Chapter 181: Aurora Island

To return to his sect, Su Che not only had to pass through the jurisdiction of Taiyi Gate but also had to go through the territories of the Blood God Sect or the Ten Thousand Ghosts Sect. He didn’t think he had the strength to fight his way through all of them.
Ordinary patrol teams were no problem, but encountering a Golden Core cultivator would be extremely dangerous.
Su Che took out a Earth-Diving Pill, planning to head to the Underground Demon Realm via underground paths, which would be relatively safer.
The cultivation world was even more chaotic than the Underground Demon Realm—truly laughable…
Just as he was about to swallow the pill, Lao He called out, “Master, wait a moment.”
“What is it?” Su Che wondered.
Lao He was sorting through the Qi Bag of those six Taiyi Gate Foundation-level cultivators and found something interesting.
“Aurora Sky-Diving Talisman?”
Su Che took out a light green spiritual talisman from the Immortal Prison and listened attentively to Lao He’s explanation.
“Master, I interrogated one of those mid-Foundation-level cultivators earlier. He said this talisman can create a special kind of aurora that increases flight speed by ten times within ten breaths.”
Lao He explained in detail, “This is just an ordinary-grade Aurora Talisman. Higher-grade, even top-tier ones exist. It’s said that the highest-grade Aurora Sky-Diving Talisman can maintain its effect for fifteen minutes.”
“However, this kind of talisman only works on cultivators below the Golden Core stage. On Golden Core cultivators, its effect is minimal. Moreover, using it causes certain harm to the body and other potential risks… Plus, since it’s difficult to craft, such talismans aren’t very well-known in the cultivation world.”
“Ten times faster flight, for fifteen minutes!”
Su Che’s eyes lit up—what a great item! With the protection of the Immortal Prison’s warm current, he could ignore the side effects of such items. It was exactly the perfect life-saving treasure for him!
In previous encounters with Golden Core cultivators, he had been unable to escape fast enough and had to turn around and fight to the death. Knowing he couldn’t win, he had no choice but to fight desperately.
With such a speed-enhancing treasure, at least someone like the mid-Golden Core Lao He would find it hard to catch up with him.
So, he quickly asked, “Lao He, where can I buy this kind of spiritual talisman?”
“Aurora Island overseas.”

Lao He replied, “Twenty thousand li north of the Taiyi Gate, in the Arctic Sea, there is an island called Aurora Island, which serves as a gathering place for itinerant cultivators. There, one can buy such spiritual talismans. However, they are expensive, and the quantity is limited; generally, only ordinary-grade Aurora Talismans can be obtained.”
“Let’s go and take a look. Even if they’re of ordinary grade, it’s good to buy a few more,” Su Che decided. “It’s also a good option to return to our sect by sea.”
In the oceanic realm, there are no large sects; it belongs to the water-type demons and countless itinerant cultivators. In the eyes of sect disciples, it’s a chaotic place with no rules at all. But now, the cultivation world has entered an era of chaos, even more disorderly than those previous chaotic areas.
Take the current super sects like the Taiyi Gate and the Ten Thousand Ghosts Sect, for example—they’re arresting all passing cultivators on a massive scale. It’s absolutely excessive and ridiculous! In the millions of years of the cultivation world’s history, such outrageous behavior has never been heard of.
Although Su Che knew that behind the actions of sects like the Taiyi Gate was some astonishing conspiracy, he still found the events happening recently utterly unbelievable…
Flying straight north for twenty thousand li, they finally reached the seaside.
The Arctic Sea, also known as the Arctic Ice Sea, has extremely low temperatures, with countless glaciers floating on its surface. It’s very difficult for ordinary people to survive in such an environment.
Although Su Che didn’t know the exact location of Aurora Island, the few Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Taiyi Gate who were captured in the Immortal Prison had been there before.
Flying northeast for over an hour, they saw many teleportation lights in the sky, indicating that Aurora Island was already nearby.
Sure enough, in less than fifteen minutes, a piece of land appeared on the horizon. Aurora Island was quite large, roughly the size of a provincial capital in human countries.
Just before landing, several teleportation lights flashed by in front. Those people had flown from afar to assess Su Che’s cultivation level. After slowing down slightly, they chose to leave.
Su Che’s mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation level placed him among the strong among itinerant cultivators, so the likelihood of him being robbed was low.
Itinerant cultivators who could reach the Golden Core stage were extremely rare, while those in the late Foundation Establishment stage were among the top experts.
Su Che also slowed down his flight and headed toward the central area of the island.
On the island, it was naturally a frozen landscape, but the central area was enclosed by a large barrier. Inside the barrier, a highly prosperous city could be seen.

“The Aurora Island Bazaar was established by the Overseas Independent Cultivators Alliance. It is said that three Golden Core cultivators always reside there—these three being the most powerful leaders of the alliance. It is said that the Aurora Escape Talisman is the specialty of one of these leaders; no one else knows how to craft such a spiritual talisman.”

Lao He obtained various pieces of information from the prisoner’s mind and explained in detail, “Within the ocean, there are also all kinds of rare treasures and talents. Independent cultivators who go out to search for treasures bring their finds to this bazaar to sell or engage in barter transactions.”

“Due to geographical differences, the rare treasures and talents from the inland cultivation world are even more popular here—after all, rarity makes things valuable… Master, we still have many items we can sell here, and we should be able to get the highest price possible.”

By this time, Su Che had already passed through that barrier. He was convinced that it served only to maintain a warm temperature—inside, it was as warm as spring, quite comfortable. Moreover, there was plenty of greenery visible in the city below.

Lao He added, “At the center of the city, the tallest palace is the largest and most reputable shop in the entire bazaar—the ‘Independent Cultivators Trade Alliance’. If you want to buy Aurora Talismans, you must go there.”

Su Che noticed that flying wasn’t prohibited over the city, and many independent cultivators flew freely. So he flew straight to the entrance of the Independent Cultivators Trade Alliance before landing.

Upon entering the shop, Su Che clearly stated his purpose to the clerk, saying he had a major deal to make, one worth over a hundred thousand spirit stones.

“A hundred thousand spirit stones?”

The clerk, who was only at the mid-stage of Qi Cultivation, was clearly shocked by this amount.

In a market dominated by independent cultivators, a transaction worth ten thousand spirit stones was already considered significant; he certainly didn’t have the authority to handle a deal of a hundred thousand spirit stones.

So the clerk invited Su Che to the VIP lounge and called over the third manager of the trade alliance to personally handle such an important guest.

The third manager was a woman at the early stage of Foundation Building. Her smile was warm and enthusiastic, yet she retained her elegant demeanor.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Su Che handed over a list detailing the items he wanted to sell—all were specialties from the inland areas. Their normal market price was around a hundred thousand spirit stones, and it would surely be higher here in the bazaar.

The third manager carefully reviewed the list and smiled gently, saying, “Thank you, fellow cultivator, for supporting our shop. With such a low starting price, you must have some other requirements, right?”

“Yes.”

Communicating with smart people indeed saves a lot of nonsense. Su Che nodded and said, “I want to purchase Aurora Escape Talismans. The more, the better, and the higher the grade, the better.”
The third shopkeeper smiled knowingly, as if he had already guessed this answer, and replied, “Don’t you know, Master? The Aurora Escape Talismans are the treasure of this shop. Only ten ordinary-grade talismans are available for public sale each month. As for higher-grade talismans, they are auctioned once every six months.”
“Then, how long until the next auction?” Su Che asked eagerly.
“Master, you’re not very lucky. There are nearly five months left until the next auction,” the third shopkeeper replied softly.
“Five months?”
Su Che frowned. Although he was determined to get such treasures, waiting five months was impossible. He asked, “Is there any other way?”
“Well… there is…”
The third shopkeeper hesitated slightly before pointing to the list on the table. “To be honest, though the items you have are of considerable value, they’re not rare. They’re fine for normal transactions, but for barter among advanced cultivators… it’s another matter.”
Su Che immediately understood what he meant and smiled cheerfully, “These are just ordinary goods I’ll let your shop sell on my behalf. I can bring out real treasures as well.”
“Like what?” the third shopkeeper asked with a smile.
Su Che also smiled and said, “For example, top-grade spiritual artifacts, spiritual herbs that are five hundred years old…”
Su Che thought that, given his cultivation level, bringing such items showed off a bit, but it wasn’t excessive. Besides, to obtain Aurora Escape Talismans, he needed to prove he wasn’t a pauper.
The third shopkeeper nodded slightly, acknowledging Su Che’s qualifications to some extent, before saying, “Please stay at our shop for now and rest. At night, I’ll take you to a place where you might be able to exchange for those high-grade Aurora Escape Talismans that were auctioned before from other cultivators.”
“Exchange from others?”
This answer disappointed Su Che a bit, but he decided to give it a try and agreed.
Next, Su Che took out all the items listed on the list and sold them to the Independent Cultivators Alliance at a low price of 100,000 spirit stones as a thank-you for the third shopkeeper’s help.
In a VIP room of the shop, Su Che meditated and rested for several hours. Around the second watch of the night, the third shopkeeper reappeared before him.

“Fellow cultivator, please follow me.”
The third shopkeeper led Su Che to the back courtyard of the Independent Cultivators’ Alliance, then through a secret passage, deep underground by a hundred zhang.
Deep in the earth, there was a luxuriously decorated underground hall. At that moment, more than a dozen cultivators in the later stages of the Foundation Establishment phase had already gathered there.
These cultivators wore different styles of clothing and had no sect symbols; on the surface, they all seemed to be independent cultivators.
Seeing Su Che, who was brought there by the third shopkeeper himself and was only at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment, a middle-aged cultivator with a hooked nose and sunken eyes snorted, “Hua Ye, since when has the rule changed? Someone with such a low level of cultivation can also come here to participate in our transactions?”
“Hua Ye” was the third shopkeeper’s alias, which Su Che naturally knew. This guy with the hooked nose was clearly displeased with his arrival.
He thought to himself: In this vast world, one always runs into such annoying people who like to stir up trouble for no reason!