Chapter 133: The Old Fresh Harvest Shop

"Over there, over there, and one more in the corner to the lower left... three spots!"

Xu Xuan instantly pinpointed the locations of the treasures. In this heightened state of perception, any decent artifact stood out as clearly as a glowing pearl in the pitch-black night. Because time was extremely limited, Xu Xuan could only lock onto the three brightest "glowing pearls."

"I am going into a deep slumber now..." the weak voice of his past life's lingering soul echoed in his mind, and the sea of stars representing his emerging memories abruptly vanished.

At the moment he exerted that soul technique, the souls of all the cultivators in this free market fell into a brief, frozen state.

"Huh? What just happened?"

Zhang Feng felt a strange sensation, as if he had blanked out for no reason, though he could not find the words to describe it. The middle-aged man with a dark face who was guarding him closely shook his head and murmured, "How strange."

Xu Xuan, having already confirmed the locations of the three "glowing pearls," smiled at Zhang Feng and said, "I heard that one can occasionally find treasures here. I'll try my luck today..."

Hearing this, Zhang Feng became interested and began browsing the market.

Xu Xuan walked nonchalantly toward the location of the "glowing pearl" closest to him. If he remembered correctly, this one was the dimmest of the three. He soon stopped in front of a stall, his gaze fixed on a spirit sword shimmering with blue light.

"Why, little brother, are you interested in my superior-grade spirit sword? This item requires at least the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement stage to be wielded properly," the white-bearded old man at the stall said indifferently.

Xu Xuan was momentarily stunned. This was actually a spirit artifact, traded by a Spirit Refinement stage master; in this free market, it certainly counted as a treasure.

"Just curious, just looking..." Xu Xuan said with an embarrassed smile as he walked away. The white-bearded old man did not care; he was only testing the waters at the free market and had never expected a mere Qi Refinement practitioner to have the means to purchase such an item.

Leaving the stall, Xu Xuan felt incredibly strange. To think a Spirit Refinement stage master was selling items at a free market—it had made him waste his excitement for nothing.

He had two chances left.

Xu Xuan walked toward the second location and soon stopped in front of a stall run by a fat-faced, large-eared middle-aged man. Seeing that this person was only a Qi Refinement cultivator, he felt slightly relieved.

He casually swept his eyes over a worn-out iron helmet before shifting his gaze to a spirit talisman nearby. "How much for this first-grade spirit talisman?"

"This is a Fireball Talisman, fifteen low-grade spirit stones. If you really want it, little brother, I'll give you a discount: thirteen low-grade spirit stones," the fat-faced man said with a beaming smile.

"Twelve," Xu Xuan countered immediately. The fat-faced man grimaced, saying, "This is a small business, you know!"

"Then I'll go look elsewhere," Xu Xuan said, making as if to leave.

"Wait, little brother, twelve it is..." the fat-faced man sighed.

As Xu Xuan reached out to take the talisman, he touched the worn-out iron helmet nearby and asked curiously, "What is this thing?"

"Heh heh, this is an antique passed down in my family. The material is hard and impenetrable by blades or spears, though it lacks any spiritual essence..." the fat-faced man said, sounding slightly suspicious. "What, are you interested, brother?"

"An antique?" Xu Xuan seemed to take an interest. "I love this sort of thing. The older and more worn it is, the more I like it."

"You don't say, this thing of mine is several hundred years old..." The fat-faced man rambled on with praise before finally saying, "This is a family heirloom, not easily sold. Since we have a connection, fifty low-grade spirit stones."

"Fifty!" Xu Xuan widened his eyes. "That's too steep. How about this: throw in this broken helmet with the talisman, and give me a better price..."

After another round of haggling, Xu Xuan finally secured both for forty low-grade spirit stones!

"Hey, Brother Xu, did you find any treasure? Let me see..." Just then, Zhang Feng walked over, looking curious.

"Just a broken helmet, the material is very hard." Xu Xuan had no choice but to hand it to him.

Zhang Feng took it, examined it, and tapped it with his fingers, exclaiming, "The material of this item is special."

"Let me see..." The dark-faced Spirit Refinement master nearby grew interested. He took the item and searched it with his divine sense for a moment, then was greatly shocked: "The material of this item is far superior to a spirit artifact; it is a damaged treasure artifact, but its spiritual energy has been completely lost, making it look like an ordinary object..."

He immediately sighed: "With the spiritual energy completely gone, I'm afraid no one in Yellow Dragon City can repair it. At most, it can only be sold as scrap material. What a pity, what a pity..."

With that, he returned the item to Xu Xuan.

Xu Xuan was also slightly surprised. A damaged treasure artifact with no spiritual energy left? He had one or two treasure artifacts in his storage bag from his time in the secret realm. This damaged piece held little temptation for him, and he felt a bit disappointed.

However, Zhang Feng and the others, including the dark-faced middle-aged man, looked on with envy, never expecting Xu Xuan to be so lucky.

"No, I have to try my luck too..." Unable to resign themselves, Zhang Feng and his group headed deeper into the market to browse.

Amidst his disappointment, Xu Xuan walked toward the last location in his memory. This time, his gaze fixed on a rough, goose-egg-sized sphere covered in mottled, impure textures.

Following the same method, Xu Xuan purchased the item. Seeing that Zhang Feng and the others were not nearby, he secretly exerted force, squeezing the sphere to test its material.

With one part of his strength, there was no reaction; with three parts, still nothing. When he reached nine parts of his strength, a "crack" sounded, and the sphere shattered into a pile of crumbs.

Those crumbs were actually grains of crystal emitting a soft, crystalline glow!

Xu Xuan focused his gaze, his heart skipping a beat. He thought to himself: "Oh no." Inside this sphere, there should have been a precious, rare jade. Such extraordinary jade often possessed incredible effects and was worth a fortune. But now, he had reached out and crushed it.

However, he suddenly spotted a thumb-sized piece of unpolished jade in the pile of powder. Upon touching it, a strange ripple of spiritual energy seeped into his body.

"So it’s a 'Spirit-Stabilizing Stone,' which is very useful for immortal cultivators to stabilize their inner spiritual energy and facilitate cultivation. Unfortunately, it's useless for a body cultivator like me. Still, I have a gift for Zhang Yuhan now..."

Xu Xuan expressionlessly put the item away. Even though he had "treasure-hunted" in the free market, he felt a faint sense of loss. The previous broken treasure artifact was just a pile of materials, and this Spirit-Stabilizing Stone was much the same. Was it really worth the lingering soul of his past life falling into a half-month slumber?

The group stayed in the free market for a while longer. Zhang Feng said, slightly disappointed, "Let's check out the large shops; I must pick out a satisfactory gift for Yuhan."

As a young master of a prominent family, Zhang Feng visited one shop after another, but none satisfied him.

At one point, a narrow little shop appeared at his side. Standing inside was a humble, hunched old man, and the shop was completely empty. It looked entirely out of place next to the large surrounding stores.

Xu Xuan’s mind stirred, and he was drawn to this small shop. An old, tattered flag hung beside it, bearing four characters: *Xianhe Old Shop*.

"Little brother, I only sell premium goods here, and they are all my family heirlooms." The hunched old man, looking utterly humble, called out to Xu Xuan, who was standing outside the door.

"Oh?"

Xu Xuan walked inside subconsciously, only to realize that Zhang Feng, Fang Gang, and the others behind him showed no reaction at all and remained standing outside the door.

Feeling a bit strange, he entered the narrow, ancient shop and asked, "What kind of family heirlooms?"

"Heh heh, I have twelve family heirlooms in total. Nine of them have already been sold to figures who shook the world. Since we have a connection, I'll let you choose one from the three treasures I have left..."

The hunched old man lifted a hand, and three items shimmering with divine light appeared on the counter: a jet-black flying whip with a flickering dragon shadow that shook the soul; a long, blue-patterned blade with a sharp, bone-chilling edge; and a moon-light secret pearl, whose soft, mysterious glow was breathtaking.

Xu Xuan's gaze was instantly captivated by the three treasures. His intuition told him that any one of these items surpassed all the treasure artifacts he had ever seen. He doubted that his entire net worth could buy even one of them.

"These three items are peerless treasures. It is fated that their owners are certainly not ordinary people..." the hunched old man rambled on.

Xu Xuan glanced at the door out of the corner of his eye. Zhang Feng and the others still showed no reaction. He couldn't help but take a deep breath, finally realizing he had encountered something bizarre—and all this while the lingering soul of his past life was in a deep slumber.

"May I ask... the price of these three treasures?" Xu Xuan asked with trepidation.

"You can only buy one, and you must trade with all the spirit stones you possess. If you miss this opportunity, there will never be a second chance..." the hunched old man said with a smile.

"You have ten counts to consider: Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven..."

The hunched old man spoke very quickly. This wasn't a count of seconds at all; it was less than half a second per count. Xu Xuan grew anxious. With the lingering soul of his past life absent, he had no one to consult.

But he suddenly recalled what the lingering soul had once told him: "In the future, when you see Dharma treasures, you must prioritize heavy Dharma treasures, as well as auxiliary divine-ability treasures. These are very practical for body cultivators."

This advice seemed to apply perfectly here.

"Six... Five... Four..."

Heavy Dharma treasures? None of these three were that! Auxiliary divine-ability treasures? The long blade was definitely not, and the flying whip had a violent aura, clearly meant for attack. That left only the pearl...

"Three... Two... One... Time's up!"

"I want this pearl..." Xu Xuan said, almost simultaneously.

"This secret pearl is now yours. Of course... you must also pay with every spirit stone you have." The hunched old man, still beaming with a humble expression, handed the mysterious moon-light pearl to Xu Xuan.

*Whoosh!*

The moment the trade was completed, every single spirit stone in his storage bag vanished.

Xu Xuan was quite shocked. The moon-light secret pearl in his hand hummed, merged into his bloodline, sank deep into his body, and vanished!

"Young man, until we meet again. Do not let the old man's family heirloom gather dust in this world..." The hunched old man put away the other two treasures.

In a daze, Xu Xuan walked out of the *Xianhe Old Shop* and heard Zhang Feng's voice: "Brother Xu, let's go check out the shop over there."

Xu Xuan nodded subconsciously, but when he looked back, the *Xianhe Old Shop* was gone. Moreover, Zhang Feng and the others felt nothing unusual about his sudden reappearance.

This was bizarre beyond measure!

If only the lingering soul of his past life hadn't been in a deep slumber; perhaps it could have seen through some of this.

"Did you guys just see a shop here? A very, very small one?" Xu Xuan asked cautiously.