The embryo of a sea pearl requires shell pearls, and the higher the grade, the better.
That three-thousand-year-old spirit pearl was intended for refining the Sea-Suppressing Pearl. However, he was not satisfied with it and hoped to find a spirit pearl of even higher quality in the future, preferably one over ten thousand years old.
Once a pearl has been in existence for more than ten thousand years, it is called a spiritual pearl. Using it to refine magical artifacts will result in artifacts of at least superior quality, which will greatly help in breaking through the Nascent Soul Heavenly Barrier in the future.
On the other hand, Zhao Sheng is not entirely without hope of advancing to the True Core stage.
All supernatural powers and magical techniques were created and deduced by our predecessors.
He is neither arrogant nor self-deprecating.
If his predecessors could do it, so can he.
That's what I was thinking.
The short, stout manager of Qidan Pavilion rushed into the living room excitedly, shouting as he ran, "It's done! It's done! Senior, the sect just sent back a message saying they will send a special envoy to meet with you. Please wait patiently for a few days."
"Well, thank you for your trouble, fellow Daoist." Zhao Sheng gently put down his teacup, a smile on his face, and bowed slightly.
"Ah, this is what this old man should do. Senior, there's no need for that." The short, stout old man hurriedly waved his hands upon seeing this.
Zhao Sheng then said, "This humble Taoist still needs the Yin-Yang Jade Shoe Fruit, the Soul Leech Gu Powder, and the Illusionary Desire Butterfly Eggs. I wonder if the Qidan Pavilion has these three spiritual medicines?"
The short, stout old man thought for a moment, then replied confidently, "The spiritual herbs you mentioned, senior, are extremely rare. The Qidan Pavilion currently only has the Yin-Yang Jade Shoe Fruit. The other two need to be transported from elsewhere. If you are not in a hurry, senior, could you please wait a few days?"
"I am not in a hurry. You can go and arrange the transport. But you must ensure that the quality of the medicinal herbs is good enough."
"Don't worry, senior! This old man would never dare to tarnish the reputation of Qidan Pavilion."
...
After leaving Qidan Pavilion, Zhao Sheng strolled around the market, going in and out of several shops, buying what he needed, and then returned to the Qionggui Treasure Ship.
While the Zhao family was busy purchasing various supplies, Zhao Sheng, who had just returned to the treasure ship, immediately went into his private cabin on the second deck and secluded himself there.
Upon entering the cabin, Zhao Sheng flicked his wrist and threw out four barrier talismans. The four talismans flew out and immediately stuck to the surrounding ship walls. Four layers of spiritual light suddenly rose up and enveloped the entire cabin in the blink of an eye.
Zhao Sheng walked to the depths of the cabin, sat cross-legged on the futon, pondered for a moment, and then took out an apricot-yellow storage bag from his pocket with his right hand.
With a shake of the storage bag, an ordinary-looking bamboo basket flew out of the bag and landed in Zhao Sheng's hand.
The bamboo basket was entirely emerald green, but it was poorly woven, with gaps visible between the bamboo strips.
However, the bamboo basket contained a pool of clear water. When tilted slightly, the water rippled and flowed slowly through the bamboo gaps, yet it seemed as if an invisible barrier prevented it from leaking out at all.
In the gently rippling blue water, a small fish radiating a colorful halo is swimming leisurely, occasionally scattering streaks of five colors.
Zhao Sheng remained calm, his hands forming hand seals, and streams of bright blue spiritual energy shot out from between his hands, striking the bamboo basket in front of him.
The bamboo basket was quickly enveloped in a rich blue light, as if it were wrapped in a blue mist. Within the mist, wisps of blue light rose and fell, constantly striking each bamboo strip on the surface of the basket, attempting to refine them.
However, the results were minimal.
After a long hour of continuous refining, faint blue light could be seen seeping into the surface of the bamboo basket.
Since obtaining this magical bamboo basket more than 20 years ago, Zhao Sheng has been constantly trying to refine it.
Perhaps the attributes are incompatible, or perhaps the key refining technique is missing.
Over the years, the refining progress has been unsatisfactory, and even the first layer of the treasure restriction has not been completely refined.
Of course, Zhao Sheng's efforts over the years haven't been entirely in vain. At least he has gained a relatively deep understanding of this magical artifact.
This bamboo basket magic item is a wood-type magic item with spatial attributes. Its main body is woven from the ancient Yuan Kong bamboo, which is almost extinct in the Tianzhu Realm.
Its grade is very high, and the number of treasure restrictions that can be sensed so far is as high as six.
Perhaps there are new restrictions hidden deeper within the magic treasure, but Zhao Sheng's current divine sense is unable to sense them.
The level of a magical artifact depends not only on its own quality, but also on the number of protective restrictions it contains.
Generally speaking, a magic weapon can hold a maximum of nine protective restrictions, with three as a tier. Six or more restrictions constitute a high-grade magic weapon. Four to six restrictions make it a mid-grade magic weapon, and three or fewer are simply the lowest grade.
Faced with a treasure that is likely a top-grade magic weapon, or even an ancient treasure, one can imagine how much effort Zhao Sheng has put into refining it over the years.
Two hours later, nearly half of the spiritual energy in his dantian had been consumed, and Zhao Sheng's face showed a look of surprise.
His hands moved so fast they left afterimages as bright blue spiritual energy poured onto the bamboo basket like a waterfall. The spiritual clouds were so dense they were almost liquefied, filling the cabin with dazzling blue light.
At the same time, Zhao Sheng's eyes flashed with divine light, and a golden light suddenly shot out from his Purple Mansion, instantly flying to the surface of the bamboo basket. In a flash, it disappeared into the magic treasure, and the golden light fell into a dark void. In an instant, it flew into a vast, frosty, and cold treasure light and disappeared without a trace.
Zhao Sheng was overjoyed. His more than twenty years of hard work had not been in vain; he had finally refined the first magical barrier.
The moment he refined it, a flood of information rushed into his mind, all about this bamboo basket magic weapon, including its name and the most basic manipulation techniques.
Zhao Sheng then learned that the true name of this magic treasure was the Empty Basket, a magic treasure with both emptiness and wood attributes, which actually contained eight treasure restrictions, and its grade was close to that of a top-grade magic treasure.
The Void-Seizing Basket is of too high a grade, while Zhao Sheng's strength is too low. Being able to refine the first layer of the treasure restriction is already the limit. He can probably only control it simply and cannot use it to fight enemies at all.
Even so, Zhao Sheng was quite satisfied, at least he knew that the Empty Frame was an extremely precious and rare top-grade magic treasure.
Don't forget, the Empty Basket and the unknown magical artifact in that ancient painting are most likely one and the same.
The combination of these two magical treasures is at least as good as the best.
This alone gave him an incredibly wonderful space for imagination.
Zhao Sheng suppressed the urge to take out the ancient painting; it was extremely dangerous and not something he could touch at this moment.
Whoosh!
With a thought, he cast a control spell with his right hand.
The empty basket instantly lifted off the ground, growing to about ten feet in size. A layer of emerald green light gradually appeared on the surface of the basket, and a white beam of light burst out from the mouth of the basket.
Within the beam of light, a tiny, glistening droplet the size of a soybean floated up and down, seemingly minuscule yet exuding an indescribable vastness.
As soon as it appeared, wisps of steam rose in the cabin, and countless tiny water droplets quickly condensed on the cabin walls.
At this moment, the Five Elements Spirit Fish, which had shrunk countless times, was still swimming carefree in the water droplet, as if it had not sensed the drastic changes in the outside world.
Zhao Sheng was deeply shocked by this astonishing scene and exclaimed, "Heavenly One True Water! It's actually Heavenly One True Water!"
The origin of this Heavenly True Water is extremely astonishing, and its reputation among the true waters of heaven and earth is no less than that of the Golden Crow True Fire among true fires.
This water is not from this world, but comes from the void of the starry sea. Legend has it that it is the last remaining essence of water after the destruction of a world, and belongs to the highest level of true water of heaven and earth, second only to innate divine water.
The Heavenly One True Water contains a trace of the Great Dao of Water. A single drop of water can transform into a thousand-foot wave. Whether it is used to refine a treasure that carries the Dao or to comprehend the Great Dao of Water, it is very useful.
Zhao Sheng never expected that the empty basket would contain such a treasure. He had previously thought it was the Clear Spirit Water, but the surprise came so suddenly.
At this moment, the moisture in the cabin became increasingly dense, and began to turn into fine raindrops that fell to the floor and splashed onto Zhao Sheng's face.
Sensing the cool water droplets dripping onto his face, Zhao Shengjue noticed that the unusual water vapor phenomenon around him was becoming more and more obvious. He was immediately alarmed and quickly controlled the empty basket to put the Heavenly True Water back into the bamboo basket.
Then, he waved his hand and released a blue light, dispelling all the water droplets and moisture in the cabin.
Bang bang bang!
Just as I finished doing all that, there was a sudden knock on the hatch.
Zhao Sheng was startled again and instantly released his divine sense, seeing his disciple Zhao Dingda and Zhao Dali in white robes standing outside the cabin door.
He waved his hand, and the hatch creaked open without any wind.
"Dingda, what business do you have with your master?" Zhao Sheng asked expressionlessly.
Zhao Dingda, observing the expressions on people's faces, immediately sensed something was wrong upon hearing these words.
His mustache twitched, and his eyes darted around.
She spoke very obediently, "Reporting to Master, Zhao Dali has something to discuss with you. Why don't you ask him what he wants?"
Hearing this, Zhao Dali's face flushed red. He cursed Zhao Dingda inwardly for being despicable and shameless, betraying his teammate the moment he saw the situation was bad.
Seeing that Daoist Cen Hezi's gaze had fallen on him, Zhao Dali hurriedly bowed and said cautiously, "Reporting to Elder Zhao, when we went to buy grain, we unfortunately encountered a shady inn. We had agreed to buy one million dan of grain at three times the price, but after we loaded the grain into the warehouse, we discovered that 30% of the grain had been replaced with inferior quality, and another 10% was already rotten. We tried to reason with the innkeeper, but he was unreasonable and even brought in a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Without a word, he detained several of us, releasing only me, and demanded a ransom from us. It's utterly despicable!"
Zhao Sheng raised an eyebrow after hearing this. Judging from what he said, the Zhao family had run into a ruthless merchant this time. The merchant was obviously fearless and took advantage of his local power to bully outsiders.
As a guest advisor to the Zhao family, he naturally wouldn't stand idly by.
"Dingda will remain on the ship. Dali, take me there to see him." Zhao Sheng flicked his long sleeves, stood up, and said solemnly.
Zhao Dali's face lit up with joy, and he quickly nodded in agreement.
The rest is quite simple.
With Zhao Sheng, a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, stepping in, they didn't even need to say a word; simply releasing his aura was enough to make the other party back down and apologize.
That's how powerful the intimidation of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator is. As it turns out, the moment Zhao Sheng stood there, the invited mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator didn't even have the courage to make a move. He immediately submitted obediently, and the shopkeeper's attitude changed drastically. Not only did he voluntarily reduce the price of grain by 30%, but he also took the initiative to remove the old grain and replace it with the new grain of the season.
...
Three days later, at Xibi Fairy House.
A streak of sword light flew from the sky and swiftly landed in the market.
Before long, Zhao Sheng, disguised as a middle-aged man with a sallow complexion, walked along the streets of the market, his eyes scanning the shops on both sides and the flow of people on the street.
Compared to the bustling Dongbi Market, Xibi Immortal Market, though located deep within the island, is even more lively.
As soon as you step onto the street, you can hear the cacophony of noise all around. The street is full of people: humans dressed in various colored thin robes and brocades, other races with unusual appearances, and many who are clearly cultivators. They are arrogant and are often surrounded by people as they walk.
Most of these people came from the islands of the Shattered Star Sea. Due to the threat of the sea monster tide, the trading atmosphere in the market was extremely lively. Countless people with different expressions kept going in and out of the nearby shops, frantically buying all kinds of supplies.
Of all the markets Zhao Sheng had seen before, only the market on Jiuzhen Island could compare.
Zhao Sheng walked and looked around for about half an hour, squeezing through three streets before finally arriving at the central square of the market.
The entire square was very spacious, covering several acres. In the center stood a white jade statue about ten feet tall, which looked like a dignified and beautiful female immortal. Her white jade robes fluttered, and her surface shimmered with a faint halo. A very subtle but cold pressure emanated from the statue.
In the open space around the statue, many independent cultivators set up stalls, with various materials and spiritual herbs densely packed on the ground, and different magical artifacts and talismans flashing with various spiritual lights.
The square was bustling with people, with a constant flow of people coming and going, and shouts echoing everywhere, creating a lively and bustling atmosphere reminiscent of a traditional market.
Along the main streets surrounding the square stand several magnificent buildings, each five or six zhang tall, their surfaces gleaming with light, exuding grandeur. These are the largest shops in the market, owned by several prominent families from Biluo Island.
Zhao Sheng's eyes flickered a few times before he stepped into the largest pill shop in the vicinity of the square.
Half an hour later, he returned to the shop with a normal expression. He had just purchased a batch of auxiliary spiritual herbs for refining Foundation Establishment Pills and had also subtly inquired about the Golden Core Pill.
After that, he took a few steps, turned around, and went into another medicine shop.
Zhao Sheng spent about half a day wandering around the market. He visited all the large pill shops in the market, buying Foundation Establishment elixirs and asking if they had any Golden Core pills.
Zhao Sheng did this on purpose, to spread the word.
In the Immortal Cultivation Market, some secrets may remain hidden forever, but some secrets are deliberately revealed to others.
As a result, the news that a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator wanted to buy a Golden Core Pill, and that this person was suspected to be a second-tier alchemist, quickly spread throughout the pill industry.
Meanwhile, Zhao Sheng had changed his makeup and was going in and out of some famous shops, inquiring about the One Yuan Heavy Water and the pearl.
He discovered that Biluo Island truly lived up to its reputation as a large spiritual island in the outer sea, known as the Dragon Claw. There were indeed many pearls for sale; almost every shop had them, and almost all of them were millennium-old pearls. However, he searched the entire market and only found one pearl over three thousand years old, and there wasn't a single one over five thousand years old.
As for the whereabouts of the one-element heavy water.
According to the results of the inquiry, due to its scarcity, the original heavy water is mostly controlled by a few major families, and it only appears once or twice at auctions every few years.
Zhao Sheng was naturally not satisfied with this result, but seeing that night was falling, he turned back to the Qiong Turtle Treasure Ship, entered the cabin, set up a barrier, and began to meditate.