I proved immortality with thunder magic.

After leaving Zeng Qiming's cave dwelling, Zhou Tai examined the talisman that the other party had given him.

It was a talisman paper with mysterious runes drawn on it. The runes were drawn in fine and dense lines, layered and overlapping. It did not look like a magic talisman, but rather like a painting that was showing off some kind of skill.

"Is this the kind of talisman masters designed for themselves? It seems rather pretentious!"

After examining the letter, Zhou Tai shook his head and casually put it into his storage bag.

He already knew that some famous talisman masters would design unique talismans to represent themselves.

The authenticity of this talisman is generally incomprehensible to most people; only a familiar talisman master or an old friend can discern its true nature.

It was obvious that Zeng Qiming had guessed what Zhou Tai was going to do next, which was why he gave him his personal token.

Zhou Tai really doesn't have many other options right now.

If he had any hesitation before, Zeng Qiming's answer and the act of giving him the token had already made the choice for him.

However, even if Zhou Tai were to personally visit Bailong Market, he did not plan to set off immediately.

He lacked knowledge of the situation in Bailongfang City and needed to gather intelligence first. Moreover, he also needed to ask for leave in advance from Lei Hefeng and Bibotan.

Zhou Tai didn't do the intelligence gathering himself, but instead entrusted it to Hu Qianqian to avoid revealing his plans to go out.

During this period, Zhou Tai visited several old talisman masters on Yuanfu Peak and exchanged some first-grade high-quality magic talismans with them.

This was the first time he had left the gates of Spirit Beast Mountain since embarking on the path of cultivation, so it was always good to have some extra preparations.

After preparing for half a month, Zhou Tai rented a black-feathered vulture from the Spirit Beast Hall and quietly left the mountain gate.

Compared to disciples of other sects, the biggest advantage of disciples from Spirit Beast Mountain when going out is that they can ride flying mounts.

The black-feathered vulture flies thousands of feet high in the air. As long as it doesn't encounter other demonic birds, even a Qi Refining stage cultivator using a flying magic weapon would find it difficult to catch up with it.

However, renting a flying mount like Zhou Tai does is not cheap. The daily rental fee is three low-grade spirit stones, and a deposit of five hundred low-grade spirit stones is required.

Under normal circumstances, not many outer disciples of Spirit Beast Mountain can afford to rent it.

After Zhou Tai rode the black-feathered vulture out of the mountain gate, he flew straight north, intending to first find the Bailong River, which stretched for tens of thousands of miles, and then travel down the river to Bailong Market.

Two hours later, the Black Feathered Vulture flew out of the Dragon Ridge Mountains, and villages and towns of the Heng Kingdom began to appear on the land below.

Zhou Tai first found a place to land, letting the black-feathered vulture rest and recover its strength, while he went to find nearby mortals to inquire about the location of the White Dragon River.

As the largest river in Heng Kingdom, Bailong River was naturally very famous, and Zhou Tai obtained the information he wanted without much effort.

After resting for two hours, he rode the black-feathered vulture and set off again.

Not long after, Zhou Tai saw the Bailong River in mid-air.

When this largest river in Heng State flows through this region, its surface is over ten thousand feet wide, and its water is clear and white, resembling a white dragon flowing northward.

Every so often, islands appear in the river, and some of the larger islands even have fishing villages on them.

The black-feathered eagle flew down the river for hundreds of miles before finally landing on an uninhabited island in the middle of the river.

It was less than half an hour until sunset, and it was inconvenient to travel at night. Zhou Tai also wanted the Black Feather Vulture to conserve some energy in case of unforeseen circumstances, so they landed early to rest.

After landing, Zhou Tai first fed the Black Feather Vulture some spirit beast food to replenish its strength, and then went down to the riverbank to start frying fish.

He made hand seals and cast a spell, unleashing a thick bolt of blue-white lightning that caused lightning snakes to dance wildly on the river surface.

Soon, one by one, the large fish in the river were electrocuted and stunned, and floated to the surface of the river.

Upon seeing this, the black-feathered vultures on the island, without Zhou Tai's command, immediately took flight and swooped down, grabbing large fish and dropping them onto the island.

Zhou Tai picked out a river fish of a suitable size, strung it on a branch, and prepared it for his own dinner. He gave the rest to the Black Feather Vulture.

Soon after, a bonfire was lit on the island in the middle of the river under the cover of night, and the aroma of grilled fish wafted out.

Zhou Tai ate half a grilled fish and then stopped. He told the Black Feather Vulture to rest first, then took out his spirit beast pouch from his pocket and released the Thunder Pattern Frog Yuanbao.

quack!

Yuanbao, finally able to get some fresh air, immediately protested to its owner, Zhou Tai.

"Okay, just bear with it a little longer. I'll reward you when we get back."

Zhou Tai patted the frog's head, fed it a few insect rice balls, and then sent it to the side to keep watch for him.

Thunder-patterned Frog Yuanbao's combat power is naturally negligible, but frog-like monsters have a strong sense of vibration. If it lies on the ground, it cannot hide anything that comes near from the ground.

With it standing guard nearby at night, Zhou Tai could rest more at ease.

Nothing happened overnight. The next day, as soon as it was light, Zhou Tai put the Thunder-Patterned Frog Yuanbao into his spirit beast bag and rode the rested Black Feathered Vulture on his way.

He traveled downstream along the Bailong River, and the river widened as he went further down. By the time he reached the vicinity of Bailongfang City, the river had become nearly 20,000 zhang wide.

Moreover, this section of the river is turbulent with hidden currents, making it extremely difficult for boats to cross; they can only travel along the banks on both sides.

After flying a distance further, Zhou Tai finally saw the location of Bailongfang City.

It was an island stretching for tens of miles, standing in the middle of the river, dividing the mighty Yangtze River into two sections, each tens of thousands of feet wide.

This island is called White Dragon Island. There is a third-order spiritual vein on the island, which can be used by cultivators at the Purple Mansion level to cultivate.

Since the establishment of Bailongfang City, both Lingshou Mountain and Yunxia Sect have dispatched a Grand Master of the Purple Mansion to reside permanently on the island.

From the air, Zhou Tai could clearly see the buildings and even the cultivators walking on the streets of the island's market.

However, outside cultivators are strictly prohibited from flying within the market, so he could only have the Black Feather Vulture land at the elevator plaza outside the market.

This rising and falling plaza is also managed by official market personnel. As soon as the black-feathered eagle landed, a young man in gray immediately ran up to greet it.

"Senior, are you from Spirit Beast Mountain? I can look after your mount for you, and I'll only charge you half a low-grade spirit stone or two catties of spirit rice per day!"

The young man in gray spoke rapidly while flashing a token that indicated his official status, his eyes filled with ingratiating intent.

Zhou Tai was not surprised that this person recognized his origins. After all, the Black Feather Vulture was practically the representative flying rider of Spirit Beast Mountain, and the direction he came from was obviously the Dragon Ridge Mountains.

His spirit beast pouch was already filled with Thunder-Patterned Frog Gold Ingots, so it wasn't suitable to put the Black Feathered Vulture in it. Therefore, he nodded and said, "Then I'll leave it to you. Take good care of it for me, and make sure it doesn't go hungry or thirsty."

The gray-clad youth's expression brightened, and he hurriedly patted his chest, replying, "Senior, don't worry, our animal pen has all kinds of food prepared, I guarantee your beloved pet won't go hungry!"

He then led Zhou Tai and the Black Feather Vulture to a nearby animal pen, arranged a separate shed for the Black Feather Vulture, and made the necessary registration.

After prepaying a low-grade spirit stone as a management fee, Zhou Tai headed to the market entrance with the enthusiastic farewell of the gray-clad youth.

Bailong Market has two entrances, one in the north and one in the south. No one needs to register their identity information or pay any fees when entering or leaving. They will only check whether you are a demonic cultivator or a wanted criminal identified by the market.

However, every cultivator entering the market was told that they either had to leave the market before sunset or stay at an inn within the market. Otherwise, if they were discovered by the patrol team at night, they would be arrested and imprisoned for three months, and fined varying amounts.

Zhou Tai showed his outer disciple token from the Spirit Beast Mountain, and was exempted from all questioning. The guards even offered to let him stay overnight for free.

In fact, Zhou Tai already knew all this information, but he still thanked the guard and strolled into the market.

This was Zhou Tai's first time entering the cultivators' market, but it felt no different from being in a mortal market.

If I had to point out what's different, it would be that the streets are very clean and tidy, the buildings on both sides are magnificent and imposing, there are many two-, three-, and four-story buildings, and it's not noisy at all, with no street vendors hawking their wares.

As he walked, he carefully observed the pedestrians on the street and found that the cultivators coming and going were mainly at the mid-stage and late-stage of Qi Refining, with very few at the early-stage of Qi Refining.

This is pretty much what he imagined.

Markets are places where money is spent. What money could a cultivator in the early stages of Qi Refining possibly have? Even if they really want to buy or sell things, they don't need to come to a large market like the White Dragon Market. They can just go to the grass markets run by nearby cultivation families or independent cultivators.

Moreover, it's not easy for ordinary rogue cultivators to get to White Dragon Market without a flying mount. They have to spend spirit stones to buy tickets at the ferry crossings on both sides of the river, which alone filters out those cultivators who have no money.

This is undoubtedly good news for Zhou Tai.

His main customers for thunder talismans are mid-stage and late-stage Qi Refining cultivators who have some wealth.

He walked around the market, stopping frequently, and spent about half an hour walking through all the streets, noting down the locations of the shops selling talismans.

This naturally includes Hongfuju, which Zeng Qiming mentioned.

However, he did not immediately go to Hongfu Residence to reveal his intentions. Instead, he planned to first investigate the details of the Bailongfang Market as a buyer.

Only by thoroughly understanding the details of the Bailongfang Market's legal token market can he set his own target price and maximize his own interests when negotiating transactions.