Chapter 367 - 365: Peculiar Shoulder Bone

Chapter 367: Chapter 365: Peculiar Shoulder Bone

’They certainly have some strength. The Master of a single shop has Late-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivation...’

As Bai Zichen stepped into the Guanghui Trading Company, a silver light scanned him from head to toe.

This level of Spirit Testing, of course, couldn’t possibly see through to his true Cultivation.

His Concealing Breath Technique wasn’t particularly exquisite; the main reason was his immense control over his physical body, ensuring that his displayed Cultivation showed not the slightest fluctuation or deviation.

Perceived as an Early-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, Bai Zichen was led to the third floor by a Guest Officer of the Guanghui Trading Company, where dozens of Spiritual Artifacts and various Spirit Pills were on display.

In terms of product variety, it was far superior to the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion of the past.

Of course, this didn’t directly mean the Guanghui Trading Company was stronger than the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion.

The Qingfeng Sect of today and the Qingfeng Sect of yesteryear were two different concepts, and the level of importance these trading companies placed on them was completely different.

Bai Zichen casually picked up two Spiritual Artifacts to ask their prices, then compared them with the exchange prices in the Sect’s Artifact Refining Hall to get a clear idea.

’The exchange prices for Spiritual Artifacts in the Artifact Refining Hall are no cheaper than at the Guanghui Trading Company. No wonder disciples come here to buy them...’

At that moment on the third floor of the Guanghui Trading Company, several Qingfeng Sect disciples were selecting Spiritual Artifacts, still wearing their brand-new Magical Robes.

’I should check out another shop.’

Bai Zichen visited the Qingfeng Sect’s own shop, the shops of the Danxia Sect and the Five Elements Sect, and even saw a shop belonging to the Bai Family.

Because of the Qingfeng Sect’s current status, it had attracted a large number of Sects, trading companies, and Cultivation Noble Families to compete for storefronts in the Market and open shops.

And these shops, each with its own unique character, in turn attracted even more Cultivators.

To this day, the Qingfeng Sect still lacked a flagship product—something they had that others didn’t—that could give them an overwhelming lead in the market.

The Market, however, had found another path to rapid development.

A large number of Cultivators from outside Black Mountain were flocking in, a fact evident from the birthplaces of the Cultivators who came to register when the Mountain Gate was opened.

Among the current disciples of the Qingfeng Sect, aside from those from Black Mountain and Hejian County, there were now a considerable number from Other Prefectures.

As a Nascent Soul Sect, its influence already radiated throughout the entire Liang Country, and even further beyond.

The main reason was its two legendary Ancestors, who more easily captured the attention of Cultivators.

Inside the Market, the Loose Cultivators who used to set up stalls were gone, replaced by rows of pushcarts piled high with all sorts of miscellaneous items.

Some were worthless, while others had asking prices of over a hundred Spirit Stones.

There were often rumors about some Cultivator who, with a keen eye, had picked a hidden Treasure from a pushcart and resold it for a profit of several hundred times the cost.

This led to a situation where, even though ninety percent of the items on the pushcarts were junk and broken pieces worth only a few Spirit Stones, a massive number of Cultivators, dreaming of striking it rich and believing in their own superior judgment, still crowded around them all day, certain they could pick out a dust-covered Treasure.

Bai Zichen watched with great interest as a few Cultivators spent over a hundred Spirit Stones on a pile of broken junk, for which there was basically no way to recoup the cost.

Even if someone were to buy it, they’d get twenty Spirit Stones at most.

Things like a failed Alchemy attempt, a Barrier-Breaking Pill with excessive Erysipelas that looked like a piece of charcoal.

A Spiritual Artifact fragment that, when infused with Magical Power, only emitted a faint glow and a strange sound, and was otherwise useless.

A thin, yellowed booklet, which you were mysteriously told was brought out from an Ancient Secret Realm, but whose contents no one had ever been able to decipher.

With his Divine Sense, how could the secretive actions of these pushcart peddlers escape his notice? Every detail was laid bare.

Every so often, these people would discreetly slip an item worth a few dozen Spirit Stones into the pile of junk for a shopping Cultivator to "discover."

The buyers would think they had a unique eye for discovering a good item in a mountain of junk and would then boast about their treasure-hunting experience to friends and family.

This, in turn, would attract their relatives and fellow sect members to come and spend dozens of Spirit Stones on a pile of useless, broken items.

"How much for this bone?"

Just as Bai Zichen was about to turn and leave, he saw a dark-skinned young man tuck a flat bone into the pile in front of him, then jiggle the cart twice to make a corner of it visible.

With a flicker of movement, the bone was in his hand. It felt quite heavy.

"Senior, if you like it, you can have it for fifty Spirit Stones."

The dark-skinned youth’s face soured. He recognized the man as a Foundation Establishment Cultivator and spoke drily.

They most hoped that the items they planted for "lucky finds" would be bought by ordinary Qi Refining Cultivators, preferably disciples of the Qingfeng Sect or members of a Cultivation Noble Family.

These types of people were well-connected, with fellow sect members and relatives, and would bring in follow-up business after showing off their find.

Being bought by a Foundation Establishment Cultivator was unlikely to bring any repeat business.

"Where did you find this bone?"

Bai Zichen directly tossed over a Mid-Grade Spirit Stone, still turning the bone over in his hands. It seemed to be a shoulder blade, and its shape suggested it came from some kind of humanoid Demon Beast.

"It was passed down from my ancestors. It’s just been lying around. I only emptied out the house this time to scrape together enough Spirit Stones to buy a Foundation Establishment Spiritual Object."

The dark-skinned youth excitedly clutched the Mid-Grade Spirit Stone, knowing he had run into a generous senior Cultivator, and answered truthfully.

"I have a few other good things here. Senior, would you like to take a look and see if anything catches your eye?"

"No need."

Bai Zichen glanced over. The scattered items the man poured from his storage bag were all valued between forty and fifty Spirit Stones. A palm-sized piece of copper seemed not to be a fragment of a Spiritual Artifact, but part of a Magical Treasure.

Even if it were taken to be reforged and its Spiritual Materials recovered, it would be worth at least three or four hundred Spirit Stones. The dark-skinned youth himself probably hadn’t even noticed its Profound Mechanism.

But none of them gave him the special feeling that this bone did. A lucky find worth a few hundred Spirit Stones wasn’t worth Master Bai making a move for.

The man’s claim that the bone was an heirloom was mostly credible. It didn’t have the earthy aura of something freshly dug from the ground; it had clearly been kept in a normal environment for several hundred years.

"Have your ancestors always been Black Mountain Cultivators?"

"Not at all. My grandfather’s generation moved here from Yongzhou. A lot of things were lost along the way..."

The dark-skinned youth was representative of the new Black Mountain Cultivators. He was born in Black Mountain and, with a Foundation Establishment elder in the family to look after him in his youth, he didn’t join the Qingfeng Sect.

Later, the Foundation Establishment elder passed away, and the family’s fortunes declined. Several of his uncles in the Clan then exhausted the family’s wealth trying to break through to Foundation Establishment.

He was now over the age limit and unwilling to join the Qingfeng Sect to start from the bottom as a Firework Daoist, so he wanted to take a gamble on reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage.

At that point, whether he joined the Qingfeng Sect or rebuilt his Clan, he would have options.

"Gan Congju, what are you still doing in the Market? Didn’t you hear my warning last time to leave as soon as possible? Don’t disgrace the Gan Family here!"

A teenager of about the same age came out of a shop, saw Gan Congju standing in front of his pushcart, and rushed over, pointing at his nose as he berated him.

Gan Congju, being pointed at and yelled at, lowered his gaze and said nothing.

"Xiaoganzi is a guide I hired. Don’t interfere with my business."

Bai Zichen put away the shoulder bone. Seeing that the newcomer’s face bore some resemblance to Gan Congju’s, he knew this was most likely another stale old story of internal Clan conflict and didn’t want to hear any more of it.

"I apologize for offending you, Senior. This junior is Gan Rixin of the Nine Talisman Gan Family... This person comes from a branch with a shameful reputation. You should be extra vigilant when shopping in the Market, Sir, lest you be cheated and waste your Spirit Stones."

The youth surnamed Gan performed a formal, ancient salute for a senior, then led his two escorts away.

"You’re from the same clan?"

Having visited several large shops in the Market and obtained a bone that gave him a strange feeling, Bai Zichen no longer had the motivation to continue wandering around.

To encounter a peculiar object in an ordinary Market that could attract a Core Formation True Man was already a sign of his profound fortune.

"Technically, Gan Rixin is my cousin of the same generation..."

The previously silent Gan Congju raised his head and spoke, his lips pressed together.

"Senior, you don’t have to think the Gan Family is unreasonable and won’t let me live. It was my branch of the family that stained the name of the Nine Talisman Gan Family. This suffering is of our own making."

When the Qingfeng Sect conscripted Cultivators to form an army to crusade against the Ghost Spirit Sect, the Nine Talisman Gan Family, as a Black Mountain Cultivation Noble Family, was of course among them.

One Foundation Establishment Clan elder and twenty Qi Refining Clan Members followed the main force into Hejian County.

Gan Congju’s father was a Late-Stage Qi Refining Cultivator who became a squad leader on the battlefield, leading about ten Loose Cultivators to patrol a captured Ore Vein.

Unexpectedly, two Qi Refining Great Perfection Cultivators from the Ghost Spirit Sect were still hiding beneath that Ore Vein and had not retreated.

One day, they suddenly attacked. The Loose Cultivators were caught off guard, and their formation was thrown into chaos as they were slaughtered.

Not only did Gan Congju’s father fail to rally the squad of Loose Cultivators, but he was also overcome with fear and fled the battlefield directly.

This resulted in only three of the twelve Loose Cultivators surviving. The rest were all killed by the two Ghost Spirit Sect Cultivators, who then escaped.

"This incident angered the Upper Sect. All the Merit Points the Nine Talisman Gan Family had earned in the conquest of Hejian were wiped out, and it caused the world to look down on the Gan Family... To wash away the shame, the leading Clan elder risked his life, taking on several extremely dangerous missions from the Upper Sect. In the end, while pursuing a fleeing Ghost Spirit Sect Foundation Establishment Cultivator, he died with the enemy, his body dismembered."

Gan Congju’s voice was calm, as if he were recounting a matter that had nothing to do with him.

"And my father, who fled back to Black Mountain, managed to survive because the Gan Family bore most of the punishment for him. He was sentenced to thirty years of hard labor but clung to life... That Clan elder who died in battle was Gan Rixin’s grandfather. It’s only normal for him to resent me."

"My branch of the family was expelled from the Gan Family, and I also lost the qualification to become a disciple of the Qingfeng Sect. But I don’t accept this fate... I’m not like him. I will reclaim the glory my branch has lost."

Bai Zichen sighed softly. He hadn’t expected this vibrant youth, who looked up to him as an idol, to have such a complicated background.

"If this mountain won’t take you, go to Hejian. There are places there that don’t care about your background, but you’ll have to risk your life. A lot of Cultivators die there every year."

Bai Zichen tossed him a Mid-Grade Spirit Stone and left on his sword, not looking back at Gan Congju, who had fallen to his knees and was kowtowing repeatedly behind him.

Whether the youth would take the Spirit Stone and stay in Black Mountain, or follow his advice and hurry to Hejian to seek a chance to change his life, was now his own choice to make.

He gave him the Spirit Stone not because the youth saw him as an idol, but as a reward for maintaining a positive attitude and a fighting spirit despite coming from such a family.