13: Chapter 13 The Rules of the Ghost Market, and a "Man-Eating" Ink Book

West of the Cloud Break Mountain Range lies a withered forest that hasn't seen the sun for years.

Miasma fills the area; Mortals dissolve into pus and blood upon contact, and even Cultivators wouldn't dare enter without a special Magical Artifact for protection.

However, at the center of this dead land, every night of the full moon, a market with flickering lights appears out of thin air.

The Netherworld Ghost Market.

Regardless of good or evil, human or demon, as long as one wears a mask and offers "toll money," they may enter.

In this place, only the goods are recognized, not the person.

On a muddy path, a middle-aged Daoist with a sallow complexion, wearing a tattered Daoist robe, was hunched over, coughing violently.

“Cough, cough... This ghostly place, the Yin Qi and dampness are far too heavy. This old priest's bones can't take it.”

Li Mo—now known as Daoist "Queyi"—complained in a low voice while tightening his collar with a withered hand that was as skeletal as a chicken claw, veins bulging.

Inside his wide sleeves, Squeak was curled into a ball, its small claws tightly clutching a Top-Grade Spirit Stone, even its breathing lightened.

Meanwhile, the folded human skin book, "Xiaohei," was vibrating with excitement.

To it, the greed, malice, and murderous aura permeating the air were no less than a grand feast.

“Behave yourself.”

Li Mo's finger twitched slightly, flicking Xiaohei through the sleeve as he sent a cold Divine Thought: “If you move again, the Corpse Crocodiles in the swamp ahead will have an extra meal tonight.”

Xiaohei instantly became as quiet as a mouse.

The fog ahead gradually dispersed, revealing two ghastly green lanterns hanging high, illuminating a massive archway built from bleached white bones.

Under the archway, two black-armored guards wearing malevolent ghost masks blocked his path, the blood-dripping ghost-head sabers in their hands radiating a chilling aura.

“The living shall not pass,” the guard on the left rasped. “To enter the market, pay the toll.”

This toll money was neither gold nor silver; it could be Spirit Stones, or it could be... lifespan.

Li Mo's clouded eyes rolled as he tremblingly fished out a Low-Grade Spirit Stone from his robes.

The Spirit Stone was dull, its Spiritual Qi thin; it was clearly a spent stone.

However, on the surface of the spent stone, a crookedly drawn Talisman was attached.

“Brothers, please do me a favor... cough... this poor priest is truly penniless, having only this ancestral ‘Evil-Warding Stone.’ I wonder if...”

The guard's eyes were filled with disdain, and he was about to kick this shabby Daoist away when his gaze was suddenly caught by that Talisman.

There was no Spiritual Qi on the Talisman, only a line of scribbled characters.

But in his eyes, that line of text twisted into a warning that made his scalp tingle:

“Three inches below the left ribs, a hidden injury remains unhealed. If you lose your temper again, your Qi and blood will surely collapse.”

The guard’s towering frame suddenly froze.

This was a hidden injury left from a cultivation mishap three days ago. Only he and the heavens knew about this; no second person should have been aware!

This Daoist... actually saw through it at a glance?

“Cough... this poor priest has a superficial understanding of the art of Qi-observation, just a little, just a little.” Li Mo squeezed out a perfectly timed profound (and somewhat sleazy) smile. “Brother, your injury needs rest. If you are restless and irritable, even the gods cannot save you.”

The gaze behind the guard’s mask completely changed.

Crouching tigers and hidden dragons resided in this Ghost Market; there was no shortage of such eccentrics who appeared destitute but actually possessed extraordinary skills.

He didn't dare to gamble.

“Scram inside! Don't block the way!”

The guard snatched the “Evil-Warding Stone” and waved his hand impatiently.

“Thank you, brother, thank you.”

Li Mo bowed and scraped, slipping through the archway like a rat.

A wave of clamor mixed with Death Qi rushed toward him.

Unlike the deathly silence outside, the Ghost Market was brightly lit and bustling with people.

Both sides of the street were lined with bizarre stalls, and the sounds of hawking rose and fell.

“Freshly prepared Ziheche! A great tonic, the main ingredient for refining Longevity Pills, three hundred Spirit Stones per portion!”

“The leg bone of an ancient powerhouse! It's harder than iron; grinding it into powder and swallowing it can temper the Physical Body!”

“Slaves for sale! A young girl of the Jiaoren Race, her tears can turn into pearls. Buying her back can both warm your bed and make you a fortune, a guaranteed profit!”

Li Mo squinted his eyes, seemingly drifting with the crowd, but the Great Reader System was already scanning frantically like radar.

【Item: Ziheche (Fake). Remarks: Pig demon placenta. Eating it guarantees you'll have diarrhea for three days, experiencing a flying sensation.】

【Item: Powerhouse Leg Bone (Real). Remarks: Unfortunately, a thousand-year-old vengeful ghost lives inside. Whoever buys it will be haunted. Buy one get one free, death guaranteed.】

【Item: Jiaoren Girl. Remarks: Mixed-blood, tears won't turn into pearls, but they can turn into salt water. You won't even need to add salt when stir-frying.】

“They're all scams, and one of them is even lethal.”

Li Mo sighed inwardly; this Ghost Market truly lived up to its reputation.

He didn't waste time on these stalls. Relying on the map read from the memories of the "Ghost Shadow Old Man" and his own Anti-Reconnaissance Instinct, he walked straight toward the southeast corner of the Ghost Market.

That was "Ink Fragrance Alley," a place specifically for trading the four treasures of the study and ancient secret records, and also the place with the heaviest Yin Qi in the entire Ghost Market.

Soon, Li Mo stopped in front of an inconspicuous stall.

The stall owner was a scholar wearing a tattered Confucian robe, his face as pale as paper. He didn't shout; he just lowered his head and used a pen ground from human bone to write and draw on a piece of yellowed human skin.

On the stall lay several eerie stationery items: a bone brush holder, a blood jade paperweight, and... several blocks of black ink emitting a faint, chilling aura.

spirit sealing ink.

Li Mo recognized his target at a glance.

The ink block was purely black, as if it could swallow light, with golden runes faintly flowing on its surface.

“Fellow Daoist, are you looking at the brushes or the ink?”

The scholar didn't look up, his voice bone-chillingly cold. “The brush is the ‘Severed Finger Brush,’ the characters it writes carry their own curse; the ink is ‘spirit sealing ink,’ one ounce of ink can Seal a century of Spiritual Qi.”

“This priest... cough, would like to request a piece of spirit sealing ink.”

Li Mo crouched down and reached out his withered hand toward one of the ink sticks.

“Snap!”

The bone brush in the scholar's hand tapped Li Mo's back of the hand like lightning.

A surge of frigid Death Qi instantly pierced through the tip of the brush, attempting to freeze his bone marrow.

If it were anyone else, this arm would have been ruined on the spot.

But the Longevity Body within Li Mo only vibrated slightly, and a majestic vitality like a rushing river instantly washed away that Death Qi without a trace.

“Hmm?”

The scholar finally looked up, revealing a pair of pure black eyes without whites, locking onto Li Mo. “You have some skill. spirit sealing ink, five hundred High-Grade Spirit Stones, or... leave behind a finger.”

Five hundred High-Grade Spirit Stones?

Why don't you just rob me?

Li Mo cursed in his heart; the total annual income of the Heavenly River Sword Sect was only a few thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones.

“Cough, cough... Sir, you must be joking.” Li Mo rubbed his hands as he withdrew them, looking embarrassed. “With this appearance, how could this priest look like a wealthy man? However...”

His gaze suddenly fell upon the human skin scroll that the scholar had half-painted.

【Analyzing Item: Ten Thousand Ghosts Heart-Devouring Map (Incomplete Manual)》】

【Reading Progress: 10%...】

【Fatal Flaw Discovered: The Author's painting skill is subpar; the rune core of the thirteenth vengeful ghost is drawn backward, preventing the painting's Evil Qi from forming a closed loop. Every midnight, the Evil Qi will inevitably backlash against the painter.】

The corner of Li Mo's mouth twitched imperceptibly.

“However, this priest observes that your forehead is darkened and your body is shrouded in Death Qi. I presume that every midnight, you suffer the pain of a heart being pierced and ten thousand ghosts devouring your soul?”

The scholar's hand holding the brush suddenly paused.

In an instant, the temperature around the stall plummeted, and it felt as if countless wronged souls were screaming silently in the air.

“Are you threatening me?” The scholar's tone was icy, his killing intent fully revealed.

“No, no.” Li Mo waved his hands repeatedly, his expression sincere to the point of being fawning. “This priest is just a wandering doctor who saw that you are suffering from a strange ailment. Why don't we make a deal? I will cure this ‘painted illness’ for you, and you give me a piece of ink. How about it?”

The scholar fell silent.

His pure black eyes stared intently at Li Mo, trying to find a flaw in this old face full of "sincerity" and "sleaziness."

This painting Bottleneck that had troubled him for three whole years indeed made him wish he were dead.

Just as his mind wavered and he was about to agree—

“I'll take this ink!”

A thick, muscular hand lunged in, grabbing toward the spirit sealing ink on the stall.

The newcomer was a two-meter-tall giant, his bare upper body tattooed with a hideous blood scorpion, his entire being radiating a violent aura.

“It's Old Monster Blood Scorpion!”

Exclamations erupted from the surrounding crowd as they scrambled to get away. This was a tyrant of the Ghost Market, a Golden Core Early Stage demonic cultivator who killed without blinking.

Old Monster Blood Scorpion grabbed the spirit sealing ink, weighed it in his hand, and grinned savagely: “Bookworm, this ink is not bad. I just happen to need something to suppress my newly caught Cauldron. Five hundred High-Grade Spirit Stones? How about I give you five hundred slaps to the face instead?”

This was blatant robbery.

The scholar's face darkened, killing intent surging in his eyes, but he seemed to be wary of something, his hand on the brush tightening and then loosening.

Li Mo, on the other hand, acted as if he were scared witless, shrinking to the side and shivering with his sleeves pulled tight.

But in his vision, a bright red warning box appeared over the spirit sealing ink held in Old Monster Blood Scorpion's hand:

【Item: spirit sealing ink (Defective).】

【Hidden Attribute: This ink is mixed with ‘Bone-Dissolving Phosphorus Powder.’ Without a specific technique to unseal it, anyone who forcibly touches it will have their flesh and blood dissolve within three breaths.】

A glint of amusement flashed in the depths of Li Mo's eyes.

He even began to count down for the other party in his heart.

Three.

Two.

One.

“AAAHH—!!!”

A scream so shrill it didn't sound human instantly tore through the clamor of Ink Fragrance Alley.

Everyone looked over in horror.

Billowing black smoke was rising from Old Monster Blood Scorpion's right hand, which was still clutching the ink block!

That muscle and skin, as hard as iron, was actually melting rapidly like snow under boiling oil, revealing the white bones beneath!

“My hand! My hand!”

Old Monster Blood Scorpion shook his hand frantically, but this poison was like a maggot on a bone, spreading to his elbow in the blink of an eye.

He was also a ruthless man; a flash of decisiveness appeared in his eyes as he used his left hand like a blade and chopped fiercely at his own right shoulder!

Puchi!

The right arm was severed at the shoulder!

The severed arm fell to the ground and instantly turned into a pool of sizzling black water, even corroding a deep pit into the bluestone pavement.

The entire scene fell silent.

Everyone's gaze converged on the scholar who was still sitting behind the stall with an indifferent expression.

“I don't sell things to beasts who don't know the rules.”

The scholar said flatly, picking up a rag and slowly wiping away the blood that had splattered onto the stall.

Old Monster Blood Scorpion's face was as pale as paper. He gave the scholar a venomous look but ultimately didn't dare to lash out again. Being scammed while trying to rob someone in the Ghost Market meant he could only blame his own bad luck.

“Consider yourself ruthless!”

Clutching his stump, he scrambled into the crowd and disappeared.

Li Mo gave the scholar a thumbs-up in his heart.

He's a ruthless one; I like it.

“Now, no one will disturb us.”

The scholar turned and pushed another intact piece of spirit sealing ink toward Li Mo. “You can tell me the ‘root cure’ now.”

Li Mo chuckled and unceremoniously tucked the ink block into his robes.

He leaned into the scholar's ear and said quickly in a voice only the two of them could hear: “The thirteenth ghost—you painted its eyes in the ‘Gate of Life’ position. A ghost is a dead thing; forcibly opening the Gate of Life causes a corpse transformation, and the Evil Qi naturally flows back. You only need to mix boy's urine with cinnabar, blot out the eyeballs, and redraw them at the center of the forehead as a ‘Heavenly Eye.’ Then, this painting will be complete.”

Upon hearing this, the scholar's pure black pupils shrank violently!

He deduced rapidly in his mind, his eyes growing brighter the more he thought. The dead knot that had troubled him for three years was actually easily untied by this one sentence!

“Boy's urine... Heavenly Eye... So that's it! So that's it!”

The scholar murmured to himself, his eyes erupting with ecstatic light. He actually grabbed his bone brush and was about to start modifying the painting on the spot.

“Then this priest will not disturb your elegant interest, Sir.”

Li Mo quit while he was ahead, hunching his back and blending into the crowd, preparing to leave this place of trouble immediately.

However, as he passed the massive slave auction platform in the center of the Ghost Market, a strange fluctuation caused two things in his possession to react simultaneously.

Xiaohei in his sleeve conveyed an agitation of extreme desire mixed with fear.

And the “heaven-deceiving stone” hanging around his neck, used to obscure the secrets of heaven, also grew slightly warm.

Li Mo's footsteps paused, and he subconsciously looked up.

On the auction stage, a massive profound iron cage was being pushed forward.

The cage was covered in Talismans, and locked inside was a little girl who looked to be only seven or eight years old.

She was wearing tattered palace attire; though dirty and messy, the faint Dragon and cloud patterns on the fabric revealed her status as a member of the former dynasty's imperial family.

The most bizarre thing was her skin.

Her skin was densely covered in text.

Those characters were not tattoos but had grown naturally from the texture of her flesh and blood, as if she herself were a living book written with flesh and blood.

The auctioneer spoke in a shrill, excited voice while slapping the cage:

“Everyone! The grand finale treasure of tonight! She is not a living being, but a humanoid ‘key’!”

“This girl is a remnant of the former dynasty's imperial family, born with a ‘Spirit-Communicating Dao Body.’ What's even more wonderful is that a powerhouse has Seal the long-lost first half of the Huangji Jingshi Shu directly into her flesh and blood!”

“Obtaining this girl is equivalent to obtaining the key to open the secret treasury of the former dynasty! The starting price is ten thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones!”

Boom!

The entire Ghost Market instantly boiled over!

The secret treasury of the former dynasty! That was a supreme treasury sufficient to let any Sect ascend to the heavens in a single bound!

Li Mo stood in the crowd, looking at the little girl in the cage with hollow eyes, like a doll.

His System interface popped up a line of bright red, eye-catching information.

【Scanning Target: ??? (Ninth Princess of the Former Dynasty)】

【Status: Living Bookshelf (Under Seal).】

【Special Entry: National Fortune Vessel (Golden Legend!)】

【Warning: She is not a book, but a wisp of the remnant soul of this world's... deceased ‘National Fortune’!】

Li Mo's pupils shrank suddenly.

He felt Xiaohei in his sleeve frantically conveying a thought to him:

“Kin... eat her... or, save her...”

At that moment, Li Mo keenly perceived several Divine Senses so powerful they made his heart palpitate, emerging from the VIP boxes around the Ghost Market and locking onto that iron cage.

One of the auras was righteous and upright, yet mixed with a trace of hard-to-detect paranoia and madness.

Was that... someone from Jixia Academy?

“Trouble is brewing.”

Li Mo pressed down the brim of his hat and tightened his grip on the spirit sealing ink he had just obtained.

He only wanted to buy his things and leave, never to meddle in others' business.

But below the 【National Fortune Vessel】 entry provided by the System, there was another line of small text marked in blood-red.

【High-Risk Warning: If this ‘Vessel’ dies or is refined by the Demonic Path, the ley lines of the Cloud Break Mountain Range will completely collapse. At that time, the Heavenly River Sword Sect... will bear the brunt and be turned to dust within three days.】

Li Mo's movement stopped.

He sighed slowly and murmured to himself.

“The first rule of the survival Dao: absolutely never let your own doghouse be destroyed.”

It seemed that he wouldn't be able to leave this Ghost Market tonight.