Immortal Reincarnation Tribulation

Chapter 168 Suguoshan Exchange Meeting

In a dense forest, five people were already there. They stood together and occasionally exchanged a few words, indicating that they were acquaintances.

Two of them, an old man in a gray robe and a woman in a green dress, were none other than the two rogue cultivators who had followed Du Fan three days ago.

The other three were a bald, burly man, a refined scholar with a fair complexion, and an ugly old woman.

When Du Fan was dozens of feet away from them, the five people's expressions changed, they immediately stopped talking and their eyes swept over him.

"So it's Fellow Daoist Du, haha, I was just talking about you with a few other fellow Daoists." Upon seeing Du Fan, Zhou Kai's gaze involuntarily sharpened slightly, then he smiled and spoke first.

Du Fan didn't look at the others, but nodded to Zhou Kai. He then stopped a few feet away from the five people, found a spot under a tree, and sat down cross-legged. He didn't seem to have any intention of befriending or talking to them.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Kai's smile froze. The woman in the green dress didn't show much change in expression, but her eyes darted around, and it was unclear what she was plotting.

The other three frowned slightly, and after their divine senses swept over Du Fan, they felt a chill in their hearts and their faces showed a hint of apprehension. They subconsciously felt unwilling to provoke Du Fan.

Du Fan didn't pay much attention to the changes in these people's expressions or the sweeping of their divine senses; he had already detected them hundreds of feet away with his divine senses.

Among the five, Zhou Kai and the woman in the green dress had the highest cultivation levels, both at the fifth level of the Qi Refining stage. The refined scholar was at the fourth level of the Qi Refining stage, the ugly old woman was at the third level of the Qi Refining stage, while the bald, burly man was only at the second level of the Qi Refining stage.

Du Fan and the five cultivators had obviously arrived ahead of time. It wasn't until half an incense stick's time had passed that other cultivators began to arrive one after another.

As the number of cultivators here increased, some of them naturally became acquainted and chatted together. Occasionally, some people noticed Du Fan, who seemed out of place in this place, but after scanning him with their divine senses, they were all shocked and withdrew their gazes.

After another cup of tea's time, more than twenty cultivators had gathered here.

By this time, very few people had arrived. Presumably, apart from the two inner disciples of the Cold Mountain Sect, all the cultivators who planned to participate in this small exchange meeting had already arrived.

Du Fan was slightly surprised when he probed with his divine sense. He found that among the more than twenty cultivators, the ones with the highest cultivation were still himself, Zhou Kai, and the woman in the green dress.

Later cultivators, the highest level of cultivation was only the fourth level of Qi Refining, and there were only three or four of them. The rest were all below the fourth level of Qi Refining, and there were even five or six cultivators at the first level of Qi Refining.

"Amitabha Buddha, I apologize for keeping you all waiting."

Just then, a melodious voice came from afar, and the slightly noisy conversation that had been taking place immediately subsided. More than twenty cultivators were startled and all looked in one direction.

A dozen or so breaths later, two young monks dressed in robes slowly approached. Both wore monk hats, had delicate features, and wore faint smiles, giving off a very approachable vibe.

Upon closer inspection, the two are actually quite different. One of the monks has a shy expression, as if he is timid, while the other has a somewhat rugged look.

Upon hearing this and witnessing this scene, Du Fan's expression changed, his pupils contracted slightly, and he thought to himself:

"There are monks in the Blue Star Realm! And the Buddhist chants they recite are exactly the same. Could there be some connection between them?"

This wasn't the first time Du Fan had discovered the subtle connection between the Blue Star Realm and Earth. Back in Kongsangmen, the membership card Mo Wuyou gave him featured the arrangement of the Big Dipper.

If that was an accident, the Big Dipper pattern was later discovered again in the Azure Dragon Hall of the Seven Star Alliance.

The Azure Dragon Hall is one of the most important landmark buildings of the Seven Star Merchant Alliance, and it is absolutely impossible for it to be carved randomly without reason, so it is not a coincidence.

Since then, Du Fan has observed the stars at night many times, but to his shock, the Big Dipper is nowhere to be seen in the sky visible from the Blue Star Realm. This inevitably leads to some speculation amidst the shock.

There's another matter: the rumors that circulated about Du Fan when he first joined the Qixia Sect and became an honorary elder.

The time, place, people, and even logic in the scandal are extremely chaotic, yet it encompasses folk tales passed down through generations in Chinese history, such as Du Shiniang angrily sinking her treasure chest, the Legend of the White Snake, and Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai.

Although these folk tales had been maliciously dismantled and reassembled, and had been altered beyond recognition, Du Fan could not help but notice. Afterwards, Du Fan asked the Maple Leaf Sect Master, but the old man pretended to be stupid, leaving Du Fan helpless.

All of the above can only be explained by two possibilities: first, there is some mysterious connection between the Blue Star Realm and Earth; second, there was once a figure as extraordinary as Chu Liantian who lived in both Earth and the Blue Star Realm...

"You two are too kind. It's not that you're late, but rather that we were quite eager for this exchange meeting, so we arrived a little early, haha..."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Kai smiled, stepped forward, and cupped his hands in greeting to the two. Although his words were casual, his tone carried a subtle hint of reverence.

"I'm grateful for your help with this exchange, Benefactor Zhou." The somewhat shy monk smiled slightly, put his hands together in front of his chest, and bowed slightly to Zhou Kai.

"Master Huiguang, what are you saying? This kind of exchange is a win-win situation, so there's no need to worry about it. On the contrary, it is a great honor for us independent cultivators to have the two masters join us in organizing it."

Zhou Kai waved his hand and said in an unusually polite manner.

"In that case, we will not take up any more of your time. Let the exchange begin."

Another, somewhat burly monk seemed a little impatient with Zhou Kai's pleasantries. Seeing that Zhou Kai was about to speak again, he immediately stopped smiling and said indifferently.

"Yes, we will follow Master Huineng's wishes." Zhou Kai smiled awkwardly and agreed, then called the other rogue cultivators to gather together.

Even before Zhou Kai finished speaking with the two disciples of the Cold Mountain Sect, Du Fan had already secretly released his divine sense. When he sensed the cultivation levels of the two, he was slightly alarmed, as both of them actually possessed the cultivation level of the sixth level of the Qi Refining stage.

With the addition of these two Buddhist and Taoist figures, Du Fan immediately put aside his carelessness and secretly resolved to be careful and cautious in the upcoming trade fair, and not to do anything that would attract attention.

A moment later, more than twenty cultivators formed a circle several meters in size and stood in place.

"As in previous years, at this exchange meeting, each fellow Daoist will bring out items that they do not need at the moment, take turns to explain the exchange conditions, and then exchange with other fellow Daoists."

If multiple fellow Daoists below simultaneously covet the item to be exchanged, they shall exchange it in the order of their arrival.

Since it's an exchange event, the main focus should be on exchanging items of equal value. Of course, if an exchange doesn't go through, you can also buy and sell items directly using spirit stones.

As for other special transaction methods, there are not many restrictions as long as both parties agree.

As someone who is somewhat of an organizer of this exchange, I'll start by setting the stage.

Zhou Kai glanced at the two disciples of Hanshan Sect subconsciously and was slightly taken aback when he found that they looked indifferent. However, he quickly realized what was going on and immediately walked to the middle and smiled as he spoke.

"I wonder if you fellow Daoists recognize this item?" Zhou Kai moved his arm and took out a thumb-sized piece of iron from his storage bag at his waist, holding it in his hand.

The iron block was entirely silvery-white, with a faint, eerie glow, and emitted a chilling aura that caused the surrounding temperature to drop.

Du Fan was slightly taken aback when he saw the item. He didn't expect that such a simple exchange meeting for rogue cultivators would contain something he didn't recognize. However, he felt that the item was somewhat familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

Masters Huiguang and Huineng looked at the iron block with a hint of surprise in their eyes, but then shook their heads. Clearly, they recognized the object but didn't seem to be very interested in it.

The other independent cultivators were mostly staring blankly at each other, completely bewildered.

"Fellow Daoist Zhou, is that cold iron in your hand?" The refined scholar who arrived first asked hesitantly, his eyes flashing.

"Haha, Fellow Daoist Li is indeed knowledgeable. This is indeed Cold Iron. I believe you are all familiar with the name 'magic weapon,' as Cold Iron is the main material for forging magic weapons." Zhou Kai stroked his beard and said with a slight smile.

"What?! It really is cold iron!"

"Since it's cold iron, why didn't Fellow Daoist Zhou keep it for himself? Could it be that you've already obtained a suitable weapon?"

"Fellow Daoist Zhou took out this item right away, and now we have to exchange it for it. Isn't this item a bit too valuable?"

As soon as Zhou Kai finished speaking, several surprised voices rang out from the crowd. The speakers were all cultivators at the fourth level of the Qi Refining stage. The refined scholar who had spoken first had a flicker in his eyes and said nothing more.

"So it's Cold Iron. No wonder it looked so familiar."

Du Fan suddenly realized something and couldn't help but chuckle to himself. The reason he felt familiar with this object was because the silver sword on his body was a genuine low-grade magic weapon. Since it was a magic weapon, it was naturally made entirely of cold iron.

"That fellow Daoist was joking. How could a rogue cultivator like me have magical weapons on my body? Please don't say such things in the future. If someone who doesn't know the situation hears this, it could bring me to my death, haha."