Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Chapter 318 The Cloud-Water Swan and the Black Jade Toad [Please Subscribe]

Quiet.

A deathly silence.

As the cultivator who offered "corpse moth" eggs as a bargaining chip finished speaking, many cultivators, including Zhou Chun, turned their attention to Chi Hu, the representative of the underground treasure exchange organization.

It must be said that the man's question was very clever.

Although the Corpse Demon Cult is very determined to eliminate "Corpse Moths" and other creatures that counteract the effects of corpse refining, the problem is that "Corpse Moths" are not pests like "Spirit-Eating Locusts" or "Thousand-Slaying Ants," and are not on the list of prohibited items for trade.

Moreover, Jinchangfang Market is not the territory of the Corpse Demon Cult, but the territory of the Jingyang Cult, another major faction in Feng Kingdom.

The Jingyang Sect is a major sect with two Nascent Soul stage cultivators presiding over it. Previously, when the Corpse Demon Sect and various sects of Feng Kingdom fought a great war, the Jingyang Sect remained on the sidelines and did not join in.

It was only through the mediation of the Jingyang faction that the Corpse Demon Sect finally chose to stop and not exterminate those sects that were its enemies.

In this context, if Red Fox were to declare "Corpse Moth" a contraband and prohibit its trading on the underground trading platform...

That would undoubtedly give people the impression that the Jingyang faction was afraid of the Corpse Demon Sect.

After all, it would be impossible for the underground Yi Bao Society to be established in Jinchang Market without the protection of powerful figures from the Jingyang faction.

Once this impression is formed, Jinchang Market will probably not be as prosperous as it is now. At least, not many people will come to the underground trading clubs that are set up here in the future.

After all, although the Corpse Demon Sect is currently the most powerful sect in Feng Kingdom, for well-known reasons, they are not liked by most independent cultivators and orthodox cultivators in Feng Kingdom.

The Jinchang Market has become increasingly prosperous in recent years because many independent cultivators and orthodox cultivators do not want to trade in the markets managed by the Corpse Demon Sect, so they travel thousands of miles to come here.

So at this moment, many cultivators, including Zhou Chun, were watching the Red Fox, wondering how he would respond to the words of the owner of the "Corpse Moth" eggs.

"Is this guy intentionally here to cause trouble?"

Zhou Chun muttered to himself, feeling that the person was probably there on purpose to cause trouble.

At this moment, something unexpected happened to him and the other cultivators.

Before Crimson Fox could answer, a masked late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator suddenly spoke up, "Why make things difficult for Senior Crimson Fox? Since you wish to exchange these rotting corpse moth eggs for a second-grade high-quality fire-attribute magic weapon, then I will make the exchange with you."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and patted the storage bag at his waist, taking out a fiery red feather fan magic weapon.

He then introduced, "This phoenix feather fan was crafted from the tail feathers of a second-tier superior-grade demonic beast, the Phoenix-Tailed Fire Pheasant, and thousand-year-old Flaming Sun Wood. The cost of collecting the materials and crafting alone amounted to over five thousand spirit coins. Its power will absolutely not disappoint you!"

After saying these words, he immediately erased the divine imprint he had left in the magical artifact and handed it to the person.

Seeing this, the previously silent Red Fox suddenly spoke up, saying, "Since someone is willing to exchange, I won't say anything more. However, if another underground treasure exchange is held next time, I will request that the rules be revised to prevent anyone from causing trouble again!"

His answer, while not perfect, at least temporarily averted the credibility crisis.

The cultivator who had produced the "corpse moth" eggs stopped making trouble and readily completed the exchange.

Afterwards, other cultivators took over from this person and offered treasures in exchange.

About an hour later, Zhou Chun's target for this trip to Jinchangfang finally appeared.

A black-robed, masked cultivator, after receiving a signal from the red fox, took out a blue jade box from his sleeve and placed it in front of him.

She opened the blue jade box, and two palm-sized, jet-black toads came into view of the cultivators present.

The two toads seemed to have been subjected to some kind of magic; their eyelids were tightly closed, and they were motionless, but the vitality of living creatures could still be felt.

Just as the many cultivators in the underground cave were intently observing the two toads, they heard Zhou Yu's offer.

"A pair of Black Jade Toads in exchange for one Foundation Establishment Pill."

What?

Zhou Yu's offer surprised many Foundation Establishment cultivators present.

They looked at the two toads with surprise, not understanding how these two seemingly weak demonic beasts could be worth a Foundation Establishment Pill.

Soon after, a cultivator couldn't contain himself and looked at Zhou Yu, saying, "Fellow Daoist, could you tell me what the use of this Black Jade Toad is? What makes you think it's worth a Foundation Establishment Pill?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yu said calmly, "No need. Those who know their value will naturally exchange it, and it's pointless to talk to those who don't."

These deliberately mysterious words caused many cultivators to frown and feel quite displeased.

However, since the underground Yi Bao Society was somewhat like a street stall in a market, even though they were unhappy with Zhou Yu's pretentious act, they couldn't say anything more.

Just then, Zhou Jiahe suddenly stepped out from the crowd and said, "Alright, I'll trade you a Foundation Establishment Pill."

As he spoke, he walked up to Zhou Yu and handed him the white jade bottle containing the Foundation Establishment Pill.

The aunt and niece looked at each other through their veils, and Zhou Jiahe's eyes were full of disappointment.

Even when Zhou Yu chose to stay at the Spirit Beast Manor, she had never been this disappointed in him.

Seemingly sensing the disappointment in Zhou Jiahe's eyes, Zhou Yu quickly took the jade bottle from her hand, uncorked it, and began to examine the Foundation Establishment Pill inside, no longer looking at Zhou Jiahe.

After a while, she whispered, "Alright, this black jade toad is yours."

He then closed the jade box containing the black jade toad and handed it to Zhou Jiahe.

Their conversation quickly alerted onlookers, who began to wonder if the two knew each other.

At the same time, they became even more curious about the purpose of the black jade toad, wondering why these two seemingly unremarkable demonic beasts were worth Zhou Jiahe exchanging a Foundation Establishment Pill for.

This includes several cultivators at the Purple Mansion stage.

Zhou Chun couldn't see the others, but he clearly saw a strange look in the eyes of the old man with the horse-like face who had revealed his face.

Clearly, these cultivators at the Purple Mansion stage, unaware of the Black Jade Toad's purpose, were also filled with intense curiosity about something Zhou Jiahe was willing to exchange for with Foundation Establishment Pills.

However, these people are destined to be disappointed.

Even someone like Zhou Yu, who knew the uses of the Black Jade Toad, couldn't use it much because her cultivation level wasn't high enough for the Purple Mansion stage and she didn't have the recipe to make that kind of spiritual incense.

Even if she revealed its purpose, it would be highly unlikely that anyone else who obtained the Black Jade Toad would be able to research the formula for that spiritual fragrance.

The Zhou family was able to possess the formula for that spiritual fragrance because their ancestor, who obtained the Black Jade Toad, received the formula from a foreign land, rather than because the Zhou family developed it themselves.

This may also be one of the reasons why Zhou Yu is now willing to exchange the Black Jade Toad for the Foundation Establishment Pill.

After all, having a treasure in hand but not being able to figure out how to use it, she must have been extremely frustrated and upset for more than ten years.

The underground treasure exchange continued, and Zhou Chun finally had a chance to make a move, exchanging a second-tier high-grade magic weapon for an egg of a mid-level demon beast, the Cloud Water Swan.

The swan is what Zhou Chun often referred to in his previous life. The Cloud Water Swan is a type of demon beast with low combat power, but it is very good at long-distance flight and has excellent swimming skills, making it a very good choice for a mount.

The cultivators in the underground cave were clearly few like Zhou Chun, who would disregard a second-grade high-level magic weapon and exchange it for a mid-level demon beast egg that, once hatched, could only serve as a mount.

After all, while it is certain that a mid-level demon beast can be trained to become a second-tier demon beast, the growth cycle would take at least thirty or forty years without a huge investment of resources.

A cultivator who can offer a second-grade high-quality magic weapon in exchange would normally be at least in the late Foundation Establishment stage and nearly two hundred years old.

A cultivator of this age doesn't have the time or energy to raise a spirit beast that they might not even need.

When it was Zhou Chun's turn to exchange, he simply took out a low-grade second-tier magic weapon to get by.

After nearly a day of this exchange, everyone had finally had their turn.

After the last Foundation Establishment cultivator finished displaying his prepared exchange items, Red Fox, the representative of the Underground Treasure Exchange, immediately bowed to everyone present and said, "Thank you all for your presence. This Underground Treasure Exchange is now concluded. Please hand over your tokens to me and then leave."

Upon hearing his words, the cultivators present immediately took out their tokens and threw them into the basket he had taken out to hold the items. Then, one by one, people left along the same route they had come from.

Seeing this, Zhou Chun followed Zhou Jiahe at a leisurely pace and left the underground cave with him.

It was night outside, and when they arrived at the backyard of the "Black Fire Refining Shop" on the ground, Zhou Chun and Zhou Jiahe acted as if they didn't know each other, each walking out of the gate and leaving in different directions.

Once they reached a secluded spot where no one was around, Zhou Chun casually slipped into a grove of trees, put away the black robe he was wearing, and then walked out from the other end of the grove back to his residence.

Not long after, Zhou Jiahe brought the black jade toad to the inn where Zhou Chun was staying.

"Has Aunt Thirteen seen the Black Jade Toad before? Could you tell if there's anything different about this Black Jade Toad compared to the ones you've seen before?"

Inside the inn, after Zhou Chun examined the black jade toad that Zhou Jiahe had given him, he looked at Zhou Jiahe with a serious expression and asked about the situation.

Anyway, this was truly the first time he had ever seen the Black Jade Toad. Now, apart from being able to confirm that this was the Black Jade Toad based on family records and Zhou Mingde's oral account, he couldn't see anything else.

Faced with his question, Zhou Jiahe immediately shook his head and said, "I have never seen one. Such spirit beasts were raised by the Foundation Establishment cultivators or even Purple Mansion cultivators of the family in the past. They were not something that I, who was still in the Qi Refining stage at the time, could come into contact with."

"In that case, let's send a message to the Supreme Elder so that he can make his own assessment."

Zhou Chun nodded and made a decision immediately.

Now that the Black Jade Toad is in hand, Zhou Mingde is no longer afraid of alerting the enemy, even if he is exposed.

Zhou Mingde was already hiding not far outside Jinchang Market. After receiving Zhou Chun's communication talisman, he quickly rushed into the market to meet him.

When Zhou Mingde and Zhou Chun met and saw the black jade toad Zhou Chun had given him, his expression immediately changed. In an instant, he roared angrily, "As expected, I knew that bitch Zhou Yu wouldn't have a change of heart! That damned bitch actually tormented the black jade toad like this!"

Hearing his angry words, Zhou Chun's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly asked, "Elder, what have you discovered? What exactly is wrong with this black jade toad?"

"The vitality of the Black Jade Toad has greatly diminished!"

Zhou Mingde spoke in a heavy tone, explaining the intricacies of the matter.

"Has the vitality declined significantly?"

Zhou Chun was slightly taken aback, and then looked more closely at the pair of toads inside the jade box, but still couldn't figure it out.

"Stop looking. You haven't seen the Black Jade Toad in its normal state before. Without a comparison, it's hard to see the difference."

"It seems that Zhou Yu, that bitch, knows that among the family members who have seen this Black Jade Toad, only the three of us Purple Mansion cultivators have seen it, which is why she forbade us from coming to trade with her!"

As Zhou Mingde spoke, his eyes were already filled with murderous intent.

The Zhou family now has three cultivators at the Purple Mansion stage, so this black jade toad is definitely a very useful treasure for the Zhou family.

But now that the Black Jade Toad has turned into this state, it's uncertain whether it will still be able to produce toad venom normally in the future, or even survive.

This made Zhou Mingde feel a strong urge to kill Zhou Yu.

Upon realizing this, Zhou Chun immediately said, "I'll use the Blue Moon Butterfly to pinpoint her location. We must capture her and get the details!"

Then he patted the insect pouch at his waist and released a palm-sized, sky-blue butterfly-shaped insect.

Zhou Chun's insect bag is the same one that Han Yuan left behind.

After Zhou Mingde obtained the storage bag and the spirit beast bag, he used the storage bag himself, but gave the other spirit beast bag to Zhou Chun, who was practicing the art of controlling insects.

Zhou Chun's insect bag now contains the three kinds of demonic insects he has contracted.

At this moment, Zhou Chun ordered the sky-blue butterfly demon insect to land on his shoulder and gave it instructions. Soon, the butterfly demon insect flew off his shoulder and flew in a certain direction.

Seeing this, Zhou Chun immediately asked Zhou Jiahe to stay and tell Zhou Mingde about the underground Yi Bao Society, while he took Lan Yuedie out to find Zhou Yu's whereabouts.

Guided by the Blue Moon Butterfly, Zhou Chun walked for a while within the market before arriving at the outside of the market's cultivation area.

The cultivation area is a vital part of the market, and there are a large number of cultivators there. It is not suitable for Zhou Chun to go in with Blue Moon Butterfly.

So he could only wait outside, patiently waiting for Zhou Yu to appear.

He refused to believe that Zhou Yu would stay hidden in this training area forever!

The second update is here!

(End of this chapter)