Chapter 165 Obtaining the Talismans

After searching within his spatial ring for a moment, the mysterious cultivator retrieved a few more tier-four medicinal herbs and handed them to Jiang Ying. Although these herbs were not blood-essence herbs, their value was undeniably on par.

Seeing so many tier-four medicinal herbs being handed over as if they were mere cabbages, Jiang Ying flushed red from excitement, his neck bulging and his nostrils flaring heavily as he panted.

One had to know that as the young master of his clan, he needed to submit a formal application just to mobilize a single tier-four herb, while ordinary members of his clan could not even dream of such a luxury.

Yet the two individuals before him practically treated these herbs as common currency, nonchalantly pulling them out to trade with him. In order to acquire his ancient talisman, they kept producing more and more. It truly made one sigh that comparing oneself to others could drive a person to despair.

Jiang Ying also realized that this talisman in his possession likely had an origin far more terrifying than he had initially anticipated. However, with descendants of two secluded families now vying to exchange for it, failing to trade with them would undoubtedly offend both great clans. On the other hand, if he traded it away, he would forever miss the profound mysteries hidden within the ancient talisman.

Jiang Ying felt deeply conflicted. Yet, reflecting on the matter, these two must have come out to gain practical experience and should not have anyone accompanying them; otherwise, the arrival of powerful experts entering the city would definitely have alerted the City Lord's Mansion. Thus, hardening his heart, Jiang Ying decided to complete the trade first, and then resort to killing and looting to reclaim the ancient talisman. In any case, since the two of them were competing so fiercely, he could simply frame the blame on the cultivator who failed to win the talisman.

With this thought in mind, Jiang Ying planned to have the Jiang family's death squad track the two individuals later, use a forbidden art that cost a life to kill one, and then lure the other to the crime scene.

Afterward, he would use a Light-Imprinting Jade to record the scene within the jade and spread it far and wide. This way, everyone would know that a dispute between these two individuals had resulted in the death of the other.

A Light-Imprinting Jade was a type of gemstone capable of imprinting visual light and shadows witnessed by the human eye. As long as one linked their spiritual sense with the Light-Imprinting Jade and transmitted the visual images they saw into the stone, those images would be permanently branded within.

Furthermore, the scenes recorded inside a Light-Imprinting Jade could be duplicated, making its uses exceptionally broad across numerous fields, such as information dissemination, espionage, daily life recording, and landscape photography.

Of course, Jiang Ying had actually considered killing both of them to eliminate all traces of evidence, but he abandoned the idea because he lacked sufficient confidence in succeeding. After all, descendants of such secluded families undoubtedly possessed life-saving trump cards far superior to his own. If he himself could survive a full-force blow from the early stage of the Dharma Appearance Realm, why couldn't the other party do the same?

The Jiang family's death squad mastered a sacrificial combined-strike forbidden art. These death squads consisted of servants with external surnames whom the Jiang family had taken in since childhood and trained to be loyal to the core, ensuring absolute devotion.

Most of them possessed cultivation at the Divine Spirit Realm. When ten of them executed the combined-strike forbidden art together, they could elevate its might to the level of the early Dharma Appearance Realm. However, that single strike would be their last; their life force would be devoured, reducing them to ashes.

Jiang Ying's move was also intended to exhaust the life-saving trump cards in the hands of these secluded family descendants. Once those cards were depleted, regardless of who it was, as long as they were at the Core Formation Realm, he would be the cleaver and chopping board, while the other party would be the fish and meat.

However, ten was the absolute limit of death squad members Jiang Ying could expend. Being able to kill one person in this manner was already a remarkable feat, so achieving the same result with the second person was virtually impossible.

By now, the number of medicinal herbs produced by the mysterious cultivator had reached a total of eight, which already included the three blood-essence herbs.

With a provocative expression, that cultivator hooked a finger at Chen Mu, signaling him to raise his bid further.

Was the other party trying to crush him through sheer quantity? Chen Mu's expression shifted repeatedly, clearly feeling extremely uncomfortable inside, though no one else could perceive his emotional fluctuations.

Chen Mu also possessed numerous medicinal herbs, but continuing to raise the stakes in this manner was not a viable solution. Moreover, he could no longer afford to add tier-four blood-essence herbs; those were reserved for his future body-tempering needs, and losing even one would cause him physical pain.

Therefore, Chen Mu intended to play a major trump card. Since the opponent had stopped using blood-essence herbs, why should he bother continuing to contend with him using them? Consequently, Chen Mu decided to compete by using a tier-five medicinal herb that he had no practical use for.

Chen Mu immediately transmitted his voice to Xue Tian, instructing him to bring out a tier-five herb of the lowest value from the medicine fields. Xue Tian felt somewhat puzzled as to why Chen Mu was requesting herbs so frequently, especially since Chen Mu offered no explanation for what he was doing.

Nevertheless, Xue Tian did not wish to pry into the matter, so he went and fetched a Qingyan Ghost Blood Vine, handed it to Chen Mu, and then returned to reading his book inside the Abode of Woxian.

After receiving the Qingyan Ghost Blood Vine, Chen Mu took a look at it and his face twitched. Why on earth did Xue Tian bring out this particular item?

Although the Qingyan Ghost Blood Vine was indeed a tier-five medicinal material, its application was extremely esoteric. The pills refined from it were meant for ghost entities or cultivators who dealt extensively with ghosts.

Some ghost cultivators, in order to achieve affinity with ghosts, would refine Ghost Soul Pills and consume them. This ensured that ghost entities would no longer harbor hostility toward the cultivator who ingested the pill, and it even granted a chance to make the ghost acknowledge the cultivator as its master.

However, the moment Chen Mu's Qingyan Ghost Blood Vine appeared in his hand, it was already too late, as everyone present had seen what he was holding. Someone in the crowd cried out in alarm, "It is a tier-five spiritual material, the Qingyan Ghost Blood Vine! This man is a ghost cultivator!"

An uproar broke out among the crowd, and everyone began to look at Chen Mu with wary eyes. Ghost cultivators were a branch of demonic cultivators; by this point in their evolution, it no longer mattered whether they practiced demonic arts or orthodox techniques, for their core practice remained bound to dealing with ghosts.

Speaking of which, the Dusty Rogue was originally a demonic figure. When his dwelling was first explored, many techniques involving the extraction of souls and refinement of spirits were discovered, clearly revealing his depraved nature.

Consequently, ghost cultivators belonged firmly to the demonic faction, which was why the crowd became so wary of Chen Mu.

With a twitch of his face, Chen Mu said, "Everyone, I am not a ghost cultivator. I merely obtained this Qingyan Ghost Blood Vine by chance."

To prove that his cultivation technique was not the chilling, frigid kind that resonated with ghosts, Chen Mu immediately used his free hand to channel the outer fire-essence fluctuations of the Great Sun Lucid Flame, condensing a small flame to display before the crowd.

His Yang-attribute elemental energy was not suitable for premature exposure, so he refrained from using his Yang essence. Instead, he used the Great Sun Lucid Flame—mixed with a minor portion of fire-attribute elemental energy—to pull off the deception.

Seeing that the technique Chen Mu practiced was indeed not a gloomy, chilling art, the crowd finally set their minds at ease. After all, if a ghost cultivator were to appear within the city, the situation would be just like the appearance of a demonic cultivator—it would be reported to the City Lord's Mansion, and everyone would have the duty to eradicate them.

Ghost cultivators were incapable of practicing fire-attribute, wood-attribute mutated thunder-attribute, or Yang-attribute techniques. Chen Mu practiced a Yang-attribute technique and was an ancient clan cultivator possessing the Solar Bloodline. However, Chen Mu's clever smoke-and-mirrors trick led everyone to believe he was merely a fire-attribute user. Cultivators capable of wielding Yang-attribute elemental energy were exceedingly rare; therefore, to avoid unnecessary trouble, it was best to keep it hidden as long as possible.

Although this had successfully made the crowd assume he was a user of fire elemental energy, the mysterious cultivator first furrowed his brow, and then a mischievous smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth, as if he had just discovered something interesting.

Clearly, the mysterious cultivator perceived that Chen Mu was not practicing fire elemental energy, but rather the much rarer Yang elemental energy. Although the crimson flames Chen Mu projected contained very little discernible Yang energy, the faint fluctuations of Yang elemental energy were indeed present.

Chen Mu never imagined that the mysterious cultivator's sensory perception would be so formidable. He had deliberately reined in as much of the Yang-attribute elemental energy within the Great Sun Lucid Flame as possible, ensuring that these Core Formation Realm onlookers should have been entirely incapable of sensing it.

Yet this mysterious cultivator, despite likewise being at the Core Formation Realm, possessed such acute perception that he instantly detected the true foundation of his technique and elemental energy.

However, Chen Mu was still unaware of this development, and the mysterious cultivator did not openly broadcast this startling secret. Thus, the only ones who knew the truth at this moment were Mo Shouchen and Xiang Ming. As for Yao Juanjuan, her discernment was far too poor; back during Chen Mu's flame-control assessment, she had completely failed to notice anything unusual.

Chen Mu looked down at the Qingyan Ghost Blood Vine, figuring that Jiang Ying probably wouldn't want it either, and intended to ask Xue Tian to exchange it for something else. However, the mysterious cultivator suddenly spoke up, leaving Chen Mu completely dumbfounded: "I am not trading anymore. You can keep that talisman for yourself."

Chen Mu stood there in a daze. Weren't this person and he engaged in such extravagant, escalating bids precisely for the sake of that ancient talisman? Why suddenly drop out of the trade? He truly couldn't fathom what was going on in this person's head.

Nevertheless, since the other party had withdrawn from the transaction, competition no longer existed. Therefore, Chen Mu asked Jiang Ying, "Do you still want this Qingyan Ghost Blood Vine? Although this thing is of little use to me, I can always sell it out later... so..."

Jiang Ying's face twitched. He had not expected that upon seeing the mysterious person back out of the deal, Chen Mu would also attempt to retract the very last item he had put forward—the Qingyan Ghost Blood Vine. How could someone who acted so magnanimously just moments ago suddenly take on such a petty demeanor?

Jiang Ying could not afford to offend Chen Mu either, since he still stubbornly believed Chen Mu to be a scion of a secluded family. Thus, he replied, "It doesn't matter. Since the other party has withdrawn their trading item, the transaction will naturally only be based on these four blood-essence herbs."

Fearing that Chen Mu might retract the remaining three blood-essence herbs as well, Jiang Ying hastily locked down the deal for those four herbs.

Chen Mu's mouth twitched. Indeed, he had toyed with the idea of withdrawing the three additional herbs as well, but since the other party had already pinned him down, there was nothing he could do.

Sighing inwardly, Chen Mu completed the exchange with Jiang Ying. He safely stored the Qingyan Ghost Blood Vine into his spatial ring, having no intention of returning it to the Abode of Woxian for cultivation. Since the item was unimportant to him, it would be best to sell it to a ghost cultivator sooner rather than later.

Having acquired the Fivefold Seal-Breaking Talisman, Chen Mu carefully tucked it away into his spatial ring and prepared to leave. He had completely lost interest in the remainder of the trade fair, so his primary goal was to make his escape as quickly as possible.

Seeing Chen Mu in such a rush to leave, a few observant individuals sensed that something was amiss; the true value of that talisman was undoubtedly beyond imagination.

At this moment, Jiang Ying once again handed over the management of the trade fair to the master of ceremonies, immediately dispatching the Jiang family's death squad to pursue Chen Mu. Meanwhile, the mysterious cultivator had also vanished, similarly tailed by two of the Jiang family's death squad members.

Observing this unfolding situation, the two elders Mo Shouchen and Xiang Ming felt deeply anxious. Yet, unable to personally assist Chen Mu, they could only hope that he possessed enough means to evade this catastrophe.

The moment Chen Mu stepped out of the underground trade fair, he sensed that someone was tailing him, causing a cold sneer to form on his lips. His premonition had been correct: the organizers certainly didn't possess such kind intentions. The moment someone acquired an item they desired, murder and looting would inevitably follow.

Furthermore, since this was an item the organizers themselves had traded away, how could they possibly allow such a precious treasure to slip out of their grasp? Fortunately, Chen Mu had taken precautions by wearing the cloak and mask prepared by Mo Shouchen, otherwise a tracking mark would have surely been planted on him.

Without wasting a breath, Chen Mu directly activated the Wind-Walking Boots on his feet, streaking rapidly toward a designated direction within the city and quickly pulling a significant distance ahead of the ten-member Jiang family death squad.