Demon Emperor Hide

"Good morning, sir. This is the City Seven branch of Treasure Forest Immortal Goods Firm. You recently inquired at our shop about purple jade branch. We have now confirmed that our shop in the Main Urban District has one in stock. Unfortunately, it has already been designated as a lot in the Treasure Forest auction next week, so we're very sorry that we cannot transfer it here for you."

"Our annual Double Eleven auction will be held at the City Seven branch this year. If you're still interested in purchasing this purple jade branch, we look forward to welcoming you."

"We apologize for any disappointment this may cause. As a token of our apology, if you win the purple jade branch at auction, we will offer you a ten percent discount on the final price."

"Have a wonderful day. Thank you."

"..."

A call from Treasure Forest shattered Yue Wen's peace of mind first thing in the morning.

He had asked that Immortal Goods Firm about purple jade branch before, and their shop in the Main Urban District really did have some in stock. But according to the call, they couldn't sell it to him directly.

An auction?

Yue Wen scratched his head in dismay.

He had heard that Treasure Forest held its annual Double Eleven auction at a different branch in Jiangcheng City each year, as a regular celebration. But the word "auction" alone sounded upscale. When had an ordinary independent cultivator like him ever attended one?

Apparently, even the admission ticket cost a small fortune.

The treasures good enough to be offered were already the finest pieces Treasure Forest had gathered throughout the year. Once the bidding started, something worth a hundred thousand might end up costing several hundred thousand.

Purple jade branch was no exception.

If they gave him a fixed price, he might be able to save enough by working hard for a while. But with it going to auction, there was no telling what the price would be.

For the vast majority of people, a top-grade fire-attracting spirit item like this was unnecessary. But for anyone practicing a top-tier cultivation method, it was an indispensable material for breaking through to the Astral Realm.

If someone else wanted it too, he would really be in trouble.

After all, there probably weren't many people like him who practiced a top-tier cultivation method yet were flat broke. Most inheritors of such methods had powerful backing and abundant resources. Deep pockets were practically standard.

Mine aren't as deep as theirs, or as well stuffed...

Was I supposed to stand up at the auction, flip the table, and tell them to call the whole thing off if it was so damn difficult?

Money.

That word kept circling in Yue Wen's mind as the woes of poverty sank in.

Never mind that he had priced his jobs extremely low to secure chances to exorcise evil, leaving him with little savings. Even if he had charged high rates like other cultivators, he would have earned far less Evil-Suppressing Money, and his savings would still have fallen far short of what he needed for the astral refining materials.

The Blazing Flame Powder cost five hundred thousand, and it was already the cheapest astral refining material. According to his earlier searches, purple jade branch started at a million, and that was its normal market price, not an auction price.

Gathering all four astral refining materials would cost at least several million, enough to buy an apartment in the Main Urban District. For plenty of people, that alone was the dream of a lifetime.

And that was just for a single breakthrough attempt. If he failed, he would have to start all over again.

Ultimately, the materials required by the True Dragon Method were all top-grade and outrageously expensive. Other independent cultivators used ordinary materials for their breakthroughs, which could cost less than a tenth as much.

Of course, the quality of the astral energy they refined and the strength of their true qi after the breakthrough would also be different.

Every gain came with a loss, he supposed.

Gain money, lose suffering...

The auction was next week. To earn enough for the purple jade branch in a single week, Yue Wen could think of no more realistic options than going out and getting hit by a luxury car every day, or donating sperm five hundred times at two thousand per donation.

Even if he sold all the immortal items he owned, their combined value wouldn't cover it. The first three sections of the True Dragon Method were probably the most valuable thing he had, but although the visualization diagrams were in his mind, he lacked the ability to reproduce them. He could only cultivate them himself, not sell them.

After some thought, he decided to ask Qi Dian later. As an Immortal Sect disciple, Qi Dian might know of some lucrative missions. Perhaps he could bring Yue Wen along.

Still, the chances were slim.

If he really couldn't scrape together enough money, he could only hope the purple jade branch went unsold, or save up and look for another one later.

"Ugh."

Yue Wen let out a deep sigh of regret at having no path to sudden riches.

Rich or poor, life still had to go on.

After pondering it briefly, Yue Wen closed his eyes again and began contemplating the visualization diagram in his mind.

As his spiritual sense sank inward, he arrived in a purple ocean teeming with demonic shadows. Thick, foul-smelling liquid surrounded him. As he sensed this eerie Purple Sea, everything churning and boiling within it was dark and evil.

Yue Wen had never encountered a demon before. They were supposedly even harder to deal with than spirit beasts and nightmare wraiths.

Spirit beasts were dull-witted. Even after centuries or millennia of cultivation, they struggled to grasp profound methods. Monsters that were crafty and cunning in the forests seemed almost simple before humans. Nightmare wraiths were incomplete, often following rules dictated by some lingering obsession. Once those patterns were found, they were easy to deal with.

Demons, however, possessed exceptional intelligence and far more sophisticated ways of disguising themselves as humans. Pureblood demons supposedly had snow-white skin, but could change it to a human skin tone at will, making them impossible to identify by appearance.

They also recruited followers in the human realm, infusing humans with demonic blood to turn them into their lackeys. After their large-scale invasions of the realm failed, these demons and their followers had turned to secretly spreading plagues, stirring up internal strife, and corrupting minds, denying the human realm any peace.

There was no telling how many demons had infiltrated the major cities of the human realm by now, including some in positions of great power.

Calling them humanity's most terrifying enemy was no exaggeration.

Even this single piece of hide contained many profound mysteries, offering a glimpse of what they were capable of.

After two days of contemplation, Yue Wen had gradually begun to discern the Dao resonance hidden within the Purple Sea. It was a kind of madness concealed beneath order.

Simply put, a visualization diagram was a world constructed upon Dao resonance-the outward manifestation.

The process of contemplation meant working backward from that manifestation to find the underlying code that built the world, then mastering it. That marked successful cultivation.

Reproducing a visualization diagram was difficult because mastery alone was not enough. One also needed the ability to recreate that world using its Dao resonance. That required not just mastery of the underlying code, but a sufficient foundation of true essence as well.

As Yue Wen gradually immersed himself in the visualization diagram's Dao resonance, his thoughts grew increasingly violent and evil.

He wanted to rob banks-eighteen in a row-and throw all the stolen money into the slums for people to pick up. He wanted to kill people,

hang every unscrupulous capitalist from a streetlight. He wanted to indulge his desires, find twenty gorgeous female cultivators, and force them to eat at a seafood buffet with him...

So evil.

Even he was shocked by his own wicked thoughts.

These were thoughts he ordinarily wouldn't have. Perhaps the first wicked stirrings would have been suppressed by his morals. But immersed in this ocean of the demonic Dao, all those stirrings erupted with a vengeance.

As he grew more and more evil, the demonic shadows before him grew increasingly clear. Finally, purple-gold bridges rose from the surface of the sea.

"Found it."

Yue Wen murmured. At last, he had found the mysteries of the Dao resonance that constructed this world.

Everything suddenly became clear!

When he opened his eyes, his heart had already regained its calm. Freed from the visualization diagram's influence, his emotions stabilized once more.

A faint excitement stirred within him.

It worked.

He had mastered the curse-breaking method the great dragon had given him. The information on that demonic hide would no longer be a secret. It had taken two extra days, but he had done it.

He took out the purple hide and unfolded it in his hands again. Then he used his newly mastered spell, tracing several obscure runes in the air with his right hand.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh-

As though unlocking it, the runes landed on the blank purple hide, and golden characters abruptly appeared above it. They were not written on its surface, but floated over it amid dancing flames, like living things.

[Purple Throne, this Demon Emperor Hide and the Snake Mountain Bronze Cauldron represent our sincerity. Please accept them.]

[The Demon Emperor Hide can be used to contact us. Hidden inside the bronze cauldron is the greatest gift we can offer, as well as the key to leading you into the Tiger Tomb.]

[I know accomplishing all this will be difficult, but you can trust that we will never disappoint you.]