The Secret Realm Opens

"Name your price. Or have you decided not to sell it?"

"Sell, sell, of course I'm selling!" Hearing Xiao Ming say this, Steward Bai hurriedly replied with a smile, "This Heavenly Flame Remnant Map isn't expensive. Just one hundred thousand gold coins."

Just one hundred thousand gold coins!?

Was he a bandit? Had robbing people become a habit?

Xiao Ming was speechless inside. Look at that price—did it look like he actually wanted to sell it?

The Black Region Great Plains map had at least been clearly priced. But this thing had just been taken out of his Na Ring—surely it couldn't have had a fixed price too?

Even if this Fragment Map was genuine, it wasn't worth that much. He had no intention of being taken for a fool.

"Same as the Black Region Great Plains map. Four thousand gold coins."

"Sir, isn't that price a little too low?" Seeing Xiao Ming haggle so ruthlessly, Steward Bai put on a troubled expression.

"Hmph, you know perfectly well how incomplete this map is. This Fragment Map isn't worth one hundred thousand gold coins, and I don't have that much money."

Xiao Ming said this, though he naturally had money. He just wasn't stupid enough to reveal all his assets.

He continued, "Besides, you know what the Nether Poison Flame is used for, don't you? If this map weren't genuine and didn't record the location of a precious poisonous herb, it wouldn't even be worth a thousand gold coins!"

If it's worthless, why are you buying it?

Steward Bai muttered inwardly, but he did not say it aloud.

After all, it was rare to find someone willing to buy this map. It would be bad if he drove the customer away.

Thus, Steward Bai merely smiled bitterly. "You've pushed the price down far too much. I can't make such a large reduction myself. How about ninety thousand gold coins?"

"Ten thousand at most."

"Eighty-eight thousand."

"Eleven thousand..."

"..."

After a round of haggling, Xiao Ming finally bought the map for twenty-four thousand gold coins.

Once the transaction was complete, both sides were very satisfied.

After taking out his Purple Gold Card to pay, Xiao Ming hurriedly left the Cartography Pavilion.

Standing in the hall, Steward Bai narrowed his eyes as he watched Xiao Ming vanish from sight. The kindly smile on his face slowly disappeared, replaced by an utterly cold expression.

"Steward Bai, that Fragment Map only sold for twenty-four thousand gold coins. Won't the Pavilion Master blame you when he finds out?"

The female sales attendant's cautious voice rang through the hall. Steward Bai glanced back at her and said calmly,

"It doesn't matter. Although the black-robed Da Dou Shi bought the original map, mapmaking is the Cartography Pavilion's greatest pride. We made a copy of that Fragment Map long ago."

"Hehe, that Heavenly Flame Remnant Map had been sitting there for so long without selling. In truth, we'd still profit even if we sold it for a thousand gold coins. The Pavilion Master won't blame me."

As he spoke, however, doubt arose in Steward Bai's heart.

Come to think of it, it was rather strange that the map had actually sold. Could that person have discovered some secret in it that the Cartography Pavilion had failed to see?

Thinking this, Steward Bai decisively shook his head and dismissed the idea.

No, absolutely impossible. The Cartography Pavilion had examined that map over and over. It was indeed just an ordinary map, merely somewhat old. There was nothing unusual about it at all.

Perhaps he truly had some other purpose for buying it.

"Should we send someone to follow him? That Da Dou Shi seems fairly wealthy."

"No need. He may be richer than an ordinary Da Dou Shi, but not by much. Didn't you see that his Purple Gold Card only had a little over twenty thousand gold coins left? It isn't bad, but the Pavilion Master isn't here right now. If a Da Dou Shi causes trouble, it would be quite troublesome, and weaker people wouldn't be able to keep up with him."

"Still, if he comes again next time and the Pavilion Master happens to be here, we can consider it."

"Understood." The female sales attendant nodded repeatedly.

"Oh, and you did well this time. Your monthly pay will increase by ten percent at the end of the month." Steward Bai glanced at the scantily dressed sales attendant and suddenly said.

The sales attendant was overjoyed. Wasn't that why she had stopped Xiao Ming earlier? She thanked him again and again.

"Thank you, Steward Bai. Thank you, Steward Bai." Only after Steward Bai had disappeared did she stop. After letting out a light breath, she remained in the hall to wait for customers.

After leaving the Cartography Pavilion, Xiao Ming first put away the Heavenly Flame Remnant Map, then wandered around Black Mark City for two hours.

During that time, he spent some gold coins to buy the information he wanted and learned about several powerful figures who had come to Black Mark City for the auction.

Finally, after confirming that no one was watching him, he casually found an Inn and stayed there.

The next day, early morning.

Not far from Black Mark City, clear dew clung to the tips of emerald leaves, while White Mist drifted among the trees.

A black shadow suddenly flashed into a dense thicket. Through the gaps between the branches, he looked into the distance, where the thick forest gradually thinned until it met a pitch-black plain.

As far as the eye could see, the plain was covered in monotonous black. Beneath the slightly dim sky, an oppressive and irritating atmosphere hung over it.

A few scattered travelers could also be seen on the plain, far apart from one another.

Within the forest, Xiao Ming looked at the endless blackness and understood that he was about to enter the Black Region Great Plains.

He took out the map from his Na Ring and compared it. Looking at a small black dot on the map, Xiao Ming stood among the trees and murmured,

"Thirty li west lies the Secret Realm's opening site. I hope I don't run into a Black Windstorm along the way."

Apart from the countless bandit groups, the Black Windstorms were the most dangerous thing in the Black Region Great Plains. Inexperienced people could easily lose their sense of direction within them.

Once, an unlucky fellow had traveled through a Black Windstorm and ended up circling more than half the Great Plains before dying of exhaustion.

Xiao Ming was not worried about exhausting himself to death. He was only afraid of missing the opening of the Secret Realm.

After praying for better luck, Xiao Ming put away the map. Dou Qi flowed through his legs as he activated a Dou Skill, and his entire body appeared several meters away like a ghost.

It was as though he were performing short-range teleportation. The sight was quite strange, and Xiao Ming soon vanished from where he stood.

Across the pitch-black Great Plains, a figure kicked up a faint trail of yellow dust before speeding away. He was even faster than a horse, disappearing into the horizon.

That person was Xiao Ming. Two hours had passed since he left Black Mark City.

Fortunately, he had not encountered a Black Windstorm along the way.

Thus, he had already completed the thirty-li journey. He was merely searching for the exact location now.

Unfortunately, this world had no positioning system like GPS. So even though Xiao Ming knew the precise location, finding the Secret Realm's opening site on these nearly identical plains was still difficult.

Sure enough, after searching for so long, Xiao Ming still had not found it.

As time passed, Xiao Ming's pace gradually slowed until he finally came to a stop.

"Forget it. I'll stop looking. When the Secret Realm appears, there'll be a huge disturbance. I'll just head over then, and I won't stand out so much even if I run into people."

Letting out a soft breath and calming the Aura that had fluctuated from his intense movement, Xiao Ming took a Qi Returning Pill from his Na Ring and put it into his mouth.

He waited there for another quarter of an hour.

Rumble!

Xiao Ming, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly heard a loud boom. Opening his eyes, he looked in the direction of the sound and saw a pillar of light dozens of meters wide shoot into the sky not far away.

The white radiance clearly illuminated Xiao Ming's face beneath his black robe.

Seeing such a display, Xiao Ming revealed a shocked expression.

"This Secret Realm really is extraordinary, but isn't this disturbance a little too huge?"

Before he finished speaking, a treasured sword suddenly appeared in Xiao Ming's hand. He dropped to one knee and drove it into the ground, gripping the hilt tightly to anchor himself.

Soon, a howling gale mixed with energy fluctuations swept down from the sky. At once, Xiao Ming's body swayed slightly beneath the fierce wind.

He lowered his body further to ensure his stability. Hearing his black robe flap loudly in the gale, Xiao Ming's expression changed slightly.

He had not expected the Secret Realm's fluctuations to be so powerful before it had even officially opened. Fortunately, he had been prepared. Otherwise, he might have been blown several li away by surprise.

"Ah! Save me!"

As if to confirm Xiao Ming's thoughts.

A figure accompanied by miserable screams whistled past from Xiao Ming's upper left, moving from far away to near before quickly vanishing from sight. Xiao Ming's expression turned strange.

That guy was really unlucky.

The gale did not last long before gradually dying down.

Xiao Ming stood, stored his sword in his Na Ring, straightened the clothes scattered by the wind, and pulled his black robe back over himself to conceal his face before shooting toward the pillar of light.