Xu Ziqing frowned upon hearing this.
He knew Nan Zhengya was at Nascent Soul, but the other party had two people. He could not help worrying. “Since you know their plans, Brother Nan Zheng, you’d best take precautions early.”
Nan Zhengya’s voice softened slightly. “That old scoundrel doesn’t even know my true background, yet he dares sell me out? What audacity!” Killing intent seeped into his words. “That Tribulation-Breaking Thunder Fruit is useful to me. I’d meant to lure its owner into a trap myself, but since someone got there first, they can hardly blame me for being ruthless.”
Xu Ziqing’s heart tightened, but his concern faded.
Nan Zhengya sounded as though he intended to turn the tables on the two men. Xu Ziqing did not know how he would accomplish it, but the person selling out a fellow disciple was certainly no innocent.
After a moment, Xu Ziqing put the matter aside.
The exchange continued briskly. The first few trades had gone smoothly, and the participants now realized that everyone had come well prepared. Their enthusiasm grew.
Two or three people soon mounted the platform, displaying ten-thousand-year jade marrow, strange flowers from the abyss, sea-born ice crystals, magma firestones, rarities condensed by heaven and earth, sixty-year moonlight essence, and unusual pills for breaking through various realms. Some remedies took unorthodox paths but had striking effects, making them hard to resist.
As Xu Ziqing broadened his knowledge, Nan Zhengya finally began trading.
Perhaps nothing earlier had appealed to him. Now he sought leaves saturated with thunder energy, apparently from a plant that had endured a lightning tribulation. They were far inferior to the Tribulation-Breaking Thunder Fruit.
The leaves would ordinarily not justify the ball of poisonous fire Nan Zhengya offered. But there were fully one thousand leaves, which made the trade reasonably fair.
More and more people took the platform, and Nan Zhengya traded increasingly often.
Xu Ziqing finally saw the extent of his wealth. He produced many excellent treasures without even blinking. Several observant participants began looking toward him with hostile, greedy interest.
Though such malicious intentions could not shake Xu Ziqing’s resolve, they exerted a faint pressure. Nan Zhengya, however, refused to tolerate them. His disguised blue-faced giant twisted his mouth and radiated an even fiercer malice in return.
Xu Ziqing had to admit that an old saying from his previous life, that the good-natured were easily bullied, held considerable truth.
Before long, a tall woman appeared, holding a jade box.
Inside lay a fist-sized transparent substance. It looked soft, yet possessed something more than softness: a remarkably resilient, moldable quality.
It radiated an exceedingly gentle aura, seemingly able to incorporate the hardest substances without itself being wholly yielding. The effect was profoundly mysterious.
Xu Ziqing stared in astonishment.
He had read many miscellaneous texts. Although he still lacked practical skill in artifact refining, he knew a great deal about rare ores and refining materials. Perhaps, unconsciously, he had already begun thinking about a sword embryo for Yun Lie. He remembered sword-forging materials particularly well.
And the substance now displayed was an extraordinarily precious sword-forging material.
Water-Fusing Essence Crystal.
The moment he saw it, Nan Zhengya chuckled quietly. “Your luck is good. Who would have thought you’d find this? If we obtain it, it’ll be enormously useful to your senior brother.”
Xu Ziqing drew a deep breath and nodded solemnly.
He knew as well as anyone that this material might have been created expressly for Yun Lie!
The woman on the platform announced her requirements. “I want a demonic-path defensive treasure artifact of at least middle grade, preferably a formation plate and matching set, capable of protecting a region extending five hundred li.”
Unfortunately, the room scarcely responded.
It was not that the others wished to slight her. The Water-Fusing Essence Crystal was simply too impractical.
It was undeniably rare, comparable to an essence of heaven and earth. But the conditions governing its use were exceedingly restrictive.
The key was the word “fusing.” The crystal was nurtured in water and could combine the hardest substances in the world while giving them greater resilience.
In other words, any refining material that was not among the very hardest would fail to take shape once this crystal touched it, no matter how it was processed.
Finding a suitable hard substance was simple enough: Geng Metal.
Geng Metal Essence was extraordinarily rare, but ordinary Geng Metal was not. Many Metal-attribute sword cultivators incorporated some into their life-bound swords, strengthening the swords’ metallic nature and improving compatibility.
At first glance, then, ordinary Metal-attribute sword cultivators ought to be able to use the crystal.
But there was a catch. Adding a little Geng Metal to one’s sword was one thing; forging the entire life-bound spirit sword from it was another. The cost would be outrageous!
And even if someone were extravagantly wealthy enough to do so, the Water-Fusing Essence Crystal brought another problem.
A Geng Metal sword tempered with the crystal would resist being broken by other divine abilities and gain tremendous power. But it could no longer advance in grade through ordinary means.
As everyone knew, a sword cultivator typically refined a chosen blade into a life-bound spirit sword and nurtured it inside the dantian, enabling the sword to advance as the cultivator’s realm improved. Ideally it remained by its master’s side for life.
But what use was a life-bound sword that could not advance? Would its master have to replace it when their own realm rose?
A second sword would never be as harmonious as the first. And using an immensely expensive, pure Geng Metal life-bound sword for a mere few decades or centuries would be folly. With resources sufficient to obtain that much Geng Metal, one could instead acquire innumerable other treasures and improve one’s cultivation!
Of course, if that were the crystal’s only property, it would not rank among supreme treasures.
The Heavenly Dao imposed limits upon all things, but also provided ways to overcome them.
A sword forged by combining Water-Fusing Essence Crystal and Geng Metal did have another use.
For it to advance, a cultivator who had attained great perfection in sword intent needed only to pour their solidified sword intent into it and temper it daily. The spirit sword would then develop spirituality and become increasingly attuned to its master, moving as naturally as the hand.
Moreover, the lower the cultivator’s realm, the greater the likelihood of a sword recognizing them as its master. A life-bound sword was to a sword cultivator what the heart and organs were to an ordinary person, so no carelessness was permissible.
Accordingly, sword cultivators usually chose their Sword Dao by the time they formed their Golden Core, then sought a suitable life-bound sword to integrate into the dantian. Waiting until Nascent Soul made it exceedingly difficult to find a compatible sword, and the blade would also have missed the crucial period of spiritual growth between Golden Core and Nascent Soul.
That was what made the Water-Fusing Essence Crystal so impractical: its requirements.
One needed enough Geng Metal to forge a whole sword.
The sword cultivator had to follow the Dao of Geng Metal.
The sword cultivator could only be at the Golden Core realm.
That Golden Core sword cultivator also had to have comprehended sword intent.
And their sword intent had to have reached great perfection.
Ordinary sword cultivators often relied upon a life-bound spirit sword to help them comprehend sword intent in the first place. A few incomparable geniuses could comprehend it beforehand, but reaching great perfection while still at Golden Core was extraordinarily difficult.
And those who already had life-bound spirit swords hardly needed the crystal!
The conditions seemed to contradict one another.
Taken together, they were almost impossible to satisfy.
No wonder nobody wanted the material.
The woman appeared prepared for disappointment, having experienced it many times before. She had only been trying her luck.
Seeing no offers, she was about to step down.
Then someone called, “Wait.”
Naturally, the speaker was Nan Zhengya.
The requirements suited Yun Lie astonishingly well. Even the usually composed Xu Ziqing felt a surge of impatience.
If Senior Brother could obtain this material, then find Geng Metal Essence inside the Tianlan Secret Trove and forge a sword embryo, he could nurture it within his dantian. Given time, his sword would surely surpass all others.
Only such a mighty, tyrannical blade could be worthy of Yun Lie’s Sword Dao and sword intent!
For once, Xu Ziqing was determined to obtain an object at any cost.
He had almost immediately whispered, “I’ll have to trouble you, Brother Nan Zheng.”
That was why Nan Zhengya had called the woman back in time.
The woman was delighted at first, then suspicious. “Does that fellow Daoist wish to trade?”
Her hesitation was understandable. Nascent Soul ancestors used treasure artifacts, but even middle-grade ones were uncommon. A defensive treasure able to protect such a large region was rarer still, and few people would willingly part with one.
After so many disappointments, she hardly dared believe she had finally found a buyer.
Nan Zhengya stepped forward and opened his palm. A small triangular flag of black iron appeared, black as ink and breathing faint demonic qi. Unlike the sinister, ghostly aura of ordinary demonic qi, this one seemed protective, primarily defensive in nature.
It was clearly the sort of defensive formation she needed. Its demonic radiance was rich and the little flag heavy, suggesting that a complete set would be of considerable grade.
Nan Zhengya said, “The Ten-Sided, Eight-Direction Illusory Demon Grand Formation. It is a middle-grade treasure artifact of the demonic path, capable of protecting eight hundred li of territory. Will that do?”
Eight hundred li! That was far better than the five hundred li she had requested.
Delighted, the woman hurriedly held out her treasure. “If we’re trading, you cannot change your mind!”
Nan Zhengya sneered. “I won’t. Take it.”
He swept out the entire set of eighteen black-iron formation flags and their formation plate, and caught the jade box as it came toward him.
The woman returned to her seat clutching the formation set as though it were priceless. Nan Zhengya strolled back to Xu Ziqing.