The Great Demon, Martial Arts Three Realms

Chen Zhuo never expected that the place he would reunite with his former roommates would be this Ghost Market.

He scrutinized the people inside the iron cages and discovered that at least five of his seven roommates were locked up, covered in blood and looking as if they had been subjected to torture.

The other two were nowhere to be found, and their fates were likely no better.

His relationship with those seven had always been distant, and since he had helped them at a critical moment, there was no real bond to speak of, regardless of the reason.

The only reason he was so shocked to see this scene was that these men were, after all, government officials; how could they be treated like livestock and locked in cages?

But in the end, these people had nothing to do with him anymore.

"Business first."

Chen Zhuo suppressed his curiosity, turned around, and led his donkey cart through the crowd, heading straight ahead.

But before he had gone far, he heard a loud "boom" behind him.

He glanced back to see the large iron cage being hoisted and dropped onto the ground.

The people inside were rattled and dazed, unable to climb back up for a long time.

Immediately after, a rough, boisterous hawking reached his ears.

"Don't miss out, come take a look! People in iron cages, twenty taels each! They come with deeds of sale; buy them and you can ride them like dogs if you want..."

This world...

Selling people like dogs was nothing out of the ordinary.

Along the way, he had already seen more than one place selling human beings.

Chen Zhuo shook his head and turned to leave.

By the time the sun was high in the sky, Chen Zhuo finally fought his way out of the bustling streets and arrived at a slightly quieter spot.

This was the edge of the Ghost Market, where the flow of people was sparse and only a few stalls were set up, spaced far apart from one another.

Chen Zhuo walked up to a fortune-telling stall and asked point-blank, "Blind man, are you blind?"

The stall owner was an old blind man with white hair, head tilted back and eyes closed. Hearing Chen Zhuo's voice, his nostrils twitched, and he leaned in to sniff repeatedly.

"Are you blind?"

The old man said, his face full of displeasure.

"I'm certainly not."

"If you aren't blind, how could you not see that I am?"

"So you really are blind, then?"

"I think you're the one who's blind."

After the old man's retort, Chen Zhuo didn't continue the exchange, and the air seemed to fall into a brief silence.

Only the little black donkey beside them puffed and snorted, as if it hadn't yet recovered from their previous sprint.

"Yan Ming told you to come find me, didn't he?"

The old man smiled slightly, and the awkward atmosphere melted away like ice.

Chen Zhuo sighed softly, "Indeed."

"Hahaha... refreshing! It's been a long time, but that kid still remembers my temperament. He's truly thoughtful."

The louder the old man laughed, the more helpless Chen Zhuo felt.

Before coming to the Ghost Market, Yan Ming had warned him that if he wanted to buy genuine demon blood, he had to find this old blind man.

It was just that the old man had a rather eccentric personality; if he didn't let him get a few jabs in, he probably wouldn't be able to buy anything good, even if he killed him.

That was why Chen Zhuo had asked such an idiotic question.

"Yan Ming sent you to find me to buy demon blood, right?"

The old man didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point.

Chen Zhuo asked, "Exactly. I wonder if you... if you have any in stock right now, sir?"

"Sit."

The old man pointed to a small stool in front of the stall, then rummaged through a box behind him, pulled out five porcelain bottles, and shook them in front of Chen Zhuo.

"Fifteen taels of silver per bottle. Ten percent off for three, twenty percent off for five. How many are you buying?"

"Isn't it ten taels a bottle? Why is it so much more expensive?"

Chen Zhuo frowned.

"Ten taels?"

The old man gave a cold laugh. "That was last month's price."

"There are few Blade-Catchers in Baiyun County, and they all do life-risking work. Recently, fake blood has been bought up in large quantities, so naturally, the price has risen with the tide."

"Fifteen taels a bottle is really not expensive. Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that Yan Ming introduced you, I could mix in some pig's blood and sell you one bottle as two, and you wouldn't even notice."

"Fine."

Chen Zhuo let out a soft sigh, glancing at the five nearly identical porcelain bottles. Instead of discussing the purchase, he asked tentatively, "I wonder if you have any true blood for sale here?"

"True blood of a demonic beast?"

The old blind man tilted his head, his sightless eyes fixed directly on Chen Zhuo, as if he were earnestly "looking" at him.

Chen Zhuo felt a chill run down his spine from being "stared" at. Just as he was about to speak, the old blind man continued, "One hundred taels deposit. Come back in fifteen days to collect it. The final price will depend on the value of the true blood."

A hundred taels right off the bat, and a pre-order at that...

Chen Zhuo fell silent.

The true blood of a demonic beast was indeed rare and hard to find.

"Go on, go on. If you don't have the money, don't open your mouth. If it weren't for the fact that you were sent by that kid Yan Ming, you could leave right now."

The old blind man waved his hand, making a gesture as if to shoo him away.

"Three bottles."

Chen Zhuo didn't waste any more words; he took out the silver notes and handed them over.

This was the largest sum of money he had spent to date. It hurt, but there was no other way.

Save where you must, spend where you should.

The old blind man rubbed the silver notes between his fingers a few times before tucking them into his robes. He handed three of the porcelain bottles to Chen Zhuo, then fished out the remaining change, holding it in his palm, ready to hand it over.

However, Chen Zhuo did not reach for it. Instead, he asked, "Old sir, has anything unusual happened in the mountains?"

The mountains he referred to were none other than Dangyun Mountain.

The Autumn Hunt was approaching in a few days. Buying the demonic blood was only one reason he had come to see the old blind man.

The second was to understand the current situation on Dangyun Mountain.

The old blind man was well-informed. He immediately withdrew one tael of silver from his hand and said indifferently, "You had best not enter the mountains for the time being. You'll die."

"Why?"

Chen Zhuo was startled.

The old blind man took back another tael of silver from his palm, making Chen Zhuo's heart ache.

"A new Great Demon has emerged in the mountains. Whoever goes, dies."

A Great Demon?

Chen Zhuo frowned, not quite understanding.

What kind of demonic beast was a Great Demon? Was it very strong?

The old blind man seemed to "see" his confusion and pursed his lips toward his palm.

Chen Zhuo steeled his heart and gritted his teeth. "Keep talking."

The old blind man smiled and took back another tael, saying:

"Martial artists have the Lower Three Realms, and demonic beasts have the Lower Three Ranks. A Great Demon is a Third-Rank demonic beast, equivalent to a martial artist in the third realm, the Spirit-Concealing Realm."

The Lower Three Realms of martial artists: Body Refining, Aperture Opening, and Spirit-Concealing.

"A Great Demon is equal to a third-realm martial artist? Wouldn't it be able to slap me to death with one paw?"

Imagining the scene, Chen Zhuo shuddered all over.

If that were the case, wouldn't going to Dangyun Mountain be a death sentence?

No...

Chen Zhuo suddenly recalled what Yao Xiong had said at the Morning Assembly a few days ago.

For this Autumn Hunt, they were making an exception to allow the White-Uniform Runners to go along and "harvest the leeks."

They had even set the promotion assessment for the yamen runners to take place during the Autumn Hunt.

"Demonic beasts are hardly leeks; it is clearly we White-Uniform Runners who are the real leeks."

Everything suddenly became clear.

Combined with the contents of Fatty Sun's letter, Chen Zhuo understood completely: the yamen had made up their minds to send them to their deaths.

The only ones who would survive were Sun Fei and Zhou Sheng.

Magistrate Liu, Registrar Wang, Chief Clerk Sun...

Chen Zhuo fell silent.

The faces of these three men flashed through his mind in turns. A feeling began to swell within his chest, making his breathing abnormally heavy.

He quietly clenched his fingers, his knuckles turning white.

Just then, a voice suddenly pulled him out of his silence.

"Old blind man, I heard you're selling demonic beast blood here?"

Chen Zhuo turned his head slightly to look, and a wave of ripples stirred in his heart.

The speaker was dressed in a black robe, their face obscured by a black cloth, making it impossible to discern their figure or features.

But just looking at their eyes and brows, the more he looked, the more familiar they seemed.