flstandardbreds Chapter 139 Getting Lost
Chapter 139 Getting Lost
“The Tuka family? Interesting.” Zhang Yunling sneered, glancing at Tukarina in the private room above. The next moment, he suddenly noticed something was amiss.
Tukarina wore a burgundy long-tailed gown and a gold fur shawl. Her hair was jet black and glossy, but the vibrant dress only made her face appear even paler and bloodless.
Upon closer inspection, Zhang Yunling discreetly used his divine sense to probe the woman's body and indeed detected something unusual about her.
There was an energy sealed in Tukarina's abdomen, an energy that gave him a familiar feeling, as if he had encountered it before.
"Could it be..." Zhang Yunling was just lost in thought when he was interrupted by a loud shout from the auctioneer in the hall.
"Today's grand finale auction item: a 10,000-year-old White Ape Heavenly Tail Wood! This is a rare and precious material obtained from a level seven Heavenly Mountain White Ape King, containing the essence of a genuine demon king. The starting bid is 300,000 gold coins!"
Next to the auctioneer, a glass case displayed a huge white wooden branch with pale blue veins that emitted a halo of light. One could still sense the lingering aura of the demon king emanating from it.
Dozens of guards had already gathered around the auctioneer, presumably to prevent anyone from trying to rob the auctioneer without paying.
“These things easily cost tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan. Even if we have the money, we can’t spend it on these things,” Zhang Yunling shook his head and said in a low voice.
Xue Minghua looked somewhat embarrassed. The things sold here were too strange and unusual. He had never even heard of all kinds of rare and precious materials. However, it was still somewhat rewarding in terms of broadening his horizons.
Xue Minghua took the deposit, and the two left the auction.
"Minghua, is there any proper place to buy things anymore? The medicinal herbs I need are all grade four and five. Although the grade isn't very high, they still have to be herbs that are hundreds or even thousands of years old." Zhang Yunling recalled the materials needed for the grade four Nascent Soul Pill and the grade five Mind-Stabilizing Pill.
"Our biggest problem right now is still a lack of funds. Purchasing a large quantity of ancient medicinal herbs will require at least several hundred thousand gold coins..." Xue Minghua fell into deep thought.
Just then, the two heard several people shouting by the roadside, each holding a stack of flyers. They loudly proclaimed:
"Look, look! The biennial Firemelting City Alchemy Tournament is about to begin! The top fifty participants will all receive rewards! The top ten will even get high-level alchemy furnaces, various ancient rare materials, and advanced magical artifacts!!"
Zhang Yunling looked over at the sound and saw that the people were wearing dark red robes with a red badge on their chests and a diamond-shaped gold gem hanging from their waists.
"Alchemy Conference? Minghua, do you know what kind of competition this is?" Zhang Yunling looked at Xue Minghua and asked curiously.
Seeing the group's attire, Xue Minghua showed excitement and explained, "These people should all be alchemists. Each of the twelve cities in the Western Regions has its own alchemist alliance. We must have caught up with a competition held by the alchemist alliance of Firemelt City!"
"Yunling, you happen to know alchemy, why don't you give it a try?" Xue Minghua nudged Zhang Yunling with his elbow. "I heard that the top few dozen in this alchemy competition get a reward of 100,000 gold coins!"
Zhang Yunling nodded. Although he didn't know how different alchemy was from pill refining, gaining power was his biggest goal on this journey.
"Alright, let's go for it. But I've never been exposed to alchemy before, so I'll need Minghua's guidance."
Xue Minghua laughed heartily and patted Zhang Yunling on the shoulder: "You're really diligent, aren't you? Let's go to the market and buy some materials to try it out. But with your extraordinary talent for alchemy, you should be able to handle it with ease."
With that, the two headed toward the market.
Meanwhile, in Water Lotus City, which is next to Firemelt City and also one of the twelve cities of the Western Regions, a group of yellow-robed cultivators disguised themselves as locals; they were disciples of the Taiping Dao.
Because there is only one narrow tunnel that can barely allow passage between the Western Regions and the Central Plains, and one has to pay a considerable toll to the guards there in order to get through.
Fortunately, these people had tokens issued by the imperial court, and the people guarding the tunnel entrance were also from the imperial court, so they were able to pass through without any effort.
However, entering the tunnel is only the first step. Because there is a spatial fluctuation power left by the ancient will of Heaven between the two continents, they must use their cultivation to protect themselves and pass through as quickly as possible. Every second inside is in danger of death.
Having finally arrived in the Western Regions, they wandered aimlessly in the desert and outskirts for two or three days because they didn't know the way. In the end, they managed to sneak into the city by knocking out a few guards at night.
However, the person they knocked unconscious was one of the twelve believers, a subordinate of Andrew, the city lord of Water Lily City. As a result, they were chased by the city defense army for a day and a night. Only by disguising themselves and blending into the crowd through disguise did they temporarily find safety.
"Boss, have we taken the wrong turn? I have a feeling that something is getting wrong."
The third member of the five-man special operations team that was pursuing Zhang Yunling from Taipingdao asked his leader, Zhang Yifeng, with a serious expression.
The second brother, standing to the side, was unimpressed. He stared with lecherous eyes, admiring the exotic beauties from the Western Regions while praising them. He felt his trip hadn't been in vain.
Zhang Yifeng gripped the compass tightly, his brow furrowed. "We've been strictly following the pointer's direction. We went through so much trouble to infiltrate this place, searching from one end of the city wall to the other, and the pointer is still pointing straight ahead..."
"Gurgle—" The stomachs of the fourth and fifth brothers both protested. They had been traveling from Zhongzhou to the Western Regions for more than half a month.
Even if a cultivator knows how to abstain from grains and can replenish their strength by absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth without eating food, they still cannot withstand walking every day like this.
In the past two weeks, the five of them have searched the entire city, but still have no trace of Zhang Yunling.
However, they couldn't find him, because Zhang Yunling wasn't in Water Lotus City at all, but in Fire Melt City across the street.
"Speaking of which, I'm a little hungry too. Let's find a restaurant to eat first." Zhang Yifeng put away the positioning compass, took out a bag of spirit stones from his storage bag, and walked towards a restaurant not far away.
"What is this? We don't want this, you have to give us gold coins." The restaurant owner refused the spirit stones.
"What? Gold... gold coins?" Zhang Yifeng stood there dumbfounded.
The fourth brother shook his head helplessly: "It's all over now. Not only have we not found the person, but we can't even get food."