Chapter 49: Purchasing Demon Souls

In the evening, Su Che followed Lei Xiao to the “Wuhua Peak” of Tianxuan Sect.
Wuhua Peak was not one of the ten main peaks, but it was the most popular trading area within Tianxuan Sect. From Golden Core elders to outer sect disciples, everyone liked to come here to buy and sell goods and hunt for treasures.
One of Lei Xiao’s elders was a senior manager at Wuhua Peak, which was why he brought Su Che there.
When they reached halfway up the mountain, Lei Xiao said, “Trading within the sect has two advantages. First, the goods are genuine, and there are few cases of being deceived. Second, there’s no concern about safety—no one dares to rob others inside the sect.”
Su Che smiled and said, “I’m not afraid of a little loss. What I’m most afraid of is buying something and then having someone else target me, waiting in ambush to strike… Just like what happened in the Yinwind Gorge.”
Lei Xiao waved his hand and said, “Don’t worry. This is our own sacred territory. Countless Golden Core, even Yuan Ying stage ancestors are here. How could such things happen?”
“That’s good,” Su Che nodded lightly.
Wuhua Peak wasn’t as towering as the ten main peaks. It only took half an hour to reach the summit. Since this was Su Che’s first time here, he looked around curiously.
The summit was quite spacious, with a circular square in the center. Many people set up stalls here to sell goods, some of whom were outer sect disciples with silver threads on their collars.
There were over a dozen large shops around the square, all owned by Tianxuan Sect. Their purpose wasn’t profit but to facilitate transactions among sect members.
“If you want to buy magic artifacts, you need to go to the shops,” Lei Xiao said softly. “Most of the goods at the stalls are second-rate. Think about it—who would be willing to sell real good stuff? Of course, it’s not absolute. To find good goods, you need not only good eyesight but also some effort.”
Su Che looked around, full of curiosity. “It’s still early. Let’s browse these stalls first. If we can’t find anything good, then we’ll go to the shops.”
“Okay, go ahead and explore on your own,” Lei Xiao said, pointing to a shop in the distance. “One of my clan elders works as a senior manager there. I’ll go talk to him. Come find me there in a while.”
Su Che nodded and started wandering on his own.
As Lei Xiao said, the buyers and sellers here were all sect members of Tianxuan Sect, creating a very relaxed and natural atmosphere. It felt like walking on the streets of his hometown, Cishizhen, giving Su Che a sense of safety and belonging.

“It’s not necessary to buy anything; just walking around like this is quite interesting.”
Su Che’s mindset at this moment was more in line with his apparent age—he had a childlike innocence, finding everything full of interest. After wandering for over a quarter of an hour, he merely observed everything without buying anything, not even inquiring about the prices of any items. This was because Su Che was self-aware of his low cultivation level and limited knowledge; without someone knowledgeable to give advice, he shouldn’t make hasty purchases.

As they walked, they heard Lao He shouting from the Immortal Prison, “Master, someone over there is selling the souls of demon beasts. Those seem useful to me. Let’s go take a look.”

Following Lao He’s guidance, Su Che arrived at a stall. The vendor was an outer disciple in the later stages of Qi Cultivation, appearing to be over fifty years old, which indicated his cultivation talent was quite ordinary. He might never reach the Foundation Establishment stage in his lifetime, let alone obtain the status of an inner disciple.

Su Che first bowed and pointed at some black jade tablets on the stall, asking, “Senior brother, may I take a look at these Soul Capturing Tablets?”

“Go ahead and look; no need to be so polite,” the vendor replied in a lazy tone, giving off a sense of listlessness.

Su Che picked up one of the Soul Capturing Tablets and carefully sensed it with his mind, immediately determining that it contained the soul of a wolf-like demon beast. The surface of the tablet was inscribed with the words “Moon Devouring Silver Wolf,” along with an explanation stating it was a mid-level first-class demon beast, its strength equivalent to that of a human in the middle stages of Qi Cultivation.

Some cultivators, after killing demon beasts, would use special methods to seal their souls in similar artifacts, which could also be sold as materials for demon beasts.

Since Lao He said these souls might be useful to him, Su Che naturally took them seriously. It had already been determined that Lao He couldn’t cultivate any techniques, so his method of improving his strength must be extremely special, requiring Su Che to help him explore and experiment.

“Senior brother, what’s the price for these soul fragments?” Su Che asked gently.

The lazy-looking vendor replied slowly, “All of these are first-class soul fragments. For the lower-level ones, it’s two spirit stones; for the mid-level ones, four spirit stones; and for the high-level ones, eight spirit stones.”

Su Che calculated in his mind: “A live first-level lower-class demon beast costs around a dozen spirit stones. Buying just its soul costs two more—seems a bit expensive…”

In the Immortal Prison, Lao He drooled as he shouted, “Too expensive! Too expensive! Master, you must haggle fiercely with him! I think this thing is very useful to me; we should buy more.”
Su Che, of course, wasn’t as impatient. He thought to himself, “Maybe we should buy one or two first to test them. If they’re really useful, it won’t be too late to buy more.”
“No need, Master. This thing isn’t expensive at all. It won’t cost much to buy them all,” Lao He said, swallowing saliva greedily, his face full of desire. “I can already tell—these demon souls are extremely delicious!”
“Well, even if it’s just to satisfy your taste, buying them all won’t be a loss,” Su Che thought with a smile.
“Thank you, Master, for your kindness. Lao He is deeply moved,” Lao He said, putting his hand on his neck and speaking in a soft voice. Unbeknownst to him, this gesture only made people feel more disgusted.
Su Che shuddered at his presence and this led to misunderstanding on the part of the vendor across from him. The vendor laughed and said, “Young junior brother, there’s no need for such a strong reaction. If you don’t like the price, just say so. Why tremble?”
Su Che gave a faint bitter smile and played along, saying, “To be honest with you, senior brother, I really want to buy all of your demon souls, but unfortunately, the price is too high—far beyond what I expected.”
“You want to buy all of these demon souls?” The vendor frowned and asked, “What do you plan to do with so many?”
“I’m sorry, senior brother. It’s my privacy, and I can’t explain it,” Su Che replied coldly, thinking, You’re in business selling things—why ask so many questions?
“Don’t misunderstand…” The vendor realized his question was inappropriate and explained, “Young junior brother, I’m just giving you good advice. After all, our Tianxuan Sect is an orthodox immortal path, not a demonic sect. We don’t allow the practice of techniques that involve devouring souls.”
Only then did Su Che realize the other party had good intentions. He quickly explained, “Senior brother, rest assured. I need these demon souls for another purpose—definitely not to practice demonic arts.”
“That’s good.” The vendor sized Su Che up and nodded in approval. “At fifteen, you’re already at the second level of Qi cultivation. If you keep working hard, you might be able to enter the inner sect by the age of twenty.”
“Thank you, senior brother, for your kind words. I will definitely strive hard,” Su Che said, bowing in gratitude.
“Very well. Since you intend to buy them all, I’ll give you half price,” the vendor said simply, waving his hand. “Half the price—everything for you!”
Just as Su Che was about to agree, he heard Lao He shouting, “Master, don’t fall for his trick! He’s agreeing so easily—this price can definitely be lowered further.”

“I won’t bargain anymore; this price is fine.” Su Che thought to himself, “I’m not short of those spirit stones. I just want to make a purchase that satisfies me.” And so, he bought all twelve ‘Soul Capture Cards’ from the stall for thirty-seven spirit stones each. For ordinary outer sect disciples, over thirty spirit stones was equivalent to more than three months’ salary, but for Su Che, it wasn’t much of a deal. After all, he already had over a thousand spirit stones in his Qiankun Bag, and in a few days, after completely curing that Flowing Cloud Golden Cupplant, Linglong would even give him another two thousand spirit stones as a reward…

After that, the stall owner said, “Young senior, in our small group, there are a dozen or so brothers who are good at hunting monsters. We may not have extraordinary skills, but capturing the souls of twenty or so first-level monsters each month isn’t a problem. If you need more monster souls in the future, just send me a message.” As he spoke, the stall owner handed over a message token, marking his name as Guo Cai.

“Guo Cai,” Su Che remembered the name in his mind. Maybe he would indeed need to contact him again in the future. As long as those monster souls were beneficial to Lao Hei, he wouldn’t mind spending more spirit stones.

The dozen or so ‘Soul Capture Cards’ seemingly ended up in Su Che’s Qiankun Bag, but in reality, they entered the Immortal Prison. Lao Hei casually picked up one of the black jade cards, brought it to his nose, and took a greedy deep breath, murmuring in delight, “What a wonderful scent! It must be delicious.”

Of course, Su Che was eager to know what effect those monster souls would have on Lao Hei. But since this was his first attempt at such a thing, he couldn’t rush him. He could only be patient and wait for him to take the next step. Let him follow his instincts.