Dongting Immortal Clan

Guan Chengfu pointed to several people packing up their stalls in the distance and said:

"I'm a bit late, the stalls are almost closing up. I'll come again tomorrow morning."

As he spoke, he led him into the market.

When people come to the Immortal Market, they usually stay overnight to have enough time to exchange goods and share what they have.

The two were walking on a bluestone path, which had been worn smooth and slippery from being stepped on.

There were all sorts of stalls on both sides of the road, some with awnings and others simply with a cloth spread out on the ground.

The vendors weren't hawking their wares; some were reading, some were dozing, and two were playing chess together, seemingly unconcerned about whether they would sell anything.

Chen Changhe walked and looked around.

Several talismans were displayed on a stall, made of yellow paper and cinnabar, with a faint spiritual energy.

Several medicinal herbs were displayed on a stall, their roots still covered in mud, looking fresh.

Another stall displayed half a copper coin sword, rusted and worn, with a wooden sign next to it that read "ritual implement".

He squatted down and glanced at the copper coin sword. The runes on the sword were crooked and broken in several places.

"Fake."

Chen Changhe made a decision in his mind.

There was a small stall nearby with five or six people around it. The stall owner was a thin old man who was talking animatedly.

He listened intently for a while.

"The territory of the Divine Cauldron Gang is thirty miles west of Deer Horn Mountain, in a place called Falling Star Pool."

"I heard there's an ancient cultivator's cave at the bottom of that pool. Last month, someone fished a flying sword out of it; it was brimming with spiritual energy!"

"If any of you are interested, you can go together and take a look; you might be able to find some bargains..."

……

"Fellow Daoist Guan."

"What's the background of this Divine Cauldron Gang?"

Chen Changhe asked out of curiosity, as he had only heard him mention it briefly before but did not know the details.

"A group of independent cultivators in Baling formed an alliance. They are numerous and powerful, banding together for mutual support. They have quite a large operation, including merchants, market vendors, errand runners, and all sorts of people."

Guan Chengfu scoffed.

"But what bargains can you find in a place like this?"

"If ancient caves truly existed, they would probably have been completely excavated as soon as they were discovered. How could outsiders possibly have a chance to access them?"

"What gets to your ears is either fake news or bait."

"They might just be trying to trick you into becoming a consumable item."

He gestured towards the stall with his lip:

"This kind of rhetoric is brought up every now and then. Those who believe it are mostly scammed out of everything, and some even lose their lives."

Chen Changhe nodded and did not linger.

The two strolled around the stalls area.

Chen Changhe looked at one shop selling ritual implements and two shops selling talismans, but none of them were to his liking.

The magical artifacts were in such poor condition, and the talismans were of such low quality, that I couldn't even muster the interest to ask about their prices.

"Let's go check out the middle floor."

Guan Chengfu suggested.

Just as Chen Changhe was about to lift his foot, he suddenly stopped in front of a stall.

The stall owner was a man in his forties with a dark complexion and calloused hands.

There were several swords and knives on the stall, which looked better than those elsewhere.

Chen Changhe picked up a short knife. The blade was about 12 inches long, dark and without any patterns or spiritual energy.

He gripped the hilt of the knife and infused it with a wisp of magical power.

The blade gleamed slightly, and a layer of cold light emanated from the edge. The spiritual energy flowed smoothly without any obstruction.

"How many spirit pearls?"

He spoke calmly.

The dark-skinned man held up three fingers:

"three hundred."

Three hundred spirit pearls are roughly equivalent to three spirit stones.

Chen Changhe put the knife back and shook his head.

This kind of magical artifact is considered quite good in the market, but it is still not what he desires.

Three hundred spirit pearls aren't expensive, but they should be spent wisely.

You can't buy everything you see.

……

Guan Chengfu led him through a narrow alley to a shop with a flag bearing the character "Guan" hanging on it.

"This is my Guan family's shop. We sell spirit cloth and spirit silk, and we also buy spirit materials."

"If you're not in a hurry, come in and sit down. I'll have someone ask around to see where I can buy cultivation techniques."

Chen Changhe thought for a moment, then nodded and said:

"Thank you for your trouble, Brother Guan."

The two were about to enter.

Suddenly, a light flashed overhead.

That was not the light of an ordinary sun.

It is now nearly evening, the sun is setting, the sunlight has long since dimmed, and only a touch of orange-red remains on the horizon.

But the light was so bright it was blinding.

It flew in from the southeast at an astonishing speed, arriving above the market in the blink of an eye.

Immediately, the rainbow light swayed crookedly, like a kite with a broken string, tumbled a few times in mid-air, and then plummeted down.

"boom--"

A muffled thud.

Gravel flew everywhere, and dust rose high into the air.

People in the market scattered in panic, some screamed, some thought it was an enemy attack and immediately took out their magical weapons, and some even cried out for their parents, so scared that they almost wet their pants.

Inside the Immortal Pavilion, chaos reigned.

Chen Changhe paused, his hand resting on the storage bag.

Guan Chengfu's expression also changed. He pulled him back a few steps and hid under the eaves of the shop.

Soon, the dust slowly settled.

A person was lying on the cracked bluestone ground.

The man was wearing a blue Taoist robe, which was covered in blood. He had a long wound on his chest that ran from his left shoulder to his right rib, with the skin torn open.

His face was deathly pale, his lips were purple, and his breath was so weak that it was almost imperceptible.

But his cultivation level...

Chen Changhe felt terrified just from glancing at it.

He is at least a Qi Refining Realm expert!

……

"There are people injured!"

"Quickly, summon the alchemist!"

Soon, a group of people gathered around.

Guan Chengfu, however, remained calm and said with a serious expression:

Something's not right!

"This master of Qi cultivation fled here, severely injured and falling to the ground... There must be something chasing him!"

No sooner had Guan Chengfu finished speaking than a sharp whistle came from outside the market.

The sound was piercing, like the sound of rubbing against a metal plate, or like the cry of a bird.

The sound came from afar, growing closer and denser.

Everyone in the market stopped what they were doing.

The vendors stopped selling, the buyers stopped buying, and even the beggars who were dozing on the street raised their heads.

Chen Changhe looked up at the eastern sky.

Outside the market town, on a distant hilltop, stood several dark figures.

Their faces were obscured, but one could vaguely sense the intense aura of savagery emanating from them.

He counted silently.

Six.

No, seven.

There was another one standing further away, whose murderous aura was much stronger than the others!

"My goodness!"

Guan Chengfu's voice trembled slightly, and his body shook involuntarily.

"How could there be a heretical cultivator practicing Qi Refining here...? That person at the very top has a terrifying aura, could he be at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining?!"

The guards at the entrance of the market have already unleashed their magical artifacts.

The leader was a middle-aged man with the cultivation level of the fifth stage of the Spirit Realm. At this moment, under the pressure of the aura of these Qi Refining Evil Cultivators, his condensed primordial spirit dharma image actually shattered.

Fortunately, the protective formation above the Deer Horn Immortal Pavilion is still intact.

Those evil cultivators merely waved a few streams of malevolent energy, striking the formation, which only caused a slight ripple.

Those figures hovered in the sky, staring motionlessly at the unconscious figure not far in front of Chen Changhe.

"Zhang Weiqing!"

"Your Zhang family dares to call yourselves the cultivation geniuses of the Baling Zhang family? Our cultivation levels are comparable, both at the late stage of Qi Refining, yet you don't even have the courage to fight me. Are you just cowards relying on this formation?"

The person on the top floor spoke with a slightly sarcastic tone.

"hehe."

Suddenly, an aged voice echoed through the mountains and forests, as if an old man were slowly speaking:

"I wonder which demonic sect disciple has come to cause trouble at my Deer Horn Mountain?"

"Are you acting so blatantly because you think I wouldn't dare kill you?"

next moment.

A white tortoise had appeared in the sky without anyone noticing.

On the turtle's back, there was nothing else but a small mountain, shaped like a deer antler, which was exactly the same as the Deer Antler Mountain below.

The sound just now came from inside the white tortoise carrying the mountain.