Gu Mei understood. She saw Li Shen leave the Azure Pillar Sect again for the second time. The moment Li Shen came to the sect, he didn't see Hao Ziyue and Xiao Bai returning, considering that the Huang Valley Trials would begin in three months.
Li Shen had to go to every auction in the big city to get the item, even though he knew the item he was going for was classified as a high-level treasure. However, Li Shen would do whatever he could to get those items.
Nether Flame Grass, Nature's Baby Fruit, and Rain Pearl Essence Liquid. The three materials were classified as high-level treasures with the highest difficulty, not easy for any practitioner to obtain.
Even so, Li Shen did not give up. He would search all auction houses, rob other sects' treasures, and even search into the ruins of buried palaces to find all three. That was the only way to remove the cultivation curse on Ruo Fei.
Ye Fa returned to the front yard, seeing Gu Mei staring outside the Azure Pillar Sect, "Did the Sect Leader leave again?"
Gu Mei turned her head and nodded. She said that Sect Leader Li Shen left to collect rare materials to treat Ruo Fei, Ye Fa fell silent while also staring in the same direction as Gu Mei.
"After thousands of years of separation and having met Ruo Fei's condition, Sect Leader certainly won't let her continue to suffer," Ye Fa replied, Gu Mei nodded in agreement with the woman.
"Hopefully he can get what he's looking for."
Outside the Azure Pillar sect, Li Shen visited Wei city which was located close to the Azure Hill. That day, there were many practitioners filling the city streets. They walked together toward the Wei Family's auction.
Li Shen arrived at the front gate of the city, stepping inside after the authorities let him in. He had no interest in visiting the equipment stores and restaurants, his eyes focused on the auction building ahead.
'Do they sell any of those three items?' asked Li Shen, curious.
The man arrived inside the auction building in the Azure dragon blue robe he was wearing. One of the female staff walked up to Li Shen, asking his intentions.
"Do you have any of these three materials?" Li Shen handed them a silver plate, listing the names of the materials he was searching for. One of the female staff looked at it, then responded by shaking her head.
"Sorry, Master. We don't have these materials."
"Do you know where I can get them?" asked Li Shen.
As he talked to the woman, Li Shen's attention was sharply diverted by the sight of a middle-aged man wearing a red robe coming to meet him. He was the patriarch of the Wei Family.
The man knew very well who Li Shen was as he still remembered the moment he was almost killed by Li Shen's Dao of Dreams. He greeted the man with a fearful heart, reluctant to offend Li Shen.
"Master Dao, do you need anything?" the man asked.
One of the female staff stepped closer to the man, showing him the list of materials recorded on the silver plate she was holding. His first response was a look of shock.
"This material, unfortunately we don't have it," replied the man, putting his hands together and bowing respectfully.
"Then?" asked Li Shen, curtly.
The man felt intimidated. Li Shen reached out to retrieve his silver plate.
"As I know, the Fire Nether Grass has been bought by cultivators from the Yuan Ling sect. They are a 5th level sect," the man replied.
"As for the Nature Baby Fruit, Junior has never heard of it. However, Senior Dao is lucky, the Auction in Qing Yan Capital is planning to sell the Rain Pearl Essence Liquid," said the man.
"When?" asked Li Shen.
"Two months from now," replied the man, Li Shen silently nodded slowly.
"That's enough."
Li Shen stepped out of the auction house, but his steps stopped again when the man said something. That made Li Shen turn around immediately.
"The auction in Qing Yan Capital can only be attended by someone from a respected Cultivator Family. Those who have a nobility plate from the Palace can buy it," the man replied.
'A nobility plate?A respected family?I'll try to talk to Xun'er,' Li Shen explained.
Li Shen fell into a cold silence, then patted his magic pouch and took out a heaven-level spirit stone to the man. The man was naturally surprised to see that it was so easy for Li Shen to give a high-level spirit stone to him.
"Thank you, Senior," said the man, without hesitation accepting Li Shen's gift.
'Who is he exactly?Why is he so rich?' the man asked, squinting.
Li Shen's purpose was revealed. The auction in Qing Yan Capital would open in two months, meaning one month before the Huang Valley Trials began. Before that, he had to go to the Yuan Ling sect to seize the Nether Flame Grass.
Li Shen flew fast leaving Wei city to arrive at the sect. The Yuan Ling Sect was a sect with fire-dominant elements, having existed even as the Azure Pillar was established. They also became one of Qing Yan's alliance members when the Azure War happened.
"Yuan Ling."
Even so, Li Shen still remembered that place well. It was far away from Wei City, close to the Ling volcano. That was how they became a fire dominant sect.
It didn't take long for Li Shen to arrive at the place. Li Shen's arrival was followed by a powerful blast of blue qi energy, shaking the earth and activating the sect's protective wall. The entire sect disciples saw Li Shen's sudden arrival, and immediately directed their focus to the sky.
"Sect Leader Yuan Ling! Come out!" declared Li Shen, his voice resounding accompanied by powerful qi energy fluctuations.
In the red flames, the figure of the Sect Leader in a fire-red robe came out accompanied by 10 Nascent Soul elders. They lined up in the sky right before Li Shen, looking at Li Shen arrogantly.
Only the Sect Leader was at the early Soul Formation stage, with the concept of dao purely from his mind. As such, his abilities far exceeded Dong Yi's.
"Junior! What brings you to my sect?" the man asked, sternly.
Li Shen put his hands together and bowed his head. Fighting was not necessary in this place, it would only make him known to many people and put the Azure Pillar Sect under threat.
"I came to buy Nether Flame Grass," Li Shen replied.
"HAHA!"
"Don't you know, Junior? The Nether Flame Grass is something that cannot be bought by anything in this world. It's our sect's treasure," explained one of the elders.
Li Shen was silent not responding to the elder, then refocused forward looking at Sect Leader Yuan Ling. The man responded with a sigh, listening to Li Shen's ramblings was a waste of time for him.
Not replying to Li Shen's words, they instead flew back into the sect ignoring Li Shen. Occasionally, Li Shen heard laughter from them, the kind of laughter that insulted him.
"I have spirit stones to exchange, or high-level pills," Li Shen explained.
"Go home, boy. don't waste our time," the elder retorted. Their figures disappeared from Li Shen's sight.
Li Shen fell silent, putting back the items he had taken out. Not only the sect elders, but the other disciples also joined in laughing at the man, as if he had no shame in bargaining the Nether Flame Grass for Spirit Stone.
"I tried to negotiate well with you people, but you don't seem to want to respond," Li Shen replied.
"Go and leave us alone, before we kill you, boy!" snapped another elder.
Li Shen's eyes closed, then began to rapidly increase his cultivation realm, no longer holding back like before. From a Mid Stage Nascent Soul to a peak Soul Ascension!
The burst of qi energy was stronger and more intense in that place, attracting their attention until they looked back. Their faces turned pale with violently narrowed eyes.
"Soul Ascension practitioners?" startled some of the elders.
Li Shen brought out a blue spear from his hand, directly striking the sect's protective wall with a blow. The strength of the Nascent Soul peak-equivalent protective wall was unable to withstand the turmoil of qi force from Li Shen's spear.
BLAST!
An explosion happened, the sect's protective wall collapsed and gave rise to a fire dragon floating into the sky, as an initial response of threat to the sect. Li Shen was silent with piercing eyes.
He stretched out his hand, creating a huge primordial hand that gripped the serpent dragon. In one powerful hand squeeze, the fire dragon shattered and sent qi fluctuations throughout the sect.
"Destroying the sect's protective Fire Dragon with a single strike?! Who is he exactly?" asked the sect elder, shocked.
"I won't bargain with goods, but with your lives!" declared Li Shen, his voice echoing along with qi pressure to everyone, with the exception of Sect Leader Yuan Ling.
"Hand over the Nether Flame Grass. If not, you will die!"