I'm in Yellow Maple Valley, and I have one equipment slot!

Chapter 339 The Yinluo Sect is about to change its sect leader again! The Underground Trade Fair!

"Zhou Yuan! Today is your death day!" Li Gu's eyes were filled with the pleasure of revenge as he shouted, "Attack!"

'

At his command, Xu Changqing, Sun Erniang, and the others inside the formation immediately began to activate their magic power, preparing to launch a thunderous attack!

However, at this critical moment, Zhou Yuan, who was in the center of the encirclement, revealed a mocking smile.

He calmly reached out and gently patted the spirit beast pouch at his waist.

"Little Purple!"

"squeak!"

A clear, crisp cry rang out. A purple light, like lightning, darted out of the spirit beast pouch and landed on Zhou Yuan's shoulder.

It was that Purple Sky Beast with spatial talent!

As soon as Xiao Zi appeared, the pair of crystal-clear purple horns on her forehead immediately lit up with dazzling purple spatial ripples!

It slashed sharply at the seemingly empty space in front of it!

"laugh--!"

A soft sound.

The space ahead, reinforced by the great formation and supposed to be indestructible, was torn open like cloth, leaving a spatial rift just wide enough for one person to pass through, with edges flickering with an unstable purple aura!

Without the slightest hesitation, the moment Xiao Zi tore open the crack, Zhou Yuan's figure flickered and, like a wisp of green smoke, directly entered the spatial rift!

The spatial rift rapidly closed in the next second. Zhou Yuan's figure had already appeared outside the great formation, standing right behind Li Gu, the Yin Luo Sect Master who was presiding over the formation plate and looked completely bewildered!

"What?!"

Inside the formation, Xu Changqing, Sun Erniang, and others, as well as Li Gu, who was outside the formation ready to watch the show, were all stunned!

The top-tier trapping formation they painstakingly set up, powerful enough to imprison even a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, was so easily broken by the opponent—with just a small beast?!

Li Gu felt a chill run from the soles of his feet straight up to the top of his head!

He turned around abruptly, trying to react!

But it was too late!

"You're the new Sect Master of the Yinluo Sect, aren't you?" Zhou Yuan's icy voice, as if from the deepest hell, rang in his ears with a crackling sound.

A crisp, thunderous sound rang out! Wind and Thunder Wings instantly appeared behind Zhou Yuan, intertwining with azure light and silver lightning!

His figure appeared in front of Li Gu as if he had teleported!

At the same time, he raised his right hand, spread his five fingers, and a ball of lightning the size of a human head, made of countless fine golden arcs of electricity, instantly took shape in his palm!

Divine thunder to ward off evil, and to dispel the net!

Noisy!Noisy!Noisy!

The ball of golden lightning suddenly exploded, transforming into a massive golden lightning net.

Like a net covering the sky and the earth, it instantly enveloped Li Gu from head to toe!

"ah!!!"

Li Gu only had time to let out a shrill scream!

His Yinluo Sect demonic arts, which he had cultivated for hundreds of years, were as fragile as paper in the face of the Evil-Repelling Divine Thunder, the nemesis of all evil and demonic energy in the world!

His protective demonic energy was instantly dissolved by the golden lightning net, and his physical body charred and disintegrated at a visible speed under the ravages of the golden electric arcs!

In the blink of an eye, his physical body was completely destroyed by the Evil-Repelling Divine Lightning and turned to ashes!

Only a phantom-like nascent soul, its face filled with terror, was firmly bound by the golden lightning net, trembling in the lightning and emitting a faint wail!

Zhou Yuan reached out and grabbed Li Gu's nascent soul, casually affixing several restrictive talismans to it before tossing it into a specially made jade box.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye! From the moment Zhou Yuan broke through the formation to the moment Li Gu's physical body was destroyed and his nascent soul was captured, it only took two or three breaths!

Xu Changqing, Sun Erniang, and the others inside the formation, as well as the nineteen Nascent Soul cultivators who had been invited as reinforcements, were all dumbfounded!

They stared blankly at the black-robed youth outside the great formation, who carried a jade box, whose wind and thunder wings slowly flapped behind him, and whose expression was indifferent. Their hearts were filled with unbelievable shock and a sense of absurdity!

Their meticulously planned ambush! More than twenty Nascent Soul cultivators!

Three late-stage Grand Cultivators! Several sets of combined attack formations!

As a result—the Yinluo Sect Master, who was in charge of the formation, was killed instantly in an unbelievable way, and even his Nascent Soul was captured alive, without even touching the hem of the other party's clothes!

And they themselves are still trapped inside this trap they themselves set up!

He could only watch helplessly as Zhou Yuan captured Li Gu, then a flash of lightning appeared behind him, transforming him into a golden-blue bolt of lightning, and he rode away.

Disappeared into the distant horizon!

Within the great formation, there was utter silence.

The twenty-odd Nascent Soul cultivators looked at each other, their faces burning with embarrassment.

It felt like I'd been slapped hard across the face.

Within a short span of a century, the Yinluo Sect will likely have its third sect leader.

"They actually managed to shake off the encirclement so easily—"

Outside the market town of Jinxi, behind the shadow of a high wall, Xuan Qingzi of the Taiyi Sect slowly lowered the whisk that concealed his figure, his face filled with a complex and unfathomable expression.

He had come specifically to watch the battle after hearing that the Yinluo Sect had set up an ambush there.

But to my utter surprise, I witnessed such an illogical scene.

He gazed at the sky where Zhou Yuan had vanished in a golden-blue lightning bolt, muttering to himself, "No wonder—no wonder he so readily rejected my peace proposal. It turns out he possesses a strange beast with spatial abilities!"

"With such a divine artifact by his side, there are indeed few places in the world that can trap him. Moreover—to kill Li Gu with a single blow and capture his nascent soul alive, his methods were clean, efficient, ruthless, and precise, far beyond the reach of ordinary late-stage cultivators. This boy—is far more terrifying than I imagined."

Opposite to Xuan Qingzi, in the shadows of another alleyway, Seven Wonders True Person of the Heavenly Demon Sect also withdrew his gaze. The carefree smile on his face had vanished, replaced by an unprecedented solemnity and surprise.

He gently shook his folding fan, his voice tinged with a hint of感慨 (gan3kai3, a complex emotion encompassing both admiration and awe): "Interesting, truly interesting. Although Zhou Yuan didn't directly defeat those twenty-odd Nascent Soul cultivators, his methods of breaking through the formation and killing the Yinluo Sect Master have already proven his strength. Especially the Evil-Repelling Divine Lightning's ability to restrain our demonic cultivation techniques—it truly lives up to its reputation. It seems the Yinluo Sect has really bitten off more than they can chew this time."

He paused, a glint of schadenfreude flashing in his eyes: "Heh heh, this is going to be a good show. The Yinluo Sect has truly lost face this time. They gathered more than twenty Nascent Soul cultivators, laid a trap, and didn't even manage to harm a hair on their opponent's head. Instead, their sect leader was killed in front of everyone, and even their Nascent Soul cultivators were captured—"

"Tsk tsk, once this news gets out, the Yinluo Sect's standing in the demonic path of the Great Jin Dynasty will probably plummet."

Further away, the few Nascent Soul cultivators who had been driven away by Li Gu but couldn't help but watch from afar were now looking at each other, their faces filled with shock and sighs.

They looked in the direction of the Yinluo Sect members, their eyes filled with undisguised mockery and pity.

After this battle, the name "Zhou Yuan, the wandering cultivator from overseas" will likely resound throughout the entire cultivation world of the Great Jin Dynasty. As for the Yinluo Sect, it is destined to become a joke.

After escaping the encirclement of the Yinluo Sect, Zhou Yuan did not stray far from Jinjing.

Using the extreme speed of his Wind and Thunder Wings, he circled around Jinjing City.

After confirming that there was no divine sense tracking them, they quietly landed, concealed their aura, and arrived at the northern part of Jinjing City, the imperial city of the Great Jin Dynasty.

He presented a token given to him in advance by Ye Tianshi, the eldest elder of the Ye family. A Ye family eunuch who had been waiting there immediately and respectfully led him into the depths of the imperial city, to an inconspicuous but heavily guarded side hall.

Inside the side hall, a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, dressed in a brocade robe, with a square face and a calm demeanor, waited with his hands behind his back.

This person was not Ye Tianshi, but Ye Tianhua, the second elder of the Ye family.

"Fellow Daoist Zhou, your abilities are truly extraordinary! You managed to escape the Yinluo Sect's entanglement so easily. I admire you!"

Upon seeing Zhou Yuan, Ye Tianhua's face showed genuine admiration. He cupped his hands and said, "The Grand Elder is unable to personally accompany you because he is presiding over the final handover of that item. He has specially instructed me to wait here and guide you. Also, this gentleman is—"

He turned to the side, revealing a female Taoist nun behind him, dressed in a gray Taoist robe and wearing a Taoist crown. She had a delicate face, appeared to be around thirty years old, and possessed a serene demeanor.

The female Taoist nun was at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Upon seeing Zhou Yuan, she nodded slightly in greeting.

"This humble Daoist, Wuchen, will accompany you, my second brother, to that secret trading event."

The female Taoist nun's voice was clear and calm, carrying a hint of the detachment unique to Buddhist nuns.

"Thank you for your trouble, fellow Daoists." Zhou Yuan cupped his hands in greeting to the two of them.

"Fellow Daoist Zhou, you're too kind. This way, please."

Ye Tianhua said no more, turned around and led the way to a corner of the side hall.

There, a small but intricate ancient teleportation array is engraved on the ground, with several high-quality spirit stones embedded in the array patterns.

Ye Tianhua and Daoist Wuchen were the first to step onto the teleportation array, followed closely by Zhou Yuan.

Ye Tianhua cast a spell, and the teleportation array immediately lit up with a soft white halo, enveloping the three figures.

A moment later, a flash of white light appeared, and the three figures disappeared without a trace from the side hall.

When Zhou Yuan's vision cleared again, he found himself on an unnamed hilltop.

He looked back and could vaguely see the outline of the majestic city wall of Jinjing City in the distance, but it was already quite a distance away.

"We are already 800 li south of Jinjing City," Ye Tianhua explained. "To ensure the secrecy and security of the trade fair, the entrance is located outside the city, and the landing point for each teleportation will change randomly. We still need to fly a while longer."

The three said no more, each riding their own escape light, and flew about three thousand miles southwest.

Finally, Ye Tianhua stopped in front of a desolate, overgrown, and rocky ravine.

This place is nestled between two steep mountain peaks, a treacherous terrain rarely visited by humans, and even birds seldom fly by.

Ye Tianhua carefully scanned his surroundings with his divine sense, confirming that there were no followers or spying. Then, with a flick of his sleeve, a palm-sized silver disc engraved with a complex star map flew out from his sleeve and hovered in mid-air. He then cast several spells at the silver disc.

"Buzz—!"

A flash of white light appeared on the surface of the silver disc, and a beam of light shot out, disappearing directly into the seemingly ordinary mountain wall in front of it.

A moment later, a strange scene unfolded. The solid mountain wall, which had been covered with moss and vines, began to ripple with layers of yellow light, like the surface of water.

As the rosy light shifted, the scenery on the mountainside distorted and vanished like a phantom, revealing a huge cave entrance about ten zhang in diameter. The cave entrance was deep and mysterious, its destination unknown.

At the entrance of the cave, two middle-aged cultivators dressed in black, expressionless, and with auras at the late stage of Core Formation, stood like two statues, one on the left and one on the right.

One of them was holding the silver disc that Ye Tianhua had just shot out.

"Three seniors, please come in." The cultivator on the left stepped forward, bowed respectfully to Zhou Yuan and the other two, and then took out three talismans that shimmered with a faint green light, offering them with both hands. "These are invisibility talismans," he said, asking the three seniors to stick them to their chests.

This talisman, when used in conjunction with the magic array within the cave, can effectively block divine sense detection, ensuring the secrecy of the identities of all the seniors.

Zhou Yuan took the talisman; it was slightly cool to the touch, and the paper was inscribed with some mysterious runes. He affixed the talisman to the inside of his chest as instructed. The moment the talisman touched his clothing, it transformed into a green light and merged into it. Then, a faint, water-like green halo enveloped his entire body. This halo did not impair his vision or movement, but it effectively distorted and blocked external divine sense probes.

Ye Tianhua and Daoist Wuchen also affixed their talismans.

"Three seniors, please follow me."

The Core Formation cultivator, holding a silver disc, turned and walked into the cave first. Zhou Yuan and the other two followed closely behind.

Inside the cave is a downward-sloping passage, with luminous pearls embedded in the walls, providing soft lighting.

After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the view suddenly opened up, revealing a huge underground cavern.

In the center of the cave, a much larger and more complex teleportation array is clearly engraved.

The three stepped onto the teleportation array. The Core Formation cultivator embedded the silver disc into a groove in the center of the array and channeled his mana into it.

"Buzz—!"

The teleportation array lit up with a dazzling white light once more. Zhou Yuan felt a slight spatial distortion, and the scene before him instantly changed.

When the light faded, he found himself in an enormous underground hall.

The hall is circular, with a dome tens of feet high, inlaid with hundreds of fist-sized luminous pearls, illuminating the entire hall as if it were daytime.

The hall is surrounded by concentric circles of seats carved from black stone, enough to accommodate hundreds of people.

At this moment, about twenty people were scattered around the hall. Each person, like Zhou Yuan, was shrouded in a faint green halo, making it impossible to see their faces and figures. Only their cultivation levels could be vaguely discerned.

Zhou Yuan glanced around, a slight chill running down his spine. He could clearly sense that among these twenty-odd people, at least three possessed auras as deep and unfathomable as an abyss, clearly reaching the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm!

Although the identities of those involved were obscured by the power of the magic array, it was clear that this clandestine trade fair had attracted many genuine old monsters.

He calmly sat down in an inconspicuous corner of the back row. Ye Tianhua and Daoist Wuchen sat in another row not far in front of him, pretending not to know him.

As time passed, more and more cultivators arrived at the hall through the teleportation array. Some possessed powerful auras, while others appeared quite low-key. After about an hour, nearly two hundred people were seated in the hall.

Two hundred Nascent Soul cultivators! Moreover, everyone who can come here is either extremely wealthy or possesses valuable treasures! This is truly a gathering of the top circles in the Great Cultivation World.

"clang--!"

A clear chime rang out, and the entire hall fell silent instantly.

All eyes were drawn to the circular open space in the center of the hall.

There, seemingly out of nowhere, stood a rectangular jade table, several meters wide, carved entirely from pure white warm jade.

A spiritual light shimmered on the surface of the jade table.

Immediately afterwards, a figure shrouded in a dense white glow, its shape and face obscured, appeared silently behind the jade table like a ghost.

This person's aura was unpredictable, but the pressure he exuded was clearly that of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator!

Clearly, he was the mastermind behind this clandestine transaction.

A figure in the white light swept across the entire hall before speaking. His voice, processed to sound neutral and ethereal, announced: "Fellow Daoists, welcome to this trade fair. The rules are the same as in previous years, simply two: First, on behalf of the organizers, I will auction off a batch of treasures; second, after the auction, if any of you wish, you may take turns going up on stage to display and trade your treasures. Once sold, we are not responsible for any losses. Fighting is strictly prohibited within the venue. Violators will bear the consequences themselves."

He paused, a hint of mysterious amusement in his voice, and added, "Furthermore, a mysterious employer has entrusted us with a truly precious treasure to be the grand finale of this trade fair! I'm sure it won't disappoint you fellow cultivators."

Zhou Yuan understood immediately. That so-called grand finale treasure was, without a doubt, the replica of the spiritual treasure—the Ping Shan Seal—forged by the Ye family!

It seems the Ye family intends to use this clandestine trade fair to sell this treasure for an astronomical price.

The white figure stopped talking and flipped his hand, revealing a jujube the size of a pigeon egg, jet black and shiny, exuding a cold and eerie aura.

"First item up for auction – Dried Jujubes!"

The white-robed figure proclaimed in a clear voice, "This item requires the absorption of Yin energy and household energy from the graves of those born in the Yin year, Yin month, Yin day, and Yin hour, taking three hundred years to complete. Then, it must be refined for forty-nine days using the resentment and vengeance of wronged spirits, combined with a unique secret technique, to achieve its full potential!"

"These dates can be eaten directly or used as a top-tier alchemy ingredient to refine several long-lost rare pills. Starting price: 100,000 spirit stones! Each bid must be at least 5,000 spirit stones!"

'

"Dried jujubes!"

Zhou Yuan's heart stirred.

Although he doesn't need this item, it is indeed an extremely rare alchemy material, and it plays an irreplaceable role in the refining of certain specific pills.

Now that he has a large and successful business, it's always a good idea for him to stockpile more of these top-quality and rare materials.

"120,000!"

"140,000!"

"145,000!"

Sure enough, there were quite a few discerning customers.

The price quickly climbed to over 150,000 spirit stones before the bidding gradually subsided.

Two hundred thousand spirit stones.

Just as the host was about to start the countdown, Zhou Yuan announced a number that far exceeded the current price. His voice was calm, but it carried an undeniable air of authority.

The entire room fell silent instantly.

The sudden increase of 50,000 spirit stones made many who originally wanted to bid hesitate.

Is it worth spending 200,000 spirit stones for a single Yin Jujube?

"Two hundred thousand spirit stones once — two hundred thousand spirit stones twice — two hundred thousand spirit stones three times! Sold! Congratulations, fellow Daoist!"

""

The white light and shadow figure made the final decision.

Zhou Yuan successfully bid for the jujube.

Although it cost a lot, he didn't mind.

Problems that can be solved with spirit stones are not problems for him.