Chapter 563: Chapter 238: Purchasing Intelligence: Marketplace Transaction (Part 2)

In other words, the changes in the last five years had been extremely drastic.

Xiao Chen pressed, "What’s the reason for the changes?"

The steward held up two fingers. "This information will cost you two hundred Spirit Stones."

’How annoying. It’s like I’m dealing with some emotionless, money-grubbing puppet.’

Xiao Chen took out two hundred Spirit Stones, only to hear the other party’s reply: "Regarding the frequent disasters, the Major Sects have yet to find a cause."

’Huh?’

’Doesn’t that just translate to the classic answer: I don’t know?’

Xiao Chen glared at him. "And you have the nerve to take my Spirit Stones for that?"

The steward’s expression was calm. "A lack of progress is also a form of intelligence."

After a pause, he even added, "If a cause had been found, it wouldn’t have cost only two hundred."

’Huh?’

’What’s he trying to say by adding that?’

’Is that a jab? Who’s he talking about?’

Not bothering to argue with a junior whose cultivation was only at the Foundation Establishment realm, Xiao Chen opened the summary of important intelligence and began to familiarize himself with the various changes.

The situation in the Compassion Sea over the past ten years could be described with a single phrase.

Rival powers were on the rise, and a hundred flowers were blooming!

The various powers, from major and minor sects to Cultivation Clans, were all exceptionally active, participating in all sorts of Secret Realm explorations and resource conflicts.

At the same time, several inheritors of Hidden Dao Lineages had entered the world.

These included already famous powers like the Jade Morning Sect and the Qianyuan Sect.

There were also several suddenly emergent Loose Cultivators with superb methods and numerous trump cards, suspected to be inheritors of new Dao lineages.

.

Among all this, two pieces of news were most important.

The first was that three years ago, two Nascent Soul True Monarchs had suddenly appeared in the Compassion Sea, bringing with them eight Golden Core Disciples.

They called themselves the Clarity Sect and, upon their arrival, immediately absorbed three small, local Cultivation Clans.

They had now become an emerging power that could not be ignored.

The second was that the year before last, the original Chief Disciple of the Cloud Sea Sword Pavilion, located in the Tingtao Sea south of the Compassion Sea, had successfully achieved Nascent Soul Formation.

Due to his mastery of Water Techniques, he was granted the Dharma Name—Di Lang True Monarch.

Furthermore, according to reliable intelligence, this new True Monarch was only fifty-eight years old—frighteningly young.

This speed had broken the fastest cultivation record in the Compassion Sea for the past two thousand years.

As a result, Di Lang True Monarch was hailed by many as a super prodigy, the likes of which had not been seen in a thousand years.

It was said that despite him already having a partner within the sect, numerous powers still selected young and beautiful female cultivators to send to him, attempting to curry favor.

For several months, cultivators bearing gifts could be seen all over the Tingtao Sea.

"He’s certainly impressive."

Xiao Chen put away the intelligence report, silently committing the name to memory.

’It seems my cultivation isn’t the only one that’s been advancing by leaps and bounds; there’s no shortage of outstanding geniuses among the other cultivators.’

’But that’s fine. If all goes well, I’ll soon be able to acquire a strand of Evil Qi.’

’Before long, I’ll be the one to break that cultivation record again.’

These were all things that had already happened. For Xiao Chen, the list of major upcoming events at the end was far more critical.

It used a mere four lines of text to record four events, yet it was worth a full twenty thousand Spirit Stones.

The reason it was so expensive was that the four events it listed were all confirmed to happen in the future, but had not yet occurred.

First, in three months, the Gold Carving Small Secret Realm would be opening ahead of schedule.

Each time this Secret Realm opened, it produced large quantities of rare Spirit Ore.

Its importance to Artifact Refiners was almost equivalent to the Hundred Herbs Secret Realm’s significance to Alchemists.

However, this was of little significance to Xiao Chen, as he had barely dabbled in Artifact Refining.

He also held no expectations of getting lucky and digging up Tier Four Spirit Ore.

Mainly, he still needed to search for the Witchcraft Artifact and then hurry back to Silent Calamity Island; he didn’t have time to go mining.

Next, in five months, a large-scale auction would be held in the Tingtao Sea.

The news of the auction itself was no secret. The key point was that a heavily advertised Talisman Treasure had been confirmed to be a Defense Type Fifth-Class Talisman Treasure.

Anyone interested in bidding could start preparing their Spirit Stones in advance.

"A Fifth-Class Talisman Treasure?"

Xiao Chen had never seen a Talisman Treasure before, so he was genuinely a bit interested.

’If I have time, I might consider trying to bid on it. After all, one can never have too many protective items like that.’

Then, there was a piece of special intelligence.

In the southeastern part of the Compassion Sea, a continuous downpour had been falling for a full two years without any sign of stopping.

According to the Cangming Immortal Sect’s speculation, one possible reason was that some special Spiritual Object was about to emerge from the sea.

However, the specific situation was still unclear, and it might continue for a long time yet.

"The southeast, huh."

Xiao Chen was currently headed northwest to find Wu Ling, which was in the complete opposite direction.

’Still, Spiritual Objects that emerge from the sea are almost always water-related.’

So, after some thought, he decided to just let fate handle that one.

Finally, there was a Bounty Order from the Far West, accompanied by a portrait.

The Yin Corpse Sect, a Nascent Soul sect from the Storm Sea, was hunting a Half-Step Nascent Soul cultivator named ’Golden Light Wanderer’.

Following that was a pile of nonsense describing how cruel and unscrupulous the Golden Light Wanderer supposedly was.

Xiao Chen had to laugh. They really knew how to twist the truth.

’Going by the Yin Corpse Sect’s description, anyone who didn’t know better would probably think he was the one who was an indiscriminately slaughtering Demon Cultivator.’

’No matter. Let them be arrogant for a few more days. The time for their tears will come.’

At the very bottom was an incredibly high bounty, which included not only Spirit Stones but also an Enlightenment Crystal and a Tier Four Spiritual Object.

As of now, this news was only circulating among Nascent Soul True Monarchs and the few cultivators who had purchased the intelligence.

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