Trials of the Abyss

Chapter 219: Slightly Embarrassed

Pang Jian threw the fifteen thousand spirit jades he had just acquired onto the ground of the Resolute Expanse.

Here you go.

The black turtle swept up the spirit jades and directed them toward the spirit vein with its divine ability.

The newly acquired spirit jades transformed into drops of radiant light that rained down onto the spirit vein in the heart of the fragmented land.

"You better not disappoint me," Pang Jian muttered. His heart ached at the loss of the spirit jades, but he was determined to continue. "Next!"

Pang Jian took out Jiu Yuan's spirit materials, including a series of strange bones and the hide of a Rank Seven Blood Lizard, and placed them all in a pile.

The dazzling array of spirit materials left Dong Tianze bewildered. He had no idea of their value.

"Rank Seven Blood Lizard's hide!"

"Celestial Crystal Beast's skull!"

"Blood Origin Parasite!"

Yin Yiqing and Han Zhiyuan's exclamations echoed through the Ethereal Ghost Token.

"Did all of Jiu Yuan's rare treasures and his spatial bracelet fall into this kid's hands?"

"Did the Vicious Beast that killed Jiu Yuan not take his spatial bracelet? How did Pang Jian get hold of it?"

"This kid's luck is unbelievably good!"

The two leaders' words left Dong Tianze astonished and slightly envious.

He had not expected Pang Jian to profit amidst the chaos in the Primordial Wilderness.

After a while, the whispered discussions of the two leaders finally stopped, with the Cult Leader, Yin Yiqing, estimating the total value of the items at twenty-seven thousand spirit jades.

"Twenty-seven thousand spirit jades. I took some time to calculate, and this is the rough price I've come up with," Dong Tianze said, repeating Yin Yiqing's words like a puppet.

"Deal!" Pang Jian said eagerly.

After finalizing the trade with Dong Tianze, he then threw the huge sum of spirit jades onto the ground, where they were swept up by the black turtle and poured into the spirit vein.

"Next!"

This time, items belonging to Cao Mang and Liang Ying appeared.

"How on earth did this kid obtain these rare spirit materials in the Primordial Wilderness? Liang Ying of the Star River Alliance used the Stellar Condensing Pearl for cultivation. How did it end up in his hands?"

"Was Liang Ying also killed?"

Yin Yiqing and Han Zhiyuan's voices echoed from the Ethereal Ghost Token in Dong Tianze's hand.

Dong Tianze's face twitched as he glared sullenly at Pang Jian.

A surge of anger rushed through Dong Tianze.

Had Pang Jian not framed him, the Sinister Soul Temple would not have been forced to pretend they had imprisoned him.

If not for this, he would have also been in the Primordial Wilderness, participating in the deadly battle against the foreign races.

If Pang Jian could profit from the chaos, surely I could have too!

He's already earned tens of thousands of spirit jades in a short amount of time. I've never possessed such enormous wealth in my life.

Damn you, Pang Jian! If it weren't for you framing me, I... Dong Tianze cursed inwardly.

Pang Jian's haul had also astonished the Cult Leader and Vice Cult Leader of the Sinister Soul Temple. They wanted to question him in detail about the situation in the Primordial Wilderness after the transactions were complete.

Cough! Cough!

Pang Jian suddenly coughed twice as if his throat itched. His expression was somewhat awkward and slightly embarrassed.

Dong Tianze had never seen Pang Jian with such an expression before and felt a sense of foreboding.

During their third transaction through the Ghost Altar, Pang Jian had been calm and composed as he placed the belongings of the rogue cultivators on the Ghost Altar. Even then, he showed no signs of embarrassment despite Dong Tianze being the actual one to kill some of those rogue cultivators.

"The Ethereal Ghost Token!"

"The Sinister Soul Staff!"

"Soul Custodian Wood!"

Yin Yiqing and Han Zhiyuan's startled cries came from the Ethereal Ghost Token in Dong Tianze's hand, causing him to shudder.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the two leaders in the corner of the cave almost rush forward.

The two leaders were clearly struggling to control their emotions as they glared at Pang Jian like they wanted to devour him.

Dong Tianze had a feeling the two leaders would have already attacked if Pang Jian were physically present.

They would have skinned Pang Jian alive and used soul-searching techniques to extract his deepest memories.

"Cult Leader, Elder Lou is dead..." Han Zhiyuan's voice rang out from the Ethereal Ghost Token.

Dong Tianze finally understood what had happened.

Pang Jian was trying to sell the belongings of their deceased elder back to him, the cherished genius of the Sinister Soul Temple!

No wonder this bastard was slightly embarrassed!

No wonder the two leaders reacted so strongly!

The spirit materials and spirit artifacts on the Ghost Altar belonged to the two leaders' deceased old friend. The fact that they had not stormed out of the dark corner showed their immense self-control and ability to scheme.

"I don't even know what these things are. I just picked them up from a pile of corpses." Pang Jian shook his head and sighed with a solemn expression. "Too many people died, either slaughtered by the foreign race warriors or torn apart and devoured by Vicious Beasts.

"Corpses were scattered all over the Primordial Wilderness. The Vicious Beasts didn't take these items, so I picked them up after they left."

With these few words, Pang Jian effectively conveyed the bloody reality in the Primordial Wilderness, calming the trio in the cave.

"Cult Leader, it seems Elder Lou has fallen. Don't be too upset," Han Zhiyuan consoled through his divine sense with a sorrowful expression on his face. "Jiu Yuan and Liang Ying are dead. We should have anticipated that Elder Lou wouldn't survive either. He hasn't sent any messages recently, so you should have been mentally prepared for this."

"I was prepared." Yin Yiqing took a deep breath to calm his chaotic mind and sighed. "I just didn't expect this kid to bring out his belongings."

"Should we continue with the transaction?" Han Zhiyuan asked softly.

"It's hard to ask questions without finishing the transaction. Continue."

This time, Yin Yuqing did not need to take time to calculate before giving out a reasonable value.

"Twenty-three thousand," he said.

"Twenty-three thousand spirit jades," repeated Dong Tianze.

"Deal!" Pang Jian promptly nodded in agreement and swiftly carried out the transaction.

He did not know how the Sinister Soul Temple would react when they eventually learned that Lou Yunming had actually died by his hand.

All he knew was that this transaction had to be done quickly.

He would rather take a loss and sell off all the stolen goods before the true events at the Primordial Wilderness spread. After all, it would be difficult to make transactions with Dong Tianze once that happened.

Fifteen thousand, twenty-seven thousand, and twenty-three thousand spirit jades. That's a total of sixty-five thousand spirit jades! That's equal to six million five hundred thousand spirit stones!

That means that over ten million spirit stones have already gone into nourishing the fragmented land's spirit vein altogether...

Pang Jian sighed with mixed emotions as he watched the spirit jades turn into drops of radiant light,

The majority of the four Spirit Condensation Realm cultivators' belongings had been turned into spirit jades and given to the black turtle. The once slender spirit vein now looked somewhat fuller.

However, it was still far from being able to produce spirit stones.

Cough! Cough!

Awkwardly coughing once again, Pang Jian took out four spatial bracelets and placed them on the Ghost Altar.

"These..." Pang Jian trailed off, looking at Dong Tianze.

"Spatial bracelets, four thousand each, for a total of sixteen thousand spirit jades!" Dong Tianze declared.

"Deal!"

The last transaction was concluded even faster than before.

"Pang Jian..." Seeing that Pang Jian had run out of items to sell, Dong Tianze, under the urging of the two leaders, asked stiffly, "What's the situation in the Primordial Wilderness? Are the invading forces from the Fifth World still hunting human cultivators?"

Pang Jian was about to answer when his eyebrows twitched.

Then, slowly adopting a more arrogant demeanor, he said, "Each piece of information will cost you one thousand spirit jades. Think carefully before you ask, Sect Leader."

Dong Tianze was stunned.

"Ask!"

"Ask!"

Yin Yiqing and Han Zhiyuan's urgent voices rang out simultaneously.

"Alright!" Gritting his teeth, Dong Tianze placed one thousand spirit jades on the Ghost Altar and asked his first question, "What's the current state of the battle between the invading forces from the Fifth World and the human cultivators?"

After accepting the spirit jades with a smile, Pang Jian casually tossed them onto the ground and said, "The battle is over. Most foreign race warriors and Vicious Beasts have died in the Primordial Wilderness. Some of the weaker foreign race warriors escaped early on with flying vessels and headed to the contaminated Fourth World."

Pang Jian looked encouragingly at the silent Dong Tianze, wordlessly asking him to take out more spirit jades and continue his interrogation.

"Ask!"

"Ask him how many survivors are left, focusing on Old Monster Cao and the other elders!"

Yin Yiqing and Han Zhiyuan urged.

As the Cult Leader and Vice Cult Leader of the Sinister Soul Temple, they could easily take out a million spirit jades if needed.

Spending a few thousand spirit jades to gain critical information about the Primordial Wilderness before the Blood Moon Sect and the Star River Alliance seemed like a bargain.

The first to obtain accurate information could make arrangements in advance and prepare countermeasures sooner.

Dong Tianze placed more spirit jades in the Ghost Altar and continued parroting the two leaders' questions.

Pang Jian received the thousand spirit jades.

"Cao Mang is dead. Elder Wei Wenhan of the Radiant Sun Sect is alive, as is Yang Rui."

Another thousand spirit jades.

"How did Cao Mang die?"

"I don't know either. Ask another question."

"Have they figured out how the Mirror Tunnel was formed?"

"It's said that Cao Mang colluded with the foreign races. He activated the Spirit Slaughtering Astral Array and tried to kill everyone."

And so it went.

Whenever the questions involved himself, Pang Jian did not lie. He simply feigned ignorance and told Dong Tianze to ask another question.

He based all his answers on real events but conveniently avoided mentioning that Jiu Yuan and Cao Mang had died because of him.

After Pang Jian earned seven thousand spirit jades, Dong Tianze stopped asking questions.

Pang Jian then stood up and dismantled the Ghost Altar.