14: Chapter 14 Poverty limits my imagination, but it can't limit my ingenious tricks.

"Thirty thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones!"

"Fifty thousand! Whoever dares to compete with my Blood Corpse Sect, I'll refine them into a Corpse Puppet!"

"Eighty thousand! Amitabha. This girl is deeply demonic; she should be taken back by my Great Benevolence Temple to be influenced by daily chanting."

In the center of the Ghost Market, the auction house had already turned into a furnace of desire.

The eerie ghostly Qi was replaced by scorching greed. The great experts, who usually appeared immortal and transcendent, were now red-faced and on the verge of drawing their blades for the young girl from the former dynasty in the iron cage.

Li Mo huddled in the darkest corner, his facial muscles twitching uncontrollably as he heard those astronomical figures that could buy an entire city.

"Eighty thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones?"

Even if he sold himself...

No, even if the entire Heavenly River Sword Sect were packaged and sold, they probably couldn't even scrape together a fraction of that amount.

"The disparity of the world is all too real."

Li Mo sighed, his hand instinctively touching the shriveled Storage Pouch in his sleeve.

Inside was his private savings from ten years—a few hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones, which he had once thought was a fortune.

Now it seemed he couldn't even afford a single scrap of cloth from the little girl in the cage.

Since he couldn't afford it...

...then he could only... snatch it.

Li Mo's gaze pierced through the slits of his mask, locking firmly onto the massive iron cage.

On the [Great Reader] System interface, streams of data refreshed frantically, dissecting the entire battlefield situation with absolute clarity.

[Due East: Blood Corpse Sect Elder, Early Stage Nascent Soul. Threat Level: High.]

[Due West: Great Benevolence Temple Demonic Monk, Golden Core Great Perfection. Threat Level: Medium.]

[Second Floor, Heaven-tier Private Box: Jixia Academy Hypocrite Trio. Threat Level: Extremely High. Detected spiritual energy fluctuations of 'Immortal-Binding Rope' and 'Demon-Sealing Seal'; they have come prepared.]

"Jixia Academy is also in the human trafficking business? They've read their sage books right into a dog's belly."

Li Mo sneered inwardly.

The Vast Righteous Qi on the second floor, though deliberately disguised as the stench of a merchant's money, was like a lighthouse in the dark under his dual traits of [Reading the Room] and [Scholar's Backbone]—glaring and ridiculous.

By now, the price had soared to "one hundred thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones."

The bidder was none other than the Heaven-tier box on the second floor.

The entire audience fell silent.

One hundred thousand—this number crushed everyone's greed.

The Blood Corpse Sect Elder's face turned ashen; he spat a thick glob of phlegm onto the ground in resentment and finally shut his mouth.

"One hundred thousand, going once."

"One hundred thousand, going twice."

The Auctioneer's voice cracked with excitement as he tremblingly raised the small bone hammer in his hand.

The hammer fell, finalizing the bid.

The little girl would be taken away by Jixia Academy.

Given the nature of those old scholars who would stop at nothing for their so-called "Great Learning," it was highly likely she would be sliced up for research or have her soul refined and searched.

More importantly, once she left the borders of the Cloud Break Mountain Range, the ley lines would lose their balance, and Li Mo's "happy home," the Heavenly River Sword Sect, would truly be wiped off the map.

"I can't let them finalize the deal."

Li Mo adjusted his breathing, his heartbeat steady.

A direct confrontation would be like serving himself on a platter to the three Nascent Soul big shots.

Since force wouldn't work, he could only win by wit.

"System, analyze the iron cage runes."

[Analyzing... The Formation is the 'Spirit-Locking Soul-Trapping Formation.' The Formation eyes are located in the three Soul-Suppressing Nails at the top of the cage. Forcible destruction will trigger a rune explosion. However... if the spiritual energy core of one Soul-Suppressing Nail can be instantly devoured, the Formation will experience a disturbance for one-thousandth of a breath.]

Devour spiritual energy?

Li Mo looked down at his sleeve.

There, the human-skin book "Little Black," folded like a block of tofu, was emitting an intense sense of longing.

"Hungry, hungry, hungry..."

For an abyssal creature, this high-tier sealed spiritual energy was a supreme delicacy.

"Train troops for a thousand days to use them for a single moment."

The corner of Li Mo's mouth curled into a smirk, tinged with a hint of ill intent.

His finger moved imperceptibly.

The [Void Walker] trait quietly activated.

In this noisy moment where all eyes were focused on the auction stage, no one noticed that the shadow of the Scruffy Taoist in the corner had unnaturally lengthened by an inch.

A void rift, invisible to the naked eye like an unseen ground snake, slithered along the floor, silently climbed the auction stage, and reached the top of the cage along the cold iron bars.

The rift opened soundlessly.

The greedy mouth of the abyss reached out from within.

"Crack."

A faint cracking sound, masked by the thousands of noises, rang out.

One of the three Soul-Suppressing Nails at the top of the cage suddenly dimmed, and a small portion of the runes engraved on it vanished into thin air.

In the next instant.

Buzz—!

The sealing light screen, once as stable as a mountain, began to flicker wildly like a lamp with a bad connection.

The piercing sound of spiritual energy friction echoed throughout the venue!

"What's going on?!" The Auctioneer turned pale with fright, his raised bone hammer freezing in mid-air.

Before anyone could react.

Inside the cage, the text covering the skin of the previously hollow-eyed little girl seemed to come alive!

Blood-red light erupted, and the characters swarmed across her body like tadpoles!

"Ah—!!"

The little girl suddenly threw her head back and let out a shrill scream.

The scream contained no spiritual energy, but it carried an Imperial Resentment powerful enough to topple mountains and rivers.

Boom!!!

All the ghost fires and lanterns illuminating the entire Ghost Market were extinguished simultaneously by that scream!

Absolute darkness descended.

Order collapsed in an instant.

"The Seal is broken! The demonic girl is escaping!"

"Quick! Catch her!"

"She's mine!"

The Blood Corpse Sect Elder reacted the fastest, a massive hand with overwhelming blood energy tearing through the darkness to grab the iron cage.

The demonic monk of the Great Benevolence Temple threw out a Golden Alms Bowl, Buddhist light and blood energy colliding with a bang.

The Jixia Academy group on the second floor was even more exasperated; several chains formed from Vast Righteous Qi burst through the window, dancing wildly in the air to find the target.

It was Chaos.

Complete Chaos.

This was the only opportunity Li Mo had been waiting for.

"Now's the time."

Li Mo's figure blurred; instead of rushing toward the auction stage, he reached into his robe and pulled out the "spirit sealing ink" he had just acquired.

He squeezed his fingers hard.

Snap!

The precious spirit sealing ink instantly turned into the finest powder.

Li Mo puffed out his cheeks and blew hard.

"Whoosh—"

Carried by the wind from his palm, the black ink powder instantly filled the venue like a thick fog.

This ink powder not only sealed spiritual energy but also blocked Divine Sense!

In the darkness, the big shots who could still rely on their Divine Sense to find the target suddenly became blind; their Divine Sense was like a clay ox entering the sea, perceiving nothing but Chaos.

"Bastard! Who released this poisonous fog?!"

"Despicable! Shameless!"

Amidst the exasperated curses and the Chaos of random spiritual energy blasts, a blurry shadow used the properties of [Void Walker] to silently blend into the flowing river like a drop of water, sliding to the side of the iron cage without a ripple.

The iron cage had been blasted out of shape, with a gap torn open.

The little girl huddled in the corner, trembling. Her eyes flickered with blood-red light—a madness mixed with fear and destruction.

A Vessel of National Destiny on the verge of self-destruction.

Li Mo didn't bother with nonsense.

He reached out and grabbed the little girl's cold wrist.

A terrifying resentment instantly surged up his arm toward his Purple Mansion and mind.

"Hmph."

Li Mo gave a cold snort. [Scholar's Backbone] stood as firm as a pillar, and the resentment of the fallen kingdom crashed into the Vast Righteous Qi, let out a wail, and was forcibly bounced back.

Next, with his other hand, he grabbed "Little Black"—who was now full and burping—and slammed it squarely onto the little girl's smooth forehead.

Smack!

A crisp sound.

"Behave! Even an Abyssal Lord wouldn't dare act out in front of me. You're just a Princess of a fallen nation; what are you acting so tough for?"

Little Black cooperatively emitted a wisp of pure abyssal aura from a higher dimension.

It was a primordial fear, far more ancient and terrifying than the resentment of a fallen nation.

The little girl's body suddenly stiffened, the blood-red light in her eyes vanished instantly, and her eyes rolled back as she was actually scared unconscious.

"Pack her up and move out."

Li Mo's movements were fluid as he pulled his wide, tattered Taoist robe over the little girl, slung her over his shoulder, and performed a hand Seal.

[Cloud-Flowing Steps]! [Light as a Swallow]! [Anti-Reconnaissance Instinct]!

He turned into a low-gliding breeze, slipping away silently from the edge of the battlefield while the Nascent Soul big shots were still attacking each other and hurling curses.

From creating the Chaos to successfully snatching the girl, it had taken less than three breaths.

When the spirit sealing ink powder finally settled, the Ghost Market's backup candles flickered to life.

The big shots in the audience were collectively dumbfounded.

The priceless iron cage had become a pile of scrap metal.

The cage was empty.

"Where is she—?!"

The Blood Corpse Sect Elder's roar shook the buildings of the entire Ghost Market.

On the second floor, the railing of the Heaven-tier box was smashed. The lead middle-aged man from Jixia Academy had a face as green as liver, and the needle of the compass spinning in his hand went wild before finally exploding into fragments with a "pop."

"What a move... what a move!"

The middle-aged man squeezed the words through his teeth. "Using spirit sealing ink to block Divine Sense, using abyssal aura to break the Seal... this was premeditated! A Giant of the Demonic Path has made a move!"

"Investigate! Seal off the Ghost Market immediately! Don't let a single fly escape!"

...

Meanwhile.

In the withered forest outside the Ghost Market.

A dark figure carrying a bulging "package" was sprinting through the miasma.

"Cough, cough... What a loss, I really took a huge hit this time."

As Li Mo ran, his face twitched with heartache.

That piece of spirit sealing ink had cost him five hundred High-Grade Spirit Stones (scammed), and before he could even get used to it, he had crushed it to use as a smoke bomb.

What a waste, such a total waste!

"Squeak..."

The Treasure-Seeking Rat poked its little head out of his sleeve, rubbed its whiskers against Li Mo's cheek in sympathy, and then presented him with a half-piece of a Low-Grade Spirit Stone it had just scavenged from the floor of the Ghost Market.

"You're the only filial one."

Li Mo took the Spirit Stone, touched, and tucked it into his robe.

He glanced back at the Ghost Market, which was now a complete mess, a smug look appearing on his face.

"Want to catch me, 'Immortal Master Queyi'? In your next life."

As long as he ducked into the depths of the Cloud Break Mountain Range, with his familiarity with the terrain and his survival traits, even a Soul Transformation old monster wouldn't be able to find a trace of him.

However.

Just as Li Mo thought he was out of danger and was about to slow down to catch his breath...

...the "package" on his back suddenly moved.

Then, a soft yet extremely cold voice echoed eerily in his ear:

"You're running too slowly."

Li Mo stumbled, nearly falling flat on his face.

His body froze; he stopped abruptly and set the little girl down.

The little girl, who had been dead to the world just a moment ago, was now staring at him quietly with eyes as black as ink.

There was no fear in those eyes, nor any gratitude.

Only a kind of... calm, as if she were looking at a fool.

"You're awake?" Li Mo's Adam's apple bobbed as he took a wary step back.

The little girl didn't answer. Instead, she reached out a small hand covered in strange runes and pointed at Li Mo's chest.

"You have the scent of books on you."

Her small nose twitched, and a hint of intoxication actually appeared on her face.

"It smells good, much better than those stinking guys."

"But..."

She changed the subject, her gaze passing over Li Mo's shoulder to look at the endless darkness behind him.

"Something even stinkier has followed us."

Li Mo's scalp instantly prickled!

[Anti-Reconnaissance Instinct] blared a shrill alarm in his mind!

The danger wasn't coming from the direction of the Ghost Market!

It was... from ahead!

On the only path back to the Heavenly River Sword Sect, a figure had appeared at some point.

The person wore a straw raincoat and a conical hat, standing silently atop a withered tree like a night owl.

A cold rain began to fall once again.

The person held no sword, only a simple green bamboo flute.

"Leave the girl."

He spoke.

His voice was cool, like rain hitting bamboo leaves, but it contained a killing intent that could freeze one's marrow.

"Shadow Sect, Rain Master."

A chill surged from the soles of Li Mo's feet straight to the top of his head.

The scramble in the Ghost Market was just a feint.

The real hunter had been waiting on the path home all along.

For this little girl, the Shadow Sect had actually deployed a "Heaven-Slaying" level assassin!

"It seems I won't be able to save this money today."

Li Mo let out a long sigh and reached into his robe, touching "Little Black," who had been playing dead.

"Little Black, stop sleeping."

"Time to eat."

"This time... we're going to play big.""