Li Feng’s gaze turned icy. He turned his head and saw a young man wearing a fox mask walking over, accompanied by an old man in a black-faced mask.
Li Feng recognised the fox-masked youth at once. It was the same person who had competed with him for the thousand-year ice dew.
“What, are you here to cause trouble too?” Li Feng asked with a cold laugh.
“Cause trouble? You lot aren’t worth my time,” the fox youth replied, giving Li Feng a frosty glance.
“In that case, why are you here? Got nothing better to do?” Li Feng snorted, turned, and walked away with Zhong Shuhui and the other two.
“Damn it. The fox youth’s face darkened. He had not expected Li Feng to show him such disrespect.
“Young master, that fellow is extremely arrogant and looks down on everyone. Someone like him should be easy to deal with,” the old man beside him remarked.
“On the contrary, people like him are the hardest to handle,” the fox youth said, narrowing his eyes and shaking his head.
The old man was taken aback. This was the first time he had heard his young master say someone was difficult to deal with. Did Li Feng have something special about him?
All he saw in Li Feng was arrogance and disdain for others, probably because a titan stood behind him. Even so, a little scheme should be enough to take care of him.
A sharp glint flashed in the fox youth’s eyes. Was Li Feng truly arrogant and blind to others? He did not think so. When Li Feng spoke, his eyes had remained calm, without the slightest ripple. That kind of person was anything but simple.
“Let’s head to the Ghost Market first. The Ancient Martial Arts Association protects everyone in this underground city, so it’s hard to touch him here. We’ll wait until he leaves, then find an opportunity,” the fox youth said thoughtfully. He turned and the old man walked off.
Outside the auction hall, every small room now hung a lantern. The dim yellow light barely illuminated a few feet around each one.
Li Feng led Zhong Shuhui and the others through the lanes. It felt like strolling through the underworld. Unlike the noisy auction hall, everything here was deathly quiet. Even haggling was done in hushed tones.
This was the Ghost Market. Everyone obeyed its rules without exception.
Ge Ying tugged lightly at Li Feng’s sleeve and whispered, “This is the Ghost Market. Both righteous and demonic paths show up here. Especially the demonic sects. Large numbers of them come to set up stalls and trade. They have plenty of good stuff.”
A strange, faint fragrance reached Li Feng’s nose. He asked, “Demonic cultivators come here too? Aren’t they afraid of fighting breaking out?”
“Anyone who causes trouble in the Ghost Market never leaves alive,” Ge Ying said with a soft laugh.
Li Feng’s heart stirred. It seemed the Ghost Market, like the association’s auction, was far more than it appeared.
He did not press the matter further.
The four walked together. Even with masks on, Ge Ying and Zhong Shuhui’s curvaceous figures drew many glances, though the looks only lingered briefly before withdrawing.
Ge Ying paid no mind and happily browsed the stalls on both sides of the path. This was not her first time in the Ghost Market; she knew her way around and bought whatever caught her eye after bargaining.
Among the group, only Li Feng was new to the Ghost Market and felt a little restrained at first. But he adapted quickly and soon joined the others in browsing.
The Ghost Market sold everything imaginable, strange and wondrous. One stall offered books like Nine Yin Manual, Nine Yang Divine Skill, and Great Shift of the Universe. The titles alone could fool plenty of people.
Li Feng, however, was sceptical. In this age where spiritual energy was scarce, even a yellow-tier technique was a closely guarded secret. How could such legendary manuals be sold openly?
Of course, among the fakes were genuine treasures. Li Feng bought several thousand-year herbs from one stall at prices cheaper than at Wenjun Pavilion Pharmacy.
Zhong Shuhui, Ge Feng, and Ge Ying also picked up various items along the way. Unlike the other two, Ge Ying bought all sorts of odd things.
Eventually Li Feng stopped at another stall displaying a wide assortment of goods.
There were jade bottles of pills, each labelled. Most were Qi-Nurturing Pills, commonly used by ancient martial artists to restore true qi. They increased true qi recovery speed by ten percent.
Though only ten percent, in critical moments they could save a life.
However, these were not refined by true alchemists. Anyone with basic knowledge could produce them, and they contained large amounts of toxic residue. Taking too many would accumulate pill toxins harmful to the body.
Besides pills, the stall had many weapons of every description, though most were ordinary.
There were also random fragments whose value was impossible to determine. Some might be worthless junk, others priceless treasures.
Pills, weapons, fragments. None of these interested Li Feng. His gaze settled on several scrolls in the corner.
He picked one up. Ancient seal script clearly read “Divine Control Art”. It was unmistakably a divine-sense cultivation technique, and from the name alone, a powerful one.
“I obtained this Divine Control Art by chance,” the stall owner said in a low voice when he saw Li Feng’s interest. “It allows ancient martial artists to develop divine sense. Once cultivated, you can use it to control others. It’s an extremely rare divine-sense technique. If you want it, I can give you a good price.”
“How much? If it’s reasonable I’ll buy it. If not, I’ll pass,” Li Feng said calmly, putting the scroll down.
“Fair dealing, no cheating young or old,” the stall owner replied with a smile. “This is a rare divine-sense technique. The grade isn’t high, but divine-sense methods are scarce. Ten million, brother, and it’s yours if you’re interested.”
Ten million for a technique, if genuine, was actually cheap. In this era, any genuine technique was worth its weight in gold, and divine-sense ones were almost nonexistent.
“Too expensive. I can’t even tell if it’s really a divine-sense method. I’m only Houtian fourth layer; I don’t have divine sense yet,” Li Feng said, shaking his head. In truth, he was determined to have it. The moment he saw the scroll he had felt it was exactly the divine-sense technique he needed. When he picked it up, a sweep of his own divine sense confirmed the contents were authentic.
He currently lacked a proper divine-sense cultivation method. Now that he had found one, he would not let it go. The stall owner was only a Houtian martial artist and probably did not even know whether it was real. Li Feng planned to buy it for the lowest possible price.
“Brother, ten million is already very cheap. This lets you cultivate divine sense! If I hadn’t obtained it by accident and found auctioning inconvenient, people would pay a hundred million for it,” the owner insisted, unwilling to lower the price. He had found it in an ancient tomb and naturally wanted to sell it for as much as possible.
“I’m only Houtian fourth layer. Who knows how many years it would take me to develop divine sense. This Divine Control Art might not suit me after all,” Li Feng said evenly.
His meaning was clear: I’ll buy it, but only if the price is right. Otherwise I’ll look elsewhere.
He made to leave.
“Wait!”
The stall owner hurriedly called him back. “Brother, if you really want it, I can go lower. Eight million, how’s that?” He paused, then gritted his teeth and pointed at the pile of fragments. “If you still think it’s expensive, you can pick any two of those as well.”
The fragments were all sorts of broken pieces: chipped bowls, sword shards, things that could be trash or treasure. Most were trash.
Li Feng had never intended to leave. Hearing the offer, he crouched again and looked through the fragments.
Suddenly, a heavily rusted broadsword caught his eye.
For some reason, he felt this blade was extraordinary.
After cultivating the Nine Heavens Heart Scripture, Li Feng had developed a special intuition for remarkable objects, just like with the Divine Control Art, the small cauldron he obtained through Li Quan, and the black bead from the auction.
The rust on this blade was not ordinary corrosion but the mark of countless ages. This sword had clearly existed for an immensely long time.
It was an ancient artefact.
Without hesitation, Li Feng picked up the broadsword, casually grabbed a token-like fragment beside it, and took the Divine Control Art scroll. “Fine. I’ll take the technique.”
He paid eight million on the spot with his bank card.
“Pleasure doing business,” the stall owner said with a nod.
Li Feng said nothing more, gathered his purchases, found an empty corner, tossed everything into his spatial pouch, and continued browsing.
The Ghost Market truly opened his eyes. Anything and everything could be found. He even saw one stall selling women’s undergarments made of heavenly silkworm silk.
Unfortunately, his funds were nearly depleted. After visiting a few more stalls and finding nothing suitable, he rejoined Zhong Shuhui and the others, ready to leave the underground city.
Just then, several figures blocked their path.
