Mortal's Purple Sky Cave Heaven

Chapter 463 Sun, Moon and Star Core
"With such great supernatural powers as Fellow Daoist Nie, it would be strange if he didn't possess several ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs." The old man immediately called out Nie Zhaonan's name.

Among the Void Refinement cultivators in Tianyuan City, only Nie Zhaonan is always accompanied by more than one high-level female cultivator.

This characteristic is far too obvious.

Nie Zhaonan wasn't too surprised to hear this. Mainly because he was in Tianyuan City, there was no need for him to hide his identity, so it didn't matter if he was recognized.

So he agreed.

"In that case, I can certainly provide three ancient spiritual herbs. Fellow Daoist, please take a look and see if they are suitable for you."

Nie Zhaonan showed no intention of haggling. With a wave of his hand, a flash of white light appeared, and three rectangular wooden boxes emerged, which he gently tossed to the other party.

The old man was slightly surprised, not expecting Nie Zhaonan to agree to his conditions so readily. He was overjoyed and took the wooden box, opened the lid and looked at each item, then immediately closed it again.

"Indeed, it is undoubtedly a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herb, perfect for my alchemy. In exchange for this seed, Fellow Daoist Nie will definitely not lose out." The old man put away the wooden box, extremely pleased.

Upon seeing this, Nie Zhaonan smiled slightly, and with a slight shake, the round seed in his hand disappeared.

Then he said no more and turned to leave with the two women.

"Is my husband planning to use the Rejuvenating Water to revive this ancient seed?" Ling Yuling asked curiously via telepathy, having probably guessed his thoughts.

Otherwise, exchanging the value of three ancient medicinal herbs for such a useless seed would be a losing proposition.

"If the Rejuvenating Water really works on this, my husband has undoubtedly gotten a great deal for free." Song Yu's voice carried a hint of joy.

"I was just trying my luck. After all, three ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs are nothing to me. If it succeeds, then everyone will be happy." Nie Zhaonan didn't care too much and transmitted his voice lightly.

Meanwhile, the seed had already appeared in the hands of the Earth Armor Dragon within the cave.

Arriving at the edge of the spirit field, the Earth Armor Dragon buried the seeds in the soil. Then it took out a jade bottle and poured the liquid inside onto the soil. Before it finished, it took out more than a hundred low-grade spirit stones and sprinkled them on the spirit field.

The various colored spirit stones disappeared as soon as they came into contact with the soil, instantly being absorbed by it.

The next moment, a tender bud peeked out, and Nie Zhaonan, who had spared some attention to silently watch over the place, showed an excited smile.

Although we don't know the name of this spiritual plant, nor its purpose, its ancient origins alone tell us that it is no ordinary thing.

This gave Nie Zhaonan considerable expectations.

Just as Nie Zhaonan was in a great mood, he suddenly heard footsteps behind him. Someone was walking towards him, and his target was him.

With a slight sway of white light around him, Nie Zhaonan turned around strangely. The person walking over stopped in his tracks, seemingly surprised by Nie Zhaonan's quick reaction.

At this moment, a demon stalker shrouded in black mist, who appeared to be quite slender, looked Nie Zhaonan up and down.

"What advice do you have for me?" Nie Zhaonan asked calmly.

"Fellow Daoist Nie, you truly live up to your reputation as a renowned figure among both humans and demons! You are indeed incredibly wealthy and powerful, exchanging three ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs for useless seeds. Only you could do something like this." The demon cultivator in the black mist chuckled, her voice melodious and pleasant, revealing her to be a woman.

"Whether it's useful or not, fellow Daoist is merely guessing. You wouldn't have come here just to make fun of me, would you?" Nie Zhaonan retorted.

A strange light flashed in the woman's eyes. Could it be that the seed really had some special use?

However, she didn't dwell on the matter too much, and calmly said:
"Fellow Daoist Nie and the two fairies must be visiting the Tai Xuan Palace for the first time. In fact, apart from the items that are on display, the truly valuable things that our two clans exchange are all traded privately."

"The three of you have come here specifically for a purpose, haven't you?"

"What I'm looking for, I'm afraid you don't have it at all, fellow Daoist." Nie Zhaonan didn't hold out much hope.

"With such a boastful tone, Fellow Daoist Nie must be seeking something of extraordinary value. If you don't mind, you may speak of it. I have some connections among the demon race, and perhaps I can find it for you." The demon woman asked softly without the slightest impatience.

“Sun, moon, and star cores. If you could hand these over to me, fellow Daoist, I would be willing to trade not only ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, but also elixirs at the Void Refinement stage.” Nie Zhaonan said calmly, his gaze shifting to the woman.

"The core of the sun, moon, and stars! Fellow Daoist Nie, do you perhaps intend to cultivate a supreme divine power of extreme yin and yang?!" The female demon cultivator's voice changed slightly.

"There's no need for you to know this, fellow Daoist," Nie Zhaonan said noncommittally.

Upon hearing the words 'sun, moon, and star core', Song Yu's delicate body trembled almost imperceptibly.

Ling Yuling also looked her up and down with a half-smile.

The purpose of searching for the cores of the sun, moon, and stars is naturally to refine three treasures, condensing the divine waters of the sun, moon, and stars, in order to cultivate the next two levels of the Insightful and Awakening Eyes.

During this time, Song Yu was naturally indispensable, helping with both Yin and Yang, and assisting him with his own body.

The woman in the black mist gave Nie Zhaonan a deep look, and then slowly began to speak in a soft voice:

"It is said that in ancient times, before the Spirit Realm lost contact with the True Immortal Realm, there were nine suns in the sky, not seven. However, hundreds of beings with cultivation levels comparable to immortals in the True Immortal Realm inexplicably began fighting each other in the Spirit Realm, thus triggering a True Spirit Calamity that swept across most of the Spirit Realm!"

"As a result, not only did eight or nine out of ten of them perish in this terrible upheaval, but many places also experienced dramatic changes in mountains and seas, the earth cracked open, and even the two suns in the sky were affected and destroyed."

Legend has it that one of the suns fell into the land between our human and demon races, forming a vast depression called the 'Tomb of the Setting Sun'.

Upon hearing this, Nie Zhaonan nodded slightly and said calmly:

"I've also heard the rumors about the Tomb of the Setting Sun, and it's indeed possible that the core of the sun exists inside. However, the Tomb of the Setting Sun is too vast. Even if a high-level cultivator were to use their magic weapon at full speed to fly from one end to the other, it would still take about a year."

"It contains countless mountain ranges and dozens of enormous lakes spanning tens of millions of miles. Not to mention forests, plains, and other terrains." "I, Nie, am quite confident in my supernatural abilities and my divine sense far surpasses those of others of the same level, but if I want to search the Tomb of the Setting Sun and find a place where the 'Sun Core' might exist, it will probably take hundreds or even thousands of years before I find nothing."

Nie Zhaonan was naturally unwilling to waste a lot of time searching for materials, as this would greatly delay his cultivation progress.

"Does Fellow Daoist Nie mean that I should search for the Sun Core in the Tomb of Sunset?" the demon woman asked with a light laugh.

“There are also traces of the Moon Core.”

Nie Zhaonan added:

"Once I find it, I will naturally retrieve it myself. After all, the cores of the sun and moon are either the most yang or the most yin, and ordinary cultivators at the Void Refinement stage cannot approach them, let alone retrieve them. The star cores, on the other hand, are naturally concealed and cannot be easily detected. I will then give you the appropriate reward."

"Finding the three cores of the Sun, Moon, and Stars is a good deal, as it eliminates the need to extract them. However, I have absolutely no clue about the Moon and Star cores at the moment, which is truly a difficult situation," the demon woman said leisurely, with a hint of helplessness.

“If you find it difficult, fellow Daoist, I cannot possibly ask other cultivators to do this,” Nie Zhaonan said with a sneer, leaving her no room for bargaining.

The demon woman was taken aback by these words, but immediately shook her head repeatedly:
"Hehe, Fellow Daoist Nie is joking. How could I possibly let such a good thing pass by? There are countless human cultivators who are eager to get in touch with you, yet you have come all the way to the Tai Xuan Palace to try and keep this matter as discreet as possible. Rest assured, I am extremely discreet and value my reputation above all else. I will absolutely not reveal this matter to anyone."

"As for rewards, a mere Nascent Soul cultivator like myself is not worthy of such a reward; a ten-thousand-year-old elixir would be more suitable."

A single ancient medicinal herb is far less valuable than an ordinary spiritual treasure.

However, in terms of use and demand, the ten-thousand-year-old elixir has an extremely wide range of applications. It serves as a catalyst or auxiliary material for refining all Nascent Soul level pills, and is also needed when refining many Void Refinement level elixirs. Therefore, it is almost always the most scarce and precious item among high-level cultivators.

In addition, this item is extremely precious, and it is almost the second most traded item in the market after top-grade spirit stones.

Therefore, while other things might be rejected by cultivators, no one would refuse a ten-thousand-year-old elixir.

“A ten-thousand-year-old elixir, of course, is no problem,” Nie Zhaonan agreed without hesitation.

"I have everything in my possession, from spiritual herbs and materials to your human race's magical treasures and ancient artifacts. I even have a few spiritual treasures, which are of the most suitable grade for your Daoist partners. After refining them, their strength will immediately increase significantly." The demon woman's face lit up with joy, and then she introduced the others.

"We don't need finished treasures or anything like that. But I am somewhat interested in spiritual herbs," Nie Zhaonan said, his eyes flashing.

Upon hearing this, the demon woman's voice became somewhat unnatural:

"The spiritual herbs that you are interested in, fellow Daoist, are probably those used to refine Nascent Soul and Void Refinement level pills. These kinds of spiritual herbs can mostly only be found in the Wilderness World. Although I have some status among the demon race, it is extremely difficult for me to obtain them, let alone trade with you. You should know that items that can enhance cultivation are also in great short supply among our demon race."

Upon hearing this, Nie Zhaonan was not disappointed. Instead, he calmly replied:

"Fellow Daoist, please don't be impatient. What I want to say is completely different from what you think. The spiritual herbs you mentioned are irresistible to cultivators. But I am interested in spiritual herbs, or more accurately, spiritual plants. More like jade oak and fire tin wood, which do not directly improve cultivation. Naturally, the higher the grade, the better. They don't necessarily need to be thousands or tens of thousands of years old. As long as they are usable, the seeds and seedlings are better."

After a long pause, the demon woman spoke with a hint of dazedness:
"Fellow Daoist Nie, do you intend to cultivate and nurture spiritual herbs and trees yourself? Indeed, I have long heard that you have many Daoist partners, and you will surely establish a power in the future. Although spiritual herbs and trees take a very long time to cultivate before they mature, it is undoubtedly the most cost-effective way to buy them directly at exorbitant prices."

At the same time, she had some guesses in her mind. Could it be that this Fellow Daoist Nie has some secret technique for cultivating spiritual herbs and trees?

However, knowing that this was Nie Zhaonan's personal secret, she didn't tactlessly ask.

Cultivating spiritual herbs and trees is something any cultivator can think of, but very few actually do it. After all, different spiritual herbs and trees have different requirements for spiritual energy and even their growing environment, requiring a great deal of effort to manage them well.

Without the assistance of corresponding cultivation techniques and secret arts, no cultivator would delve into the cultivation of spiritual plants.

Among the many powerful forces, only the Min family, a true spirit clan, can be considered unparalleled in cultivating spiritual herbs and trees.

Although the Min family did not inherit a powerful true spirit bloodline, they were quite effective in cultivating spirit plants. They were even taken in as a vassal family by the Heavenly Mystic Spirit Emperor, and few people among the human race would dare to provoke them.

Upon hearing this, Nie Zhaonan smiled faintly, offering no explanation, but instead tacitly asking:

"Fellow Daoist, are you confident that you can find the spiritual plant that I need?"

“If what Fellow Daoist Nie said is true, it’s not necessarily impossible to find it. However, it would be quite troublesome, and I don’t have it on hand right now.” The demon woman hesitated slightly and did not immediately agree.

"As long as you can truly collect the Mang, I, Nie, will definitely not give you the ten-thousand-year-old spiritual medicine. I will certainly not disappoint you." Nie Zhaonan's face showed a slight joy.

"Well, I can only try to collect spiritual plants. After all, what you need are not ordinary items. Even seeds and seedlings are extremely scarce, and few people are willing to sell them. However, I do have some connections. If I can't find them, even if you entrust other cultivators, it will most likely be fruitless." The demon woman said with a hint of pride and exceptional confidence.

"Very well, then I, Nie, will await good news." Nie Zhaonan was also delighted and slightly clasped his hands in a fist salute.

For him, the millennium-old elixir was of no interest whatsoever. In exchange for the other party's help, it actually saved him a lot of time.

The demon woman nodded, then turned and left without saying another word.

Nie Zhaonan narrowed his eyes slightly, a blue light flashing within them, as he gazed thoughtfully at the slender figure that appeared and disappeared amidst the black mist.
"The Heavenly Fox Clan, one of the seven great demon kings of the demon race? Judging from his tone, he holds a high position within the fox clan."

"I hope you can find what I need soon."

After that, Nie Zhaonan naturally turned around and left with the two of them.

After leaving the Tai Xuan Hall, Nie Zhaonan and his two companions once again arrived at the Treasure Pavilion.

This time, Xin Ruyin, Nie Ying, and Chen Qiaoqian had just finished purchasing some materials for refining weapons and making talismans and returned to the pavilion.

　Thank you all for your support with your collections, recommendations, and monthly tickets!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)