60: One thought leads to enlightenment, and all things return to their true meaning.

The stall was eerily silent; the tattered cloth that once manifested myriad magical artifacts now resembled a dust-covered old rag, not even a trace of Qi could be sensed from it.

The system panel was completely dormant, as if it had never existed.

Zhang Xuanyi slumped in the bamboo chair, his fingertips clutching a photocopy yellow paper that had just failed in an attempted "print." The paper surface was bare, not even a speck of ink left behind.

He let out a self-deprecating bitter laugh, his voice a little hoarse: "It's over, I can't even make pirated copies anymore."

Su Qingzhu stood nearby, her delicate brows tightly furrowed, her serene face filled with worry: "Can you still sense its presence now?"

Zhang Xuanyi slowly shook his head, his gaze still fixed on the tattered cloth: "No. But I can feel it sensing me."

This sentence was like a bizarre incantation; no sooner had the words fallen than a corner of the tattered cloth unexpectedly trembled!

"Woof!"

An ancient and weak dog bark echoed in both their souls. The almost transparent remnant soul of the old dog guarding the stall emerged from the cloth. Its eyes, which were originally as bright as golden lamps, now only held a faint glimmer, but they were fixedly pointing towards the mountain path leading to the Dao Market.

At the end of the mountain path, a cold wind suddenly arose.

Cui Wujiu had returned, his cloud-patterned Daoist robe from the Tianshi Mansion making him appear even more austere.

Behind him were no longer the Dao soldiers from last time, but twelve talismans masters clad in pure black robes, their faces hidden in the shadows of their hoods.

These twelve individuals exuded a gloomy aura, their steps uniform, as if they were a single entity.

They jointly carried a massive bronze chest, its surface mottled with rust, yet densely inscribed with a peculiar runic script—the Reverse Three Caverns Talisman. Each rune resembled a twisted ghastly face, radiating a chilling sensation that made one's heart palpitate.

"Dong!"

The bronze chest was heavily placed before the Dao Market's mountain gate, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Cui Wujiu stood before the chest, his gaze like a knife, piercing through the empty Dao Market directly at Zhang Xuanyi: "Zhang Xuanyi, by using the Myriad Laws Edict to stir the heavenly secrets, you have incurred the wrath of heaven. Now that the Dao Market is masterless and order has collapsed, it is right for my Tianshi Mansion to patrol on behalf of heaven and set things right. Hand over that tattered cloth from your stall, and I can assure you that your life will be spared."

"Pfft." Zhang Xuanyi slowly cracked open a sunflower seed, spat the shell onto the ground, and lazily lifted his eyelids: "Daoist Cui, I'm a bit confused. Last time you came, you were aggressively saying you wanted to kill me; this time, you're compassionately saying you want to save me. Can your Tianshi Mansion's script stop changing all the time? The audience can't keep up."

The corner of Cui Wujiu's mouth twitched, clearly angered by the sarcasm, but he forcibly suppressed it.

He stopped wasting words and simply waved his hand coldly.

"Open the chest!"

The twelve black-robed talismans masters simultaneously formed hand seals, chanting incantations.

The heavy bronze chest lid emitted a grating, ear-piercing friction sound as it slowly opened.

An extremely cold Qi current surged out, carrying a strong stench of decay.

Inside the chest were dozens of jade talismans, black as ink!

The form and aura of those jade talismans were surprisingly from the same source as the "pseudo-liquid poison talismans" previously found within the Liquid People, but the evil power contained within them was a hundred times more potent!

They were like dozens of black hearts, slowly pulsating within the chest, greedily absorbing the thin Qi flow from the surrounding heaven and earth.

"These are 'Demon Suppressing Talismans,'" Cui Wujiu's voice was devoid of emotion, "My Tianshi Mansion uses them to suppress uncontrolled extraordinary individuals within our lineage, draining their rampaging Qi to maintain the order of Mount Longhu." He paused, his gaze, like an eagle's, locked onto Zhang Xuanyi, "And you, Zhang Xuanyi, and your inexplicable stall, are the greatest source of disorder on Mount Longhu!"

"Bullshit!"

A thunderous roar, not from Zhang Xuanyi, but suddenly erupted from the base of the bronze stele behind him!

The Old Earth Vein Turtle's massive head emerged from beneath the stele's base, its murky turtle eyes blazing with fury. It stared fixedly at the bronze chest, its voice shaking the very ground: "Fools! That's not controlling Qi at all, that's raising gu! You hypocritical thieves, every single poison talisman is gnawing at Mount Longhu's Earth Vein Dragon Qi!"

A single word awakened the dreamer!

Zhang Xuanyi suddenly stood up, a flash of lightning in his mind connecting all the clues.

He sharply shouted: "I understand! That's why your Tianshi Mansion's enforcement Dao soldiers were so abnormally strong; it wasn't some secret technique, it's because you fed them these poison talismans! Using the entire Mount Longhu's Earth Qi as elixirs, what a grand scheme you have!"

A hint of imperceptible panic finally flickered in Cui Wujiu's eyes, but it was immediately replaced by a deeper fanaticism: "Order requires a price! Only by sacrificing the small self can one achieve the great Daoist lineage!"

"Easy for you to say!" Zhang Xuanyi let out a cold laugh, filled with contempt and anger, "So my humble little stall, because it hinders your consumption of Earth Qi, becomes the 'cancer of disorder' in your eyes, something you must eliminate quickly, is that right?"

He no longer looked at Cui Wujiu, but instead turned sharply and pressed the blank photocopy yellow paper in his hand firmly onto the ancient bronze stele behind him!

"But you forgot... the stele of the Dao Market was never established for some damn order; it was for 'discerning the Dao price'!"

The withered yellow paper touched the dust-covered stele surface.

At that very instant, a sudden change occurred!

"Om--"

The entire bronze stele emitted a profound hum, as if a giant beast that had slept for eons was awakened.

The ancient carvings on the stele, worn smooth by time, actually cracked open with an imperceptible fissure, and a wisp of pure, ultimate golden light spilled out from it.

"Woof-hoo--"

The remnant soul of the old dog guarding the stall let out a resolute howl. It transformed into a streak of light, rushing towards that fissure without hesitation, using its remaining soul to ignite the last trace of its spiritual essence!

In an instant, golden light burst forth!

That wisp of golden light, as if infused with infinite fuel, instantly swept across the entire stone stele.

The thick dust and bronze rust on the stele surface peeled away inch by inch. Lines of ancient inscriptions, long vanished, reappeared in the golden light, each character a pearl, flowing like dragons and snakes!

The top line of large characters, majestic and awe-inspiring, seemed to contain the oldest covenant in heaven and earth—

"A single thought reaches, myriad laws return to their price."

Rumble!

The ground began to tremble violently, and the nine peaks where the Dao Market was located rumbled in unison.

Visibly, nine majestic streams of Qi, like nine awakened giant dragons, shot up into the sky from all directions, converging into a massive vortex in the air, and then suddenly poured down, aiming directly at the base of the stele!

That suction force was so overbearing, so unreasonable!

Inside the bronze chest brought by Cui Wujiu and his companions, the dozens of "pseudo-liquid poison talismans" that were absorbing Qi instantly lost control, trembling frantically.

Before they could even resist, they were forcefully pulled out of the chest by that immense suction, transforming into wisps of black gas, all sucked into the body of the bronze stele!

"Sizzle--"

As if hot oil had met water, the bronze stele glowed with golden light, instantly igniting those black gases.

The poison talismans burned, purified, and reshaped within the stele, eventually transforming into brand new "Dao Price Runes" shining with golden light, which were then inscribed in reverse into the depths of the Earth Vein, seemingly compensating for the stolen Dragon Qi.

"Impossible!" The sternness on Cui Wujiu's face completely shattered, replaced by an incredulous horror, "This Dao Price Stele became ineffective a thousand years ago! It... how could it still activate!"

Zhang Xuanyi gently patted the warm stele surface, feeling the familiar and intimate power return. He turned back, grinning at the distraught Cui Wujiu, revealing a mouthful of white teeth: "Because what it recognizes has never been some tianshi decree, but the heart of trade."

"Roar--!"

With the Dao Price Stele reignited, the Old Earth Vein Turtle received the Dragon Qi's nourishment, letting out a long roar. The dragon-shaped patterns on its shell glowed brighter than ever before, and a vast surge of Dragon Qi exploded from within it, subtly showing signs of transforming into a dragon!

However, at this very moment of victory, Su Qingzhu's scream tore through the air!

"Underground! The thing underground moved! It's not a coffin—it's the entire Mount Longhu's Dragon Vein, it's... it's shifting!"

She shrieked, her fingertips quickly swiping across her tactical tablet, bringing up a real-time updated geological spiritual 脈 map of Mount Longhu.

In the center of the map, the light band representing Mount Longhu's main Dragon Vein was violently twisting, and deep within the Dragon Vein, an immense, unparalleled black shadow was moving upstream at an incredible speed!

Its target was none other than the Daoist altar of the Tianshi Mansion, atop Mount Longhu's highest peak!

"Xuan Mingzi... he didn't escape!" Su Qingzhu's voice trembled with fear, "He's... he's following the Earth Vein towards the tianshi cauldron!"

Zhang Xuanyi's pupils suddenly contracted. He abruptly lowered his head, looking at the withered cloth from his stall in his hand, which had regained vitality due to the Dao Price Stele's revival.

Just then, in a corner of the withered cloth, the place once stained with his own blood, a row of crooked blood characters slowly emerged, carrying a millennium's worth of resentment and hatred:

"My name is in the cauldron."

In an instant, Zhang Xuanyi's entire body trembled violently, as if struck by lightning.

He suddenly clenched the piece of cloth in his hand, and a subversive thought exploded in his mind.

He wasn't trying to seize power... he was trying to overturn a verdict!