Chapter 597 - 25: Jiyu, Cangming, Tianyi

In the middle of a vast and boundless azure sea.

A colossal, sky-piercing tree grew from the seabed, its peak touching the heavens.

The colossal tree was several miles in diameter and soared tens of thousands of feet high. It rose solitarily from the ocean’s surface. Its crown had been lopped off, and the remaining trunk was converted into an immense, cylindrical wooden tower.

From a distance, the peerless wooden tower was divided into nine floors from bottom to top. Countless cultivators’ Escape Lights circled its exterior like a rain of stars, zipping in and out in a bustling scene.

This was the place in the Jade Flower Realm that served as a hub for the world, a place for trade with numerous Outer Worlds.

——Yuhua Tower.

Fang Cheng was very discreet. He deliberately restrained the aura of his Spiritual Mechanism Incarnation and leisurely flew toward Yuhua Tower.

Before he even reached the grand tower, a shadow suddenly fell over him, blotting out the sky. An overwhelmingly powerful and unparalleled aura spread out.

He looked up to see a colossal, mountain-sized tower ship of blue-gold cleaving through the air. It passed through the Jade Flower Realm’s Heaven-Defining Membrane, slowly descending from the Extreme Heaven above.

Half the sky outside Yuhua Tower was enveloped by this tower ship.

In comparison, the ten-foot-tall Spiritual Mechanism Incarnation, standing above the surface of the sea, seemed like a tiny speck of dust against the backdrop of Yuhua Tower and the great ship.

Fang Cheng clearly saw two glaring words written on the surface of the great tower ship: North Netherworld.

The Beiming Tower Ship: a cross-border Flying Boat that traversed the Outer Void, capable of withstanding its chaotic currents and Tier Five Celestial Demons.

The tower ship eventually stopped in the void outside Yuhua Tower. Over ten thousand cultivators from Outer Worlds flew out from the vessel and flooded into the tower.

Among these cultivators, only three were in the Tribulation Realm. Most were in the Dharma and Life Soul Realms, with a small number of Life Talisman Cultivators.

The ability to travel across worlds at the Life Talisman Realm was a privilege that only the two brothers, Fang Jingyuan and Fang Jingxuan, had ever enjoyed.

With a flash, Fang Cheng’s figure blended in with the group of cultivators and entered Yuhua Tower.

Although it was called a "tower," its interior was vast and deep. Streets crisscrossed and were lined with shops. Each of its main floors was a three-dimensional marketplace, over ten thousand feet high, and further subdivided into a hundred smaller levels. All manner of shops stood side by side, creating an extremely prosperous and bustling scene.

Yuhua Tower had nine floors in total. The bottom three floors catered mainly to Life Soul Realm cultivators, the middle three to Dharma Realm cultivators, and the top three served Tribulation Realm Cultivators.

Unhurried, Fang Cheng walked and browsed, starting from the bottom and working his way up, gradually getting the lay of the land.

Within Yuhua Tower, the Spirit Stones cultivators used for trade were mainly Upper-Grade Spirit Stones. Above the fourth floor, almost all transactions were conducted with Top-Grade Spirit Stones.

Besides Top-Grade Spirit Stones, there was also a type of magical currency called the Beiming Coin.

This coin was refined by a Tribulation Realm Great Power. A Great Power who had passed the First Celestial Tribulation could absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to refine a single Beiming Coin in one day.

In Yuhua Tower, one Beiming Coin could be exchanged for ten Top-Grade Spirit Stones.

Fang Cheng could tell with a single glance that this Beiming Coin had many similarities with his Merit Talismanic Coins.

The difference was that Merit Talismanic Coins were used for Body Refining, while Beiming Coins were used to increase Magical Power.

Life Soul Cultivators lacked the power to refine them, but for Dharma Realm cultivators, this item was comparable to Celestial and Earthly Spiritual Objects and rare treasures.

It was even more useful than Top-Grade Spirit Stones in Artifact Refining, Alchemy, and powering Grand Arrays and puppets.

’So this is the foundation of the Beiming Immortal Race’s strength.’

He thought to himself and casually walked into a shop on the eighth floor of Yuhua Tower.

"Wel... come, Senior."

A graceful, dignified, and beautiful Dharma Realm female cultivator stepped forward to greet him. She couldn’t help but be startled when she saw the appearance of Fang Cheng’s Spiritual Mechanism Incarnation.

Tall cultivators with unusual forms were not rare in Yuhua Tower, but the one before her felt particularly strange. He seemed to have the body of a Profound Gold Puppet, yet he also felt like a living being of flesh and blood.

The Dao Patterns flowing across its cold, hard Profound Gold body seemed to grant it life, adding a profound and ineffable quality.

The woman was tall with a graceful figure, but standing before the "Celestial Venerable of Universal Transformation," she seemed slender and much shorter by comparison.

The shop was quite large, and its interior was magnificently furnished. The auras of many Tier Five Treasures emanated outward, like countless ripples gently colliding, stirring up a chorus of profound Daoist chimes.

This was also one of the reasons why Fang Cheng chose this shop.

"Senior, please follow me to a private room." The beautiful woman came to her senses and led Fang Cheng to a quiet, elegant chamber. Regardless of whether the Spiritual Mechanism Incarnation could drink tea, she gracefully brewed a pot of Spirit Tea for him.

The beautiful woman’s lovely eyes darted about, exuding charm with every glance. She asked in a gentle voice, "What might Senior be looking for?"

Fang Cheng took out two pieces of Dao Pattern Spirit Jade. "Do you recognize this?" he asked.

The beautiful woman lowered her gaze, glanced at the items, and smiled sweetly. "This is Dao Pattern Spirit Jade. After being refined with a special method, it allows a cultivator to briefly enter an Enlightenment Realm. However, it’s only effective for cultivators below the Life Talisman Realm, so it’s not considered particularly precious."

Seeing that Fang Cheng remained silent, she added, "For cultivators who have encountered bottlenecks with their Cultivation Techniques or hit a wall in their understanding, this item can indeed spark inspiration and help them achieve enlightenment. However, its effectiveness diminishes greatly after three uses, to the point of being negligible."

Fang Cheng nodded. "I wish to collect this jade. I will take as many as can be found within the Northern Netherworld Eight Realms. Name your price."

"This..." The beautiful woman was taken aback, not expecting this kind of transaction. She pondered for a moment and said: "This matter is not difficult, just a bit troublesome. It mainly depends on how urgently Senior needs them."

"What’s the price if I’m in a hurry, and what’s the price if I’m not?"

The beautiful woman smiled lightly. "If Senior is in a hurry, I can guarantee that within ten days, I will acquire all the Dao Pattern Spirit Jade currently on the market within the Northern Netherworld Eight Realms. The price... would be at least ninety thousand Beiming Coins."

Fang Cheng scoffed. "A single Tier Five Lower Grade Magical Artifact only costs about one hundred thousand Beiming Coins."

The beautiful woman’s shapely brows furrowed slightly. She explained in a gentle voice, "Please do not be angered, Senior. To buy up all the Dao Pattern Spirit Jade on the market throughout the Northern Netherworld Eight Realms in just ten days requires an immeasurable amount of connections, channels, and resources. We might even need to ask our shop’s Tribulation Realm Honored Guest Elder to personally take action to make it possible."

"Moreover, this takes into account that our shop’s owner is a direct descendant of the Cangming Lineage of the Beiming Immortal Race. To handle this matter properly, we must borrow the power of the Beiming Immortal Race. I dare say no other shop would dare to agree to this so readily."

Fang Cheng remained expressionless and asked coolly, "Then how many pieces of Dao Pattern Spirit Jade do you estimate you can ultimately collect?"

The beautiful woman smiled confidently. "If we collect fewer than thirty thousand pieces, I am willing to take a loss on this deal. All the Dao Pattern Spirit Jade will be given to Senior for free."

Fang Cheng’s interest was piqued; he immediately felt this deal was worth making. At the same time, he grew a little suspicious of the woman’s identity. ’She’s only in the Dharma Realm, yet she dares to make such a bold claim. Her background must be connected to the Beiming Immortal Race.’

The Dao Pattern Spirit Jade he had collected over the years each produced a varying amount of Creation Points, but it was generally in the range of one hundred to one thousand per piece.

If he could trade a Tier Five Lower Grade Magical Artifact for several million, or even tens of millions of Creation Points, it would be a worthy exchange by any measure.

He had never obtained such a massive amount of Creation Points all at once.

Back in Qianyu Heaven, the most he had ever held at one time was just over two million.

He had cultivated to his current state, and now, whether it was for the Mixed Element Seven Tribulations Diagram, the Primordial Celestial Demon Strategy, or the Huitian Sundial, he needed massive amounts of Creation Points.

The Mixed Element Seven Tribulations Diagram in particular still needed over twenty million more Creation Points to be completely perfected!

He had started cultivating the Primordial Celestial Demon Strategy and the Huitian Sundial more recently, so the amount needed for them was even greater.

Fang Cheng took out a Star Robe. "This is a Tier Five Lower Grade Magical Artifact. Its price should be between one hundred twenty thousand and one hundred fifty thousand Beiming Coins. I’ll leave it here as a deposit. You will acquire Dao Pattern Spirit Jade for me on a long-term basis. I’ll come back in ten days for the first batch. If you can gather fifty thousand pieces by then, this Magical Artifact is yours."

The beautiful woman took the Star Robe and examined it carefully. Her smile grew a touch more alluring. "As Senior wishes. Besides the Dao Pattern Spirit Jade, is there anything else you need? Our Golden Phoenix Treasure Pavilion has branches throughout the Eight Heavens of the North Netherworld, and we rank among the top ten here in Yuhua Tower."

Fang Cheng smiled. "Do you have any Spirit Immortal inheritances?"

"You jest, Senior," the beautiful woman chuckled, covering her mouth. "To this day, the entire Beiming Immortal Race possesses only five great Spirit Immortal inheritances. Such peerless treasures would never appear in a marketplace."

"What about Cross-border Transmission Magical Artifacts?"

"Ah... no, we don’t. I can confirm that there are no such spatial treasures in the entire Yuhua Tower. They have appeared a few times in history, but each time, they were immediately snatched up in a frenzy by the major powers."

Fang Cheng finally took out a jade slip. "This is a list of materials. Take a look."

The beautiful woman took the jade slip and swept it with her Divine Sense. The first item at the top of the list was, surprisingly, "Void Demon Embryo," followed by various Celestial and Earthly Spiritual Objects and Profound Iron Immortal Gold.

All the precious materials on this list were items needed to refine his Spiritual Mechanism Incarnation.

After reviewing it, the beautiful woman said, "Our shop can gather seventy percent of the items on this list. As for the remaining thirty percent, I can use my connections to procure them from other shops and our branches in other World Heavens. But for the Void Demon Embryo... I’m afraid Senior will have to visit Jiyu Pavilion on the ninth floor."

Fang Cheng was surprised. "Jiyu Pavilion has a Void Demon Embryo?"

The beautiful woman nodded. "The price of that demon embryo is astonishingly high; it’s Jiyu Pavilion’s most prized treasure. Many Tribulation Realm Great Powers have been daunted by its price. If Senior truly wants it, you will likely need to make significant preparations."

Fang Cheng said in a deep voice, "This Jiyu Pavilion is run by people from the Beiming Immortal Race, isn’t it?"

Jiyu, Cangming, and Tianyi are the three largest branches of the Beiming Immortal Race, and all have produced Spirit Immortals.

’To name a shop "Jiyu," it must have ties to the Beiming Immortal Race.’

"Precisely," the beautiful woman nodded.

Fang Cheng stood up. "Good. You can start preparing. I will come back in ten days."

The beautiful woman personally saw Fang Cheng out of the shop, watching him head towards the ninth floor until his figure disappeared, before she turned and went back inside.

...