Chapter 126: Can't Find It, Just Can't Find It!

To do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools.

With the desire to earn spirit stones, Shen Lian began further improvements to his spirit puppets and talisman puppets as soon as the Black Fish spirit ship landed at Cape Immortal City.

Cape Immortal City was built upon a colossal reef, rising a hundred feet above the sea, with stairs carved into the cliff faces on all sides. As the seawater crashed against the cliffs, the resulting mist made the city look like a giant beast floating upon the waves from a distance.

Deep within a cave dwelling in the city, known as the "Blessed Land of the Sea," Shen Lian was lost in deep thought. Within half a month of his arrival, he had gained a clear understanding of everything in Cape Immortal City.

Serving as a transit station for the Myriad Star Sea and a hub for the import and export of spiritual items in the Southern Sea Region, the city was bustling. Commodities native to the Myriad Star Sea—such as white-patterned spirit shells, deep-sea coral insects, and the scales on the foreheads of sea-race cultivators that signified their cultivation talent—were highly sought after in the Southern Sea Region and even the inland areas of the Tiannan cultivation world.

It is often said that as long as there are spirit stones to be made, there is nothing a cultivator will not do. Indeed, there were groups of cultivators who secretly hunted the sea-race to harvest and sell those forehead scales. Whether it was legitimate trade in marine specialties or the illicit sale of shady spiritual items, one could find it all in Cape Immortal City. Every family in the Myriad Star Sea with any degree of influence would come here to purchase supplies and sell their own local specialties.

The city was prosperous, yet chaotic. Of course, order was maintained; with a Golden Core elder from the Cloud Ascendant Sect stationed there, no one was foolish enough to cause trouble.

Having grasped the situation in Cape Immortal City, Shen Lian became even more convinced of the necessity of perfecting his spirit puppets and talisman puppets to earn spirit stones on his behalf. Talisman puppets could be destroyed, but spirit stones had to be earned.

In the dwelling, Shen Lian held a mysterious spirit jade slip. His divine sense delved into it, revealing a hazy human figure imprinted within. This was the wonder of the Puppet Talisman: it could capture a mirror image of a puppet, sometimes even possessing the puppet's full combat strength. However, the Puppet Talisman had its flaws; it could only react passively according to the abilities of the copied puppet. Its movements were stiff, and once activated, it would mechanically exhaust its energy until it dissipated.

Shen Lian had noticed this issue after his first use of the talisman puppet, so he had attempted to use mysterious spirit jade marrow instead of paper, yet the flaws remained significant. At this moment, he was channeling a strand of his divine sense into the puppet jade talisman, attempting to seize control of it. But the process was difficult; the energy level and quality of the puppet jade talisman were far inferior to that of a true spirit puppet.

"To tether my divine sense, I must rely on the secret techniques within the Myriad Spirit Immortal Puppet Art..."

After several failed attempts to settle his controlling divine sense into the puppet jade talisman, Shen Lian paused. In his view, although the puppet talisman was a form of talisman, it still belonged to the category of puppetry.

"Talismans... puppets..."

Filled with anticipation, he immersed himself in the task of "magically modifying" his puppets. Fortunately, he was not lacking in resources; he consumed medicinal pills for cultivation daily and spent the remaining time contemplating his modifications. In this state of cultivation, he was even accumulating "Insight Points" and "Divine Enlightenment Points."

...

[Calm and tranquil, Insight Point +1]
[Calm and tranquil, Insight Point +1]
...
[Mind empty of external objects, Divine Enlightenment Point +1]
...
[Calm and tranquil, Insight Point +1]

...

In the Mysterious Sea Sect's territory, on Bright Lamp Island, situated in the central region of the sect’s domain.

Inside a narrow cave, a bubbling sound echoed as Bian Qingyun, dressed in yellow Daoist robes, muttered to himself.

"Out, out, out!"

Veins bulged on his forehead as if small insects were crawling beneath his skin. Bian Qingyun’s chanting grew faster, and before him sat three jars reeking of blood. Within these jars, various insects floated, some still writhing in the blood.

When the "Soul-Borrowing Gu" was not in use, it required the host's own vital essence as nourishment and had to be kept within the host's body. Fortunately, once refined, these tiny Gu insects were not very dangerous and did not consume too much spiritual power. The difficulty lay in waking the dormant mother Gu each time.

"Out, out, out!"

The bulging veins quickly spread to his right arm, and a bump the size of a bean began to move toward his wrist. However, just as the mother Gu reached his wrist, it gave a buzz and burrowed back in.

Bian Qingyun’s eyes widened in frustration; he felt like smashing the three jars of blood-food he had prepared. But remembering how hard it had been to collect these, having even sneaked into several Foundation Establishment families to steal items, he swallowed his anger. He had tried to summon the sleeping mother Gu several times, but perhaps it had slept too long, as it kept retreating just as it was about to emerge.

"Could it be that I need to summon both the male and female at the same time?"

He had obtained this pair of Soul-Borrowing Gu accidentally while exploring a Golden Core cave dwelling under his master’s orders. At the time, besides the Golden Core remains, the only things in the cave were these unhatched Gu insects and a tattered manual on Gu control. He had sold the remains and discarded the other junk, then followed the manual to refine the pair.

After resting for a few days, Bian Qingyun began the summoning again.

"Out, out, out!"

This time, the veins on both arms bulged, and a blood-red light ignited at his wrists. Two fanged insects emerged from his hands, emitting a faint buzzing sound. Looking at the two Gu insects crawling on his palms, Bian Qingyun finally smiled.

"I wonder if you've managed to forge the Five-Colored Stone into a magical artifact."

"Come, eat, eat. Eat your fill so you can get to work."

Putting the two Gu insects into the jars of blood-food, Bian Qingyun whispered, "Master, oh Master, truth be told, I haven't received much favor from following you. Instead, I've been hunted every single day. If you are truly in the afterlife... or even if you aren't dead, please, don't come looking for me, alright?"

...

"Sizzle, sizzle."

The two Soul-Borrowing Gu in the jars chirped, quickly devouring all the blood-food, and each sprouted a pair of translucent, blood-colored wings.

"Go, find him, and there will be plenty of blood-food for you in the future."

Bian Qingyun lifted the two Gu insects again, his cheeks twitching. He had had enough of being hunted every day. At this rate, even if he wasn't beaten to death, his Golden Core would eventually shatter. He was less than four hundred years old; with some effort, a path to the Nascent Soul stage was still possible.

"Master, we were master and apprentice once; consider that Five-Colored Stone a reward for the years I served you."

However, the smile on Bian Qingyun’s face soon stiffened.

"Master, you didn't leave any tricks on that Five-Colored Stone, did you?"

...

Rainy Island, Heavenly Eye Island, Eternal Light Island... Ao Stone Immortal City, Sea Relic Immortal City, Stone Pillar Immortal City...

Mysterious Sea Sect... The Sea Family... Mysterious Corpse Sect... Sea Spirit Sect...

Across the vast ocean, Bian Qingyun left his footprints on every island.

Rumble!

Giant waves surged on the sea, magical power sprayed, and various magical artifacts collided as nearly two hundred cultivators, led by several Foundation Establishment masters, engaged in a slaughter. On the treasure ships of both sides, the formations had shattered and were engulfed in flames. On one ship, the war flag of the Mysterious Sea Sect was being consumed by the fire. On the other, the flag was nothing more than a bare pole.

"Exterminate the demons and defend the path! Kill these demonic cultivators!"

"Kill these hypocrites! Let's refine their corpse oil to light our lamps!"

High in the sky, Bian Qingyun, with two fat Gu insects on his head, flew past with a dark expression.

"So annoying!"

Just as he was about to fly away, his eyes turned cruel. He opened his mouth, and a golden light plummeted toward the cultivators fighting below. The golden light emitted a boom, expanding several times in size as it fell, drawing all the free-roaming spiritual energy in the air into the bead that emerged within the light. The golden light instantly enveloped the battlefield, looking as if it contained countless fine, needle-like rays.

"Ah..."

The cultivators on both sides were terrified. A Golden Core master had struck.

"Senior, we are from the Mysterious Sea..."

"Puff, puff, puff..."

But facing a mid-third-tier spirit treasure, no one could even offer resistance. They were pierced from head to toe by the rain of needles, exploding into clouds of blood mist within the golden light.

"Ant-like creatures, fighting all day long!"

Having casually wiped out a group of fighting cultivators, Bian Qingyun’s expression remained unchanged, his mouth still grumbling. During this time, he had traversed most of the Myriad Star Sea, but he hadn't found a single trace of the Soul-Borrowing Gu’s aura. Where had Pei Huoyu gone! And where was his Five-Colored Stone!

This caused a sense of frustration in Bian Qingyun. Moreover, no matter where he went, there were groups of ants fighting. What was there to fight about for forces in such a small pond? It was maddening.

The mother Soul-Borrowing Gu could not sense the aura of the released Gu. Either Pei Huoyu had run far enough away, or the released Gu had died. Since the manual he practiced was incomplete and his refinement technique was amateurish, Bian Qingyun couldn't be certain. He leaned toward the possibility that Pei Huoyu had escaped far enough to sever the connection. That boy had some ability to stand out among the many "stone-nurturers" under his master's command.

After killing the ants, the feeling of resentment in Bian Qingyun’s chest dissipated significantly. Where exactly had Pei Huoyu gone?

"I should have left a wisp of his soul to make a soul lamp back then," he muttered, feeling a pang of regret. But he hadn't dared to do so at the time; the old ghost Ziyang was alive and kicking, and if he had known about the tricks played on Pei Huoyu, it would have been Bian Qingyun’s soul in that lamp.

"Get the Five-Colored Stone, refine it into a magical artifact, flee far away from the Tiannan cultivation world, find the Five Elements Immortal City when it appears again... If I can reach the Nascent Soul... or even the Golden Core Grand Completion, as long as I enter the Immortal Palace,凝婴 (forming a Nascent Soul) will surely be within reach..."

What a beautiful vision, but he was stuck at the very first step. Old Pei, where are you?

"Master, what exactly are you plotting?"

Master Ziyang was a notorious troublemaker in the region, constantly provoking various Nascent Soul ancestors and having been beaten countless times. But no one knew his origin; when he appeared, he was already at the Nascent Soul stage. Bian Qingyun had followed him for over three hundred years and still didn't know his background. He only knew that every time they weren't robbing someone of spiritual items, they were on their way to do so.

In such a situation, taking on disciples was more of a burden. Bian Qingyun once thought he, like the brothers before him who had met their ends, was just there to help attract hatred for his master. And that was indeed how things played out. His master was besieged, and they were besieged along with him. It was as if there were no other damnable people in the entire Southern Sea Region.

In short, that old ghost was crafty.

"This backwater place doesn't even have spiritual herbs to nourish a Golden Core, yet they fight all day long."

Landing on the water to salvage the remaining spirit stones, Bian Qingyun turned into a streak of light and disappeared into the distance. He didn't care about the fight between two Golden Core forces in a small pond. They were just a few Foundation Establishment ants; surely these sects couldn't send Golden Core cultivators to hunt him down?

Ridiculous. Was he afraid of being hunted?

...

Outside Cape Immortal City.

Night fell. On the sea, more and more covered boats gathered from all directions beneath the sea cliffs outside the city. Some of the small boats hung dim lamps. This was the "Ghost Market" of Cape Immortal City.

Each covered boat cost five hundred spirit stones and was built from a special wood that could soak in water for about a year before it rotted and dissolved. With a boat, one could trade in the Ghost Market. Here, it didn't matter if you were Foundation Establishment, Qi Refining, or a Golden Core master; it didn't matter what kind of illicit goods you brought. As long as you dared to sell, there was someone who dared to buy.

Corpses were not questioned for their origin, and spirit stones were not questioned for their source.

A covered boat drifted into the middle of the many other boats. On it sat an elderly man in a black robe with a sallow, waxen face. He took down the small lamp hanging from the canopy and lit it. The dim light shone through the thin paper, revealing the ancient character for "Pill."

If one wanted to buy something, they simply looked at the lamps on the boats. This "Pill" lamp was quite normal, but looking around, there were too many bizarre ones: Corpse, Blood, Yin Water, Poison, Artifacts, Ghost Marriages, Spirit Roots, Divination, Curse-Breaking, Fertility, Prostitution... In short, one could see all sorts of lamps here.

Among the dense cluster of boats, one could see a few rocking violently, with the sounds of pleasure echoing across the water. The pink lamps on their prows swayed along with them. At first, they were somewhat restrained, but later, it became a competition of who could be louder.

...

"Old man Qin, the pills for today, I'll take them all."

A boat pulled up to the sallow-faced man's boat. The figure on it sat cross-legged, shrouded in a wide robe. The sallow-faced man calmly reached into his waist, took out a storage bag, and tossed it over.

After checking it, the person on the other side said, "If you mix in any more waste pills, I’m not buying from you anymore."

"A pleasure doing business, five hundred spirit stones." The sallow-faced man grinned, unbothered. "Next time, I'll only mix in twenty percent."

"The cultivators in the southern sea are fighting to their deaths, and you feed them these kinds of pills? Have you no conscience?"

"Remember your words. If it's this bad next month, I'll kill you."

"Heh heh... if you can't kill me, you're my grandson."

The sallow-faced man didn't care about the threat at all; in fact, he was even pushing his luck.

"Grandpa..."

"That 'Grandpa' wasn't for free. Twenty spirit stones off. Here is four hundred and eighty."

...

After the cultivator collected the pills, he rowed his boat in another direction to continue his pill-collecting business. His task was to collect pills at low prices in the Ghost Market every day. On the other side, after receiving the spirit stones, the sallow-faced man rowed toward the outskirts of the Ghost Market, plunged into the deep water with a splash, and vanished along with his boat.

The surrounding cultivators were long accustomed to this. If you didn't want to dissolve into the water, you could just fly away.

...

Inside Cape Immortal City.

On a secluded street near the cliff, on the second floor of the "Peace of Mind" general store, Shen Lian sat cross-legged, meditating. His third talisman puppet had returned.

He had just let a grandson take advantage of him for twenty spirit stones. Four hundred and eighty spirit stones were just the first harvest of the night. To avoid attracting attention, his talisman puppets traded in small, frequent batches at different times and locations, using different disguises. Having spent months in the Ghost Market, he had made contact with a group that bought pills; they took everything, no matter the quality.

Every time, his puppet would change its appearance to sell the pills. This continued until late into the night, when the Ghost Market dispersed and all the talisman puppets returned.

Shen Lian's aura became even more peaceful.

[Calm and tranquil, Insight Point +1]
...
[Mind empty of external objects, Divine Enlightenment Point +1]
...

In the depths of his being, a ripple surged through his sea of divine sense. Shen Lian awoke from his meditation, a flash of spiritual light flickering in his eyes as he opened them.

[Five Elements Spirit Root: Fire 100, Earth 69, Metal 31, Wood 31, Water 31]
[Divine Enlightenment Points: 31]