Golden Cicada Marketplace (No More Today)

A vast, boundless Yellow Desert, with gusts of wind and sand swirling in the air.

A ray of light appeared on the distant horizon, then flickered and stopped.

The Escape Light, revealing a gigantic Seven-Colored Spirit Butterfly upon which Shen Long and his companions stood.

"We'll be able to reach Golden Cicada Marketplace in less than a month."

Li Tianxue said.

They left the Thousand Spirits Sect more than a month ago and are currently located in the Scorpion Desert.

The Yin Luo Sect and the Thousand Spirits Sect are mortal enemies. It is very dangerous for them to pass through the Yin Luo Sect's territory. It is relatively safer to pass through the Scorpion Desert. However, there are many high-level Demon Beast in the Scorpion Desert. Some people have even encountered sixth-level Demon Beast.

"Be careful not to run into a sixth-tier Demon Beast, or you'll be in trouble."

Zhao Tianhu's expression was solemn.

"Something's coming—a gregarious demonic insect."

Lin Yan frowned and reminded her.

Shen Long was somewhat surprised; he hadn't detected any gregarious demonic insects, and Lin Yan's Divine Sense was far stronger than his.

Seemingly noticing Shen Long's confusion, Li Tianxue explained, "Junior Brother Shen, Senior Sister Lin's Life Spirit Insect is Six-Winged Golden Cicada, which can transmit Divine Sense to her. Her Divine Sense far surpasses that of cultivators of the same level."

"That's how it is."

Shen Long's face showed a look of sudden realization.

"There are many poisonous scorpions in the Scorpion Desert; they must be poisonous scorpions."

Zhao Tianhu guessed.

"It's not a scorpion."

Shen Long said.

His current Divine Sense can only extend a thousand miles at most, and the gregarious demonic insects have not yet entered this range, as Iron Tail Scorpion reminded him.

The Iron Tail Scorpion's Bloodline Purity reaches level six, making it highly sensitive to its own kind.

"It's definitely not a scorpion. How did you know, Junior Brother Shen?"

Lin Yan was somewhat surprised.

Could it be that Shen Long has had some extraordinary encounter, giving him an exceptionally powerful Divine Sense?

"I guessed. If it were a scorpion, Senior Sister Lin would have said so already."

Shen Long said with a smile.

Lin Yan nodded. "They are Demon Ant!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a Yellow Tornado, thousands of feet tall, swept in from afar at great speed.

Zhao Tianhu roared to the sky, letting out a deafening tiger's roar and unleashing a Golden Sound Wave as he charged forward.

The Golden Sound Wave collided with the Yellow Tornado, which instantly exploded into hundreds of thousands of yellow ants. These yellow ants had four wings on their backs and a pair of sharp mouthparts exposed.

"There are actually more than ten Fifth Rank Demon Ant!"

Shen Long was somewhat surprised. It was difficult for even a single Fifth Rank Demon Ant to appear in the Lower Realm, but he hadn't expected there to be more than ten Fifth Rank Demon Ant here.

"Let me deal with them!"

Lin Yan said, and with a flick of her sleeve, hundreds of thousands of Diamond Insect flew out from the Spirit Beast Bracelet. The Insect King was at the mid-stage of the fifth rank, and there were also five other fifth-rank Diamond Insect.

"Go!"

Lin Yan lightly pointed her finger into the air, and hundreds of thousands of Diamond Insect rushed forward.

The yellow ant and the Diamond Insect fought each other, and the yellow ant was clearly no match for the king beetle.

"Senior Sister Lin actually raised so many Diamond Insect."

Shen Long said in an envious tone.

"I didn't raise them all; most of the Diamond Insect were given to me by my parents."

Lin Yan explained.

Her ancestors had raised Diamond Insect for five generations, and when her descendants began to cultivate Daoism, they inherited a batch of Diamond Insect.

The Yellow Demon Ant were clearly no match for the Diamond Insect and were defeated in no time; the Ant Queen was killed by the Diamond Insect.

In less than a quarter of an hour, most of the Yellow Demon Ant were dead or wounded, and they scattered and fled back the way they came.

Lin Yan's lips curled up slightly, and with a quick hand seal, hundreds of thousands of Diamond Insect suddenly condensed, transforming into Golden Arrow that chased after the Yellow Demon Ant.

The Golden Arrow quickly caught up with the Yellow Demon Ant, piercing their bodies, but some of the lower-level Demon Ant escaped.

Lin Yan released a golden cicada with three pairs of wings on its back and golden eyes; it was Six-Winged Golden Cicada.

The Six-Winged Golden Cicada emitted a golden ray of light, enveloping the corpses of the Yellow Demon Ant, luring away their Essence Soul, and swallowing them into its mouth.

"Senior Sister Lin, could you give me a few corpses of Fifth Rank Demon Ant? I'll trade you Snow Ganoderma Pill for them."

Shen Long took out a Cyan Porcelain Bottle and handed it to Lin Yan.

Lin Yan nodded and gave Shen Long the corpses of five Fifth Rank Demon Ant and hundreds of Fourth Rank Demon Ant. She then put away the corpses of the Yellow Demon Ant, and the Diamond Insect and the Six-Winged Golden Cicada flew back into the Spirit Beast Bracelet on Lin Yan's hand.

With a gentle flap of its wings, the Seven-Colored Spirit Butterfly stirred up a gust of wind and flew high into the sky, leaving the place behind.

More than half a month later, they left the Scorpion Desert and appeared above a range of rolling Emerald Green Mountain Range.

After a short while, the Seven-Colored Spirit Butterfly stopped. In front of it stood a Heaven-Propping Giant Peak, tens of thousands of feet high, with buildings extending from the foot of the mountain to its summit. The gate at the foot of the mountain bore the four large characters "Golden Cicada Marketplace". A large number of Human Race cultivators could be seen moving about, and there was a constant commotion.

"So this is the Golden Cicada Marketplace!"

Shen Long nodded secretly. This was the first Marketplace he had come to in the Lingxu Realm, and the Golden Cicada Marketplace was larger than he had imagined.

Li Tianxue put away the Seven-Colored Spirit Butterfly, and the four of them entered the Golden Cicada Marketplace.

Along the way, Shen Long saw many strange and unusual things, including materials for alchemy and weapon crafting.

Li Tianxue gave Shen Long a few instructions and then parted ways with him. Zhao Tianhu and Lin Yan also had their own things to do, Shen Long wandered around alone.

Shen Long wandered around, finding everything new and interesting.

"Senior, do you need a guide? One hundred Spirit Stone a day will suffice."

A sweet female voice rang out.

Shen Long turned his head and saw a pretty Yellow-Skirted Girl standing behind him, looking somewhat nervous.

The Yellow-Skirted Girl was only at the Core Formation Mid Stage, far behind Shen Long.

Are you familiar with this place?

Shen Long asked.

"I am Chen Yue, born and raised here."

The Yellow-Skirted Girl explained.

"Take me to the shop that sells Demon Core and tell me about the Marketplace."

Shen Long gave the order.

"Yes, senior."

Chen Yue agreed and led the way while explaining the situation of Golden Cicada Marketplace to Shen Long.

After a short while, Chen Yue led Shen Long to the entrance of a nine-story Cyan Pavilion, with the three large characters "Thousand Demon Pavilion" written on the plaque.

"Senior, the Thousand Demon Pavilion has many Demon Core for sale."

Chen Yue explained.

Shen Long nodded. He had already asked Li Tianxue on the way here, and only asked Chen Yue to lead the way.

"Wait here for me, I'm going to buy something."

Shen Long gave the order.

Chen Yue responded and stood obediently at the door.

Shen Long strode in. The lobby was spacious and bright, with rows of shelves behind a long counter displaying a large quantity of Monster Beast Material.

Shen Long glanced around and slightly released his Spirit Transformation cultivator aura. A shrewd-looking man in golden robes quickly approached, smiling broadly, and said, "Welcome to our shop, senior. How can we help you?"

"I would like to purchase some Fifth-Rank Demon Core."

Shen Long got straight to the point.

"Please come upstairs, sir/madam. We just received a new shipment."

The man in the gold shirt smiled even more broadly, gestured for them to follow, and led the way.