"Twenty million low-grade Spirit Stones. Here." There were not many spiritual materials suitable for a Nascent Soul Cultivator to refine an avatar, though they could not be considered especially useful. The sallow-faced old man had suffered a heavy loss when bidding for the Tenth Tier mirage pearl earlier, so it was only natural for him to want to recoup some Spirit Stones. The price was considerably higher than that of a Ninth Tier puppet, but an avatar refined from a puppet-body stone was durable and exceptionally sturdy. It would save him the trouble of collecting puppets in the future, so he might as well spend some time refining several avatars.
After putting away the puppet-body stone, Lu Xiaotian continued browsing the trade items offered by the other cultivators. When he passed the straw-cloaked cultivator with whom he had previously bid for the Black Wraith Robe, he saw a black bead the size of a dove's egg. The bead was neither metal nor jade, yet seemed to have formed naturally, its surface so smooth that not a speck of dust could cling to it. A faint Buddhist aura wafted from it, giving Lu Xiaotian an extraordinarily familiar feeling.
"What is the origin of this bead, and what do you want in exchange?" Lu Xiaotian asked the straw-cloaked cultivator.
"I found it in a dead zone. I don't know where it came from. If you want it, trade me the Black Wraith Robe." The straw-cloaked cultivator's face was tinged blue, and his eyes held a sinister edge. Clearly, he often ventured into places thick with the aura of ghosts and yin spirits.
"You want to trade an item of unknown use for my Black Wraith Robe? Aren't you embarrassed?" Lu Xiaotian sneered and turned to leave.
After walking several steps, he saw