Chapter 160: Setting Up a Stall at the Trade Fair

When these words fell, the surrounding silence became so profound that the dropping of a single needle could be heard. What Chen Mu said was far too esoteric; these young talents, whose backgrounds at best reached the lower tier of front-line factions, what could they possibly know of the Immortal Realm? Yet, it was not entirely incomprehensible to them, for they knew that once one transcended the Flying Immortal realm and shattered the void, that was where one went.

It was simply that Chen Mu’s account was so ethereal and vague that it caused some to doubt whether his words were true or false. However, seeing Chen Mu’s entirely serious demeanor made them hesitant and uncertain about this piece of intelligence.

A young talent, consumed by curiosity, asked, "What manner of place is this Immortal Realm precisely? Are all its inhabitants more formidable than the great masters of the Flying Immortal realm?"

Chen Mu shook his head and replied, "I do not know. I only know that above the Flying Immortal realm lies the realm of Celestial Immortals, and there exist even higher realms beyond that. These secrets were imparted to me by the 'entity' who told me the details of the Nine-Colored Origin Pill."

Many caught the unusual nuance in these words. Chen Mu had used the term "entity," which suggested that the person who revealed these secrets to him likely possessed an extraordinary background, one that could not be viewed through the ordinary perspective of the Azure Firmament Continent.

In truth, this "entity" referred to Rou'er. The reason Chen Mu used the word "entity" was because Rou'er was not of the human race; it was awkward for her to reveal that he had learned these things from a true spirit of the beast race. After all, within the Azure Firmament Continent, the so-called beast race consisted merely of ferocious beasts in deep mountains and ancient forests that had attained sentience and transformed.

Furthermore, these beast races harbored varying degrees of hostility toward humans, and they could basically be regarded as sworn enemies of the human race.

Additionally, humans delighted in enslaving beast beasts as mounts and pets, making humans and beasts as incompatible as fire and water—much like the situation between the Yuanyao Continent and the Immortal Realm of old.

Yet, one point of difference was that the beast race of the Azure Firmament Continent lived in prolonged seclusion deep within the mountains and forests, making it exceedingly rare for humans to encounter them unless a human exploring beast territory stumbled upon them and provoked a conflict. Generally speaking, these beasts were self-sufficient and lived lives far removed from human crowds, save for those beast beasts that had already undergone human transformation.

The Immortal Realm was somewhat different. There, the beast race possessed its own territory, and their domain was vast. Although their power had waned, they continually harbored ambitions of a resurgence. Only a few noble true spirit clans drew boundaries for themselves, forever preserving their ancient traditions and tranquil lives, unwilling to wage war against the human race.

Essentially, the beasts of the Immortal Realm had all successfully undergone human transformation. After all, once one reached the second major step, who had not transformed into human form? Only those lesser demons and minor monsters still lingering below the fifth grade of the first step failed to achieve transformation.

Rou'er had also successfully transformed, but her form had been sealed by Chen Mu's father, who feared that the young Chen Mu might succumb to temptation and fall under the spell of this little vixen. As for what kind of temptation he could not resist, everyone could well imagine.

Therefore, the beast race of the Azure Firmament Continent wished to avoid conflict with the humans of the entire continent and thus remained far from human settlements. Meanwhile, the beasts of the Immortal Realm continuously harbored the ambition to recapture their racial status; after all, they were the descendants of the Spiritual Ancestors—how could they possibly be ruled by a group of lowly humans?

Nonetheless, Chen Mu's words served somewhat as a smoke screen. He did not wish to expose Rou'er, so hearing this, the crowd assumed that Chen Mu must have met some extraordinary entity, such as an immortal from the Immortal Realm.

Even if he had not seen an immortal, perhaps such an entity had visited his faction, and Chen Mu had simply heard these tales from his elders.

In short, Chen Mu's identity became the subject of boundless speculation and suspicion. They surmised that Chen Mu was very likely a scion of those legendary secluded families.

After all, such deep secrets could only be accessed by the four top-tier factions, the Decrescent Heavenly Demon Palace, and those hidden families. The first five could be readily excluded.

Chen Mu's cultivation techniques did not resemble those of the four top-tier factions, and the Decrescent Heavenly Demon Palace practiced demonic arts, making that even more impossible. Thus, only a hidden family could truly be Chen Mu's background.

Consequently, some cultivators who arrived at this realization immediately showed Chen Mu signs of respect. Others simply regarded it as too abstruse and listened to it as a mere story, placing little belief in his words.

Chen Mu did not dwell excessively on this topic. After all, before discussing the Nine-Colored Origin Pill and the Immortal Realm, he had already shared his own cultivation insights and experiences. This had achieved the purpose of a genuine exchange, entirely free of empty and grandiose words meant to bluff people.

The tea party concluded harmoniously amidst the chatter and varied opinions of the crowd. Moreover, Wanyan Shen had achieved his desired objective. One could say that upon returning, these young talents would advise their clan elders regarding which faction to align with, giving Wanyan Shen a strong probability of gathering a powerful bloc of allies for his own camp.

By now, everyone had departed Wanyan Shen's private residence. Some returned to their lodgings, while others changed into black robes to attend the subsequent trading assembly. Naturally, those who trusted the organizers of the trading assembly would travel directly to the destination and don their attire upon arrival.

This trading assembly was jointly organized by several of the most prominent Nascent Soul realm cultivators in Kun'an City. These individuals held high prestige within the Nascent Soul circles, so they enjoyed the general trust of the community.

However, Chen Mu did not know these people and thus had no basis for trust. To be safe, he wore the mask and cloak given to him by Mo Shouchen.

Furthermore, Chen Mu did not rely solely on the mask and cloak; he also employed the disguise technique taught to him by the Blood Heaven Sect to alter his facial features. Even if someone discovered his true identity, they would never know who he truly was.

The trading assembly was held inside a simple dwelling not far from Wanyan Shen's private residence. Ordinary though this house appeared, the intricacies hidden within were vast indeed.

Such a modest dwelling could never accommodate so many crowded Nascent Soul realm experts; in truth, the house was merely a facade. The true trading assembly was located beneath it.

Upon entering the ordinary-looking room, one simply had to move a crude wooden bed aside to reveal the entrance to a subterranean passageway sealed by restrictive arrays. By following this entrance downward, one would arrive at the true location of the trading assembly.

There were no guards posted at the house; once the entrance was opened, entry and exit were entirely unrestricted. However, those who wished to acquire identity-concealing robes or masks had to visit another location first before entering.

By this time, Chen Mu had separated from Mo Shouchen and the others before approaching the trading assembly, and he was now entirely on his own.

He restrained his cultivation aura to such a degree that even a Spirit Severing realm expert could not perceive his spiritual energy fluctuations, let alone see through his cultivation level.

He cautiously entered the dwelling and noticed that people were streaming in this direction all along the way, every last one of them wearing masks and heavy robes that wrapped them up tightly.

Moreover, these robes possessed the ability to block spiritual sense detection, leaving Chen Mu completely unable to sense their auras. It seemed the black robes and masks provided by the organizers had some genuine utility.

Chen Mu followed several other cultivators who had also come for the trading assembly down the subterranean tunnel. Candlelight guided the visitors toward the mysterious trading venue.

After walking several hundred meters along a winding corridor, the space suddenly opened up before them. This was a sprawling underground plaza where many people had already claimed corners and begun transacting with visitors.

This private trading was merely an appetizer; the formal trading assembly would be held shortly. During the formal session, participants would announce their items and exchange them through a competitive bidding process.

Whosoever offered the item of greatest value or the one most favored by the owner would successfully complete the exchange, and then the next person would step forward to display their goods.

Since the formal trading assembly had not yet begun and the organizers had not all arrived, free trading was permitted in the meantime. This piqued Chen Mu's curiosity, and he began to stroll around and look about.

Ultimately, however, Chen Mu was merely observing. The items brought out by these Nascent Soul realm cultivators were not only useless to him, but their prices were also exorbitant.

The only thing Chen Mu wished to do right now was to offload some spoils of war he had acquired after killing disciples of the Brahma Star Sect, along with some useless Nascent Soul realm equipment from Dustless Daoist's dwelling. He did not expect anyone to trade rare and peerless treasures for them—after all, no one would trade rare wonders for such magical instruments—he merely hoped they could be purchased with a suitable amount of origin stones.

As for those natural heavenly treasures, Chen Mu would at best take a look. Unless something genuinely moved his heart, he would not use the fourth- or even fifth-tier heavenly spiritual herbs he had obtained from Dustless Daoist's dwelling for exchange.

Naturally, he had to find something that truly tempted him; he had no wish to risk being targeted by everyone just to trade for an item of no practical use to him.

Most of the items brought out by these Nascent Soul realm cultivators were things Chen Mu had never laid eyes on before, with only a small fraction of the medicinal ingredients being familiar to him from ancient texts.

Yet these items shared one common trait: the origin energy fluctuations radiating from them were quite astonishing, making it certain that these were precious treasures of considerable value.

After surveying the scene, Chen Mu also found an unoccupied corner to set up a modest stall. He laid out the useless Nascent Soul realm magical instruments he had acquired, along with the spoils from the Brahma Star Sect, intending to sell them together.

Naturally, items of the Origin Pill realm held almost no value in the eyes of Nascent Soul realm cultivators, so these unranked trinkets were heavily discounted. He hoped that some Origin Pill realm cultivators who had come to witness the world might take a fancy to them and make a purchase.

Chen Mu erected a small sign displaying his demands, and the four prominent characters reading "Origin Stones Only" were enough to dazzle anyone's eyes.

The expressions of the onlookers turned strange. What kind of person was this? Had he gone crazy from poverty? What did "Origin Stones Only" even mean? Could it be that this fellow daoist had exhausted his supply of origin stones?

They dared not be certain whether Chen Mu was truly in the Origin Pill realm, for among the items for sale were Nascent Soul realm magical gear, and his aura remained unfathomable to them, making a definitive judgment difficult.

Whether he was in the Nascent Soul realm mattered little; what mattered was that Chen Mu's goods were rather inexpensive precisely because he accepted only origin stones. Origin stones were the most common currency and commodity—serving simultaneously as the money of the cultivation world and as supplies usable for cultivation. Thus, while origin stones held value, they were hardly scarce.

Consequently, some cultivators eager to acquire a set of fine equipment at a lower cost immediately approached Chen Mu's stall to inspect the goods. One had to admit that the quality of these magical instruments and gear was quite decent, and since he accepted only origin stones, more and more lower-tier Nascent Soul cultivators were drawn to patronize Chen Mu's rather inconspicuous corner.