The secret of the Azure Cloud Chamber of Commerce
Ling Shuanghua and Ye Wuhen had not taken part in the bidding, so they did not accompany Cang Wuya and Feng Zhuo to the top floor.
Halfway there, Gu Qinghuan took over from the attendant and led the two of them to the top floor.
The alluring Gu Qinghuan from the stage wore a solemn expression off it. After greeting Feng Zhuo and Cang Wuya, she said nothing more.
They soon reached the top floor.
"Pavilion Master, I've brought the two guests."
A refined male voice came in reply. "Qinghuan, sorry to trouble you, but please bring our two honored guests inside."
"Yes." Gu Qinghuan took a bronze token from her Storage Bag and inserted it into a slot in the door. A middle-aged man sitting in a wheelchair appeared before the two of them.
"Qinghuan, you may leave us." The man leisurely poured two cups of tea, then turned to Feng Zhuo and Cang Wuya. "Please, take a seat, young friends."
Feng Zhuo was on full alert. Even for something like the Dark Nether Sword Token, there was no need for the Azure Cloud Pavilion's master to deliver it personally, was there?
The Azure Cloud Pavilion at the foot of the Supreme One Divine Sect's mountain might not have been the largest branch on the Profound Firmament Continent, but it still ranked among the foremost. Otherwise, why would the Dark Nether Sword Token have been auctioned here?
The pavilion master gave Feng Zhuo a sense of danger similar to what he felt from Chixiao. His cultivation should have been at the Spirit Transformation Realm, but why had he made time to summon the two of them?
Feng Zhuo sent his Divine Sense into his storage ring, intending to bring out the jade talisman containing a full-force strike from his mother at the first sign of trouble.
Cang Wuya did the same.
He had met the master of this Azure Cloud Pavilion before, and it was not the man before him. He was no less wary than Feng Zhuo.
"Don't be alarmed, young friends." The man was evidently aware that his actions could easily lead to a misunderstanding.
"May I ask if you are a cultivator of the Feng Household, young friend? Is your mother Feng Qingge?"
The man got straight to the point.
Feng Zhuo felt a little more at ease, though he did not lower his guard completely. "What business do you have with my mother, Exalted Lord?"
The man did not deny the title Feng Zhuo had given him. He simply said, "My name is Qing Xuan. I heard that in the ancestral grounds of the Perching Phoenix Clan in the Western Region, there is a [Wutong-Roosting Divine Tree] that nurtures a wisp of Nirvana Divine Fire."
"Where did you hear this, Exalted Lord?"
It seemed he wanted something from the Feng Household.
There was indeed a [Wutong-Roosting Divine Tree] in the Feng Household's ancestral grounds. It was a divine plant at the peak of the seventh tier, possessed intelligence, and had combat strength comparable to that of an ordinary Mahayana Realm cultivator. The Feng Household had no qualms about making its existence public.
But few knew that the divine tree nurtured a wisp of Nirvana Divine Fire every thousand years. Where had this pavilion master learned of it?
"A Feng Household cultivator told me."
The man named Qing Xuan pointed to his legs. "I did not deliberately seek out the information. It's just that I was afflicted by an extremely sinister poison, and my legs were crippled as a result."
"My father searched the world for renowned physicians on my behalf. A grand elder of the Purple Yang Pill Sect stated plainly that only a supreme yang fire seed of a tier higher than my realm could cure this poison."
Supreme yang fire was easy to find, but supreme yang fire seeds of the sixth tier or above were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.
"After making inquiries in many places, I learned by chance that the divine tree in the Feng Household's ancestral grounds could nurture sixth-tier supreme yang fire. I also heard that only the Feng Household's patriarch and grand elder could decide what became of the divine fire, so I took the liberty of coming to ask for help."
Feng Zhuo's maternal grandfather was the Feng Household's grand elder, with cultivation at the Integrated Body Early Stage.
In the entire Feng Household, only the patriarch's line and their own branch were direct descendants who truly carried the bloodline of the Perching Phoenix Clan.
The other cultivators surnamed Feng were merely members of collateral branches in which spirit fire occasionally awakened.
Feng Zhuo rubbed the edge of his storage ring with a fingertip and went straight to the heart of the matter. "You want that wisp of Nirvana Divine Fire, Exalted Lord?"
As a child, he had often taken Feng Yao to the ancestral grounds to play with the divine tree, so he naturally knew that in recent years, it had not only nurtured divine fire, but an unprecedented two wisps of it!
It had happened not long after Feng Zhuo was born.
Only the patriarch's and grand elder's lines knew this secret. The cultivators of the collateral branches had merely surmised, based on the old pattern of one wisp every thousand years, that the divine tree was due to produce a new fire seed.
Nirvana Divine Fire was sixth-tier the moment it came into being. If Feng Yao had been able to suppress it completely, Feng Zhuo would have contracted the extra wisp long ago.
Even if the patriarch and her father disagreed, Feng Qingge would have stolen the divine fire for her son.
Now that Feng Zhuo had awakened his natal spirit fire, Feng Qingge had given up the idea of stealing the Nirvana Fire.
"Not at all."
Qing Xuan smiled bitterly. His cultivation was only at the fifth realm, and years of torment from the poison had left his realm showing signs of decline. How would he dare contract sixth-tier divine fire?
"I know how difficult it is for the divine tree to nurture divine fire. As for my poison, I only need the divine fire to enter my body and force the toxins lurking in my meridians out."
"So I, Qing, dare to beg the Feng Household cultivator who has contracted the divine fire to help me expel the poison."
That would not be difficult.
Both his maternal grandfather and Grandpa Patriarch had seventh-tier natal spirit fires. They had devoured Nirvana Divine Fire years ago, inheriting its traits and gaining the properties of supreme yang fire seeds.
It was a matter of passing on a message and earning a favor, so Feng Zhuo readily agreed. With a turn of his hand, a crimson jade token appeared in his palm.
"Take this jade token to Phoenix Roost City, Exalted Lord. As soon as my mother sees it, she will certainly agree to meet you. You can tell her what you need then."
Since Qing Xuan needed their help, he had prepared another gift of thanks in addition to the Dark Nether Sword Token from the auction-the sword token was merely the key to securing a meeting with Feng Zhuo.
"Thank you for being willing to introduce me, young friend."
A withered yellow broken branch appeared in Qing Xuan's palm, as long as a baby's arm and as thick as a thumb. "My legs have been paralyzed for some years now. Only with your help today do I have hope of recovering. This is just a modest gift; I hope you won't refuse it."
"This is..."
Feng Zhuo's pupils contracted sharply. "...a Yi Wood Broken Branch?!"
His worry at the auction had not been without reason.
In his previous life, Qing Xuan had also come to this Azure Cloud Pavilion at the foot of the Supreme One Divine Sect on account of Feng Zhuo's name.
Knowing that Feng Zhuo had joined Crimson Firmament Peak, he had not brought the Dark Nether Sword Token, a supreme treasure of the sword Dao, but merely a Yi Wood Broken Branch, a treasure of considerable help to wood-attribute cultivators.
In this life, Feng Zhuo had turned around and joined Carefree Peak instead. And who did not know of the Carefree Sword Immortal Yunxiaozi's reputation back then?
Qing Xuan had therefore assumed Feng Zhuo cultivated the sword Dao and brought the Dark Nether Sword Token.
So would my senior brother still obtain a Dark Nether Sword Token in the future?
Or had Su Ruanruan not obtained the divine sword she held in the story from my senior brother?
"Indeed." Qing Xuan held out the broken branch. "This branch merely fell naturally from a second-tier Yi Wood plant. It is nowhere near as heaven-defying as the legendary divine plant Yi Wood. I only hope you won't look down on it, young friend."
Had it been something else, Feng Zhuo might have hesitated.
But this was the divine plant Yi Wood, whose roots were linked to the earth's veins and which legend placed on a par with Jianmu!
Feng Zhuo accepted it without hesitation. Rather than expose Qing Xuan's intention to use the Yi Wood Broken Branch to settle the karma he owed Feng Zhuo for his help, he said, "Tell me, Exalted Lord, wouldn't you say we've made an excellent bargain?"
Qing Xuan was taken aback, then burst into hearty laughter. "Interesting! You really are interesting, young friend!"
With the worry on his mind resolved, the already refined Qing Xuan seemed even more easygoing.
He told Feng Zhuo a little about the broken branch's origins, and also said that he had obtained the Dark Nether Sword Token from a secret realm in his youth.
After handing the sword token to Cang Wuya, who had remained silent throughout, Qing Xuan could hardly wait to set off for Phoenix Roost City and deal with the sinister poison that had troubled him for nearly ten years.
"Xuanweizi, sorry to trouble you, but please escort these two young friends back to the Supreme One Divine Sect. Make sure they arrive safely!"
"Yes, Young Master."
Young Master?!
Although Feng Zhuo had already noticed hints in Qing Xuan's words, he had not expected the man before him to be the son of the president of the Azure Cloud Chamber of Commerce.
The young master of the Azure Cloud Chamber of Commerce who, according to outside rumors, became dao companions with a male cultivator and ultimately died at his hands?
When Feng Zhuo had first heard the rumors, he had not known whether to be surprised by the young master's taste for men or to lament that a devoted lover's sincere feelings had been betrayed.
Now that he had met the man at the center of the rumors, he wanted to ask about them, but the dignity of a Spirit Transformation Exalted Lord could not be offended. Feng Zhuo could only swallow his curiosity for the time being.