Chapter 1441: Gains and Losses
Chapter 1441: Gains and Losses
The ice box sat in his palm.
Drawing on what he had learned before, Qin Sang set about breaking the seal.
Pale light burst out inside the cave dwelling from time to time, and the cold that came with it laid a layer of frost across the walls. The ice box shuddered again and again, yet showed no sign of opening.
After a long while, Qin Sang stopped and stared at it, frowning.
To his surprise, even with spiritual consciousness manifestation, the seal on the ice box left him helpless. He had already tried every method he could think of.
He sat motionless with the box in his hand, gaze distant, evidently turning something over.
His spiritual consciousness was not inferior to a great cultivator's. If even that could not open the box, and he still had no clue where to begin, there were only two possibilities; either his spiritual consciousness remained insufficient, or some particular condition had to be met.
If not even a great cultivator could open it, then for the foreseeable future Qin Sang would likely have to leave it in the Thousand-Jin Ring and pretend it did not exist.
His thoughts wandered for a moment, to the man in white who had stolen the box, and to the Myriad Devil Assembly.
Without any surprises, he would attend it in person.
The Chaotic Devil Elder has killed so many of Mystic Heaven Palace's Spiritual Infants that the feud is beyond mending. Will the palace still take part in the Myriad Devil Assembly? It's the single greatest event in the North Sea, the largest trade fair among Spiritual Infant cultivators. If the man in white is alive, he may well show himself on Chaotic Devil Island. And if Mystic Heaven Palace wants to find its traitor and recover the ice box, it will surely send people to investigate in secret. I wonder whether they have a way to sense it. Should I leave the box in the cave dwelling before I go? Qin Sang thought.
At that thought, inspiration struck. He would do the opposite: carry the ice box to Chaotic Devil Island and use it to test Mystic Heaven Palace!
This assembly was the best chance he would get.
At odds with the Chaotic Devil Elder, the palace's people would be entering the heartland of the devilish sects, and they would hardly dare throw their weight around on Chaotic Devil Island. On top of that, the Ghost Mother had once remarked that something was off about the palace master's condition, that he might be recovering from injuries. With the palace master unable to act, no one else would find it easy to hold Qin Sang there.
There were only two possible outcomes.
If he went unnoticed, it would mean Mystic Heaven Palace had no way to sense the box's location, or that his devilish flame seal could block their perception. After that he would have nothing left to worry about. Whether to keep the box for study or put it to some other use, he could decide at his leisure.
If Mystic Heaven Palace locked onto him, it would mean the devilish flame seal was useless.
And he had no better way of hiding the box. Even if he concealed it for a time, the palace had only to keep searching. With its strength and the vast reach of its influence, it would pin him down sooner or later. Taking the box back to Beichen Realm would be no safer either. Once the palace master recovered and crossed the storm belt to come knocking, the trouble would be far worse.
To make an enemy of the greatest power in the North Sea over a box he could not open was hardly wise.
Qin Sang did not even know what was inside. In all likelihood it was a treasure of the Dao of ice, which might well be of no use to him at all.
That being so, he might as well strike a bargain with Mystic Heaven Palace.
After all, he was not the one who had stolen it. The moment he signaled willingness, the palace would have no reason to offend yet another top-tier expert and would surely leap at the offer. And with the palace master weakened, Qin Sang could squeeze out considerably more.
Ting! Ting! Tapping the ice box lightly with a finger, he weighed the matter carefully. What could he get out of Mystic Heaven Palace?
First, without question, the nautical chart to Zhongzhou.
That gave him pause. A nautical chart was hardly a treasure that had to be kept out of sight. With the Ghost Mother's strength, if she wanted it, she could simply call on them and ask to see it. Mystic Heaven Palace had no reason to hide it at all.
Was her goal something more than that?
He nodded to himself, thinking it very likely. Unfortunately, Tan Hao knew next to nothing about the Ghost Mother, or Qin Sang could have shaped his demands around it.
Second, the art of the man in white. Qin Sang suspected he was one of the rare spirit cultivators, and he was very interested in that kind of art.
Third, Mystic Heaven Palace had a long lineage and ruled an entire realm unchallenged. Its halls must hold countless treasured texts, perhaps even secret techniques for breaking through to the late stage of the Spiritual Infant Realm, or as far as the Divine Transformation Realm.
It came down to how much the ice box was worth, and how much he could trade it for. At worst he could ask for pills and astras, which the palace could certainly produce.
Better to trade for something that would help his own cultivation than to hold on to a box he had no idea when he could open, at the risk of making endless enemies.
For an immortal cultivator, the Great Dao was what mattered in the end!
While Qin Sang was weighing the gains against the costs, he sensed the barrier on the cave dwelling stir. Tan Hao had returned.
He put the ice box away and took out the Divine Sun Tree for a look. The aura of flame upon it had gradually deepened toward crimson. Once it condensed into a Divine Sun Bird, he would be able to put it to use. He tried once more to subdue the Southern Sun Fire with the Fire Seed Golden Lotus and, as expected, failed again.
Qin Sang put the astra away, rose, and stepped out of the cave dwelling to call Tan Hao over.
"Brother Qin, you're finally out of seclusion." Tan Hao let out a breath of relief.
With the Myriad Devil Assembly drawing close, he had been worried Qin Sang would miss it, yet had not dared disturb his seclusion, and had been growing frantic.
"Word of the assembly has been flying everywhere lately, and plenty of Daoists have already set out. Have you decided, Brother Qin?"
"There's no hurry." Qin Sang gave a slight smile. "Did you find anything?"
Tan Hao nodded. He had recorded everything he gathered well in advance, and handed Qin Sang a jade slip.
Qin Sang sent his spiritual consciousness into it, skimmed past the less important items, and focused on the emergence of Huang Longshi's temporary residence.
Below the Spiritual Infant Realm, Tan Hao had few rivals left. He could not uncover every secret, but he could turn up sixty or seventy percent of them.
The matter was on everyone's lips, and not only because the residence had surfaced. It also touched on the grudge between the greatest sect in the North Sea and the strongest figure in Boundless Sea.
The residence had appeared in a stretch of water in the eastern Boundless Sea, an area many had long suspected and searched countless times without result. The Chaotic Devil Elder had most likely been watching it closely all along, which was why he caught the first sign the moment it showed.
The ones who found it were four Spiritual Infant cultivators of the Mystic Heaven Palace, one of them an elder, and all of them died horribly at the Chaotic Devil Elder's hands in the struggle for the treasure. Counting Daoists Qi and Wang, that made several Spiritual Infant cultivators slaughtered by him in a very short span. Other rumors held that a few devilish monsters had taken part in the killing as well.
For them to risk offending Mystic Heaven Palace, the spoils must have been enormous.
The Cold Bone Devil Hand on the listing had very likely come from that residence. It was no secret in Boundless Sea that Huang Longshi had once discovered the hidden realm of the ancient devilish sect known as Cold Bone Dao and inherited its legacy.
They say there are more Cold Bone Dao treasures coming to the assembly. Why is the old devil in such a hurry to sell? Is he really that desperate to trade for something? Tan Hao can't dig this up, but Sage Yinquan should know a thing or two, and I have business with him anyway. Qin Sang thought.
Qin Sang withdrew his spiritual consciousness, thought for a moment, and left the cave dwelling with Tan Hao.
After seeing him to a safe spot near Chaotic Devil Island and settling on a way to stay in contact, Qin Sang changed course and headed alone for Pearl Island.