Qingyun Immortal Market

The Immortal Market outside Immortal Encounter Sect was the largest Immortal Market in the Great Gan Dynasty. More than a thousand Immortal Merchants lived there year-round, and even its ordinary days were livelier than the smaller market in Suiyang Immortal Market. At times, it was no less bustling than the major markets.

Immortal Markets were generally named after the places where they were located, but the market outside Immortal Encounter Sect had a name of its own. It was called—Qingyun Immortal Market.

It was said that this name had been personally chosen by Qing Xuanzi, the first sect master of Immortal Encounter Sect, and had been used ever since.

What Chen Ganliu was thinking about was not Qingyun Immortal Market, but the fact that that person had recently launched an attack on Immortal Encounter Sect.

If Chen Qing went there, wouldn't she be walking straight into a dead end?

Looking shocked, he said, "Immortal Encounter Sect is currently fighting that Demonic Cultivator. Why does Sister Chen still want to go to Qingyun Immortal Market?"

Chen Qing sighed and said, "I've thought it over again and again. Suiyang Immortal Market has no defenses to speak of. If that Demonic Cultivator comes again, no one will escape death."

"Qingyun Immortal Market has been operated by Immortal Encounter Sect for many years and possesses three layers of Immortal arrays. That Demonic Cultivator definitely won't be able to break in."

"I want to hide in Qingyun Immortal Market for a while. Will you come with me?"

Chen Ganliu truly didn't know whether Qingyun Immortal Market had been breached by that Demonic Cultivator in his previous life. After all, he had only been a Servant Disciple in his previous life and had no such sources of information. But he knew that Suiyang Immortal Market had not suffered a second calamity and was safer than other places.

He had lived three lifetimes, two of which had included marriage, so he knew women could not be dissuaded. Besides, he also had to leave and return to Blazing Light Cave, Twin Cloud Mountain. After pondering for a moment, he took out Talisman White Deer and handed it to Chen Qing before saying, "I heard that the Demonic Cultivator has a grudge against Immortal Encounter Sect. The area around Immortal Encounter Sect must be a battlefield. Qingyun Immortal Market may not be safer than here."

"If Sister Chen wants to go, I won't stop you. Taking this treasure with you will make the journey more convenient."

Chen Ganliu was willing to lend Talisman White Deer, which moved Chen Qing somewhat. Knowing that the treasure would spare her some hardship, she accepted Talisman White Deer.

The female cultivator from the Household had originally wanted to leave with Chen Ganliu. Seeing that he refused, she had no choice but to accept it, even serving him several more bites of food.

After the two finished their meal, Chen Qing put down her bowls and chopsticks and returned to her room to pack.

Chen Ganliu also went to attend to his own affairs.

After all, he had accepted a job making chairs, cushions, and backrests for someone. He planned to finish the commission before secretly returning to Blazing Light Cave, Twin Cloud Mountain.

He had lent out Talisman White Deer only because he cherished the small bond between them. It was a gesture of goodwill, something to set his mind at ease.

Without Talisman White Deer, he still had other ways to travel. Among the eleven treasures, there was another one called "Foot-Assisting Wind." It was a low-grade wind-element treasure. Once activated, it could make wind rise beneath his feet and greatly increase his speed.

Refining Foot-Assisting Wind required mastery of wind-element talismans. The Twelve Talismans of the Profound Gate contained no wind-element technique, so Chen Ganliu naturally could not refine such a treasure. But using his spiritual power to operate an already-refined treasure was no problem.

Chen Qing left that very night.

Suiyang Immortal Market was indeed as Chen Qing had said. The number of cultivators had suddenly fallen sharply, and even seven or eight of the cultivator households that lived there permanently had moved away. The place immediately became deserted.

Chen Ganliu didn't care about any of this. With Mind-Wandering Zen Blade, which was ten times sharper than the axe-shaped weapon, he found that working with the treasured blade was astonishingly efficient.

The timber he had chopped and brought back was just enough to make twelve chairs. The extra two counted as additions, while he made twice as many cushions and backrests. After all, bird feathers, cotton, and cloth were merely mundane materials and easy to purchase.

Once Chen Ganliu finished making everything and calculated that the time was right, he set up his stall once. While he was at it, he also sold some talismans he had drawn recently.

He had barely drawn any of the Twelve Talismans of the Profound Gate lately, but he had drawn a great many Absorption, Bewitchment, and Confusion Talismans. Unfortunately, the Immortal Market was deserted, without even a trace of human activity, so naturally no one patronized his business.

Chen Ganliu didn't care in the slightest that he couldn't sell anything. He simply sat meditating in front of the stall. He had just circulated the Azure Emperor Jia Yi Art twelve times when he heard two familiar voices. Two young women approached with the warbling chatter of orioles. When they saw the chairs, cushions, and backrests Chen Ganliu had made, they were overjoyed. The senior sister said, "You went to such trouble to make so many. We sisters would feel bad taking advantage of you, so let's make it thirty Talisman Coins."

Chen Ganliu refused several times, but in the end had no choice but to accept. After handing over the chairs, cushions, and backrests, he couldn't help asking curiously, "Why aren't you two sisters afraid of the Demonic Cultivator running rampant?"

The two young women chuckled together at his words but did not answer. They only said, "We sisters naturally have our reasons for not being afraid."

After the two women drifted away, Chen Ganliu returned to his dwelling. He first made his room look as though someone were meditating in seclusion, then changed into an adult's clothes, covered his face, put on a pair of long trousers, and stepped onto stilts. He took out the jade talisman for Foot-Assisting Wind and prepared to leave Suiyang Immortal Market.

He had just left his dwelling when seven or eight streaks of Escape Light descended. At their head was a female cultivator whose brows swept into her temples and whose phoenix eyes were cold and imposing. Her features were exceptionally beautiful, and she wore plain robes with cloudlike sleeves, clouds and rosy light swirling around her. She was the Golden Core Realm expert who had come last time.

Her cloud robes were mottled with blood, clearly showing that she had suffered extremely grave injuries. Yet the fierce sharpness in her face had not diminished. She shouted, "The Demonic Cultivator's two female disciples are said to have come here. Brothers and sisters, search carefully. Do not let that Demoness escape."

The seven or eight cultivators each released their treasures, covering the entire Suiyang Immortal Market, then split up and searched every corner.

Chen Ganliu was stopped by a male cultivator. The aura surrounding this man was as deep as the sea. With a wave of his hand, he shattered all the disguises on Chen Ganliu's body and shouted, "Why are you sneaking around? What's your background?"

"What are you planning to do?"

Chen Ganliu took one look and realized that he knew the man—but only from his previous life. This person was a Golden Core Realm cultivator of Immortal Encounter Sect named Ouyang Tuo. His cultivation was profound, his features stern, and he was extremely difficult to get along with.

Ouyang Tuo had never seen this Servant Disciple who would join Immortal Encounter Sect more than twenty years later. Even in his previous life, he had not remembered such an insignificant nobody.

If Chen Ganliu's cultivation had not been so weak, and if the aura around him had not been upright and peaceful, unlike demonic cultivation, Ouyang Tuo would have killed him on the spot.

Too many people from Immortal Encounter Sect had died recently, and every disciple was burning with pent-up fury.

The elders were currently besieging that Demonic Cultivator. The Golden Core Realm disciples had come out to search for several of the Demonic Cultivator's female disciples, determined to kill them and be done with it.

Chen Ganliu said innocently, "I heard people saying during the day that a Demonic Cultivator had appeared, so I packed up to hide for a while."

Seeing that Chen Ganliu had truly nothing to do with the "Demonic Cultivator's female disciple"—his sex and age were both wrong, and his cultivation was far too low—the male cultivator was about to let him go when someone nearby pointed at the young man and shouted, "That's Chen Ganliu, trading with those female demons..."

I just discovered that the plot of the previous chapter didn't match up. I accidentally posted an earlier version of the draft...

I'm getting senile.

Please comfort me with monthly passes, bookmarks, and investments.