Since he was sending an avatar to the Eastern Extremity Region, Ye Qingxuan naturally made thorough preparations.
The years he spent in the Xuantian Sect, reading all those books, were not for nothing.
He might not know every single detail about the major powers’ public information, but he at least had a fair understanding of it.
After leaving the teleportation plaza of Dongbin City, Ye Qingxuan inquired around and finally arrived at Tianyuan Trading Company, the largest trading company in Dongbin City.
The Tianyuan Trading Company is a commercial firm established by the hegemonic-level power, the Tianyuan Sect.
The branch of the Tianyuan Trading Company located in Dongbin City is just one of its many branches.
The main business of this Tianyuan Trading Company branch in Dongbin City is to travel to the Eastern Extremity Region for cross-regional trade, as well as to escort some paying customers to that region.
Every year, many talented young cultivators from lower realms, for various reasons, secretly leave the Inner Five Regions to go experience and train in the Outer Four Regions.
As for whether these geniuses have hidden protectors following them in secret—well, that’s anyone’s guess.
Ye Qingxuan came to the Tianyuan Trading Company intending to use their escort service to get to the Eastern Extremity Region.
The moment he stepped into the luxurious and grand branch of the Tianyuan Trading Company, a shop assistant immediately came up to him and asked:
“Honored guest, what can we help you with?”
Ye Qingxuan glanced around the interior of the trading company for a moment and casually said:
“I need to go to the Eastern Extremity Region.”
Hearing this, the assistant immediately understood and nodded, saying:
“Sir, right this way, please!”
He then led Ye Qingxuan to a private room and knocked on the door:
“Manager Lin, there’s an honored guest who needs to travel to the Eastern Extremity Region.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a voice came from inside:
“Come in!”
With permission granted, the assistant then brought Ye Qingxuan in and opened the door.
Inside the private room, a middle-aged man had just stood up from his seat. He looked at Ye Qingxuan, who had just entered, and said cheerfully,
“Please, have a seat, honored guest!”
At the same time, he waved his hand, signaling the assistant to leave.
After the assistant withdrew, Manager Lin looked again at Ye Qingxuan, who was now sitting across from him, and asked,
“May I ask what business you have in the Eastern Extremity Region?”
Facing Manager Lin’s question, Ye Qingxuan didn’t answer. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and countered,
“What’s this? Does the Tianyuan Trading Company have a habit of prying into customers’ private affairs?”
Hearing such a blunt retort, the manager across from him showed no change in expression. He simply smiled apologetically and said,
“My apologies, honored guest. That was my fault. I was just asking casually.”
Then, the manager tentatively asked another question,
“May I ask what your cultivation level is?”
As if afraid Ye Qingxuan might misunderstand, the manager quickly explained,
“Please don’t misunderstand, honored guest. Asking about cultivation level is just a routine practice. After all, our company needs to know the cultivation levels of the customers who will be traveling together to the Eastern Extremity Region, right?”
After condensing the seed of the minor supernatural power, Deceiving Heaven, as long as Ye Qingxuan intentionally conceals it, basically only those above the Void Realm can see through his true cultivation level.
From the moment he was teleported to Dongbin Prefecture, Ye Qingxuan had been hiding his cultivation.
That was precisely why Manager Lin, who sat across from him and possessed peak Nascent Soul stage cultivation, couldn’t see through him.
When out and about, it’s better to be cautious. Ye Qingxuan couldn’t guarantee that within a large organization, there wouldn’t be a few bad apples.
Only by making others unable to see through him and causing them to be wary could he avoid some unnecessary trouble.
Ye Qingxuan didn’t need to fool everyone or make everyone fear him. He only needed to make some of the lower and middle-level cultivators of the Tianyuan Trading Company think twice. That was enough.
After all, it wasn’t realistic for the higher-ups of the Tianyuan Trading Company, those at the Void Comprehension stage and above, to personally target a customer they had never met, was it?
As for Manager Lin’s reason for asking about his cultivation, Ye Qingxuan wasn’t entirely convinced.
What Manager Lin said was true, but as far as Ye Qingxuan knew, although the Tianyuan Trading Company would routinely ask about a customer’s cultivation level, they wouldn’t forcibly check it.
Seeing how diligently Manager Lin was inquiring, Ye Qingxuan stared fixedly at him for a moment, then smiled playfully and said,
“Oh? Is that so? Then just record it as the Golden Core stage, alright?”
With that said, the cultivation aura of the Golden Core stage emanated from Ye Qingxuan for just a fleeting moment before fading back into concealment again.
A mix of truth and illusion. Even if he had revealed his true cultivation level, the manager across from him would probably still be suspicious and uncertain.
Seeing how skillful Ye Qingxuan’s concealment methods were, a trace of wariness surfaced deep within Manager Lin’s eyes. Still, he kept a smile on his face and said,
“Very well, then. Thank you for your cooperation, honored guest.”
“Our Tianyuan Trading Company’s next departure for the Eastern Extremity Region is scheduled for March 3rd of next year. The cost is 300,000 high-grade spirit stones per person. Is that acceptable to you?”
Hearing this, Ye Qingxuan calmly took out a storage pouch, tossed it to Manager Lin, and said,
“No problem. Just give me the boarding token.”
Although this was his first time using the Tianyuan Trading Company to travel to the Eastern Extremity Region, Ye Qingxuan was very familiar with the process.
Seeing how well Ye Qingxuan knew the procedure, Manager Lin looked a bit surprised, his mind seemingly working on something, though his hands moved quickly.
After checking that the spirit stones Ye Qingxuan provided were correct, he took out a golden token and handed it to Ye Qingxuan:
“Here you go, honored guest. Hold onto this. On March 3rd of next year, by presenting this golden token, you can board our Tianyuan Trading Company’s ship heading to the Eastern Extremity Region.”
Ye Qingxuan took the golden token, inspected it to confirm it was fine, nodded slightly, then turned and left the private room.
Watching Ye Qingxuan’s departing figure, Manager Lin’s eyes held an unreadable expression. He unconsciously spun the ring on his finger.
After a long while, Manager Lin shook his head slightly and muttered,
“Forget it. The risk is too great this time. I won’t make a move.”
He had worked at the Tianyuan Trading Company branch in Dongbin City for many years and had received countless customers.
Among them were quite a few young masters from wealthy families who had secretly run away, wanting to go to the Eastern Extremity Region for some adventure.
Some of these young masters were deliberately released by their big families, with hidden protectors secretly following them.
But since the Eastern Extremity Region was extremely far from Dongbin Prefecture, these protectors would usually come to the Tianyuan Trading Company in advance to give notice and secure a spot on the ship.
However, some young masters had truly run away on their own, without anyone knowing.
Years ago, after Manager Lin couldn’t resist his greed and targeted a young master who was spending spirit stones lavishly in the Eastern Extremity Region, he was surprised by how easily he succeeded. He obtained a huge amount of cultivation resources.
From that point on, these young masters—wealthy but inexperienced—became fat sheep in Manager Lin’s eyes.
Far away in the Eastern Extremity Region, even if those young masters met their end, as long as they didn’t die directly by his hand, he wasn’t worried about it being traced back to him, thanks to his connection with the Tianyuan Trading Company.
The reason he had been able to cultivate to the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, just one step away from the Divine Transformation stage, was precisely because of the resources he had obtained from these young masters. He had purchased a large number of auxiliary cultivation pills, which allowed him to reach his current level.
However, he hadn’t always been successful. Once, he directly provoked the direct descendant of a power that had a powerful cultivator at the Void Annihilation stage sitting at its helm.
That Void Annihilation stage expert had left a protective measure on his descendant. At the moment of life-threatening crisis, the protective measure was activated, directly saving that young master.
Not only that, but it also killed everyone who had attacked the young master, causing Manager Lin, who had been pulling the strings from behind the scenes, to lose an entire team of partners.
Fortunately, he hadn’t acted directly himself. Even if the powers behind those young masters investigated, they could only trace it back to rogue cultivator bandits in the Eastern Extremity Region.
He himself had never shown his face or appeared publicly; he always manipulated everything from the shadows.
Although it hadn’t implicated him this time, it did make him much more cautious. He became increasingly careful in choosing his targets and no longer dared to strike at disciples from truly major powers.
After all, even though he hid himself well, finding him wouldn’t be too difficult for some truly great powers.
After leaving the Tianyuan Trading Company branch, Ye Qingxuan temporarily settled into an inn near the Endless Sea.
Having been in the Dizun Realm for so long, this was the first time Ye Qingxuan had seen its ocean. It was quite a unique and refreshing sight.
Although the scenery of the Endless Sea was beautiful, it didn’t make Ye Qingxuan lose himself in it.
At that moment, he was standing by the window of his room in the inn, looking out in the direction of the Eastern Extremity Region, lost in thought.
Although the Eastern Extremity Region wasn’t as rich in resources as the Inner Five Regions of the Dizun Realm,
it was still a major region. If one could conduct cross-regional trade, the profits would be absolutely astonishing. That was precisely why the Tianyuan Trading Company branch spent so many resources and so much effort to go there.
After all, the environments of different regions vary, and the special spiritual herbs and unique spiritual ores that grow in one region might not necessarily be found in another.
Take, for example, the Chaos Spirit Stones and Chaos Spirit Fruits, which are specialties of the Outer Four Regions. They hold considerable appeal for cultivators from the Inner Five Regions.
Chaos Spirit Stones are essentially spirit stones mixed with a faint amount of chaotic energy.
Only in regions like the Outer Four Regions—areas that are still expanding and where the world’s rules are not yet completely stable and perfect—can Chaos Spirit Stones, this type of special ore containing faint chaotic energy, be born.
Chaos Spirit Stones don’t have much direct use for cultivators themselves, but they can be used to temper magic treasures, allowing these treasures to advance through the tempering process.
The chaotic energy within Chaos Spirit Stones, having been refined by the world’s rules, remains but becomes extremely gentle, far from the violent chaotic energy found outside the world.
For cultivators who possess a natal magic treasure or a pseudo-natal magic treasure, this gentle chaotic energy is an excellent supplement.
Therefore, for them, Chaos Spirit Stones are a highly sought-after natural treasure.
Even Ye Qingxuan’s natal magic treasure, the World Map, is no exception.
Although the World Map is not afraid of erosion by chaotic energy, directly absorbing the energy from Chaos Spirit Stones can skip the refining process.
Moreover, the energy contained in Chaos Spirit Stones also provides considerable auxiliary benefits for the growth of the Qingxuan Cave Heaven Blessed Land, further accelerating the transformation of its fundamental source.
Chaos Spirit Stones can be classified into one to ten levels, depending on the concentration of gentle chaotic energy they contain.
If you have enough Chaos Spirit Stones of a sufficiently high level, there’s even a slight chance of forcefully tempering a top-grade spiritual treasure to the threshold of becoming an immortal artifact, creating a pseudo-immortal artifact.
A pseudo-immortal artifact is a magic treasure whose quality has reached the level of an immortal artifact, but does not contain immortal dao laws.
Even so, for powers below the hegemonic level, a pseudo-immortal artifact is still an extremely rare and precious treasure.
Therefore, for powers below the hegemonic level, the more Chaos Spirit Stones, the better. This creates a huge market demand for Chaos Spirit Stones within the Inner Five Regions.
However, because the Eastern Extremity Region is so far away, many powers that lack sufficient strength, while aware of the existence of Chaos Spirit Stones, don’t actually know their origin.
As for hegemonic-level powers? They naturally don’t lack gentle chaotic energy and even have natural treasures better than Chaos Spirit Stones.
As for Chaos Spirit Fruits? They are fruits produced by Chaos Spirit Trees, which absorb gentle chaotic energy.
Chaos Spirit Fruits are also classified into one to ten levels. They can nourish the physical bodies of cultivators at different stages, enhancing their physical strength and the toughness of their meridians.
Although a cultivator’s physical body undergoes a transformation after breaking through a realm, becoming more resilient to spiritual energy impacts,
as a cultivator’s cultivation level rises, their speed of absorbing spiritual energy also increases, placing greater pressure on their physical body and meridians.
Therefore, natural treasures that can enhance a cultivator’s physical strength and meridian toughness are also highly sought after.
The faster a cultivator absorbs spiritual energy—although it doesn’t directly improve the conversion efficiency of their spiritual roots—the spiritual energy within them is compressed and fused, which effectively speeds up their cultivation progress.
This has the same effect as the Spirit Honey produced by the Spirit Nurturing Peaks that Ye Qingxuan farms.
For cultivators who also practice body refinement techniques, Chaos Spirit Fruits are an absolutely excellent auxiliary cultivation treasure.
The trunk of the Chaos Spirit Tree, having been subtly baptized by gentle chaotic energy over time, is also a rare and valuable material for artifact refining.
Therefore, Chaos Spirit Stones, Chaos Spirit Fruits, and Chaos Spirit Trees are all major commodities in the Tianyuan Trading Company’s cross-regional trade.
Likewise, they are also one of the reasons Ye Qingxuan is heading to the Eastern Extremity Region.
