The Sword Qi actually passed straight through the violet qi as if it was just a shadowy illusion. Ling’er, who had been corporeal just monts ago, was now enveloped in violet qi, and unexpectedly turned into the sa ethereal body.
But the Sword Qi seed to be not entirely ineffective. A deep gash slowly appeared on Ling’er’s face, running from her chin to her forehead, almost destroying one eye and ruining her once beautiful visage.
"Oh?" Lin Xin was sowhat surprised. "So she had already anticipated that I would attack her?"
He turned to look at Mr. Qing’s corpse.
This fellow’s body had been halved, with all internal organs, including the brain, split by a single sword strike. Only now was he slowly falling to the ground, but even in death, the corners of his mouth were slightly curved upwards.
Lin Xin seed to understand; from the beginning, this guy may have been rely a diversion, with his plan being to get his maid away. In the end, his goal achieved, he had no other desires left.
"No wonder this little fellow scread his lungs out in the end."
Lin Xin once again gathered a large amount of Demonic Qi around him, eager to test whether this violet qi was as impervious as Mr. Qing had claid, immune to any and all tactics.
Clang!
Suddenly, a golden light shot from the side, striking hard on the Demonic Qi he had accumulated and directly dispersing it.
"Who!?"
Taking advantage of this mont, the violet qi suddenly enveloped Ling’er and disappeared as if she teleported, leaving her original position.
Lin Xin dispelled the Demonic Sword and glanced around the once serene and quaint Vajra Temple.
Half of the main temple hall had collapsed, the surrounding walls had crumbled completely, and the slate floor was now uneven with holes and fissures, a sight too pitiful to behold.
To his surprise, the old monk was still serenely seated in a lotus position in the remaining intact half of the main hall, right in front of the golden Buddha statue, silently reciting scriptures.
"Layman, rcy begets rcy...is there really a need to be so ruthless in all matters?" the old monk said peacefully.
"The monk sure has a kind heart, but if weeds are to be eliminated, one must pull out the roots, especially since they struck first. By logic and sentint, there was no need to let them live," Lin Xin explained calmly.
"The layman is too extre," said the monk lightly.
"It’s the monk who is ddling too much," Lin Xin said with a smile. This monk seed enigmatic, and he wasn’t sure what level of cultivation the other possessed. The monk had dared to interfere after witnessing his fierce battle against Kun Ji.
For the ti being, he couldn’t figure out the monk’s capabilities. After mulling over it for a few monts, he eventually let go of the Demonic Qi surrounding him.
"Let’s call it even, in consideration of the Vajra Relic. Monk, take good care of yourself," he said.
He then turned and walked towards the direction from which he had co.
However, from behind him, he could faintly hear the old monk’s calm and peaceful voice.
"The layman has a connection with Buddhism, and perhaps one day, you will lay down your butcher’s knife. It’s a pity...the monk will no longer witness that day."
Lin Xin suddenly stopped and turned his head back to look at the old monk, who had already closed his eyes in ditation and no longer bore any signs of life.
"He actually passed away in ditation?"
Only then did Lin Xin sowhat understand that the Buddha statue had not been spared damage but had likely been protected by the monk exhausting his own cultivation in his efforts to preserve it.
The dispersion of his Demonic Qi a mont ago must have been the last of the monk’s strength, leading to his complete demise in ditation.
A feeling of oddity briefly crossed his mind.
He couldn’t comprehend why these believers were willing to exhaust their life’s cultivation to protect a Buddha statue and a person unrelated to them.
"Is this what they an by monks die quickly since ancient tis?"
He shook his head and ceased that train of thought. Suddenly, dark clouds rose beneath his feet and carried him away towards the distance.
Now that he knew Kun Ji was the Demon Emperor of Brahma Net Mountain and had been pursued for so long, wouldn’t it be too unfavorable to not return the favor? But before setting off to return the gesture, there was so preparation work to do.
The reserves of blood qi from the Giant Serpent Mantra he had been building up were now insufficient, and he couldn’t continue to replenish them. Absorbing other blood qi would introduce too many impurities, which might hinder his bodily cultivation.
"Perhaps I should procure so special treasures that I need," he thought.
Standing amidst the Demonic Clouds, Lin Xin reached for a mask and placed it on his face. He stowed away his damaged armor and changed into a black armored robe that he had previously pilfered from soone, perfectly fitting the typical characteristics of a Demonic Path Cultivator.
"According to the Yuan Dou Demon Sect’s information map, there should be a black market trading post nearby. It might be worth checking out to see if there’s anything worth buying," he reasoned.
He had previously obtained a lot of maps detailing the geography and power distribution in the Central Prefecture from the Yuan Dou Demon Sect, all of which he had morized.
Nearby was indeed a significant black market trading post, situated between the cracks of the power struggle between the Immortal Alliance and the Red Spine Sect. Thus, there was a mutual exchange of needs, and the black market’s business had been thriving.
Moreover, there were rarely any rumors of incidents, suggesting that a powerful force backed the black market, ensuring the security of transactions.
After reorganizing his storage space a bit, which included rings, crystals, and pockets with many compartnts, each filled with various cultivators’ possessions, so abundant, others less so, but many were valuable and expensive high-level items.
He wasn’t interested in the common stuff and wouldn’t bother carrying them with him all the ti.
After sorting and packing everything categorically, he planned to exchange them for materials for making Array Plates and Formation Path pens.
At his current Master Level in Formation Talisman Path, Fourth Grade Formations required the infusion of spiritual power, and a good set of talisman-making tools could increase the speed of talisman creation by more than half. There were also so peculiar and famous talisman-making tools that, when used to create Talisman Paper Equipnt, endowed them with other special and unique abilities.
He had never delved deeply into this field before.
But now, lacking in strength and vitality, he intended to personally make a set of Fourth Grade or higher Array Plates to compensate for the shortcomings of his own strength.
In creating Array Plates, he also needed a set of more powerful Formations suitable for himself. Yuan Dou Demon Sect’s records might have so, but currently, he had no way of going back to study them.
Since there had been no word from there, it was clear that they had decided to abandon him.
Fourth Grade Formations were generally large arrays, and the few that could be used on portable Array Plates required extrely precious materials as a base; otherwise, they couldn’t withstand such strong vibrations of power.
He changed into a different outfit in mid-air and concealed his own aura.
Lin Xin quickly flew towards the black market point he rembered.
Without the pursuit of the Demon Emperor Kun Ji, he was now able to appear much more composed. The blood vitality from the Ju Yao Wan Sha technique could be used for at most a dozen more breaths – the consumption had been too great during the previous confrontation with Kun Ji.
He had to find a substitute.
The Red Flower Sword also needed proper repairs.
***********************
Bai Yun was shrouded in mist, and the morning light fell on the undulating mountain range, casting a light blue hue.
On several small mountains not over a thousand ters tall, semi-transparent trails of blue Qi could be seen shimring.
A few black sky whales, as big as elephants, rhythmically flapped their fins as they swam past the mountain range, emitting piercing jet noises from ti to ti.
In the midst of the surrounding mountains, the central area faintly revealed a vortex, the source of the blue Qi.
Around the outer edge of the vortex, there was a pool of semi-transparent blue cyclones.
The cyclone was over ten ters wide and tens of ters high, with a constant flow of carts, horses, and pedestrians coming and going through it.
Most of the cultivators entering and leaving wore masks to conceal their identities, black robes, and various magic artifacts to hide their auras.
Even many people were so completely shrouded that it was impossible to tell their gender or age.
Lin Xin, dressed in a black robe, also shrouded himself completely, not revealing anything that might betray his identity.
Like the other black-robed cultivators around him, he stood with a few who also seed new to the place, on a small mound not far away, watching the steady flow of people entering and leaving the blue vortex.
"This is the Erald Black Market? It doesn’t look like it at all; how is it different from an ordinary cultivator trading market?"
A group of three nearby whispered to each other, and because Lin Xin was so close, his keen senses caught their conversation, which sounded as clear as if spoken right next to his ear.
"Could we have taken a wrong turn?"
A young girl’s voice murmured quietly.
"No, we ca here exactly according to the mark on the map, Xiao Bing, Xiao Lian, you two be careful. We can’t behave as freely here as we do in our own sect. Make sure to cover up well and not to expose ourselves. Otherwise, it could lead to fatal consequences," the leader, who seed to be a middle-aged uncle with a mature voice, carefully instructed the two.
"Don’t worry, Dad, we’ll just buy the Blood Talisman tools and leave imdiately. No dawdling. As long as we’re fast enough, even if others want to chase, they won’t be able to catch up," the young boy spoke with considerable calmness.
"Do you think you need to teach your old dad? Just follow closely, talk less, watch more, and listen more!" the middle-aged man slightly irked, smacked his son’s head.
"Oh..."
"Let’s go."
The three began walking towards the huge blue vortex.
"Please wait a mont," suddenly a voice called out from behind, stopping the trio in their tracks.
The voice seed to belong to a male, not too old.
The trio stopped, turned around, and saw a slightly taller figure in a black robe coming towards them, stopping at a safe distance.
"Are you new to the black market? If you need anything, I, Old Wu, am quite knowledgeable here. You can ask anything—what you want to buy, the price, and the location. You might not be aware that the Erald Black Market actually has rules and restrictions for entry.
Ordinary people, heh, if they don’t know the way in, I’m afraid they won’t even find the main entrance. And only by truly entering the black market can one find those special items sifted out that are not allowed to be sold openly in the market," he prattled on, drawing the trio’s attention.
Not only them, but also Lin Xin nearby, and another person cloaked in a black robe, had their attention caught.
Seemingly achieving his goal of attracting the attention of those around him, the man in the black robe flipped his hand and suddenly produced a small red badge.
"I won’t lie to you all; the Erald Black Market, nominally, is just an erald marketplace, dealing in ordinary quality goods which satisfy the needs of the average cultivator.
But for high-demand custors, that’s hardly sufficient. And to enter the black market, one needs this Red Smokestone I have in my hand," he explained.
"Red Smokestone? I’ve never heard of such a stone before," the nearby person in a black robe asked sternly, with a sharp voice that made it hard to distinguish their gender.
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