78: Chapter 78 The Fat Sheep Enters the Game! Jiaolin Ghost Market

Great Yu Cultivation World, outskirts of the Qingmu Cliff ruins, Scorched Tree Forest.

The night wind howled, causing the charred tree trunks to emit wails like ghosts weeping.

Gu Shen stopped at the edge of the forest. He was in no hurry to enter.

"Since I'm short on funds, I can't enter with the posture of a strongman," Gu Shen thought clearly.

A newcomer, mediocre cultivation, all alone.

The most standard "perfect fat sheep" in the Cultivation World.

"Crab, start the scan," Gu Shen thought silently.

The mechanical spider on his shoulder emitted no light, but Crab's extremely calm, robotic electronic voice instantly sounded in his ear: "As you command, Master. Passive infrared thermal imaging has covered one mile ahead. Forty-five independent heat sources detected in the forest ahead."

"Warning: Five of the heat sources have abnormal temperatures, with physical reactions exceeding ordinary targets, lurking high in the canopy. Preliminary assessment: they are hostile high-level guards."

Gu Shen sneered inwardly.

As expected of a black market, even the sentries were so tightly arranged. Such an arrangement would be completely undetectable to an ordinary Middle Stage Qi Refining Loose Cultivator, but under the high-tech scanning of the Wasteland, it was as glaring as a torch in the dark night.

Gu Shen adjusted his slightly tattered robes, feigning an extremely cautious appearance as he stumbled his way into the Scorched Tree Forest.

In the forest clearing, dozens of green clusters of phosphorus fire floated.

Dozens of Loose Cultivators, draped in cloaks and wearing masks, sat cross-legged before their stalls like lifeless clay statues. No one was hawking their wares; only extremely faint voice transmissions and Divine Sense fluctuations intertwined in the air.

Like an inexperienced greenhorn, Gu Shen stopped and started in front of various stalls.

Half an hour later, he stopped at a stall deep within the Ghost Market.

An extremely suppressed argument was taking place there.

The stall owner was a burly man with a sinister expression. He possessed a cultivation of Qi Refining Level 7, standing out like a crane among chickens in this group of Loose Cultivators, clearly one of the Ghost Market's organizers.

Opposite the stall owner stood a pale, ragged young Loose Cultivator.

The young Loose Cultivator gripped half a Jade Slip with charred edges tightly, his eyes bloodshot. "Lu Kuang, this is a Puppet Legacy dug out from the ruins of the medicine garden on the back mountain of Qingmu Cliff! Though incomplete, it records true mechanical refinement methods! Offering thirty Spirit Stones is practically highway robbery!"

The burly man sneered and roughly grabbed the youth's collar. "Zhou Xuan, cut the crap. A broken Jade Slip is trash! Without the core silk-control secret technique of the Qianji Pavilion, no one would want this even if you gave it away for free. My offer of thirty Spirit Stones is already an act of mercy."

"No! I must have a hundred Spirit Stones to buy a Heart-Protecting Pill to save a life! I won't sell it for a single stone less!" Zhou Xuan gritted his teeth, refusing to budge.

A flash of killing intent crossed Lu Kuang's eyes as his right hand slowly moved toward the Magical Artifact at his waist. In this Ghost Market, no one would dare interfere if he killed a Qi Refining Stage 4 piece of trash.

Just as the situation became tense.

"Fellow Daoist... this Jade Slip, can you sell it to me for a hundred Spirit Stones?"

An extremely timid, even slightly stuttering youthful voice abruptly rang out from the side.

Lu Kuang and Zhou Xuan turned their heads at the same time.

They saw a youthful-looking Loose Cultivator who appeared to be a greenhorn, nervously rubbing his hands and staring at the broken Jade Slip with burning eyes.

Lu Kuang swept his Divine Sense over him. Level 5 Qi Refining. A fat sheep.

"Get lost! Where did this brat come from, daring to snatch my goods?" Lu Kuang shouted harshly, his Qi Refining Level 7 pressure crashing down.

Gu Shen feigned being startled and retreated two steps, but still gritted his teeth stubbornly and looked at Zhou Xuan. "Fellow Daoist, I... I don't have a hundred Spirit Stones in hand. But I have an extremely rare poisonous spiritual material that I risked my life to obtain from a forbidden zone. It's definitely worth over a hundred Spirit Stones!"

Like a drowning man clutching at a straw, Zhou Xuan asked urgently, "What spiritual material?"

With trembling hands, Gu Shen pulled a jade box wrapped in layers of Talismans from his robes.

He very carefully opened a small crack.

Ssss—!

A terrifyingly ghastly green acid mist instantly escaped from the crack in the jade box. Just a hint of the leaked aura caused the scorched earth beneath their feet to hiss and sizzle, emitting pungent white smoke!

Mutated Strong Acid Venom Sac!

This was a Wasteland poison source nurtured within a twice-mutated biochemical poisonous corpse from the Underground Third Level. Its corrosive power was so strong that it could even melt holes in Gu Shen's black turtle shield!

"What domineering corrosive poison power!" Lu Kuang sucked in a breath of cold air, the killing intent in his eyes instantly replaced by intense greed.

Such a poison, capable of instantly melting the protective spiritual light of a Cultivator of the same level, would be a game-changing killing weapon in battle if applied to concealed weapons! A hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones? At an auction, even demonic Cultivators would scramble for it for two hundred!

Although Zhou Xuan's cultivation was low, he knew a good thing when he saw it. He shoved the broken Jade Slip into Gu Shen's hand and snatched the jade box as if committing a robbery.

"Deal!"

Having obtained the poison, Zhou Xuan didn't dare stay a moment longer, turning and plunging into the dark forest.

Gu Shen gripped the half-Jade Slip that still carried body heat, feigning a look of ecstatic joy as if he had found a priceless treasure. He even "naively" cupped his hands to Lu Kuang before turning and quickly leaving the way he came.

Lu Kuang didn't stop him; he just stared intently at Gu Shen's departing back, a cruel sneer curling at the corners of his mouth.

"A Level 5 Qi Refining fledgling, carrying a heavy treasure without knowing it. The fat sheep has left the pen."

Lu Kuang made a subtle gesture toward the canopy above.

In the darkness, two lurking shadows quietly descended, following Gu Shen's aura and tailing him silently.

Meanwhile, Gu Shen, who seemed to be rushing through the Scorched Tree Forest in a panic, had long since swept away the timidity in his eyes, replacing it with extreme calmness.

"Master, the fish have taken the bait. Two heat sources are following behind, both at Late-Stage Qi Refining," the mechanical spider on his shoulder reported on a frequency only Gu Shen could hear.

Gu Shen touched the Jade Slip he had just acquired inside his Storage Ring.

"Just in time. I didn't spend any Spirit Stones to buy the Jade Slip. Next, it's time to collect tonight's interest."

The cruelty of the Great Yu Cultivation World was, at this moment, played out to the extreme by this wolf in sheep's clothing.