A glimmer appeared in Lin Changheng’s eyes. He squatted, grabbed a handful of soil, and tried to communicate with the Primordial Cauldron in his sea of consciousness, but there was no response.

He couldn’t help but shake his head.

He sniffed the air deeply but couldn’t detect even a hint of lingering Demon Beast blood. Perhaps it had all dissipated over the past hundred years, or maybe the whole story was just a rumor.

"Fellow Daoist, please pay the Spirit Stone entrance fee."

After walking a few more steps, a faint voice called out. Only then did Lin Changheng notice a squad of cultivators in short coats hiding behind a large rock, their cultivation at least at the Middle Stage of Qi Cultivation.

They all had their faces covered, but their eyes were sharp, and they emanated an Evil Qi. They were not to be trifled with.

Behind this squad was a quiet valley with no signs of human activity.

But Lin Changheng could sense the faint fluctuations of an Array.

"Alright."

Lin Changheng had already pieced together the general situation back at the teahouse. Mentally prepared, he paid the Spirit Stones and passed through the Array.

After a watery ripple washed over him, everything was different.

Before him was now a vast plaza of red earth.

Long tables were arranged in a large square, end to end, displaying all sorts of goods. Behind each table sat a single person, marking one stall.

A quick glance revealed sixty or seventy of them.

An aisle was left in the middle for people to walk through.

A brief scan showed at least several dozen people walking about, picking through the wares.

But they all had one thing in common: they wore wide robes, masks, and bamboo hats, completely concealing their body shapes and faces.

Everyone was being cautious.

Even close friends or family would likely be unable to recognize each other here. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Lin Changheng walked right up and began to observe the stalls.

There was quite a variety.

Talismans, Magical Artifacts, Poisons, Demon Beast Materials...

Array Diagrams, Pill Formulas, Cultivation Techniques, Artifact Refining Insights...

Everything was available except for proper Elixirs.

After all, Elixirs were meant to be consumed, and non-Alchemists would have a hard time discerning their quality. What if you ate the wrong one, or what if someone had poisoned it? This was no joking matter.

Therefore, no one dared to buy Elixirs at the Black Market; they had to be purchased from legitimate shops.

Over time, it became an unwritten rule in the Black Market not to sell Elixirs.

Lin Changheng reached out and picked up a page from a stall—a Pill Formula. After a few glances, he silently put it back down.

’The waters here run deep indeed!’

It was half-real, half-fake, a mix of truth and lies. Following it wouldn’t just mean losing all your investment; there was an eighty percent chance your cauldron would explode.

Who knows where the stall owner got it from. And the price wasn’t even low—he had the gall to ask for twenty Lower Grade Spirit Stones.

This immediately extinguished any thought he had of buying knowledge-based items like Pill Formulas or Array Diagrams from the Black Market.

Shaking his head, he continued on his way, browsing as he went.

Soon, the scent of blood led him to a particular stall.

The stall owner was an extremely burly man in a bamboo hat.

On the long table before him was butchered Demon Beast Meat, already hacked into large chunks, making it impossible to identify the specific beast.

"What kind of Demon Beast is this? Do you have any Demon Beast Essence Blood?"

Lin Changheng asked, his voice low and cold.

Without looking up, the stall owner picked at the calluses on his hand and said in a hoarse voice, "This is a Mixed Grade Demon Beast, a Golden Mountain Ape. And yes, I have its Essence Blood."

As he spoke, he took out a vial of pale golden Essence Blood and pushed it across the table.

"Do you have any Earth Fire Lizard Essence Blood?"

Lin Changheng gave the vial a quick glance, confirmed it was genuine, and asked with interest, "I need some."

"Don’t have any."

The stall owner finally looked up at Lin Changheng, his tone still cold. "Only Golden Mountain Ape Essence Blood."

"What about the higher-grade Muddy Evil Essence Blood?"

Hearing this, the stall owner rolled his eyes and simply stopped talking.

’A Demon Beast with a Muddy Evil Bloodline requires a cultivator at the Late Stage of Qi Cultivation to even attempt to hunt. I’m only in the Middle Stage; the risk of hunting one is enormous. How could I possibly have any?’

’Only the great clans who raise them could provide it in large quantities.’

’If not for the fact that the cultivator before me spoke earnestly and carried himself with a steady composure, I would have assumed the man was just messing with me and shooed him away.’

Lin Changheng sighed softly. Realizing he had said too much, he made a mental note to be more careful and continued on his way.

He passed another seven or eight stalls.

An even stronger smell of blood hit his nostrils. He glanced over and saw that this stall wasn’t selling Demon Beast Materials or Essence Blood, but rather Magical Artifacts, Talismans, and various personal items carried by cultivators, such as hairpins, Jade Pendants, and necklaces.

Moreover, they were all more or less stained with blood.

Some of it was old and had caked into dark stains, while some was quite fresh, clearly from not long ago.

The corner of Lin Changheng’s mouth twitched under his bamboo hat. ’Could the stall owner have deliberately smeared these with blood? How could every single item be stained?’

’In my past life, they aged antiques to make them look old. In this world, they smear items with blood?’

’Is this to prove they’re all spoils from murder and robbery, and thus increase their supposed authenticity?’

"Fellow Daoist, see anything you like?"

The scrawny stall owner behind the table called out in a high-pitched, deliberately lowered voice.

"No..."

Lin Changheng shook his head and continued on.

The Black Market truly had a lot to offer, and there were indeed some good items, but they were useless to Lin Changheng, so he quashed any intention to buy.

His goal was clear. No matter how good an item was, if he couldn’t use it, it would just end up collecting dust in his Storage Bag.

Having long since seen through consumer traps, he wasn’t about to fall for one.

After entering the inner ring of stalls, something finally broke through Lin Changheng’s growing disappointment, like a stone cast into a placid lake.

"Earth Fire Lizard Essence Blood? Yes, I have some."

An old man with messy hair, wrapped in a red robe, his ruddy face completely exposed without any covering, made Lin Changheng’s pupils shrink.

In a place like the Black Market, to not hide one’s appearance seemed so out of place.

Hearing Lin Changheng’s question, the red-robed old man smiled, rummaged through his Storage Bag for a moment, then took out a small Wooden Box and pushed it forward.

Suppressing his surprise, Lin Changheng opened it and saw two rows totaling twenty vials of deep red Essence Blood.

"Not bad."

Lin Changheng carefully inspected each one. After confirming they were genuine, he asked, "How many Spirit Stones?"

The red-robed old man didn’t speak, only pointing to a sign at the side: Mortal Filth Demon Beast Essence Blood, eighty Spiritual Sand per portion.

Below it, a line of small characters was carved: Small business, no haggling.

Shielding his movements with his sleeve, Lin Changheng took out sixteen Spirit Stones and placed them on the table. Without a word, he took the Wooden Box and turned to leave.

"If you have need for more, Fellow Daoist, you can come back in three days."

Suddenly, a voice transmitted directly into Lin Changheng’s ear. It was, unmistakably, the tone of the red-robed old man from just now.

Upon hearing this, the cultivator in the bamboo hat quickened his pace. The red-robed old man’s aged eyes watched him go, and he couldn’t help but shake his head and chuckle.

’Was he frightened by me?’

’Young cultivators these days are so timid...’

Then he slumped onto the stall’s table, closed his eyes to rest, and acted as if he hadn’t a care in the world.

...

Lin Changheng, having left the stall, had no intention of returning in three days. He continued to quickly scan the remaining stalls.

After acquiring another ten portions of Earth Fire Lizard Essence Blood at another stall, Lin Changheng left immediately, not lingering for a moment.

But not long after he left, three figures also departed from the Black Market, one after another.

They watched the lone figure in the bamboo hat in the distance, exchanged a look, and a flash of greed and malice passed between them.