The energy quietly flowed outward once, pushing away the evil resentment of the calamity that had been seeping inside him all at once before leisurely disappearing again.
Ise immediately swung the Vajra Pestle, scattering the remnants of the evil spirit.
Only after confirming that the evil spirit had completely disappeared did he finally let out a faint breath.
‘What was that just now?’
The energy he had felt for that brief moment was undoubtedly the same as the one from the Dark Heaven Secret Realm, yet after that brief, unexpected movement, it disappeared as though nothing had happened.
All it had done was demonstrate that it would not permit the evil resentment to interfere with his soul.
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t find an answer.
One thing, however, was certain: for now, the energy wasn’t harmful to him.
Once he raised his cultivation realm, its identity would probably reveal itself.
Ise waved a hand to reassure Cheongun, who was worried about him, then finished sorting through the spoils.
“Do your best with the investigation.”
“All right.
I’ll do my best.
See you again.”
Cheongun gave him a casual farewell, raised his flying sword, and lightly turned away.
Before long, a single blue dot disappeared into the distance.
On the way back to Tiandaogyeong after parting with Cheongun, Ise found that the Heavenly Ice Palace’s blockade had already been lifted.
It seemed the Heavenly Ice Palace had given up on recovering the secret map to the Abyssal Labyrinth.
After returning to his residence, Ise sorted through the things he had plundered from the demonic cultivator city.
Ordinary spirit stones, medicinal pills, common talismans, and similar items were left inside ordinary Storage Pouches, but any magical artifacts that might be mistaken for stolen goods were separated and stored in one corner of the Life-Spirit Cave Abode.
He was worried that selling them carelessly in Tiandaogyeong might expose his trail.
After storing what needed to be stored and selling what could be sold, the number of spirit stones in his possession surpassed 200,000.
‘Just looking at them fills me up.’
The mountain of spirit stones gave him a profound sense of satisfaction simply by being there.
Of course, these weren’t items meant to sit around as decorations.
It meant that rather than merely accumulating them, it was about time to start spending them.
The first place he headed was one of the most renowned medicinal pill shops in Tiandaogyeong.
As he stepped inside, a faint medicinal-herb fragrance brushed against the tip of his nose.
The moment the pill merchant noticed him and confirmed his cultivation realm, he hurried out to greet him.
“Welcome, Senior.”
The merchant immediately led him inside and asked,
“Is there something you’re looking for?”
“I’d like some medicinal pills suitable for a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.”
“Yes.
I’ll prepare them right away.”
The merchant bowed deeply and returned carrying a wooden tray with three types of medicinal pills on it.
“One is a medicinal pill called the Spirit Essence Pill.
It is mainly used by Foundation Establishment cultivators, ranging from mid-grade to high-grade.
The other is called the Spirit Accumulation Pill, which is known for its consistently uniform quality.”
Ise gauged the energy contained within the medicinal pills with his divine sense and asked,
“How much?”
“A mid-grade Spirit Essence Pill is 3,000 spirit stones per pill, while a high-grade Spirit Essence Pill is 10,000.
The Spirit Accumulation Pill is 5,000 per pill.”
Ise’s gaze lingered on the two types of medicinal pills for a moment before he tilted his head.
The amount of spiritual qi condensed inside the Spirit Accumulation Pill was more than twice that of the mid-grade Spirit Essence Pill.
Yet it was actually 1,000 spirit stones cheaper.
“The Spirit Accumulation Pill seems a little cheap.”
“It’s because the Spirit Accumulation Pill is made by a demonic sect, so it isn’t particularly popular.”
“A demonic sect makes medicinal pills?”
“Yes.
The medicinal pills are made by the Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley.
Still, the quality and efficacy are guaranteed.
You can take them without concern.”
One of Ise’s eyebrows rose slightly.
“What kind of demonic sect makes medicinal pills too?”
“Haha.
There are alchemists everywhere.”
Ise silently nodded.
To think he’d live long enough to see medicinal pills made by demonic cultivators being openly traded.
Life certainly was full of surprises.
“Then do demonic sects also make medicinal pills for absorbing demonic qi?”
“Pardon?
Um… I haven’t heard of anything like that.
But I’ve heard that they trade something called a Demon Soul Stone, a mineral condensed with demonic qi, within their sect.
You could call it a kind of medicinal pill.
However, I don’t believe it’s distributed outside the sect.”
A new term was engraved in Ise’s mind.
If he could buy minerals containing condensed demonic qi, that meant he could obtain demonic qi without resorting to dangerous methods like bringing down a demonic cultivator city.
However, since it was primarily traded internally, it would almost never reach the ordinary market.
And he was reluctant to use something made by demonic cultivators anyway, as it left him feeling uneasy.
For now, he decided simply to remember it.
“How many high-grade Spirit Essence Pills do you have?”
“We have four in total.”
“Perfect.
I’ll buy all of them.”
“Pardon?
All of them?”
A look of surprise and delight spread across the merchant’s face.
Unable to hide his excitement at the unexpected windfall, he hurriedly brought out the entire stock.
Medicinal pills worth 40,000 spirit stones.
Leaving the beaming merchant behind, Ise walked out of the pill shop.
The shopkeeper bowed so deeply that his head nearly touched the ground.
***
After installing the Secret Realm Key at his residence and preparing plenty of immortal cuisine, Ise began serious cultivation.
He consumed the immortal cuisine and Spirit Essence Pills in succession.
The spiritual qi within his body immediately began to churn.
His goal was the late-stage Foundation Establishment Realm.
He intended to break through the minor realm in a single push.
Ise checked the calendar Ryu Seonghan had placed on the dining table of the residence.
He had left it there so Ise would at least know what date it was.
Three years had passed since he entered secluded cultivation.
And Ise had broken through to the late-stage Foundation Establishment Realm.
Once he adjusted the amount of internal energy required and circulated it according to the cultivation formula and insights of the late stage, he naturally reached the later stage.
Apparently, since he had already perceived primordial qi, he had been able to skip part of the process.
The feeling of gaining an advantage put him in an exceptionally good mood.
His cultivation speed was satisfying, and his mission was progressing smoothly as well.
Now the Core Formation Realm had drawn one step closer.
He expanded his vastly strengthened divine sense as far as possible, then withdrew it like firing a signal flare.
Afterward, he quietly counted on his fingers.
At some point, he had stopped keeping track of the passage of time separately, but it seemed about ten years had passed since he came to the Northern Continent.
By now, the spiritual qi within the teleportation formation should have recovered as well.
Once he found the lower volume of the Two Principles Return-to-Origin Art, he could return home.
Ise left the cave abode with the intention of taking Bisan for a walk and selling the fifty Full-Moon Hundred-Year Grasses he had harvested for the second time.
The moment he came outside, he sent Bisan flying, and the little fellow happily soared through the air.
He had only learned later that spirit beasts could freely fly around within Tiandaogyeong and no one would bother them.
Most spirit beasts within the Heavenly Ice Palace’s territory already had masters, and carelessly harming one could result in a bloody calamity, so no one dared touch them.
Thanks to that, Ise occasionally let Bisan out to fly freely like this.
‘See?
I told you to go live freely.’
Whenever Bisan looked stifled, Ise encouraged him to leave and be released into the wild, but the little fellow stubbornly refused to go.
After being together for so long, Ise suspected that he had grown attached to him.
He had intended to release him into the Great Exorcist Order’s Spirit Beast Forest as well…
But now that the time to part might eventually come, perhaps he would feel reluctant.
He couldn’t understand what Bisan found so appealing about staying beside a master who did nothing but hole himself up and cultivate.
At least, Bisan had continued growing by remaining at his side and sharing in the resources and spiritual qi.
He had already reached the 6th Star of the Qi Condensation Realm.
Now Buchun would have to call Bisan Senior whenever he saw him.
A regrettable development.
Ise visited every nearby herbal shop to sell the Full-Moon Hundred-Year Grasses, but he was only able to sell forty-five of the fifty.
He had even been forced to let some of them go for a slightly lower price.
Apparently, even the herbal shops didn’t want to stock too much inventory.
In the end, he decided to plant the remaining five back in the grotto.
Fortunately, he had managed to recover most of the spirit stones he had spent purchasing medicinal pills.
Next, he headed to an artifact shop.
Perhaps word had spread that he was a big-spending wandering cultivator, or perhaps it was simply because he had reached the late-stage Foundation Establishment Realm, but he was treated with great courtesy.
They even prepared a guest room for him and brought out precious Spirit Tea.
“Is there something you’re looking for, Senior?”
“First, three Foundation Establishment Heart-Cleansing Talismans.
And is there any magical artifact that can divide a space?”
“If you’re looking to divide a space…”
“I want to split a spiritual herb garden into two sections.
Two of the herbs require different temperatures.”
Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng and Cold-Ice Jade Grass grew well at low temperatures, while Full-Moon Grass and spiritual rice preferred temperatures somewhat higher than that. This chapter was copied from novelping dot com without permission.
It seemed they would have to be cultivated separately.
“Ah.
In that case, a mechanical artifact would be perfect.
We have one.
It’s about ten chi by ten chi (10×10 feet).
Would that be suitable?”
“Give me that one.
And show me every item in this shop that is a treasure artifact or above.”
“Yes!”
The artifact shop staff hurried around as though they had wings on their feet.
A short while later, Ise examined the magical artifacts the employees brought out one by one, but nothing particularly caught his fancy.
Most of them contained offensive Arts.
Amid them, however, something caught his eye.
“You have a Barrier-Shattering Talisman?”
“Yes!
It was very difficult to obtain.”
“I’ll buy it.”
Ise immediately purchased the Barrier-Shattering Talisman.
It was a talisman capable of blocking one attack from a Core Formation Realm great cultivator.
It was precious enough that possessing a single one could practically be considered possessing an extra life.
“The rest are fine… Do you happen to have any Sacred Treasures?”
“Foundation Establishment Sacred Treasures are difficult to trade through an artifact shop.
It will probably be the same elsewhere.
Even if one comes into our possession, anything valuable enough to be classified as such is dangerous simply to possess, so we immediately consign it to the Heavenly Ice Palace’s auction house.”
“Auction house?”
“Yes.
If you need something, Senior, you can also make use of the auction hosted by the Heavenly Ice Palace.”
An auction house.
Large sects in the Eastern Continent occasionally held auctions as well.
But it had been difficult for Ise to happen upon one at the right time, so he had never experienced one himself.
The artifact shopkeeper added that the Heavenly Ice Palace held an auction once every three years, gathering magical objects that had no demand within the sect or that couldn’t obtain their proper value through internal transactions alone.
Ise replenished the Foundation Establishment talismans he had used and then gave the artifact shopkeeper a single spirit stone as a gesture of thanks.
For a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, it was an extremely modest show of goodwill, but the artifact shopkeeper wasn’t so shameless as to make a point of it.
After all, it was already fortunate enough that a cultivator of such a realm had come, conducted his business without causing trouble or making a scene, and simply left.
***
There were about two seasons left before the auction began.
In the meantime, Ise cultivated the Five-Element Life-Promoting Art while waiting for the auction.
Tap, tap.
Something knocked against the window of his residence.
It was a communication talisman sent by Ryu Seonghan.
– You’re going to the auction house?
If you show my guarantee token and state your realm, you’ll be able to enter through the VIP section.
And don’t forget to take off your shoes when you enter.
The rest of the message contained information about how to participate.
After reading it calmly, Ise sent back a message of thanks.
The day of the auction finally arrived.
With his heart pounding in anticipation, Ise headed to the auction house.
The auction was being held in the Affairs Hall building, where the Heavenly Ice Palace handled matters involving outsiders.
Ise presented two identity tokens to the Heavenly Ice Palace cultivator controlling the entrance.
“VIP section, please.”
“Yes, Senior.”
Ise was promptly given a number tag and began taking off his shoes to enter.
Then he noticed the other cultivators entering normally and glanced down at their feet.
No one else was taking off their shoes.
Apparently, Ryu Seonghan had played a prank on him.
Ise immediately sent Ryu Seonghan a communication talisman.
– Your head is about to be split in half.
– Please spare me.
Perhaps he had been nearby, because Ryu Seonghan came running over immediately and bowed his head.
Ise lightly tapped him on the head with his Small Axe.
“Feel better now?”
“Haha.
I heard that was a prank people played on cultivators attending their first auction at the Heavenly Ice Palace, so I thought I’d try it too… Please, go inside.
I deliberately made time because I thought you might feel lonely going alone.”
“Yes.
Thank you.
Very much.”