Ye Chen set off after spending seven days at home.
Like Sky Cloud Sect, Ye Chen left behind large amounts of low grade spirit stones and martial skill manuals, although the quantity was a little less in comparison. After all, the population of the Ye family was lower in comparison to Sky Cloud Sect. Moreover, due to Ye Chen, Ye family and Sky Cloud Sect were quite close. As long as the disciples of Ye family were not too lacking in talent, they could enter Sky Cloud Sect without a problem and learn all the martial skills they wanted there. The omnipresent pressure present in the sect was quite important for development. If one didn't improve, they would be phased out.
To leave the South Rudra Region, Star Lake was an inevitable point to be passed. With a perimeter of several million li, Star Lake could easily be ranked among the largest lakes of the continent. Blood Demon Battlefield, Bewilderment Fog Forbidden Zone, and other such places were merely the edges of the lake, far from the central regions.
"That's Blue Mountain Island ahead, just like on the map."
Unwittingly, a month passed since Ye Chen entered the depths of Star Lake. It contained boundless islands, which could have perimeters as small as a few li and as big as more than ten thousand li. Majority of these islands were devoid of life, while a few had some demonic beasts. Of course, there were also islands where humans existed. Before his eyes was an island with a perimeter of more than ten thousand li, which according to the map was called the Blue Mountain Island. On its surface was a small nation with a population of over a hundred million. It was a well-known island of Star Lake.
Xu! Xu! Xu!
A large number of martial artists left the island while a large number of martial artists rushed in, creating a bustling scene. With his body turning into light, Ye Chen landed into a city on the edge of Blue Mountain Island.
Walking on the vast street, as Ye Chen looked at the passing by martial artists, he inwardly said, "As expected of True Spirit Continent… The population here is beyond imagination. A relatively big island had more than a hundred million residents. This city alone has several million residents!"
Blue Mountain Nation, a country established on Blue Mountain Island, was not to be looked down upon. Although Windy Nation had a population ten times higher, in terms of high-end martial artists, there was simply no comparison. The Imperial Family had thousands of Astral Reaching experts, and much more importantly, five Sea of Soul realm experts. Under the watch of five Sea of Soul realm experts, Blue Mountain Island was, without a doubt, a regional overlord within the boundless Star Lake. Under Life and Death realm, if anybody wished to create trouble here, they had to consider their options several times.
"Third Clasping Yuan Realm Elimination Tournament is about to start. Let's go take a look."
"Hehe, of course, we will. What are we here for? Is it not because of the different ancient ruins around the island? If we're lucky, we may get our hands on some spiritual grasses or artifacts. If we're not, we can increase our experience. Aside from that, the Elimination Tournament of Blue Mountain Island is a killer. Martial artists from all around the continent such as South Rudra Region, Thunder Region, Cloud Billows Region, and Misty Snow Region gather here. Watching these experts exchange pointers is beneficial to almost everybody."
On the street, martial artists were discussing with each other.
"Ancient Remains, Clasping Yuan Elimination Tournament!"
Ye Chen let out a smile. He didn't choose this island as his first stop without a reason. The island itself wasn't any special location, but the area of hundred thousand li around the island had many ancient ruins. Some were right on the surface, as one could see them while flying across, while some were in the depths of the lake and would need one to dive more than ten thousand meters deep into the lake. Since the lake stretched for huge distances, the depths of lake were not tranquil, and were instead filled with surging undercurrents. It made one easily lose their direction, causing the exploration of ruins to be quite hard. However, this was precisely the desire of exploring martial artists. The ancient remains that were easy to find proved to not contain mid grade artifacts. On the other hand, the hard-to-find ancient remains instead proved to be much more profitable. Therefore, the martial artists coming to the island kept increasing like a rolling snowball.
The ancient remains were an attraction, but the island's Elimination Tournament was no less of an attraction either.
Every region had their own Elimination Tournament, and their standard was even higher than that of Blue Mountain Island. However, which region could have such a high concentration of martial artists from varying regions? The distance between the regions was too large. Thus, seldom would martial artists head to other regions. Blue Mountain Island, however, lied at the center of the Star Lake. Its distance from the various regions was hardly any different, making it sort of a central region. The martial artists of other regions were quite willing to come here, since they would be able to witness the strength and skills of martial artists from other regions, while being able to explore ancient remains at the same time. It was simply an island of dreams.
"No need to rush. Let's first understand the distribution of ancient remains and get specific directions for some. Blindly rushing into action will only produce half the result with twice the effort."
"This Elimination Tournament really is no small attraction. Up until now, I've never seen so many martial artists of different regions together. Bewilderment Fog Island had some, but unfortunately, their strength was too low. Blue Mountain Island could attract so many martial artists from varying regions. It is superior to the Bewilderment Fog Island indeed."
Halting outside a restaurant's entrance, Ye Chen turned and entered inside. A pleasant hot bath and a sumptuous feast cost Ye Chen a total of twenty low grade spirit stones. From the perspective of secular world, the cost of twenty low grade spirit stones, equivalent to twenty thousand gold coins, was quite expensive. But to a martial artist, it didn't matter much. After giving eight million low grade spirit stones to Sky Cloud Sect and five million to Ye family, Ye Chen still had more than two million low grade spirit stones. Ye Chen didn't have much use for these spirit stones, so using them for daily use was a good alternative. As for mid-grade stones, Ye Chen had a humongous amount of them as well, more than a million. Converting them into low grade spirit stones, he would have more than fifty million, nearing to sixty million. Of course, no Astral Reaching expert was stupid enough to exchange mid-grade spirit stones for low-grade ones.
Blue Mountain Island had a total of eighteen cities, comprising of three big cities and fifteen medium cities. Ye Chen's medium city was called the Blue Bird City. There was an antique street in the city. On this street was nothing for sale except antiques extracted from the ancient remains.
Antiques might be valuable or worthless, depending on the eyes of the customers. One could spend a huge amount of money for trash, and conversely, one could also get a priceless treasure for a small amount of money.
The street was long, filled with an endless stream of martial artists.
On either sides, in addition to plain and simple antique stores, there were varying vendor booths. Inside every booth sat a martial artist. These martial artists hadn't attained the Astral Reaching realm, and most were at the Clasping Yuan realm, while a few were even at the Condensing Reality realm. They were either haggling over price with customers, or had their eyes closed in wait for customers. It was quite a bustling scene.
"In the medium cities, martial artists of the Astral Reaching realm or below can set up their stalls, while the big cities only allow martial artists at the Astral Reaching realm or above to do the same. But, this doesn't indicate that medium cities don't have any good items. So many Astral Reaching experts being on the street is a proof of that. They're probably thinking of scoring some treasures themselves."
With a faint smile, Ye Chen entered the street along with a tide of others.
As Ye Chen roamed the crowded street, his soul power never ceased to scan the surroundings. The objects in the stalls could indeed be called antiques. The Blue Mountain Island was on Star Lake, and so were ancient remains. It caused these antiques to suffer from the lake water's erosion to a varying extent. One could discern the appearance and applications of those with good water-resistant properties, but there were also some that were riddled with scars, holes, and corroded sections. It was absolutely impossible to know what kind of objects they were. But even so, the martial artists outside the stalls were full of spirits. Ye Chen even saw two Clasping Yuan martial artists furiously fighting over a fragment of a broken jade.
"Eh, it's actually a Yuan Light Ball!"
How sharp was Ye Chen's soul power? The antiques with Yuan Qi fluctuations lied absolutely bare before him. With just a light scan, all of their information entered his mind.
Ye Chen had seen Yuan Light Balls two times. The first was the one given to him by Ye Hai, which he used later in the Hundred Thousand Mountains. The second time was when they were being chased by Corpse Man's underlings. Luo Hanshan had crushed it to resist the opponent's blow and avoid death.
Perhaps Yuan Light Ball for the current Ye Chen held no use at all. However, Ye Chen could never forget that it was this Yuan Light Ball that had saved his life. Otherwise, he would have been killed by the vine at the Sheephead Peak.
For a Clasping Yuan martial artist, having a Yuan Light Ball was the same as having another life, since it could resist a full power strike of any Clasping Yuan martial artist. If one were to crush it and amplify their defense during a decisive battle, they could easily win the battle.
"I want this Yuan Light Ball. Three thousand low grade spirit stones."
"I'll give four thousand."
As Ye Chen had expected, numerous individuals had their eyes set on Yuan Light Ball, trying to outbid each other.
Shaking his head, he proceeded ahead.
Soon, he arrived at the street's end and abruptly stopped his steps.
"Excuse me, what is this?"
Picking up a yellowish red wooden rooster from the stall to his left, Ye Chen asked.
The stall owner was an old man with a Clasping Yuan cultivation base and his potential exhausted. He spoke with a faint smile, "This a puppet chicken. Five millennia ago, there was a fifth grade sect called the Puppet Sect. All the disciples of Puppet Sect created puppeteering mechanisms. This Puppet Chicken is not a graded product. But, don't look it as just being not graded, as it's exquisiteness is simply off the charts. Feed it with a low-grade spirit stone, and it walks on its own and pecks off pests and insects on plants. Young hero, if you have your own medicinal farm, you absolutely have to bring this thing back with you. What do say, three thousand low grade spirit stones?"
"Puppet Sect, I've heard of them."
The wooden puppet in Sky Cloud Sect was a product of Puppet Sect. It was a fifth grade sect from five millennia ago. When it was at its peak, one could easily imagine it brimming with Life and Death experts. Of course, the Puppet Chicken before him was not made by a Life and Death expert. It ought to be nothing more than a creation of an inner disciple. It was as vivid and intricate as if breathing. But, it was obviously better than a living one as far as application was concerned. A real chicken could obviously eat insects, but one could be sure that it would also eat medicinal plants.
"I'll buy it." Ye Chen bought it and turned around. Of course, he didn't buy it to get rid of pests and insects, but due to pure fondness. Puppet Sect's works were far too rare.
Right at this moment, a melodious sound came, "I'll give five thousand low grade spirit stones. Give the Puppet Chicken to me."
Bringing a fragrant breeze, a young woman arrived beside the stall. She was around twenty-three or twenty-four years old. Her stature was petite and had a pretty appearance. However, the pampered feeling coming from body let Ye Chen know that she was no virtuous lady.
"Young miss, the Puppet Chicken…"
The old man was somewhat moved. Five Thousand low grade spirit stones was a huge sum of money for him. He himself wanted to sell this puppet chicken at a high price. However, for the past several days, a lot of people rejected it due to its high price. After all, it served no purpose as far as cultivation was concerned, and could only serve as a souvenir. Almost no Clasping Yuan martial artist would be willing to spend three thousand low grade spirit stones for such a thing. One would be better off purchasing some medicinal pills for such a price.
Although he was feeling a bit moved, he was extremely apprehensive of Ye Chen, since he couldn't sense Ye Chen's cultivation in the slightest. Going back on one's word was a taboo among martial artists. It was hard to say whether the counterpart would remember this grudge. Although the cities in the Blue Mountain Island prohibited fighting inside, outside the city, no such concern would hold him.
"Greed won't do you anything good. Here, take these three thousand low grade spirit stones. I'll have the Puppet Chicken."
Ye Chen simply disregarded the young woman.