Cultivation: I Have a Golden Talisman
Chapter 303 - 66: Curious Tales of the Ghost Market (Part 2)
After breaking through to the Life Talisman Realm, Chen Yu Yan had left for the Jin Country and had yet to return.
His days were carefree and unrestrained.
After his promotion to an Inner Sect Elder, he was no longer responsible for the affairs of the Law Enforcement Hall.
As for the other guard duties within the sect, none were assigned to him for the time being.
Generally, after an Inner Sect Elder first broke through to the Mid-Life Talisman Stage, they would be granted a period of secluded cultivation lasting at least fifty years.
Thanks to the vast, boundless Spiritual Qi within the Resentment Demon Bead, Fang Cheng’s Cultivation had been growing by leaps and bounds.
It wasn’t until he reached Mid-Life Talisman Perfection that his growth rate gradually slowed down.
He pinched his fingers to calculate; nine years had passed in a flash.
It seemed it was time for the Void Ghost Marketplace to open again!
On this day, Fang Cheng stopped his cultivation and organized his storage bag.
He had been preparing for these past few years.
Spirit Stones, Primordial Yang Rice, Mechanical Battle Armor, Talismans, Secret Techniques, and various specialties from the Yun Country...
All these items together were worth no less than ten million Spirit Stones.
’I wonder which World Heaven the Void Ghost Marketplace will connect to this time?’
With a flicker of thought, Fang Cheng slowly outlined a towering and magnificent stone gate deep within his divine soul.
The stone gate was half-open, emitting a wondrous, divine aura.
He extended his right hand, channeled his Magical Power, and slowly outlined an identical, "miniature" version of the stone gate within his Quiet Chamber.
The moment the stone gate appeared, a spatial fluctuation rippled outward.
Light flowed behind the gate, revealing a hint of mystery.
Filled with anticipation, Fang Cheng stood up and walked into the stone gate.
This was his third time entering the Void Ghost Marketplace.
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*
*
As Fang Cheng stepped out of the stone gate, he felt a blast of cold wind.
The sky was gloomy, with dark clouds pressing down from above.
A boundless, desolate ocean appeared before him.
He stood in the void, a shimmering stone gate hovering silently behind him.
In the sea below, cold currents surged and mournful winds howled. Vast waves, stretching for thousands of miles, were shrouded in frozen clouds and cold mist. It was a scene of profound gloom, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Icebergs drifted by on the waves, carrying centuries of accumulated snow. They were scattered near and far, colliding with one another.
In the distance, a floating iceberg suddenly broke apart on its own. The impact kicked up several waterspouts that surged hundreds of feet high—a magnificent sight.
Shaken by the impact, the surrounding icebergs collided more frequently. Thunderous rumbles echoed near and far, converging into a deafening symphony of sound.
Giant whales occasionally surfaced, blowing waves as high as mountains and exhaling breaths that formed clouds, creating a spectacular view.
In the distance, the sea wind intensified. A towering wave, as tall as a mountain, surged forth. The wall of water stood like a cliff, blotting out the sky as it thundered toward him.
Such a wondrous spectacle was rarely seen in the Abyssal Marsh, and Fang Cheng couldn’t help but stare for a few extra moments.
On another iceberg,
a vast, gray fog lingered, and waves of strange and inexplicable spatial fluctuations emanated from within it.
The gray fog covered an area several miles wide, rose over a thousand feet high, and roiled thickly. It seemed as if it didn’t belong to this world, as if it was being rejected by this plane of existence.
This was the Void Ghost Marketplace.
Fang Cheng sensed this world’s Spiritual Qi and frowned inwardly, finding it extremely thin.
’Am I going to make a trip for nothing again, just like last time?’
Seeing the monstrous wave in the distance about to crash down, his figure flickered and he flew into the gray fog.
Beside him, an hourglass made purely of spiritual light hovered motionlessly.
Inside the hourglass, "grains of sand" made of faint light slowly trickled down.
It symbolized that he only had two hours!
After Fang Cheng entered the gray fog, the sounds of the crashing waves and collapsing icebergs completely vanished.
After advancing a few dozen feet into the gray fog, the scene before him suddenly opened up. Amid a world of ice and snow, many Cultivators had haphazardly set up countless stalls, forming a continuous and exceptionally bustling market on the snow-covered ground under the fog’s shroud.
For miles around, the air was filled with a clamorous din. The voices of vendors selling Spiritual Elixirs and Wondrous Medicines, Magical Artifacts, Talismans, puppets, Spiritual Medicines, Spirit Rice, black iron, damaged and exotic treasures, Spiritual Cuisine, and Spirit Wine created a deafening roar.
Visitors swarmed like ants, weaving through the crowd.
Mixed in were the rhythmic, song-like cries of vendors, rising and falling:
"The Medicine King Sect’s Golden Spear Unyielding Pill! Who wants one, eh? The Supreme Elder of the Longxi Cao Family personally vouched for them and generously gifted them to his sons and grandsons!"
"Purple Ice Golden Demon Mo! The Gao Family’s Purple Ice Golden Demon Mo! A thousand-year-old brand, money-back guarantee if you don’t like the taste!"
"Monkey Wine! Monkey Wine! Straight from the Heaven’s Edge Water Curtain Cave!"
"Joyful Union Sect Tripod Furnaces! Slender waists and long legs, big breasts and round bottoms! Peerless beauties, the finest under heaven!"
...
Cries like these and more stirred the marketplace into a frenzy, like a pot of boiling water.
As Fang Cheng stepped into the market, a strange expression appeared on his face.
The number of Cultivators and stalls here far exceeded his imagination, but the Cultivation level of these people... well, it left much to be desired.
As far as he could see, the highest Cultivation in the entire market seemed to be only the Seventh Layer of Sensing!
The majority were low-level cultivators at the Second or Third Layer of Sensing.
And the items sold at the stalls were all Tier One Lower Grade.
Those that reached Tier One Middle Grade were few and far between.
As for Tier One Upper Grade items, they were practically nonexistent.
’Could it be that the Cultivators of this World Heaven have entered an End of Dharma Era? Has the Spiritual Qi dissipated, making cultivation difficult... Is the Sensing Realm the highest one can achieve?’
Fang Cheng walked through the market, speculating to himself.
To be honest, the items at these stalls hardly piqued his interest.
He had concealed his Cultivation, so these Cultivators couldn’t sense his aura at all, let alone know that an otherworldly visitor had mixed into their market.
He walked up to a bookstall. The owner was a young Female Cultivator with a gentle disposition. The stall displayed many paper books and scrolls, but only a single jade slip.
Under the pretext of buying a book, Fang Cheng chatted with the Female Cultivator for a bit. He learned that this World Heaven had entered the End of Dharma Era eight thousand years ago. The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi had gradually thinned, and generations of High-level Cultivators had slowly exhausted their lifespans, disappearing into the river of history.
Now, the Cultivators of the world were divided into nine realms, which corresponded exactly to the nine layers of the Sensing Realm.
A Cultivator of the Ninth Realm was already a supreme master, a being who stood at the peak of the Cultivation Realm.
Affected by the fading of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, all sorts of cultivation resources and Spiritual Objects had also vanished.
Even things as common in the Cultivation Realm as jade slips and storage bags had become rare.
Ancient legacies became meaningless. Having lost their value, they gradually faded into history with the passage of time, and new cultivation methods arose to take their place.
Fang Cheng couldn’t hide his disappointment. After leaving the bookstall, he strolled slowly, wandering aimlessly through the market with the bustling crowd.
As he walked, his expression suddenly shifted, and he arrived before a stall selling Spirit Beast Meat.
Under the awning was a table, on which were laid two large, square, smooth black stone slabs. A cut of purple-gold Spirit Beast Meat was displayed on the slabs. Hanging in front of the stall were a Beast Whip, a Beast Head, and a Beast Leg.
The seller was a fat man with a greasy face, who was hawking his wares with gusto.
"Purple Ice Golden Demon Mo—the Gao Family’s very own farm-raised Purple Ice Golden Demon Mo, a thousand-year-old brand... Ah, honored customer, what can I get for you?"
Fang Cheng frowned and pointed to the stone slabs on the table. "Move the meat. I want to see these slabs."
As he spoke, he released a sliver of his aura, instantly causing the seller’s face to fill with terror and become utterly respectful.
"Senior... please, take a look."
He hurriedly lifted the Spirit Beast Meat, hung it on a wooden post behind him, and then cast a Cleaning Technique to wipe the grease from the stone slabs.
Fang Cheng’s gaze fell upon the two stone slabs, and a strange light flashed in his eyes.
Both slabs were covered in minuscule script. One of them described a Pill Formula.
It was called the Four Symbols Divine Pill, with individual pills named after the Black Tortoise, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Azure Dragon.
Their effects were to assist in breaking through cultivation realms, corresponding to the Sensing Realm, Life Talisman Realm, Life Soul Realm, and Dharma Realm, respectively!
In other words, when breaking through from the Sensing Realm to the Life Talisman Realm, one could take the Black Tortoise Divine Pill to increase the chances of success.
When breaking through from the Life Talisman Realm to the Life Soul Realm, one could take the Vermilion Bird Divine Pill to increase the chances of success.
Although he didn’t know if the Pill Formula was genuine, judging by the Spiritual Medicines mentioned within, every single one was an extremely rare and precious ingredient.
As for the other stone slab, it was even more profound.
It recorded a Secret Technique called the "True Understanding of the Grand Void Sensing Golden Wheel of Destiny."
This technique required a Grand Array and numerous strange objects to cultivate. Once mastered, it would allow a Cultivator to draw upon the fortune of their own descendants to forge a Fortune Golden Wheel.
This technique had the heaven-defying effects of resisting heavenly tribulations and reversing the fate dictated by the Celestial Dao.
Fang Cheng looked at the seller and asked in a deep voice, "Where did you get these slabs?"
The seller was extremely nervous at this moment. This senior before him was very likely a great power at the Seventh Realm or higher...
He answered truthfully, "This junior’s grandfather found them at the bottom of a river while fishing in his youth. At the time, he saw that they were quite hard and flat, so he used them as a chopping board for meat. They’ve been passed down to my generation."
...