Walking alone with a sword, slaying ghosts and gods

Chapter 374: Black Market, Insect Scripture Book Stall, Endless Treasures (Subscribe!)
"call……"

After refining the sword for a hundred days in the Jinguan Cave in Canglong Mountain, Lu Cheng sat on the altar and let out a long breath.

Beside him, the Five Elements Flying Sword floated in the air, its spiritual light revealing evil and fire attributes.

In fact, it is not an easy task to melt and combine three sixth-level magic weapons into one. Even if there are skilled weapon refiners who can do it, it will not take several years. The power of Lu Cheng's Samadhi True Fire has completely surpassed the realm that a sixth-level magic fire should have.

The innate magical powers and magical powers of many cultivators are useful when they are practicing Qi and building the foundation, but they are not useful when they reach the Purple Mansion and Golden Elixir realms.

It may not even coincide with one's later cultivation path, but this is not necessarily a bad thing.

This is because there are some cultivators who choose to condense extremely powerful killing abilities while practicing Qi and building a foundation, in order to cope with disasters, seek to gain the upper hand in fights with other cultivators, obtain cultivation resources, and make up for their cultivation.

However, these supernatural powers are of no value in the subsequent Taoist practice and are abandoned by the practitioners themselves.

There are also disciples from major sects who have gathered the greatest potential in their supernatural powers, but are then directly killed by the previous type of cultivators, without ever having to wait for the day when their potential can be realized.

Lu Cheng's innate magical power: practicing Qi and Qi sea, building base fire, condensing evil human fire, and golden elixir realm heavenly fire, and combining the three fires into one in the golden elixir realm, practicing the Samadhi True Fire magical power with infinite killing power and cultivation potential.

This is of course the highest level of Taoist foundation, but the vast majority of cultivators in the world cannot do this.

If Lu Cheng had not obtained the Blood Nerve Sutra and had not become Huang Longzi's disciple to practice Taoist transformation and ascension techniques and other advanced Taoist methods during his cultivation, it is very likely that what he condensed in the Condensed Evil Realm would not be his own blood and fire, and he would not have made any subsequent progress in Taoism.

Then the Great Five Elements Earth Ultimate True Fire that was condensed before and cultivated until today would not have much significance for cultivation. It is useful but not of great use, and is indistinguishable from the crowd.

"Refine the Samadhi Fire and attain the Vajra Indestructible Body." Lu Cheng knew that he was still benefiting from the solid foundation of his early cultivation.

In fact, this is also the idea of ​​orthodox Taoist practice: lay a solid foundation, and do not rush or slow down. The path of Taoism is a long journey. Speed ​​for a while is not fast. The more you practice, the more stable you become. The faster you practice, the longer your Taoism will last.

After a brief breath adjustment, the communication talisman floating at the entrance of the cave flashed with a faint blue light, appearing particularly eye-catching.

Taoist Lu Cheng stretched out his hand and the talisman flew into his palm, injecting magic power into it. Gu Yunge's voice suddenly rang in his mind:

"Fellow Daoist Lu, good things are about to happen. If you are interested, I will meet you at 3:30 on July 14th."

"Good things are coming. What good things are they?"

Lu Cheng calculated the time with his fingers and found that he still had a few days to prepare, so he was not in a hurry. He opened his mouth and absorbed the Five Elements Flying Sword back to slowly nurture and refine it.

He was not too worried that Gu Yunge would harm him, because according to various investigations during this period, Gu Yunge had indeed been investigating the True Spirit Ice Phoenix for a long time.

Many of the things Feng Dong said would be fine if they were not verified, but if someone was sent specifically to verify them, it would be difficult to conceal the clues.

Gu Yun Ge believed that he was a true disciple of Yuanshen, and that this period of time was the time when benefits would flow to him, so if he said it was a good thing, then it was very likely really a good thing.

On July 14th, at the intersection of Zi and Chou, Lu Cheng stopped practicing, made some preparations, and then stepped out of the cave.

Walking in the moonlight, clouds emerged from under his feet. Driven by his magical power, the clouds soared into the sky like a divine horse with wings on its back.

Along the way, Lu Cheng looked down at the ground beneath his feet, his thoughts changing.

Not long after, Lu Cheng arrived at the secret mansion written on Gu Yunge's communication talisman.

It was a magnificent mansion with a tall gate carved with various exquisite patterns, including auspicious beasts flying and fairy grass swaying, highlighting the extraordinary status of the owner of the mansion.

As soon as Lu Cheng pressed down the cloud, Gu Yunge came out to greet him.

Today, Gu Yunge was wearing a blue robe, with his messy hair tied up, his face was strong, and he exuded the temperament of a person who had truly attained the Tao.

When he saw Lu Cheng, a smile appeared on his face, and he said while holding the Dao formula: "Daoyou Lu, you are indeed a punctual person."

Lu Cheng smiled slightly when he heard this, and returned the greeting, saying, "Brother Yun Ge invited me, how could I delay. I wonder what important matter you are talking about?"

Gu Yunge looked at the stars in the sky, then lowered his voice and said, "This matter is a secret, Daoist Lu, follow me and you will find out."

After saying that, Gu Yunge brought Taoist Lu Cheng into the mansion, and then came to the back garden of the mansion. When they came to a rockery, Gu Yunge slowly pressed a stone, revealing a secret door.

Lu Cheng could see that this mechanical device was extremely crude. Even with Gu Yunge's physical cultivation level, his face changed slightly when he opened it. There was no ingenious mechanical design at all. It was purely a matter of force to open the door.

But in this way, there is no need to worry about ordinary servants or even monks accidentally discovering the secrets of this place. Sometimes, the more sophisticated the design, the more mistakes it will make.

The two of them entered the secret door of the rockery together. They walked along a quiet path, seemingly slowly but actually fast, and soon they arrived at a valley.

The valley was filled with clouds and mist. Gu Yunge stopped in front of a huge rock, then made seals with his hands and muttered something.

After a moment of magical light flowing on the stone wall, another huge stone was seen moving slowly, revealing a hole.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, let's continue in from here and we'll be there soon." Gu Yunge turned around and said, taking the lead to walk into the cave entrance.

Although Lu Cheng had some doubts in his heart, he still followed him in.

"What kind of blessed land is this that is worth all the trouble for you, fellow Taoist?"

“You’ll know it very quickly, and it’s worth it.”

"Oh, I'll wait and see."

The tunnel inside the cave was dark and damp, filled with a foul smell.

Lu Cheng circulated his magic power to form a faint halo around his body to block out the unpleasant smell.

He could feel that the two were probably heading underground.

This time, the two walked in the tunnel for a long time and finally saw a ray of light.

When he walked out of the cave, Lu Cheng found himself in a strange place.

This seemed to be the underground of Haiyuan City, surrounded by intricate tunnels. The walls were inlaid with gems that emitted faint light, barely illuminating the surrounding environment.

Before coming out, Gu Yunge handed Lu Cheng a ghost mask and a black robe, which could block the detection of other people's spiritual sense when worn.

"Basically, every place where cultivators gather has such a place. This is the underground black market in Haiyuan City. People in some places call this place a ghost market or a secret shop, but they all mean the same thing."

This underground black market is a small gathering circle, surrounded by a mysterious ban to prevent outsiders from prying eyes.

In the market town, everyone wears a ghost mask. The styles of the ghost masks vary. Some are hideous and terrifying, while others are mysterious, making it impossible to see their true faces.

"Friend Lu, you can take a look around here first. We will go to the Yuanying cultivators' market fair next. But it is indeed easier to pick up some useful things here, even for us."

The overall atmosphere in the Black Market was very depressing. People talked in low voices and traded some rare spiritual objects and magic weapons that were expressly prohibited by the laws of Haiyuan City.

Gu Yunge left for the time being, leaving Lu Cheng to wander around the place alone.

While walking, Lu Cheng saw a spirit bead emitting faint purple light placed on a stall. The spirit bead seemed to contain a small world, mysterious and beautiful.

But in the next moment, Lu Cheng's eyes flashed with golden red fire, and he saw that the purple spiritual bead was entangled with resentful aura, and it seemed that there were white bones flying around. "Is this Taoist interested in this treasure? This is the Soul Binding Bead, which we found when we explored the ancient magic cave. What does the killing committed by those demon cubs have to do with us? Buy this treasure and refine it into your own life magic weapon, which can greatly increase the spirituality and power of the magic weapon."

"not interested."

Lu Cheng is the ruler of the Tang Dynasty, Chi Jun, who believes in the reincarnation of souls and has no interest in purchasing this treasure. Although the Samsara Banner is a type of Ten Thousand Souls Banner, the Soul Binding Bead can indeed increase the power and spirituality of the Samsara Banner to a certain extent.

However, things like cause and effect are very complicated to calculate. If Lu Cheng buys this treasure, he will have established cause and effect. It is a merit to liberate the souls of the dead, but it is also troublesome to a certain extent if the resentful souls and evil spirits are never liberated.

You can't let them go, because they will almost certainly kill people, and that will be counted as a sin on you, but suppressing them all the time will also consume your magic power and divine power. Many ancient Shinto masters failed to handle this well, and accumulated too many resentful souls and evil spirits that could not be redeemed, which eventually led to the fall of the Kingdom of God and its transformation into a ghost prison and demon prison, which is still drifting in some space cracks.

After walking a few dozen steps, Lu Cheng found a broken spear emitting a fierce aura on a stall not far away. The tip of the broken spear was engraved with ancient talismans, which flashed a dark red light and seemed to have some magical power.

"It should be something like a witch's magic weapon. This lineage has long been extinct in the world of immortal cultivation. Is there even such a thing here?"

The ancient witch practice methods were cut off earlier than the Shinto practice methods, because it is said that many powerful witchcraft techniques, the more in-depth the study, not only do not increase people's lifespan, but instead shorten their lifespan. It is undeniable that they have historical significance, but they are ultimately not welcomed or tolerated by the modern world of immortal cultivation.

After wandering around for a while, Lu Chengfu found another used bookstall surrounded by many people. He went over to take a look and found that there were many Taoist books and ancient books. The first few pages could be read, but the rest would be blank unless there was a method to break the curse.

At this bookstall, Lu Cheng found the Insect Sutra that he had longed for, and it had volumes one to six.

Someone happened to be trading, and Lu Cheng looked at it and asked:

"Does this place also collect merits for hunting monsters?"

"I'll accept spirit stones and monster hunting merits. The Taoist books and classics here are only one-fifth of the above price or even lower." The bookstall owner replied in a hoarse voice.

"Haha, the books here are cheap, but you have to learn to identify them yourself. Many of the classics here are missing pages, which is a small matter. Some of them have been intentionally mixed with some miscellaneous pages. If you practice meditation randomly, you will end up attracting demons from outside the domain."

At this time, a man in a black robe and a ghost face next to the bookstall said this.

"Reading books for nothing can't shut you up? How many people have been helped to climb up through my books? You are already in a high position and have great power, but you are still reluctant to spend some spiritual stones. It can be said that fortune and misfortune come from one's own actions. Who can you blame?"

The stall owner, Chen Quezi, was very confident, saying that there was a high-level cultivator in Haiyuan City who had already cultivated to the Nascent Soul stage. However, during a Taoist ritual, he attracted an evil creature that should not have been attracted. Not only did he die, but he also implicated the sect.

Because this matter was extremely evil, Haiyuan City sent people to investigate and discovered that several pages of the Taoist books and scriptures that this True Lord had read had been maliciously tampered with.

If one is at the Foundation Establishment or Purple Mansion realm and has the opportunity to enter the Black Market, it is understandable that he can purchase some Taoist books and scriptures at a low price to enhance his own foundation and improve his Taoist foundation.

But since this person, who has cultivated to the Nascent Soul stage, still behaves like this, it seems that I am not entirely without responsibility.

At least, although Lu Cheng flipped through the copies of "Insect Sutra" on the stall again and again, he did not dare to buy them. He wanted to integrate the Taoism of "Insect Sutra" into his own Taoist system, the Five Elements of Poison, and he could not accept missing pages, additions, or confusion.

"But it seems that some of the combined cultivation methods and miscellaneous books on cultivating immortality can be read more, which can help increase your knowledge."

Lu Cheng stayed at this bookstall for a long time and used spirit stones to buy many Taoist books, many of which were high-level ones.

Although after purchasing high-level Taoist books in Haiyuan City, one must sign a contract not to resell them to others, it is still possible to circumvent it if one is willing to pay a price. For example, one can let a dying person go to buy those Taoist books and then hand them over to the underground black market for copying.

When the backlash falls on people, everyone will die. What is the meaning of those spiritual contracts?
In the end, Lu Cheng bought all the volumes one to six of the Insect Sutra, both pirated and genuine. It would be ok if there were a few pages missing, but if there were really a few extra pages, it would not be an ordinary item if anyone dared to add it to a Taoist scripture of this level, so he would not necessarily lose money.

Just as Lu Cheng was flipping through these books, a talisman flew over. Lu Cheng reached out to take it, and it turned out to be a traction talisman that Gu Yunge sent to Lu Cheng.

"I'll buy all of these, and give me half the price."

"Master Dao, this is already very cheap, where else can you find this price above..."

Because Lu Cheng bought so many books, although Chen the Cripple kept saying that he was losing money, he was actually grinning from ear to ear.

In their line of work, the biggest fear is being hunted down by the Haiyuan City Law Enforcement Team. As for profits, they actually make a profit no matter how much they sell.

After buying these Taoist books, Lu Cheng followed the talisman and came to the core of the market town.

The number of ghost-faced men here has obviously decreased, and under the guidance of the talisman, Lu Cheng has to pass through a shop, where a beautiful middle-aged woman is waiting to greet Lu Cheng.

"Shang Xiu please follow me."

This underground black market itself is already secretive enough, and the place where Gu Yunge and the others are trading is even more secretive.

The beautiful middle-aged woman came to a corner of the room and stretched out a hand to push the bookshelf.

With a flash of magic light on her hand, the bookshelf in front of her slowly opened to both sides. The middle-aged beautiful woman greeted Lu Cheng and walked in first.

This is an iron cage that closed and sank quickly after Lu Cheng entered.

After a while, the iron cage opened again, revealing a dark room inside. There was only a ray of light shining in the room, and a chair was placed in the middle.

"Please do as you please, Master. I can only accompany you here. The trade fair will start in about a cup of tea."

Upon hearing this, Lu Cheng walked into the house without any surprise. He projected his spiritual sense in all directions and found that it was a cave.

He sat on the chair, closed his eyes and rested for a while, then he heard a rumbling sound. It turned out that the stone wall in front of him was slowly rising. From all directions were twelve monks with ghost faces and black robes and profound magical powers, just like himself.

Everyone's gaze and temperament are extraordinary.

"The Immortals must have grown impatient, so let's start this trade fair right away."

Among the thirteen Yuanying Zhenjuns in black robes with ghost faces, there was also a man with a ghost face, but after he said these words, he retreated into the darkness and quickly disappeared.

There is great profit to be made in holding this kind of trade fair for high-level cultivators. Apart from other things, the presence of the thirteen Yuanying Zhenjun alone is enough to shake the stability of the entire Haiyuan City. They have needs for each other, get to know each other, and even trade with each other. The managers of the Black Market do not even need to take any commissions. They can gain huge profits just by acting as brokers.

Of course, it is not easy to join this circle without channels. Gu Yunge came forward to guarantee Lu Cheng and joined.

This in itself is a gesture of goodwill and a transfer of benefits, ensuring that he is willing to give his all in the mission of hunting the True Spirit Ice Phoenix.

"This treasure is the Changchun Heart Sutra, a sixth-level skill. It is neutral and peaceful in nature and is most beneficial to health preservation. Changchun Gong is a very common wood-type skill, but I think it is rare to be able to deduce it to the sixth level. This skill was obtained by accident, but it is not in line with my Taoism. Whoever is willing to buy it and practice it can extend his life by two to three hundred years."

A green light flashed before Lu Cheng's eyes, and a green jade slip appeared. It was thrown by a ghost-faced man opposite him.

Since it was put up for auction, it would naturally not be completely blocked from people's reading and comprehension. The ghost-faced man once again shot out a ray of light, which hit the jade slip, causing the spiritual light to spread and paragraphs of text to emerge.

It is indeed profound and extremely exquisite.

But such a technique would probably be extremely unfavorable for fighting, so the cultivator who created this technique had his inherited technique taken away by this person.

There is no cultivator who doesn't want to extend their lifespan, so the bidding for the Changchun Heart Sutra was quite fierce. Lu Cheng was only over 400 years old and of course had no interest in it. He closed his eyes for a while and waited for the competition for this Taoist book to be over before opening them again.

The second monk raised his hand and emitted a beam of yellow light.

Lu Cheng opened his eyes and saw that it was a spirit ape puppet, vivid as a living creature. After landing on the scene, it scratched its ears and looked around, with a faint red light flashing in its eyes.

"A sixth-level mid-grade puppet, equipped with seven sixth-level spells, capable of adapting to a variety of environments and assisting in combat and blocking enemies..."

(End of this chapter)