Not long after, a robust, kind-faced man of about fifty entered the VIP room with a warm smile.
"Fellow Daoist, I apologize for the wait. I am Lin Baoqing, may I know your esteemed surname?" Lin Baoqing, who was also a Nascent Soul cultivator, introduced himself and asked with concern.
"My surname is Zhang, shopkeeper. How much will this batch of goods cost in total?" Li Mu casually used Zhang Laotou's surname and went straight to the point.
Li Mu's expression was unreadable, giving off an aura that kept strangers at bay.
Lin Baoqing had dealt with countless people and understood that such individuals preferred not to reveal too much sensitive information, making it impossible to engage in deeper personal conversation.
With a bright smile, Lin Baoqing flipped through the ledger and estimated, "Fellow Daoist Zhang, this batch of goods you purchased is quite large, and the quality is extremely high. The total price is 26.5 million medium spirit stones, but we'll charge you 25 million medium spirit stones! As for the other batch of goods you ordered, the total price is also tens of millions of medium spirit stones. Our pavilion will gather them for you within seven days, and you only need to pay a 30% deposit!"
"Alright!" Li Mu nodded, having no objection to Lin Baoqing's quote.
Upon hearing this, Lin Baoqing couldn't help but be pleased. Such a generous and decisive customer was quite rare! He looked at Wan'er, who was so happy she was about to faint, and couldn't help but feel a little envious of the girl. Her commission from this single transaction was probably more than what an ordinary person could earn in a lifetime!
"Oh, right! Does your shop have Dragon Transformation Spirit Grass?" Li Mu remembered his promise to the Twin-Horned Azure Moon Flood Dragon and asked Lin Baoqing, probing.
"Dragon Transformation Spirit Grass is a fifth-grade Spiritual Plant. Its growing environment is extremely demanding, requiring it to grow alongside the Qi of high-grade Flood Dragons. Under normal circumstances, it cannot be cultivated artificially. This Spiritual Plant has the effect of stimulating Bloodline, consolidating the essence, and is a top-grade Spiritual Plant for Flood Dragons to purify their Bloodline and advance their rank. It is extremely rare, and our pavilion currently has no stock. Other businesses likely don't either." Lin Baoqing shook his head.
Upon hearing this, Li Mu nodded, feeling a little regretful.
"Fellow Daoist Zhang, if you're not in a hurry, you can wait for three months. In three months, our pavilion will hold an annual Auction. At that time, esteemed guests will gather from all directions, and countless treasures will appear at the Auction. It's possible that Dragon Transformation Spirit Grass, or even higher-grade Spiritual Plants, will be revealed. This is an Auction token; you're welcome to attend then, Fellow Daoist Zhang." Lin Baoqing took out a purple-gold token from his Pregnant, handed it to Li Mu with both hands, and extended a warm invitation.
Upon hearing this, Li Mu's heart stirred. He smiled as he accepted the Auction token and nodded, "Alright, I'll come and take a look then!"
"Excellent, Fellow Daoist, do you have any other needs?" Lin Baoqing was beaming.
"I have a batch of goods to sell. Take these and estimate how many Spirit Stones they're worth!" Li Mu put the Auction token into his nine storage spiritual pearl. Then, he reached into his chest and pulled out a handful of storage rings and storage bracelets, which were the spoils of war he had collected since leaving the Qingxuan Sect.
Li Mu was quite wealthy, especially after receiving the spoils of war from the Nine Nether Demon Lord. The Top-Grade Spirit Stones and High-Grade Spirit Stones in his nine storage spiritual pearl numbered in the millions, not to mention the Mid-Grade Spirit Stones and Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
However, Li Mu had great uses for all these Spirit Stones.
Activating the Nine Dragons Immortal Slaughtering Formation consumed a vast amount of Spirit Stones.
Each activation cost hundreds, even thousands, of High-Grade Spirit Stones, and that was just for two Flood Dragons. If all nine Dragons were gathered in the future, the Spirit Stones consumed would be astronomical.
There were also the high-grade Puppet army and the Spirit Stones spent on array formations for the Spiritual Plants. Every single Spirit Stone, Li Mu had to use wisely.
Therefore, Li Mu tried his best not to consume Spirit Stones if he didn't have to, preparing to deal with the twenty-odd Nascent Soul Demon Lords and the Nine Nether Demon Lord's Demonic Artifacts.
Lin Baoqing was stunned for a moment, then accepted the twenty-plus storage rings and dozens of storage bracelets with both hands.
Lin Baoqing casually picked up a storage ring, probed it with his Divine Sense, and the next second, his composed expression froze. He widened his eyes and murmured in disbelief, "Five five-grade Demonic Artifacts, two hundred four-grade Spiritual Artifacts, three-grade Spiritual Artifacts..."
Lin Baoqing's expression became excited. He scanned each storage ring and storage bracelet with his Divine Sense: spirit swords, spirit axes, spirit banners, spirit claws... The total number of various Spiritual Artifacts, most of which were used by Demonic Cultivators, exceeded six hundred.
Soon, Lin Baoqing felt a suffocating sensation. He looked at Li Mu with solemn reverence, filled with respect.
Lin Baoqing had never seen a Nascent Soul cultivator who could take out so many storage rings, storage bracelets, and so many Demonic Artifacts to sell at once. This was like slaughtering an entire Demonic Sect; even then, one probably wouldn't get so many Demonic Artifacts!
The grade and quality of these Demonic Artifacts and Spiritual Artifacts were very high. Although they were all second-hand, their value was considerable.
"Fellow Daoist Zhang, you'll have to wait a moment. With so many Spiritual Artifacts, I need to invite several spirit appraisers to estimate their price!" Lin Baoqing took a deep breath and said respectfully to Li Mu.
"Mm! I'll wait!" Li Mu nodded in agreement.
Soon, Lin Baoqing urgently summoned a group of spirit appraisers, as many as ten in total. Some were in their sixties, others in their early thirties. They each took a few storage rings and storage bracelets and began to examine them with great seriousness.
"Fellow Daoist Zhang, if there are no surprises, this batch of spiritual items must be the spoils of war from killing demonic Cultivators! Fellow Daoist Zhang's cultivation is impressive, Lin admires you!" Lin Baoqing accompanied Li Mu, poured him a cup of spiritual tea, and said admiringly.
"Eliminating evil and upholding the Dao is what we should do!" Li Mu chuckled, casually agreeing. Suddenly, he remembered something and warned, "Oh, right, there's a sixth-grade Demonic Artifact inside. Although it has a Restriction, it's not completely suppressed. Be careful, everyone..."
"Ah!"
Before Li Mu finished speaking, a spirit appraiser screamed, his palm pierced by a demonic spear.
Just as the demonic spear was about to devour the appraiser's essence blood and break free from the Restriction, Li Mu roared, "Audacious!"
As soon as the words fell, Li Mu's figure vanished from his original spot. He grabbed the demonic spear with one hand, and a Five Elements Spiritual Fire overflowed from his hand, pouring into the demonic spear, completely suppressing it.
With a 'whoosh,' Li Mu put the demonic spear into his storage compartment. This demonic spear was the Nine Nether Demon Lord's fated Demonic Artifact, reaching sixth-grade, and its artifact spirit's murderous and demonic nature was extremely strong.
Even though Li Mu had placed a Restriction on it, he couldn't completely control it.
See? With just a slight oversight, it would resist and harm people whenever it had a chance.
"Are you alright! Quickly take this healing Medicinal Pill!" Li Mu took out a Medicinal Pill bottle and handed it to the injured spirit appraiser.
"Fellow Daoist Zhang acted in time, so it should be fine! Xiaowan, quickly take Master Zhao down to heal!" Lin Baoqing hastily instructed Wan'er.
Wan'er readily agreed and, supported by another manager, left the VIP room.
"The Sixth-Grade Soul Devouring Spear, if this old man isn't mistaken, this item should be the Nine Nether Demon Lord's famous Magical Artifact." A glint flashed in the eyes of a silver-haired, gaunt spirit appraiser, who suddenly spoke.
Li Mu's expression subtly changed. He hadn't expected someone to recognize this spear and even reveal its specific origin.
"Elder Qian!" Lin Baoqing quickly interrupted, looking at the displeased Li Mu and hastily reassuring him, "Dao Friend Li, please rest assured, our Wanbao Pavilion will not disclose this matter to outsiders. We are not like the Tianji Pavilion, which sells every piece of information. We strictly maintain the confidentiality of our customers' information, and no transactions will be revealed."
Upon hearing this, Li Mu's expression softened slightly. He confirmed that Lin Baoqing's words were true; after dealing with Wanbao Pavilion for so long, he had indeed not found them betraying any customer secrets.
Under Lin Baoqing's guidance, the remaining nine spirit appraisers quickly completed the appraisal and valuation of all the Spiritual Artifacts and spiritual items.
"Well, are they enough to offset my batch of goods?"
Li Mu took a sip of spiritual tea, put down the teacup, and looked at Lin Baoqing, asking with concern.
"Enough! Enough! There's still 8 million medium spirit stones left, Fellow Daoist Zhang, do you want to sell this entire batch?" Lin Baoqing looked at Li Mu, nodding with overflowing joy, and asked with concern.
This order, with its incoming and outgoing goods, had its profit multiplied several times over.
Lin Baoqing looked at Li Mu as if he were looking at a god of wealth, filled with excitement.
"Mm! Yes, exchange it. As for the remaining 8 million medium spirit stones, help me exchange all of them for purple yang jade and taihua moon dew! I'll come back in seven days." Li Mu smiled and nodded, indicating.
"No problem, I'll immediately have someone prepare the goods!" Lin Baoqing happily agreed.
About a quarter of an hour later, Lin Baoqing handed Li Mu two storage rings, which contained all the high-grade spiritual items he had purchased, various high-grade Spiritual Plant seeds, high-grade Yao Beast hides...
The price for selling that batch of demonic Cultivator spiritual items was not much different from Li Mu's own estimate. Wanbao Pavilion operated with integrity, so their acquisition process was trustworthy.
With the transaction complete and another batch of goods set for seven days later, Li Mu left Wanbao Pavilion.
There was still an Auction in three months. Li Mu strolled around the Barren Ancient City - Floating Air Port, and after finding nothing worth picking up, he left Barren Ancient City alone.
After leaving Barren Ancient City, Li Mu followed the map's guidance and sped towards the location of Yin Yang Valley.
Yin Yang Valley, located over five hundred li southeast of Barren Ancient City, was a Spirit Valley formed by the close proximity of Tianzhu Peak, Xueling Peak, and Taiyin Peak.
Because this pass was dense with Yin and Yang Qi, and various mysterious Yin and Yang phenomena occurred, it was named Yin Yang Valley.
The people of Barren Ancient City had long heard of Yin Yang Valley, yet few had ever visited it. It was a desolate place, considered a godforsaken land by many.
There were no Spiritual Plants, no rare treasures, and even Yao Beasts were unwilling to set foot there. It was simply a barren wasteland, accompanied by great risks. Over time, no Human Race Cultivators would go there.
Li Mu traveled unimpeded all the way.
Two hours later, Li Mu flew into the outer perimeter of Yin Yang Valley. Looking out, he saw a mountain range with sparse vegetation. The distant valley was shrouded in gray and red Qi, preventing him from seeing the situation inside the valley.
Strange Yin winds blew from ahead, and some flying Spirit Beasts in the sky bypassed the outer perimeter of the Spirit Valley.
Li Mu continued to fly forward, getting closer and closer to Yin Yang Valley. The existing vegetation became scarcer and scarcer, until eventually, there were almost no forests or living creatures to be seen.
Everywhere were bare mountain tops and dried-up riverbeds, simply a dead land.
Even before reaching Yin Yang Valley, the scene was so desolate, Li Mu couldn't help but feel a little worried about his decision.
As he delved deeper, Li Mu could feel the surrounding extreme Yin power becoming increasingly dense.
Large amounts of dark clouds in the sky obscured the heavens and earth, lingering and covering the area.
At this point, the earth had turned a grayish-black, giving one the feeling of having arrived in the Netherworld. Li Mu's face couldn't help but flash with a hint of surprise.
This valley is truly strange! Was it really formed naturally by heaven and earth?
Li Mu, filled with doubts, continued his journey without stopping. Finally, after flying for a long time, he eventually saw a gray-black area ahead, as if a membrane enveloped it.
Li Mu stood at a height of a thousand zhang. Before even reaching the true Yin Yang Valley, the Yin wind blowing towards him was a visible gray airflow. A slight brush against his body made him feel the extreme Yin cold.
Possessing the Five Elements Dao Body and having perfected the Spirit Devouring Body Nourishing Art, Li Mu couldn't help but shiver under the blowing Yin wind.
Such strong Yin Qi!
Li Mu's eyes revealed vigilance. He immediately mobilized the Extreme Yang Heavenly Fire within his body, and the Purple-Gold Fire Phoenix materialized, resting at his neck. The next moment, he condensed a fire robe of Five Elements Spiritual Fire, enveloping his entire body, completely isolating himself from the invasion of the Yin wind.
Li Mu's heart settled. He arrived at the membrane and reached out to test the way. The cold Qi grew thicker, constantly trying to invade his body, but it was blocked by the Heavenly Fire and Five Elements Spiritual Fire.
These Yin winds posed no threat to him, and Li Mu's heart felt at ease. Although this place was extremely strange, it was an excellent location for cultivating both Yin and Yang Spiritual Plants.
According to the Tianji Pavilion's intelligence, quite a few people had visited this place. Cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage had a nine-tenths chance of dying in this valley, while Soul Transformation powerhouses could enter and exit freely, and there had been no reports of Soul Transformation Cultivators perishing in this valley.
Li Mu couldn't help but relax a little. His strength was enough to contend with Soul Transformation Cultivators, so he should have no problem entering and exiting this valley freely.
To be safe, Li Mu released several star wood Puppets, attaching his Divine Sense to them, and had them explore the true situation inside Yin Yang Valley first.
Li Mu had tried to extend his Divine Thought to probe Yin Yang Valley, but the powerful Yin wind constantly blew, generating a mysterious force that directly acted upon his Divine Thought, causing a great loss of Divine Thought.
As a result, Li Mu was simply unable to use his Divine Thought to peer into the situation inside Yin Yang Valley.
Soon, four star wood Puppets took heavy steps and charged towards the core area of Yin Yang Valley.
"Whoosh, whoosh" A series of bone-chilling Yin winds fiercely swept across the star wood Puppets, corroding the Puppet patterns on their bodies.
Li Mu frowned. His Divine Sense, attached to the star wood Puppets, discovered that the Puppets had not even advanced a li before the Puppet patterns etched on their bodies were mostly corroded by the powerful Yin wind. If they continued deeper, it wouldn't be long before they would lose the drive of their Puppet patterns and be unable to move.
"Using Puppets won't work! It seems I'll have to go myself!"
Li Mu sighed and recalled the four star wood Puppets.
The corrosive power of this Yin wind was too terrifying. They were five-grade spiritual wood, incredibly hard.
Li Mu made some brief preparations, then lifted his foot and stepped into Yin Yang Valley.
The next moment, a strong Yin wind rushed towards him, roaring wildly, like skin-flaying and bone-scraping, incredibly intense.
Li Mu frowned, took out the Five Elements Spirit Mountain, and immediately activated the Five Elements Spirit Domain, generating layers of Five Elements Spiritual Power barriers. He resisted the invasion of the Yin wind head-on, step by step, advancing into Yin Yang Valley.
Under the Five Elements Spirit Domain, bolstered by the Five Elements Spirit Mountain, Li Mu finally withstood the invasion of the Yin wind. However, his spiritual power consumption was immense. The Yin wind blew constantly, and each gust of Yin wind was no less powerful than a full-force strike from a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Li Mu was completely fearless. With the aid of the Five Elements Spirit Mountain, he maintained the Five Elements Spirit Domain, forcing the Yin wind to retreat.
"No wonder Nascent Soul cultivators can't enter this valley! This Yin wind is truly terrifying!"
Li Mu sighed with emotion, supporting the Five Elements Spirit Mountain as he continued forward.
After advancing about four or five li, the pressure hadn't changed much, but another strange feeling arose in Li Mu's heart.
Li Mu frowned and cautiously stopped.
He released his Divine Sense to perceive, and within the gusts of Yin wind, there was actually a strange summoning force that could penetrate everything and directly reach the Divine Soul.
This profound and bizarre summoning power was constantly affecting his Divine Soul. Li Mu felt his Divine Soul becoming disoriented for a moment, his eyes gradually turning hollow, and he was about to walk in a certain direction.