Xiao He was discovered. Song Yan knew that the little snake would inevitably be discovered, but he didn’t expect this day to come so quickly.

Song Yan said nothing more, only handing out another Spirit Stone.

Qin Xijun didn’t ask anything, she just hugged Song Yan and walked into the Market: "Senior Brother, you’re so good."

Under Chen Qi’s guidance, the two walked into the Night Market.

Chen Qi watched their retreating figures as they entered the Night Market, a faint, cold spiritual light flashing in his eyes, before he let out a soft chuckle.

"A Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivator calling a Qi Refinement Middle Stage Cultivator ’Senior Brother’... Heh, never heard of it."

... "Granny Qin... what are you doing?"

At this moment, Chen Qi was long gone.

"Oh, to be young is truly wonderful."

Granny Qin sighed, reluctantly letting go.

"I didn’t realize, Ye Sheng, your waist is quite slender..."

As she spoke, she pinched him again, as if savoring the memory.

Knowing that Granny Qin just liked to fool around, Song Yan didn’t bother to pay attention to her.

Qin Xijun playfully leaned into his ear: "Since it’s already been exposed, why doesn’t your little snake come out and meet me, Granny..."

Since that was the case, Song Yan didn’t act coy.

Hiss... Xiao He poked her head out from Song Yan’s collar, her little black bean eyes looking at Qin Xijun.

"A little green snake Yao, quite adorable..."

Qin Xijun poked Xiao He’s snake head: "That person must have cultivated some kind of Eye Technique, which is why he could see it. However, keeping a Yao Beast isn’t a taboo, so why hide it?"

"..."

Song Yan didn’t speak, seemingly assenting.

In reality, the reason he didn’t want to be ostentatious was that Xiao He hadn’t Cultivated for many years; she was able to shapeshift as soon as she gained initial sentience.

He had also researched it in the Sect’s ancient texts; this type of Yao creature was considered a "Genius" among Yao Cultivators.

Now it seemed that the Cultivation World had countless secret arts and Dao techniques, and there were innumerable ways to sense Demonic Qi. If there wasn’t a better way to conceal her, it might be better for Xiao He to reveal herself openly.

"Let’s go, don’t delay the main business."

Night Market, core area.

As the moonlight first appeared, thousands of Talisman-patterned lamps lit up in the darkness, illuminating the entire Lingyuan Ze Night Market brightly.

Song Yan and Qin Xijun walked slowly.

He had actually not been here much; normally, when he left his Immortal Cave, he would either go straight to Granny Qin’s small shop or straight to Fire Worker Village.

He always came and went in a hurry, never properly visiting the core area of the Market.

Gathering Treasure Pavilion, Fire Refining Pavilion, Medicinal Herb Pavilion, Formation Pavilion, and also "Rare Goods Are Worth Hoarding"... the area around the old shops was packed.

Talismans, Spiritual Artifacts, Medicinal Pills, Formations, all kinds of Materials, scriptures and Dao techniques—as long as you had Spirit Stones, everything was available here.

The "Gathering Treasure Pavilion" had a golden plaque hanging high, with a heroic Cultivator presiding at the counter. On the rosewood shelves, a dazzling array of Spiritual Artifacts and Medicinal Pills were displayed, their Restriction light screens flowing like a galaxy.

Besides that, there were countless small shops and stalls set up by ordinary Cultivators.

The shouts of Qi Refinement Stage Cultivators rose and fell.

"Fire Crow Talismans, three Spirit Stones a stack!"

Some stall owners simply wrote a spiritual power mark in front of their stall.

"Southern Border Yao Beast bones, exchanging for Earth-attribute Cultivation Technique!"

A burly man with a thick beard was arguing with a stall owner: "Your ’Minor Rain Spell’ only has the first six layers, and you dare to ask this old man for so many Spirit Stones!?"

A masked Cultivator squatted at the end of an alley, half a blood-colored Jade Slip faintly visible beneath his black robe, whispering to the buyer in front of him: "Clues to a Demonic Cultivator’s Immortal Cave, exchanging for three..."

Before he finished speaking, the bronze boat of the patrol team swept past, startling a flock of crows.

"Granny, there are many Cultivators here who don’t look like Sect Disciples..."

Qin Xijun nodded: "That’s natural. If they were all Sect Disciples, why would the patrol team need so many people?"

"Strictly speaking, Lingyuan Marsh is not within the Cave Abyss Sect itself, but it is under the Sect’s jurisdiction."

"A certain Elder in the Sect believed that if the Lingyuan Marsh Market was only open to the Sect’s own Disciples, it would be too dull, which is why the ’Night Market’ concept came about."

"Dozens of large and small Cultivation Families in the mountains below, affiliated with the Cave Abyss Sect, nearby mountain Loose Cultivators, and even Disciples from some Daoist temples and small mountain Sects within Fengan Prefecture, also come here to exchange goods."

"Over time, this Night Market has become increasingly lively."

A look of reminiscence flashed in Qin Xijun’s eyes.

"Oh, by the way, although the Night Market’s regulations are slightly more relaxed than the day market, there’s still a bottom line..."

"I see."

Song Yan nodded.

"Alright, now that you’re in, you can handle how to sell those things yourself..."

Qin Xijun smiled slyly: "I, Granny, have an appointment with an old acquaintance, so I’ll be leaving first."

"Huh?"

Before Song Yan could react, Granny Qin had already mingled with the crowd and disappeared.

He now had reason to suspect that Granny Qin just wanted a free ride on his admission fee.

"...Fine, I’ll look around."

Fire Crow Talismans... three Spirit Stones a stack.

Fire Crow Talismans are a very common fire-attribute Spell Talisman, capable of conjuring a large flock of fire crows for a certain period.

Unfortunately, their offensive power isn’t that strong; even if they hit, the burning fire can only consume the opponent’s protective spiritual power.

He did hear that an outer Sect male Cultivator once released ninety-nine Fire Crow Talismans in one night to express his feelings to a female Cultivator he admired, but it ended in failure.

"Speaking of which, this time the Market has set new rules; some special ancient texts and Cultivation Techniques that are difficult to define are no longer allowed to be openly sold."

There was a stall in the market, with many Cultivators gathered in front of the stall owner, listening to his eloquent speech.

"Some say this is deliberately curbing the development and growth of the Lingyuan Ze Night Market... but I don’t think so."

"If this black market were truly lawless, and one day caused a great disaster, it would simply be shut down by the upper echelons of the Cave Abyss Sect, which would truly cut off people’s livelihoods."

The stall owner was sixteen or seventeen years old, looking like a youth. Seeing the reactions of the people in front of him, he quickly struck while the iron was hot.

"At this point, some Fellow Daoists might ask..."

"Now that those miscellaneous books and ancient texts are prohibited from being sold, how can one acquire them?"

"Ah! What a coincidence! I just happen to have a batch of ’miscellaneous books’ in stock..."

"Fellow Daoists, if you fancy any one, take the inscribed name tag from the table, leave your Immortal Cave location, and someone will specially deliver it to your door another day..."

"Hey! Fellow Daoist! Don’t leave!"

"This humble one also has unofficial histories and secret records! Stay and take a look! Don’t leave, Fellow Daoist..."

The crowd of Cultivators who had gathered in front of the stall dispersed in a rush... "Hmph, a bunch of uncultured bumpkins."

The youth immediately cursed: "Without my ability, who would get you these illicit books?"

But after he finished cursing, he realized that a Cultivator wearing a white wolf mask was still standing in front of the stall.

He quickly put on a friendly smile and greeted him: "Oh, Fellow Daoist, what keen eyes you have. Which one have you taken a fancy to?"

Song Yan looked at these small bamboo slips with engraved words, and the more he looked, the more he felt they were illegal.

"This ’Fairy Bai Jie’ was a huge hit before it was banned from sale. If you’re not interested, you can also check out ’Young Hero Abin’..."

The youth was still tirelessly promoting, but Song Yan wasn’t looking at the engraved bamboo slips. Instead, he took down a trial Jade Slip of a legitimate ancient text from the shelf.

"Complete Records of Immortal Dao Scenery."

With a sweep of his Divine Thought, Song Yan returned the Jade Slip.

"Fellow Daoist, how much is this book..."

The youth saw that Song Yan had not chosen one of the banned books engraved on bamboo slips, and immediately lost interest.

"Oh... for this one, I’ll charge you two Spirit Stones. Take it."

Two Spirit Stones... that’s a bit expensive.

However, Song Yan hesitated for a long time, then gritted his teeth and bought it.

"Thank you."