Chapter 612: Chapter 584: A Whole New Shock

“Cultivators are full of treasures. It’s not surprising that some people may have the same idea as me.”

“After all, nothing is quicker than directly robbing an existing Gold Core when exploring the Law of Heaven and Earth.”

“But if it can be considered a big deal…”

A doubt flashed through Li Fan’s mind: “What is he planning to do with a large purchase of cultivator corpses?”

Li Fan didn’t plan to dig deeper into his competitor’s motives.

However, he realized that his competitor’s secretive behaviors, coupled with Zhang Debiao’s prolonged absence, might indicate that something bad had already happened to Zhang Debiao.

Although it may be challenging to kill a cultivator stealthily in the Xuanhuang World due to the existence of Interstellar Anomalies,

making one simply vanish or mysteriously disappear is a common occurrence and requires no special methods.

Zhou Qingang serves as a perfect example.

He is still lying at the bottom of the Misthaven Ocean!

Just when Li Fan was hesitating about whether to spend his contribution points on obtaining more information about Zhang Debiao,

a stranger cultivator approached him without an invitation.

Given that Li Fan had been using an entirely new identity, disguised as Yu Ji, to elude attention while in Sky-spirit State,

he immediately knew that the stranger’s purpose for seeking him out had to do with the disappearance of Zhang Debiao.

“Quite interesting, I should meet him.”

In the Debating Tower Courtyard, Li Fan met the stranger.

It was a gray robe cultivator.

His short and skinny figure was deeply wrinkled, limping as he walked. He appeared so frail that he could be blown away by a gust of wind.

The moment the grey robe cultivator approached, Li Fan faintly sensed a rotten and fishy smell coming from him.

“Hehehe…”

“Fellow Daoist Yu, I heard that you are looking for Zhang Debiao? Does he have something you need?”

Gray robe cultivator cut to the chase with a strange voice.

Li Fan narrowed his eyes and looked at him.

Although the stranger appeared to be just a Golden Core cultivator, Li Fan was almost certain that it was just a disguise.

The sense of danger that had occasionally surged in his heart reminded Li Fan of the strangeness of this gray robe cultivator.

“What is your name, fellow Daoist?” Instead of answering directly, Li Fan clasped his hands and asked his name.

“Wood Taoist.” The gray robe cultivator replied tersely.

Sweeping over his spirit consciousness, Li Fan realized he had never heard of this name before.

After thinking for a moment, Li Fan lowered his voice, nodded, and admitted, “Correct, I am in need of some cultivator Gold Cores.”

“The more intact, the better. The higher the law contained within the Gold Core, the better.”

“Money is not a problem.” After finishing his sentence, Li Fan added another phrase.

A gleam flashed across Wood Taoist’s eyes. He stretched out his hand, manually producing a green and red intertwined Gold Core and handed it over.

“Fellow Daoist Yu, please take a look and see if the quality of this is satisfactory.”

Li Fan delved into the Gold Core, inspecting it carefully.

The Gold Core looked as if it had been recently extracted from a cultivator’s body; traces of blood could still be seen on it.

Through sensed contemplation, he found that the Gold Core seemed to contain insights related to wood and fire laws.

Upon inspecting the gold core with [Even True], he indeed received a notification indicating that the gold core could be absorbed.

“How much does it cost?” Li Fan then asked.

“Thirty thousand contribution points,” Wood Taoist replied in a deep voice.

Perhaps out of fear that Li Fan would think the price too high, he added, “I also have some solo art Gold Cores for a cheaper price, just fifteen thousand contribution points each. Of course, if you need more, the price is negotiable.”

“By the way, we also accept equivalent spirit stones for trading. We do not accept direct contribution point transfers.” While Li Fan was ruminating and hadn’t responded, Wood Taoist added another statement.

What Li Fan found suspicious was not the price but, rather, Wood Taoist’s suspicious emergence.

Also, the fact that he blatantly peddled the forbidden goods of cultivator Gold Cores.

As if these weren’t some highly forbidden commodities, but instead were very common goods.

And, more importantly, the identity of the cultivator that Li Fan is currently using is completely unknown, a cultivator without any background.

There was no way he could know Li Fan’s true identity.

Yet, the Wood Taoist was still so unscrupulous…

Doesn’t he fear that Li Fan could be from the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals, fishing for evidence to investigate and enforce the law?

“I could go down to twenty-eight thousand.” Seeing Li Fan hadn’t given a response, Wood Taoist took the initiative to lower his price.

Only then did Li Fan pretend to hesitate before nodding, “Deal.”

He pretended to put it into the storage ring, but he actually directly absorbed it using [Even True].

The progress of unlocking the anchor point on the [Even True] panel increased by 0.5%.

“By this calculation, I will need at least two hundred intact Gold Cores. This factored in that the one I just absorbed was a Dual Law Gold Core. If it was a regular Solo Art Gold Core, I’m afraid I’m going to need even more.”

“The regular method simply won’t work.”

“Unless I dare to risk the world’s grave crime, reincarnate as a devil, and slaughter Golden Core cultivators recklessly…”

This thought just flashed through his mind before Li Fan discarded it.

“Wood Taoist.” After lightly clearing his throat, Li Fan didn’t mention to continue the transaction but instead asked about the concerns in his heart.

Never did he expect Wood Taoist to respond nonchalantly: “Don’t worry, Daoist friend, we’re not like that incompetent brat Zhang Debiao.”

“The Gold Cores we provide come from safe sources with guaranteed safety. You have absolutely nothing to worry about.”

“Even if the Immortal Alliance investigates us, there will be no issues at all. You can rest assured!”

He patted his chest and guaranteed it forcefully. Li Fan even doubted how he could manage to do this without harming himself.

“No way?”

But the answer given by the other party was far beyond Li Fan’s expectations. He showed a disbelieving look on his face: “The Gold Core just now clearly seemed like it was newly extracted from a cultivator’s body…”

“Such ruthless and inhumane acts, it is not only us in the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals. Even the Five Elders Organization would probably not ignore it, right?”

“If it weren’t for my special needs, I wouldn’t engage in such morally unsettling activities!”

Li Fan said righteously.

Wood Taoist sneered, but did not bother to refute Li Fan’s nonsense.

Rather, he strangely asked: “What if they are all voluntary Gold Core cultivators?”

“Even if they are volu…”

Li Fan abruptly went silent.

“Voluntary! How is that possible?”

Li Fan pretended to be shocked by Wood Taoist’s claim. His face showed a look of astonishment, eyes wide, staring at the other party.

“Where there’s demand, there’s a market.”

“Since the order has been re-established in the Xuanhuang World after so many years, merchants like us aren’t anything new.”

Wood Taoist swayed his head and started to explain to Li Fan.

“Like Zhang Debiao, extracting Gold Cores from cultivator bodies is just too inefficient.”