"Mr. Xu, five pieces, five pieces of Blood Marrow Crystals, look at the quality of these Poison Insects I have here, they're wildly fierce, top-notch goods. Even though they are considered inferior Poisonous Insects, ordinary Low-Grade poisonous insects can't beat them."
"Four, I can only go up to four pieces at most. We all know our goods, and these kinds of inferior Poison Insects are delicate and frail. Transporting them hundreds of miles, through that long journey, if they die halfway through, I'll be at a big loss."
After a great deal of bargaining, even though Su Jie had praised his Poison Insects to the skies, he only managed to sell them to a few small shops, earning a mere 25 Blood Marrow Crystals in total.
That was the money Su Jie had managed to save up over a month.
He had to pay Taoist Qiu 10 Blood Marrow Crystals each month and still needed money for his cultivation expenses.
From the day Su Jie joined the Ghost Ridge Palace Cultivators, he had been living a miserable life.
Whenever he saw something good, he could only stare dry-eyed, unable to pull out more than a few Blood Marrow Crystals from his pockets.
"Damn it, one day I will buy the whole Black Market."
Su Jie muttered to himself. On Blue Star, he was extravagant, but back in Tianyuan World, he was still penniless and the psychological gap was incredibly vast.
Although Su Jie could also sell resources from Blue Star on the Black Market, considering the risks involved, he immediately dismissed the idea.
He dared not test the methods of the Ghost Ridge Palace Elders; without the power to control great wealth, in the cruel environment of Demon Cultivators, there was only a deadend.
After finishing his business, Su Jie arrived at the center of the Black Market, the designated meeting point with Peng Shiwen.
Before he even got close, faint cries and pleas already sent shivers down his spine.
The street at the center of the Black Market was very special; what was sold here were neither Spirit Objects nor Magic Artifacts nor talismans, but live humans.
Men, women, the elderly, and children of ordinary people were placed in iron cages, necks and limbs shackled with iron locks, most with numbed and stiff expressions, devoid of any hope.
Many of the Demon Cultivator disciples from Ghost Ridge Palace were picking and choosing in front of these cages, bargaining with the stall owners.
How much for a sturdy man, how much for a woman, how much for packaging the old, weak, sick, and disabled together...
It felt just like buying sheep or cattle, with people treated like beasts waiting to be selected.
Demon Cultivators engage in refining corpses, extracting souls, and performing blood sacrifices on living beings.
Whether it's practicing Demon Technique, forging Demon Artifacts or designing Demon Arrays, they can't do without one thing—live humans.
Humans are the greatest resource for Demon Cultivators and an indispensable one at that.
Like the humans captured by slavers before him, most of those taken back by the disciples of the Ghost Ridge Palace would end up as food for the poisonous insects.
This practice would nurture the cruel and cannibalistic traits of the poisonous insects, accelerating their growth.
Su Jie, coming from a modern civilized society, was initially extremely shocked by this, but gradually he became accustomed to it.
He couldn't change others, but he himself had never purchased humans here.
"Brother Su, sorry to have kept you waiting."
While he was looking, Peng Shiwen hurried over.
Su Jie noticed that his hands were empty.
"You didn't buy the medicine?"
Surprised, Su Jie then thought of something and said with resignation, "You went to Wancai Hall again, didn't you?"
The so-called Wancai Hall was a gambling house, specifically set up for Cultivators, equipped with specialized gaming tools and prohibitions to prevent cheating.
Furthermore, with many Ghost Ridge Palace Elders having stakes in it, no one dared to cause trouble.
The gambling house continued to operate prosperously in the Black Market, and Peng Shiwen, due to pressure, occasionally played there.
"I couldn't resist; I thought I could make more money to buy some good medicine. But today, my luck was poor. Brother Su, could you perhaps…"
Peng Shiwen rubbed his hands together, looking at Su Jie with some expectation.
"It's getting late, we better hurry back. At night, Alien Ghosts roam the mountains, and it would be a huge trouble if we encounter them, especially with your left leg injured."
Su Jie understood Peng Shiwen's hint, but pretended he didn't.
"What a joke, he's penniless himself, where would he find the money to help? Besides, their relationship isn't even that close."
Peng Shiwen looked gloomy and forced a laugh, "Haha, that's true. Anyway, my injury isn't severe. Even without medicine, it just means no strenuous activity for a month. I can just rest for a month."
"As long as you know your own condition."
Su Jie nodded, and they left the Black Market along the same route, not speaking to each other again.
.........
In Insect Valley.
This part of Insect Valley was shrouded in toxic fog, with poisonous creatures covering the perimeter; it was one of the most important resource zones for Ghost Ridge Palace and the main source of income for its disciples.
Bang!
As a dark shadow swooped in, a few Silver Winged Golden Line Cicadas perched on the treetops rapidly flapped their wings, trying to escape.
The next second, the shadow closed in, dozens of pale and eerie hands enveloped from above, blocking the flight path of the Silver Winged Golden Line Cicadas.
However, these Silver Winged Golden Line Cicadas, each the size of a fingertip, were not easy targets. Their speed surged like bullets shot out, leaving a beautiful trail of gold and silver light in the air and piercing through several pale hands.
Pop pop pop!
But, still, there were too many hands pressing down layer by layer, eventually restricting their movement and capturing them firmly.
Su Jie walked out from several meters away, beckoning to the Thousand-Handed Centipede that was descending the large tree.
The Thousand-Handed Centipede handed over a few Silver Winged Golden Line Cicadas, and Su Jie examined their quality. Satisfied, he nodded, then bit his fingertip and mixed his blood with spiritual power as he dripped it onto the cicadas.
"Control!"
At his low command, the initially struggling Silver Winged Golden Line Cicadas gradually calmed and then lay on Su Jie's fingertips, sucking the fresh blood to memorize his scent.
"This is almost my current limit of control."
Su Jie pondered to himself. After visiting the Black Market and several days later, Su Jie had been continuously taking the Thousand-Handed Centipede into Insect Valley to train.
The Thousand-Handed Centipede honed its combat skills through battle, while Su Jie captured poisonous insects needed for sale.
For some suitable poisonous insects, Su Jie kept them to refine into his own Life Poisonous Insects, like the Silver Winged Golden Line Cicadas in front of him.
"Go!"
Under Su Jie's control, five Silver Winged Golden Line Cicadas took flight, soaring at subsonic speeds, penetrating the trees to a depth of ten centimeters.
Shake shake!
The Silver Winged Golden Line Cicadas that managed to free themselves wobbled in the air, circling a few times after overcoming their dizziness, then again took flight under Su Jie's control. Their sharp wings flew up and down easily slicing through thinner branches of trees.
Su Jie waved his right sleeve, and dozens of Yin Fire Blood Bees flew into the sky, their dense wing flutters sounding like bombers passing by.
They were much slower than the Silver Winged Golden Line Cicadas but could eject a fine line of fire from their tails, easily igniting the dry twigs and leaves on the ground.
"Silver Winged Golden Line Cicadas combined with Yin Fire Blood Bees—these two types of poisonous insects are it."
Su Jie recalled the Silver Winged Golden Line Cicadas and Yin Fire Blood Bees in the sky. With his current Third Level of Yunling Realm strength, combined with the Thousand-Handed Centipede, he had reached his limit in controlling the number of Life Poisonous Insects.
Moreover, more poisonous insects isn't always better; an appropriate combat system must be considered.
The Yin Fire Blood Bees and Silver Winged Golden Line Cicadas were relatively strong among inferior poisonous insects.
The Yin Fire Blood Bees could fly and attack at long range, serving as archers.
The Silver Winged Golden Line Cicadas were fast and attacked ferociously, acting like assassins that could kill with a single strike.
Combined with the close-range combat of the Low Grade One Refining Thousand-Handed Centipede, a simple combat system was completed.
For the Yin Fire Blood Bees and Silver Winged Golden Line Cicadas, Su Jie currently did not plan to enhance them excessively by feeding them a massive amount of poisonous insects from Blue Star.
Unlike the Thousand-Handed Centipede, which was a Lifebound Poisonous Insect, controlling other poisonous insects required Su Jie to measure his own capabilities.
The higher-grade poisonous insects are often more fierce and brutal; if his power wasn't sufficient, or if he was injured, he could face the risk of the poisonous insects turning on him, attacking him in return.