Chapter 1844: Bai Guo'er and the Exchange
Right around this time, information surrounding the imminent devilish tribulation also began to spread among the low-grade and mid-grade cultivators of the two races. There were even rumors that some mortals with special statuses had been made aware of this information as well.
However, there were still several centuries until the tribulation's commencement, and low-grade cultivators and mortals could only live for 200 to 300 years at most, so they didn't immediately fly into a panic.
Even so, many of the smaller cultivation families and powers among the mortals have begun to make preparations for the upcoming tribulation.
Some of the mortals in the smaller cities also began to move toward the major powers. Of course, the information surrounding the devilish tribulation naturally wasn't going to be disclosed to normal people, but they were moved closer to major powers for one reason or another.
As the years passed by, the atmosphere in the human regions became tenser and tenser. In the past, cultivators very rarely appeared before mortals, but they were now appearing in all of the major cities in large groups.
They were either setting up all types of defensive formations out in the open, or putting the body refinement warriors among the mortals through specific training that would better equip them to face devilish beings.
Even though the body refinement warriors that were currently being trained would die of old age long before the commencement of the devilish tribulation, these training methods had to be ingrained very early on so that it could reach a certain scale several generations into the future, thereby making the future generations of body refinement warriors a viable source of assistance to all of the major powers.
After all, there were over 100 times as many body refinement warriors as there were cultivators, and even though the most powerful ones among them were only comparable to Nascent Soul cultivators, their staggering numbers made them a force to be reckoned with.
During the past devilish tribulations, it had been proven that when properly armed, these body refinement warriors could be very effective against low-grade and mid-grade elder devils.
Batches of spirit tools that had been hidden in the secret vaults of the major powers were also being brought out and distributed to the powers among the mortals.
Meanwhile, more powerful spirit tools were being refined in large batches by the tool refinement masters of the major powers.
At the same time, pills and treasures that could be used by low-grade and mid-grade cultivators were also being refined at all costs.
As such, demand for tool refinement and pill refinement materials naturally increased to an astonishing extent, and the prices for these materials had increased by several fold compared to in the past.
Even so, demand still outweighed supply, and there were often shortages of all types of materials.
The situation in the seven demon territories was also quite similar. Of course, the situation had slowly escalated over the span of over 100 years, so the two races weren't plunged into complete turmoil.
However, this seemed to have no bearing whatsoever on a certain person, and no news of him emerged during this past century.
On this day, a streak of white light suddenly flew over the city wall of Deep Heaven City, which were now around twice their original height.
Within the white light was a slender figure, and she vanished from the field of view of the guards stationed on this section of the city wall after just a few flashes.
A black-armored man faltered slightly upon seeing this before flaring up with rage. "Who's that? How dare a Core Formation cultivator like her fly over the city gate right under our noses?" Black light then flashed over his body as he prepared to set off in pursuit.
Another armored guard standing beside him hurriedly grabbed onto his shoulder, and said, "Please wait, Brother Hu! That's Fairy Bai, and she's granted direct passage into Deep Heaven City without having to be searched by us."
"Huh? Why's that? She's just a Core Formation cultivator; why is she granted such a privilege?" the black-armored man asked.
"She may only be a Core Formation cultivator, but her master is a Body Integration cultivator, and he took only several centuries to progress from the Deity Transformation to the Body Integration. There's a good chance that he could even reach the late-Body Integration Stage in the future. As for that Fairy Bai, it's said that she only took just over 100 years to reach the mid-Core Formation Stage, so she also possesses extraordinary cultivation aptitude. You only recently joined our Deep Heaven City, and that's why you don't recognize her," the armored guard explained.
"Could it be that her master is the Senior Han who once matched the Long Family patriarch in a battle?" the man with the Hu surname exclaimed as his expression changed drastically.
"Oh? So you've heard about Senior Han as well. That makes sense; even though there hasn't been any news about him for a long time, he's still a vastly renowned figure among our human race. Otherwise, the panel of elders wouldn't have granted such a privilege to that in-name disciple of his," the other armored guard replied with a smile.
The man with the Hu surname nodded before asking, "So that woman is Senior Han's in-name disciple; no wonder she's been granted free passage. Does she visit our Deep Heaven City often?"
"Not too often; at times, she visits once every one or two years, and at other times, she visits once every seven or eight years. However, I've heard from some friends of mine that every time she visits, she's always here to purchase materials from the markets. That makes sense considering how much of a shortage there currently is on all materials; only our Deep Heaven City is able to provide some materials for sale," the other armored guard replied.
"I see. Does this mean Senior Han resides somewhere close to our Deep Heaven City?" the man with the Hu surname asked.
"I don't know about that. After all, no one dares to follow this Fairy Bai back to where Senior Han is currently dwelling. In any case, it's not in our place to be discussing matters surrounding Body Integration Seniors; how about you tell me about that chunk of Purple Golden Iron you discovered in that market last time?" The other armored guard changed the subject in a rather cautious manner.
"Hehe, I really lucked out there and secured that material for a low price before selling it for a good profit. On that day, I was visiting a market and just so happened to pass by a small shop..." The man with the Hu surname seemed to be more than happy to tell this story, and he immediately gave a spirited recount of events.
All of the other guards on that section of the city wall listened with rapt focus, and the events that had just transpired were quickly forgotten.
At this point, the streak of white light was already heading directly toward a certain market within Deep Heaven City.
Several hours later, the streak of white light landed in front of the human and demon exchange center within the market.
The white light receded to reveal a silver-robed young woman who appeared to be around 16 to 17 years of age. She had an oval face and a pair of large bright eyes. Her delicate cheeks were tinged with a rosy complexion, and she had grown to become quite a beauty.
After issuing some spirit stones to the guard in front of the exchange center, then accepting a treasure that would conceal her identity, she strode into the hall, enshrouded within a ball of spiritual light.
Moments later, she appeared inside the main hall of the exchange center, where over 100 other people were present, all of whom had also been concealed within balls of spiritual light, creating quite a lively and bustling scene.
Bai Guo'er quickly inspected her surroundings before her gaze settled on a certain direction, and she strode toward a certain corner of the hall.
There, a demonic cultivator enshrouded within a cloud of black Qi was standing in silence.
As soon as Bai Guo'er approached the demonic cultivator, the black Qi around the latter churned slightly, and a pristine white hand reached out, holding half of a jade pendant.
Bai Guo'er flipped her hand over upon seeing this, and produced half a jade pendant as well.
The two halves of the jade pendant were then connected to form a whole, and Bai Guo'er was quite relieved to see this.
A pleasant female voice rang out from within the black Qi, and she seemed to be familiar with Bai Guo'er. "Hehe, so it's you again. Is your master still in seclusion?"
"Ah, I didn't expect you to come here in person, Senior Qin. Indeed, my master is still in seclusion," Bai Guo'er replied in a slightly surprised manner.
"The materials your master requested this time are extremely valuable, so I couldn't entrust them to anyone else. I must say, your master never ceases to astound me; to think that he was able to nurture you to the mid-Core Formation Stage in just over 100 years," the woman within the black Qi sighed.
"This is all thanks to the pills that Master gave me, and the efforts he made to cleanse my essence. Otherwise, there's no way I could've reached the Core Formation Stage so easily with my aptitude," Bai Guo'er replied, and the tone of her voice suggested that she was very grateful toward her master.
The woman within the black Qi was none other than the Heavenly Fox being, Qin Su'er, who had engaged in many transactions with Han Li in the past. Every once in a while, Han Li would send Bai Guo'er to this place to exchange for items with Qin Su'er in his stead.
"In any case, it's still very impressive that you were able to make such fast progress. If you continue in this manner, there's a very good chance that you could progress to the Deity Transformation Stage or even Spatial Tempering Stage in the future. Alright, that's enough rambling from me; let's begin our exchange," Qin Su'er said as she pulled out a purple wooden box and handed it over to Bai Guo'er.
"Thank you for your words of praise, Senior." A sweet smile appeared on Bai Guo'er’s face, and she flipped a hand over to produce a blue ring.
Two hours later, Bai Guo'er re-emerged from the hall, then made her way over to a secluded corner before rising up into the air and flying back the way she had come from.
Two months later, she descended onto a massive mountain deep within a mountain range that was remarkably abundant with spiritual Qi.