Chapter 1574: Spirit Tide
Although Cang Gu talked about buying supplements, few of them had the finances to really shop. There was no need to elaborate on Taishan and Tie Mu. As for Songyue, after Yi Yun gorged her, she was penniless.
Now, only Yi Yun was rich apart from Cang Gu.
But Tie Mu never expected to see Yi Yun show no intention of buying any supplements. All Yi Yun did was glance at a few ores that were on display. There were no supreme-grade ores. Truly supreme-grade ores were probably monopolized by the major factions.
"Yi Yun, aren’t you going to buy some supplements? Talismans or disk arrays for life-preservation or escaping, or perhaps stuff like weapons..."
Tie Mu was dumbfounded to see Yi Yun standing with his hands to his back after a quick browse. He originally believed that Yi Yun had taken so much of Songyue’s wealth in order to deal with Cang Gu. Buying talismans or one-time disk arrays was the best way to raise his strength.
However, Yi Yun had no such intention in mind.
"These items are mediocre in quality." Yi Yun shook his head nonchalantly.
Tie Mu was rendered speechless. The items actually failed to catch Yi Yun’s eyes.
...
"These two. I want them!"
Cang Gu chortled slyly as he chose two female slaves from the slave market.
One of the two female slaves was a female Fey with cat ears and the other was a human girl. They looked sixteen and had petite bodies with a pure, innocent charm.
"Haha, you have a keen eye, fellow Daoist. These two female slaves are still virgins, with their Primordial Yin still intact. They have not been taught before, so you can have that joy to yourself," said the slave merchant attentively.
Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun was rendered somewhat speechless. Were these the ’supplements’ that Cang Gu needed?
"Scum!" Songyue cursed under her breath. "This person is extremely debauched. He is also cruel by nature. For this year at the Xuanyuan Dune, he is buying new girls again. From the looks of it, the ones he bought previously have been tortured to their deaths."
Upon hearing Songyue, Yi Yun shook his head. The Chaos Heavens had such tragedies happening everywhere. It had already turned into a rule which he could not effect change on.
"Gather and head for the teleportation array." Cang Gu ignored the helpless looks of despair in the two girls’ eyes. He directly stored them into his mobile cave abode.
The Xuanyuan Dune was just too massive. Entry into the mining zone inside the Xuanyuan Dune required them to pass through a teleportation array. Just flight alone would take months. Furthermore, there was no Yuan Qi to supplement them along the way and the areas that they would pass through were fraught with danger. Even Divine Lords could perish if they attempted to make the journey!
As such, there were four factions, including the Taixia Ancient Mining, that made mining their core enterprise. They set up teleportation arrays in the Xuanyuan Dune which led them directly to an ore-rich zone.
Of course, although these four factions had cooperated on this side of things, any encounters between factions in the Xuanyuan Dune made them competitors that would fight to the death!
Ignoring the conflicts of interest between the different factions, there were also the divisions between races.
While heading to the teleportation array, Yi Yun saw a giant who was a hundred feet tall looking like he was created from liquid gold. The moment he walked out of a cave abode pocket world, his body enlarged with every step. Each step quaked the grounds gently, exuding an extremely strong sense of oppression.
A Celestial!
Yi Yun’s pupils shrank. This bronze giant was a member of the Ancestor God’s race!
However, he was a lot shorter. His hundred-foot-tall height was far shorter than the Ancestor God’s.
As though he sensed Yi Yun’s gaze, the bronze giant gradually turned his head. His dark golden pupils contained an aloofness towards the world. Such a look was only something gods would possess.
Celestials were the proudest race in the universe. They reared demonic servants to serve them. And in fact, to them, humans and demonic servants were lifeforms of equal standing with no difference whatsoever.
The bronze giant’s gaze only stayed on Yi Yun for an instant before turning elsewhere. But at that moment, Yi Yun clearly sensed Tie Mu and Taishan trembling beside him. Their foreheads were covered in cold sweat.
Even Songyue was not one bit better. A Celestial expert made them sense a mighty oppression.
"A Celestial! I never expected the Xuanyuan Dune spirit tide this time would even stir the interest of the Celestials!"
The Celestials were mighty and lofty beings. They were few in number; therefore, even in the Chaos Heavens, Celestials were hardly seen. This was even more so for warriors like Taishan and Tie Mu who had low cultivation realms. The number of Celestial experts they had seen in their entire lives could be counted on one hand.
"What’s a spirit tide?" Yi Yun’s heart stirred as he looked at Tie Mu.
Tie Mu took a while to recover his senses as he said to Yi Yun, "A spirit tide is a Yuan Qi stream that is spewed out from the ore reserves deep in the Xuanyuan Dune. Every spirit tide results in an especially high amount of ore. Therefore, the Taixia Ancient Mining typically chooses the year of a spirit tide to engage in mining. The other factions more or less do the same.
"During a spirit tide, although ores are easily discoverable, the competition is more cruel due to the numerous people inside. As for Celestials, they seldom appear themselves. They tend to only direct their demonic servants and demonic generals.
"One of the four major factions in the Xuanyuan Dune is the Myriad Demon Valley. It was established by the Celestials, but the ones administering it are usually demonic servants and demonic generals. It’s odd that a Celestial expert would come in person today. Could this year’s spirit tide be different from the others?"
"I see. What are the other two factions?" asked Yi Yun.
The other two factions are the Nine Netherworld Lands established by the Ghost race and the Desolate Divine Depository established by the Fey."
"Ghosts?" Yi Yun pricked up his brows. He did not speak out verbally as he sent a voice transmission to Bai Yueyin in his soul sea. "What sort of race is that? Are the members of that race cultivators in the ghostly Dao?"
"No." Bai Yueyin shook her head. "They are real ghosts."
"What!?" Yi Yun was alarmed. "Doesn’t that mean they are dead?"
"You could say that. I heard of rumors of a Ghost race universe. It is a universe with completely different set of Heavenly Dao rules from the Sinkhole. In the Sinkhole, a warrior’s spirit would dissipate after death. Unless they cultivated their souls to an extremely potent state, then they might be able to continue living. I’m an example, but the only one. A soul is ultimately a soul. They are still in their original world. Unless one uses possession or a heaven-defying cultivation technique like the Grand Reincarnation Technique, there is little that can be done.
"But in that universe, it’s completely different. There’s the netherworld, the underworld, and the nine springs! Even when a mortal dies, their souls would be retained. They would enter the underworld and into the nine springs before undergoing Samsara! The places mentioned are massive worlds. Ghosts can cultivate in cultivation techniques there to break through their realms. They can even transcend the tribulations. Ghosts that have transcended nine lightning tribulations will condensed a body of flesh and blood from their souls. They would then be Ghost Thearchs. That’s equivalent to our Godly Monarch realm."
As Bai Yueyin spoke, Yi Yun suddenly felt a gust of biting cold air inundate him. He looked over and saw an elder dressed in black robes walking over.
It was only Yi Yun’s feeling that the person was an elder for his face was covered in a blurry gray mist. There was no way to see his face, or it was even possible that he did not have one.
And he did not take strides while walking. Instead, he floated over.
Was this what a member of the Ghost race was...