94: Chapter 94 The Rootless Ghost Market

Gu Shen stood up and paced slowly inside his Immortal Cave.

The Immortal City was currently under strict martial law, and the shops and businesses operating in the open would absolutely not dare to sell spiritual materials with extreme yin and extreme evil properties at such a sensitive time.

Although the Wandu Pavilion accepted poisonous items, it was the property of a Danding Sect Grand Elder; going there to buy items of extreme yin would be no different from throwing himself into a trap.

"The bright path is blocked, so I can only take the dark path."

Gu Shen stopped pacing. He recalled a few fragments of idle chatter he had accidentally overheard from Loose Cultivators at the Zui Xian Ju Teahouse earlier.

"In the Outer City of Yunze Immortal City, besides the Blood River Dark Assembly, there is another Ghost Market that only opens on rainy nights. It is called the 'Rootless Ghost Market'."

Rumor had it that this Rootless Ghost Market had no fixed location and relied entirely on a special scent called "Soul-Guiding Incense" to point the way. Everything traded inside consisted of items that could not be traded openly and could not see the light of day.

"Such underground black markets must be controlled by local snakes behind the scenes. With the Immortal City under lockdown, they might be lying low, but this is also definitely a time when they urgently need to liquidate assets."

Gu Shen made up his mind.

He was not in a hurry to go out. The Grand Array had just been sealed, and the Law Enforcement Squad was in its most frantic period of searching. Moving around now would make it very easy to be exposed.

"Wait. Wait until this wave of scrutiny passes slightly, then go search for traces of the Rootless Ghost Market."

The next five days, Gu Shen stayed behind closed doors.

Every day, he relied only on consuming iron-sealed meat paste and pure water to maintain his Physical Body's needs. In his spare time, he would sit cross-legged in meditation, using his Qi Refining Level 7 mana to continuously nourish that Golden Light Sword Talisman Treasure, bringing its compatibility with his own Divine Sense to perfection.

Five days later. Late at night. A light, drizzling rain drifted outside the window once again.

Gu Shen opened his eyes and withdrew the Thick Earth Array.

He still wore the appearance of a sickly youth, threw on a wide black rain cloak, and pushed the door open to step into the rain.

The streets of the Outer City were much quieter. Although the Law Enforcement Squad's patrols remained strict, the frantic, dig-three-feet-deep intensity of the first few days was gone.

Gu Shen moved like a ghost through the intricate maze of alleys in the shanty area.

He did not use his mana, but instead pushed the five senses gained from reaching Major Achievement in the first layer of the Bone Refining Art to their absolute limit.

His nostrils twitched slightly.

After passing through a dead-end alley filled with sewage, Gu Shen's footsteps paused slightly.

In the air, besides the fishy smell of rain and the musty odor of rotting wood, there was an additional trace of an extremely faint, strange cold fragrance, like the smell of aged incense burning.

"Soul-Guiding Incense."

A flash of sharpness passed through Gu Shen's eyes.

He did not immediately pursue the scent, but cautiously stood in place for the time it takes to burn half a stick of incense. After confirming there was no tail behind him and no Divine Sense probing him, he followed that wisp of cold fragrance toward the most desolate, abandoned mass grave in the Outer City.

In the rainy night, the mass grave was lit by eerie ghost fires.

Gu Shen stopped in front of a dilapidated, headless stone statue. That cold fragrance was drifting out from the crevices in the base of the stone statue.

He reached out and knocked on the base of the stone statue in a very rhythmic pattern. Two long, one short.

Creak.

The base of the stone statue slid silently to the side, revealing a pitch-black tunnel that seemed bottomless.

Gu Shen lowered his bamboo hat and stepped inside without hesitation.

The tunnel was extremely long, extending dozens of zhang downward. At the end, it suddenly opened up.

An extremely crude underground karst cave appeared before his eyes. There were no luxurious white jade platforms like at the Blood River Dark Assembly, only dozens of Loose Cultivators wrapped in black robes, sitting silently in front of their respective stalls.

The items displayed on the stalls were mostly bone jades and fragments emitting strong corpse Qi and cold, yin energy.

Rootless Ghost Market.

Gu Shen scanned the area and walked straight toward a stall in the corner filled with black bottles and jars.

The stall owner was a hunched old man wearing a demon mask.

"What are you buying?" the old man asked in a hoarse voice.

"Items of extreme yin. The colder, the better. Preferably Yin Marrow or cold evil grass that can be used in medicine," Gu Shen said, lowering his voice.

The old man lifted his eyelids and sized Gu Shen up.

"I don't have Yin Marrow. I do have two stalks of cold evil grass, dug out from a century-old Ancient Tomb. However..."

The old man's withered fingers tapped on the table, "I don't want Spirit Stones. I only trade for pure water that can neutralize corpse poison, or high-tier healing Spirit Medicine."

Gu Shen's heart stirred.

The Loose Cultivators in this Rootless Ghost Market frequented deadly places all year round; what they lacked most was indeed items to save their lives.

With a flip of his wrist, he placed a glass bottle filled with strong purifying water from the Wasteland, along with a lump of red blood essence glue, gently onto the stall.

"Inspect the goods," Gu Shen spat out coldly.

The old man uncorked the bottle, and after just one sniff, a burst of sharp light erupted in his cloudy eyes.

"What tyrannical purifying water! It has no Spiritual Qi, yet it can forcibly neutralize corpse poison!"

The old man clutched the purifying water and the essence glue to his chest, then very readily fished out a jade box emitting an intense chill from under the stall and pushed it toward Gu Shen.

"Two stalks of century-old cold evil grass. They are yours."

Gu Shen opened the jade box, took a look, and after confirming everything was correct, stored it in his Storage Ring.

Two stalks of cold evil grass, although cold and yin in nature, were still somewhat insufficient to neutralize the violent nature of the Tier 3 Thunder Bone.

"It's not enough."

Gu Shen stood up, preparing to continue searching in the Ghost Market.

Just at this moment.

From within the tunnel at the entrance of the Ghost Market, a muffled scream suddenly rang out.

Immediately following that, a terrifying Spiritual Pressure of a Qi Refining 9th Layer Peak cultivator swept through the entire underground karst cave like a gale.

"Rootless Ghost Market? A bunch of rats that can't see the light of day. You certainly made it hard for this seat to find you."

A figure wearing blood-colored robes with a cold and stern face slowly stepped into the karst cave. In his hand, he held a dripping longsword, and on the tip of the sword, he carried the severed head of a Ghost Market sentry.

Blood Fiend Sect, Leng Wuhen!

Gu Shen's pupils constricted, and his body instantly vanished into the shadows of the corner.

"The lockdown and search actually reached this underground Ghost Market."

Gu Shen's hand quietly pressed onto the hilt of the blade at his waist.

The smell of blood instantly overwhelmed the cold fragrance of the Soul-Guiding Incense.

Leng Wuhen, in his blood-colored robe, held his dripping longsword, blocking the only exit like a god of slaughter. The Spiritual Pressure of the Qi Refining 9th Layer Peak turned into tangible, blood-colored ripples, pressing down heavily on the heads of the dozens of Loose Cultivators in the karst cave.

"Leng Wuhen! This is the Outer City of Yunze Immortal City. If your Blood Fiend Sect dares to commit a massacre here, are you not afraid of the Danding Sect's Law Enforcement Squad?!"

A burly Loose Cultivator at Qi Refining Level 7 shouted sternly, attempting to incite everyone to resist.

"Danding Sect?"

The corners of Leng Wuhen's mouth curled into a cruel sneer, and he swung his longsword violently.

Swish!

A three-zhang-long blood-colored sword beam tore through the dim karst cave. The burly Loose Cultivator didn't even have time to activate his protective Magical Artifact before he was split in two, along with his shield, by the sword beam. Viscera mixed with blood splattered all over the ground.

The entire place fell into a dead silence.

"Tonight, the Danding Sect's patrol team will not come to this block of the Outer City."

Leng Wuhen stepped over the corpse on the ground, his gaze sweeping over the trembling crowd like a venomous snake, "Hand over your Storage Pouches. Anyone carrying Puppet parts from the Qianji Pavilion, or holding healing Spirit Medicine, stand out. I will only search your souls and leave your corpses intact. Otherwise, everyone in this karst cave will die."