Devour

Cheng Bai didn't even bother to lift his eyelids, remaining in a meditative state. Venerable Dahui was equally still, his breathing barely audible. Neither of them paid any attention to Duanmu Jun's shouts.

"Fine then." Duanmu Jun, feeling awkward, stroked his beard sheepishly. "Let's just keep to ourselves and avoid trouble."

He pretended to be nonchalant, bypassed Cheng Bai and Venerable Da Hui, and walked towards the Ten Thousand Swords Stele. He stopped in front of the stele to meditate and summoned a pale white sword.

The sword exuded a chilling aura, its faint glow shimmering in the moonlight, carrying an overwhelming and unyielding pressure that struck directly at the mind. At this moment, merely hovering in mid-air, it caused all the swords on the Ten Thousand Swords Stele to tremble slightly, emitting a soft hum.

Duanmu Jun was secretly pleased with himself and shouted loudly at the ancient stele: "Where is the First Sword Emperor? Come out quickly and bestow upon 'Soul Control' its supreme power!"

The voices echoed in the night sky.

The Radiance of the Myriad Swords Monument flowed like water, and specks of white light converged from nearly ten thousand spirit swords, coalescing into a child-sized, human-headed, dragon-bodied spirit. Lifelike, it moved nimbly within the enormous character for "sword"—this was the divine being of countless sword spirits—the First Sword Emperor.

"Where did this noisy fellow come from?" The First Sword Emperor paused, his cold and authoritative voice carrying obvious displeasure. "Don't you know the rules for making wishes at my house?"

Duanmu Jun had only heard about these things along the way, without any detailed guidance from anyone, so how could he understand them? He was surprised and asked, "What are these rules? I am ignorant."

The First Sword Emperor looked down at him from the monument, his cunning eyes darting around. He lightly patted the surface of the monument with his long tail and said with a half-smile, "You've never been here to bury swords before, but I remember them all clearly. You're obviously not qualified."

Duanmu Jun was slightly taken aback, and hurriedly asked, "Are there any prerequisites for the spirit offering? Can only those who have buried a sword come to make a wish?"

The First Sword Emperor scoffed, "Where in the world is there any good thing that comes without effort? You have to give to receive; how can you gain anything without giving?"

Duanmu Jun, feeling dissatisfied, pointed at Venerable Dahui and Cheng Bai, and questioned, "Did those two also bury swords?"

The First Sword Emperor was quite impatient and said irritably, "One of them buried his sword years ago, and that was settled yesterday. As for the other one, he's just here to freeload."

It rolled its eyes at Cheng Bai and said jokingly, "That kid is cunning. He borrowed all the spiritual energy contained in the Sword Tomb to forge weapons, but didn't even give any incense money... I don't have time to chat. I'm going to rest."

"Wait!" Duanmu Jun lowered his head and thought it over. The only swords he could currently use were the Soul-Controlling Sword floating in the air and the Iron-Breaking Sword stored in his Sumeru Mustard Seed. Both were his most beloved swords, and he was unwilling to give them up.

Duanmu Jun had no choice but to put away the Soul-Controlling Sword, turn around and come to Cheng Bai. He coughed lightly to try to get the other party's attention, and said seriously, "Emperor Bai, I have a question I want to ask you."

Seeing the other party's imposing manner, Cheng Bai glanced at Duanmu Jun's old face and said in a calm tone, "I am the Holy Master of the Devouring Heaven Sect, not a weapon refiner setting up a stall on the roadside."

Duanmu Jun needed his help, so he quickly put on a smile and changed his words, saying, "It was my foolishness that caused this slip of the tongue. Holy Lord White Emperor, I pay my respects, but I have a favor to ask of you."

Cheng Bai leisurely replied, "What insightful opinion does Holy Lord Duanmu have?"

Duanmu Jun rubbed his hands together and said with a smile, "I have long heard that the White Emperor Saint Lord is quite accomplished in the art of weapon forging. He must have some fine swords in his collection. May I ask if you would be willing to part with them?"

Cheng Bai was always thrifty and had naturally stockpiled some swords that he didn't usually need. Hearing this, he nodded slowly and said, "I do have some. How many would you like?"

Duanmu Jun held up one finger and said, "One spirit sword is enough." Then he lowered his voice and said, "Give me a discount, it doesn't need to be too high-end."

Cheng Bai briefly explored inside the Sumeru Mustard Seed, then casually pulled out a black and white sword that emitted a flowing light, and introduced it as: "The Sword of Right and Wrong, a grade-grade spiritual weapon, forged from Yin-Yang Iron, weighing about forty-eight catties, priced at two million seven hundred thousand taels of gold."

This price is quite fair by market standards. Cheng Bai did not set a random price, after all, the quality of the magic weapon is what it is.

"Don't you sell ordinary spirit swords?" Duanmu Jun asked, frowning, implying that they were too expensive.

On the Ten Thousand Swords Stele, the First Sword Emperor couldn't help but cast a disdainful glance at it.

Cheng Bai shook his head and said, "I don't have any of that low-quality stuff here."

So Duanmu Jun counted on his fingers and began to haggle seriously: "The price is really too high! Don't try to fool me. The cost of a quality spirit sword is less than a million taels of gold. I'll offer a lucky price as a token: 800,000 taels of gold!"

Cheng Bai smiled and shook his head, pretending to be generous and offering a discount: "Let me make it cheaper, I'll sell it to you for 2.6 million taels, that's more than enough! As the dignified head of the Dongsang Sword Sect, I can't force my hard work to go to waste, can I? Pretending to be stupid would be beneath my dignity."

Duanmu Jun stroked his short beard and said methodically, "Nine hundred thousand taels of gold. I am well aware of the market, and no one will be willing to offer such a high price."

Cheng Bai disagreed, retorting, "Two million five hundred and fifty thousand taels is a fair price. We're both experts, how could you let me go hungry? Even those who know their stuff should have a sense of public morality."

These words exposed his shortcomings, making Duanmu Jun blush with embarrassment.

The First Sword Emperor, bored watching from the side, let out an exaggerated yawn. His long, dragon-shaped tail slapped impatiently against the surface of the monument as he muttered in a shrill voice, "This is the first time I've seen two sect leaders so stingy. Are they just here to play around with mushrooms because they have nothing better to do? I'm going to sleep!"

Duanmu Jun got anxious and blurted out, waving his hands, "How about 1.2 million taels of gold? That's a lot! Brother, earn less."

Cheng Bai remained calm and said lazily, "I'll lose a lot if I lower the price any further! I'll give you 2.5 million taels of gold. If that's not right, we'll find someone else."

Duanmu Jun was slightly taken aback, thinking, "Is this kid cursing me? No... giving him two and a half million taels of gold is too expensive!" Then he said spittle flying, "Let's each compromise and settle for one million eight hundred and fifty thousand taels of gold. It's settled then, everyone's happy!"

Seeing that he was already in a state of confusion, Cheng Bai seized the opportunity to use his communication skills and shouted, "Two million four hundred thousand taels of gold. If you don't want it, please don't open your mouth."

"Alright! Cash on delivery." Duanmu Jun fell for the trap, his mind trembling slightly in a daze. He assumed that the bargaining had reached its limit and reluctantly took out his wallet.

Holding the Sword of Right and Wrong, Duanmu Jun approached the Myriad Swords Stele with eager anticipation, a fawning smile plastered on his face. He said, "I currently possess this high-grade spiritual weapon, which, as the Sword Emperor suggested, can be used for burying swords. There is no suitable location near the Myriad Swords Stele; how about we simply insert it into the stele?"

The First Sword Emperor, however, wore a look of disdain and said contemptuously, "To enshrine your spirit in the Myriad Swords Stele, you need at least a supreme-grade spirit sword. You can find another place to bury it, and come back to me later." It especially emphasized the words "supreme-grade."

"Ha... How could I, an old man, spend so much money to buy such a despised item?" Duanmu Jun had not expected the other party's demands to be so high. Regretting the huge sum of money he had impulsively squandered, he suddenly felt both amused and exasperated.

Cheng Bai took the gold, but upon hearing this, he quickly exclaimed, "The goods have been sold and cannot be returned!"

He then added, "Anything produced by the Devouring Heaven Sect is bound to be a treasure. I also have a 'Shadow Shooting Sword' here, only three million taels of gold, an absolute steal!"

"There are pits everywhere!" Duanmu Jun muttered under his breath, then turned around and hurriedly ran towards other burial sites for swords.

Cheng Bai ignored him and focused on the forging progress of the Four Symbols Cauldron. He estimated, "This new sword is very difficult to forge and will take several days to complete. It seems that even if we only treat the Burial Bone Sword Tomb as a stop along the way, we will have to stay for a day or two."

Li Tong reminded him, "If the method is used properly, there is no need to stay too long. The most important opportunity here is to make a wish to the First Sword Emperor and quickly gather the sword spirit's sharpness. This will not only be beneficial for tempering the sword, but also for the saber."

Cheng Bai stood up and called out to the sword spirit awakened on the Ten Thousand Swords Stele: "I am the White Emperor, and I have come to pay my respects to the First Sword Emperor. I wish to bury a precious sword and earnestly request that all the sharp essence of the Burial Sword Tomb be condensed into my cauldron!"

"Hehe." The First Sword Emperor replied lazily, "That's quite a demand, but unfortunately you're a step too late. Yesterday, Venerable Da Hui already seized this opportunity. If you want to gather the sharpness of thousands of sword spirits again, you'll have to wait another cycle!"