Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

The Five-Blade Set, a type of magical artifact, embodies the principles of formations.

The five sub-blades echo the mother blade, forming a spiral blade array specifically designed to break through protective spiritual light.

They can also divide and conquer to encircle and block all escape routes.

The finest mother-and-child blades can even create a brief trapping and killing formation, like a miniature killing array carried on one's person.

Because of their immense power, difficulty in control, and high cost of forging, the Mother-and-Child Blade is extremely rare in the market.

The Five-Sword Blade is a top-grade first-tier magic weapon, and its market price has never been lower than two hundred spirit stones.

As for the Seven-Child Blade and the Nine-Child Blade, those are magical artifacts that only Foundation Establishment cultivators or immortal cultivation families possess; ordinary cultivators rarely even see them.

Old Yin dared to sell it for fifty spirit stones; he dug a very deep pit.

Lin Zhao glanced at the gray-robed elder in the arena and whispered to Gao Yuan, "Fellow Daoist, aren't you afraid of future troubles doing this kind of business?"

Gao Yuan didn't care at all: "The rules of the market are that we are not responsible for the goods once they leave the stall. The enforcement team will say the same thing."

He paused, "Moreover, that kid has already taken the magical artifact out of the market. Old Man Yin can easily say it was due to his own improper operation, or that it was damaged by a demonic beast. Furthermore—"

He lowered his voice even further: "Two months ago, Old Man Yin quietly broke through the barrier of the seventh level of Qi Refining."

Lin Zhao understood.

The late and middle stages of Qi Refining may seem like only one level apart, but they are actually the watershed moment for a Qi Refining cultivator's qualitative transformation. That white-robed youth is definitely going to suffer this loss.

"You dare to go out and hunt demons after only reaching the third level of Qi Refining? Are you that brave?" Lin Zhao asked again.

"We didn't cross the Wind Spirit Canyon, we just wandered around the mountains and forests near the market," Gao Yuan explained. "It's almost the end of the month, and the enforcement team only just cleared out the surrounding monsters at the beginning of the month. In the past few days, more than twenty Wind Howling Wolves have sneaked in from the south, and there are plenty of people eyeing this little bit of 'meat'."

Lin Zhao nodded.

There are more than 5,000 cultivators in Qingfeng Market all year round. In addition, there are family cultivators who hunt demons outside and have their own independent spiritual vein strongholds in the outside world. The total number of cultivators in the market is more than 10,000.

Most of those remaining in the market were at the early or mid-stages of Qi Refining cultivation.

Early-stage Qi Refining cultivators have meager magical power and can't even use many decent spells. They can only do odd jobs and hard labor, painstakingly accumulating spirit fragments to buy and exchange for cultivation techniques.

Most cultivators at the mid-stage of Qi Refining need to learn a cultivation technique or grit their teeth and join a demon-hunting team in order to earn those precious spirit stones to buy cultivation resources.

True demon hunting requires venturing deep into the Wind Spirit Canyon, risking one's life to obtain demon resources, and then exchanging them for spirit stones at the market.

The monster-hunting team suffered extremely high casualties, with less than half surviving for more than a year.

As for those who slipped through the net around the market, for the thousands of low-level cultivators, there were naturally far more monks than porridge.

The more than one hundred demon-hunting teams in Qingfeng City flowed like blood, their names changing very frequently.

Most of them are led by cultivators at the seventh level of Qi Refining, who gather five to ten mid-stage Qi Refining members, making them a ragtag team.

With a high casualty rate and high mobility, its name has changed over the years.

A true, standard demon-hunting team requires all members to be experts at the seventh level of Qi Refining.

The elite demon-hunting teams in the market, with their centuries-old traditions and rumored to have Foundation Establishment cultivators backing them, are the true pillars of the market.

The "Heavenly Wind Demon Hunting Team" mentioned by the stall owner is one of the best among them, directly under the master of the market—a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, Master Qingming.

Lin Zhao and Gao Yuan hadn't been talking for long when, in the arena, Old Man Yin saw that the number of onlookers was increasing, and a hint of impatience flashed across his face.

He snorted coldly.

The spiritual pressure of a seventh-level Qi refinement expert was released without reservation, like an invisible tide sweeping across the land. The low-level talismans on the stall rustled and moved without wind.

"snort."

The old man's voice was gloomy, like a dull knife scraping against a stone slab: "Market rules dictate that once goods leave the stall, no responsibility is provided. You, a mere Qi Refining Level 3 brat, dare to act so arrogantly here?"

He tapped his withered fingers lightly on the stall.

"Thump."

The thud wasn't loud, but it weighed heavily on everyone's hearts. The low-level cultivators watching turned pale and retreated in droves.

The young man in brocade robes was the first to be attacked. His face shifted between red and green several times, his lips trembled slightly, and finally he managed to squeeze out only a sentence through gritted teeth: "You...you just wait!"

After saying that, he turned around and pushed through the crowd with slightly unsteady steps.

Lin Zhao and Gao Yuan had already quietly retreated more than ten steps away when the spiritual pressure was released.

The skinny young man next to Gao Yuan patted his chest, still shaken: "To think that a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator could be so powerful... I should have known better than to get involved in this."

He turned to Gao Yuan, a smile spreading across his face, "But Brother Gao, you're not far from reaching the seventh level of Qi Refining. With Captain Shen's favor, you'll definitely be even more impressive than him when you start your own demon-hunting team. At that time, you'll have to take good care of me."

Gao Yuan remained calm and shook his head, saying, "From the sixth level of Qi Refining upwards, every step forward requires painstaking effort. I still need at least another year of arduous cultivation to reach the later stage."

He paused, then said, "The bottleneck is like an insurmountable chasm, blocking countless people. Without three years of accumulation, I wouldn't even dare to think about it."

His words were simple, yet he was clear-headed and self-aware.

Seeing the crowd gradually disperse, Lin Zhao cupped his hands and said, "Brother Gao, I'll take my leave now."

"Yes, be careful."

After Lin Zhao walked away, the thin young man approached and whispered, "Brother Gao, why be so polite to that kid? We are from the Po Jun Demon Hunting Team. So what if he is a member of the Lin family? The Lin family has long since declined. It's not like we're a Foundation Establishment family anymore."

Gao Yuan glanced sideways, his gaze calm: "Even if the Lin family has declined, their ancestors produced a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Their foundation is beyond our ability to judge."

He paused for a moment, then said, "In the world of cultivation, it's always better to make more friends than more enemies. Let's go back to our base."

Moreover—Gao Yuan thought to himself—Lin Zhao was by no means an ordinary family member.

At the tender age of fifteen, he had reached the third level of Qi Refining, and his magical power was refined and pure. Clearly, he had not relied on any elixirs, but had achieved it entirely through his own arduous cultivation.

I've heard that some families strictly forbid their core disciples from taking pills when they are at a low level, in order to solidify their foundation, but very few can actually resist the urge.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze seemingly casually sweeping over the back of the thin young man in front of him. His left hand brushed against the storage bag at his waist.

Inside the storage bag lay a first-grade high-level Breakthrough Pill.

The elixir was obtained from an adventure three months ago and was specifically created to break through bottlenecks.

He must find a safe time to take it as soon as possible, and use the power of this pill to break through to the late stage of Qi Refining.

And today's probing...

Gao Yuan looked at the incessantly chattering figure ahead, a fleeting glint of cold light in his eyes.

Old Man Yin had already packed up his stall, and with his back hunched, he slowly walked towards the west end of the market.

A few remaining cultivators whispered among themselves.