The Purgatory Calamity
Chapter 176 - 161: Summit Gathering_1

Chapter 176: Chapter 161: Summit Gathering_1

The first peak of Yuanmang.

Rows of wooden palaces sat at the center of the mountain peak.

Today the weather was fine and the sun shone brightly; a warm breeze blew gently, making one want to lazily find a spot to enjoy the scenic beauty of the summit.

Standing atop the highest peak of Yuanmang, one could overlook the smaller mountains below and gaze down upon the more beautiful peaks nearby, clearly seeing the mist curling around the valleys and ravines.

"Once every three years, here I am again."

Han Ting beamed with a smile, her eyes brimming with eager interest.

Pang Jian surveyed the surroundings silently.

He noticed that on the smooth, flat rocks of the summit, there were many mats arranged for seating.

In front of each mat, there stood a wooden stand for displaying items.

Between the numerous wooden stands and mats, there were also several wooden towers, with loyal women dressed in white of Cao sitting atop the towers that were several zhang high.

At a glance, Pang Jian realized that there were hundreds of mats and wooden stands scattered in a ring around the wooden palace.

Many individual cultivators who had come up found a mat at will, sat down, and displayed their spiritual materials, precious crystals, pills, magic spells, and vessels on the stands for sale.

Those individual cultivators intending to purchase spiritual materials slowly moved from one stand to another, their gazes wandering unsteadily.

After observing for a while, Pang Jian was secretly amazed.

——The roles of buyer and seller among the individual cultivators were not fixed.

Some who originally wanted to buy the spiritual materials would, after a while of not finding anything of interest, casually choose an empty mat to sit on and place their own unnecessary items on the wooden stand for sale.

And there were those who were selling spiritual materials, but suddenly spotted the material they needed displayed on a distant stand, promptly gathered up their own things, and actively went to ask the stall owner for the price.

Every individual cultivator, as well as the scions from notable families, held a token inscribed with the character "Mang."

Once a deal was struck, both parties of the transaction would notify one of the white-clad women at the nearest wooden tower and each pay a tenth of the transaction in spirit stones.

The presence of the token and the white-clad women overseeing from the wooden towers seemed to ensure that participants wouldn’t transact privately.

Pang Jian, in no hurry to move, gradually noticed the absence of people from Blood Moon or Yin Spirit Temple, with only individual cultivators and scions frequenting the place.

Thus, he quietly asked Han Ting.

"It’s like this for the first three days because the value of the items traded is not high, and even the internal trading venue is not opened," she explained.

Han Ting, who had attended multiple times before, pointed at the wooden buildings and said, "Wait till the last three days, when we enter the trading venue, then the truly valuable treasures will gradually reveal themselves."

"On the last day, Cao will take out the strange treasures he has collected and let buyers obtain them through a draw."

Pang Jian, puzzled, asked, "A draw? Not to the highest bidder?"

"Yes, a draw. The grand event hosted by Cao attracts so many individual cultivators and people from various sects because the strange treasures he takes out at the end are not awarded to the highest bidder but are entirely dependent on luck," Han Ting explained with a smile.

Feeling a bit awkward with her hair not used to being pinned up, she fiddled with some stray locks by her ear and continued, "If it were to the highest bidder, those treasures rare even in the Third Realm would always end up in the hands of those from Blood Moon, Raging Sun Sect, or Star River Alliance, wouldn’t they?"

At this point, there was a hint of respect in Han Ting’s eyes, "Cao is also an individual cultivator, so he provides an opportunity to other cultivators. On the last day, the prices for the strange treasures are set in advance, and those interested can enter a draw. Whoever draws it gets to buy it at the set price."

"People from the five major sects and the powerful from the great families also have no special privilege to break the rules; they can’t forcibly buy it at a higher price."

"He does this to ensure that individual cultivators can obtain the spiritual materials they urgently need at relatively low prices," she patiently explained.

"So kind-hearted of him, does he not intend to make money?" Pang Jian exclaimed in surprise.

"Through the transactions in the first six days, he has already earned a sufficient amount of spirit stones," Han Ting glanced at him, dispelling his doubts, "It’s because the strange treasures he takes out on the last day are often extremely valuable and appear very fair, that his triennial trade fair attracts everyone’s eagerness."

"In the first six days, he takes a twenty percent cut of each transaction, which has already made him quite wealthy," she added, envy evident as she looked at the wooden buildings, "Through the triennial trade fairs, Cao has gathered enough spirit stones to satisfy his daily cultivation needs!"

Having heard this explanation, Pang Jian nodded slightly, and then he and Han Ting went together, weaving through the various stalls.

During this time, he noticed a cultivator named Zhang Bin giving them elusive glances, frequently looking towards him and Han Ting.

Whenever Zhang Bin looked over, Han Ting would deliberately get a little closer to Pang Jian.

——It seemed this was her way of deliberately annoying Zhang Bin.

Soon, Pang Jian saw individual cultivators selling stones at a stand that emitted a sun-like brilliance.

There was a sign above the stones — Sun Essence Stone.

He immediately remembered the deep desire of the Alien Tribes woman from the Fifth Realm for this kind of ore and stopped to take a closer look.

There were a total of seven Sun Essence Stones, priced at two thousand spirit stones in total; below was a small inscription describing the rarity and uses of the Sun Essence Stones.

Pang Jian paid no attention to its uses, nor did he care how rare it was; after hesitating for a moment, he indicated to the stall owner sitting on the mat that he wanted to purchase them.

"My young friend has quite an eye," said the short, stout stall owner, rising to his feet with cheerful enthusiasm, waving to the nearest white-clad woman on the wooden tower, "I’ve made a sale over here!"

Then he promptly took Pang Jian to the base of the tower where the white-clad woman was, and handed over two hundred spirit stones.

The white-clad woman accepted them with a smile and then turned to Pang Jian.

Knowing the rules, Pang Jian also took out two hundred spirit stones as the trade commission first for the white-clad woman on the tower, then handed over two thousand spirit stones to exchange with the short, stout stall owner for the seven Sun Essence Stones.

The stall owner who received the spirit stones immediately packed up, shifting from a seller to a buyer, and went to another stall to purchase the spiritual materials he had set his sight on.

He had sold the seven Sun Essence Stones precisely to obtain two thousand spirit stones to exchange for the items he had eyed.

"Damn it!"

Pang Jian, who was keeping an eye on his movements, suddenly stomped his foot and cursed, "How little time has passed? The spell I was eyeing has already been taken?"

At this moment, Han Ting suddenly asked in surprise, "What do you need Sun Essence Stones for? It seems like only members of the Raging Sun Sect have a particular need for such ore."

Pang Jian, not answering, continued to wander among the various stalls.

Not long after, he saw Spiritual Materials like Thunderstrike Wood and Gold Friday Stone, which were in demand by the women of the Alien Tribes from the Fifth Realm, and he used his Spirit Stones to make purchases.

In just a short hour, the approximately three thousand Spirit Stones and twenty pieces of Spirit Jade in his possession had been exhausted.

In his storage ring, aside from the Astonishing Spear, Copper Box, the Thunderstrike Wood, Gold Friday Stone, and Sun Essence Stone, only thirteen pieces of Spirit Jade remained.

Even if one piece of Spirit Jade could be exchanged for one hundred Spirit Stones, that left him with only one thousand three hundred Spirit Stones.

At that time, he saw someone offering Calming Pills for sale.

A bottle of Calming Pills, containing ten pills, was priced at... three thousand Spirit Stones.

The Spirit Jade he had couldn’t even cover the purchase of a single bottle of Calming Pills, not to mention Cao’s cut.

Standing in front of that stall, Pang Jian stood still, and after a moment, he spoke, "I remember, you said you’d compensate me with Spirit Stones."

Han Ting, who had originally come in search of holy medicine for healing and detoxifying because of her steadily improving injuries, did not have any particular goals or pursuits. Surprised by his words, she said, "You want Calming Pills?"

Pang Jian nodded.

"Alright then."

Han Ting snorted and turned to the stall owner, who had been eyeing her striking figure, and declared, "A bottle of Calming Pills, we need it now!"

"You got it!"

The tall and thin stall owner quickly stood up and accompanied her to a wooden tower nearby.

After each initially handed over three hundred Spirit Stones, Han Ting took out ten times that amount in Spirit Stones and acquired the bottle of Calming Pills, which she then handed over to Pang Jian.

"Let’s call it a day."

Having received the Calming Pills and feeling the pinch in his finances, Pang Jian no longer felt like milling around anymore.

"This is your first attendance, and you’ve quickly bought a few items before abruptly calling it quits?"

Han Ting was astonished.

She still remembered her first attendance, where she had wandered until nightfall, only reluctantly leaving when the white-clad women began their closing announcements.

She was well aware that the stall owners currently selling their wares might not be displaying everything they had.

There were also many wanderers holding onto valuable items, waiting for any moment to sit down and reveal treasures that would dazzle onlookers.

"I’m a bit strapped for cash, and I’ve run out of Spirit Stones for the items I want."

Pang Jian stated frankly.

Han Ting paused, thinking to herself how scions of the Upper Realm’s families usually had tens of thousands of Spirit Stones on them.

This guy, having spent only a few thousand Spirit Stones, was already feeling the pinch?

After a moment of hesitation, Han Ting kindly offered, "I could lend you some."

"No need."

Pang Jian shook his head.

"Alright then, you head back first; I’m going to wander around some more."

Han Ting didn’t insist.

"Hmm."

Pang Jian had no intention of accompanying her as she browsed; he left the mountain summit directly and headed down the stone steps towards his own cave dwelling.

The nineteenth layer, cave dwelling number fifty-six.

After closing the stone door, Pang Jian first swallowed a Calming Pill and then began to establish a connection with Rebel Kid.

The vision of Rebel Kid slowly came into focus.

A Ferocious Beast, encased in thick ice, lay in a pool of its own blood, which was a strange pale blue.

In the pale blue blood, there were even tiny Ice Crystals shining like stars.

Rebel Kid was at that moment crawling beside the massive corpse of the beast, greedily guzzling the blood of the Ice Crystal Beast.

A woman of the Heaven Clan, with six pairs of white wings, gently watched over it and softly said, "You’ve been put through a lot lately; look how thin you’ve become, and the advancement of your Bloodline has even halted. It’s all my fault, how could I be so foolish to think that the Dark Giant Python would eat grass..."

"Wuu wuu!"

As Rebel Kid thirstily swallowed the beast’s blood, it felt as though something was stuck in its throat and suddenly began to vomit violently.

"Sun Essence Stone! Thunderstrike Wood, Gold Friday Stone!"

Yu Xin flapped her wings excitedly and screeched in surprise.

One by one, the ores she desperately needed were spat out by Hei, leaving her feeling both moved and guilty, "Hei, you’re so good to me; I don’t even know how to repay you..."

"No! Wait! You can’t handle the horn of the Ice Crystal Beast!"

Yu Xin suddenly shouted in panic.

Just when she was caught in her emotions, she noticed that after spitting out the ores, Hei had suddenly rushed toward the Ice Crystal Beast’s horn and swallowed the piece she had severed.

"That Ice Crystal Beast is a level seven Ferocious Beast, its horn is an extremely cold and sharp object, it will pierce your insides!"

She frantically tried to stop it.

However.

Under someone’s direction, the Dark Giant Python had already swallowed the horn of the level seven Ice Crystal Beast and then immediately transported the horn from the Fifth Realm to the fifty-sixth cave dwelling in the Third Realm.

...