Chapter 658: Incomplete Rank Five Advancement Formula

Reality slapped Shang Xia in the face.

After the Talisman Fish spat out the spiritual treasure he brought, Chu Jia handed it over to Shang Xia. Even though it seemed as though the five elements should encompass a huge range of treasures, the treasure it spat out was an exception.

Helpless, the owner of the Talisman Fish could only request for Chu Jia to hold on to the talisman seals for a while longer and agree on a secret code phrase with her. He quickly rushed back to bring over his fate dipper essence.

It didn’t take long for him to reappear; it seemed as though he wasn’t an ordinary expert. He brought along a strand of fate dipper essence this time.

Shang Xia seemed to have used up all his luck in his previous trades. The fate dipper essence that was brought over was of the Ren Water Element, but he already had one.. It was a shame that they could only refuse to do the trade.

With no other choice, the owner of the Talisman Fish could only spit out a complete extermination origin to complete the trade with Chu Jia for the rank one Wind Arrow Talisman Seal and the rank two Golden Sword Talisman Seal.

After their deal was done, Liu Qinglan sighed, “No matter what, I feel that we still took a loss. Those talisman seals were one of a kind. Shang Xia managed to carve out a new method of crafting talismans and the value of those seals are clear for all to see…”

Shang Xia laughed nonchalantly, “Well. we actually profited by trading it for a complete strand of extermination origin!”

He could tell that Liu Qinglan was struggling to accept the fact and he quickly explained, “It’s true that the appearance of those talisman seals will be monumental for Talisman Masters of our Azure Origin World and the Azure Spiritual World, but that’s only if they’re one of a kind. We obviously won’t be shortsighted and never sell them again…”

“Didn’t you say that you were running out of materials to craft them? Moreover, it’s definitely detrimental for a large amount of these seals to appear in our worlds…” Liu Qinglan hesitated before she spoke.

Shang Xia chuckled in response, “At the end of the day, Instructor Liu, you’re still afraid that someone else would be able to replicate those seals.”

Even though Liu Qinglan revealed a forced smile, she didn’t say a word. It was clear Shang Xia’s guess was correct.

He then continued his explanation, “If we’re talking about the fragments used to make rank one and two talisman seals, they’re just useless rocks that broke off the main structure. I can basically confirm that when I successfully create a rank three talisman seal, it will be a lot larger than rank two talismans. Those tiny fragments will become completely useless and we can take the chance to rip off a whole bunch of experts!”

While he was speaking, Liu Qinglan had already gestured for Chi Jia to hand the extermination origin over to Shang Xia. She didn’t expect him to refuse it directly. “Extermination origins are useless to me right now. You can bring it back and leave it with the institution.”

“How can we do that? You crafted those talisman seals with your resources. Why would you hand the proceeds over to the institution?” Liu Qinglan frowned.

“Hehe, Instructor Liu, you might have forgotten that I’m part of the Talisman Hall. Those talisman seals should have belonged to them. If you have some reservations, would you leave the extermination with the Talisman Hall? In the future, it can be used to reward those Talisman Masters who are on the brink of breakthrough or those who achieved great merit. After all, everything comes down to one’s cultivation at the end of the day.”

Moreover, now that Shang Xia decided to sell his talisman seals, he handed the other Golden Lantern Barrier Talisman Seal over to Chu Jia and Liu Qinglan did the same. She passed the other Wind Arrow Talisman Seal and Stimulation Taliman to Chu Jia but she didn’t forget to remind her of the many risks involved. Obviously, she didn’t agree with Shang Xia’s idea of selling them away.

When everyone went back to whatever they were doing, Shang Xia’s consciousness returned to his Talisman Fish.

The only thing he gave the fish was 1000 essence crystals, and he didn’t know who would bother summoning him.

However, the 3 super factions seemed to have already thought of a countermeasure for those who only possessed essence crystals.

It didn’t take long for Shang Xia’s Talisman Fish to be attracted to a ball of light.

His luck didn’t seem too bad as there were only 2 Talisman Fish before him. Not too long later, one of them left.

When it became Shang Xia’s turn to slam into the jade coin, he quickly learned what the other party was selling. “Defective rank five advancement formula. 3000 essence crystals. You need to swear an oath never to share the contents, and you need to make a detailed record of how you enter the Martial Dipper Realm.”

When Shang Xia was still digesting the contents, a divine perception arrived. “Fellow cultivator, do you wish to buy the advancement formula?”

“Are you really selling a defective rank five advancement formula?” Shang Xia couldn’t help but ask.

An unhappy voice quickly rang in Shang Xia’s mind again. “Fellow cultivator, you should understand what the area of light around my jade coin means. Do you think my holy land will tarnish our reputation and lie to you?”

Shang Xia continued to mutter to himself, “Who would know which holy land you come from…”

“Fellow cultivator, if you’re unwilling to trade, you can leave. You won’t have to worry about anyone harming you then,” the cold snort came again.

Shang Xia immediately released an ‘embarrassed’ chuckle, “Please don’t misunderstand. After all, wandering cultivators like myself have been accustomed to acting cautiously.”

Another cold snort rang in Shang Xia’s mind, but his Talisman Fish wasn’t chased away.

Seeing as the other party wasn’t completely annoyed yet, Shang Xia asked, “May I know how defective your rank five advancement formula is exactly? Are you missing the main or auxiliary ingredients? Or perhaps, you don’t have the exact way to craft the advancement medicine?”

A surprised cry came from the fisherman above. “You seem to know a lot! Our Grandmaster Alchemist did indeed try to deduce the problem causing the defects, but I can’t say anything about it. I can only tell you the things he discovered after you pay up and take the oath.”

“Is your sect planning to use me and whoever else who buys this formula as your lab rat?” Shang Xia wondered.

In a cold voice, the fisherman replied, “We’re not forcing you to do anything. If you wish to buy, go ahead and bite the coin. If you think it’s dangerous, feel free to leave.”

Shang Xia naturally didn’t depart. Instead, he continued, “I guess it’s nothing much to make an oath however, why would you need a detailed report on how the breakthrough process went? If that doesn’t show that you’re using us as your test subjects to fix your advancement formula, I don’t know what will. Moreover, why would I care about reporting to you after I break through to the Martial Dipper Realm?”

The fisherman seemed ready for Shang Xia’s doubts and he simply sneered, “Looks like you have no idea what it means for a Martial Dipper Realm expert to make an oath…”

Even though he didn’t go into details, Shang Xia could hear how confident the other side was.

It probably had something to do with the secrets of being in the Martial Dipper Realm that Shang Xia didn’t know for the time being.

He was planning to continue annoying the other party, but they seemed to understand Shang Xia had pretty much no intention to purchase their formula and no longer spoke. Even so, they didn’t kick him out of the ball of light.

Seeing as he wasn’t going to get anything else, Shang Xia bade farewell before leaving the ball of light to swim aimlessly through the Cloud Sea.

Not too long after he left, he was quickly drawn in a different direction. He saw a similar red ball of light that stretched 10 feet and the fisherman was also selling a rank five advancement formula. The requirements were pretty much the same, but this time, the price was 3500 essence crystals.

Shang Xia went through the same process again and again and realized that he was basically running into experts from the holy lands. They were selling rank five advancement formulas for 3000 to 4000 essence crystals and all of them had almost the same attitude. They didn’t really care if anyone else was interested, but as long as one showed the slightest intention of purchasing the advancement formula, they would require them to take the oath.

As the process continued, Shang Xia was discussing with the others how they should maximize the value of his talisman seals.

Shang Xia’s Talisman Fish continued to wander the Cloud Sea as it went from one light ball to another.

Of course, not every jade coin that attracted him wanted to sell rank five advancement formulas. There were many who were selling strange treasures, and Shang Xia managed to learn quite a bit from all the new things he was seeing.

Unfortunately, he didn’t run into anyone selling fate dipper essences or rank five spiritual treasures for essence crystals.

…

When Shang Xia finally paid a little attention to his Talisman Fish when it received the calling of a jade coin, he discovered that the ball of light he entered was barely 3 feet large. He didn’t know when, but he had left the core of the Cloud Sea and traveled to the periphery.