Treasure Pavilion

Back at the inn, Xu Yan shut his door tight and sat down at the table.

He took out the jade pendant and placed it in his palm, then sent his divine sense into the Edict Script once more.

This time, he saw it clearly.

His divine sense drained faster than before. Ripples of it spread across the pendant, and the instant they touched it, more Primordial Era characters appeared in his sea of consciousness!

[Primordial Yin Treasure Jade: formed from the moon's yin radiance. When worn during cultivation of a Primordial Yin technique, it doubles the results for half the effort. Made by the Primordial Imperial Clan; no more than a few hundred exist in the world.]

Xu Yan withdrew his divine sense, feeling a little dizzy.

"So that's how it works!"

His thoughts raced.

The Miaoyuan Edict could not only seek out treasures, but also identify them!

Within a certain range, it could sense treasures of sufficient quality and reveal their names and uses in his sea of consciousness.

Each detection and each appraisal consumed divine sense. The farther away and more precious a treasure was, the greater the cost.

With his current cultivation and divine sense, his sensing range could reach no farther than twenty zhang in any direction.

Perhaps that range would grow as his cultivation improved.

The Primordial Yin Treasure Jade was useless to him, but selling it would surely bring in plenty of cultivation resources!

Xu Yan made his calculations and promptly put the pendant away.

The next day, Xu Yan returned to the entrance of the Langya Treasure Pavilion.

The Langya Treasure Pavilion had sweeping eaves and interlocking brackets, with carved dragons and painted phoenixes.

The Spirit-Born Artifact Xu Yan had seen yesterday was the pavilion's prized treasure.

Two Daoists in blue stood at the entrance, both at the Pulse Opening stage. Their torch-bright eyes swept over passersby. Ordinarily, no one stood guard outside, but with the Dragon Ridge Immortal Treasury about to open, the Immortal Inn had become a place where fish and dragons mingled—every sort of person was there.

The main hall was spacious and bright. Jade counters stood throughout, displaying all kinds of ritual artifacts, talismans, pills...

Many Daoists were choosing items at the counters, occasionally speaking in low voices.

Xu Yan glanced around, then walked up to a young Daoist on duty and cupped his hands. "Fellow Daoist, I have a business proposition and would like to meet the person in charge."

The young Daoist sized Xu Yan up. Seeing that he was at the ninth level of Qi Exhalation and dressed plainly, he grew somewhat dismissive. "Our pavilion has rules for buying and selling. There's no need to trouble an elder over an ordinary item. Why not show me what you have first?"

Xu Yan shook his head. "This is no ordinary item. I need to speak with whoever is in charge."

The young Daoist frowned and was about to reply when a voice came from behind him. "Young man, come with this old fellow."

Xu Yan looked up and saw an elderly man with a white beard strolling toward him. The man wore a black robe, and his face was lean.

"Xu Yan greets you, senior."

"My surname is Yu. I'm in charge of the Langya Treasure Pavilion."

The old man had reached Pulse Opening Perfection. To hold such a position at that level of cultivation, he must have considerable skill in appraising treasures.

One behind the other, they went up to a private room on the second floor.

Once inside, Xu Yan came straight to the point. After bowing with cupped hands, he took out the pendant. "Senior Yu, this is Primordial Yin Treasure Jade, a yin-yang treasure. Wearing it while cultivating a Primordial Yin technique doubles the results for half the effort."

"Primordial Yin Treasure Jade?!"

"That's right," Xu Yan said with a nod.

Manager Yu had not taken half a sip of tea. Startled, he held out his hand. "Young friend, may I examine it?"

He clearly knew of the Primordial Yin Treasure Jade.

It was a rare treasure formed from the moon's yin radiance over an exceedingly long span of time. To someone cultivating a Primordial Yin technique, it was a treasure difficult to come by.

"Please, senior." Xu Yan handed over the pendant.

Over the next half-hour, Manager Yu examined it with his divine sense and Mystic Gate methods. His expression turned grave. "This is indeed a yin-yang treasure, and unquestionably Primordial Yin Treasure Jade. It was fashioned by the Primordial Imperial Clan, and no more than a few hundred exist in the world. Most are now in the hands of the Immortal Jade Sect, though. How did you obtain it, young friend?"

Xu Yan paused. "I... found it at a stall a few days ago."

Manager Yu smiled, then narrowed his eyes and said thoughtfully, "To be granted a yin-yang treasure to carry, that disciple must hold a high position in the Immortal Jade Sect. Perhaps even a direct disciple of the sect leader."

Xu Yan said nothing.

Manager Yu glanced at him. "You certainly know your treasures. The Langya Treasure Pavilion will buy it. How many spirit stones do you want?"

"Five hundred high-grade spirit stones."

"Agreed."

Xu Yan weighed a Qiankun Bag filled to the brim in his hand as he came down from the second floor, his expression unchanged.

The pendant was clearly worth more than that, or Manager Yu would not have agreed so readily. But its origins were dubious, so Xu Yan had not demanded an outrageous price.

The master of the Langya Treasure Pavilion was an elder of the Dragon Spine Mountain Dao Academy. It was precisely that backing that allowed the pavilion to buy anything.

An ordinary shop would have had to think twice.

This rare yin-yang treasure had been taken from a True Disciple of the Immortal Jade Sect. How could it not bear a divine-sense mark?

Erasing that mark alone would take some effort.

Xu Yan did not leave immediately. The Langya Treasure Pavilion was the largest treasure pavilion in the Immortal Inn, and it had almost everything.

He browsed for half an hour and bought a few things.

A high-grade ritual artifact: the Green Pattern Sword.

A bottle of Spirit Essence Pills: refined from the flawless vital essence of heaven and earth, they could raise the cultivation of someone at the Qi Exhalation stage.

The pavilion also sold Daoist texts, but only the most basic ones. To study and cultivate more advanced divine abilities and techniques, one had to become a disciple of a Dao Academy.

There were, however, plenty of texts on unorthodox arts. Xu Yan bought several books on examining meridians, including Five Elements Meridians and the True Explanation of Spirit Meridians.

The Green Pattern Sword cost the most: twenty high-grade spirit stones. It was a high-grade ritual artifact, after all, with an astral-energy formation pattern engraved on its blade. Even a slight infusion of magical power sent sharp astral energy spilling out, keen enough to cut through metal and stone!

After leaving the Langya Treasure Pavilion, Xu Yan found a nearby inn. It was the largest in the Langya Immortal Inn and even had a Dao Field where guests could practice divine abilities.

On the spacious Dao Field, Xu Yan held the Green Pattern Sword, his expression intent.

He turned his wrist and channeled magical power into the Green Pattern Sword. With a few casual flourishes, green astral energy howled out like a gale and struck the ground with a metallic clang!

If a formation had not protected the ground, the blows would have left sword marks in it.

"It consumes too much. At the ninth level of Qi Exhalation, I'd exhaust my magical power in less than half an incense stick if I drove it at full strength."

Xu Yan breathed a little harder. With that thought, he returned the Green Pattern Sword to his Qiankun Bag.

An innocent man could invite disaster simply by carrying a jade. With such a fortune in cultivation resources on him, Xu Yan never quite felt safe. Staying in the Immortal Inn was one thing: its rules forbade fighting. Once he left, though, no one would intervene.

This might be Taiyuan Divine Sect territory, but its protection meant little unless one was a True Disciple or had an extraordinary background.

Otherwise, even if a registered disciple of the Hundred Dao Academies died, the academy would rarely investigate to the end.

The Hundred Dao Academies were, after all, merely the Taiyuan Divine Sect's outer teaching grounds. They had at least a hundred thousand registered disciples. How could they keep track of them all? If a disciple of the Upper Three Academies died outside, though, the academy might look into it.

The Upper Three Academies: Chongxu, Taiqing, and Wanxiang.

They were the three most renowned Dao Academies on Dragon Spine Mountain.

Each year, it was registered disciples of these three academies who were chosen in the greatest numbers to become True Disciples of the Divine Sect, travel to the Divine Land, and receive the inheritance of the Great Dao of immortality.

After familiarizing himself with the ritual artifact on the Dao Field, Xu Yan washed up. It was already the hour of the rooster when he returned to his room.

Deep in Dragon Spine Mountain, the soul-shaking dragon's roar came as expected. It seemed to have carried down from the Primordial Era, scattering birds, whipping the mountain forests with fierce winds, and shaking the earth's veins.

It was the fourth day already. There was no telling how much longer it would continue.

Xu Yan looked out the window. The sky was still a dark, oppressive mass, veiled in chaos-colored mist.

After four straight days of roaring, only Daoists newly arrived at the Immortal Inn still came out to look around. Most had grown used to it.

By the time everyone retired late that night, not a voice could be heard outside. Only the wind howled across the heavens, day and night. The atmosphere was not merely oppressive, but filled with a chilling sense of impending violence.

"A storm is coming."

Xu Yan took a deep breath and shut his door and windows tight. Several layers of formations guarded the inn inside and out, so he need not worry about anyone coming to his door in the middle of the night. Only then did he relax a little.