CHAPTER 416: 226, HEAVEN, EARTH, AND HUMAN: THREE TYPES OF FIRE - PART 3

Zhao Xian was startled and took a few steps back, protesting while drawing her spiritual tools to protect herself.

"180,000 Spirit Shells!" Xu Xing reiterated, sticking firmly to the figure.

"Alright, alright..." Zhao Xian said. "Brother Yao, put down your sword. 180,000 Spirit Shells—I agree to your terms."

Seeing Xu Xing had no intention of attacking, her heart eased slightly. However, she had rarely been in a fight and, in her panic, conceded.

"Yao Dang" has no money left. The barefoot aren’t afraid of those with shoes. If I die, it’s my loss.

She untied her hair bun and took out a thumb-sized luminous pearl from her hair. Then, she poured eighteen Spirit Pearls from the luminous pearl, arranging them one by one on the Table cases.

"These are eighteen Spirit Pearls. Each Spirit Pearl is worth ten thousand Spirit Shells. You’re getting a bargain," Zhao Xian said, gritting her Silver Teeth. She then used her Magic Power to levitate the eighteen Spirit Pearls and send them over to Xu Xing.

"Thank you, Miss Zhao."

Xu Xing waved his sleeve, sweeping all the Spirit Pearls into his Storage Bag.

"However, I have some other business to discuss with you, Miss Zhao."

An idea struck him, and he took out several pieces of precious jewelry.

"To be honest, Miss Zhao," Xu Xing began, smoothly concocting a lie, "I once had a fortuitous encounter and mistakenly entered a True Man’s Cave Mansion. That True Man had died of old age, leaving behind his Storage Bag..."

"The two pieces of jewelry I gave to Kong Xing were relics of this True Man," he continued. "I merely used my mother’s name to prevent others from coveting them..."

These pieces of jewelry came from the Sea Bandits of East Huangzhou—the same ones who had tried to encircle and kill Wu Miao previously.

Although Xu Xing didn’t know why these Sea Bandits kept so much jewelry in their Storage Bags, he tried to make the best use of everything.

Cultivators’ jewelry, though they might also be Magical Artifacts, were not as cost-effective as dedicated Magical Artifacts. Male cultivators seldom carried more than a dozen jewelry-type Magical Artifacts.

Stolen goods from East Huangzhou could be disposed of here in the Nanyan Continent without fear of discovery.

A forced sale? The words popped into Zhao Xian’s mind. But now that I’ve already revealed my wealth, having essentially thrown 180,000 Spirit Shells down the drain, spending a little more doesn’t seem like such a big deal.

「Half an hour later.」

Xu Xing walked out of the shed where Zhao Xian lived.

This transaction netted him an additional 110,000 Spirit Shells. Combined with the previous 180,000 Spirit Shells, he now had 290,000 Spirit Shells that he could openly use.

What a strange man...

After the footsteps outside gradually faded, Zhao Xian opened the door, glanced out, then closed it again and shook her head.

She had just been subjected to a forced sale by Xu Xing. She had initially thought he would try to palm off inferior goods or extort her money by overcharging. Unexpectedly, Xu Xing hadn’t inflated the prices; he was genuinely trading.

180,000... I lost 60,000. Then I traded for jewelry... so I neither lost nor gained overall...

Zhao Xian calculated. After finishing, she was slightly stunned.

The magic clothes made of Azure Fire Spider Silk... she had sold them for 240,000 Spirit Shells.

Could he have done that on purpose? Using the transaction as a pretext to deliberately make up for my deficit? Was he trying to tell me he didn’t intend to coerce me or rob my money? Or was there another reason?

In that moment, Zhao Xian considered many possibilities.

...

...

Xu Xing’s reasons for choosing to sell the jewelry-type Magical Artifacts to Zhao Xian weren’t as complicated as she imagined.

Firstly, these jewelry-type Magical Artifacts were useless to him. Selling them to Zhao Xian, allowing her to profit, could also mitigate any repercussions from his ’impulsive’ actions earlier. Xu Xing was still somewhat wary of Xuan Turtle City’s Law Enforcement Team.

Secondly, it was also a way to use Zhao Xian to obtain some Spirit Shells that his "Yao Dang" identity could use.

I stayed at Dinghefeng for several days and stole some precious ingredients. That’s reasonable and justifiable, Xu Xing thought as he walked into a pawnshop in Xuan Turtle City and pawned a precious ingredient – a Flame Spirit Mushroom.

This was a piece of incriminating evidence he deliberately created for himself.

If anyone doubted his "Yao Dang" identity and investigated Zhao Xian and the pawnshop, they would only conclude that he was a minor cultivator who had experienced Great Fortune, luckily obtaining a True Man’s legacy, rather than a True Monarch in disguise.

After these maneuvers, although Xu Xing was still a bit short of the 800,000 Spirit Shells needed to purchase the Green Cloud Symbol, he wasn’t far off. The small remaining sum could be mixed with illicit funds without anyone noticing anything unusual.

Purchasing the Green Cloud Symbol at the City Lord’s Mansion, joining the Pill Cauldron Sect, and becoming an Outer Sect Disciple of the Pill Cauldron Sect—Xu Xing completed all these subsequent steps in less than a day.

...

...

「A month later.」

Chu Kingdom.

Dragon Lake City, at the foot of Pill Cauldron Mountain.

Lingzhi Courtyard.

Now that I’m in the Chu Kingdom, I no longer need to disguise myself as a Pill Cauldron Sect disciple. I’ll inquire about the internal structure of the Pill Cauldron Sect, then visit the mountain as a True Monarch Freelance Cultivator and request the formula for the Nascent Soul Spiritual Object.

Xu Xing changed into the Outer Sect Disciple uniform issued by the Pill Cauldron Sect, then walked out of his room and went to the Alchemy Lecture Hall.

Inside and outside the hall, it was packed with Outer Sect Disciples wearing blue robes embroidered with a Three-legged Round Cauldron on the chest. They were all looking intently at an old man with white eyebrows sitting on a straw mat in the inner part of the hall.

White Eyebrow... Xu Xing frowned, reminded of Ruan Baimei from the Flying Feather Immortal Palace.

Ruan Baimei’s "great selflessness" made him feel rather petty by comparison. But then again, he was inherently a petty person, not some grand hero.

Let’s hear what he has to say, Xu Xing thought, composing himself. He mimicked the surrounding Outer Sect Disciples, sat cross-legged on the ground, and listened attentively.

"The Dao of Pills involves opening one’s Aperture Fire, refining this fire into the body, and cultivating one’s Natal Intrinsic Fire..." Elder White Eyebrow spoke eloquently. "With the fire of alchemy, refining pills becomes significantly more efficient..."

"There are three types of fire: Heavenly fire, Earth Fire, and Human Fire," he continued. "Heavenly fire and Earth Fire can be collected, while Human Fire can be cultivated... Our sect possesses 3,672 cultivation methods for Human Fire..."

Heavenly, Earth, and Human Fire? I wonder which category my Golden Crow Immortal Body’s Sun True Fire belongs to? Xu Xing grew curious.

...

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