Chapter 146: Jade Billow Pavilion

Strolling along the wide avenues of Daxuan Town, Jiang Feng felt the imposing atmosphere of a vast and grand town, truly embodying the prestige of a "celestial empire." Even he, a practitioner at the third stage of the Void Nether Realm, felt a wave of shock and admiration for this dreamlike metropolis.

After touring for a while, Jiang Feng gained a rough understanding of the local customs and practices of Daxuan Town. Every single person in Daxuan Town was robust and physically strong, exceptionally skilled in the arts of longevity and health preservation. Most notably, there were no starving people, nor were there any beggars of the sort seen in other towns. It seemed that everyone had food to eat and clothes to wear, a detail that deeply moved Jiang Feng.

Moreover, the majority of ordinary residents practiced some elementary martial arts. Even delicate women seemed to be around the third or fourth stage of the Nether Scholar realm, understanding "combat postures" and even the shifts between "hardness and softness" in nether power. Among the residents with better family backgrounds, there were actually powerhouses at the seventh stage of the Nether Scholar realm.

Back in Jiuyan Town, the realm of the seventh stage of the Nether Scholar realm would easily qualify someone to become an inner sect disciple of a major sect. With further training, they might even break through to the Void Nether Realm, vastly increasing their earthly lifespan and truly beginning their cultivation journey.

Even the patrolling soldiers were experts at the seventh stage of the Void Nether Realm. From this, the national quality of this top town in Eastern Nether could be readily imagined.

Jiang Feng knew that the rice planted by the ordinary farmers of Daxuan Town originated from the "White Sun Rice" seeds distributed by the Langya Chamber of Commerce through official channels. These seeds were exceptionally adept at absorbing the essence of the earth, highly nourishing, and yielded thirty to fifty thousand catties per mu. Because of this, the tens of billions of people in Daxuan Town showed no signs of hunger whatsoever.

Among the various clans of Daxuan Town, hidden dragons and crouching tigers were also to be found.

While ordinary True Nether Realm practitioners might disregard even city lords in other large towns, they absolutely could not do so in Daxuan Town. Most of the officials and counts in Daxuan Town were formidable experts of the True Nether Realm.

If the government of Daxuan Town were expanded into a sect, it would likely be a major sect no smaller than the Jiang family of Jiuyan Town.

Jiang Feng walked along the wide street, which was paved with white stones and spotless, wide enough for fifty carriages to travel abreast. Drainage ditches lined both sides of the street, though these were not mere channels, but rivers more than ten zhang wide, spanned by large bridges every five hundred paces, resembling the Golden Water River of an imperial palace.

Crossing the bridges led to various shops, each decorated with such lavish splendor that it lagged not a single bit behind the princely mansion or imperial palace of an empire. Behind these shops stood continuous rows of manors or towering high-rises. In Jiuyan Town, a four-story building was generally considered very tall, but here, skyscrapers of several dozen stories stood like towering pagodas.

People bustled back and forth among them, while in the sky, figures flew to and fro from a condescending vantage point—they were either cultivators possessing nether artifact robes or practitioners of the True Nether Realm. With an aloof and superior posture, they resembled the high-ranking officials who rode in sedan chairs in other towns. The ability to fly in the sky was a symbol of strength.

After wandering for half a day, Jiang Feng secretly used the "Thousand-Mile Water Mirror Technique" to check on the condition of Ancestor Bayue, but unexpectedly sensed nothing.

At that moment, an extremely massive shop caught Jiang Feng's attention.

This shop occupied a street ten miles long, featuring towering buildings, bright red walls, jade-carved qilin several people tall, and a line of meticulous guards standing at the entrance dressed in bright yellow waistcoats, exuding powerful auras. These guards were actually all experts at the seventh stage of the Void Nether Realm! Although their spiritual power had not grown strong enough to "gain sentience," they each possessed at least the physical strength of five or six fierce horses! Even more formidable was the fact that the bright yellow waistcoats worn by these guards were all yellow-grade nether artifacts. Jiang Feng immediately knew this shop was no ordinary place.

In particular, a huge plaque hung above the shop reading "Xuantao Pavilion."

The three large characters were written with flying vigor and grand momentum, faintly revealing an overwhelming, domineering aura. Based merely on the momentum of these characters, Jiang Feng knew that the person who wrote the plaque likely resided in a realm even higher than his own.

"Xuantao Pavilion? Books I read in the past seemed to mention this." Jiang Feng recalled. The "Xuantao Pavilion" mentioned in the books he read since childhood was described as follows: A mysterious organization containing both righteous and demonic factions, which did not commit evil acts, specializing exclusively in the trade and exchange of magical treasures, medicinal pills, and supreme natural treasures, possessing immense resources... having existed for thousands of years... and holding a Nether Saint Artifact within its halls!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

A radiance descended from the sky, revealing various experts—some practitioners of the True Nether Realm, and others disciples of sects possessing top-grade dark nether artifacts or even white nether saint artifacts—all landing in front of "Xuantao Pavilion" before proceeding inside on foot.

Furthermore, Jiang Feng faintly overheard many voices: "This time is the annual treasure-selling convention of Xuantao Pavilion, one of the three major treasure pavilions. Countless magical treasures and medicinal pills are going to be put up for sale. I've brought my entire net worth this time, hoping to buy a few pieces of Xuanying True Iron so I can forge the Great Metal True Qi..." This was a cultivator speaking who had just stepped into the True Nether Realm.

Xuanying True Iron was also a type of extraterrestrial meteoric iron, rich and pure in metal-elemental vital energy, though far inferior to the Supreme White Venus Stone, yet still a rare and precious treasure. For cultivating the Great Unfettered Profound Gold Sword Qi, acquiring just a few pieces and absorbing them granted a fifty percent chance of successfully forming true qi.

"I'd rather buy a white nether saint artifact pill furnace..."

"I want to obtain top-grade Nether Infant Pills, enough to last me a year of consumption. With a year of bitter cultivation, I hope to step into the True Nether Realm."

"Nether Infant Pills are not so easily acquired. One hundred White Sun Pills can barely be exchanged for a single Nether Infant Pill. Even the true successor disciples of the Langya Chamber of Commerce cannot possess them in large quantities."

Listening to these conversations, Jiang Feng realized that this was an event held by a major chamber of commerce in Daxuan Town dedicated to providing treasure transactions for nether practitioners. This was nothing out of the ordinary; he had been planning to purchase some wood-element treasures to absorb for himself, so as to refine the "Wood Emperor Divine Needles" of the Profound Heaven Secret Arts into something more robust. Thus, he followed the crowd and walked inside.

Unexpectedly, he was blocked by a guard wearing a yellow waistcoat.

"Do you have an invitation letter for Xuantao Pavilion? To enter this treasure-selling convention, nether practitioners must possess an invitation letter. If Your Excellency has no invitation letter, please turn back," said the guard in the yellow waistcoat.

"Oh? Not even someone like me?" Jiang Feng's fingers twitched slightly, and a wisp of True Nether Realm-level nether power coiled around his fingertips, condensing into a miniature formation that operated ceaselessly.

This was a formation he had comprehended from the grand heavenly array, not an overwhelmingly powerful one, but merely representing a bit of his introductory insight and experience regarding formation arrays.

"Ah! A True Nether Realm expert!" The guard in the yellow waistcoat took several steps back in succession! Incredulity flashed across his face, followed involuntarily by deep reverence.

The guard had seen plenty of ordinary True Nether Realm experts, but the one before him was extraordinary. Jiang Feng's aura was extremely faint, even lighter than that of those Nether Scholars, which explained why the guard had tried to stop him. This was primarily because Jiang Feng's spiritual awareness had achieved a massive leap forward, allowing him to keep his aura completely restrained within!

Almost subconsciously, the guard concluded that Jiang Feng must be an expert at the fifth stage of the True Nether Realm!

In truth, Jiang Feng's actual cultivation was merely at the third stage of the Void Nether Realm.

A single nether artifact could allow someone without nether power to fly. Countless people desired a nether artifact yet could not obtain one, and a single purple flying sword could be traded for an entire city.

Yet an expert at the fifth stage of the True Nether Realm could forge them at will!

Even within the Langya Chamber of Commerce, disciples at the fifth stage of the True Nether Realm were nurtured with utmost care and regarded as extraordinarily precious, their status rising step by step. Outside, an expert at the fifth stage of the True Nether Realm was a master in their own right, fully capable of establishing their own sect!

"What? This person is a True Nether Realm expert!"

"Indeed, this person is truly a True Nether Realm expert! And moreover at the fifth stage. He's likely here to purchase materials for the Five Elements Qi, aiming to gather all five elements completely!"

"So this is what a fifth-stage True Nether Realm expert looks like..."

For a moment, Jiang Feng caused quite a stir. After all, True Nether Realm cultivators were rarely seen in Eastern Nether, regarded as towering figures in the eyes of many.

"Step back at once! Let me attend to the senior!" At that moment, a voice rang out. It was a woman wearing a long dress with faint green markings on her eyebrows. With a single glance, Jiang Feng recognized that this woman was a True Nether Realm cultivator, though she had just stepped into the first stage of the True Nether Realm and had not yet managed to fully refine True Nether power. The moment this woman with green glowing qi appeared, she scolded and dismissed the yellow-waistcoat guard, then hastily invited Jiang Feng inside. "Junior Green Mist, an executive disciple of Xuantao Pavilion. Senior's cultivation certainly qualifies you to attend the treasure-selling convention. The guard was ignorant; please do not take offense, Senior."

With that, Green Mist presented an invitation letter with both hands.

Jiang Feng grinned, took the invitation letter, and discovered that it actually had a pure gold base with characters molded from cold iron upon it, accompanied by ripples of nether power—it was genuine magical equipment, extremely difficult to counterfeit.

"With Senior's cultivation, you can be regarded as a distinguished guest. Please follow Green Mist to the VIP room." Green Mist spoke as she led the way.

"I have long heard that Xuantao Pavilion is one of the three major chambers of commerce in Daxuan Town, capable of trading even white nether saint artifacts. I wonder if that is true?" Jiang Feng followed Green Mist inward while flattering her boldly.

"Oh, where did you hear that? White nether saint artifacts are supreme treasures that can only be encountered by chance, never sought. While this pavilion does possess them, they are used solely to suppress our fortune. As for trading them, that is quite impossible; it's merely groundless rumors spread by outsiders." Green Mist's words gave Jiang Feng a huge shock, as he had not expected that "Xuantao Pavilion" actually possessed white nether saint artifacts!

Before Jiang Feng could speak, Green Mist continued, "I wonder where Senior hails from, and what items you are hoping to purchase by attending this treasure-selling convention?"

"Naturally, natural treasures condensed from the five elements' quintessence. I am cultivating five-element nether arts and am in urgent need of five-element vital energy. As for my origins, I am merely a rogue cultivator." Jiang Feng said with a stiff expression, "I wonder what medium you use for purchases of natural treasures here? Is it the Xuanhuang currency of Daxuan Town?"

Among the Profound Heaven Secret Arts, there were numerous immensely powerful nether arts, all related to the five elements, which made Jiang Feng extremely covetous. Therefore, he wanted to maximize his attainments in five-element nether arts as much as possible!

"Xuanhuang currency is a secular commodity. While it can be used to trade for some medicinal ingredients at various shops outside, a major chamber of commerce like our Xuantao Pavilion does not use Xuanhuang currency. Our hard currency consists of top-grade elixirs, the White Sun Pills." Green Mist explained with a charming smile, "Of course, if Senior has any magical treasures or spiritual instruments to sell, you can exchange them for White Sun Pills here, and then bid for the five-element spiritual objects at the treasure-selling convention. Since Senior is an expert at the fifth stage of the True Nether Realm, we will certainly offer preferential rates for acquiring your spiritual instruments."

Green Mist's words carried a hint of enticement, which slightly moved Jiang Feng. For him, having backing was the best possible outcome!

"So they are White Sun Pills. As a hard currency, that is quite acceptable." Jiang Feng nodded. White Sun Pills were top-grade elixirs of the Langya Chamber of Commerce, items consumed by inner and outer sect disciples. The primary material for refining them was "White Sun Rice," yet five thousand catties of White Sun Rice had to undergo rigorous refinement alongside numerous auxiliary medicinal ingredients through multiple methods—steaming, crushing, washing, fire-calcination, and so forth—removing the dregs and extracting the essence before they could be forged into a single White Sun Pill.

White Sun Pills were on the same tier as the "Life-Prolonging Golden Pills."

If a disciple around the seventh stage of the Nether Scholar realm with decent aptitude possessed superior cultivation techniques, practiced bitterly day and night, and consumed White Sun Pills every day, after less than a decade of bitter cultivation, they would have a fifty percent chance of stepping into the Void Nether Realm.