At the beginning, I cleaned the Sutra Library and completed the incomplete skills.

Chapter 214: A Worthwhile Trip

The Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators present clearly understood this.

After learning that this tiger tally was merely a half-finished product,

some whose attributes matched still felt tempted.

Soon,

an old man with only a few sparse hairs on his head spoke.

"Zhuo County, if this old man remembers correctly, this county has a flourishing artifact refining culture, and most high-level cultivators possess excellent artifact refining skills. It's naturally not strange that they can refine pseudo-treasures.

Fellow Daoist, where did this half-finished pseudo-treasure come from?

If it was refined by someone you know well, why was it set aside after only being made into a half-finished product?

If it was obtained by chance, why not find a master refiner in this county to try and complete it?

Could it be that the origin of this item is not clean, and Fellow Daoist is eager to get rid of it, which is why you specifically brought it out here?"

Which Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator wasn't someone with extraordinary experience?

After a brief moment of thought, they quickly hit upon the most crucial point.

The Early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators present also calmed down one after another,

all looking at Zhu Quan in unison, waiting for his reply.

After all,

to refine a pseudo-treasure, having artifact refining skill alone is completely insufficient;

one's cultivation realm must at least be at the Late-stage Foundation Establishment.

If the origin of this pseudo-treasure is truly unknown, rashly buying it back might not only fail to increase one's strength but could also unnecessarily offend a Late-stage Foundation Establishment mighty figure.

The Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators present naturally knew how to weigh the pros and cons.

Since Zhu Quan dared to take out this item, he was naturally prepared with an explanation.

"This tiger tally pseudo-treasure was obtained by Zhu during an exploration of a Devil Cultivator's cave dwelling ruin.

As for why it's only a half-finished product, this one does not know.

As for why I didn't seek a master refiner in the county to complete it,

Zhu is merely an Early-stage Foundation Establishment minor cultivator, how could I possibly know such a profoundly skilled Senior?

Taking ten thousand steps back, even if I did know one, Zhu would find it difficult to bear the cost of the spiritual materials needed to complete the pseudo-treasure.

Even if it could be completed, due to mismatched attributes, Zhu would find it difficult to wield it.

Given this, why would this one do such a thankless task?"

Zhu Quan's words were indeed reasonable,

and the cultivators present couldn't find any fault.

The old man with sparse hair pondered for a moment before speaking again:

"This pseudo-treasure's attributes match this old man's, and although it's only a half-finished product, this old man is quite fond of it. I'll believe you for now.

Surely none of you Fellow Daoists will compete with this old man?"

As soon as these words were spoken,

the Early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators immediately quieted down.

Some cultivators whose attributes also matched and who were interested could only secretly sigh with regret in their hearts, not daring to show the slightest bit on their faces.

After all,

although their cultivation realms were not as high as his, their minds were not lacking at all.

No one would be foolish enough to openly challenge this Senior in such a setting.

As for the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators,

although there were a few who were tempted,

after carefully weighing the situation, they ultimately chose to remain silent.

If it were a complete pseudo-treasure,

they would never let go of it so easily.

But this was merely a half-finished product.

Even if they could invite a master refiner of such skill to take action,

whether they could gather the materials needed to complete this pseudo-treasure was still up for debate.

One must know,

although pseudo-treasures are just imitations of magic treasures, the materials needed to refine them are no less valuable than those for magic treasures.

Spiritual materials involved in refining magic treasures are highly valued even by Golden Core Stage mighty figures.

It's hard to say whether it would be a blessing or a curse for these minor Foundation Establishment cultivators to easily get involved.

Therefore, under these various considerations,

all the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators present chose to do the other party a favor,

and no one jumped out to sing a different tune.

Li Lan's attributes also matched this treasure, and he wouldn't need to painstakingly search for suitable rare spiritual materials,

to complete this tiger tally pseudo-treasure.

In comparison,

he was instead the most suitable cultivator present to trade for this item.

However, Li Lan had been observing with a cold eye and had no intention of making a move.

It wasn't that he was afraid of offending the old man with sparse hair,

he simply felt it wasn't necessary.

Firstly, he now had a complete magic treasure in hand and absolutely didn't need to waste lifespan to complete this pseudo-treasure of significantly lower grade.

Secondly,

Li Lan's lifespan currently only had one hundred and seventy-two years remaining.

He wasn't confident that he could definitely form his core within these remaining years.

Therefore, with not much lifespan left, how to use this lifespan and where to use it naturally needed to be carefully calculated.

Precisely because of this,

Li Lan was only slightly surprised when he first saw the pseudo-treasure,

and showed no other superfluous emotions.

Seeing that none of the cultivators had any objections, the old man with sparse hair was quite satisfied.

He turned his head to look at Zhu Quan again and said lightly:

"This old man does not have mid-level fire attribute spells,

however, there are quite a few other pills and magic tools that are quite useful for Early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.

See what you need and pick one item as an exchange."

The old man's tone carried an unquestionable air,

and with a pat of his storage bag, he took out many cultivation resources.

Each one made the Early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators present swallow their saliva and feel extremely envious.

Zhu Quan was not surprised by this either.

The Foundation Establishment gathering was like this;

it was rare to happen upon the exact cultivation resources one needed.

Between cultivators of the same level, what could be traded could be discussed, and one could choose what was most suitable for oneself.

In situations where the realms were unequal, it depended on luck and the other party's temperament.

Although this old man with sparse hair was somewhat arrogant, his character was still decent; at least he wasn't the type to be utterly stingy.

After Zhu Quan selected a suitable cultivation resource from among them,

the first transaction was considered successfully completed.

With this example,

the other Early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators also became bolder, taking out the items they wanted to trade one by one.

"This one is a disciple of the Mo Family from Jiuhua County. What I want to trade this time is a pair of high-level earth attribute mining puppets. This item is a masterpiece that our Mo Family has researched for a long time and can be used to mine mid-grade earth attribute spirit stone mines—

"This humble one is from Qingyang County, a rogue cultivator from the Wei family. Surely you Seniors and Fellow Daoists from Qingyang County are not unfamiliar?

Cultivators from our county are not skilled in combat, but they have profound research in the Dao of Talismans.

This time, Wei intends to trade two low-grade fifth-tier talismans. They can be activated by simply injecting magic power, and the power they contain is equivalent to a full-strength strike from an Early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator..."

"This one is Luo Shan, from Peng County.

As the saying goes, live off the mountain by the mountain, and live off the water by the water.

Because the geographical environment of my hometown is most suitable for the survival of various trees, cultivators from Peng County are most skilled in the Dao of Formations.

This time, Luo wants to trade two sets of mid-grade fifth-tier aura concealing formations. Although these formations have no offensive power, they can completely conceal all auras within the formation.

With a moment of carelessness, even a Golden Core mighty figure would find it difficult to discern this formation.

It is most suitable for use when cultivators are breaking through.

This humble one wishes to exchange for a set of same-grade grand formations that I have never seen before..."

"Ma Xiangqiu greets all Seniors and Fellow Daoists. This one is also from Peng County.

What I want to trade this time is not a formation, but a forty-year-old spiritual plant—"

All the Early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators present took turns,

their trading items were diverse yet quite useful.

Among them were many cultivation resources that even Li Lan found greatly tempting.

For example, those two sets of mid-grade fifth-tier aura concealing grand formations.

He also had formation restrictions with similar effects in his possession.

But these formations were all obtained by searching in various markets in Jiuhua County, and their grade was truly average.

Concealing the aura of a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator was their limit; anything higher would likely be insufficient.

Li Lan was just worrying about how to find older auxiliary materials for setting up formations to enhance the formation's effect,

and now these two ready-made fifth-tier aura concealing grand formations happened to be exactly what he needed.

Without hesitation,

Li Lan immediately exchanged the "Xuanming Wuxiang Formation" for these two sets of "Concealed Breath and Hidden Spirit Formation."

Although the auxiliary materials for setting up this formation were only at the fourth-tier level and had little offensive power, which didn't quite meet the other party's requirements, as mentioned before, in private transactions like the Foundation Establishment gathering,

it was rare to encounter something perfectly suitable. Mostly, after some discussion, obtaining resources that were relatively suitable was already a good outcome.

This "Xuanming Wuxiang Formation" was a unique grand formation created by Devil Cultivators in Jiuhua County.

Although Luo Shan often studied this Dao, he had never seen such a peculiar formation.

After learning the general effect of this formation, he readily agreed.

Both parties were happy.

Successfully trading for this formation meant that Li Lan would not have to worry about concealing his cave dwelling's aura in the short term.

Besides this "Concealed Breath and Hidden Spirit Formation," Li Lan also made a transaction with that Ma Xiangqiu.

At the cost of five Gathering Qi Pills, he successfully exchanged for three forty-year-old Purple Sandalwood Spiritual Beans from the other party.

Spiritual plants of such old age are not common in Jiuhua County,

but they are quite common in Peng County, where the special geographical environment is suitable for the survival of various trees.

Especially ordinary spiritual plants like the Purple Sandalwood Spiritual Tree, whose uses are not as significant compared to other trees.

Furthermore, what Li Lan needed were just seeds like Purple Sandalwood Spiritual Beans, not the entire spiritual tree.

Both parties reached a consensus and obtained what they wanted.

Pills like Gathering Qi Pills are universally useful at any cultivation realm,

it's just that the effect they can achieve is more or less significant.

And with these old Purple Sandalwood Spiritual Beans, Li Lan could refine Spirit Bean Soldiers endowed with magic power.

This is extremely important for him who cultivates the Devouring Yuan Great Art, directly related to the speed of his cultivation.

In addition to normal transactions,

Li Lan also left contact information for all the Peng County cultivators present,

and made an agreement with them to trade again if they discovered old Purple Sandalwood Spiritual Beans.

After the Early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators took turns actively displaying their trading items,

this Red Plum Pavilion gathering was far from over; instead, it reached its climax.

Those Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators who had remained still also finally began to make their moves one after another.

The old man with sparse hair was the first to state his intentions,

flipping his hand to take out a treasure that astonished everyone.

"What this old man wants to trade is a genuine pseudo-treasure."