NOVPUBLi Xiaoyao's punch blasted forth, causing the huge boulder to tremble violently. The ground beneath his feet also shook uncontrollably as if an earthquake had occurred.
Startled, Jin Mu looked at Li Xiaoyao and asked, "Which family do you belong to?"
Li Xiaoyao did not answer but instead asked, "Now, do I qualify to enter the Ghost Market?"
Jin Mu's brows furrowed. Li Xiaoyao's tone made him uncomfortable, but the strength Li Xiaoyao had just shown made him wary.
"Follow me."
Jin Mu led the way with the three of them following behind.
Following Jin Mu's mysterious steps, it took only a few minutes before the scenery abruptly changed, and the true Ghost Market appeared before their eyes.
"This is the Ghost Market." After dropping this remark, Jin Mu turned and left.
Rows of ancient-looking houses lined the street, which was paved with bluestones. On both sides of the street were stalls filled with goods.
The stalls were selling medicinal herbs, weapons, and even some ancient books of unknown provenance.
In short, this was a marketplace for Cultivators and Martial Artists, almost inaccessible to ordinary people.
"Xiaoyao, it's your first time at the Ghost Market, you must act low-key," Cheng Dongliang reminded him. "There are few Loose Cultivators here. Behind most of them are major Sect families with enormous power."
"Understood," Li Xiaoyao nodded and said, "If you have things to do, Old Cheng, go ahead. I'll wander around with Old Jiang."
"I indeed have some matters to attend to. You just look around, and if you encounter any trouble, just mention my name. Most people will give me some face," Cheng Dongliang instructed further before turning to leave.
After Cheng Dongliang left, Jiang Lichun also said, "Kid, I'm going to look around. You go on by yourself." Find more adventures on freewebnovel.com
Li Xiaoyao said, "Help me keep an eye out for any medicinal herbs or Pill Medicines that can heal the soul."
Surprised, Jiang Lichun asked, "Is your soul injured?"
Li Xiaoyao did not hide it from him and replied, "A friend has suffered soul damage."
Jiang Lichun chuckled and said, "It must be a woman."
Li Xiaoyao raised an eyebrow and retorted, "Are you jealous of me?"
Jiang Lichun snorted, his beard bristling as he glared and swept his robe sleeve, turning to walk away.
Li Xiaoyao, on his own, strolled from stall to stall with his hands behind his back.
"Eh~" Something on a stall caught Li Xiaoyao's attention. He crouched down and asked, "What is this?"
The stall owner glanced at Li Xiaoyao and said indifferently, "Spirit Soil."
What attracted Li Xiaoyao's attention was a bag of black soil.
From this bag of soil, Li Xiaoyao sensed a trace of faint Spiritual Energy.
"Spirit Soil?" Li Xiaoyao inquired, "What's the use of this?"
The stall owner was a man in his forties, with a sharp chin and prominent cheekbones, who said impatiently, "For planting herbs."
A thought struck Li Xiaoyao; it was as if someone delivered a pillow to him as he was about to sleep.
He had just bought seeds in the System, and now he had discovered Spirit Soil.
"I'll take this Spirit Soil."
The stall owner was not surprised, merely stating indifferently, "One hundred Spirit Stones, non-negotiable."
Spirit Stones were considered universal currency in the Cultivator circles.
Because Spirit Stones could be used for Cultivation, as well as for laying out formations.
But with the thin Spiritual Energy on Earth, Spirit Stones were extremely scarce and difficult to obtain.
One hundred Spirit Stones was a very high price, but Li Xiaoyao, unfamiliar with the transactions of the Ghost Market and not lacking in Spirit Stones, merely felt that the price was absurdly low.
Li Xiaoyao took out one hundred Spirit Stones from his Storage Space and piled them up into a small mountain before the stall owner.
Seeing Li Xiaoyao casually take out a heap of Spirit Stones without a second thought, the stall owner was overjoyed. At the same time, his gaze shifted towards the Storage Ring on Li Xiaoyao's finger.
A Storage Ring was considered a high-end item; ordinary Cultivators could not possibly possess one.
Relying on these bits of information, the stall owner immediately judged that this young man must be from a major family.
Just as Li Xiaoyao reached out to grab the Spiritual Soil, an incongruous voice suddenly rang out from behind him.
"Hold on."
The speaker was a young woman, about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, with long legs and a delicate face; she wore a long, pale green dress that made her seem like a fairy straight out of a painting.
The woman walked over, looking down at Li Xiaoyao with a hint of disdain in her eyes, and said, "I'll take this Spiritual Soil."
The stall owner was somewhat embarrassed and said, "Miss, I have already completed the transaction with this fellow Cultivator, and the bag of Spiritual Soil already belongs to this gentleman."
Although the stall owner loved money, he also knew there were some people he couldn't afford to offend. If he played a game of selling to the highest bidder with Li Xiaoyao, he feared it would bring him an unwarranted disaster.
Perhaps the woman could offer more Spirit Stones, but the stall owner thought it best to simply complete this transaction honestly.
The woman turned to Li Xiaoyao with a condescending tone and said, "I'll give you two hundred Spirit Stones for that bag of Spiritual Soil."
Li Xiaoyao glanced at the woman, withdrew his gaze, stored the Spiritual Soil into his Storage Ring, and turned to leave.
The woman, watching Li Xiaoyao's actions, was taken aback for a moment. Her brows furrowed tightly, and she said with an angry tone, "Asshole, I'm talking to you. Are you deaf?"
Li Xiaoyao stopped, turned to look at the woman, and said indifferently, "Not selling."
"You!"
Still angry, the woman's ample chest heaved as she said, "There's nothing I want that I can't get."
Li Xiaoyao looked at her, said nothing, and walked away.
The woman gazed at Li Xiaoyao's departing figure, gnashing her teeth and cursed, "Asshole!"
Li Xiaoyao didn't have time to engage in a street quarrel with a young woman; he quickly surveyed the street and gathered many herbs.
However, to Li Xiaoyao's disappointment, he did not find any herbs or Pill Medicines here that could heal the soul.
"I was perhaps thinking too much. Those kinds of herbs, which are priced sky-high in the System, how could they easily appear here?"
He smiled wryly, shaking his head, a thought struck Li Xiaoyao as he said to himself, "The stalls are limited after all; perhaps I can try a different approach."
Li Xiaoyao found an empty spot, took out a chair to sit down, and then took out a wooden board, on which he wrote several lines.
"Buying Spiritual Soil, herbs that can heal the soul, Hundred-year Wild Ginseng…"
"Barter available, or purchase with Spirit Stones."
Li Xiaoyao placed the wooden board with the written words on the ground, then he stopped worrying about it and closed his eyes to rest and concentrate.
This Ghost Market event would last for seven days, and the Cultivators who came today were just a part of it.
Li Xiaoyao believed that over these seven days, the Cultivators who came would have some of the items he needed, more or less.
As for herbs or Pill Medicines that could heal the soul, he could only rely on luck.
For this, Li Xiaoyao did not hold much hope.
Not far away, several young men were surrounding a woman, chattering about something.
"Yao Yao, why are you pouting? Are you unhappy about something?"
"Yao Yao, did someone bully you? Tell me, I'll beat him to a pulp for you!"
Yao Yao was the woman Li Xiaoyao had encountered earlier.
"Indeed, someone did bully me," Yao Yao said, irritated at the thought of Li Xiaoyao.
"Who is it? Who dares to bully Yao Yao? I'll beat him so bad his mother won't recognize him," the men assured, looking fierce and thumping their chests.
Just as Yao Yao was about to speak, she happened to see Li Xiaoyao, who was sitting and setting up his stall in front of her. She pointed at him and said, "It's him, he's the one who bullied me."
The men followed the direction of Yao Yao's finger, and one immediately said, "That kid's got a death wish for daring to bully Yao Yao."
"Coming to the Ghost Market to set up a stall, he's obviously a broke loser."
The men quickly approached Li Xiaoyao, and one stepped on the wooden board, cursing, "Hey, kid, kneel down and apologize to Yao Yao right now, or else I'll break your hands and feet."
