The True Killing Trap

It all happened in an instant; even the other three Pavilion Masters had yet to react.

Only after the giant mouth swallowed the mound of flesh did the three Pavilion Masters snap awake as if from a dream and look toward that savage maw hanging in the void.

"Ghost Market!"

"Why could he awaken the Ghost Market?"

"Why did the Ghost Market eat Pavilion Master Bao?"

No one answered their questions, because the savage mouth that had swallowed Pavilion Master Bao was already looking at the three of them.

The three Pavilion Masters felt a chill seep through their bodies. Though they were already part of the Ghost Market, that did not mean they possessed the ability to resist it.

Without the slightest hesitation, Six-Line Ghost Diviner let out a frenzied roar.

"Run!"

The three Pavilion Masters transformed into three streaks of light and shot into the distance, trying to escape the Ghost Market's range.

Yet while inside the Ghost Market, how could escaping the Ghost Market be so easy?

What was more, they were part of the Ghost Market to begin with. How could they possibly escape the control of its primary will?

The giant mouth in the void opened, and the orderly space shifted out of place in an instant. The three fleeing Pavilion Masters appeared directly inside the Ghost Market's mouth.

The cultivation of the Qi Refinement into Spirit Realm had no room to show its power before the Ghost Market's true body. The giant mouth freely chewed the remaining souls, allowing them to scatter completely into nothingness.

The wails of ghosts ceased. Above the night sky of this Ghost Market, only a giant mouth that devoured all remained.

Then, a pale eye slowly opened in the void and looked toward Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan's heart tightened, but his expression remained perfectly calm.

In truth, from the moment the Torch Dragon Inscription on the Dark-Bright Sword began devouring Ghost Mist during his wager with Pavilion Master Bao, the nature of this gamble had changed.

After the Dark-Bright Sword devoured the Ghost Mist, its own properties allowed it to transform that Ghost Mist into a domain, exactly like the Sword Slave's frigid domain from before.

As the master of the Dark-Bright Sword, Shen Yuan controlled this Ghost Mist Domain. In essence, he had seized a portion of the Ghost Market and thus formed a connection with it.

Unlike the ghosts that had merged into the Ghost Market, Shen Yuan merely controlled the Ghost Mist Domain. He himself remained an independent individual, unbound by the Ghost Market's control.

Through the Ghost Mist Domain, Shen Yuan had, to a certain extent, gained the right to speak with the Ghost Market as an equal.

It was precisely this right to speak as an equal that allowed Shen Yuan to lay this killing trap for the Four Pavilion Masters.

In terms of strength alone, Shen Yuan could not contend with any one of the Four Pavilion Masters. Even if he unleashed both the Dark-Bright Sword and the Space Grenade, he would find it difficult to truly threaten the life of a ghost of the Qi Refinement into Spirit Realm.

Shen Yuan's Pot-Heaven Divine Ability could destroy the Ghost Domain Space to protect himself, but killing the Four Pavilion Masters was still as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

Shen Yuan could not kill the Four Pavilion Masters, but the Ghost Market could!

The Four Pavilion Masters might have exploited loopholes and turned the Ghost Market into a foul, smoky mess, as though they controlled it.

But in Shen Yuan's perception, the Ghost Market was in a peculiar state of slumber. The Spirit Tide in the present world simply could not support the Ghost Market's complete revival, so it could only maintain itself through sleep.

And as an aberrant life-form, the Ghost Market itself possessed no true intelligence. It merely followed the rules of trade as instinct.

This discovery made Shen Yuan realize that he could use the Ghost Market to eliminate the Four Pavilion Masters.

Thus, after winning the wager, Shen Yuan deliberately refused the generous stakes offered by the Four Pavilion Masters and instead stated that he wanted stakes of equivalent value.

That condition was something the Four Pavilion Masters could not fulfill even if they sold off the entire Ghost Market.

Shen Yuan had deliberately driven the Four Pavilion Masters into a dead end.

In their despair, the Four Pavilion Masters tore up the wager agreement and took the initiative to attack Shen Yuan, attempting to kill him.

Yet the underlying rules governing everything in the Ghost Market were trade. Breaking a wager agreement and attacking a customer was undoubtedly an act of sabotaging a trade. Violating the most fundamental rules meant that even the Four Pavilion Masters would be punished.

The Four Pavilion Masters had dared to act so boldly because they relied on the Ghost Market's failure to awaken, believing they were qualified to control everything.

But Shen Yuan had used the Ghost Mist Domain to awaken the Ghost Market, completely shattering their delusions.

From the instant the Ghost Market awakened, their fates had already been sealed. As an aberrant life-form born to uphold the rules of trade, the Ghost Market would not permit anyone to trample upon its rules.

The Four Pavilion Masters were dead, but that did not mean the matter was over. For Shen Yuan, only now had the time to reap the harvest arrived.

Shen Yuan stared directly at the pale eye in the void and said:

"I won the wager. According to the agreement, the Ghost Market should compensate me."

The Ghost Market operated on simple logic, seemingly considering Shen Yuan's words.

"State. Reasonable compensation."

As soon as the Ghost Market spoke, Shen Yuan raised the immortal sword in his hand and lifted Bai Xue, who had curled herself into a ball, with his other hand.

"This is part of the wager. There are also two Earthly Fiend Divine Abilities. As for compensation for the wager of flesh and skin, I will not make any further demands."

The Ghost Market's gaze swept over the cat and sword in Shen Yuan's hands, and its pale pupil abruptly contracted.

Then, a nauseating bout of retching sounded from the void. An immense quantity of Ghost Mist spewed from the Ghost Market's savage mouth, mixed with yellow fat and shriveled arms.

"These are from your wager. Your stakes were them."

The corner of Shen Yuan's eye twitched slightly.

He naturally recognized that the Ghost Mist and corpses expelled by the Ghost Market were the Four Pavilion Masters it had just devoured.

It seemed the Ghost Market had realized it could not afford the wager's compensation and had simply dumped the blame back onto the Four Pavilion Masters.

The Ghost Market had been so honest before. How had it learned such bad habits after spending so long with these ghostly things?

Shen Yuan was speechless, but the Torch Dragon Inscription on the Dark-Bright Sword would not refuse such an immense quantity of Ghost Mist. Its dragon mouth opened and continuously devoured the Ghost Mist.

When the pale eye in the sky saw what the Dark-Bright Sword was doing, its pupil trembled slightly. It seemed to want to speak but stopped itself, ultimately saying nothing.

The Ghost Mist formed after the Four Pavilion Masters died far exceeded that of a Treasure Pavilion. As the Dark-Bright Sword devoured it, Shen Yuan could see several patches of mottled rust falling from the blade and dissipating into the air.

No longer paying attention to the Dark-Bright Sword, Shen Yuan continued speaking to the Ghost Market:

"Since the Four Pavilion Masters have already been executed, I will not pursue those stakes any further.

"However, every human they forcibly seized through the Ghost Market over these past few days must be released."

The Ghost Market was already in the wrong and feared Shen Yuan would continue pressing the matter of the stakes.

Now that Shen Yuan was abandoning the stakes, it was naturally overjoyed. Why would it care about a mere handful of humans? It hurriedly agreed.

"Good!"

The expression on Shen Yuan's face eased considerably, and he continued:

"From this day onward, the ghosts within the Ghost Market may not use any form of sabotage against trade to seize human lives."

"Can, can do."

"The Ghost Market may not forcibly bring people in. Customers must retain the right to enter and leave."

"N-no problem."

Shen Yuan listed several conditions restricting the Ghost Market in succession, and the Ghost Market agreed to every one of them without hesitation.

At this moment, the Ghost Market only wanted to send this creditor away as quickly as possible. It had no mind to haggle over so much.

"Lastly, as a customer of the Ghost Market, I was attacked within the Ghost Market. Shouldn't the Ghost Market offer some compensation?"

The moment his words fell, Shen Yuan immediately felt time and space shift before his eyes. In the next instant, he was already standing amid a desolate stretch of wild mountains.

The Ghost Market had directly thrown him out and fled.

Shen Yuan fell silent. "Am I really that frightening?"

As he spoke, Shen Yuan suddenly noticed that something seemed to have appeared in his right hand.

He lifted it and saw that he was holding a pearl resembling a silver moon.

Beneath the glow of moonlight, a tiny figure with the bearing of an immortal seemed to dance lightly within the silver moon.

A familiar memory flashed through Shen Yuan's mind, and he blurted out instinctively.

"Primordial Spirit Orb!"