Xia Dong called Pei Hongling over. After disguising themselves, they quietly left the Eagle-Wolf Guard's encampment and headed for a nearby underground cultivation marketplace.
Pei Hongling came from a cultivation lineage and was an inner sect elite of the Qixia Immortal Sect. Immersed in that world since childhood, she possessed a breadth of knowledge and experience far beyond a self-taught outsider like Xia Dong.
Apart from lying low for a while and clearing his head, Xia Dong's main reason for bringing her along was to learn from her along the way and fill the gaps in his basic knowledge of the cultivation world.
The cultivation marketplace lay concealed in a deep valley outside the county town, its circulating formations screening it from mortal eyes.
The moment they entered the marketplace, the clamor of bustling crowds and fluctuations of spiritual energy mingled with strange odors washed over them.
Shopping seemed to come naturally to many women, and even Pei Hongling-now afflicted with the Life-and-Death Curse and forced to obey Xia Dong's every command-appeared to be no exception.
As soon as she stepped onto the long street lined with a dazzling array of goods, a spark of vitality unconsciously brightened her otherwise subdued expression.
The cultivation world of Southern Yue Province bordered the Ten Thousand Mountains and the Southern Border's hinterlands, giving the marketplace's wares a distinctly regional flavor.
The stalls displayed unknown poisonous herbs emitting eerie glimmers, Southern Border gu insects devouring one another inside sealed transparent glass jars, and even savage-looking demon beast bones and witch implements steeped in a primeval aura. These curiosities, which could never be found in Tianshui Province, truly opened Xia Dong's eyes.
Whenever they stopped at a particularly distinctive stall, Pei Hongling naturally assumed the role of appraiser. Transmitting her voice through divine sense, she