The Blood of the Phoenix
Jeokgyo continued speaking. Jekyeong realized those words were meant for newcomers like himself. Since Jeokgyo's gaze happened to be directed toward him, Jekyeong met his eyes and gave a slight nod.
"I shall go first."
As the rising stone pillar came to a halt, a man laughed heartily and landed on the pavilion. Standing with his hands clasped behind his back, he swept his gaze over the crowd and shouted.
"My desire remains the same as before! Has anyone obtained any Breathing Earth? I will give whatever you wish in exchange!"
Breathing Earth. Jekyeong knew what that was. He recalled hearing about it briefly during a discussion about natural treasures with his seniors in the Garden of No Forgetfulness. It was a living, breathing soil—a bizarre spiritual treasure capable of multiplying endlessly as long as there was even a trace of spiritual energy. It served as an incredibly effective medium for cultivating various spiritual herbs, and was considered an invaluable treasure for cultivators practicing earth-attribute techniques.
He is no ordinary character, Jekyeong thought.
To bring up something like Breathing Earth right from the start. However, it seemed such an item was not easily found even here; though the man shouted several times, no one stepped forward. It likely meant either no one possessed it, or those who did had no intention of trading it.
"Tsk!"
In the end, the man clicked his tongue in disappointment and stepped back. As he returned to his spot, another figure stepped forward as if they had been waiting for this exact moment.
This time, it was a black flood dragon. As she reached the pavilion, she transformed into a slender woman. However, her anthropomorphized form was rather bizarre; not only was her hair pitch-black, but even the whites of her eyes were completely dark. She produced a heart larger than her own human-transformed body, along with about ten jars that were as wide as her torso. Jekyeong felt a powerful surge of vitality and demonic energy radiating from them.
"This is the heart and essence blood of a Byeolbu. I wish to exchange them for spirit stones or lightning-attribute spiritual treasures."
As her calm voice echoed, a stir went through the crowd.
"A Byeolbu?"
"She actually managed to hunt one down."
"Ruthless. Truly ruthless."
Some shook their heads, some admired her, and others sighed. From their reactions, Jekyeong could tell that a Byeolbu was a formidable creature, and that this black flood dragon was quite famous within the Ten Thousand Dragon Pavilion.
He was interested in the Byeolbu's heart and essence blood, but he did not step forward. For one, he did not even know what a Byeolbu was, nor did he know what effects its heart possessed. Most importantly, he had no idea of its market value. Stepping forward blindly would only risk him getting ripped off.
My knowledge is still far too narrow.
He had thought he had accumulated a decent amount of information through his interactions with the seniors in the Garden of No Forgetfulness, but the moment he arrived here, his ignorance was laid bare. In truth, this was only natural. The world was so vast that its true boundaries were unknown, and almost everyone he had interacted with in the Garden of No Forgetfulness was human. No matter how knowledgeable those seniors were, how much could they possibly know about the affairs of the Beast Territory, which lay ninety thousand li away from the Human Territory?
"I want it."
The Byeolbu's remains were traded quickly. At first, everyone hesitated, watching each other, but once one person stepped forward, the others could no longer hold back. Judging by their eagerness, the Byeolbu's parts seemed to be highly desirable materials.
After a few rounds of bargaining and light squabbling, the transaction was finalized, and others stepped up. Aside from those requesting specific items, most of the traded goods were remnants of the beast race. These were exchanged for other beast parts, spiritual treasures, or spirit stones. Jekyeong could not even recognize a third of the items being traded, and even for those he did, he merely recognized the name of the hunted beast rather than its exact value or efficacy.
At this rate, I'm no different from an illiterate fool.
Jekyeong felt a sudden wave of helplessness. If he could not recognize a good item when he saw one, what was the point of all the effort he had spent earning spirit stones?
"This is the essence blood of a Seven-Colored Phoenix. I have no specific item in mind, so I will trade with whoever offers a reasonable price."
While Jekyeong was lost in thought, another figure ascended the pavilion and presented an item. It was a small wooden bottle about the size of a fist. Despite being firmly sealed, a sultry heat immediately radiated in all directions the moment it appeared. The dense fire energy jolted Jekyeong back to his senses, and he clearly heard the name 'Seven-Colored Phoenix.'
"A Seven-Colored Phoenix? Heh, aren't you embarrassed to say that out loud?"
Sneering voices arose from the crowd. They jeered subtly at the man on the pavilion, but he remained unfazed.
"Those beasts call themselves that, so why should I be embarrassed? Buy it if you want, or don't. Just keep your mouths shut."
When the man growled fiercely, the jeering crowd merely snickered silently and held their tongues.
A Seven-Colored Phoenix? A phoenix?
Jekyeong understood why they were jeering. The phoenix, like the dragon, was a divine beast. According to legend, the two were natural enemies from birth; whenever they met, they would fight savagely, and it was common for them to kill each other. While tales passed down by word of mouth were bound to be exaggerated and distorted, making it hard to discern the truth, it was undeniable that the phoenix was considered a divine being on par with the dragon.
Thus, it was only natural for those gathered here to mock a mere monster like the Seven-Colored Phoenix for calling itself a phoenix. After all, even though they prided themselves on being descendants of dragons, none of them dared to call themselves true dragons. Yet, regardless of how ridiculous the name Seven-Colored Phoenix sounded, the essence blood inside that wooden bottle was undoubtedly extraordinary. At least, that was how Jekyeong felt. Judging solely by the dense fire energy leaking out despite the tight seal, this essence blood would surely be of great help to him.
"A single human Golden Core. What do you say?"
While Jekyeong was contemplating, someone called out an offer.
"A Golden Core?"
The man on the pavilion frowned. It was not a particularly positive reaction.
"Let me see it first."
As if waiting for this, a streak of light shot toward the pavilion. The man slowly inspected the glowing sphere that stopped before him, then shook his head.
"Insufficient."
"Insufficient?"
"Setting aside the fact that it doesn't have a single Dao Pattern, even the Dharma Seed inside is damaged."
"But it was only recently extracted!"
"Whether it was freshly extracted or harvested thousands of years ago, a low-grade Golden Core like this is of little value."
"Hmph!"
The one who had offered the Golden Core snorted in dissatisfaction and retrieved his item. Seeing how he did not argue despite the insulting words, he too seemed to have anticipated this outcome. He had likely just thrown it out there to test the waters.
However, the man on the pavilion was no pushover. He possessed the eye to evaluate items and the sheer audacity to flatly reject others. Even though the one who had just offered the Golden Core exuded an intimidating pressure close to a late-stage Yao King, the seller did not show the slightest hint of intimidation.
"Would you be willing to trade for spirit stones?"
After the man on the pavilion rejected two more offers, Jekyeong finally spoke up.
"Spirit stones?"
The man's gaze shifted to Jekyeong.
"I don't mind, but I won't accept anything below mid-grade."
"One thousand high-grade spirit stones. What do you say?"
A strange gleam flickered in the man's indifferent eyes. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, then shook his head.
"Insufficient."
"If it's insufficient, we can make up the difference. How much more do you want?"
"Five hundred."
"That is too much."
This time, Jekyeong shook his head firmly.
"I believe two hundred more is more than enough."
"That is merely your opinion. Four hundred."
"If our opinions differ, we can always negotiate, can we not? Three hundred."
The eyes of the man on the pavilion and Jekyeong met. They stared at each other for a while, as if clashing in a silent battle of wills, before simultaneously relaxing their gazes as if by tacit agreement.
"Very well. One thousand three hundred."
Jekyeong transferred one thousand three hundred spirit stones from his storage ring into another one, then tossed it toward the man on the pavilion.
"Transaction complete."
The man caught the storage ring, verified its contents, and immediately sent the wooden bottle flying toward Jekyeong.
This is definitely a good item.
The moment Jekyeong grasped the wooden bottle, the sense of loss from his lightened pockets vanished. As soon as he held it, his palm grew warm. The fire energy was so dense that it made him wonder if the seal was even working properly.
The Seven-Colored Phoenix certainly lives up to its reputation.
Suppressing his urge to break the seal right then and there, Jekyeong watched the rest of the exchange. Having spent nearly half of the spirit stones he had brought, he half-abandoned any thoughts of acquiring more items. If he was lucky, he might try for one more, but otherwise, he planned to quietly keep his seat rather than step forward needlessly and expose his ignorance.
"How about the poison sac of a Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Toad?"
"Not even half of the ice poison remains. Insufficient."
The remaining time was spent observing, but it was not boring in the slightest. Even though he had no idea what more than half of the items were, it was quite entertaining to watch, especially since he viewed it as an opportunity to broaden his horizons.
The exchange continued for three days and nights. Although there were fewer than sixty people gathered here—not even close to a hundred—the time required for each transaction was quite long.
"Since it seems no one else wishes to step forward, we shall conclude this exchange here."
Jeokgyo, who had been acting as the moderator, stepped forward once more.
"From now on, you may socialize freely. As you all well know, light arguments are permitted, but anything beyond that is strictly forbidden."
As Jeokgyo finished speaking and returned to his seat, the slightly tense atmosphere relaxed.
"Fellow Daoist, you came."
A familiar face approached Jekyeong as he quietly kept to his spot. It was Byeokpa, the one who had invited him to the Ten Thousand Dragon Pavilion. Perhaps it was because they were now fellow members of the pavilion, or perhaps for some other reason, but Byeokpa's attitude was noticeably warmer than when they had first met.
He introduced Jekyeong to various aspects of the Ten Thousand Dragon Pavilion. While some of the information overlapped with what Gong Yo-pung had told him, there was much more that was entirely new. For instance, some of the rules to be observed in the pavilion—such as the fact that members could use the teleportation arrays privately even when regular meetings were not being held, provided they covered the cost of the spirit stones required to power them out of their own pockets—were things Jekyeong had not known.
"Is there a formation master in the Ten Thousand Dragon Pavilion who knows how to set up a teleportation array?"
"There was in the past. I am not sure about now."
Byeokpa explained that the teleportation array they currently used had been installed by a senior of the pavilion in the past, but that senior had already passed away more than three thousand years ago. Hearing this, Jekyeong swallowed his disappointment. He had secretly hoped to find out if it was possible to set up a teleportation array, if not within the Starry Night Archipelago, then at least in Yangseo Lake or its vicinity.
If he passed away, he might have left behind a legacy.
This might not be a bad thing either. If that senior had left a legacy when he passed, perhaps Jekyeong could subtly test the waters to see if he could obtain it. Of course, even if he were to try, now was not the time. He would have to spend more time as a member of the Ten Thousand Dragon Pavilion and earn their recognition first.
A teleportation array...
Teleportation arrays were considered one of the pinnacles of formation magic in this era. Since they could transport people and goods regardless of distance, once one tasted such convenience, it was incredibly difficult to do without.