Chapter 128: The Black Pawnship!

"The sect war is escalating, and spirit stones are becoming easier and easier to earn."

After sorting and storing his medicinal pills, Shen Lian let out a sigh. As the premier sect of the Ten Thousand Star Sea, the Xuanhai Sect’s inability to suppress even a newly emerged faction suggested something far from simple. Coupled with the fact that a group of people had been quietly gathering various resources in Cape Immortal City from the very beginning, the underlying cause became clear.

In the entire South Sea region, there was only one power capable of manipulating a sect with a Great Perfection Golden Core master like a pawn.

The Cloud-Ascending Sect, and the Master of Fuhai...

A Great Perfection Golden Core master is always on the verge of forming a Nascent Soul. Although the Ten Thousand Star Sea is a barren land, should the Master of Fuhai decide to stake everything on a single gamble, he would indeed have a chance to become a Nascent Soul Patriarch.

Shen Lian had already reached his conclusion: this war would drag on for some time. Only when the Master of Fuhai either took that final step or failed to take it forever would things likely settle down again.

"Who isn't just a pawn, anyway?"

He shook his head slightly. Even if he had figured it out, what of it? He wasn't the only one with keen sources of information; perhaps the Xuanhai Sect itself was well aware of the situation. What else could be done? Just keep earning spirit stones.

Beneath the cliffs of Cape Immortal City as night fell, small, black-canopied boats converged from all directions. The small lanterns on the canopies lit up once more, casting flickering runes. Amidst the dark, crowded scene, the cries of night birds rose and fell, sometimes shrill, sometimes plunging into a sudden, deep abyss.

Qin Shou steered his own black-canopied boat into the throng. Sitting in the Peace Grocery Store, Shen Lian’s divine sense was merged with Qin Shou. When he first began storing his consciousness into the puppet, he had felt quite uncomfortable. Mostly, it was because the puppet felt too unreal—soft and limp everywhere, lacking any genuine sensation.

This puppet, Qin Shou No. 1, was at the Foundation Establishment level, primarily used for purchasing Tier 2 resources and gathering intelligence. The Ghost Market was a chaotic mix of rogue cultivators, clan members, and sect disciples, making it a hotbed for the spread of information.

"Fellow Daoist, fresh immortal seedlings. Just arrived from the south. We have both boys and girls."

A boat glided over, and a boatman with a fawning smile called out in a low voice. Qin Shou glanced at it once and immediately looked away. These boats with pink lanterns hanging from their prows had powerful backers behind them; it was best to keep one's distance.

"Do you have any Sea Spirit Demon Gallbladders?"

Arriving at a boat marked with a 'Poison' lantern, Qin Shou spoke to the old woman inside.

"None."

Seeing Qin Shou turn to leave, the old woman called out again, "No Sea Spirit Demon Gallbladders, but I have Deep Sea Nine-Ringed Snake Venom. Are you interested?"

"What grade?"

"Tier 2."

"How many spirit stones?"

The old woman gave a sinister smile and held up four withered fingers. "It comes with the location of the waters where the Nine-Ringed Snake was found."

Qin Shou shook his head and held up three fingers.

"That won't do."

After some haggling, the deal was struck for three thousand five hundred spirit stones. The old woman handed over a jade bottle and a jade slip.

"Fellow Daoist, would you like any Five-Element Poison Corpses?"

Just as Qin Shou was about to leave, the old woman’s voice transmission reached him. Looking back, he saw her narrow eyes glinting with an inscrutable light.

"They have just been cured. If you take them back and let them settle for a few years, wherever you bury them will become a wasteland of death. They are top-tier tools for silent, invisible murder."

"If any clan offends you, you could bury them in their ancestral grave, hehehe..."

Qin Shou raised an eyebrow. "Can they kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator?"

"That depends on the kind of Foundation Establishment. If planned well, you can make a freshly ascended cultivator succumb to the Five-Element Corpse Poison without them ever knowing."

Upon hearing this, Qin Shou lost interest. The old woman didn't mind, instead muttering incessantly, "Quite the appetite, isn't it? Tier 2 Five-Element Poison Corpses aren't so easy to refine. Most cultivators who reach Foundation Establishment with Five-Element spiritual roots are in major sects or clans; the Five-Element roots found outside are just low-quality trash. If you can find me a Foundation Establishment cultivator with full Five-Element roots, I’ll refine a Five-Element Poison Corpse for you for free."

"Is your method for refining poison corpses for sale?"

The old woman’s expression tightened, her gaze wary, as if guarding against a thief. "Fellow Daoist, please. This is my livelihood. Are you trying to make an enemy of me to the death?"

"Farewell."

Steering his boat, he moved deeper into the crowd, searching for the next target.

"Fellow Daoist, if you can find a Foundation Establishment cultivator with Five-Element roots, I really can help you refine a poison corpse."

The old woman’s voice transmission sounded again. Qin Shou looked back to see her grinning strangely at him.

"You think Five-Element Foundation Establishment cultivators are like weeds on the roadside? Do I look like I have Five-Element roots to you?"

"Tsk... it doesn't have to be five roots. I am skilled in curing various types of spiritual roots into poison." The old woman examined the puppet with a strange smile.

"Are you selling your refining method or not?"

"You are so interested in my Five-Element Poison Corpse refining method... do you perhaps know where to find a Foundation Establishment cultivator who practices all five elements?" The old woman countered, her interest piqued. "We could collaborate. I have never refined a cultivator who practices all five elements at the Foundation Establishment level."

There were indeed those with five-element roots in Cape Immortal City; among so many cultivators, a few were bound to pop up. However, these were not the same as the five-element cultivators found in major sects. Many used only the one or two roots with the highest affinity to cultivate, as it was much faster than practicing all five simultaneously, and offered a higher chance of successful Foundation Establishment. Such cultivators, if refined, would result in an imbalance of toxins within the body, failing to achieve the effect of the Five Elements generating one another.

Shen Lian had told Qin Shou to ask the old woman because he realized this point. The Five-Element Poison Corpse might touch upon the concept of the five elements generating each other, which could provide useful insight for the five-element poison he had been conceptualizing. Unfortunately, the old woman wouldn't sell.

After leaving her, Qin Shou continued his search for boats with the 'Poison' lantern. Every time he visited the Ghost Market, he adopted a persona; this time, he was focusing on poisons to appear as a poison cultivator.

"Do you have any Sea Spirit Demon Gallbladders?"

He found another poison boat, where an old man with a face full of toxic sores lay sprawled, his very palms oozing venom.

"Heh..." the old man grinned first. "Fellow Daoist, I don't have that deep-sea item here."

After checking several more boats and purchasing two different types of poisons, Qin Shou was about to finish when a thirty-zhang-long, pitch-black treasure boat decorated with blood-red lanterns plowed through the crowd. The boats in its path were overturned without mercy, yet the cultivators who climbed out of the water looked at the black ship with fearful silence, daring not to speak a word of protest.

"The Nether Pawnshop ship is here. Tsk, tsk, haven't seen it in years."

"I came at the right time. They say the Black Nether Ship has everything—as long as you can afford the price, you can trade for any spirit item you desire."

Controlling Qin Shou, Shen Lian steered the boat further back to avoid being capsized. He had heard of the Nether Ship during his time in Cape Immortal City; it was said to be the vessel of the Ghost Market's true master, the city lord, Master Black Profound.

The ship was mysterious. The blood-red lanterns on either side displayed different characters: one side read "Pawn," and the other "Spirit." The deck had three levels; the first had thirty-six window-like doors, the second had twenty-four, and the third had three. The rooms were symmetrical, with one side labeled for pawning and the other for purchasing.

Cultivators wishing to buy items chose the "Spirit" side. According to their cultivation level, Qi Refining went to the first floor, Foundation Establishment to the second, and Golden Core to the third. Those wishing to pawn items went to the "Pawn" side.

Looking through the thin paper of the windows, one could see jade plaques swaying on strings inside the 'Spirit' rooms. These plaques contained descriptions of the items for sale. Any cultivator entering could purchase items with spirit stones. If they were short, they could pawn parts of their own body on the spot. The 'Pawn' rooms, however, remained dark and impenetrable.

*Whoosh!*

Several figures flew from their boats and vanished into the first-floor 'Spirit' rooms. Soon after, Foundation Establishment cultivators began to appear, heading for the second floor. Others entered the 'Pawn' rooms.

After observing for a while and listening to the whispers of nearby cultivators, Shen Lian steered Qin Shou into a second-floor 'Spirit' room.

*Clink, clatter.*

As he stepped inside, the crisp sound of jade pieces colliding echoed. Below the strings hung a set of table and chairs.

"Fellow Daoist, please see if there is any suitable spirit item among the jade pieces."

A mechanical voice rang out from a small, furry black lamb puppet lying on the table.

"A puppet," Shen Lian noted, seeing the craftsmanship was quite ordinary. Qin Shou began to examine the hanging jade slips. They covered a wide range: magical artifacts, spirit items, miscellaneous knowledge, and even cultivation experiences.

"Record of Master Chang Yue's Cultivation Experiences."

One slip caught Shen Lian’s attention, and he had Qin Shou pick it out. The slip contained only a simple table of contents, not the details.

"Two thousand spirit stones," the mechanical lamb responded.

For a Golden Core master's cultivation notes, two thousand stones were not only cheap but a truly conscientious price. Yet, you get what you pay for; at this price, one feared buying a fake. Qin Shou pulled two thousand stones from his storage artifact, which the lamb swallowed, spitting out a jade slip shortly after. As Qin Shou examined it, Shen Lian sensed its contents.

He understood now why it was only two thousand stones.

"Volume One: Record of Master Chang Yue's Cultivation Experiences."

"How much for the next volume?"

"This record is divided into four volumes: Upper, Middle, Lower, and Lower (Sequel)."

"..."

"The Middle and Lower volumes are also two thousand stones each."

"The Lower (Sequel) is thirty thousand spirit stones. It includes a map of the suspected location where Master Chang Yue passed away."

Without rushing, Qin Shou opened the contents and found he hadn't been cheated. This Master Chang Yue was an avid diarist; the first volume alone contained over five hundred thousand words of trivialities and observations. The excessive part was the seller—the content was completely scrambled, interspersing Golden Core level insights with Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment notes. Many parts simply didn't follow each other.

*"Finally reached Foundation Establishment. The pill was hard-won; must remember the difficulty of this path."*

*"Going to the Tongyou Immortal House today to celebrate my success."*

*...*

*"The Pure Land Immortal City is worthy of a Nascent Soul sect; even the fairies at the Red Beauty Pavilion are so ethereal."*

*"Fairy Neon promised to let me call her 'Ni-Ni.' Those one hundred thousand spirit stones were well spent."*

*"Snatching my Ni-Ni? So what if you're a Five-Element Golden Core? You're just a pampered embryo. In a one-on-one fight, I’d kill you in a second."*

*"I'll endure it. You’re just a spare tire for a Nascent Soul Patriarch. Once you kick the bucket, Ni-Ni will be mine sooner or later."*

*...*

Half an hour later, Shen Lian stepped off the black ship, clutching three jade slips. He had spent six thousand spirit stones; he didn't have enough for the final volume. Yet, even in these first three, he had found some interesting things.

As time passed, the boats on the water began to disperse. The next morning, as Shen Lian headed to the docks to buy stock, a wisp of spiritual light silently returned to him from the water. While purchasing miscellaneous items at the dock, he felt a puppet jade talisman materialize in his palm inside his sleeve.

As his divine sense entered it, he immediately sensed five different auras inside.

See? This is a specialty of the cultivation world. No matter where you go, there are always fellow Daoists thinking about your heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys. One of these auras came from the old woman who could refine Five-Element Poison Corpses. It seemed his inquiry into her methods had piqued her interest.

This is the cultivation world: you reveal even a hint of information, and people will let their imaginations run wild, determining whether you truly possess certain resources. Then, they decide to "shake the tree to see if any dates fall."

Unfortunately, the puppet Qin Shou was not a real person. With a flick of his divine sense, the five strange auras within the talisman were crushed into nothingness. Shen Lian was long accustomed to this. Every time he entered the Ghost Market, if he didn't return with two or three strange auras attached to him, he would consider it a miracle.

Facing the unique characteristics of the cultivation world, it all depended on one's own magical powers. If you can dodge, you dodge; if you can't, you use your life to endure.

Storing his purchases, he headed back into the city. Shen Lian was currently the small shopkeeper of the Peace Grocery Store in Cape Immortal City, a Qi Refining level nine cultivator who had been working here for years. His goal was to become a century-old establishment.

The sect war in the Ten Thousand Star Sea had boosted the prosperity of Cape Immortal City. With a guest elder of the Cloud-Ascending Sect presiding over the city, it remained safe and secure. Being able to earn spirit stones while having a stable place to live, he was in no hurry to leave.

Instead of returning to the shop, he went straight to a restaurant, booked a private room, and took out the jade slips containing the Golden Core master's notes.

"Five-Element Golden Core... Nascent Soul..."