Chapter 268: Xuan Yang Cauldron

Coincidentally, Ming Yihua's timing for reaching Foundation Establishment was excellent. It was precisely the end of the semester, when Foundation Establishment seniors who had diligently cultivated for a year in the Myriad Treasures Cave would open their Essence Orbs.

However, Ming Yihua's luck was not so good. Due to True Person Shaoyang still being in seclusion, there was no one to guide him deep into the Myriad Treasures Cave to retrieve the highest-privilege artifact shard from Duanmu Longrong, a shard specifically for newly established Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Nevertheless, as an artifact forger, Ming Yihua became utterly fascinated by the Essence Orbs after hearing about them from Chen Mobai. While it was a pity he didn't have an artifact shard, just being able to enter and observe was already extremely fortunate for him.

"You're too slow," Chen Mobai complained, waiting at the tunnel entrance as he watched Ming Yihua slowly descend from the sky. Ming Yihua could have easily ridden Chen Mobai's Scarlet Cloud Mist Robe down, but having just achieved Foundation Establishment, he insisted on flying himself, eager to fully experience it. This wasted a considerable amount of time.

Having underestimated the altitude of the Myriad Treasures Cave, Ming Yihua arrived looking somewhat pale.

"How was I supposed to know flying arts consume so much spiritual power?" Ming Yihua plopped down upon entering the tunnel, catching his breath. He immediately sat cross-legged and began refining the abundant fire spiritual energy in the area.

Chen Mobai could only wait for him with a helpless expression, but it also gave him an opportunity to observe the phenomena of Foundation Establishment under the Pure Yang Scroll. Although it was not appropriate to directly observe with his Void Insight Spiritual Eye, witnessing the spiritual energy from all directions swarming into Ming Yihua's seven apertures still yielded him considerable insights.

In fact, Chen Mobai had long accumulated sufficient Pure Yang spiritual power, and if he chose to directly establish his Foundation, he would have a 99% certainty of success. However, to await the opportune moment for a 'Dao Comprehension' Foundation Establishment, he still restrained himself. Observing how the Pure Yang Scroll worked during Ming Yihua's Foundation Establishment this time, and comparing it with his own usual insights, he vaguely formed some ideas.

"Let's go."

Half an hour later, Ming Yihua, having recovered most of his spiritual power, stood up feeling energetic. Chen Mobai led him through the tunnel, past the underground currents, and soon arrived at the underground cave plaza where the Student Council was located.

Compared to its usual sparse population, today there were sixty to seventy people. All of them were Foundation Establishment True Cultivators. Many had set up stalls, displaying individual 'dead-sealed' Essence Orbs.

Chen Mobai spotted an acquaintance, Senior Sister Qu Hongyu, who had been responsible for his reception when he enrolled. If he remembered correctly, she should have graduated already, right?

"Senior Sister, what a coincidence."

It was natural to greet her upon meeting, and Qu Hongyu, recognizing Chen Mobai, responded heartily. "Oh, it's you! I never thought back then that the first one from your cohort to establish Foundation would be you."

"Senior Sister, you're mistaken," Chen Mobai said. "Zhongli Tianyu was the first." Chen Mobai remained quite humble. Compared to Zhongli Tianyu, who had broken through cultivation realms as easily as drinking water since their enrollment, Chen Mobai considered himself only of average talent.

"You're still so humble, aren't you?" After Qu Hongyu added the contact details of the two Foundation Establishment junior brothers, she shared some news. "By the way, both of you are newly established Foundation cultivators, so you must have artifact shards, right? I know of two 'live-sealed' Essence Orbs. Are you interested?"

Qu Hongyu had successfully established her Foundation in her tenth year, having just barely made it. She then applied for an extension to her graduation and was now an assistant lecturer for the Spiritual Flower Cultivation course under the Spiritual Plant Department. For Foundation Establishment True Cultivators, there was plenty of time outside of lecturing. Furthermore, the spiritual energy in the Myriad Treasures Cave was abundant, so most of their cultivation time was spent here.

Having found two live-sealed Essence Orbs, Qu Hongyu didn't have enough academic credits herself, so she simply came to see if anyone needed them. She wasn't actually trading the Essence Orbs themselves. After all, the artifact shard was the most crucial item. Therefore, in the Myriad Treasures Cave, if one accepted information from another and opened a valuable item, a sum of merit points had to be transferred as an information fee afterwards. If the opened item was ordinary, the lowest-tier Grade Two inferior product, or a damaged item, then one simply had to accept their bad luck. Generally, if a Grade Two mid-tier artifact was opened, a symbolic 10,000 merit points had to be transferred. For a complete Grade Two high-tier artifact, the information fee was 100,000 merit points. And if a Grade Three artifact was opened, this information fee would amount to over a million. However, within the Myriad Treasures Cave, no Grade Three artifact had been opened for nearly twenty years.

Live-sealed Essence Orbs could not be moved, so the information provider had to lead them to the location. Both Chen Mobai and Ming Yihua were very interested, but they hadn't finished browsing the stalls on the plaza yet, so the three agreed to check them out in a few days when they had time.

"Around noon, the Student Council seems to be opening a dead-sealed Essence Orb," she said. "Don't miss it!"

Chen Mobai then took Ming Yihua to browse the dead-sealed Essence Orbs at the stalls. These were much simpler to deal with than the live-sealed ones. If one liked an orb and they could agree on a price, it could be directly purchased. Afterward, no matter what artifact was revealed, no information fee needed to be transferred. Although all Essence Orbs belonged to the Dancing Artifact Dao Academy before being opened, it was tacitly understood that students who painstakingly excavated them from various parts of the Myriad Treasures Cave were allowed to charge a labor fee.

Chen Mobai stopped at another acquaintance's stall.

"Oh," Mi Yudao asked, looking curiously at Ming Yihua, "is this another new junior brother?"

"Indeed," Chen Mobai nodded, introducing Ming Yihua. "My good brother here is the top student of our cohort's Artifact Forging Department." Unpretentious in front of outsiders, Ming Yihua humbly introduced himself.

"Interested?" Mi Yudao asked. "I have four dead-sealed Essence Orbs here." Mi Yudao pointed to the white jade orbs on his stall, indicating that Ming Yihua could reach out and examine them. As for Chen Mobai, he had already examined all of them. However, as Ming Yihua curiously picked up an Essence Orb to appreciate it, Mi Yudao mentioned that he had found another live-sealed Essence Orb in the past six months, located beneath the roots of a fire spirit tree.

"Oh, there are spiritual plants in the Myriad Treasures Cave?" Chen Mobai was also quite curious upon hearing this. His current main cultivation technique, the Evergreen Undying Sutra, happened to be a wood-elemental cultivation method. If he could open a Grade Three wood-elemental artifact, that would be an excellent outcome.

However, Mi Yudao, relying on his experience, made a conjecture contrary to Chen Mobai's. "The Myriad Treasures Cave is the Immortal Sect's foremost fire spirit vein," Mi Yudao explained. "Besides Vermillion Fruit trees, only these fire spirit trees can survive here. However, these trees don't bear fruit; they are only used to regulate fire poison qi. Given it was stored beneath its roots, I deduce it's likely a fire-elemental artifact, not wood-elemental."

"That makes sense," Ming Yihua, standing nearby, gave his assessment, agreeing that Mi Yudao was correct. He was a Grade Two artifact forger and a Grade Two treasure appraiser. If he hadn't been busy with Foundation Establishment this year, he would have been preparing to take the Grade Three assessment. Chen Mobai trusted his good brother's professional expertise.

If it was fire-elemental, Chen Mobai's interest grew even stronger. "Have you had anyone examine it?"

"With you around, why would I need anyone else?" Mi Yudao shook his head. Chen Mobai didn't charge him for using his spiritual eye to appraise items, and every academic credit saved was a credit gained.

"Once today's dead-sealed Essence Orbs are opened, we'll go take a look," Chen Mobai said. After making the agreement, Chen Mobai took Ming Yihua to browse the dead-sealed Essence Orbs at other stalls again. They found the prices, ranging from low to high, to be quite chaotic. After all, they were all students, and the Student Council seemed disinclined to manage these affairs. Thus, some demanded exorbitant prices of 800,000 merit points, while the lowest were only 10,000 merit points.

Chen Mobai put on his black-framed glasses, which obscured the spiritual light emitted when his Void Insight Spiritual Eye was activated, and picked up the Essence Orb priced at 800,000. Compared to the others, this Essence Orb was quite peculiar. It seemed the artifact sealed within was somewhat large in volume, as faint outlines could be vaguely seen on the surface of its white jade shell.

Ming Yihua examined it for a moment before saying hesitantly, "It looks like a cauldron."

Chen Mobai nodded. Through his Void Insight Spiritual Eye, he easily saw through the interior of this dead-sealed Essence Orb. Indeed, it was a three-legged, two-handled cauldron-shaped artifact. Cauldrons had always been one of the most popular forms for artifacts. They could be used for alchemy and artifact forging, as defensive artifacts, occasionally even for offense, and could serve as array cores when setting up formations. They were truly a versatile artifact shape. Ming Yihua himself owned a Grade Two inferior cauldron-shaped artifact, which was the piece he forged to pass his Grade Two artifact forger assessment.

"This dead-sealed Essence Orb of mine has a certain probability of yielding a Grade Three Blazing Dragon Cauldron," said a slightly yellow-skinned young man, exceptionally confident about his Essence Orb. "That's why I'm asking for 800,000 merit points, which is by no means a low price."

Chen Mobai immediately began to haggle. After all, he had spent a considerable amount of time frequenting market streets, and his practiced manner left Ming Yihua, standing beside him, bewildered. "That's too expensive!" Chen Mobai retorted. "There are at least eighty, if not a hundred, cauldron-shaped artifacts sealed within the Myriad Treasures Cave. This dead-sealed Essence Orb might have been sealed for too long, causing the nourishing spiritual liquid inside to lose its efficacy. That's why the artifact's power is leaking out."

"Hmph," the slightly yellow-skinned youth retorted. "The price is 800,000, take it or leave it. If you don't open it, plenty of others will. At least my dead-sealed Essence Orb is guaranteed to contain a cauldron." The slightly yellow-skinned youth, however, had an impatient disposition. Moreover, two more Foundation Establishment True Cultivators came over at that moment, eager to examine the highest-priced dead-sealed Essence Orb on the plaza, and he began to grow impatient with the discussion.

"Why don't you just claim it's a Grade Four True Dragon Cauldron then?" Chen Mobai scoffed. Chen Mobai shook his head. The moment he touched it, he felt a warmth unlike any other Essence Orb. He could subtly sense a gentle heat, as if the artifact's power couldn't be completely contained by the seal.

Ming Yihua said with a mischievous grin, uttering words that nearly made the slightly yellow-skinned youth's face flush. "Senior, I'm a new Foundation Establishment student this year. I happen to need to open an Essence Orb. This one of yours is quite good. Why don't you just give it to me?"

Compared to the artifact shards exchanged by others for 100 academic credits, the shards issued by Duanmu Longrong to new Foundation Establishment cultivators had the highest authority in the Myriad Treasures Cave, allowing them to open any Essence Orb found there. Therefore, unless the slightly yellow-skinned youth also produced an artifact shard and decided to open this particular dead-sealed Essence Orb himself, a new Foundation Establishment cultivator could directly claim it. After all, all Essence Orbs in the entire Myriad Treasures Cave belonged to the Dao Academy. Selling dead-sealed Essence Orbs at stalls here was technically against regulations, but the Dao Academy simply didn't bother to enforce it. Ming Yihua had learned about this during his previous conversation with Mi Yudao. Thus, seeing the slightly yellow-skinned youth ask for such an exorbitant price and maintain a poor attitude, he deliberately made that remark.

It was only then that the slightly yellow-skinned youth realized that Chen Mobai and Ming Yihua were very unfamiliar, the first time he had seen them here. Basically certain that they were indeed new Foundation Establishment cultivators, he immediately began to beg with a bitter smile. "My two young brothers," he pleaded, "it's not easy for me to earn these merit points. Please have mercy."

"With a price tag of 800,000 merit points," Chen Mobai replied, "I think you might have to keep it and open it yourself." Although Chen Mobai and Ming Yihua could, by using the Dao Academy's rules, forcefully open this Essence Orb, doing so might provoke strong resistance from many senior Foundation Establishment cultivators. Therefore, it was merely an empty threat; they would not actually do it.

Setting down the Essence Orb that sealed the cauldron-shaped artifact, the two began browsing the other stalls again. After they had walked some distance away, Ming Yihua secretly told Chen Mobai, "I have a feeling that cauldron is a good item." Chen Mobai was slightly surprised, thinking Ming Yihua, being a specialist, had seen something he hadn't.

"My Pure Yang Scroll Foundation Establishment cultivation," Ming Yihua explained, "the moment I touched it, my arm felt warm. My Pure Yang spiritual power became slightly more active. It might be a fire-elemental artifact perfectly suited for our lineage."

"You want to open it?" Chen Mobai asked.

"I do have that intention," Ming Yihua replied, "but isn't True Person Shaoyang in seclusion? I haven't even received my artifact shard yet."

After Ming Yihua finished speaking, Chen Mobai was silent for a moment. Then he led Ming Yihua directly into the Student Council's three-story building. The person on duty this time was not the familiar Lu Tiansuan, but another fair-skinned youth with smiling, squinting eyes. Chen Mobai brought Ming Yihua here, naturally, to use the Myriad Treasures Map.

"I can see the approximate shape of that cauldron with my Void Insight Spiritual Eye," Chen Mobai said to Ming Yihua. "If you want to open it, it's best to first search and compare it on the Myriad Treasures Map. You might find something."

Since Ming Yihua had such an idea, Chen Mobai was certainly going to provide strong support. The search cost 2 academic credits, which Ming Yihua could afford. The two examined all the cauldron-shaped artifacts retrieved by the Myriad Treasures Map's search, cross-referencing them one by one. Eventually, Chen Mobai identified a Grade Two high-tier artifact, the Profound Yang Cauldron. The search revealed that the previous owner of this artifact was also a cultivator of the Pure Yang Scroll, and a master who had cultivated to the eighth level of Foundation Establishment. Unfortunately, he was ultimately limited by the Pure Yang Dharmakaya, and his lifespan ran out before he could form a Golden Core. No wonder Ming Yihua's Pure Yang spiritual power reacted when he touched it.

After understanding this, they felt reassured. A Grade Two high-tier artifact was excellent. Given that no Grade Three artifact had been opened in nearly twenty years, Ming Yihua was definitely willing to use his artifact shard to open it. However, making him spend an additional 800,000 merit points was something he was somewhat reluctant to do. Although they could use the Dao Academy's rules to forcefully open it, it was better to try negotiating if possible.

Just as the two were about to leave, the squinting youth from the Student Council called out to them. "Are you two this year's new Foundation Establishment cultivators?"

"That's right," Chen Mobai replied.

"I really like that Profound Yang Cauldron," the squinting youth said. "How about you let me have it?"

Upon hearing his words, both Chen Mobai and Ming Yihua frowned.