhaled lightly and then took out over a thousand medium-grade spirit stones from his Spirit Bag and handed them to her.
Only then did he turn and head towards the Spirit Herb Pavilion.
With his previous experience of obtaining forging materials, Chu Ning now knew the way.
In a small trading room, facing a white-haired Golden Core elder, Chu Ning took out a blank jade slip and directly recorded all the spirit herbs mentioned in the pill formula he had seen earlier, then handed it to the elder.
The white-haired elder took the jade slip and gave it a look, then shook his head and said, "Senior, most of the materials you've provided are ancient spirit herbs, many of which have already gone extinct.
We only have one or two of them here."
"Which ones do you have?" Chu Ning asked, feigning a frown.
The white-haired elder thought for a moment and then replied, "Only the Purple Golden Fire Lotus and Core Earth Flame Grass."
Upon hearing that they indeed had the Purple Golden Fire Lotus, Chu Ning felt relieved.
However, his brows furrowed even tighter.
"Only two types? That's fine. Bring out all the Purple Golden Fire Chains and Core Earth Flame Grass you have here."
Hearing Chu Ning's words, the white-haired elder was slightly taken aback.
In fact, he was very familiar with the pill formula Chu Ning had presented.
There were over ten types of spirit herbs mentioned in it, and while the Purple Golden Fire Lotus and Core Earth Flame Grass were relatively important, they were far from sufficient for refining the pill.
Moreover, a single Purple Golden Fire Lotus had multiple petals, enough to refine several batches of pills.
He couldn't quite understand why Chu Ning would ask for so many at once.
"Senior, we have five stalks of Core Earth Flame Grass and ten Purple Golden Fire Lotuses.
Are you sure you want all of them?"
"Bring them all out!" Chu Ning was delighted to hear that there were ten Purple Golden Fire Lotuses, wishing they would be brought to him immediately.
His tone couldn't help but reveal a hint of impatience.
"Why, are you worried that I can't afford it?"
The white-haired elder quickly responded, "Senior, you're joking. I'll get them for you right away."
Just like when Chu Ning had obtained several forging materials earlier, the items were quickly transported to him through a small teleportation formation.
Chu Ning took a look and, after confirming there were no issues, continued, "Do you have a Fetus Deity Tree or any other spirit herbs that strengthen the Nascent Soul and Divine Sense?"
"We don't have the Fetus Deity Tree for the time being, but we do have Wisdom Spirit Grass, which can help strengthen the Divine Sense of Nascent Soul-stage cultivators."
Hearing that even Unity City didn't have a Fetus Deity Tree, Chu Ning shook his head inwardly.
Truly valuable treasures that greatly benefit Nascent Soul cultivators were unlikely to be offered by any of the nine major sects.
It remained to be seen if there would be better items at the final auction.
Fortunately, Chu Ning still had a good amount of the Fetus Deity Tree obtained from Cheng Qingmao, which could be used for a long time.
At this moment, he decided to acquire some more Wisdom Spirit Grass.
He then purchased some ice-attributed Spirit Fruits for White Spirit's cultivation.
Additionally, he bought some Spirit Herbs for his own use, which would be used to refine higher-level Spirit Pills.
With a large quantity of high-quality pills in his possession, these finished products were far more valuable than ordinary Spirit Herbs and Forging Materials.
So, he chose to continue trading with pills.
The items he needed were indeed numerous, but after taking a few more bottles of pills, he had enough.
Having obtained what he wanted, Chu Ning did not linger there any longer.
In total, he had spent almost half a day, and he decided to make another round to the areas for trading Forging Materials and Magic Treasures.
He wanted to see if there were any new arrivals of the materials he needed.
To Chu Ning's surprise, he noticed that Ma Shaonine was still in front of the pavilion, once again approaching solitary cultivators for inquiries.
At this moment, Ma Shaonine approached a black-robed Great Han.
The man's face was cold and stern, even more intimidating than Chu Ning's appearance.
His cultivation base was evidently at the Mid-stage Nascent Soul.
Chu Ning vaguely heard Ma Shaonine's conversation, which seemed to be similar to what he had just said.
However, before he could finish his sentence, the black-robed Great Han coldly interrupted,
"Scram!"
Ma Shaonine's expression froze, as if he wanted to say something more.
The black-robed Great Han glanced at him, his tone even more impatient.
"I said, scram. Can't you hear me?"
Despite being rejected by many others, Ma Shaonine had maintained a calm demeanor, but now his face turned unpleasant.
He glared at the black-robed Great Han, and a light 'hum' escaped his nose.
In the end, he left with an unhappy expression.
The black-robed Great Han, on the other hand, maintained his cold demeanor without showing much emotional fluctuation.
Then, he walked towards Chu Ning.
At this moment, Chu Ning couldn't help but give the black-robed Great Han a closer look.
Of course, he wasn't the only one observing.
The other cultivators had also noticed the black-robed Great Han's impoliteness towards Ma Shaonine, and many of them were now staring at him.
What surprised Chu Ning was that the black-robed Great Han seemed oblivious to these gazes.
However, when his eyes casually met Chu Ning's, there was a hint of strangeness in his gaze.
As they approached each other, the black-robed Great Han even stopped when they were about ten feet apart, his eyes fixed on Chu Ning.
Feeling the chill in the man's gaze, Chu Ning's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"This person's appearance is so unfamiliar, and I've never met him before. Why does he look at me with such hostility?
Could it be that he has used a secret technique like Illusionary Transformation to change his appearance?
Even so, he shouldn't be able to recognize me. What does this gaze mean?"
As Chu Ning pondered, he met the man's gaze, his eyes revealing a hint of displeasure to express his dissatisfaction.
What surprised Chu Ning even more was that when the black-robed Great Han saw his expression, a trace of ridicule appeared in his eyes.
This gaze made Chu Ning's heart sink slightly.
"This person's gaze is strange; it makes me feel like he has seen through me.
Could he have seen through my Illusionary Transformation?"
Just as Chu Ning was thinking this, the black-robed Great Han withdrew his gaze.
Then, without looking at Chu Ning, he continued walking forward on his own.
Chu Ning became vigilant and passed by him.
The black-robed Great Han didn't show any further unusual behavior.
Chu Ning paid more attention and noticed that the direction the man was heading seemed to be towards the Script Pavilion.
"This person is suspicious! It's very likely that he has indeed seen through my disguise.
Is he simply curious, or does he know me?"
Chu Ning's mind was filled with doubts, and he subconsciously kept recalling and thinking.
He searched for any familiar aspects of the man but couldn't find any clues.
Chu Ning could only remain vigilant in his heart.
As he looked around, he noticed that Ma Shaonine had already left, perhaps having been affected by the black-robed Great Han.
"There are too many Nascent Soul Cultivators here, especially several Late-stage Nascent Soul Cultivators from Starfeather Sect and Sky Vault Palace.
This place is indeed dangerous, and I should leave as soon as possible."
The black-robed Great Han's strange behavior made Chu Ning feel uncomfortable.
As he thought about it, his footsteps quickened.
Upon re-entering the pavilion, Chu Ning indeed obtained another Forging Material.
This time, it was the material for crafting the Beast Spirit Ring.
After exchanging this material, Chu Ning left directly and returned to the courtyard where he was staying.
For the next two days, Chu Ning continued to visit the trading areas for Forging and Alchemy Materials once every half-day.
He spent most of his time in the courtyard.
To Chu Ning's surprise, the materials available were far more abundant than he had imagined.
Although he couldn't gather all the materials needed for the Thunder Fire Staff, he managed to collect the materials for the Beast Spirit Ring within a few days.
With this, his trip could be considered a great success.
So, when the three-day specialized trading period ended and the official auction began in the city, Chu Ning directly left the city.
Initially, Chu Ning had planned to participate in the auction to see if there were any treasures he could use.
However, after encountering the black-robed Great Han, Chu Ning had a feeling that something unpleasant might happen, so he changed his mind.
He also noticed that many cultivators were taking this opportunity to leave, so he decided to depart from the city as well.
(End of Chapter)
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