Chapter 1444: The Most Precious Treasure

As he walked, the middle-aged man drew ice mirror after ice mirror from his Mustard Seed Pouch without looking back. "I'm going to condense an ice key that can sense the sacred relic. A man who commits enough wrongs brings about his own ruin. Should the wretch die at someone else's hands, the relic falls to a stranger, and if that stranger doesn't understand what he's holding, he may bring it to the Myriad Devil Assembly. Hehe... Then it lands in our laps without us lifting a finger."

The old woman sighed softly. "An Ice Demon Body doesn't fall so easily."

Still, she did not stop him. They had poured too much into the search to leave any possibility unconsidered.

She drew her gaze back and sank into thought, turning over how to make the capture of the traitor foolproof, and how to guard against the Chaotic Devil Elder.

***

Outside Myriad Devil City, among mountains wreathed in celestial clouds, stood a cave dwelling that carried a faintly sinister air.

Its doors were open wide. A black-robed man with high cheekbones and a cold, dank aura waited respectfully before them, looking at the seated figure whose back was turned to him.

"Have you found the one who commands the devilish flames?"

The figure did not move, yet the Chaotic Devil Elder's voice issued from it. At the sound, the black-robed man's mind tightened, and his expression turned still more deferential.

"Master, no one in Boundless Sea has been found who commands devilish flames of that kind. I plan to widen the search to the outer realms, such as Crescent Moon Realm. Also, many fellow cultivators from the outer realms have come for the Myriad Devil Assembly, and I am doing my best to approach them and gather word."

An uneasy silence filled the cave dwelling. Only when the black-robed man's nerves had begun to fray did the Chaotic Devil Elder speak, "Has the valley master of Hundred Flowers Valley stirred at all?"

The black-robed man considered before answering. "My junior brother sent people to watch the valley in secret. After the valley master returned, he sealed the sect entirely, and no one has gone in or out since. But Hundred Flowers Valley sits in the black marshes, where there is little traffic and nowhere to hide. Those juniors are of low cultivation and don't dare go near. Once the assembly ends, my junior brother will go himself."

The Chaotic Devil Elder's voice eased a little. "Enough. Don't waste any more effort on this one. Leave a few hands to watch Hundred Flowers Valley and that will do. When he was contesting the treasure, he went to considerable trouble to wrap himself in that black spiritual flame the whole time and shut out my perception. He may not be the one at all... Hehe. All that concealment. He might be someone I know."

The black-robed man raised his eyelids and said thoughtfully, "The Feathered Robe Primordial Lady suspects the Eerie General, or someone from Bamboo Court."

The Eerie General was one of Boundless Sea's renowned figures of the devilish path. He was said to have served as a general in the mortal world, hence his very strange Dharma name.

He excelled at refining puppets, though his materials were the bodies and Spiritual Infants of immortal cultivators, and he was ruthless in his methods, leaving his enemies wishing for death. His devilish repute stood second only to the Chaotic Devil Elder's.

Bamboo Court, meanwhile, was the North Sea's most renowned sect in the Dao of puppetry, and it belonged to the righteous path. Its disciples generally moved about the world through puppets while keeping themselves hidden in the shadows. Their puppets passed for the real thing, which made the sect deeply mysterious.

The Chaotic Devil Elder thought of the puppet that had carried off the seven-story stupa in the Buddhist hall and gave a low grunt. "Puppets that rival middle-stage Spiritual Infant cultivators are not common, so her guess is reasonable. Still, it was just two astras. What he took was no spiritual treasure, so there's no need to dig further. You have more important matters. How could he have thought that the most precious treasure on the offering table was the very one he left behind?"

As he spoke, the Chaotic Devil Elder ran his fingers over the Lingzhi Ruyi in his hand, a note of mockery in his voice.

After Qin Sang fled, he and the Feathered Robe Primordial Lady had divided the astras remaining in the Buddhist hall between them, and the Lingzhi Ruyi had gone to him without question.

The black-robed man listened closely, curious what the remaining treasure was and what made it precious. But the Chaotic Devil Elder showed no inclination to explain, and he did not dare press.

When his master mentioned more important matters, the black-robed man blanked for a moment, then remembered something and spoke with excitement. "Master, you mean Huang Longshi's cave dwelling. You've found it?"

The bargain with Mystic Heaven Palace had not been kept from him. He knew well that his master had obtained from the palace an important relic of Huang Longshi's that pointed to that cave dwelling.

The Chaotic Devil Elder answered with disdain. "Mystic Heaven Palace thinks as you do, that Huang Longshi's cave dwelling holds some enormous attraction for me. Hehe..."

He paused, then went on flatly, "What none of them realize is that my true aim lay hidden in another, unremarkable condition. Why else would I have agreed so readily, without asking their reasons? I've confirmed a suspicion I had, and a few things need to be verified. Focus your efforts on quietly tracking Mystic Heaven Palace's people in Myriad Devil City. I want to see what they want..."

"As you command!"

The black-robed man bowed and withdrew. The cave dwelling closed without a sound and drowned in darkness.

After a long silence, a sigh so faint as to be almost imperceptible came out of the dark. "Divine Transformation..."

***

Myriad Devil City. Nightfall.

The assembly's first day drew to a flawless close, its several auctions each more dazzling than the last. No sooner had they ended than the full list of treasures spread through the whole city.

Low-level cultivators pored over item after item, unable to look away, cursing the shortfall of spirit stones in their hands as they watched every one of them go to somebody else.

The traffic before the city gates was ceaseless, some leaving satisfied, others entering full of hope.

Tan Hao stepped out of the wooden tower.

Recalling how freely he had just been throwing money around, and the treasures now sitting one after another in his Mustard Seed Pouch, he grew more watchful. He surveyed his surroundings without letting it show, then set off.

Once certain no one was following, he let out a quiet breath, aware that he was making rather much of it. What he had bought so far was valuable, but not enough to drive a Spiritual Infant cultivator to desperate measures.

The final days might be another matter.

The Spirit Elevation Rite called for an enormous quantity of spiritual objects, a whole range of them, none of them cheap, and the three most important were rarities of the world without exception. Fortunately, those three were unlikely to surface at auction.

Back at his rented cave dwelling, Tan Hao rested briefly and then set to work again.

He did not get a single idle day thereafter. He shuttled constantly between trade fairs and auctions, and the spirit stones in his Mustard Seed Pouch drained away like water even as the pouch filled out in another form.

The Myriad Devil Assembly ran until midday on the ninth day.

In a fresh disguise, Tan Hao appeared before the city gates. Luck had been with him. The auction just concluded had completed Qin Sang's list, and after looking into the afternoon's offerings and finding nothing that matched, he decided to leave the island at once.

Carrying so many treasures weighed on him.

He sighed inwardly, strode out of Myriad Devil City, and took some comfort from the guards flying past overhead now and then. Changing direction several times in succession, he slipped quietly off Chaotic Devil Island from the south.

Once clear of it, without troubling over whether anyone was on his tail, he activated a Sound Transmission Talisman to notify Qin Sang and tore off through the air.

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