Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

Upon hearing this, the young scholar looked at the masked monk suspiciously and asked, "Are you joking, fellow Taoist?"

Since this person knew that he had the broken stele in his hand, and must have seen the conflict between him and the stall owner just now, why would he buy this useless broken stele?
The masked monk was naturally Chen Yuan. He did not say much, but directly took out a high-grade spiritual stone from the mustard seed ring and threw it to the young scholar: "I am willing to pay a high-grade spiritual stone to buy the broken stele in your hand."

The young Confucian scholar took the spirit stone and felt the abundant spiritual energy in it, and couldn't help but be stunned.

One high-grade spirit stone could be exchanged for one hundred and twenty to thirty medium-grade spirit stones, which was enough to buy a top-grade spiritual weapon and still have some left over.

How could that useless piece of broken stele be sold at such a high price?
The young scholar could not help but feel a little greedy, and said seriously: "This broken stele is extremely hard, and even the true fire cannot melt it. There is something very strange. I am afraid that a top-grade spirit stone is not enough... Ugh!"

Before he finished speaking, Chen Yuan exuded his aura and said indifferently: "Fellow Daoist, are you asking for too much?"

The young monk opened his eyes wide, feeling the tremendous pressure surging like a tide. His mouth slightly opened, his face flushed, but he could not utter a word.

Chen Yuan restrained his aura, and the young scholar bowed deeply: "Please forgive me, Senior. I dare not do this. I am willing to present this broken stele to you!"

He hurriedly took out the broken stele from his storage bag, along with the top-grade spirit stone, and presented it to Chen Yuan with both hands.

This person turned out to be a cultivator in the late Jindan stage. All the greed in his heart was immediately dispelled, and he hurriedly changed his words.

Private fighting between monks is strictly prohibited in Chongde Market, but the person in front of him killed him casually and then destroyed the body. Who could find out?

The Haoran Sect would not waste too much time on a cultivator in the early stage of foundation building, and would not offend a cultivator in the late stage of Jindan for the sake of a low-level cultivator like him!
Chen Yuan did not take the spirit stone, but took the broken stele and looked down at the stele.

After a while, he put the broken stele into the mustard seed ring, turned around and left without saying a word.

The young scholar let out a long breath, looked at Chen Yuan's back with lingering fear, put the spirit stone into the storage bag, and hurried away.

He didn't know what secrets this broken stele had that would attract the attention of a late Jindan cultivator, but that was not something he, an early foundation building cultivator, could participate in.

The things bought with ten medium-grade spirit stones were sold for one high-grade spirit stone, which was already a huge profit.

Now he didn't have to refine spiritual weapons himself. He could go directly to the Treasure Pavilion and collect three mid-grade spiritual weapons for attack, defense, and flight. Even if he encountered a cultivator in the middle stage of foundation building, he would not be afraid at all.

The young Confucian scholar was delighted and sighed at his good fortune today. He walked quickly towards the most prosperous place in Chongde Market.

……

Chen Yuan followed the same path he came from, returned to the middle-aged monk's stall, and stopped.

The middle-aged monk greeted him warmly: "Does this Taoist friend have a treasure he likes?"

Chen Yuan lowered his head and glanced. On the brand new table were several common hundred-year-old spiritual herbs, several low-grade spiritual materials, and four top-grade magical instruments.

With the support of the Haoran Sect, which owns a huge spiritual vein, spiritual herbs are not rare in Chongde Market. Even in the hands of independent cultivators, there is no shortage of hundred-year-old spiritual herbs.

Chen Yuan whispered, "Do you still have the broken stele you sold before?"

The middle-aged cultivator's face darkened, and he looked Chen Yuan up and down, with a vigilant look in his eyes: "What do you mean by this, fellow Daoist? I don't understand."

Chen Yuan said calmly: "I am not here to cause trouble to you. If you still have that kind of broken stele in your hand, I am willing to buy them all at the price of one top-grade spirit stone for one broken stele."

As he spoke, he took out a few high-quality spirit stones from the mustard seed ring, and his aura emanated from them, all concentrating on the middle-aged cultivator.

The middle-aged monk only felt that he was carrying a thousand-foot mountain on his shoulders, and there was a chill like a needle penetrating into his bones, as if he had fallen into an ice cave that had existed for thousands of years. His mind was blank and he could not utter a word.

Chen Yuan had killed too many cultivators and monsters, and had condensed a huge amount of evil energy. At this moment, as he released all of his pressure, the evil energy, which was as thick as substance, almost overwhelmed the middle-aged cultivator's mind.

After a while, he restrained his murderous aura and pressure, and looked at the middle-aged monk quietly. His eyes hidden behind the silver mask were like a deep pool, deep and unfathomable, with no bottom.

The middle-aged monk was sweating profusely, not daring to have any thoughts. He said in a trembling voice, "Senior, please understand. I only have that broken stele in my hand, and I have already sold it."

Chen Yuan said calmly: "Take out your storage bag."

The middle-aged monk's expression changed, but he did not dare to refuse. He took off the storage bag from his waist and presented it to Chen Yuan with both hands.

Chen Yuan used his spiritual sense to explore inside and found only two spiritual weapons, some mid-grade spiritual stones, cultivation elixirs, and other items, but there was no second broken stele.

He frowned and returned the storage bag to the middle-aged monk.

Monks usually carry all their belongings with them. There were no broken stele fragments in the storage bag, so the middle-aged monk should not have lied.

"Where did you get that piece of broken stele?" Chen Yuan asked.

The middle-aged cultivator took back the storage bag and was obviously relieved. Hearing this, he quickly replied, "I bought that broken stele from a cultivator in the late Qi Refining stage. I spent twenty low-grade spirit stones on it."

"That piece of broken stele was very hard. I originally wanted to refine it into a defensive spiritual weapon, but who knew it was just a fake. It couldn't be infused with spiritual energy, and it couldn't be melted by true fire. So... I sold it at a high price."

As he spoke, he secretly observed Chen Yuan's expression, fearing that he would be dissatisfied with his answer.

But Chen Yuan's expression was concealed by the silver mask and no change could be seen, which made him even more nervous.

Chen Yuan asked, "Where is that late Qi Refining cultivator now?"

The middle-aged monk shook his head and said, "I don't know either. I bought it from a stall three months ago."

"Later, I found out that the broken stele was useless. I was very angry and went to question the man, but I didn't find him."

"That person's cultivation is low, only at the seventh level of Qi Refining. Maybe he usually cultivates spiritual herbs or mines spiritual stones for Haoran Sect. He didn't set up a stall that day, so he just happened to miss it."

"Do you remember what that person looks like?"

"Remember, remember."

"Imprint that person's portrait on this jade slip." Chen Yuan took out a blank jade slip from the mustard seed ring and handed it over.

"Yes." The middle-aged cultivator responded quickly, took the jade slip, closed his eyes, and probed his spiritual sense into it.

After a while, he withdrew his spiritual sense, bowed slightly, and handed the jade slip back to Chen Yuan with both hands.

Chen Yuan took back the jade slip and probed with his spiritual sense. Inside was a cultivator in his thirties with a dark complexion and ordinary looks. There was nothing special about him.

He memorized the man's face, put away the jade slip, took out a high-grade spirit stone, and said calmly: "It is best not to let others know about what happened today. If it causes trouble, don't blame me for not reminding you."

"Don't worry, senior. I would never dare to say anything nonsense!" When the middle-aged cultivator saw the spirit stone that Chen Yuan took out, his breathing became rapid, his eyes lit up, and he made promises.

Chen Yuan nodded slightly, handed the spirit stone to the middle-aged monk, and turned to leave. After Chen Yuan left, the middle-aged monk looked around and found that no one was paying attention to him. He immediately raised his sleeves and put all the things on the table into the storage bag, and left quickly.

He has made up his mind not to go out to the stall for the next month and stay out of the spotlight.

The broken stele must be hiding a big secret since it has attracted the attention of a cultivator in the late Jindan stage. This matter must be kept to oneself and not revealed to anyone.

The middle-aged cultivator walked in a hurry and did not notice that a hundred feet behind him, Chen Yuan's spiritual sense passed through the crowd, locked onto him firmly, and followed him all the way to the west of Chongde City.

There are tens of thousands of houses scattered here, covering a vast area, just like a prosperous county town in the mortal world.

These are the cheapest yellow-level caves in the city. They do not have spirit gathering arrays, and the annual rent is only thirty low-grade spirit stones.

However, as the caves of immortal cultivators, the materials used in these courtyards are still very particular. They are built with spiritual wood that is more than thirty years old, and the walls are also made of fine bluestone, which is extremely hard.

Moreover, he set up a formation that could resist the spying of spiritual consciousness, which was difficult to break even for cultivators in the early stage of foundation building.

The middle-aged monk took many turns and walked into a remote courtyard. Chen Yuan followed him slowly. After waiting for a while, he quietly broke through the crude formation around the courtyard wall and stepped in.

The middle-aged monk had already entered the house and was meditating. Chen Yuan walked up to him, still unaware of him.

His spiritual awareness was far weaker than Chen Yuan's, and he was unable to detect Chen Yuan's existence at all.

"Cough cough." Chen Yuan coughed twice.

"Who?" The middle-aged monk suddenly opened his eyes, retreated violently, stuck to the wall, his face full of shock and anger.

But when he saw that it was Chen Yuan, he could not help but stand there in a daze. The anger on his face disappeared without a trace, and he forced a smile: "Senior, everything I said is true, absolutely not false!"

Chen Yuan said calmly. "I am still a little worried about the origin of that broken stele. You should make an outer demon oath."

The middle-aged monk breathed a sigh of relief and immediately swore an oath to the outer demon, saying that what he said before was absolutely true and he would not reveal it to anyone, otherwise he would immediately go possessed and die.

Chen Yuan finally felt relieved and left.

After this incident, the middle-aged cultivator didn’t dare to stay in Chongde City anymore. He also didn’t care about wasting half a year’s rent for his cave, so he fled thousands of miles away that night.

In the next few days, Chen Yuan strolled around the western part of Chongde Market, paying close attention to every stall, but he still couldn't find the Qi-refining monk who sold the broken stele to the middle-aged monk, so he had to give up for the time being.

He returned to his residence, took out the broken stele, and looked at it carefully with a serious expression.

The broken stele was about one foot long, half a foot wide, and weighed about a hundred pounds. Its surface was extremely rough, as if it were a rock that had been weathered for thousands of years. There were several cracks of varying sizes. One of the thickest cracks ran through the entire broken stele and was several inches deep.

Above the broken stele was an extremely smooth cross section, as if it had been cut by some extremely sharp magic weapon.

There is a fragmented inscription remaining on the stele, most of which has been destroyed by cracks and weathering. The strokes are complex and obscure.

It was this inscription that made Chen Yuan buy the broken stele, and he spent several days tracing the origin of the broken stele.

This inscription is exactly the same as the ancient text on the map of the secret realm of Dongxu Mountain that he obtained from Xie Quan's treasure chest, as well as the inscription on the broken stele he saw from Old Man Geng.

"...We all worked together to wipe out the demonic atmosphere... In this battle, we killed 100,000 demons, including 34 transformed demon cultivators and 270 royal demon cultivators... Ten thousand cultivators came to congratulate us, to spread the power of our Taixuan Sect... We specially erected a monument..."

The inscription is incomplete, but it mentions "Taixuan Gate".

This mysterious ancient sect did not leave a single word behind, and there is no trace of it in any books. It only exists in the map of the secret realm of Dongxu Mountain and this inconspicuous broken stele.

Chen Yuan took out the map from the mustard seed ring, unfolded it, and injected his true energy into it, but the map showed no reaction.

He injected his spiritual consciousness into the map, but it was of no use. This map, which looked like silk but was neither silk nor satin, and had a texture as delicate as ancient jade, seemed to have no special features at all.

He injected his true energy and spiritual consciousness into the broken stele, but the stele did not respond at all, as if it was just a stele carved out of ordinary rock.

Chen Yuan frowned, and many speculations arose in his mind.

The broken stele of Taixuan Sect appeared both in Donghua Continent and Jiuxian Continent. So where is this sect located?
According to the broken stele, Taixuan Sect once wiped out 100,000 demons in one battle, including 34 transformed demon kings. After the war, "tens of thousands of cultivators came to congratulate". Even the ten major sects did not have such terrifying strength.

The secret realm of Dongxu Mountain, which has a large spiritual vein, is large enough to serve as the foundation of a large sect, but it is only the spiritual medicine garden of Taixuan Sect.

Why did the inheritance of such a powerful sect be cut off, and why was there no record of them left in the world of immortal cultivation?
Chen Yuan's thoughts flowed as he stared at the vague inscriptions on the broken stele.

The rough and worn surface of the monument bears traces of time.

He suddenly raised his hand and pinched a corner of the broken stele. He exerted force suddenly and a huge force surged out from his palm, but the broken stele remained intact.

Chen Yuan was shocked and activated Zhu Yan's true blood. His black hair turned snow-white. He squeezed it again, but the broken stele remained motionless.

Chen Yuan slowly loosened his hand, leaving not even the slightest trace on the stele.

He took a deep breath, and his white hair turned back to black. He stared at the inconspicuous broken monument.

After he stimulated the blood of his true spirit, his body became much stronger, even approaching the transformed demon king, strong enough to cut off rivers and destroy mountains, but he had no way to deal with this inconspicuous broken stone tablet.

He became ruthless and stimulated Kunpeng's true blood. A pair of black wings appeared behind him. His hands were covered with a layer of black light that extended to his forearms, and he grabbed the broken monument!
The dark light, which was like a crack in space, reached the severely weathered surface of the stele, but still failed. The remaining patterns on the stele were intact, and not even a trace of stone chip was cut off.

Chen Yuan withdrew his hand, and the black wings behind him slowly retracted into his spine, and a hint of shock flashed in his eyes.

Even the power of the true spirit cannot damage the broken stele in the slightest. What material is this broken stele made of?
What kind of powerful magic weapon must have been used to cut off the broken stele, and what kind of changes did the broken stele go through to become "weathered" into this state?

Many questions arose in Chen Yuan's mind, but he could not get answers.

The secret realm of Dongxu Mountain, the broken monuments of Taixuan Sect that appeared in Donghua Continent and Jiuxian Continent, and the ancient sect whose inheritance was cut off...

He could only put the map and the broken stele into the mustard seed ring, bury these doubts deep in his heart, and then slowly look for answers.

After this incident, Chen Yuan would wander around the stalls in the western part of the market for several hours every day, looking for the Qi-refining monk who sold the broken stele to the middle-aged monk, but he never found anything.

A month later, Chen Yuan returned to the courtyard where he lived from the western part of the market town, only to find the gate open. There was a cultivator sitting in the main hall. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was Zhang Wushan, whom he had been waiting for for a long time.

He walked forward quickly, clasped his fists, bowed, and said with a smile: "Chen has been looking forward to it day and night, and finally Brother Zhang has returned to the clan."

Zhang Wushan stood up to greet him, returned the greeting, and laughed: "It's been decades since we last met, but Brother Chen is still as charming as ever. Come sit down and talk." (End of this chapter)