“Jade Fairy has gone off to become an immortal…”
“I wonder if we’ll ever get to see her again.”
The crowd felt wistful about Jade Fairy’s abrupt departure.
“What a pity…” Daoist Crow sighed. “She wouldn’t have been stolen away if we conducted the spirit assessment earlier.”
Elder Jinnan glared at Daoist Crow.
“That’s fate.” The farm lady harrumphed. Her tone lightened as she remarked in contemplation, “That woman is a sword immortal. None of the grade-6 states I know has a sword immortal’s heritage, so she’s likely from a grade-5 or even grade-4 state.”
Immortal Aunt Firecloud and the others gasped.
Grade-5 states had Golden Core cultivators, whereas grade-4 states had legendary Nascent Soul powerhouses.
Those levels were like a legend to them. Not once had they met a Nascent Soul cultivator since they became a cultivator.
Xia Yu, the Sixth Princess, Pancake Zhang, and the others were shocked to hear that term. Great Xia had just become a grade-8 state; it was a long shot off from matching a grade-4 state.
“I wonder what the cultivators in a grade-4 state would be like. Their streets must be filled with Foundation Establishment cultivators, and even Golden Core cultivators are less than dogs,” Daoist Crow remarked.
The crowd fell silent upon hearing those words.
Elder Jinnan glared at Daoist Crow and asked, “What does it make us if even Golden Core cultivators are less than dogs?”
“I’m just drawing an example. Don’t mind me, don’t mind me.” Daoist Crow played it off with a laugh before changing the topic. “Let’s continue the spirit assessment. I have a suggestion to make. Why don’t all of us take out our Spirit Gauging Bells to hasten the process?”
The cultivators gave it some thought before nodding.
While the spirit assessment depleted the Spirit Gauging Bell’s daosoul imprints, they thought that it was best for them to make haste lest history repeat itself. Thus, they took out their Spirit Gauging Bells, which came in all shapes and sizes.
The spirit assessment finally continued, but the progress was much faster now that they were simultaneously assessing more than thirty people.
Out of curiosity, Fang Chen turned to Elder Jinnan and asked, “Elder Jinnan, how much does Spirit Gauging Bells cost?”
Elder Jinnan was surprised to hear that question. He asked probingly, “Daoist Fang, are you planning to buy a Spirit Gauging Bell for Great Xia?”
The cultivators were surprised.
Great Xia had caught their notice due to the Spirit Marrow nurturing many talented individuals here, but that was all there was to it. It was still a barren place with hardly any spirit ki, so it was unlikely for even more talented individuals to appear after this disciple selection.
“Daoist Fang, you should know that an artifact’s potency is determined by its daosoul imprint, but there’s another way to classify them—Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow. Artifacts of twelve daosoul imprints and below are low Yellow-tier artifacts. Those with 13 to 36 daosoul imprints are mid Yellow-tier artifacts, so on and so forth,” Elder Jinnan said.
“Our South Heaven Sect’s Spirit Gauging Bell is a mid Yellow-tier artifact with 32 daosoul imprints. Our sect master bought it in a trade fair from a grade-5 state’s major sect. Its daosoul imprints have loosened from many years of usage, but it still cost us 900 low-grade ki stones.”
The farm lady nodded in agreement. “Spirit Gauging Bells are expensive artifacts. Daoist Fang, if you’re planning to buy it for your country, I’d advise you to save your ki stones.”
“Is no one in Infernoblaze capable of forging Spirit Gauging Bells?” Fang Chen was surprised to hear that. At the same time, his curiosity regarding the trade fair was piqued.
The cultivators exchanged baffled looks upon hearing his question.
Elder Jinnan shook his head and bitterly replied, “The daosoul imprints on Spirit Gauging Bells are intricate. Our Infernoblaze doesn’t have a blacksmith capable of forging them. In fact, I’d go further to say that grade-5 states are incapable of forging them as well. Our Spirit Gauging Bells come from grade-4 states or even grade-3 states, though we don’t know for sure since we have never been to those places.”
Xia Yu and the others realized that not even cultivator sects were omnipotent. Just the Spirit Gauging Bells before them were already beyond the means of Infernoblaze’s cultivation sects. They had no choice but to buy it from the markets.
“Spirit Gauging Bells are also rather rare. You might not be able to purchase one even if you have the ki stones,” Abbess Moonchaser added. “Usually, we’re only able to procure obsolete artifacts and pills from grade-5 states through trade fairs.”
“Abbess Moonchaser, what is the trade fair you speak of?” Fang Chen asked.
“Think of it as a market organized by cultivator merchants,” Abbess Moonchaser explained. “When a merchant from a grade-5 state plans to organize a trade fair, they will inform their contacts in grade-6 states. This is how we usually acquire items exclusive to grade-5 states. Similarly, that’s also how grade-5 states procure their items from grade-4 states.
“These trade fairs also double as a gathering for cultivators to exchange their insights regarding cultivation. If you want a Spirit Gauging Bell, our Moon Monastery has a spare one that we can sell to you.”
Abbess Moonchaser’s voice was directly relayed to Fang Chen’s ears, so no one else heard those words.
Fang Chen looked at Abbess Moonchaser and nodded.
Daoist Crow looked at his Spirit Gauging Bell and felt a heartache. “At this rate, it won’t be long before my Spirit Gauging Bell spoils.”
“It’s the same for the rest of us too,” Elder Jinnan replied with a helpless sigh.
The daosoul imprints of the South Heaven Sect’s Spirit Gauging Bell had faded a lot after what happened earlier with Fang Chen. There were even cracks on the bell itself. It would cost them a small fortune to have it repaired.
“It’s worth losing a bit of ki stones to acquire talented disciples,” the farm lady said with a smile. “That’s the reason we bought the Spirit Gauging Bells at all.”
The other cultivators nodded in agreement. Daoist Crow agreed as well, but that didn’t stop him from feeling the pinch.
They thought that Fang Chen had dropped the thought of purchasing a Spirit Gauging Bell, so the conversation ended there. Just then, Fang Chen’s gaze fell on a lady.
The lady was standing before one of the Spirit Gauging Bells with a nervous expression.
Yet another seven tolls!
The crowd turned to look at the woman, including those beside her. If not for Xia Yun berating them, they might have forgotten that they were undergoing the spirit assessment themselves.
While Jade Fairy’s astounding result had set an optimistic tone, the only ones who had evoked seven tolls so far were Xia Yu and Pancake Zhang. The appearance of another person with superior cultivation talent induced shock and envy from the crowd.
“Young miss has evoked seven tolls!” a maid in the crowd cheered in delight.
Many people voiced their congratulations, including the person who gifted the Moonsunk Gold Truncheon to Fang Chen a while back, Li Maocai. He was overjoyed about the situation, with someone whom he shared close ties with proving to be a talented cultivator.
“This woman… was involved in Zhou Xiu’s case, right?” Some of the officials found Fang Qingyao’s face familiar, and they quickly turned to look at Fang Chen in astonishment.
Back then, Zhou Xiu was in the sport of hunting down Great Xia’s merchant convoys as prey. Fang Qingyao’s Verdant Apothecary Hall unfortunately caught his notice, and just as she was in a dire position, Fang Chen suddenly stepped forward and rescued her.
That resulted in a huge series of trouble later on.
Many of the officials had investigated Fang Qingyao due to that, so it wasn’t difficult for them to recognize her.
Fang Qingyao stood before the Spirit Gauging Bell in a daze. She never expected to possess superior cultivation talent, and her brain stalled to a halt. It was only when she heard the voice she had been dreaming about all this while that she suddenly snapped awake.
“Congratulations, Miss Fang,” Fang Chen said.