Upon hearing White Water's words, the cultivators present all began to scheme quietly.

Compared to the imminent war between the Hundred Refinement Sect and the Heaven Burning Sect, the bounty from Feather Transformation Heaven Palace was far more enticing.

Possessing the corpses of three Nascent Soul cultivators, what more could they worry about? They could even disregard the Hundred Refinement Sect and the Heaven Burning Sect, striding boldly across the entire Mystic Azure Star!

Moreover, the Nascent Soul ancestors of the Heaven Burning Sect and the Hundred Refinement Sect, upon learning of this bounty, would likely slow their war efforts to focus entirely on capturing Shang Tianjue and Shang Xingchen.

Chu Xuan harbored some thoughts on this matter as well. But they were just thoughts. He did not believe that Shang Tianjue and Shang Xingchen, who had resurrected, would be easy to kill.

If they could emerge from underground ruins and survive across five centuries, it indicated they certainly had powerful backing. Excessive greed might well lead to fatal consequences.

Rather than the bounty from Feather Transformation Heaven Palace, Chu Xuan found White Water's identity more intriguing. If this bounty was directly issued by Feather Transformation Heaven Palace to the Nascent Soul ancestors of various sects across Mystic Azure Star, how could a Golden Core cultivator like him be aware of it?

However, Chu Xuan only pondered these thoughts. The twelve Golden Cores present were each exceptional and of unknown background. His greatest reliance was his body refined through thirty layers, making him capable of defeating any one of them in single combat, but at the cost of exposing some of his secrets and possibly sustaining injuries.

Chu Xuan never engaged in acts that were more trouble than they were worth.

The trading continued.

When it was Chu Xuan's turn, he produced a small bottle. "Qi-Binding Dust. Once inhaled, it prevents the target from using their internal Spiritual Qi and from absorbing Spiritual Qi from the environment. Effective against Golden Core cultivators. Six thousand small spiritual stones per bottle. If anyone has a Thunder attribute serpent demon core from the Foundation Establishment stage, I am willing to purchase it at a high price."

This Qi-Binding Dust was a poison he had acquired from the "Venom Scripture." After much consideration, it was the only item he felt safe to trade. The other poisons he possessed were too potent; trading them might bring unnecessary trouble upon himself.

As for magical tools, elixirs, and talismans, most were suited only for Foundation Establishment cultivators and were not worthy of offering here.

Chu Xuan already had the antidote for the Qi-Binding Dust, which was why he dared to offer it in the trade.

"I'll take it," Black Chess's eyes sparkled as he spoke, "I happen to have three demon cores that meet your requirements. We can discuss the trade in private later."

Chu Xuan nodded slightly.

None of the other offerings caught his eye. He only found the Golden Core mid-grade spiritual sense secret technique appealing, but he had already condensed the Soul Core, granting him immense spiritual strength. Even a lower-grade Golden Core technique like the "Soul Piercing Needle" could be immensely powerful in his hands.

As for magic treasures and elixirs, they were even less appealing. His physical body was now comparable to a mid-grade magic treasure. Unless someone offered a superior-grade magic treasure, he was not even interested in looking.

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Regarding elixirs, only those with special properties could be of some use to him. He disregarded elixirs that enhanced the Golden Core stage.

With an abundance of Yin Evil Qi and blood honey, he had no need for such cultivation-boosting elixirs.

Instead, he was interested in elixirs that could help his corpse puppet or ghost breakthrough bottlenecks.

Hu, since merging with his spirit root and consuming the corpses of Golden Core cultivators, had rapidly ascended to the level of a ninth-grade corpse general.

Unfortunately, he seemed to be at a bottleneck, unable to condense a corpse core and advance to the rank of corpse commander.

Suddenly, another person spoke, "I have information on the Nether Dao Sect that might be useful in finding Shang Tianjue and Shang Xingchen."

At this statement, the eyebrows of the Golden Core cultivators present all raised, though none immediately spoke up to buy the information.

Chu Xuan glanced at the speaker, whose codename was Deep Sea.

"I'm somewhat interested; let's hear it," said Jian Yitong with a few strange laughs.

"I am also interested, name your price," Sky Stone added.

Deep Sea held up five fingers, "This information has some value, but not a lot—three thousand small spiritual stones should suffice."

Black Chess looked around, noticing everyone's interest, and suggested, "Then let's do it like before, everyone contributes three thousand small spiritual stones, how about it?"

"Agreed."

"Acceptable."

After everyone contributed three thousand small spiritual stones, Deep Sea spoke solemnly, "When the Heaven Burning Sect marched north, after swallowing the Heavenly Seal Sect, they ousted the Divine Star Sect and dominated the Misty Mountains.

At that time, the Heaven Burning Sect had dispatched a Golden Core cultivator to lead a large group of cultivators to guard the Ghost Palace of the Nether Dao Sect there.

However, after some time, that Golden Core cultivator was declared missing, and so were the cultivators who followed him to guard that place. That Ghost Palace might be a fake, but perhaps something emerged from it."

After hearing this information, everyone present pondered quietly, opting to remain silent.

When each person had reported in turn, it was time for private trading.

Black Chess actively approached Chu Xuan, stretching out his hand to reveal three demon cores. Each core was the size of a fist, smooth, and emitted an aura of thunder and lightning.

Chu Xuan nodded slightly, "Foundation Establishment stage demon cores typically go for around five hundred small spiritual stones. I'll offer six hundred each. How does that sound?"

Black Chess nodded, "If you need more of these demon cores, I have more available."

Chu Xuan acknowledged with a nod.

Moments later, the transaction was completed.

He then acquired a Grand Yin Mystic Evil Pill from a Golden Core cultivator codenamed "Snow Mountain" for three thousand small spiritual stones, which could aid a corpse puppet in condensing a corpse core.

Two hours later, the private trading session concluded.

Black Chess declared the gathering over and mentioned that the time of the next meeting would be communicated at an appropriate moment.

The Golden Core cultivators began to leave one by one.

Chu Xuan was the first to leave, but he immediately hid outside the Divine Star Valley. He was intent on following some of them but discovered that these individuals were exceedingly cunning.

Some used flying magic treasures that disappeared in the blink of an eye, others circled around confusingly, and some, like Jian Yitong, simply stayed in the valley pretending to admire the scenery until everyone else had left.

However, Chu Xuan's spiritual sense detected that three individuals were still hidden in this relatively small area of the Divine Star Valley. He shook his head in amusement.

Chu Xuan stood up, dusted off his pants, and decided to leave, "Boring, let's go."

As he stood, he deliberately glanced at the three hidden individuals, making it clear he had spotted them.

The three sensed they were discovered but showed no embarrassment. They too stood up, bowed to each other, and then dispersed.

With that, the now-ruined Divine Star Valley finally returned to tranquility.

…

At the Haotai Hotel.

As soon as Chu Xuan returned, he summoned Hu to his side. He produced the Grand Yin Mystic Evil Pill Pill, "This will be very helpful for you to condense your corpse core. Eat it."

Without suspicion, Hu swallowed the pill immediately. Soon after, he closed his eyes, and a faint yin qi began to gather around him.

"The Yin Evil Qi here is insufficient; we need to go to the great array."

Chu Xuan picked up Hu and threw him into the tower, then headed straight for the Soul-Capturing Evil-Nurturing Array.