Lu Xuan quickly lowered his head, avoiding eye contact with the black paper kite. The evil thought that had brushed past him soon disappeared.
"What a strange thing."
He silently cursed in his heart, becoming even more cautious about the forces behind the black market. The ability to arrange more than ten of these eerie paper kites to patrol the black market showed just how terrifying the power behind it was.
As he walked slowly, he carefully observed his surroundings.
"There are more cultivators in the black market than I imagined. Two hundred people, each paying three spirit stones as an entrance fee, that’s at least six hundred spirit stones. That’s quite a profit!"
"The spiritual energy in this black market is denser than outside the market town. I wonder how long three spirit stones will allow me to stay. If there’s no time limit, I could just stay here and cultivate, soaking up the spiritual energy."
He thought to himself but didn’t dare to try it. After all, he didn’t know what consequences that might bring. The forces behind the black market aimed to profit from spirit stones, not to let cultivators take advantage of them.
The management of the black market was quite loose. Cultivators could set up stalls freely, as long as they didn’t encroach on others’ spaces or cause conflicts. The managers wouldn’t interfere.
Lu Xuan carefully searched through the items at the stalls. His main goal for coming here was to find rare or unknown spirit seeds, seedlings, or young spirit beasts and spirit bird eggs.
Additionally, he wanted to see if he could find a strong defensive formation. The current defensive formation in his yard was still the one left by the previous owner, and he only had temporary usage rights. As the number and quality of spiritual plants in his spiritual field increased, the current formation was starting to feel inadequate.
He also hoped to find a suitable cultivation method. So far, the rewards from mature spiritual plants had not included any cultivation methods. Although he hadn’t been cultivating for long, if he could find a profound technique, he thought it would be worth trying to obtain it.
Lastly, he was looking for defensive artifacts. Whether it was the Silver Splitting Blade, the Fire Leaving Sword, or the Thunder Fire Pearl, they were all offensive types. Lu Xuan felt he needed to fill in that gap.
However, with a white light orb as a base and four Red Cloud Pine seeds about to mature, he didn’t urgently need any artifacts.
What he really wanted to sell first was the first-grade flying sword left by Qin Ming, which had been taking up space in his storage bag. Since so much time had passed, coupled with being in the black market, he didn’t have much to worry about.
If the price was right, he could also consider selling the Red Cloud Pine seeds, along with the second-grade Fire Leaving Sword, which had some functional overlap with the Silver Splitting Blade.
Although the latter was only a first-grade weapon, its ability to split into many fragments made it surprisingly effective, and Lu Xuan found it easier to use.
The items at the stalls were all sorts of strange. He even saw a stall displaying several eerie paper figures.
The pale paper bodies had two bright red patches on their cheeks, and their mouths curled into a strange smile.
The stall owner was equally odd, thin and frail, wearing a loose red and green robe that made him look quite spooky.
There were also many bizarre materials on display, parts of spirit beasts, and some unknown items.
There were huge moving eyes, strange spirit beasts with twin bodies, and fluffy balls swaying in the wind like seaweed with countless long tentacles...
"Hmm?"
As he passed one stall, Lu Xuan couldn’t help but stop.
At the stall were several attractive female cultivators, all at the first or second layer of Qi Refinement. Each was tightly bound with black ropes, accentuating their bodies, stirring a sense of brutality in onlookers, making one want to dominate them.
In front of the female cultivators was a black board that read:
"Low price for furnace cauldrons, low-level Qi Refinement."
"Friend, would you like to try the quality?"
A thin, masked cultivator behind the stall spoke gruffly to Lu Xuan.
"No, I need to ensure my primal yang remains intact before building my foundation," Lu Xuan casually made up an excuse as he walked past the stall.
His brows furrowed as thoughts raced in his mind.
He remembered that before Wang Shan was invaded and corrupted by evil spirits, he had bought a second-layer Qi Refinement female cultivator in the black market and had boasted about it to Lu Xuan.
After purchasing her, Wang Shan’s cultivation soared rapidly.
Now that he thought about it, Lu Xuan sensed something was off. How could one’s cultivation rise so quickly just from pleasure? Such good fortune was rare; perhaps the invasion of evil spirits was closely tied to that second-layer female cultivator.
With that thought, Lu Xuan quickened his pace.
He arrived at a stall where the owner was a female cultivator. Her aura suggested she was at least a mid-level Qi Refinement cultivator, possibly even high-level.
The stall was filled mostly with spiritual herbs and plants, all at least first-grade, and many varieties Lu Xuan had never seen before.
Pretending to browse, Lu Xuan finally picked up a vine about half a foot long.
The vine was deep black, twisted and coiled, resembling a winding black snake.
"Friend, what is this vine? Can you tell me about it?"
He asked the female cultivator.
"This is a Jiao Vine, a third-grade spiritual plant. It can be used to refine whip or rope-type artifacts, and when ground into powder, it can be added to certain medicinal materials," she replied calmly.
"I remember that vine-type spiritual plants can be propagated through cuttings. Can this Jiao Vine be cultivated that way?" Lu Xuan asked curiously.
"Theoretically, yes, but I advise against getting your hopes up. Even spiritual plant cultivators from major sects can’t easily cultivate it."
"Only those Jiao Vines that have been specially treated, along with unique cultivation methods, can be grown into complete vines."
"Really? I guess I was a bit overly optimistic," Lu Xuan sighed, unable to hide his disappointment.
"I'm interested in this Jiao Vine and plan to refine it into a rope-type artifact. What’s your price?"
"Third-grade spiritual plant, good quality, just a bit short. If you really want it, two hundred spirit stones will do."
Although the female cultivator could tell Lu Xuan's cultivation level, she didn’t show any condescension. After all, in the black market, cultivation level was often the least important thing.
"Two hundred spirit stones? That’s too expensive," Lu Xuan quickly shook his head. He only had a little over two hundred spirit stones in total, making it hard to decide.
He hesitated, looked around to see if anyone was watching, and then took out the second-grade Fire Leaving Sword from his storage bag.
"Friend, how about this second-grade flying sword? Can I trade it for your Jiao Vine?"
The female cultivator took the flying sword from Lu Xuan, infused it with a bit of spiritual energy, and flames burst forth from the red blade.
"This flying sword is good. How about this: you add thirty spirit stones, and the Jiao Vine is yours."
"Friend, this Jiao Vine is just a short piece. If it’s for refining an artifact, the limitations are too great. For refining pills, it’s somewhat useless."
"Besides, the materials are generally priced lower. My flying sword is worth it."
"Twenty spirit stones."
"Still too expensive. Ten spirit stones, and I’ll take it right away."
The female cultivator hesitated for a moment.
The short Jiao Vine indeed affected its value significantly, and she had kept it for quite a while.
However, she really liked Lu Xuan's second-grade flying sword, so she nodded directly.
"Alright."
(End of Chapter)