50: Chapter 50 Three Hundred Years of Miasma Crystallization

The carriage stopped before the bluestone archway on the outskirts of the market.

Qi Yang lifted the curtain, his murky old eyes scanning outside the carriage.

Here, Mortals and Cultivators mingled, with stalls filled with various low-tier Spiritual Plants and Yao Beast hides lining both sides of the street.

Mortals without Spiritual Roots shuttled through the mud like dogs, doing the hardest and most exhausting hauling work just to earn a few slivers of Spirit Stones dripping from the Cultivators' hands.

The Cultivation World was just this realistic.

Dual Spiritual Roots Geniuses held high status; out of tens of thousands of people in the entire Xuantian Sect, there were only five or six, served like ancestors.

Three Spiritual Roots were considered upper-middle tier elites, whereas a Five-Element Mixed Spiritual Root like Qi Yang didn't even qualify to set up a stall in this market in other people's eyes.

"Old man, the market is a mixed bag of dragon and fish. Just rest here in this Yuelai Inn and don't go anywhere."

Su Qinghan tossed a Low-Grade Spirit Stone to the innkeeper, asked for a top-tier room, and turned to instruct Qi Yang.

"Rest assured, Fairy. These old bones of mine can't handle much tossing about, so I'll wait inside the room for you."

Qi Yang stooped his back and agreed with a face full of smiles.

Watching Su Qinghan carry her sword and blend into the crowded throng without looking back, walking toward the teahouse deep in the market, the simple smile of an old farmer on Qi Yang's face slowly faded away.

He turned and walked into the inn room, locked the wooden door, and immediately set up a first-grade Formation Plate around him to block investigation.

"I finally got out for once, how could I sleep in the inn?"

Qi Yang sneered softly and swiftly took off his ragged hemp clothes.

He didn't use the disguise of Daoist Mu, the old man.

In a place like a black market, using a disguise too often makes it easy to be targeted.

He reached into the depths of his Storage Pouch, pulled out a sallow human-skin mask, stuck it on his face, and changed into an unremarkable greyish-black Loose Cultivator robe.

Finally, he slapped a second-grade breath-concealing talisman on himself, suppressing his cultivation at the Qi Condensation 8th Layer firmly down to the Qi Condensation 6th Layer.

Qi Condensation 6th Layer was neither too high nor too low in the black market; it wouldn't attract the greed of high-level Cultivators, nor would low-level bandit-Cultivators treat him like a soft persimmon to crush.

Once packed and ready, Qi Yang pushed open the back window, climbed out silently, and headed straight for the underground black market entrance of the market.

The black market was built inside an abandoned underground mine shaft.

After paying an entrance fee of two Low-Grade Spirit Stones, Qi Yang walked down the dark and damp stone steps.

The underground space was vast, with dim night-luminescent pearls embedded in the stone walls on both sides.

Most stall keepers wore black robes and masks, sitting behind their stalls like ghosts, conducting transactions without asking about origins.

Qi Yang walked and paused along the way.

Passing a stall selling spirit-testing plates, he saw a twelve or thirteen-year-old youth placing his hand on a jade plate with eyes full of hope.

The jade plate lit up with four motley rays of light.

"Five-Element Mixed Spiritual Root! Get lost, get lost! Don't dirty my spirit-testing plate! Want to join a Sect with such trash Aptitude? Go mine for the rest of your life!"

The stall keeper kicked the youth to the ground, his face full of disgust.

Qi Yang looked at the youth crying in despair, his heart feeling not a single ripple.

This was fate.

A Spiritual Root determined the upper limit of a person's talent; for a Five-Element Mixed Spiritual Root, the speed of absorbing Spiritual Qi was slower than a leaking broken vat.

If not for Qi Yang using his black gourd to ripen top-grade Spirit Medicine to eat like food, combined with an extreme ancient poison technique like the Five Poisons Nourishing Spirit Art, he would probably be waiting for death in some mine shaft right now just like this youth.

He withdrew his gaze and continued walking deeper into the black market.

His goal this time was very clear: to find poison-shao spirit materials capable of breaking through the Qi Condensation 8th Layer Bottleneck.

After wandering for a full half-hour, Qi Yang stopped before a stall giving off a heavy stench of rotting corpses.

The stall keeper was a thin, withered old man with a cultivation around Qi Condensation 8th Layer, wrapped completely in a black robe, with only a pair of gloomy eyes exposed.

On the stall lay a few damaged Magical Artifacts stained with blood, and in the corner sat a fist-sized, pitch-black stone whose surface constantly seeped grey mist.

How sharp was Qi Yang's five-element perception; the moment he got close, the Poison Wood Spiritual Power inside his body stirred with a weak throbbing.

"A three-hundred-year miasma crystal!"

Qi Yang's heart leaped fiercely.

This was a rare spirit material grown in places of extreme yin and deadly poison; the poison-shao aura contained within was precisely the great tonic his Five Poisons Nourishing Spirit Art craved the most!

"How much for this broken stone?"

Qi Yang lowered his voice, putting on a raspy middle-aged tone, and casually pointed at the crystal.

The stall keeper raised his eyelids to glance at Qi Yang and sneered: "Broken stone? This is a poison-shao crystal old me dug out from deep within the Ten Thousand Poison Swamps. Non-negotiable: eight hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones!"

Eight hundred? Qi Yang cursed in his mind, 'Old fox.'

Though he had Spirit Stones on him, he must never display wealth here.

"Too expensive, I don't have that many Spirit Stones."

Qi Yang shook his head, flipped his palm, and pulled out two spirit-sealing jade boxes from his sleeve, slapping them onto the stall with a clack.

"Exchange with this."

The stall keeper suspiciously opened the jade box, and a rich, pungent poisonous gas slowly trickled out; inside lay two pitch-black Spiritual Plants whose leaves gleamed with eerie purple light.

"A century-old top-grade bone-corroding flower?!"

The stall keeper drew in a sharp breath of cold air, greedy light bursting from his sinister eyes.

bone-corroding flowers were already rare, and century-old ones were primary materials for refining second-grade deadly poison; the value of these two plants definitely exceeded eight hundred Spirit Stones!

"Exchange or not? If not, I'm leaving."

Qi Yang made a gesture to pull back the jade box.

"Exchange! Of course I'll exchange!"

The stall keeper grabbed the jade box, afraid Qi Yang would back out, and tossed the three-hundred-year miasma crystal straight to Qi Yang.

Qi Yang took the crystal, stored it into his Storage Pouch after verifying it, uttered no nonsense, and turned to leave.

The Law of being cautious: never reveal wealth, withdraw immediately after trading, never linger.

Stepping out of the underground black market and returning to the noisy streets of the market, the tight nerve in Qi Yang relaxed a little.

Habitually spreading out his perception like an invisible large net, it covered a range of a hundred feet around him.

Suddenly, Qi Yang's steps halted abruptly.

At the edge of his perception net, he touched three concealed yet cold and violent Spiritual Qi fluctuations.

"Qi Refining Tenth Layer? And three of them!"

A streak of horror flashed through Qi Yang's murky old eyes.

Qi Refining Tenth Layer—those were experts whose internal Spiritual Qi had already begun to liquefy!

In the Xuantian Sect, they were already Inner Sect Disciples, and in demonic cultivation Sects, they were absolute backbones!

After all, Dual Spiritual Roots Geniuses were too rare; among those who could rely on Three Spiritual Roots or stacked resources to reach the Qi Refining Tenth Layer, which one wasn't a ruthless character who fought their way out of a sea of blood and mountain of corpses?

What shocked Qi Yang even more was that these three aura tracks were mixed with a thick bloody stench, a unique Cultivation Technique characteristic of Blood Fiend Sect demonic Cultivators!

And the direction locked onto by these three aura tracks... was precisely the teahouse where Su Qinghan went to meet her contact!

"Those treacherous bastards from the Luoxia Sect, just to kill a Sect Master's daughter, actually hired Qi Refining Tenth Layer assassins from the Blood Fiend Sect at great cost? And dispatched three at once?"

Qi Yang cursed furiously in his heart.

This was definitely a guaranteed kill trap targeting a Three-element Profound Spiritual Root Genius!

Standing in the dark alleyway, Qi Yang's mind raced rapidly.

Save her or not?

If Su Qinghan died, his nominal wife would be gone, and the Xuantian Sect would definitely investigate thoroughly—his peaceful days in the Special Grade Herb Garden would definitely be lost.

The black gourd in his underground secret chamber and the tunnel halfway dug leading to the Spirit Spring Cave would both run the risk of exposure!

What's more, though this girl was cold as ice, she had previously thrown him two hundred Spirit Stones and a magical robe.

Though Qi Yang was cautious, he was definitely not a heartless beast.

"Must save her! But definitely cannot fight head-on!"

Qi Yang gritted his teeth.

He was currently only at the Qi Condensation 8th Layer; no matter how domineering his Poison Wood Spiritual Power was, facing three Qi Refining Tenth Layer opponents across two minor Realms head-on would be like taking poison—seeking death!

"I can only play dirty."

Qi Yang touched the three-hundred-year miasma crystal he had just bought inside his Storage Pouch, a glint of killing intent flashing through his eyes.

With a flash of his figure, he merged directly into the night on the outskirts of the market, sprinting toward a deserted area behind the teahouse.