Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

By this time, the sky had darkened, with a clear moon and sparse stars.

Riding the moonlight, Chen Li flew on his journey, pocketing a sense of fortunate survival and fervor, as well as a hint of caution. By the time he reached the mountain gate, it was nearly midnight, yet he felt no trace of fatigue.

Back in his cave dwelling, another round of bustle unfolded.

Having dealt with his wives and concubines,

Chen Li excused himself to cultivate for a while and first went to the basement to empty the bones of the second-order demon beasts from his storage bag. Then he headed to the quiet room to carefully organize his loot from the trip.

The flying sword of Ke Xian was dark red in color, cold and heavy to the touch. It was intricately inscribed with numerous talismanic arrays, and an invisible sharpness seemed to linger around the blade. Mere proximity felt like facing a sharp edge, causing the skin to sting painfully.

"This is probably a second-order top-grade flying sword," Chen Li speculated after some study.

Having never seen a second-order top-grade flying sword, not even a mid-grade one, he could only make a rough guess.

"If it really is top-grade, this flying sword alone could be worth thirty to forty top-grade Spirit Stones."

Due to their scarcity, the higher the grade of a Magic Artifact, the more absurd the price. Even within the second-order Magic Artifacts, the value between a second-order inferior and a second-order top-grade could differ by dozens or even a hundred times. It was simply outrageous.

He picked up the flying sword and began to refine it.

With a hum, the flying sword seemed to come alive and levitated into the air.

Controlling the flying sword, it darted around the small room like a fish swimming, rapidly marking the rock walls with deep sword Qi slashes.

"It truly is a formidable weapon; it’s a pity it’s doomed to avoid the light."

This artifact was too conspicuous, and now that the Returning True Sect had an alliance through marriage, there were individuals from the Hongshan Sect within its ranks.

"I’ll have to take a trip to the Artefact Sect’s White Stone City someday and auction off this hot property, turning the illicit into something clean," Chen Li silently contemplated.

With that thought, he put away the flying sword.

Next, he refined two storage bags.

One was a three-directional storage bag, and the other was a ten-directional storage bag.

"This saves me the trouble of buying one," Chen Li remarked with a slight smile on his face.

He took out everything from inside and placed it all on the table to count.

In terms of Spirit Stones, there were a total of about 25 top-grade Spirit Stones.

"It seems that even a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator doesn’t have much spare change."

This amount was even less than what he had right after his own Foundation Establishment.

Chen Li continued the inventory.

A second-order mid-grade flying sword, also unable to see the light, had to be sold.

A set of second-order inferior robes, sadly being the standard issue of the Hongshan Sect for the Foundation Establishment stage, with sect insignia embroidered on them, and likely unsellable—a complete waste!

Eighteen bottles of various pills, with the most abundant being a kind known as the Return Yuan Elixir, available in Returning True Sect’s pharmacy and used for mid-Foundation Establishment cultivation—one bottle costing eight mid-grade Spirit Stones.

Fifteen second-order talismans, their uses unknown to him, as he didn’t recognize a single one. He planned to buy a book on second-order talismans at the scripture tower sometime in the future. Not to study drawing them, but at least to broaden his knowledge.

There was also a broken cauldron without any inscribed arrays, its purpose unknown.

Devoid of any Spiritual Energy and showing no signs of the supernatural, it looked like an ordinary object but was extremely heavy. A palm-sized item weighed several hundred pounds.

Chen Li tried to infuse it with Spiritual Power but found it was like a clay ox entering the sea with no response whatsoever.

He guessed it was probably a high-level Magic Artifact, perhaps even a Golden Core treasure, that had been damaged.

Even though it was now mostly useless, its material alone should be worth a fair amount of money.

Beyond that, there were various other bits and bobs.

All kinds of living supplies, medicinal herbs, Artifact Refining materials—even a melange of assorted goods, seemingly everything was loaded into it.

Probably enough to sell for some money.

The unexpected haul could be said to have relieved Chen Li’s pressing financial concerns.

He was notably more comfortable financially all of a sudden.

"Phew, I don’t have to worry about money for the next few years!" After organizing everything, Chen Li let out a sigh of relief, feeling utterly content.

All in all, counting the second-order demon beast, he roughly estimated the haul from this outing to be close to a hundred top-grade Spirit Stones—a significant windfall indeed.

Every cultivator carried most of their wealth with them, the higher their cultivation, the more so. Just one successful plundering could amount to the fortune accumulated over a cultivator’s lifetime.

"But now... it’s all mine."

"Unfortunately, there’s no Seven Emotions Burning Skill..."

Chen Li felt a slight regret, but he happily tucked everything away and went back to his room to rest.

And there, another battle awaited.

...

In the days that followed, everything seemed calm and tranquil.

The death of Ke Xian from the Hongshan Sect did not cause the slightest ripple in the Returning True Sect.

Out of caution, Chen Li did not sell the second-order demon beast meat right away and often went out to keep busy. After a peaceful month, he felt there was no longer any risk.

Only then did he gradually start to sell off the goods.

The materials like demon beast bones were still sold to Zhou Yuanpeng.

He made about one and a half top-grade Spirit Stones from the sale.

Although the demon beast this time was bigger than the one from Green River District, the quality of the materials was not as high, resulting in a lower price than before.

As for the second-order demon beast meat,

This time Chen Li did not sell it to the butcher’s shop but returned to his original line of work, planning to sell the meat himself gradually.

The eighty percent butcher’s shop buying price was simply too exorbitant.

A total of thirty thousand pounds of meat had a difference of about one top-grade Spirit Stone from top to bottom.

This was no small sum of money, as it would take him nearly five hundred Golden Light Body Protection Talismans to earn that much, and he preferred to exert a bit of effort and sell it slowly in his spare time.

As Luoluo City was the only Cultivation City in the Returning True realm, it was teeming with Loose Cultivators, and Qi Cultivation late-stagers were abundant.

Their spending power was much greater than that of Green River District.

Even second-order demon beast meat priced at two low-grade Spirit Stones per pound was still fervently sought after.

Chen Li started selling from dawn each day until he packed up around noon, selling as much as five thousand jin on busy days and at least three thousand on slower ones.

There were also attempted robberies during this period.

Chen Li himself was quite sly; he dressed in ordinary robes and didn’t let out a hint of his Foundation Establishment aura, collecting a substantial amount of money every day, virtually inviting crime, like a fisherman baiting hooks for the law.

In the first few days, he indeed attracted quite a number of desperadoes.

Every time he packed up for the day, he would notice quite a few sneaky glances.

For these short-sighted ones who delivered themselves to his doorstep, he gladly welcomed them, making a tidy profit on top of selling meat.

All of them were vicious criminals with blood on their hands.

Killing them, he didn’t feel a bit of guilt.

Though they were all poor ghosts, little profits add up, and it was an income nonetheless.

Unfortunately, this kind of easy money soon stopped coming.

By the fifth day of selling meat, it had almost completely ceased.

Even going so far as changing his appearance and attire did not help Chen Li.

Clearly, they had all learned their lessons, making the Loose Cultivator’s market a lot more orderly.

"Sigh, it’s not that easy to deceive them anymore!" Noting the respectful or curious glances from Loose Cultivators passing by the market, Chen Li felt disappointed.

...

Another month passed.

"Streaming Light Sword, a Second-Order Mid-grade flying sword that’s ninety percent new, with some slight wear and tear that does not affect usage... the starting bid is five Top-grade Spirit Stones!"

In the Artefact Sect, in the White Stone City auction house, bids rang out one after another, creating a lively atmosphere.

Before long, it was sold for a price of twelve Top-grade Spirit Stones.

...

"Second-Order Inferior Array, Yin-Yang Five Elements Gathering Spirit Array, featuring six functions: Gathering Spirit, Spring-like, Defense, Silence, Illusion, and Warding off Evil.

The maximum range this array can cover is up to a hundred acres, and it can be used relying on a Spirit Vein. The daily consumption of Spirit Stones is low; one Top-grade Spirit Stone can last up to three years.

In terms of defense, when activated, even if a Foundation Establishment late-stage practitioner attacks with a Top-grade Magic Artifact, it can withstand for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, of course, this would consume additional Spirit Stones..."

The auction host promoted energetically.

"The starting bid is fifteen Top-grade Spirit Stones!"

"Sixteen!"

"Eighteen!"

...

Chen Li called out two bids from within his private room.

Eventually, he took it down nonchalantly for twenty-one Top-grade Spirit Stones.

He had been in White Stone City for about ten days, gradually selling off various small items in his possession. Today was the Artefact Sect’s monthly large-scale auction, and his two flying swords were also being auctioned off today.

...

Then Chen Li decisively took down a Second-Order Mid-grade Flying Sword, the Silver Frost Sword, and a Second-Order Mid-grade robe, the Water Moon Robe with a built-in Water Elemental Cover, for fifteen and twenty-three Top-grade Spirit Stones, respectively.

Unfortunately, there were no Second-Order Top-grade swords in this auction.

That was what he wanted the most.

The last battle with a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator made him realize that the Green Jade Sword’s power was somewhat lacking. If he had had a Second-Order Top-grade sword then, the fight would not have been so perilous.

With one strike, he could have cut off the hand...

However, such Second-Order Top-grade swords were hard to come by.

Even in the commercially thriving White Stone City, they were not common.

It was a matter of luck.

Before long, the auction turned to Chen Li’s Second-Order Top-grade Flying Sword.

"Flying Rainbow Sword, a Second-Hand Second-Order Top-grade flying sword, forged from Gengjin metal, Spirit Iron, and bones of a Third-Order Demon Beast using earth fire. It features extreme speed, sharpness, and durability, moving as fast as light and lightning when deployed... The starting bid is thirty Top-grade Spirit Stones, with each increment not less than one Top-grade Spirit Stone."

"It’s finally here!" Even Chen Li couldn’t stay calm, he straightened his body subconsciously.

However, just as he was preparing to bid.

An angry voice from the next private room called out, "Wait, this is Brother Ke’s Magic Artifact, why is it here?"

No way, such bad luck!

Chen Li’s heart skipped a beat, not expecting that someone from the Hongshan Sect had come today, and even worse, recognized the item.

Hongshan Sect and Artefact Sect were not neighbors, being two or three thousand li apart.

He had truly been careless!

The auction host, clearly experienced in such matters, said calmly, "Please stay your anger, Fellow Daoist. This Magic Artifact was entrusted to our auction house for sale by a client. Our auction house does business openly, and purchases are at will; we never inquire about the origins of the items. As for client information, I must apologize as our reputation prevents us from disclosing it."

Being recognized for stolen goods at an auction was all too common, nothing to be surprised about.

Among those who come here to consign items for auction, at least three or four out of ten are stolen goods!

"Very well, does the Artefact Sect not fear offending the Hongshan Sect?"

"You need not worry about that, Fellow Daoist. On this occasion, I would like to make an announcement to all Fellow Daoists here: our sect will soon welcome a Golden Core Ancestor from the Huoyun Sect to become our Sect Leader."

"Boom!"

As the words dropped,

The entire auction house burst into a clamor, and the Hongshan Sect cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage was wholly lost for words.

The Huoyun Sect was a Nascent Soul great sect located near the central lands.

To the west’s Golden Core sects, it was a behemoth that inspired awe.

Chen Li’s heart immediately settled a bit:

"I didn’t expect that the Artefact Sect was so closely connected to the Huoyun Sect. No wonder Bai Yuqing said the Artefact Sect was akin to a branch of the Huoyun Sect. It seems the rumors are true, and indeed it is so."