Wanfa Daojun, starting from the Little Cloud and Rain Technique

Chapter 468 Selling the stolen goods

After Ji An left, True Person Chiyun picked up the two spirit stones, weighed them in his hands, and smiled:
“He’s really willing to spend money like that. I didn’t have that kind of awareness when I was young.”

He recalled his past, when he was not very shrewd in social interactions and suffered a lot of losses in secret.

The harvest from the two Void Stones, not including various materials, consisted of approximately sixty high-grade spirit stones.

The other party took out half without blinking, which was stronger than most cultivators.

Master Cangmiao stroked the spirit stone beside him and said in a deep voice:
Do you think he's hiding anything?

"Probably not. If he wanted to hide it, why would he report it?"

Ultimately, he was just a cultivator from another continent; even if a demonic calamity broke out here, he could easily have simply left.

"Perhaps they are afraid of retaliation from the demonic cultivators and want to use our power to strike at the enemy lurking in the shadows."

"That's possible, but judging from the level of the Gengjin Spirit-Slaying Sword he possesses, a Chaoyuan-stage cultivator is no match for him at all."

If a demonic cultivator at the Golden Core stage appears, we'll be the ones with the biggest headache.

Master Han Chi interjected, "Once the enforcement team finds information on the escaped demonic cultivators, we will convene all relevant forces to report this matter."

We all depend on this immortal city for our lives, and we will not allow anyone to disrupt its normal order.

Only with order can there be development, and demonic cultivators are destroyers of all order, naturally making them enemies of all sides.

True Immortal Chiyun put down the spirit stones in his hand, divided them into three portions, took one portion, and said:

"What level do you think the demonic cultivators behind this are?"

Demonic infants were conceived within the two corpses; they were the vessels. These people should have known this, yet they did not resist and even became accomplices. It is truly pathetic.

Master Cangmiao put away ten spirit stones, handed over the rest, and said:

"I don't think it's hard to guess; it's most likely a demonic cultivator at the Golden Core stage."

It is difficult for a demonic cultivator in the Chaoyuan stage to control several Chaoyuan stage cultivators at the same time, but it is relatively easy for a Golden Core stage cultivator to do so.

If a demonic cultivator reaches the Nascent Soul level, they wouldn't need to engage in such petty actions; directly sacrificing a Golden Core family with thousands of cultivators would be the standard procedure.

The reason why demonic cultivators are universally hated is because of their contempt for all rules. Below the Nascent Soul stage, they are much stronger than ordinary cultivators of the same level, but they do not have much of an advantage compared to top cultivators of the same level.

Demonic cultivators generally possess more powerful spiritual souls, with those in the Nascent Soul stage truly radiating overwhelming demonic flames.

If demonic cultivators become rampant, the cultivation world will inevitably suffer immense devastation. It may create a few super-powerful demonic cultivators, but that will come at the cost of countless lives.

Many years ago, demonic cultivation forces emerged in the cultivation world, proving that the predatory development of demonic cultivation could not last long.

The Cold Dragon Immortal took the spirit stone and placed it into the Void Cave Stone, saying:

"I also think so."

Master Chiyun's expression turned solemn, and he asked:
"The question is, when did this demonic cultivator appear, and how many cultivators have become his parasitic puppets?"

Ji An returned to his cave and let out a long sigh of relief.

The matter was over, and he was not harassed, which made him feel much better.

The bad news is that he can't go out to practice his escape techniques for a while. In his spare time, he can only practice his mental roar or ponder the Thread-Binding Spell.

He lit the stove, boiled a pot of water, brewed Jade Dew Golden Bud tea, and after drinking the hot tea, a cool sensation filled his mind.

He took a sip contentedly, then smiled wryly to himself:

"Good days are numbered."

His sigh had two meanings: he didn't have much high-grade spiritual tea left, and at the current rate of consumption, it would all be gone in a year at most.

On the other hand, it means that Red Rock Immortal City will inevitably experience turmoil, and if the traces of the demonic cultivators cannot be found, the danger cannot be eliminated.

After drinking cup after cup of spiritual tea, Ji An swallowed the tea leaves, chewed them a few times, and then swallowed them.

He took out his harvest from the Void Stone and began to carefully count it.

When he was with the enforcement team, several real people were conducting the inspections, so he missed out on the joy of the results and needs to make up for it.

There are 32 high-grade spirit stones left, and 240 mid-grade spirit stones.

The Crimson Dragon Hiding in the Abyss Sha has five bottles, three large and two small; the White Tiger Roaring in the Wind Sha has two bottles, one large and one small; the large bottle contains 50,000 strands, and the small bottle contains 10,000 strands.

One piece of beast hide at the Chaoyuan stage, twelve pieces of beast hide at the Foundation Establishment stage, including two pieces of beast hide at the late Foundation Establishment stage, and some demon beast essence blood.

He had forty-nine spiritual herbs, but they were all Foundation Establishment level herbs. He didn't plan to keep them and would dispose of them at a pill shop another day.

Ji An carefully categorized and put away all his spoils, then chuckled self-deprecatingly.
"A horse won't get fat without night grass, and a person won't get rich without windfall gains. That's so true. I'm even thinking of changing careers and becoming a thief."

Not counting the thirty high-grade spirit stones and spirit artifacts he gave away, he roughly estimated that the resources he had gained today were worth at least one hundred high-grade spirit stones.

With such great gains in just a few hours, it's no wonder that some cultivators, after tasting the sweetness, embark on the path of tribulation cultivation. How many people can resist such temptation?
Ji An took out the black gold hammer and, after a short while, figured out how to control it.

He shrunk the magical artifact, then activated the alchemical fire to begin refining it, and the lively crimson flames leaped up.

The Black Gold Hammer is a top-grade spiritual weapon. It can actually be stored in the dantian and refined, which would be more efficient.

The Golden Core cultivator specifically warned him that there was demonic energy involved, and he dared not let it enter his dantian. Demonic energy is contaminated to cultivators, and it is a very troublesome thing to remove it.

Two hours later, Ji An felt somewhat tired. He was very careful when activating the pill fire, because burning it might damage the magical restrictions.

These two hours are very taxing on one's spiritual energy, almost as much as alchemy.

He activated the magical artifacts by performing hand seals, but found that demonic energy still remained. It seemed that removing the demonic energy contained in the two artifacts would take a considerable amount of time.

He then took out a flying sword artifact. This top-grade artifact was normally three feet and six inches long and about three fingers wide. It was golden in color and its blade was covered with fish scale patterns.

However, where the patterns meet, there are extremely fine black marks, which are the remnants of demonic energy.

This is a metal-element flying sword. Zhang Le is not a sword cultivator, so he cannot fully utilize the power of the spiritual weapon when activating the flying sword.

Ji An was in need of a sharp weapon, and he quite liked the design of the flying sword. He planned to keep it in hand for future use, and would show off the flying sword and the Wuji Apricot Yellow Banner in the future.

After playing with the flying sword in his hand for a while, he put away the resources and then took out a cyan jade bottle.

With a thought, the Azure Lotus Banner flew out, and as the banner fluttered, a majestic dragon roar resounded, as if one were on the earth where green grass sprouted in spring.

Opening the jade bottle, Ji An manipulated his magic to control the flow of wood element essence at a steady pace. Without the Azure Spirit-Stealing Fiend, he could only make do with the essence.

Nurturing three spiritual artifacts simultaneously in the dantian does consume a significant amount of primordial fire, but it's all within an acceptable range.

He definitely wouldn't be able to handle four top-grade spiritual artifacts, but fortunately his fourth Five Elements Flag hasn't arrived yet.

The roar of the Azure Dragon echoed endlessly, but Ji An's thoughts drifted elsewhere as he pondered future battle strategies.

The Azure Lotus Banner can launch wood-element attacks and draw life force from spiritual plants to nourish the spiritual weapon itself.

However, the Wood element's attack speed is not fast, making it unsuitable for high-intensity skirmishes. For example, it was not used in the battle against Yuan Hong and others, but it is good for positional warfare.

From this perspective, the Azure Lotus Treasure Banner is far less effective than the other two Five Elements Banners; he needs to develop the function of the Wood Element Banner.

Otherwise, wasting two hundred high-grade spirit stones would be a minor issue; he would question the purpose of expending resources to create the Five Elements Flag.

A moment later, Ji An thought of his most proficient planting technique.

These spells have zero offensive power, but they can be used to alter celestial phenomena. He once used the Azure Dragon Awakening Technique in conjunction with the Zhu Rong Divine Fire Curse to counter Li Haoran's icy sword intent. Now he can directly use the Five Elements Flags to achieve this effect, creating an environment rich in wood element spiritual energy centered on the Azure Lotus Color Preservation Flag, thereby enhancing the power of the Ground-Leaving Flame Light Flag or boosting the power of other fire element spells.

This is a simple idea, but it's easy to implement and, more importantly, it's truly effective.

With five spirit flags in the future, he can create a battle environment that is comfortable for himself and uncomfortable for his enemies at any time.

The key is to tailor your approach to different people, which allows you to always maintain an advantageous position.

The Azure Lotus Banner no longer devoured the essence; it reintegrated into its master's body and entered his dantian.

Like a small green dragon, it entered the green flame layer within the primordial fire seed.

Ji An summoned the Flame Banner that had risen off the ground, and a loud phoenix cry rang out, causing the temperature in the quiet room to rise rapidly.

He then took out a jade bottle containing spiritual energy to "feed" the spiritual artifact, thereby enhancing its power.

He will not sell the harvested spiritual energy; these are not for sale.

Spirit stones can be earned slowly, but it's very difficult to buy so many spirit stones at once.

The next day at noon, Ji An finished his cultivation and left his cave to have lunch at Zuixianju. There he found a cultivator from the Law Enforcement Hall talking to the manager.

He immediately realized that this was an investigation into demonic cultivators, and it seemed that the massive violent machinery of the Immortal City was about to be put into operation.

This is a good thing. He offended the demonic cultivators, so of course he hopes that the Immortal City can increase its search and capture efforts.

He hoped to eliminate the demonic threat as soon as possible so he could return to a normal life sooner. However, he also knew that this was just wishful thinking, as the demonic cultivators were undoubtedly hiding their true nature very well.

Thinking about this, Ji An realized that he had overlooked an important piece of information and had not informed the law enforcement team.

He ordered some spiritual food, ate it quickly, and left again, returning to the location of the enforcement team.

When Zhang Dong saw him walk in, he immediately went up to him and said with a smile:

"Fellow Daoist Ji, we meet again."

After dissecting the demonic cultivator's corpse yesterday, everyone in the enforcement team realized that the person in front of them was a ruthless character.

Ji An smiled in response, “What a coincidence. I have some information to report, which concerns those ‘robber cultivators’.”

Zhang Dong understood the gravity of the current situation and nodded, saying:

"Fellow Daoist, please wait a moment while I relay the message."

He left in a hurry, and returned a moment later, saying:
"Please come with me, Master."

Ji An followed the other person, and after many twists and turns, they arrived at a grand hall.

"Fellow Daoist, please go in. The True Person is waiting inside."

Ji An stepped into the main hall and bowed, saying:

"Meet the real person."

Master Han Chi smiled and said, "No need for formalities, young friend, please have a seat. What information are you referring to?"

"Senior, Yuan Hong and the other man once invited me to explore the ruins, but I didn't go. Now that I think about it, do these ruins really exist?"

If the ruins really exist, then it is highly likely that they are the hiding place of demonic cultivators.

Master Han Chi pondered for a moment and said, "That's possible. Did they mention the approximate location of the ruins?"

Ji An shook his head, "No, they were very tight-lipped at the time, only talking about the ruins they discovered during the demon hunt."

This information only confirms that the ruins are located in a remote, uninhabited area, and its actual value is not great. However, if combined with reasoning, there may be additional discoveries.

He coughed and said in a deep voice:
“We can visit the demon-hunting cultivators; perhaps we can find out their hunting range.”

Additionally, we can contact the shops that frequently sell materials from monsters; the types of animal hides they sell can also provide corroborating evidence.

In his previous life, this method of intelligence gathering was not uncommon.

Master Han Chi nodded repeatedly and said:

"These remarks are worth considering. If they lead to the discovery of the demonic cultivators' hiding place, young friend, you should be credited with the greatest achievement."

Ji An quickly waved his hand, "I don't deserve such praise, it's just my guess."

He first layered on a suit of armor, absolutely not wanting to take credit for it.

This intelligence is a double-edged sword; it may be useful, but it is also very likely to be useless and will only distract the law enforcement team.

.

After leaving the enforcement team, Ji An arrived at the Lingdan Pavilion.

Shopkeeper Zhu Hanshan was slightly taken aback, as there was still a long time before the delivery time.

"Senior, welcome to our establishment."

Ji An nodded slightly and said:

"I have a batch of medicinal herbs that I need to deal with. Could you help me estimate their value?"

As he spoke, he took out the spiritual herbs he had obtained from Yuan Hong and the other man, and placed them in a jade box.

He had no intention of selling the elixirs in different shops; he wasn't afraid of having to investigate the source of these spoils, so there was no need to waste time.

Zhu Hanshan examined the quality and age of the medicinal herbs, and began to suspect their origins, as the other party had never sold any medicinal herbs before.

But he said nothing. Magical artifacts and spiritual objects of unknown origin can only be sold on the black market or through other clandestine channels because they might be recognized.

Elixirs are different; no one can definitively say who owns them.

A moment later, Zhu Hanshan put down the last jade box and quickly began mental calculations:
"Senior, these medicinal herbs are worth 360 mid-grade spirit stones."

"Alright, I'll sell them all to your esteemed establishment. As usual, in exchange, give me three high-grade spirit stones."

Ji An took out thirty mid-grade spirit stones to cover the missing exchange fee.

Zhu Hanshan clapped his hands and instructed the maid:

"Deliver the elixir to the storeroom and take out three high-grade spirit stones."

This deal has two sources of profit: the elixir itself and the exchange fee. He is very willing to cooperate with the other party.

After a while, Ji An took the spirit stones, got up, and left.

He needs to stockpile as many high-grade spirit stones as possible now, so he can use them when he participates in the auction to enter the Earth Element Spirit Domain quota later.

Deep down, he preferred to give spirit stones rather than other resources.

Zhu Hanshan gave him a warm send-off and lowered his voice to say:

"From now on, any spiritual herbs you harvest can be sold in our shop, and we guarantee you'll be satisfied with the price."

Ji An grinned; he was unlikely to encounter such good fortune again.

(End of this chapter)