Chapter 46: The Art of Preserving One's Beauty

  "We are currently living in the Jin'an Inn, after the three virtuous nephews return, they can bring a letter to our respected teacher's ancestor. In their free time, it would be good for them to gather with us old friends!"

  Walking out of the wine building, Hong Tian smiled faintly and said.

  Huī Yù, who hadn't expected to part with them so soon, smiled wryly after a brief moment of stunned silence. "Don't worry, seniors. I'll definitely report back to our Master... However, I didn't have the chance to ask earlier, but observing your demeanor, Elder Xiāo, it seems you have some insight into this matter. Would you be willing to offer some guidance? As women..."

  Huiyu stopped here and slightly lowered her head, her face was slightly red, her tone was sincere, she seemed to want to know very much, but felt embarrassed, and again used the nature of women loving beauty to make excuses.

  She didn't bother to notice that when she spoke to herself, she used the pronoun 'I', which was completely different from her humble tone in front of Lu Hongtian. It was unclear whether it was intentional or unintentional, but she seemed to be ignoring her own cultivation and deliberately not wanting to lose face as a "senior" in front of everyone, so she smiled warmly and said, "Little friend, just work hard on your cultivation, if you can quickly advance to the same level as me, I'm sure it won't be difficult for you to maintain a youthful appearance!"

  Wei's eyebrows furrowed slightly as he adjusted his glasses, and then replied calmly, "Xiao Yao has just advanced to a higher level, so she should return early to consolidate her cultivation. It's not suitable for her to stay outside for too long. The Gathering Origin Platform has been quite chaotic recently, and the three of you should also return soon. If there are no seniors from the sect accompanying you, don't go out privately!"

  "Yes!"

  "Thank you for your guidance, senior!"

  After responding with respect, although she was unwilling in her heart, seeing Qin Liangyu and Huiyue whispering to each other beside her without expressing any opposition, Huiyu could only reluctantly lead the two junior sisters away to listen to the lecture.

  Before the closed-door foundation-building, during the process of visiting friends and gathering with Hong Tian and others, she also met many female cultivators who had special ideas about Hong Tian or Qin Xiao and did not give her a good face. Among them, there were even female cultivators who were one level higher than her in the foundation-building stage at that time, but they generally only showed it privately and did not show it on their faces. It was extremely rare for someone like Huiyu to be openly enthusiastic and polite on the surface but actually have poor acting skills that everyone could see through.

  Feeling that she always becomes a thorn in other people's eyes for no reason, Zuo Xiao Yao felt very depressed and quite innocent. She and Luo Hong Tian were just fairly compatible friends, at most because of their cooperation agreement on the Qing Chen Dan, he would occasionally give her some pointers since he was more familiar with her being a newcomer to the Xiuzhen world, but there was no ambiguous relationship between them!

  Unfortunately, this fact is apparently only clear to the parties involved. To outsiders, it suddenly appears that Lu Hongtian and Qin Xiao, who have always been rare in ambiguous rumors, are well-known in the cultivation world for their prominent background and excellent talent. Left Xiaoyao, who has never been seen or heard of, will inevitably be viewed with colored glasses by others, secretly speculating about the relationship between them in private. Very few people think that Zuo Xiaoyao might not have any ambiguous relationship with either of them.

  It seems that not only the people in the mortal world think that between men and women, apart from kinship and love, there won't be any pure and simple friendship, but even the cultivators of today have the same understanding!

  In the blink of an eye, a week's time had passed, and the Ninth Heaven Mountain Trading Conference was officially opened with great fanfare. Unlike Zhengning Peak and Juyuan Peak, which were commercial markets, Feixian Peak was where the outer door disciples of Feixian Gate lived and practiced their skills on a daily basis. The surrounding areas were home to some medium-sized and small immortal families affiliated with Feixian Gate. The large flat area halfway up the mountain peak below was actually the internal trading market of Feixian Peak, which was completely excavated from the belly of the giant mountain. It had an extremely spacious area, much larger than the top of the platform, and was not open to outsiders on a daily basis. However, it was here that the main venue of the Ninth Heaven Mountain Trading Conference, held once every seven years, took place.

  At the same time, although Ju Yuan Tai and Zheng Ning Tai also bask in the glory, they can be considered as auxiliary altars. However, the top of Quan Zhen Tai, adjacent to Ju Yuan Tai, is a crucial site for the Fei Xian Men sect, where the Golden Elixir Ancestor, Zhu Ji Chang Lao, and inner disciples reside. Below the top of the altar are the residences of two influential immortal families within the Fei Xian Men sect. Without an invitation, other cultivators do not have the qualifications to personally ascend to Quan Zhen Tai, which is said to be the most spiritually abundant among the nine altars on Jiǔ Tái Shān.

  In this month's time, Zuo Xiao Yao had grown and was no longer the naive white girl she once was. She naturally understood these situations and possessed a dense spiritual energy that far surpassed what modern cultivators could imagine, reaching the realm of Zi Yuan. As such, she had no interest in the Quan Zhen Platform.

  The grand trading event, held only once every seven years, still has a great appeal to these low-level cultivators who don't need to spend a long time in seclusion due to their insufficient cultivation. This can be seen from the dense crowd of people at the venue. Although she didn't want to squeeze in, after giving Rong Hongtian 200 Clear Dust Pills again before the event and obtaining 10,000 first-grade Spirit Jade, Zuo Xiaoyao still wanted to take advantage of this trading event to solve her embarrassing situation of having no magic weapons. Fortunately, she only needed to slightly release some of the Foundation Establishment pressure from herself and the other two, and the cultivators on the scene, whose cultivation was mostly at the Nascent Soul or Core Formation stage, would voluntarily retreat, fearing that they would provoke a 'high-level' cultivator who they were not qualified to provoke.

  Although she didn't say it explicitly, her gaze kept sizing up some of the artifacts. Lü Hong Tian, who knew her current situation best, naturally understood what she was thinking. "There may be many things that are publicly sold at such gatherings, but truly excellent items rarely appear. Xiao Yao will just take a look and understand the market first; if she really wants to buy something, it's better to decide after tonight!"

  "Oh, I hear Brother Luo say that, is there another good place to go besides these stalls and shops?"

  She was holding a yellow net-like mid-grade artifact, and although she didn't understand artifacts well, with her limited knowledge, she could tell that this yellow net was far inferior to the red net that Lu Hong Tian had used in front of her once. But it was precisely because that red net-like high-grade artifact had left a deep impression on her that whenever she saw various artifacts of different shapes and powers, she would always pay special attention to this type of net-like artifact. At this point, after hearing him say so, she put down the yellow net in her hand and stood up curiously, asking...

  "Didn't Xiao Yao notice that there are very few foundation-building cultivators who come here?"

  Ben stood by and watched as his own disciple haggled with someone over three Second-Order Spirit Symbols, before turning to ask Qin Xiao with a smile.

  She had of course long since discovered this phenomenon, but there were quite a few foundation-building cultivators who came to attend this trading conference. From the busy state of Luo Hongtian and Qin Xiao in the past few days, it could be confirmed that they would definitely come. Since they came to Jiutai Mountain, how could they not come here? Thinking that the two people beside her were also uninterested in the things on the scene, she had a move in her heart, and a flash of understanding quickly passed through her eyes.

  Xiao Yao shook her head and smiled, "Originally everyone was busy preparing for tonight's auction, I suppose you two are the same. But that place, with just this little bit of money in my pocket, I'm afraid we won't even be able to afford a bowl of soup. Although I really want to find two suitable magical instruments, it seems like we can only settle for something mediocre here."

  Because of seeing Zuo Xiao Yao presenting a Dan medicine to the younger generation with lower cultivation as a meeting gift, although it was only one product, suitable for Nasal and Fusion stages cultivators to improve their cultivation, but because the quality reached a rare middle grade, Qin Xiao Wei, who had always suspected that she was also skilled in alchemy, raised an eyebrow and said: "Some good things at the auction may be sold at a higher price, especially with the large scale of this auction, the probability of good things appearing is also greater, but ultimately it won't be too exaggerated. From the Yi Qi Dan that Xiao Yao gave to Ke Er and the others, I think your alchemy skills are extraordinary, and as far as I know, alchemists aren't poor, are they?"

  Taking into account the Qingchen Dan, Hongtian and Xiangyu had a tacit agreement to conceal the fact that she was an alchemist. The reason why she always gave away elixirs as gifts when meeting people was because, apart from elixirs, she didn't have any other valuable items on her person. Among all the elixirs, only the Yiqi San had a relatively low value, and aside from the large quantity of Qingchen Dan that couldn't be privately taken out, she also had many other second-grade elixirs, including some Qingchen Dan, which she hadn't even mentioned to Hongtian.

  As a senior with higher cultivation, when meeting junior disciples or younger relatives of friends who have lower cultivation, they need to show more courtesy to demonstrate their identity or to save face for their friends. This is a common rule in the Cultivation World.

  So, even if they met the three women of Zheng Dingmen that day, although they had no connection with their masters or schools, just because they were Rong Hongtian's "virtuous nephews", in the storage bag, there was only a large number of cultivation classics and more than a dozen talismans that could be bought on the market, except for a large amount of elixirs. Zuo Xiaoyao had to give out another batch of medium-grade nourishing elixir.

  Before that, not only had she given Qin Lian a pill, but also when meeting some other fellow disciples of Luo Hongtian, she would often use the Yiqi San to save face. Therefore, Qin Xiao thought she was an alchemist, and indeed there was some basis for this. However, as for their relationship, Zuo Xiaoyao didn't plan on admitting it so easily. "Qin brother might have some misunderstanding, those pills were just something my master gave me before he left. When I was at the Nascent Soul stage, with no one to guide me, I hastily took a large amount of them in order to quickly raise my cultivation. As a result, even though I hadn't broken through to the Liquid Core stage yet, this Yiqi San had already become ineffective for me. I estimate that it developed resistance, and until now there's still quite a bit left. And as for myself... well, it's embarrassing to say..."

  Hong Tian smiled and suggested, "Xiao Yao doesn't have to worry too much. The matter of the Ling Yu is easy to discuss. If there's not enough at that time, I can lend you some temporarily. As cultivators, we value relationships and opportunities. Since we've arrived at this grand gathering, it's better to choose a powerful magical tool that you like. The quality of a magical tool can often affect the user's life or death, so it mustn't be taken lightly!"