The Yin Stone Seal

On the other side, several young masters in fine clothes and with their faces uncovered entered, surrounded by four or five burly guards. They looked around with curiosity and a touch of arrogance.

Three men and two women had clearly come to broaden their horizons. They found the eerie, gloomy atmosphere novel, though somewhat unsettling, and pointed at things as they talked. Their voices rang especially harshly in the quiet Ghost Market.

Several stall owners and buyers furrowed their brows and cast them cold, guarded looks.

The guards trailing behind them immediately felt their scalps prickle, as if they had wandered into a tiger's den like lambs.

"Ugh, what's that smell? It's stronger than the salted fish in the dock warehouses."

A chubby young man wiped away another bead of sweat, his round face full of disgust.

He glanced at an open-mouthed clay jar at the neighboring stall. It held something dark and murky, its surface seemingly bubbling as it slowly swelled, giving off an indescribably rank, fishy stench.

"What kind of junk are they selling here? Only a ghost would want it!"

The fat young man's disdain sounded especially jarring in the silent Ghost Market.

The cold looks that had been discreetly watching them now carried a tangible chill.

The hairs on the back of Li Zhong's neck stood on end. He hurriedly whispered, "Third Young Master, watch your tongue! This place is no ordinary—"

Before he could finish, the stall owner behind the clay jar—the one the fat young master had scorned—slowly opened his eyes. His pitch-black pupils shifted and fixed on the young master.

The fat young master shivered under that gaze, though he tried to save face and muttered, "What are you looking at...?"

Just then, something strange happened!

The dark, viscous liquid in the clay jar rose without warning.

It did not spill over the rim. Instead, a foot above the jar, it gathered into a twisted black face that lunged toward the fat young master!

A wave of icy air swept through the area.

"Ah—!" The two young women cried out, their faces drained of color.

The fat young master was so terrified that his soul nearly fled his body. He stumbled backward, almost knocking over the stall beside him.

Just as the black face was about to pounce on him,

a sharply knuckled hand shot out from the side.

Its fingers spread wide, and its palm turned crimson in an instant as a torrent of blazing vital energy burst forth!

"Hmph!"

A terse growl rang out.

The one who had struck was Li Zhong.

"Pssht!"

A gaping hole was burned through the black face, its edges roiling with black mist.

The icy aura was swept away by the blazing vital energy, fading by more than half.

Li Zhong's face suddenly went pale. The crimson drained rapidly from his palm, replaced by a faint layer of blue-black qi.

He grunted and staggered back three steps, his right arm trembling slightly. Clearly, when his vital energy collided with the Yin qi, he had been corroded as well.

The remaining mist from the black face shrank back into the jar. The clay jar gave several soft, buzzing shudders, then fell still.

The stall owner's clouded eyes swept over Li Zhong before he closed them again. He did not pursue the matter, though the stall's eerie atmosphere seemed to deepen.

Li Zhong took a deep breath and suppressed the discomfort in his arm. He cupped his hands toward the stall owner. "Thank you... for not striking again, sir."

Li Jinrong, the Fat Young Master Three, had already gone deathly pale with fright. The others were silent with fear as well.

Their curiosity and arrogance had been utterly shattered, leaving only lingering terror.

"Let's go. We shouldn't stay here."

Li Zhong acted decisively. He no longer let the young masters and misses gawk about, and signaled the guards to surround them and hurry toward another part of the Ghost Market where lights were visible.

After winding through several turns, the group came to a relatively open intersection.

Unusually, several windproof lanterns hung there. Their light was still dim and yellow, but the area was much brighter than before.

The stalls were also tidier, and looked more like legitimate businesses.

The largest stall was covered in heavy black cloth. Instead of artifacts or medicinal herbs, it displayed stones of varying sizes and shapes, all gray-black.

The stones' surfaces were rough and utterly unremarkable, but under the lantern light, faint glimmers seemed to flow beneath their skins.

If one stared for too long, one's mind began to drift, as if it might sink right into them.

The stall owner was a muscular, bald, one-eyed man. He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, showing little interest in passersby.

A wooden sign stood in front of the stall, bearing three fierce characters written in vermilion.

Yin Stone Seal.

Li Zhong brought the still-shaken group to the stall and seemed to relax a little. He explained quietly, "Young masters and misses, these are called Yin Stone Seals."

Fat Young Master Three gathered himself and eyed the stones with curiosity. "Uncle Li, what are these? Are they like gambling stones?"

"Sort of, but not quite." Li Zhong shook his head. "They're corpse-sealing stones, occasionally found deep in the earth veins of places steeped in extreme Yin and Baleful Intent. They naturally block spiritual energy and thought. No one can probe inside with their divine sense, so no one knows what's sealed within."

"They might contain the remains of an ancient cultivator who passed away in meditation, damaged artifacts, or jade slips with lost techniques... Or they might hold something filled with extreme Yin and evil, even a fierce soul that's been sealed away."

"That sinister?" Fat Young Master Three had regained some color, and now his curiosity was piqued again. He leaned forward to look. "Then how do you tell what they're worth? Are the big ones more expensive?"

"Usually." Li Zhong nodded. "The larger the stone, the more valuable or complete the thing sealed inside might be, so the price is naturally higher."

"But that's not always true. Some small stones might seal something deadly."

He glanced at the One-Eyed Stall Owner. "The stall owners here only sell the stones; they don't open them. If you want one opened, you have to hire a specialist stone-cutter, and pay separately. It must also be opened in public; you can't take it away."

Chen Mo listened quietly from nearby, his gaze sweeping over the dusty gray Yin Stone Seals.

He tried to touch them lightly with his mental power. Sure enough, it sank like a clod of mud into the sea, instantly blocked and absorbed.

Beneath the stone skins was nothing but chaos. He couldn't sense the slightest thing.

They blocked spiritual energy and thought. Choosing one was a gamble on the unknown.

And precisely because it was unknown, one might find the precious medicine he needed, or a heavenly treasure capable of extending his life.

The old man who had sold him the Red Sun Blood Crystal had told him that unless he could find several specific materials, even the gods couldn't save him.

With his heart heavy, Chen Mo followed Li Jinrong and the others to the Yin Stone Seal stall.

He didn't rush to choose. Instead, he stood at the edge and watched quietly for a while.

At the stall, Li Jinrong was already making a great fuss as he picked through the stones. He chose the biggest ones and felt their smooth, pleasing surfaces, commenting as he went. "This one's big. Looks solid! This one... tsk, why's it so uncomfortable to hold?"

Several guards spread out around them, while Li Zhong stayed close behind Li Jinrong, warily scanning the stall and the One-Eyed Stall Owner.

His right arm was still a little stiff, clearly not yet fully recovered from the backlash of dispelling the black face.

Chen Mo waited until Li Jinrong had chosen a stone about the size of a washbasin, then stepped forward and looked over the gray-black stones.

Unlike Li Jinrong, who only cared about their size and appearance, he reached out with his right hand and touched them one by one.