Ye Xuan Had Gone Mad? Taking Orders in the Black Market, Risking His Life to Level Up!

Lin Yuan woke from the large bed feeling refreshed, only to find that the entire world seemed different.

Though he was still lying where he had been.

His Spiritual Sense could clearly "see" countless sharp auras floating through the air, invisible to the naked eye.

That was Sword Intent!

Sword Intent was everywhere!

With a thought from him.

An invisible strand of Sword Qi condensed at his fingertips, slicing a tiny Space Rift into the air before him.

Vast Ocean Sword Intent, Heavenly Grade Top Tier!

Another divine art that required no cultivation and had directly reached max level!

"Young Master, you're awake."

The beautiful Maid pushed in a dining cart and arranged an outrageously lavish breakfast on the table.

Eight Treasure Spirit Porridge brimming with rich spiritual energy, fried eggs made from the eggs of a Tier Four Ferocious Beast known as the "Golden Canary," and a glass of juice squeezed from dozens of rare Spirit Fruits.

Any one of these items would be enough to make ordinary Martial Artists fight until their heads bled.

Yet here, it was merely an ordinary breakfast for Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan lazily enjoyed being fed by the Maid, unable to stop himself from sighing inwardly.

Ah, invincibility...

Sometimes, it was simply so unadorned and dull.

In stark contrast to the luxury and comfort of Lin Family Manor was another world beneath Yan Jing City.

This was the black market.

A lawless place brimming with crime, desire, and bloodshed.

In the dark, damp passageways, people from every walk of life mingled together. The air reeked of rust, alcohol, and low-quality medicine mixed together.

Ye Xuan hid his face beneath a hood and hurried through the noisy crowd.

Like a lone wolf, he entered the black market's Mission Hall.

At the center of the hall, a massive light screen continuously displayed all kinds of unsavory missions.

From finding people and objects to assassinating enemies, it had everything.

His gaze skipped straight past those ordinary Level One and Level Two Missions, locking firmly onto the very top of the mission board.

There was only one mission there.

Written in blood-red lettering was the highest danger level an ordinary person could accept: Level Six!

[Mission Name: Hunt the Phantom Leopard]

[Mission Objective: Enter the core region of the Black Wind Mountain Range, hunt an adult Tier Two Ferocious Beast, the "Phantom Leopard," and bring back its Spirit Core.]

[Mission Reward: One million Long Xia Currency, or equivalent cultivation resources.]

"Hiss—"

Upon seeing that mission, quite a few desperadoes searching for work nearby sucked in a cold breath.

"Phantom Leopard? That's one of the most troublesome beasts among Tier Two Ferocious Beasts! It comes and goes without a trace and excels at Shadow assassination. They say even early Qi Sea Realm experts have fallen beneath its claws!"

"This mission has been hanging here for almost a month. Seven or eight people who accepted it have already died. Who would still dare go throw their life away?"

"One million? Even if you have the life to take it, you still need the life to spend it!"

Just as everyone was talking at once.

Ye Xuan walked forward without a word, stretched out a finger, and heavily tapped the blood-red Level Six Mission.

[Ding! Mission accepted!]

The entire hall fell silent in an instant.

Everyone's gaze focused on that foolhardy fellow as though he were a madman.

"Kid, don't be rash! It's not too late to cancel now!" a kind-hearted One-eyed Big Guy beside him could not help urging.

Ye Xuan did not even turn his head. He merely spat out two cold words.

"No need."

With that, he turned and left, without the slightest hesitation.

Inside his Consciousness Sea, the Extreme Dao Ancestor's anxious voice rang out. "Kid! Have you gone mad?! With your current strength, challenging a Tier Two Ferocious Beast is no different from courting death!"

"Teacher, I have no other choice."

Ye Xuan's voice was calm, yet it carried a trace of madness.

"Lin Yuan is like a great mountain pressing down on me until I can barely breathe! If I don't risk my life, I'll spend my entire life living beneath his shadow! I would rather die on the road of charging forward than cling to life in humiliation!"

The Extreme Dao Ancestor fell silent.

He could feel the resolute will in Ye Xuan, a will that seemed ready to burst into flames.

After a long while, he sighed.

"So be it! The path of martial arts has always been a battle against Heaven, a struggle against earth, and a fight to the death against men! Since your mind is made up, this old man shall go mad with you just this once!"

Black Wind Mountain Range, core region.

Ancient trees towered into the sky here, and miasma filled the air. Even sunlight could not penetrate it.

The air was saturated with the scent of danger and death.

Like the most seasoned hunter, Ye Xuan carefully made his way through the dense forest, concealing his presence to the utmost limit.

Suddenly!

Every hair on his body stood on end as a deadly sense of crisis came from behind him!

"Watch out!"

The Extreme Dao Ancestor's voice exploded in his mind.

Without even thinking, Ye Xuan rolled across the ground like a lazy donkey, lunging forward in a sorry state.

Screech!

A black claw shadow, accompanied by a shriek that tore through the air, swept past his back by a hair's breadth.

Five gashes deep enough to expose bone were torn across his back, and blood instantly soaked his clothes red.

Ye Xuan endured the searing pain and looked back.

Beneath the shadows of the trees in the distance stood a pitch-black, agile leopard that seemed to be formed from shadows themselves. Its ghostly violet eyes stared at him coldly.

Phantom Leopard!

It moved!

Without a sound or any warning, its figure instantly melted into the shadows and vanished!

Ye Xuan's pupils shrank sharply. He pushed the spiritual energy throughout his body to its limit and warily watched his surroundings.

Yet he could not catch even a trace of it!

"Pfft!"

Another claw shadow struck from an incredibly tricky angle, carving a bloody gash into his thigh.

"Damn it!"

Ye Xuan roared, but he could only passively take the beating.

This Phantom Leopard was far too cunning!

It did not clash head-on with Ye Xuan at all. Instead, it relied on its ghostlike speed and concealment ability to continuously wear him down and toy with him.

In just a few minutes, Ye Xuan's body was already covered in wounds, and more than half his spiritual energy had been depleted.

"Teacher! What do I do?"

he asked anxiously.

"Don't panic!"

"This beast's greatest strength is its concealment, but every time it attacks, it must use the shadows! Watch every movement of every shadow carefully!"

The Extreme Dao Ancestor shouted gravely.

Under the ancestor's guidance, Ye Xuan forced himself to calm down.

He Closed His Eyes, abandoning his vision and sinking all his focus into sensing the surrounding environment.

The sound of the wind, the rustling of leaves, the movement of the miasma...

Now!

The shadow behind him to the left twisted ever so slightly in an unnatural way!

Ye Xuan suddenly opened his eyes. Rather than retreating, he advanced, gathering every last shred of spiritual energy in his body into his fist and smashing it viciously toward that patch of shadow!

Mountain Crushing Fist!

Awooo!

A miserable scream rang out as the Phantom Leopard was forcibly blasted out of the shadows, blood spilling from the corner of its mouth.

It had clearly never expected this prey to see through its movements.

Though he had landed a blow, Ye Xuan did not dare relax in the slightest. He closed in and unleashed a storm of furious attacks.

Man and leopard engaged in the most primitive and bloodiest struggle for life and death within the dense forest!

In the end, when Ye Xuan exhausted the last shred of his strength and plunged a dagger into the Phantom Leopard's heart, he too had reached the brink of complete exhaustion.

Covered in blood, he lay beside the Phantom Leopard's still-warm corpse, gasping for breath. He did not even have the strength to move a finger.

Yet he was smiling.

His smile was incomparably carefree, incomparably mad.

With Trembling Hand, he dug a fist-sized Spirit Core from the Phantom Leopard's body. It glowed with a ghostly violet light.

High-grade Phantom Spirit Core!

Feeling the pure and immense energy within the Spirit Core, the flames of hope ignited once more in Ye Xuan's eyes.

He used the Spirit Core to exchange for a massive quantity of cultivation resources in the black market.

Then, dragging his badly wounded body along, he found a secluded cave and began closed-door cultivation.

"Lin Yuan..."

"Just you wait!"

"I, Ye Xuan, will not lose!"