67: The Gate of Refuge: Brahma

"Fellow Daoist, please wait!"

"..."

Hearing that he was being called, Long Aotian's mouth couldn't help but twitch violently.

Long Aotian suddenly thought of Shen Gongbao. In the Investiture of the Gods, Shen Gongbao, with that phrase, had unknowingly harmed countless people.

Now that someone was suddenly saying this to him, Long Aotian didn't care who the other party was or what they wanted. Subconsciously, he categorized this person as not being a good person.

As for why he wanted to stop him?

He needed to be twelve thousand percent vigilant!

He saw a bald monk, wearing a golden kasaya, about sixteen years old, with skin as fair as snow, and an extremely handsome appearance that could be described as devastatingly beautiful. He flashed and appeared before him.

Long Aotian immediately put some distance between himself and this person, his face full of vigilance, guarding against the other party.

Are you kidding? At such a young age, this monk was actually a powerful cultivator at the eighth stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. How could this be normal?

Although it didn't rule out that this monk might have taken some youth-preserving Medicinal Pill, or that his true age wasn't sixteen, but rather in his twenties, thirties, or even older, Long Aotian's intuition told him that this monk's age was definitely not great.

Long Aotian felt that the most likely age was in his twenties. But to Breakthrough to the eighth stage of the Nascent Soul Realm in his twenties, how Heaven-Defying and astonishing must his Martial Arts Talent be?

Breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm before the age of thirty was a Prodigy of ten thousand years. If this monk was only in his twenties now, then he absolutely could have broken through to the Nascent Soul Realm in his teens.

It was terrifying!

All along, Long Aotian had believed in his heart that his Martial Arts Talent was unrivaled. Until the appearance of this monk, which made him seriously consider the Prodigies of the world.

The Martial Arts Talent of some Prodigies in the world should not be underestimated. This monk, Fan Xiu, was definitely the strongest person in terms of Martial Arts Talent he had ever seen. Even Family Head Feng Keqiang, his father Long Bubai, his grandfather Long Wudi, and his great-grandfather Long Shijie... none of them had Martial Arts Talent as terrifying as Fan Xiu.

Of course, this also depended on their background. For example, if this monk was a Genius cultivated by a major power, and had superior Cultivate resources from a young age, then he couldn't be compared to Feng Keqiang and the others.

The so-called superior resources were Mid-Grade, Advanced, and Top-Grade Spirit Stones, Spirit Springs, Medicinal Pills for assisting Cultivate, etc. What Cultivate resources did Feng Keqiang and Long Bubai use?

They were merely Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

How could someone who could use low-quality Cultivate resources to Cultivate themselves into a thousand-year Genius and a ten-thousand-year Prodigy be a simple person?

If they were given sufficiently abundant and high-quality Cultivate resources to Cultivate, how much worse could they be than Fan Xiu?

Therefore, considering the Cultivate resources obtainable based on their background, it was truly impossible to judge whose Martial Arts Talent was stronger between Fan Xiu and Feng Keqiang, Long Bubai, and others.

"..."

Seeing Long Aotian guarding against him so vigilantly, the monk's amiable smile couldn't help but stiffen slightly.

Was he that scary?

Shouldn't a handsome monk like him, as beautiful as a flower, be loved by everyone?

Why was this child in front of him acting so strangely, avoiding him as if he were a plague?

At this moment, the monk was somewhat doubting his own charm. Was it suddenly declining sharply at this moment?

He didn't know that he was categorized as not a good person by Long Aotian simply because he said a very ordinary sentence.

Otherwise, he would have slapped himself a few times.

"Monk, what do you want with me?"

Long Aotian asked vigilantly and impolitely.

Since he didn't consider the other party a good person, there was no need to show deference or be polite. It was best to use a few words to make the other party retreat in the face of difficulty, and not continue to waste his efforts.

As for possibly offending the other party?

Long Aotian didn't care. Although he was currently at the first stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, and used a Cultivation Technique to conceal his Cultivation to the first stage of the Golden Core Realm, his strength was comparable to the Early Stage of the Soul Emergence. Once the Level 6 Void Maelstrom Array was unleashed, even Spirit Division Realm powerhouses could be ambushed and killed.

What was he afraid of?

He wasn't a bloodthirsty person. Since there was no grudge between them, it would be fine if the other party spoke to him properly. But if he became angry and attacked him, he would definitely make the other party regret it with no place to go.

"Fellow Daoist, this humble monk is Fan Xiu, from the Eastern Continent... Guiyi Sect. May I ask, Fellow Daoist, do you want to buy a Magical Artifact? It's not expensive, it only costs... nineteen thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine Low-Grade Spirit Stones, and you can buy a fifth-tier Magical Artifact."

"..."

Long Aotian's mouth couldn't help but twitch.

Eastern Continent?

Selling Magical Artifacts?

A fifth-tier Magical Artifact for nineteen thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine?

Was this not definitely trying to trick a child?

Inheriting Ao Zhan's memories, even Long Aotian, who was known to know the Sky Ruins Continent best, had not seen this place name in Ao Zhan's memories.

However, Ao Zhan's memories did know about the Guiyi Sect. It was a state-level Buddhist cultivation giant in the Western Continent, which secretly astonished Long Aotian.

This monk named Fan Xiu actually came from the Western Continent?

Why would a Prodigy from the Western Continent come to the Eastern Wilderness?

Long Aotian was very puzzled by this!

Fan Xiu said he came from the Guiyi Sect, and Long Aotian didn't really doubt it. Only a cultivation giant like the Guiyi Sect could Cultivate such a Prodigy of a monk.

In the Western Continent, the Guiyi Sect, like the Nine Heavens Immortal Palace, was a giant power that could contend with the Heavenly Pool Empire. Such a power definitely possessed Immortal-grade Magic Treasures capable of crossing the Yunmeng Marsh, and more than one.

Perhaps, Fan Xiu might even have one on him.

"You're from the Western Continent?"

Long Aotian asked, staring into Fan Xiu's eyes.

"...Fellow Daoist has heard of the Guiyi Sect?"

Fan Xiu's pupils constricted sharply, also startled by Long Aotian's words.

The Western Continent was separated from the Eastern Wilderness by the Southern Continent and the Central Continent, as well as a vast, boundless ocean. The two places were separated by hundreds of millions of miles. The fact that Long Aotian knew about the Guiyi Sect truly shocked and amazed Fan Xiu.

It was true that the Eastern Wilderness had historical records introducing the Sky Ruins Continent, but most of them only recorded the Eastern Continent.

Only a small portion mentioned the Central Continent.

A very small portion only briefly touched upon the Southern Continent, Northern Continent, and Western Continent.

Especially the Western Continent, being the farthest from the Eastern Wilderness, was like a forgotten continent in the Eastern Wilderness.

It could be said that even among the high-ranking members of the two major cultivation giants, Cloud Palace and the Imperial Family of the Eastern Wilderness, very few knew of the Guiyi Sect's existence. This was also why Fan Xiu dared to reveal his identity right away. He figured that even if he told Long Aotian, this little brat wouldn't know where it was.

But he never expected that he would mess things up. Long Aotian immediately revealed that he was from the Western Continent, apparently knowing a lot about the Western Continent and even the Guiyi Sect...

At this moment, he had confused himself.

Barbie Q!

He shouldn't have been so talkative and revealed his identity upon arrival.

However, from this, he also realized that this little brat in front of him definitely had an extraordinary background. No wonder he had broken through to the Golden Core Realm at such a young age.

Was he, perhaps, someone cultivated by the two major giant powers, Cloud Palace and the Imperial Family?

Originally, Fan Xiu was only curious about Long Aotian's movement technique and wanted to coax and trick Long Aotian into giving him the Cultivation Technique for his movement technique. But now, he couldn't help but become interested in Long Aotian's identity.

After all, his own cards had been revealed, so how could he not want to know the other party's cards?

"I'm very curious, you, a monk from the Western Continent, instead of staying in the Western Continent to chant scriptures, why did you travel hundreds of billions of miles to the Eastern Wilderness?

How did you cross the Yunmeng Marsh?

You wouldn't happen to have an Immortal-grade Magic Treasure for crossing the Yunmeng Marsh on you, would you?

Hehe, Monk, for you, the Eastern Wilderness is very dangerous right now!"

Long Aotian couldn't help but say with a hint of mockery.

He wanted to see what this monk was up to.

Hundreds of millions of miles was just a descriptive term, describing the extreme distance between two places, while trillions of miles was a real unit of measurement.

The distance between the Western Continent and the Eastern Wilderness was indeed tens of trillions of miles.

This distance, if placed on Earth, would be incredibly terrifying. The circumference of the Earth is only about 40,075 kilometers. The vastness of the Sky Ruins Continent is unimaginable.

However, for cultivators, this was nothing at all.

To cross such a vast distance, they could fly on swords, fly through the air, ride Advanced flying boats, use cross-continent teleportation arrays, use shrinking ground techniques, spatial Laws, or the Tai Xu Divine Steps which allows one step to cover hundreds of millions of miles across nine stages, among other methods. Especially using cross-continent teleportation arrays, as long as they were willing to spend Spirit Stones, and had enough Spirit Stones, teleporting across tens of trillions of miles would be faster than taking a rocket from Earth to the moon.

Given such a distance, if Fan Xiu said he came to the Eastern Wilderness just for fun, Long Aotian would never believe him.

"Fellow Daoist is joking. Coming to the Eastern Wilderness was not this humble monk's original intention. This humble monk was merely thrown to the Eastern Wilderness by someone. Otherwise, with this humble monk's abilities, how would I know where the Eastern Wilderness is in the ocean? How could I cross such a vast distance? And how could I cross the Yunmeng Marsh?

As for whether this humble monk has an Immortal-grade Magic Treasure for crossing the Yunmeng Marsh? Does Fellow Daoist think the Sect would be willing to give its most prized treasure to this humble monk?"

Fan Xiu's back was breaking out in a cold sweat. He couldn't answer any of these questions truthfully.

"...I see you're quite wealthy. A fifth-tier Magical Artifact for nineteen thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine Low-Grade Spirit Stones each?

Can I get a wholesale deal?

Give me ten thousand pieces."

By the end, Long Aotian couldn't help but tease him.

"..."

Fan Xiu's mouth twitched violently.

Selling a fifth-tier Magical Artifact for nineteen thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine Low-Grade Spirit Stones would already cause him a huge loss, and now wholesale?

This was no longer just drinking his blood; it was trying to dig out his heart.

"Fellow Daoist, this humble monk only sells Magical Artifacts to fated individuals, and each fated individual can only buy one of each tier."

"Do you have tenth-tier Magical Artifacts?"

Long Aotian didn't waste words with him. This monk was clearly treating him like a child, trying to trick him out of his things.

He understood. The only thing that would make the other party stop him was undoubtedly the Tai Xu Divine Steps he had just used, which the other party had seen.

Want to trick him out of the Cultivation Secret Manual for the Tai Xu Divine Steps?

Hmph!

Alright.

Let's see who tricks whom!

"...Tenth-tier..."

"What, you don't have any?

If you don't have any, then why are you out here selling Magical Artifacts?

Are all the monks from the Western Continent so poor?

Guiyi Sect, truly trash!"

Before Fan Xiu could speak, Long Aotian interrupted him and retorted.

"...Fellow Daoist, I didn't say I didn't have any. I have tenth-tier. Do you want to buy it?"

Fan Xiu was very angry, so angry that his neck thickened.

But strangely, his face didn't turn red?

Was it because his skin was too fair, so the redness appeared very white?

Or was his heart white, and his blood also white?

Long Aotian was a little surprised, as if he had discovered a new continent.

"How many?"

"...One!"

As soon as he shouted 'yes', Fan Xiu regretted it a little.

He never thought that such a shrewd Buddhist merchant like himself would be provoked by a child into revealing information. It was truly inappropriate.

Seeing how cunning this kid was, he didn't know what evil intentions he was harboring. He already regretted reporting 'one', so how could he possibly say more?

"Only one?"

Long Aotian curled his lip, somewhat disdainfully, "Monk, don't you think that offering only one tenth-tier Magical Artifact to silence me is a bit too low a price?"

"...What?!"

"Regarding you being from the Guiyi Sect of the Western Continent, regarding the Guiyi Sect, regarding your ability to cross the Yunmeng Marsh, regarding the possibility of an Immortal-grade Magic Treasure for crossing the Yunmeng Marsh on you."

"Are you threatening me and extorting me?!"

At this moment, Fan Xiu understood, and was also enraged. His originally snow-white face finally showed a blush. This brat, who didn't know his place, actually dared to threaten and extort him?

"Threatening you and extorting you? So what if I'm threatening and extorting you? Do you want to make a move?"

Long Aotian secretly marveled, this monk's skin was really too fair, only now showing a blush? Even a pure Ice Spiritual Root wouldn't be this exaggerated.

What a strange monk!

"..."

Fan Xiu's expression immediately became somewhat uncertain.

This brat was so arrogant, but he seemed very confident?

Were there powerful individuals around him that he couldn't detect, protecting him?

In an instant, Fan Xiu, who had originally harbored ill intentions towards Long Aotian, extinguished his anger in less than half a second.

At this moment, he deeply regretted it, wishing he could slap himself.

Why did he reveal his identity?