Translator: Cinder Translations
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East Huafang Market is located in the northeastern part of the Tianyuan Continent.
To the east of East Huafang Market, about eight or more miles away, lies a mountain rich in spiritual energy, known as the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain. It is the location of the Beastmaster Sect, one of the five major sects in the northeast of the Tianyuan Continent.
East Huafang Market is the largest market established by the Beastmaster Sect.
Furthermore, more than two thousand miles southwest of East Huafang Market is the famous Lei family, known for their thunder techniques in the cultivation world.
Song Wen had been in East Huafang Market for nearly two months.
He had disguised himself as a mid-thirties, low-level talisman master at the Qi Refining Stage.
Song Wen's talent in talisman crafting was far inferior to his talent in magical techniques.
After thoroughly absorbing and refining the Black Armored Gu's soul, his spiritual consciousness was comparable to a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. However, his success rate in crafting first-tier intermediate-grade flying talismans was only five percent, which was quite dismal.
Some exceptionally talented talisman masters in the market, even those at the mid-Qi Refining Stage, could achieve a success rate of seventy percent in crafting flying talismans.
For example, the elderly man sitting in front of him, despite being in his sixties with mediocre cultivation talent, had only reached the Qi Refining Fifth Layer and would likely never break through to the later stage of Qi Refining in his lifetime. Yet, with his skill in talisman crafting, he thrived in East Huafang Market.
"Brother Zhang, aren't you going to visit the brothel? There have been some new arrivals recently—such figures, such looks, such skills..."
"Tsk tsk tsk... Simply marvelous."
Seeing the look of yearning on the old man's face, Song Wen couldn't help but suspect that the reason the old man was stuck at the mid-Qi Refining bottleneck for so long might be due to being drained by the seductive women in the brothel.
The old man, named Ai Kun, was indeed aptly named.
Shaking his head with a bitter smile, Song Wen said, "Thank you, Senior Ai, for your suggestion. My ambitions do not lie in this direction, so I will pass."
Ai Kun stroked his slightly graying beard and said, "You're already over thirty, with only the Qi Refining Fourth Layer cultivation. It's unlikely that you'll break through to the later stage of Qi Refining in this lifetime. You might as well enjoy life while you can."
"You're single and have no Dao partner, so why stay in an empty house?"
Song Wen didn't respond, finding the old man to be quite nice, though a bit talkative.
Seeing that Song Wen didn't engage in conversation, Ai Kun, feeling a bit bored, took a few sips from his tea and continued.
"I've obtained some of the latest intelligence about the righteous and demonic conflict from a familiar disciple of the Beastmaster Sect. Would you like to know?"
Song Wen's interest was instantly piqued. He straightened his back in his chair and urged, "Senior Ai, please tell me quickly."
Ai Kun got straight to the point. "It's said that the conflict has reached a stalemate. Initially, the five major righteous sects combined forces to encircle and attack the Corpse Demon Sect, thinking it would be a simple task. However, they didn't expect the Corpse Demon Sect to have a highly formidable protective mountain formation, which has withstood the siege for a long time. It's reported that two nascent soul elders from the righteous path personally visited the Corpse Demon Sect but still couldn't break through the formation and had to return empty-handed."
"Moreover, with the Blood Fiend Sect and the Profound Yin Sect holding back from the sidelines, the five major sects are now in a difficult position. Despite several months of preparation and enormous expenditure of manpower and resources, they haven't gained any significant advantage."
"According to reports, the Corpse Demon Sect, within a radius of several thousand miles, completely wiped out all the smaller demonic forces in the area before the righteous sects could invade. They carried out a thorough plundering, leaving the major sects empty-handed and allowing the Corpse Demon Sect to make a huge profit."
Ai Kun, while recounting this, seemed quite gloating, as if the misfortunes of the righteous sects were a cause for joy.
The prolonged stalemate in the siege of the Corpse Demon Sect was not good news for Song Wen.
After all, he had defected from the sect, and his soul's aura still lingered within the Corpse Demon Sect. If the sect ever managed to recover and sought to account for defectors, Song Wen would be one of those targeted.
After chatting for a while, Ai Kun got up and left.
They had been talking in a small courtyard rented by Song Wen in the market, costing ten spirit stones per month.
In East Huafang Market, Song Wen's small courtyard was not the most expensive but also not the cheapest.
The cheapest option was in the shanty area to the west of the market, where one could rent a grass hut for only two spirit stones per month. However, the environment, comfort, and most importantly, safety were significantly worse.
Over the past two months, Song Wen discovered that the exploitation of loose cultivators by the righteous sects was no less than that by the demonic sects.
In East Huafang Market, setting up a stall was quite cheap, costing only one spirit stone per day. However, the prices of goods controlled by the sects were noticeably higher compared to the prices in the Corpse Demon Sect's market.
Take the Qi Gathering Pills, which were most commonly used by Qi Refining cultivators. In the Corpse Demon Sect's market, the price was usually two and a half spirit stones, whereas in East Huafang Market, it was around four spirit stones. Other cultivation resources, such as spells, magical artifacts, talismans, and spirit herbs, were generally 30 to 70 percent more expensive compared to the Corpse Demon Sect's market.
Under the operation of the Beastmaster Sect, East Huafang Market had gathered a large number of loose cultivators. These cultivators worked tirelessly, collecting various treasures scattered in perilous places and bringing them to East Huafang Market, where the Beastmaster Sect acquired them at low prices. Then, the loose cultivators would buy various cultivation resources at high prices from the stores established by the Beastmaster Sect.
Moreover, the righteous sects were not as devoted to the welfare of the world as they claimed, nor were they as dedicated to eradicating demons and evildoers as they portrayed themselves to be.
Although they did not engage in the mass slaughter of mortals and loose cultivators like the demonic sects, they were not genuinely concerned about the lives of ordinary people.
The tales in the mortal realm of righteous cultivators killing demons were mostly due to the presence of some rare spiritual materials coveted by the cultivators, rather than any genuine concern for the lives of mortals.
After sending Ai Kun off, Song Wen went to the gate of the courtyard, glanced across at the opposite courtyard, and, seeing no unusual activity, closed the door and returned inside.
The opposite courtyard had been rented by Song Wen using spirit stones under a disguise.
He had dug an underground chamber beneath the opposite courtyard.
He then set up a "Aura Concealment Formation" in the chamber and bought a complete beast corpse to turn into a corpse beast using secret techniques, which he kept in the underground chamber for nurturing.
Song Wen's purpose for this was not to create a useless corpse beast but to test the effectiveness of the "Aura Concealment Formation" and see if it could truly deceive the probing of Golden Core cultivators.
East Huafang Market, as the largest and most profitable market run by the Beastmaster Sect, had a Golden Core cultivator stationed there.
However, this Golden Core expert spent most of his time in a spiritual cave ten miles outside the market, rarely making an appearance.
Before testing the effectiveness of the "Aura Concealment Formation," Song Wen would not enter the chamber.
In the storage ring from Wu Ren, Song Wen had obtained several valuable items, particularly two advanced techniques.
One of them was the advanced technique of the "Blood Escape Technique," or rather, the true "Blood Escape Technique."
When facing imminent death, this technique allows one to burn all their blood essence and transform into a cloud of blood mist. Not only can it evade fatal attacks, but depending on the amount of blood essence burned, it can instantly escape distances of tens or even hundreds of miles, somewhat similar to the legendary divine ability of "Shrinking the Earth into Inches."
(End of the Chapter)
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