Chapter 114: Zhang Tianling’s Tower

Xu Xuan consulted briefly with the lingering soul from his past life, who reluctantly agreed. Such matters always involved an element of chance; if they managed to find a treasure, the cost of the soul’s fortnight-long slumber would be justified. But if the entire free market was filled with worthless junk, the price would be too high.

Yet, it was precisely because of such uncertain outcomes that hope and eagerness to try arose.

Given the price of employing this soul technique, Xu Xuan resolved to attempt it once more before leaving Huanglong City.

His purpose for coming to Huanglong City was clear—he knew exactly who held the reins of power. More importantly, once the lingering soul fell into slumber, Xu Xuan would lose the ability to store treasures within the Memory Star Sea, making matters more inconvenient.

After wandering around the free market, Xu Xuan, at his Qi Refining stage, found he lacked the discerning eye to pick out truly valuable items.

Of course, the prices for materials there were somewhat cheaper than in larger shops.

Xu Xuan spent half an hour purchasing a large quantity of spiritual materials, many of which were primarily fire-elemental in nature.

These fire-elemental materials would suffice for his use for some time, though their grades were generally low.

Seeing this, Xu Xuan asked the youth guiding him to take him to several shops in the city. Those shops had a greater quantity of materials, allowing him to select some of higher grade.

He bought quite a few second-grade fire-elemental materials, his spirit stones flowing out in a steady stream, yet he felt no remorse.

Second-grade materials were considered precious in the Huanglong region, though not overwhelmingly so. Out of caution, Xu Xuan spread his purchases across several shops.

Along the way, the youth named Xiaofei secretly marveled at this wealthy guest.

Besides materials, Xu Xuan also bought some fire-elemental spiritual pills, which would aid in the enhancement of his primordial power.

Two hours later, having sufficiently stocked up on materials, Xu Xuan hoped to try his luck for some third-grade materials.

Thinking of the Red Serpent Fruit, he understood the potency of third-grade materials; acquiring more third-grade fire-elemental materials could significantly improve the quality of the true fire generated by his True Fire Furnace, greatly accelerating his cultivation.

However, third-grade materials were no small matter even in Huanglong City. Xu Xuan wasn’t entirely confident in the youth guiding him, so prudently postponed this matter.

Next, Xu Xuan intended to focus on the most important task of his trip to Huanglong City.

“Xiaofei, which are the largest spiritual material or medicine shops in Huanglong City?” Xu Xuan asked casually.

“Master Xu, I recommend ‘Zhang Tian Spiritual Tower.’ It’s a comprehensive shop selling and buying all kinds of spiritual materials, as well as spiritual pills and jade, with a good reputation—honest and fair. Also, the ‘Huanglong Pavilion’ owned by the Dongfang family is comparable in scale, but I wouldn’t recommend going there,” Xiaofei replied respectfully but firmly.

“Oh? Why not the Huanglong Pavilion?” Xu Xuan asked with mild curiosity.

The youth glanced around cautiously, lowering his voice. “Because the Dongfang family behind the Huanglong Pavilion is notorious. Their shop frequently abuses their market position and uses unscrupulous means. Some cultivators with lower strength have suffered losses there.”

The Dongfang family?

Upon hearing those words, a flicker of anger rose within Xu Xuan’s heart. His father’s leg injury had been inflicted by Dongfang Ba, the young master of that family.

His quest in Huanglong City for the “Three-Spirit Deer Blood” was precisely to heal his father’s leg. Xu Xuan had not forgotten this causality.

In a short while, Xiaofei brought Xu Xuan to the Zhang Tian Spiritual Tower—a five-story spiritual building constructed entirely from pale jade-green spiritual wood, tall and imposing, exuding a restrained classical elegance.

Xu Xuan stopped and said to Xiaofei, “Alright, I have a good grasp of Huanglong City now. Thank you for your guidance. Here are some spirit stones as an extra reward.”

Xiaofei accepted the stones with joy, thanking him repeatedly before adding, “The Zhang family behind the Zhang Tian Spiritual Tower is trustworthy; you can rest assured.”

Xu Xuan nodded and entered the tower, immediately sensing the gentle, majestic spiritual energy inside—very comfortable.

Speaking of the Zhang family, Xu Xuan had been to their spiritual material shop in Pinghua Town several times and had some impression of them. He hadn’t expected that this grand Zhang Tian Spiritual Tower was operated by the same family.

Of course, in scale, this tower was about ten times larger than the shop in town.

The first floor alone had several counters dedicated to spiritual materials, spiritual pills, and spiritual jade stones.

There were many cultivators moving about on the first floor, buying and selling, creating a lively atmosphere.

Xu Xuan wandered around and found most items were common spiritual materials and pills, which he had already sufficiently stocked from the free market and other shops.

He then went up to the second floor, where the grade and quality of materials and pills noticeably improved, with many second-grade items visible.

However, the “Three-Spirit Deer Blood” he sought was at least a third-grade material, extremely rare and hard to find.

Ascending further to the third floor, cultivators were scarce. Xu Xuan briefly scanned the three nearby cultivators, all at least at the seventh layer of Qi Refining, with one even a Spirit Refining stage immortal master.

Glancing over the pill labels behind the counters, he saw mostly second-grade pills and a few third-grade ones.

As Xu Xuan hesitated, an elderly man in a Taoist robe smiled and asked, “Young friend, what do you need?”

“Third-grade fire-elemental spiritual pills or materials,” Xu Xuan replied calmly.

“Third-grade?” The elderly man’s eyes flickered with surprise.

It was known that third-grade spiritual materials or pills, even in Huanglong City, were extremely precious and rare. Even a large shop like Zhang Tian Spiritual Tower had few of them, especially with the specified elemental affinity.

“Are you sure about third-grade?” the elderly man sized up Xu Xuan, who was at the fifth layer of Qi Refining, the lowest cultivation level among those on the third floor.

“Yes,” Xu Xuan nodded.

The elderly man showed no disdain or arrogance, only a gentle smile. “We did acquire some fire-elemental third-grade materials just a few days ago from a Qi Refining immortal master, but those were quickly taken by the family’s higher-ups. As for third-grade pills, we have one called the ‘Poison Fire Tri-Sun Pill,’ which is not purely fire-elemental. Besides fire, it contains potent poison. Even a Spirit Refining immortal master could die from taking it.”

Poison Fire Tri-Sun Pill!

Xu Xuan’s heart stirred. He knew its medicinal properties: strong fire-elemental power paired with terrifying poison. Even with his newly forged bronze body, he might not withstand it.

Of course, given its potency, it might become a great help when he later attempted to break into the Spirit Refining stage.

“Price?” Xu Xuan suppressed his excitement, asking with an unperturbed tone.

“Are you serious?” The elderly man was taken aback, incredulous.

Setting aside the value, could a Qi Refining cultivator even endure the Poison Fire Tri-Sun Pill?

Xu Xuan nodded lightly. “I’ve heard your shop has a good reputation, honest and fair. Give me a fair price.”

“Heh heh, on that you can rest assured. I’ll give you a fair price, but I doubt you could afford it even if you sold everything you own,” the elderly man teased, as if bored and looking for amusement.

“Go ahead, tell me,” Xu Xuan understood his attitude.

“For other Spirit Refining immortal masters, I sell it for one million spirit yuan coins, but since you seem sincere, I’ll give you a base price: eight hundred thousand spirit yuan coins,” the man smiled, staring at Xu Xuan’s face, thinking this price would scare him off.

Eight hundred thousand spirit yuan coins—equivalent to eight thousand substandard spirit stones. For an ordinary Qi Refining immortal master, this was an unattainable sum; even for Spirit Refining masters, it was staggering.

Yet, to the elderly man’s disappointment, Xu Xuan’s expression remained calm as he simply said, “Agreed.”

From his experience and memory, this was indeed a fair price.

Third-grade spiritual pills were said to be crafted only by master-level alchemists; perhaps this pill wasn’t even made in Huanglong City.

“You’re not joking? You really want to buy it?” the elderly man grew restless, somewhat annoyed.

“Do you think I’m joking?” Xu Xuan slowly produced a pouch and placed it on the counter.

Opening it revealed eighty spirit stones, shimmering with a clarity surpassing substandard stones. The elderly man inhaled sharply. “These are… standard-grade spirit stones!”

The most common currency circulating in Huanglong City was substandard spirit stones or smaller spirit yuan coins. Standard-grade spirit stones were rarely used in transactions.

These lower-grade spirit stones came from the storage pouch of the Heart-Lake Secret Chamber—only an expert at the Core Formation stage could afford such an outlay.

And this single Poison Fire Tri-Sun Pill had already consumed one-fifth of the stones in that pouch; previous purchases of materials and pills had also used up another fifth.

“Are you going to back out?” Xu Xuan asked lightly, eyes fixed on the elderly man.

Though Zhang Tian Spiritual Tower was reputable and unlikely to ruin its name over one pill, Xu Xuan knew this was still a risk.

However, this transaction was only the first step—a test. If even this deal could not be completed smoothly, how could he hope to obtain the even rarer Three-Spirit Deer Blood?

The elderly man took a deep breath, composed himself, and glanced meaningfully at Xu Xuan. “Rest assured, young brother, Zhang Tian Spiritual Tower guarantees honesty and fairness… the deal is done!”

Clearly, he sensed Xu Xuan’s hesitation, and the invisible pressure emanating from him far exceeded that of a Qi Refining immortal master.

The elderly man was actually a Spirit Refining immortal master!

Xu Xuan was surprised but also somewhat relieved. So far, his gamble seemed to have paid off.

Soon, the elderly man produced a key, unlocked a black iron cabinet, and took out a crimson wooden box. “Please inspect.”

Xu Xuan opened the box to find, nestled in a fire-colored crystal slot, a crimson-black pill about the size of a thumb—the Poison Fire Tri-Sun Pill.

He swiftly stored it in his storage pouch, then absorbed it into the Star Sea, nodding slightly.

“If you’re concerned for your safety, for a certain sum of spirit stones, Zhang Tian Spiritual Tower can dispatch strong escorts to accompany you back,” the elderly man said with a half-smile.

“No need,” Xu Xuan hesitated briefly, then said deliberately, “I still wish to find a rare third-grade material.”

“Oh?” The elderly man’s eyes brightened. “Tell me, our shop has strong connections and extensive sources.”

“Three-Spirit Deer Blood.”