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Jinhe City.

In the city’s most bustling river, a small boat self-navigated and gently coasted along the center of the water.

No one was rowing, and no one was watching over.

Only a middle-aged man, dressed like a scholar, was sitting by the boat as if he were a fisherman, holding his fishing rod.

His face was solemn and antique, his demeanor was strict and rigorous.

He carried the elegance of a profound scholar.

People passed on the river bank’s streets, seemingly oblivious to his existence.

However, at that moment, his brows furrowed. Gently setting down his fishing rod, he straightened up and sensed something in the distance outside the city.

“Chang Qu, Lin Wu, Lu Xin… All dead in an instant.”

“Did Jianyi encounter a formidable enemy?”

With that thought, his already serious face grew more grave.

He slowly closed his eyes, and soon after, reopened them.

“Thankfully, the Child Insect is unharmed.”

“However…”

“Who in Jinhe City dare lay hands on my people?”

A hint of wrath flitted across his eyes.

As his anger brewed, the surrounding river began to shake violently.

Boats lining the shore were instantly shattered by the waves; some mortals who could not evade in time were swept into the tide. The cries and struggles of children and women, calling for help…

The anger on the middle-aged scholar’s face gradually dissipated, replaced by tranquility.

He silently watched the scene unfolding before him.

Watching as the children in the waves gradually floated upward, watching the men and women on the shore cry out in grief, his expression was still as calm as still water.

As if he were a divine being looking down on the mortal world.

Yet, it seemed as though no one around perceived his existence.

Zhu Jianyi slowly opened his eyes.

Feeling the glimmer of light before his eyes, he quickly recalled the events, a hint of confusion emerged in his heart.

“I… I didn’t die?”

“Did my master save me?”

Upon the thought, he immediately widened his eyes, struggling to sit up, and looked around.

However, the sight around him scared him out of his wits!

This was an unnamed tree hollow. Seeing the wood patterns on the wall, he recognized at a glance that this was the kind of tree hollow specific to the ‘Big Willow Wood’ in Jinhe City.

But the key issue wasn’t this, the crux was that the walls of the tree hollow were filled with various dismembered limbs and chunks of flesh.

With his unscrupulous nature and vast exposure, he would normally never lose his composure like this.

But the key was that, although the dismembered limbs were bloody and indistinguishable, he immediately recognized them as belonging to the cultivators who followed him, with his profound memory.

And the untrustworthy Foundation Establishment Master, his face was now covered by a strange mask, holding one of the fingers, seemingly pondering over something.

Seeing this scene, Zhu Jianyi instantly felt goosebumps.

Following his master, Master Lin, for many years, he had seen cruel and brutal demon cultivators before. But although these people were cruel, they were merely ruthless in their cultivation methods. They would never hold a dismembered limb and keep examining it over and over.

However, this unfamiliar Foundation Establishment Master seemed to enjoy it and was deeply engrossed.

At that moment, Zhu Jianyi’s fear and wariness toward this Foundation Establishment Master reached an unprecedented level.

He secretly made up his mind that if he were lucky enough to survive, he would never provoke such a person again.

Upon deeper consideration, he realized he had never provoked him in the first place. It was the stranger who had taken the initiative to mess with him.

At this thought, he immediately felt a sense of grievance.

Who had he offended? Seriously!

“Awake?”

But just then, a voice that terrified him suddenly sounded.

Zhu Jianyi instantly identified this voice as the Foundation Establishment Master who was studying the dismembered finger.

Without daring to harbor any unnecessary thoughts, he immediately struggled to his feet, then bowed and said.

“I thank you for sparing my life, senior!”

In this short period of time, realization had dawned on him.

If he hadn’t been killed on the spot, that meant he had some value left.

And it likely had something to do with the Ghost Market.

If that was the case, then perhaps if he performed well, he might be able to play for time until his master arrived.

Because they all had left the aura of their souls with their master. Since the others were dead, his master should already be on high alert.

As long as his master arrived, this Foundation Establishment Master would be undoubtedly doomed!

On this point, no one believed more in Master than he did.

After all, he had once personally witnessed his master suppressing other rogue cultivators. In a word, his master seemed like a divine being!

These thoughts were fleeting.

However, Zhu Jianyi immediately heard a sentence that made his scalp tingle:

“Oh, no need to thank me. After all, you are still useful. But don’t get too excited just yet, I have left something in your body…”

The untrustworthy, seemingly ordinary Foundation Establishment Master threw the finger aside, then took off the mask on his face, and offered him a faint smile.

Zhu Jianyi’s heart was filled with both shock and anger!

However, he could only protest in silence. He quickly attempted to channel his qi. Surprisingly, the other party offered no resistance.

His mana rapidly circulated throughout his body.

However, what puzzled Zhu Jianyi was that he couldn’t sense anything unusual at all.

“Could he be lying to me?”

However, staring at the half-smiling gaze of the other party, Zhu Jianyi immediately crushed his own thoughts.

The methods of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator were inscrutable. To control him, how could they let a Qi Refining stage cultivator discover it?

It must have been hidden too deeply; he could not detect it all.

Thinking of this, waves of despair uncontrollably surged in his heart.

At this point, this true cultivator of the Foundation Establishment stage spoke again:

“Of course, if you cooperate with me, we can talk things out. I am not bloodthirsty, I just came to the Ghost Market to trade with others. Once the transaction is completed, I will let you go.”

Hearing this, Zhu Jianyi couldn’t help but look at the severed limbs and chunks of flesh around him.

He had a new understanding of ‘not a bloodthirsty person’.

Although he sneered at the lie of ‘coming to the Ghost Market to trade with others’, Zhu Jianyi still couldn’t help but feel a bit of hope.

After all, who would want to die if they could live?

He then hesitated and asked:

“Senior… Can you… Can you ensure this?”

“Hehe, what do you think?”

The other party responded with a question.

Yet hearing this, Zhu Jianyi actually gained a trace of trust.

After all, if the other party really wanted to deceive him, they could have simply said ‘I can guarantee it’.

Thinking of this, Zhu Jianyi gritted his teeth and finally suggested a way to take the other person into the Ghost Market.

Yunlong Valley.

It was located at the intersection of Jinhe City, Sanjiang City, and Fengping City.

It was also popularly known as a lawless area.

With bandits running rampant and bullying the locals, the surrounding civilians all kept their distance, leaving the area desolate and uninhabited.

But unknown to everyone, there was a Ghost Market here for cultivators, which opened only on the day of the full moon every month, and only cultivators who meet certain requirements could enter.

On this particular day, two figures arrived in Yunlong Valley.

One of them was a young cultivator, dressed in blue, whose handsome face revealed a hint of apprehension.

The other cultivator seemed to be around thirty, with an ordinary appearance and wearing a black Daoist robe.

The two of them stood in front of a mountain stronghold, unaffected by the bandits’ cursing and yelling, as if they hadn’t heard them.

At this moment, the young cultivator slightly lowered his head and said, “Senior Shen, this is the entrance to the ‘Linglong Ghost Market’. It only opens on the day of the full moon each month and lasts for three days. Coincidentally, we have arrived just in time for the opening day.”

“However, before we enter, you must remember what I have told you; once we are inside, no matter what I ask you to do, you must follow my instructions.”

The Daoist robe cultivator nodded, “Understood, let’s go in!”

The Daoist robe cultivator was none other than Wang Ba.

Looking at the bandits not far from him, Wang Ba couldn’t help but marvel at the ingenious idea of the Ghost Market’s manager.

Who would have thought that the Ghost Market where cultivators traded would be hidden within a stronghold of mortal bandits?

Most likely, even the people from the major Sects would find it hard to think of this.

Therefore, the Linglong Ghost Market had been established for decades and never faced any mishaps.

Soon, Zhu Jianyi took the initiative to walk to the front of the stronghold and talked to a burly and rough bandit chief-like mortal for a bit.

Immediately after, the bandit chief led them to a dirty and disgusting dungeon.

However, the dungeon was not their destination. They passed through the dungeon and arrived at the final water prison. To Wang Ba’s surprise, Zhu Jianyi used a Water-avoiding Talisman and was the first to step into the prison cell with rat corpses floating in the water.

Wang Ba went speechless, before promptly waving his Mana, separating the water in the cell, and quickly submerged into it.

As expected, he saw Zhu Jianyi waiting in front of a pitch-black entrance.

“This is somewhat similar to the Jinhe Ghost Market.”

Wang Ba remarked.

However, Zhu Jianyi shook his head, “It only looks like it now, follow me, Senior.”

Having said that, he took the lead and walked in.

Wang Ba tightly held onto the Spirit Beast Bag, especially the one containing the Azure Spirit Turtle, and then followed him in.

To his surprise, there wasn’t an independent space like in the Jinhe Ghost Market. Instead, there was only one thing inside: a Teleportation Array.

Seeing this, Wang Ba couldn’t help but feel astonished.

A Teleportation Array wasn’t something anyone could set up.

At the very least, it required an Array Caster at the third rank of the Golden Core Realm.

Being able to employ a third-rank Array Caster, it was evident that the Ghost Market had quite an extraordinary background.

The surroundings of the Teleportation Array were glowing, with only a hollow in the middle which looked somewhat dim.

Wang Ba speculated that this should be the place to put the Spirit Stones.

Zhu Jianyi didn’t dare to ask Wang Ba to take out the Spirit Stone. He took out twenty lower-grade Spirit Stones from his Storage Bag reluctantly.

The Teleportation Array quickly lit up.

Wang Ba and Zhu Jianyi stepped into the Teleportation Array together, and a flash of light passed by.

The quiet cave was then left with just an Array, emitting little specks of light.

Meanwhile, Wang Ba only felt a slight sway.

Before he could fully grasp his surroundings,

He heard the bustling noise of people talking pouring into his ears.

“Second-grade lower Magic Tool ‘Three Sun Sword’, it only costs 1260 lower…” “… Talismans! Come and see the Talismans! We have first-class, top-grade Talismans available!”

“Red Yuan Pill! Red Yuan Pill! 10 lower-grade Spirit Stones per pill!”

“Latest news, the young master of the Feishe Palace descend the mountain and is looking for cauldrons! Female cultivators are to take note! For the specific route of the young master, please come to inquire!”

“Latest news, a sword cultivator surnamed Zhao from the north has engaged in continuous battles with numerous Foundation Establishment stage cultivators. He will arrive in Yan State soon. Those hoping to become a disciple, come quickly to inquire….”