Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

Chapter 372: Chapter 271 Stirring Up Trouble!_2

Compared to dealing with most people, Zhao Sheng regarded the seven… no, rather eight Golden Core Fellow Daoists with much more seriousness, so much so that even Jin Yunzi couldn’t resist joining in.

“Taoist Zhao, you honor us. I am Jin Yunzi, would you be willing to join the Star God Palace? With just a nod from you, the Star God Palace is willing to open the first three layers of the Book Sea Palace to you and sincerely offer you the position of an Elixir Palace elder.”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Sheng couldn’t help but look towards Jin Yunzi, his heart somewhat tempted.

Unfortunately, he was not planning to stay long in the Shattered Star Sea, and naturally, he wouldn’t join the Star God Palace.

Zhao Sheng transmitted a message with his Divine Sense, politely rejecting Jin Yunzi’s offer.

Jin Yunzi showed a look of regret. To any force, no number of Alchemists was considered excessive, especially since Zhao Sheng was a third-rank Alchemist at the Golden Core Level.

Given time, this man was highly likely to advance to become an Alchemy Master.

Keep in mind that throughout the Star God Palace, there were no more than five Alchemy Masters, a rarity even compared to the Nascent Soul Ancestors, which illustrates the scarcity of the Alchemy Masters.

“I, Li Wen, currently a Supreme Elder of the Youli Sect, have a three thousand-year-old Sandal Sun Grass in my possession. Would you, Fellow Daoist, care to take a look?”

Zhao Sheng looked up, the speaker was to his left, a thin and tall elder, who was also unmistakably a Golden Core Master.

Seeing Zhao Sheng looking his way, the thin and tall elder took out a golden-red wooden box from his side, opened the lid, and a burst of red light spread out, revealing an ancient Spirit Grass about half a foot tall, with double spiral-twined branches and nine leaves, from which strands of red light burst forth.

Zhao Sheng’s gaze fixed on it for a while without shifting, and he couldn’t help but nod slightly; the grass was indeed identical to the Sandal Sun Grass described in the scriptures.

This exotic herb was the main ingredient in refining the Sandalwood Pill, which suppresses the Heart Demon and greatly enhances the cultivation speed of Fire Element True Men.

Zhao Sheng nodded, about to transmit a reply, when the thin and tall elder suddenly moved his lips slightly, transmitting a message:

“If you think to exchange it for just one or two Foundation Establishment Pills, that’s impossible. It will take at least five Mid-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, or two top-grade pills.”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Sheng immediately shook his head. It was known that the price of five Mid-grade Foundation Establishment Pills was enough to exchange for three to four hundred thousand Spirit Stones, or four to five top-grade spiritual artifacts of not low grade, far exceeding the value of the Sandal Sun Grass.

Zhao Sheng’s face darkened, he absolutely didn’t tolerate extortion, and coldly retorted back:

“Mr. Li, do not be overly greedy. Although this Essence Sun Ganoderma is also rare and precious, it’s worth at most two hundred thousand Spirit Stones. That’s hardly half the value of five Mid-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, not to mention the surplus value of the pills.”

“The lowest is four Mid-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, then this Sandal Sun Grass belongs to you, otherwise, let’s just drop the matter,” the thin and tall elder mused a bit before lowering his price.

Zhao Sheng’s expression grew darker; this skinny elder was clearly trying to fleece him, but he wasn’t in a hurry to trade, deciding to cold shoulder him for a while longer.

Zhao Sheng ignored this man and turned to bargain with other Golden Core Fellow Daoists instead.@@novelbin@@

Facing a third-rank Alchemist, most Golden Core Masters were sincerely respectful, offering even more precious treasures.

Within just a few words, Zhao Sheng couldn’t help but be repeatedly tempted.

Golden Core Masters indeed had substantial wealth, offering up Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects including Not False Stone, Bo Re Spirit Water, Earth Spirit Flame, and Thousand Rain Wood.

Furthermore, these people actually brought out up to ten Thousand-Pattern Star Algae Fruits in one go.

Even Fire Crystal Diamonds, Geng Metal, and Nie Crystals, other high-end treasures, were presented by several Golden Core Masters.

However, contrary to this, these old monsters weren’t easy to handle, mostly being as greedy as Li Wen, either blatantly making expansive demands or using flowery, seductive words to tempt and deceive, with only two that could be considered somewhat honest.

Zhao Sheng wasn’t afraid of their tricks; he straightforwardly made agreements with everyone, promising to refine more valuable Spirit Pills in exchange for their treasures.

In his words, he even subtly hinted at his ability to refine Golden Core Formation Pills.

At the mention of the Golden Core Formation Pills, all Golden Core Masters immediately became extremely excited, their eyes sparkling.

No one understood better than them the preciousness of the Golden Core Formation Pills.

In just a brief moment, the attitude of the True Immortals towards Zhao Sheng underwent a drastic transformation, all showing a face of closeness and flattery.

Just then, Li Wen suddenly changed his tune: “Taoist Zhao, for this three thousand-year-old Sandal Sun Grass, I am willing to let it go for half price. Just as long as you can produce a Golden Core Formation Pill for sale within twenty years. You set the requirements, but under the same price, I reserve the right of first refusal.”

Zhao Sheng hesitated for a moment, ambiguously nodding his head, first transmitting individually to each person, then simultaneously promising all the Golden Core Masters: “In no more than ten years, fellow daoists are welcome to visit Dome Turtle Island. There’s a high probability you won’t be disappointed.”

Seeing this, the thin and tall elder Li Wen hesitated for a long while but finally nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, the storm of Divine Sense within the palace gradually calmed down, and Zhao Sheng had reached agreements with most powers.

Now it only depended on whether they could bring out the treasures he needed.

Soon, people started approaching Zhao Daojing, exchanging items with him.

Zhao Sheng also smoothly sold all his Foundation Establishment Pills.

Among them, four Mid-grade Pills were traded for a piece of Nie Crystal weighing a hundred catties and two types of treasures including Sandal Sun Grass.

However, that top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill was exchanged for a clump of Earth Spirit Flame.

Earth Spirit Flame could be used for alchemy or help a Foundation Establishment Cultivator easily transform their Spiritual Power.

In Zhao Sheng’s view, exchanging a top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill for it was more than worth it.

Of course, perhaps the other party was even more satisfied with the trade.

Zhao Sheng actually had more Foundation Establishment Pills, but he didn’t continue to bring them out.

He had already drawn some attention; continuing to trade might motivate envious fellow Daoists to “stab him in the back.”

The trading event was still ongoing, and Zhao Sheng’s actions had immediately heated up the atmosphere at the scene.

However, for the following part of the trading event, Zhao Sheng was somewhat distracted—any good items had already been revealed by the Foundation Establishment Cultivators during the earlier conversations.

Zhao Sheng already knew the answers, naturally his mind was elsewhere.

Four hours later, the forces on the third layer seats also had all appeared on stage.

The trading event was finally more than halfway through.

At that moment, Jin Yunzi walked back onto the Magic Platform with a smile brimming across his face.

He slowly scanned the crowd below, his gaze briefly pausing on Zhao Sheng before continuing to look towards the others.

After looking around, Jin Yunzi coughed lightly and spoke loudly, “It’s time again for this old man to issue the rankings. The same old rules apply—the Carefree Pavilion will announce this year’s three major lists: first, the bounty list; second, the wanted list; finally, the Spiritual Treasure list. As for other rankings like the Storm Clouds List, Promising Youth List, Spirit Vein Mineral List, Major Events List… and so on, they will be available for purchase from our pavilion after the trading event ends.”

Zhao Sheng was stunned. In his previous life, he had never heard of the Shattered Star Sea having so many rankings.

In just three hundred years, the Star God Palace had come up with such a scheme that deeply understood human nature and harbored malicious intentions.

Zhao Sheng couldn’t help but admire the person who came up with this idea.

Any intelligent person could quickly realize that such rankings were clearly designed to stir up people’s emotions, intentionally exacerbating conflicts, and thereby making the various forces annihilate each other in a hidden conspiracy (which was also an inescapable overt scheme).

The Star God Palace had suppressed the Shattered Star Sea for over ten thousand years and had never engaged in such underhanded tactics before.

Zhao Sheng didn’t believe that in those ten thousand years, no one in the Star God Palace had ever proposed such ideas or secretly planned such schemes.

There must have been people, even many clever ones, who thought of it, but the Star God Palace had always refrained from taking real action, perhaps merely out of disdain, or perhaps due to extreme confidence in their ability to suppress all beings.

Yet, why would the Star God Palace undergo such a huge change in just three hundred years?

In the moments Zhao Sheng was lost in thought, Jin Yunzi waved his wide-sleeved robe.

Swish swish!

A large number of black, red, and white Jade Scrolls shot out from his sleeves.

Three Jade Scrolls in each set, respectively flying towards the first, second, and third layer seats.

Zhao Sheng’s mind stirred, and he saw the swiftly approaching triple Jade Scrolls soaring like birds, landing on the Jade Table in front of him.

He released his Divine Sense, immediately probing into the Jade Scrolls.

“Wanted List, number one, Blood Demon Sect’s leader, Blood God’s Son…”

“Bounty List, first, a reward for the method to awaken the Star God…”

“Spiritual Treasure List, first, Divine Descent Platform, the inherited treasure of the Spirit Clan…”

In an instant, Zhao Sheng’s expression drastically changed.