I Outworked the Entire Cultivation World-Chapter 217 - 189: Oasis Market

Jiang Yuebai’s spirits broke!

The third attempt at refining the Primordial Essence, and it failed again!

She worked tirelessly for over a month, hunting demon beasts all over the desert, being chased by the Desert Snake King, surrounded by Sand Worms spitting at her, and relentlessly pursued for eight hundred li by the Golden-Eyed Eagle King and its flock.

Falling into chasms, trapped in quicksand, encountering faction skirmishes almost got her mistaken and slaughtered as a spy; it was exceedingly perilous.

Finally, she managed to accumulate three thousand Beast Souls, planning to refine three in one go...

"Forget it, next time I’ll save up ten thousand Beast Souls and refine them all at once, surely succeeding at least once."

Jiang Yuebai put away the Flying Core Boat, exchanged it for the inconspicuous Ninth-Grade Green Bamboo Boat, and leisurely flew along the top of the sand dunes.

As she approached the oasis, patches of green began to appear, with sparse low plants scattered across the yellow sands.

Sitting cross-legged on the curled bamboo leaves, Jiang Yuebai slowed her flight, searching for demon beasts possibly lurking beneath the desert sands.

"If I rely solely on myself to collect Beast Souls, the efficiency is too low; I must figure out another way."

Jiang Yuebai rotated the bracelet on her wrist, calculating that she had nearly ten thousand Mid-Grade Spiritual Stones and just over thirty thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones, barely enough to buy one Demon Core, leaving her bankrupt afterward.

"Refining Essence from a Demon Core also has a fifty percent failure rate."

Jiang Yuebai wiped her face, finding it challenging, heading to the Oasis Market, gathering Beast Souls, and earning Spirit Stones, all needed arrangement.

At this point, Jiang Yuebai suddenly felt something obstructing her path up ahead; she hurriedly stopped the Green Bamboo Boat, causing a gust to surge forward, revealing a bubble-like barrier that split open with a crack.

A rich scent of blood surged, disturbing Jiang Yuebai’s spirit; the Green Bamboo Boat plummeted, severing its link with her Divine Sense.

The Spiritual Light on Jiang Yuebai’s boots flickered as she ascended, the blood energy stirring the Evil Qi of the Fire Evil within her, filling her heart with a sudden violent killing intent.

Luckily, the Cloud Mushroom Grass Bloodline timely transmitted a cooling sensation, calming her down.

Through the not-so-solid barrier, Jiang Yuebai heard the thunderous cries of battle, witnessing smoke and flames on the desert plains below as over a thousand Qi Cultivation cultivators slaughtered each other.

Thunderous blasts echoed endlessly with blazing Spell lights, staining the desert with crimson; bodies lay all around, murderous and blood energy soared into the sky.

On both sides of the battlefield, over twenty Foundation Establishment cultivators guarded flags, confronting each other from afar.

On one side were monks from the ’Ten Thousand Buddha Sect.’

On the other side were martial cultivators from the ’Baji Sect.’

Yet another skirmish between the two factions, scenes like this were what Jiang Yuebai had encountered twice along her journey, each with several hundred-person small-scale battles, always with Qi Cultivation Disciples on the frontlines, while Foundation Establishment Disciples remained stationed at the rear.

Golden Core Masters in a Battle Method, with wide-ranging impacts, hardly ever directly entered the battle, always engaging in secret struggles as they were vying for territory; Golden Core Masters wouldn’t fight to the death over it.

When Golden Core and Nascent Soul moved, it was inevitably a matter of life and death feud.

Though the Quicksand Domain was chaotic, there were established conventional rules.

Jiang Yuebai didn’t quite understand these rules and was too lazy to think deeply about them.

She only knew if someone came to Huaxi Valley to rob her of her belongings, she didn’t care if they were Qi or Foundation Establishment, as long as she could beat them, she’d kill them all.

If she couldn’t beat them, she’d find her master or Supreme Elder to kill them.

At this moment, on the battlefield below, the monks of the Ten Thousand Buddha Sect fought fiercely, causing the Baji Sect martial cultivators to discard their helmets and armor, showing signs of defeat.

Baji Sect’s Foundation Establishment cultivators started to stir, seemingly intent on joining the fray.

Jiang Yuebai silently donned the Hidden Sky Robe, preparing to take a detour.

"You thief monk, die!"

A stern shout came from the flat ground as an elderly Golden Core master suddenly appeared in the sky above the battlefield, sweeping a long sword horizontally at the monks below from the Ten Thousand Buddha Sect.

The formidable Sword Qi lifted a towering sandstorm hundreds of feet high, with nearly a thousand Qi Cultivation monks helpless against it, getting engulfed and pulverized into blood dust instantly.

This scene left everyone on site stunned and paled, and the remaining dozen Foundation Establishment monks of the Ten Thousand Buddha Sect looked ashen, trying to escape but were immobilized under the Golden Core cultivator’s pressure.

"Sha Tongtian, your Sha Clan never participated in Quicksand Domain conflicts; why attack the weak and confront our Buddhist Sect today?" a monk questioned loudly.

Sha Tongtian’s gaze was cold and ruthless, "Those who kill are always killed. The Buddhist Sect killed the juniors of my Sha Clan; today, on behalf of my Sha Clan’s two Nascent Soul Ancestors, I officially sever ties with the Buddhist Sect, determined to annihilate all the Buddhist Sect members in the Quicksand Domain!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Sha Tongtian swung another sword, leaving the Foundation Establishment monks without a chance to flee, getting all beheaded by a single sword, falling onto the yellow sands, their blood forming a river.

Baji Sect cultivators cheered as Foundation Establishment martial cultivators respectfully approached Sha Tongtian; none dared accuse Sha Tongtian of breaking the rules.

Jiang Yuebai quietly lay behind the dune, not daring to move for fear of being discovered by Sha Tongtian.

At that moment, she was full of doubts; the Sha Clan junior Sha Tongtian mentioned was definitely Sha Yingjie, who was indeed killed by Monk Ruosheng. It made sense for Sha Tongtian to seek vengeance on the Buddhist Sect.

But why would Ruosheng, as a Buddhist Disciple, bring such disaster to the Buddhist Sect?

When Ruosheng acted, he used Sha Yingjie’s own magic artifact fragment; it shouldn’t have been traceable.

Therefore, it must have been Ruosheng himself who revealed or leaked something when he intentionally took away Sha Yingjie’s head, was it for this reason?

With a brief thought, Jiang Yuebai made some guesses.

If Ruosheng really was a monk from the Prajna Temple, could he be avenging the temple? It was currently the only reasonable explanation.

But, regardless of the reason, it had nothing to do with her.

Jiang Yuebai took out the Jade Scroll of the Primordial Essence Refining Technique, huddling behind the dune to study it. More than half an hour later, the cultivators below finished cleaning the battlefield and began withdrawing.

Only then did she put away the Jade Scroll, getting up to quickly cross the battlefield, heading toward the Oasis Market.

Traveling west for more than two hundred li, Jiang Yuebai finally saw seven or eight lakes of various sizes, like jewels inlaid into the vast desert, with rippling waters and lush greenery.

The smooth Great Array Barrier gently enveloped the small earthen city at the center of the lakes, with birds skimming over the waters and the sound of camel bells ringing out as people led camels into the city, enjoying a rare peace and tranquility.

Jiang Yuebai donned a conical hat, covering her face as she entered the workshop; though small, it had complete amenities, just with an intense, cold, and tense atmosphere.

The passing cultivators moved hurriedly, each adopting a demeanor that kept others at a distance. Few conducted business at roadside stalls, rarely interacting, only placing wooden price tags on items, without haggling.

Jiang Yuebai casually glanced around, finding the prices here several times higher than the outer city. Ordinary Healing Pills, typically costing only two to three Low-Grade Spirit Stones each, sold for ten Low-Grade Spirit Stones here.

The roadside pharmacy had just gotten new elixirs, and cultivators waiting outside rushed in to snatch them all up.

Healing elixirs, Eighth-Grade and Ninth-Grade Talisman Array Plates, were all in short supply here.

Jiang Yuebai checked prices at several stores purchasing demon beast materials, discovering that there were no Demon Cores for sale here.

There used to be Beast Souls, but recently all were bought up by the Baji Sect.

Unable to find the Mountain and Sea Building, with contraband hard to sell, Jiang Yuebai could only go to the Hongyan Building to check for messages.

To Jiang Yuebai’s surprise, she actually received a letter from the Supreme Elder.