The road is vague

Chapter 334 Tiankui City (Part 2)
After the Golden Turtle Master left, Li Mo arrived at an inn.

The inn is called Wan Yao Fu.

The innkeeper, a bat spirit, was idly fiddling with an abacus when he saw the arrival of the demonic avatar in the form of an evil god, and immediately grinned.

"What kind of room would you like, sir?"

Li Mo took out ten spirit stones and casually tossed them onto the counter.

"I need a cave dwelling to rent temporarily."

Upon hearing this, the bat spirit's eyes lit up, and he beamed with joy.

"Alright, there are still two cave dwellings, A and D, that haven't been rented out yet. Cave dwelling A has the most beautiful scenery, while cave dwelling D has the richest spiritual energy. May I ask which one you would like to stay in?"

"Number D, I guess."

Upon hearing this, the bat spirit immediately smiled, put away the spirit stones, took out the token, and handed it to Li Mo.

The cave had four side rooms. After taking a quick look, the True Demon clone took out the flag array and set it up there. Then he took out the Dark Thunder Heavenly Book.

Black lightning flashed within the celestial book, revealing a line of silver tassel-like characters.

"Respected, great, and supreme master, Dark Thunder obeys your summons. May I ask what I may do for you?"

Upon seeing this, the true demon avatar couldn't help but chuckle.

"Can this mine fan help you evolve?"

“Of course! Once Dark Thunder absorbs this Thunder Spirit item, it can gain deeper control over the Three Kings Serpent, differentiate its bloodline power, or attempt to integrate it with a deeper Yin Thunder secret technique for you to study. I wonder which direction you would like me to evolve in?”

The Dark Thunder Tome actually has two evolutionary directions.

One is the evolution towards evil spirits, controlling the descendants of great demons. Lei Yuan Venerable used this to control the Three Kings Serpent. The other is in harmony with the Yin Thunder Dao. Lei Yuan Venerable used this to develop the Heart-Devouring Thunder and controlled many sea king beasts as weapons of war.

After a moment's thought, Li Mo asked a question.

"How many of this level of lightning-infused artifacts would you need to control the remnant lineage of a Nascent Soul stage demon?"

On the Dark Thunder Heavenly Book, black lightning transformed into new silver spherical characters.

"As for your question, even your loyal and humble servant, Dark Ray, cannot say for sure. It is far too distant, but it certainly requires a lot, and it seems to require some kind of opportunity."

"Well then, let's first align with the Yin Thunder Dao."

After Li Mo finished speaking, he placed the Water Thunder Fan on the Dark Thunder Heavenly Book.

As a bolt of black lightning surged from the book, it instantly enveloped the Water Thunder Fan, like an amoeba, pulling it little by little into the book. Despite the Water Thunder Fan's constant resistance, it had no effect. Until the Water Thunder Fan was completely inside the book, the Dark Thunder Heavenly Book seemed to lose its spirit and become ordinary.

Having witnessed the true demon's clone, its greyish-white eyes flickered slightly.

He then put away the Dark Thunder Heavenly Book and left the cave.

The true demon clone first arrived at the black market of Tiankui City.

The black market in Tiankui City is a place for transporting and distributing slaves from dozens of nearby spirit islands. To Li Mo, an outsider, the business here is exceptionally booming.

However, this is Tiankui City after all, and there is no actual sale of goods here; it is all about trading with tickets.

As the true demonic avatar, now possessing the body of an evil god, swaggered into the black market, many members of the slave-hunting gang looked over.

For the vast majority of slave-hunting groups, these evil gods were clients worth long-term cooperation with.

Li Mo naturally noticed the gazes that were scrutinizing him.

The true demon clone could not conceal its aura, revealing its mid-stage Golden Core cultivation. Judging from the transformation level of these demonic creatures, the vast majority of them were only at the Foundation Establishment stage.

A wild boar demon carrying a spiked club pushed aside several monsters in front of it and charged forward, laughing as it went.

It was slightly shorter than the True Demon clone, but much larger and stronger. Its two tusks were particularly conspicuous on its black hair-covered pig head as it walked straight up to Li Mo.

"Are you here to buy slaves?"

The wild boar spirit threw his head back and laughed heartily.

"I am the leader of the Fang Slave-Catching Gang. The people here call me the Hurricane Pig King. Our Fang Slave-Catching Gang has occupied six wild islands inhabited by savages and has maintained long-term cooperation with several evil gods. You can trust our strength!"

The true demon clone's gray-white eyes fell on the opponent's spiked club.

This is actually a magical artifact of the True Nature category.

"The cooperation is something we can consider. I came here today to inquire about a slave-hunting gang. Do you know of a slave-hunting gang composed of two black cat spirits?"

Upon hearing this, Hurricane Pig King grunted through his nose.

"They're just the male and female duo from the Black Hand Slave-Hunting Group."

The Hurricane Pig King looked at the two black cat spirits with disdain, but the True Demon clone's eyes lit up.

"Do you know where this pair of ruthless demons are now?"

"Those two guys, I heard they took on a job a while ago, and haven't shown up for more than half a year. Who knows where they went?"

Seeing that Li Mo wasn't there to do business, the wild boar spirit lost interest and turned to leave.

After inquiring around for a while, Li Mo learned that the Black Hand Slave-Capturing Gang frequently traveled between Xuanwu Island, Snake King Island, and Zhenhai Island, and their activities were not limited to Xuanwu Island.

This made him frown.

The Senjin Islands consist of hundreds of sacred islands.

Among these spirit islands, there are nine central islands, each controlled by a different transformed demon king. Xuanwu Island, Snake King Island, and Zhenhai Island are all so-called central islands, and they are not close to each other. However, Zhang Xiuning has been kidnapped for more than half a year, and her fate is unknown. It is really impossible to delay any longer.

"In any case, let's wait until the auction ends in two days, purchase some materials that can quickly improve our strength, and then try to find the whereabouts of this Black Hand Slave-Capturing Group."

With that thought in mind, the True Demon clone left the Black Market and headed to the Materials Market.

He spent a full three hours wandering around here, finally getting a feel for the local market.

Just as he had expected, the essence of various metals was extremely precious here, several times more valuable than in the Qian Kingdom. At the same time, the spiritual medicine he was eager to buy was a prohibited item here and was not sold at all.

Through Li Mo's subtle probing, a relatively reliable answer was finally obtained.

First of all, the pantheon here strictly forbids monsters from hunting each other.

Even if some demonic beasts can refine other demon cores with their powerful physiques, they will gradually go mad as the violent aura within them increases.

Secondly, this is a means by which the Misty Blood Dragon Clan controls resources. The Blood Dragon Clan collects all the demon cores left behind by the deceased gods from various places, and then refines them into spiritual pills using the clan's alchemy techniques to enhance their strength and fight against the Misty Hundred Clans across the Forbidden Sea.

Finally, there is the environment here, where the laws and order are extremely chaotic and mottled.

This will pose a great challenge to the cultivation of various spiritual herbs. Only professional cultivation masters can cultivate spiritual herbs on spiritual veins, and wild spiritual herbs have almost no chance of being born.

"It seems that my idea of ​​refining pills here to improve my cultivation will be difficult to realize. I also need to think long-term about creating a grand formation."

However, Li Mo discovered that the materials from the monsters here were incredibly cheap!

Aside from the lack of demon cores for sale, even the blood and essence of Golden Core stage demons were available in the market. This made him start to consider whether he should try bidding for some Nascent Soul stage demon beast blood and related materials at this auction to refine high-level spirit talismans.

Next, the true demon clone arrived at a shop called the Mechanism Pavilion.

The Thunder Origin Sect's Demon-Slaying and God-Destroying Crossbow was purchased in this market, and it was learned that the master mechanic of this shop was a deer spirit, who seemed to have quite a background.

The true demon's avatar came here to purchase a batch of spirit wood.

The Lost Isles are not lacking in spirit trees.

It's not that this place is rich in spirit wood, but rather that the monsters here have very little demand for spirit wood. Some spirit wood from remote, uninhabited islands in the outer seas has fixed sales channels after it is harvested, and ordinary monsters simply cannot access it.

"Please come in, sir."

A sika deer spirit approached, its height reaching about Li Mo's thigh, and greeted Li Mo with a smile and its head tilted back.

"This shop is run by Master Xuanmu Linglu, specializing in various mechanical weapons and traps. The most distinctive feature of these mechanical products is that they can be used to fight off invading enemies by consuming spirit stones. Even if given to his disciples, they are theoretically enough to threaten enemies of the same level..."

The demon clone strolled around the shop, taking in the various mechanical creations and gaining a great deal of insight.

Mechanical artifacts are not limited to weapons; they can also be used to create traps and everyday items, such as the Spirit Stone Lamp.

"I have come here to purchase a batch of spirit wood. I wonder if you are selling it?"

Upon hearing this, the sika deer spirit was stunned.

She then shook her head and said, "That's not something I can decide."

Upon hearing this, Li Mo calmly asked, "Where is Master Xuanmu Linglu?"

"This one……"

The sika deer spirit chuckled and said, "You're probably going to be disappointed. Master Xuanmu Linglu is a descendant of the great Tianyuan White Deer God and a rare master of mechanisms in the Thousand Treasures Islands. Countless people seek to meet him, but the master prefers quiet and rarely meets with strangers."

After frowning slightly, Li Mo took out the Six Ding Six Jia Matrix Puppet and handed it to the other party.

These are the only two sets of puppets he has left. The other set is a composite Bagua spirit-gathering puppet, which his main body is currently using.

"I am also quite knowledgeable about mechanical arts. I would be grateful if you could bring this to the master. If the master still refuses to see it, I will not insist."

"Well... alright then, please wait here for a moment."

The sika deer spirit departed with the Six Ding Six Jia matrix puppet.

About one stick of incense later.

The sika deer spirit turned back, looking at the true demon clone with an incredulous expression, and returned the Six Ding Six Jia Matrix Puppet to the true demon clone.

"The master greatly admires your mechanical skills and invites you to his cave for a chat!"

Upon hearing this, the true demon avatar immediately smiled and followed the sika deer spirit to the front of a cave.

The cave here was exceptionally tall and contained a large amount of spirit wood. Although the spirit wood was not very old, Li Mo could basically conclude that the other party must have stored a lot of high-quality spirit wood.

"Master Xuanmu Linglu, the guests have been brought."

The true demon avatar following behind the sika deer spirit was stunned upon seeing the Xuanmu Spirit Deer Master.

This deer spirit was twice as tall as him, making it exceptionally large.

His movements were very slow as he assembled a mechanism. The cave was very quiet, and his eyes were full of wisdom and peace. Upon hearing this, he slowly raised his head, looked at the True Demon Avatar, and handed him a plate of spiritual fruit.

"Please take a seat."

Such a massive object moved with extraordinary gentleness, almost without a sound.

This had a profound impact on Li Mo, and he was almost certain that his opponent's strength far surpassed his own.

"Your puppetry skills are truly divine. May I ask your name, and what is the name of this puppetry technique?"

"Primal evil god".

The true demon clone accepted the plate of spiritual fruit offered by the other party, and after tasting it slightly, its eyes lit up.

"As for my puppetry skills, they originated from an ancient cave dwelling and are called Matrix Puppetry..."

As the two began their conversation, the sika deer spirit smiled and turned to leave.

The two spent two days and two nights in the cave discussing mechanical arts, and both benefited immensely from the experience.

Master Xuanmu Linglu's mechanical skills are probably already very close to the level of a grandmaster, but due to a lack of opportunity, he has never been able to take the final step.

Upon hearing this, Li Mo couldn't help but feel a sense of longing.

If he can elevate his puppetry skills to this level, he can try to use the broken branches of the Jianmu tree in his storage ring to forge a powerful puppet that will be admired by the world. If he succeeds, he can be considered a puppet master.

Next, Li Mo naturally made a request to trade spirit wood.

Without saying a word, Master Xuanmu Linglu immediately sold a batch of spirit wood over two thousand years old to Li Mo at cost price. If the wood were older, it could be used directly as material for magic weapons, and naturally it would not be used as material for mechanical arts.

"Thank you, Master."

The true demon clone said with heartfelt gratitude.

If it weren't for the fact that the annual auction in Tiankui City was about to begin, and his eagerness to find out Zhang Xiuning's whereabouts, he would have insisted on exchanging skills with her for a while longer.

Xuanmu Linglu smiled gently, her eyes revealing a sense of peace and tenderness.

"You are welcome to come to my cave anytime to exchange mechanical techniques. If you need any help, please feel free to ask."

After receiving such a response, the true demon clone bowed and left.

(End of this chapter)