Cultivating Immortality from the Book of Life and Death

Chapter 444 The Unmanned Market. (First Update!)

Upon hearing this, Zheng Que snapped out of his daze and immediately asked, "If you can get me out of there, then you can come in with me?"

Mu Xiangu shook her head and quickly replied, "If it were so easy for me to get in, it wouldn't be safe inside."

“This ‘strange’ thing is a bit unusual; there might be something hidden inside.”

"If I want to go in, or to get you out of there, it will take time."

"The ghost tide is coming in with great force and on a massive scale, so I have no time to enter."

"Strange" and special...

Something is hidden...

Upon hearing this, Zheng Que immediately thought of something: "Law"!
He had witnessed the "Law Ghost" of Wanshan Temple before. Once the opponent used illusions to confuse him first, without external intervention, he couldn't distinguish between reality and illusion.

What is an illusion?

Moreover, the order in which the "laws" are assembled results in completely different rules.

Some of the effects of the "laws" are unbelievable. Even though he is now a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he could still fall victim to them if he's not careful.

If this "strange thing" in front of us didn't contain a "law ghost," it would be alright.

However, if there is a "Law Ghost", even though he has already reached the Heavenly Rank Foundation Establishment, he still has to be extremely careful!
Thinking of this, Zheng Que no longer hesitated and immediately opened the Soul Nourishing Bag, taking in Shu Yunying, Xue Shuangzi, and Linghu Yuniang.

At the same moment, Mu Xiangu's aura surged, and her long hair spread out like clouds, fluttering wildly with a chilling killing intent that caused the numerous ghosts swarming past to immediately scatter to both sides.

Soon, the aura belonging to the [Iron Tree Prison] and [Painted Skin] forcefully carved out a clearing amidst the flood of ghosts.

The wasteland, which was originally teeming with ghosts, was instantly swept away by this aura, leaving not a single ghost in sight.

Zheng Li immediately took a step and walked towards the barren wasteland.

However, just as he reached the edge of the wasteland and was about to step onto the bare ground in front of him, he felt a tremendous resistance around him. This resistance conveyed a strong sense of stagnation and strongly resisted his progress.

Zheng Que frowned slightly and quickly realized the source of the anomaly. He lowered his head and looked at the soul-nourishing bag at his waist.

The resistance originated from this Soul-Nourishing Bag!
Not far away, seeing Zheng Que suddenly stop, Mu Xiangu immediately asked, "What's wrong?"

Zheng Que immediately said, "It seems that my soul-nourishing bag cannot bring this 'strange' into it."

Why can't the Soul-Nourishing Bag bring in "strange things"?
Upon hearing this, Mu Xiangu was equally puzzled, but she quickly realized something and immediately said, "It shouldn't be a soul-nurturing bag!"

"It might be a problem with the ghost servants in the soul-nurturing bag."

"Try releasing one of your ghost servants."

Zheng Que did not delay and immediately opened the Soul-Nourishing Bag, releasing Linghu Yuniang from it.

Then I took another step forward and immediately felt that the resistance was less, but it did not disappear.

This time, without Mu Xiangu's prompting, he opened the Soul Nourishing Bag again and released Shu Yunying.

They immediately tried to move forward again.

As he took a step, his entire figure vanished without a trace in the open space!

Seeing that Zheng Que had entered the "strange" state, Mu Xiangu immediately said to Shu Yunying and Linghu Yuniang, "Come with me, both of you!"

With that, she withdrew her aura and, along with Shu Yunying and Linghu Yuniang, merged into the ghost tide and quickly left.

※※※

Zheng Que took a step forward, and the scene before him suddenly changed drastically.

The blood mist, wasteland, and overgrown wilderness vanished in an instant, revealing a remarkably well-organized market town. He stood beneath an archway, and looking out, he saw a long street lined with wine flags and shops, with various stalls lining the street. Several stalls displayed spirit fruits, all fresh and juicy, still glistening with dewdrops, looking extremely appetizing.

However, all the shops, stalls, and streets were empty, without a single person in sight.

Besides Zheng Que, there were ten other people under the archway.

Of the ten people, three were at the ninth level of Qi Refining, their faces showing considerable apprehension. They instinctively huddled together, glancing around with a mixture of surprise and uncertainty. In stark contrast to them were the other five, three of whom were at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage and one at the late-Foundation Establishment stage. These four Foundation Establishment cultivators were flanking a brocade-robed cultivator at the peak of the ninth level of Qi Refining, like stars surrounding the moon.

The cultivator in the brocade robe had a face like jade, with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes. He was extremely handsome. He wore a gilded cloud-patterned crown, a white jade double-dragon-shaped sash around his waist, and black boots. At this moment, he looked around and frowned slightly.

Zheng Que's gaze swept over the two groups of cultivators, and then looked at the two cultivators who were clearly alone outside the crowd. One of them was a familiar face; it was the yellow-robed cultivator who had stopped many cultivators fleeing towards the depths of Xue Tong Pass when he was on his way to the outer perimeter of Xue Tong Pass and asked them why. His aura was that of a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator.

The other person was an elderly man with a hunched back, wearing a worn-out brown robe and an animal skin vest. He had his head slightly lowered and was holding a cane carved into the shape of a bamboo-shaped ruyi (a traditional Chinese symbol of good fortune). His aura was somewhat turbid, and he exuded wisps of twilight.

At this moment, the group stood on the open ground under the archway, slightly stunned.

Zheng Que immediately realized that he had entered the "strange" realm!
Several of the people around me looked very familiar; they were clearly also examinees this time, and like me, they had voluntarily entered the "strange" place to avoid the ghost tide.

"The rule in this 'strange' place is that a cultivator can only bring one ghost servant in?"

"wrong!"

"I still have a soul-summoning banner on me, and the number of ghosts enslaved by the banner is not small."

"The rules within this 'strange' thing don't apply to ordinary ghost servants; they're probably for ghost servants with sentience..."

Thinking of this, Zheng Que shook his head slightly, immediately opened the Soul Nourishing Bag, and summoned Xue Shuangzi.

In a flash of blood, Xue Shuangzi appeared beside him. The girl in the brocade dress had bright eyes and a murderous aura between her brows as she coldly surveyed the living people around her.

At this moment, the others also came to their senses. The cultivator in the yellow robe immediately pointed at Zheng Que and asked in surprise, "You, what are you doing here?"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Que looked at the other party, but before he could speak, the brocade-robed cultivator surrounded in the middle suddenly spoke first: "Strange!"

“There are eleven people here, but when I was outside with my men just now, there was clearly no one around.”

As he spoke, his gaze swept over Zheng Que and the others, and he asked in a low voice, "Are you all candidates this time as well?"

Upon hearing this, the three cultivators at the ninth level of Qi Refining breathed a slight sigh of relief, as if they had finally encountered acquaintances. One of them hurriedly nodded and replied, "Yes, yes, yes! We are examinees from Chongzhou City, and our cultivation is only at the ninth level of Qi Refining."

“As soon as the Immortal Trial began, people went to occupy the resource points outside Xue Tong Pass. We knew that our cultivation was too low to compete with those people, so we had no choice but to come deeper into this area to try our luck.”

"Who knew that we would encounter a ghost from the [Scissors Prison] on the way? Of the dozen or so companions who were traveling with us, only the three of us survived."

"We finally managed to escape to this 'strange' place marked on the map to avoid danger."

Upon hearing this, the cultivator in the yellow robe also realized what was happening. He glanced at the cultivator in the brocade robe, then immediately stepped forward, cupped his hands in a respectful bow, and asked, "May I ask if this gentleman is Young Master Yin Congyi of the Duke of Dingguo's Mansion?"

"I am Le Jingxuan, a member of the Le family of Tuzhou. When I accompanied my great-grandfather into the royal city, I had the opportunity to admire the young master's demeanor from afar on the long street."

At this point, he glanced at Zheng Que and continued, "Just now, this... this fellow Daoist was targeted by the ghosts of the [Iron Tree Prison]."

"Fearing something might happen, I took refuge in this 'strange' place nearby."

"What a coincidence to run into the young master here!"

Zheng Que stood calmly in place, without saying a word.

The old cultivator in the brown robe and animal skin vest coughed a few times, his lungs making a bellows-like sound, as if he had caught his breath, before slowly introducing himself: "This old man's name is Liao Zhanbo. I am a rogue cultivator and not a candidate for the Immortal Examination."

"The reason I came to Xue Tong Pass this time is to seek the opportunity to form the Golden Core."

(End of this chapter)