Chapter 25 - A Mountain of Demon Cores
There was a very long, deep valley which was a few thousands meters long and it was filled with a deathly stillness. There were no flying birds, no walking beasts, no insects, and there wasn"t even any trees or bushes. Here, there were no living things at all. The mud of the entire valley was dark red as if it were dyed by fresh blood.
Suddenly, the s.p.a.ce in this valley trembled and soon it split open then two young girls fell out of a spatial rift. One was wearing a white shirt and the other was wearing a black skirt forming a distinct contrast. The young girl in white seemed to be around eleven or twelve years old, and even if her body hadn"t fully matured yet one couldn"t help but notice her amazing temperament. The young girl in a black skirt looked a little older, but was probably only fourteen or fifteen years old. However, she was almost fully matured though her charming facial features contained some coldness. Even though these two girls were young, one could tell that they would become exceptional beautiful women.
"What treasure did you just use? It was so magical teleporting us away in a flash like that. What a shame we couldn"t choose our destination." The girl in white got up from the ground while rubbing her hurting b.u.t.t trying to soothe the ache from being thrown to the ground suddenly. She asked the black-skirtted girl this question full of curiosity because this was her first time hearing about spatial teleportation.
"This is a teleportation jade tile. It can tear s.p.a.ce apart in a flash and open a rift a thousand miles away. Some of these teleportation jade tiles were made by those influential families specifically for their treasured disciples. This is so when they encounter any danger, this would help them escape. I don"t have many of them and today I already used one. However, were it not for it, we would have had no chance of leaving that place. Don"t dare look down on it!" The black-skirted girl explained and gave her a harsh glance afterwards.
"Oh? That"s awesome." The young girl in white smiled and touched her nose, embarra.s.sed, then afterwards, she changed the topic, "Are those people strong? Are they chasing after us?"
"Hum... They"re extremely strong. I already felt pressure from them just from a slim glimpse of their aura even before they showed up. I"ve never felt anything like that before." The girl in black skirt said looking serious. She then thought for a bit and kept talking: "As to whether they"re able to chase after us, that"s hard to say. However, spatial teleportation is an ability that only an Immortal or G.o.d can do. There"s not even any Profound Immortal realm cultivators within the whole of the Wuhuan Empire, so there shouldn"t be anyone that is capable of chasing after us."
"That"s good, that"s good. I too felt their pressure, it was so terrifying." The girl in white finally breathed out in relief. Then she took out a map which she studied, "Now where are we? Where should we go next?"
"This topography suggests we"re at the Blood Drinking Valley and not far away from the Demon Execution town." The black-skirted girl walked closer to her and looked at the map saying, "Ah that"s good then. We"ll go to Demon Execution town. We can sell some of our stuff and buy you a storage spirit tool."
"A storage spirit tool, awesome! Let"s go." The girl in white was extremely happy about it since she had been wanting one after seeing that her partner had such spirit tool."
They quickly reached an agreement and left.
These two girls were exactly Lin Haoxue and Shen Molian. Because the teleportation jade tile wasn"t able to take them to a specific location, therefore, they were randomly sent to this valley. After a long walk, they felt relieved as it seemed no one had followed them.
However, what they didn"t know was that they were quite wrong. The Wuhuan Empire not only had strong cultivators, but more than a few had showed up here as well! They didn"t even know that their dangerous predicament had been solved by a mysterious cultivator.
Demon Execution town, it was a border town on the west side of the Wuhuan Empire. It wasn"t very big, therefore in the Wuhuan Empire it only qualified as a third-rate town. However, this town had one very big advantage: It was the closest place to the Demon Beasts Forest. Because of this, there were a lot of mercenary groups which came here to hunt demon beasts for profit. Therefore, this Demon Execution town became a paradise for adventurers. Because of its rapid growth, the Wuhuan Empire moved the Mercenary Labor Union which was originally set in the imperial capital to here.
Now, the flourishing of Demon Execution town wasn"t worse off than those top-notch towns in the empire. Buildings and shops were everywhere throughout the town. These shops mostly sold different kinds of weapons and incantation talismans. After one collected enough things to increase their fighting strength, the next step was to collect demon cores and demon skins which were used as materials for refining.
Jiyu Auction House, was the biggest shop in Demon Execution town. It wasn"t very precise to call it a shop, though, it was even a place where one could purchase different kinds of demon cores. Tradition had it that the influence behind the Jiyu Auction House was so big that even the Wuhuan Empire royal family didn"t dare to commit an offense against them easily.
The first floor of the Jiyu Auction House was wide enough to hold around five thousand people. Behind the front desk there were four staff busy with handling the sales of weapons and purchasing demon cores. One could tell that business was extremely good, and those mercenary groups had no choice but to wait in line.
In this line, there were two pretty girls waiting patiently. They were exceptionally eye-catching contrasted against these rough mercenary groups. Therefore, almost everyone"s gaze was locked to the two of them, even those busy staff couldn"t help but take a few looks at them as well. They were wondering what these two pampered young ladies had come here for.
"Big sister, do you guys purchase demon cores here?" Finally, it was her turn. Lin Haoxue walked forward and asked with a smile. She was young and pretty, and very polite, therefore she quickly made a good impression on this worker.
"Little sister, yes we do purchase demon cores here. But, we only take those higher than level three, and sadly, we don"t take those under that level." The female staff responded patiently.
Demon cores from demon beasts have seven levels. The first and second levels of demon cores are merely for inexperienced incantation masters to practice incantation techniques with. Therefore, they aren"t really used for refining weapons. However, those demon cores that are higher than level three normally could be used to refine weapons or they could even be embedded into weapons to increase their attack power. Therefore, these were extremely expensive for Profound Pract.i.tioners.
"Demon cores that are higher than the third level? Yes, we have some." Lin Haoxue thought for a bit and then responded.
"Oh? You do? How many do you have?" The female staff asked patiently.
"Aye, both of you stop messing around. Get lost quickly. Staff, come inspect and accept our demon beasts skin, this time we"ve gained a lot." Lin Haoxue hadn"t had yet responded when the people who were waiting after her talked without patience.
Lin Haoxue turned around and saw him. He was a big fellow with full beard who looked very impatient.
"Friend, according to the rules of our Jiyu Auction House, we need to follow the order no matter what. Let"s see what this little girl has first." That female staff frowned and spoke politely. Even though she actually thought Lin Haoxue had come here to mess around as well. "They are just two kids and they are definitely here to screw around. There"s no way they would have demon cores, let alone those that are higher than level three." The big man murmured. But since he was in the Jiyu Auction House, he had no choice but to follow the rules.
"Uh, we have a lot of demon cores so we didn"t bother counting them." Lin Haoxue seemed kind of vexed and said.
Even though Lin Haoxue didn"t talk loudly, most people around her heard what she said.
Demon cores that are higher than level three? A lot? They didn"t count them?
Level three demon beasts were pretty much as strong as human beings at the Early-stage Profound Master realm. What"s more, concerning battle strength the demon beasts obviously exceed Profound Masters realm cultivators. This young girl was so young, and unexpectedly, she dared to say she has countless demon cores.
Everyone looked at Lin Haoxue with surprise, and then they started to take pity on her since this young girl obviously had mental problems! Even the female staff shook her head because she thought that Lin Haoxue was merely baffling.
"Humph!" Shen Molian who had been standing next to Lin Haoxue made a loud sound to stop those spirited discussions.
"Hum?" Who made that sound?
Now people finally noticed this young girl in black skirt that stood next to the girl in white. She managed to shut everyone up with just her strength alone which meant that her strength was possibly better than everyone present. However, she was so young! How could that be possible?
Seconds later, people were surprised that there were so many shiny things in front of these two girls. Unexpectedly, they were all demon cores! Even the smallest demon core was as big as a duck egg! There were red, green, cyan, and blue colored of demon cores. They were so colorful and beautiful.
For a moment, everyone in the lobby focused on both Lin Haoxue and Shen Molian. What power do these two girls have? How did they obtain so many demon cores? Furthermore, the fact that they were able to carry these things around obviously means that they have storage spirit tools.
Storage spirit tool! It was a spirit tool refined and made by tools refining masters. The s.p.a.ce within could carry a lot of things and that was a treasure these mercenaries could only long for. However, since they were some of the most expensive types of spirit tools most mercenaries couldn"t afford them. Therefore, there weren"t many cultivators who had such an item.
Most people here were mercenaries and so there wasn"t anyone that didn"t long for such a storage spirit tools. Therefore, the way they looked at Lin Haoxue and Shen Molian changed greatly. It went from a look of surprise to that of greed. They had an overwhelming desire for their storage spirit tool and those shiny demon cores sitting in front of them.
Were it not for it was Jiyu Auction House and its astonishing influence, someone would have robbed them blind in seconds.
"You two, please go to the second floor." After a while this female staff member finally woke up from her absent mind. She looked at Lin Haoxue and Shen Molian with surprise thinking what kind of monsters were they?
Of course, because of the auction house"s restrictions, she didn"t try to sound out their secrets. She led the way to the second floor, and watched as Lin Haoxue and Shen Molian took the demon cores back then followed along.