With Shan Shubao acting as intermediary, the deal was quickly settled. Yu Gao obtained five bottles of supreme-grade Imperial Nectar from Luo Chen, along with twenty top-grade spirit stones.

Yes, the payment had been made using top-grade spirit stones. Luo Chen had originally intended to pay with low-grade ones, but two hundred thousand was simply too much. An ordinary storage pouch could not hold it, and even though Adepts could afford larger storage pouches, hauling such a volume of low-grade spirit stones was still troublesome. This made him realize that as one's cultivation advanced, the currency of trade shifted with it.

Yu Gao was more than satisfied with the transaction. A crafting method held little importance to him, and more importantly... even with the manual, crafting the treasure was no easy feat. The method had been acquired by the Penglai Immortal Sect, not created by them, and even after entrusting the task to sect elders and pouring in large amounts of materials, they had barely managed a single success. Trading away something of so little value in exchange for Imperial Nectar, which stood to benefit him directly, was an easy decision.

My spirit beast has the bloodline of a Titan Beast, but after all these years, it still hasn't awakened any bloodline abilities. With this medicine, it might finally get the push it needs!

A Titan Beast, a fifth-tier demonic beast of days past, was comparable to an Ascendant in that they had a strong affinity with a law of heaven and earth. Their descendants would also carry an affinity toward that same law, and their bloodline could even carry divine abilities born from that affinity.

However, after the ancient war between humans and beasts, the beast races had turned toward the path of transformation. While this greatly accelerated their cultivation speed, their original path was abandoned in the process, and their ability to unlock such atavistic bloodline traits suffered for it. It grew increasingly difficult, and ordinary low-tier demonic beasts could hardly awaken the bloodline inheritance on their own. Imperial Nectar was practically a miracle; no one knew which master alchemist had developed it, yet its effects were nothing short of remarkable.

Luo Chen was in equally good spirits. After receiving the scroll from Shan Shubao, he casually erased the original owner's imprint and sent his divine consciousness into it. As expected, it contained a complete method for crafting a suit of armor, and a brief scan immediately convinced him of its quality. The armor would provide two layers of defense. One was an energy armor that guarded against energy attacks, while the other was a physical armor that resisted direct strikes. This was not the time or place to study it in detail, however, so he stored the scroll away and turned his attention back to the gathering.

The barter exchange progressed slowly. Most of the items were rare things whose value was hard to determine, and the participants' personal needs also varied. Thus, negotiations took considerable time.

After obtaining the crafting method, Luo Chen did not make many more moves, but that did not stop others from approaching him in private. From time to time, people came to ask if he had more supreme-grade Imperial Nectar and he just gave the same answer each time: He only had those five bottles and nothing more.

In truth, he had intended to do the exact opposite, but he changed his approach after the deal with Sage Fu. He no longer intended to sell his pills in bulk to advertise his skill as a master alchemist. Drawing that kind of attention would only invite trouble, especially from Devil's Snare.

Even so, some still remained suspicious.

"Fellow Daoist Luo, are you a master alchemist?"

Seeing who it was, Luo Chen's heart skipped a beat, but his expression didn't change. "You flatter me, Fellow Daoist Wu. After forming my core, I did dabble in alchemy like most people, hoping to become a respected alchemist. But my talent is limited. Even after plenty of effort, I can only refine some low-grade pills."

After forming their core, cultivators experienced a sharp increase in lifespan and could live for around five hundred years if nothing unexpected happened. With so much time, cultivation alone was never enough. Most would try to study one or two auxiliary arts, and alchemy was often the first choice. Of course, the vast majority could not even afford to get started. But among those with abundant resources, some managed to force their way in and refine first-tier, second-tier, or even third-tier pills.

Yet that alone meant little. It was one thing to refine them, but ensuring a stable success rate and yield was an entirely different matter. Normally, low-grade pills of any tier would be sold at a loss. Without a high success rate, even the cost of materials could not be recovered. To make real profit, one needed mid-grade or even top-grade pills. That was why, although high-tier cultivators were common, high-tier alchemists were not.

Wu Qi grew more suspicious. He had veen surreptitiously observing this rogue cultivator named Luo Hai. There was indeed no strong residual pill energy on him, which did not match Azure Yang. Yet the sudden appearance of this unfamiliar spirit medicine made him feel something was off.

Luo Chen said apologetically, "If you're after Imperial Nectar as well, Fellow Daoist Wu, I'm afraid I can't help. I got those from an ancient cultivator's ruins, and there weren't many of them to begin with. My own spirit beast used some, so the few I traded to Fellow Daoist Yu Gao were all I had left."

"Spirit beast?" Wu Qi's eyes lit up as he instinctively asked, "May I ask what your spirit beast is?"

Luo Chen's expression darkened.

Wu Qi immediately caught himself. "My apologies. I spoke out of turn."

A cultivator's spirit beast was a trump card, much like their enchanted treasures or cultivation techniques. How could it be revealed so casually? He had indeed overstepped.

As the two spoke, the barter finally drew to a close. Shan Shubao stepped to the center of the hall and clapped his hands. "Next, let's talk about the auction that will take place in a few days."

What is there to discuss about the auction? Luo Chen wondered. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Seeing the confusion in his eyes, Wu Qi—perhaps wanting to make up for his earlier rudeness—quietly gave him an explanation.

The auction involved many forces at various levels. The main participants were Sage Jadecold, the Heaven Origin Trade Alliance, Devil's Snare, the Penglai Immortal Sect, and the Blue Sea Alliance. Most of the items up for auction would come from them. It was easy to imagine the quality. Even if one had no use for certain items, anything provided by such forces would not be ordinary. Once placed at the auction, competition would drive the prices higher and higher.

What Shan Shubao was doing now was acting as a mediator. He was linking certain parties in advance and giving a rough outline of who might want to acquire which items so they would not end up competing against one another and damaging relations later. Since Shan Shubao had already warmed up the atmosphere in the hall, people spoke from time to time.

"I want the Lonebank Stone from Sage Jadecold. I hope you'll let me have it when the time comes."

"Sorry, I am planning to craft a Sea-Calming Disc. That Lonebank Stone would be a great addition."

The Sea-Calming Disc was a common enchanted artifact in the Northern Sea. For cultivators without water affinity, fighting water-element cultivators at sea put them at a terrain disadvantage. The disc existed to counter that. It could still the winds and waves, cut off moisture, and eliminate that disadvantage. Moreover, if such an enchanted treasure was placed on an island and paired with the appropriate formation, it could create a calm and stable environment. Oftentimes, families and sects used this disc to build their base. Whether for cultivation or raising marine resources, it was highly beneficial. Of course, while Sea-Calming Discs were common, good ones were quite rare. The inferior ones were only enchanted artifacts, while exceptional ones were decent enchanted treasures.

The one who spoke was clearly a fire-element Adept like Luo Chen. Fighting at sea put him at a great disadvantage, so he urgently needed an enchanted-treasure Sea-Calming Disc.

As Luo Chen watched the two argue, a thought took shape in his mind. At lower realms, the restraining effects of the five elements in combat were not very obvious, since cultivators relied mostly on external means. But at higher realms, such cultivators could directly draw upon the power of heaven and earth, and ultimately, even the power of laws. Although Adepts like them could not reach that level, they could still make use of terrain. Thus, the elemental cycle of mutual generation and restriction increasingly influenced both combat and cultivation.

Should I get myself a Sea-Calming Disc too? Luo Chen considered it for a moment, then quietly dismissed the idea. His fire-element mana was developed with the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture, and it was extremely powerful. Ordinary terrain advantages and the restraint between water and fire were simply not enough to affect him, unless he stumbled across someone with a similarly high-level cultivation art. Spending spirit stones on such things hardly seemed worthwhile when there were better avenues to explore.