Marketplace Token

"Who do you think you are, demanding to see Senior Brother Han?" the obese youth said angrily, his face flushed. "Get lost, or don't blame me for being rude!"

Qin Sang didn't budge, showing no fear. He said coldly, "I am Immortal Master Han's savior. He once told me that if I had any requests, I could see him. You insist on blocking me; what are your intentions? Do you want Senior Brother Han to break his promise?"

"Savior?"

The obese youth was stunned. "You saved Senior Brother Han's life?"

Qin Sang recounted the events on Guling Mountain.

The obese youth's arrogance diminished significantly. His expression shifted between uncertainty and anger. Finally, he shot Qin Sang a hateful glance, took out a scroll about the size of his palm, and with a flick of his hand, unfurled an ancient painting before them.

The painting depicted a sky obscured by mist and layers of clouds, stretching endlessly, as if portraying thirty-three layers of heaven, exuding an air of profound mystery.

Within the swirling clouds, a flock of cranes soared freely, their movements lifelike and natural, appearing as if they were living creatures.

Then, Qin Sang felt a fluctuation of Spiritual Power. The obese youth injected his Spiritual Power into the scroll. The next moment, a mass of cloud energy flew out from the scroll. Within the mist, a crane cried out, its call lingering.

The crane from the painting landed on the obese youth's palm. The youth's lips moved as he whispered a few words into the crane's ear. The crane flapped its wings and, growing larger as it flew, disappeared into the sky.

In just a moment, the mist hovering over the ancient painting began to churn. It eventually took the form of a person – the young man surnamed Han who had nearly died on Guling Mountain.

"Junior Brother Zhen Ming," the young man surnamed Han, whose form was made of mist, said with a somewhat ethereal appearance and a faint voice, "Why have you summoned me in such a hurry?"

Immediately after, the young man surnamed Han glimpsed Qin Sang beside Zhen Ming and recognized him instantly. He smiled and said, "General Qin, it's been many days. I hope you are well."

Just as Qin Sang was about to speak, Zhen Ming stepped forward and began to complain. "Senior Brother Han, it's not that I wanted to disturb you. It's this Qin fellow who insisted on seeing you. I had no choice. As you instructed, I asked him if he was determined to cultivate immortality. After he made his decision, I was to test his Spiritual Root. I already warned him that those with Spiritual Roots are one in ten thousand. As expected, he's just a mortal without a Spiritual Root. I advised him to go back and live a good life, but he refused to appreciate my kindness and thought I was trying to harm him. He kept claiming to be your savior and insisted on seeing you."

After speaking, Zhen Ming glared resentfully at Qin Sang, looking extremely wronged.

The young man surnamed Han looked at Zhen Ming, then at Qin Sang, and said with a smile, "General Qin, Junior Brother Zhen Ming is correct. Those mortals who possess Spiritual Roots are indeed one in ten thousand; I wasn't lying to you. The path of cultivation is as difficult as ascending to heaven. Even if one can truly cultivate, the immortal cultivation world is fraught with countless dangers, and one might perish at any moment. Being a mortal might not be so bad. Let Junior Brother Zhen Ming ask the Palace Master of the Sacred Palace to look after you. Even if the regime changes, you will be guaranteed a lifetime of peace."

"But..."

Hearing the young man surnamed Han say the same thing, Qin Sang felt helpless. He wanted to ask him, if he didn't have a Spiritual Root, how could he cultivate the Netherworld Scripture?

But he recalled the scenes of his two encounters with immortals. Both times, the righteous and demonic paths had fought to the death, inevitably resulting in a life-or-death struggle. He had killed many mortals with the Yanluo Banner.

Relying on demonic arts to wreak havoc on the world, Qin Sang felt ashamed to admit he wasn't a demon lord.

"Immortal Master Han, is it truly impossible to become an immortal cultivator without a Spiritual Root?" Qin Sang asked with unconcealed unwillingness. Could such an absolute rule exist in this world?

Perhaps he was an exception because he wasn't a native of this world, or maybe it was the power the Jade Buddha had given him?

The young man surnamed Han's expression showed a hint of emotion. Zhen Ming also froze, stopping his incessant chatter, glanced at Qin Sang, and lowered his head in silence.

The young man surnamed Han hesitated for a long time before saying, "General Qin, to the best of my knowledge, within the righteous path, there have been no precedents of individuals entering the immortal path without a Spiritual Root. Even the major orthodox sects require one to possess a Spiritual Root to practice their cultivation techniques. As for..."

Seeing the young man surnamed Han's hesitant expression, Qin Sang's eyes suddenly brightened. "Immortal Master Han, are there perhaps other ways?"

The young man surnamed Han gave a wry smile and shook his head. "Without a Spiritual Root, no method is effective. If you cannot sense Spiritual Power, how can you cultivate? What I was about to say was that our Han family only understands the situation of righteous path cultivators and knows very little about the demonic sects. Demonic cultivators practice bizarre techniques and possess countless evil arts. Whether there's a way to break this limitation, I don't know."

"Demonic sects?"

Qin Sang was somewhat surprised. Was the young man surnamed Han trying to persuade him to join a demonic sect?

Then, the young man surnamed Han conjured a circular jade disk from a ball of cloud energy in his palm and said solemnly, "Since I made a promise, I will not go back on my word. This jade disk should be from the region bordering the northern lands and the demonic sects, a token for a cultivation market. I obtained it from that demon lord's Mustard Seed Pouch. If you are determined to try your luck, I will have Crane Shadow deliver it to you. However, if you truly join a demonic sect, and we meet again, you and I will be enemies, not friends. I will show no mercy."

Qin Sang did not hesitate. He cupped his fists and said, "Qin Sang thanks Immortal Master Han!"

The young man surnamed Han gave Qin Sang a deep look, nodded, and his misty form dissipated.

Qin Sang and Zhen Ming waited for a while. Crane Shadow flew back, carrying a jade disk and a scroll of silk in its beak.

Zhen Ming took them and handed them to Qin Sang. He cupped his fists towards Qin Sang and then rode Crane Shadow away.

Qin Sang unrolled the silk scroll and discovered it was a vast and detailed topographical map. This was the first time he had seen such a large and detailed map. He quickly located the Great Sui, which appeared truly small on the map.

Heng Kingdom to the north was dozens of times larger than the Great Sui. North of Heng Kingdom, there were several countries even larger than Heng Kingdom.

Crossing Heng Kingdom and several other countries, Qin Sang finally found the young man surnamed Han's annotation within a country called Biyun Kingdom. As for the specific location of the cultivation market, the young man surnamed Han had left a message stating that as long as Qin Sang brought the jade disk to the vicinity, the disk would automatically sense the market and lead him there.

The young man surnamed Han briefly introduced the cultivation market and finally warned him that demonic cultivators were extremely dangerous, especially to mortals. If things became unmanageable, he should flee as soon as possible, which was the extent of his kindness.

Qin Sang estimated the distance. If he traveled by horse, day and night, it would likely take several years to arrive. Fortunately, he discovered a large river called the Tianlu River west of the Great Sui, which ran north and south. The Wuling River was merely one of its tributaries.

Traveling on that river by boat would be much faster.

After putting away the silk scroll and playing with the jade disk, Qin Sang resisted the urge to test it with his Spiritual Power. He nodded to the Palace Master of the Sacred Palace, who was waiting for him, and began to walk down the mountain.

Night had fallen. From Pilgrimage Mountain, one could overlook the entire Imperial Capital. The Jade Palace was brightly lit. It was likely that with the new emperor's enthronement, everything was in disarray, and the court officials had not yet dispersed.

(A few words.

The release of the "A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality" anime brought back my old memories. With some free time, I felt inspired to start writing.

Upon reflection, what left the deepest impression on me wasn't the complex and magnificent plot, nor Old Demon's magical abilities and treasures, but a line spoken by Mo Caihuan.

The first fifty chapters, nearly a hundred thousand words of plot, were actually to elicit this sentence from the protagonist's mouth.

Tribute to A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality, tribute to Wang Yu, nostalgia for Han Paopao, and commemoration of my past reading times.

Fortunately, as I've written, the plot hasn't deviated much from my initial expectations, and this sentence was successfully spoken, which, for me, counts as completing a small goal.

However, this also made the early plot rather bland. I wonder if few readers enjoy mundane storylines.

One hundred thousand words, no contract, collections barely breaking a hundred. Miserable, miserable, utterly miserable.

I don't know how many of these hundred-plus collections are from truly dedicated readers.

A few readers have consistently voted for recommendation tickets, and I've seen and remembered them all. Thank you for your support.

As I said before, if you feel my writing is passable, please collect it, vote for it, and help spread the word. That would be even better. Thank you!)