An Immortal Rides a Tiger Beneath the Moon

The great clans and aristocratic families present were roused to indignation, showing no regard whatsoever for the Southern Pacification Army commander before them.

Others might have feared the Southern Pacification Army, but these aristocratic clans that had taken root in Cloud Prefecture for thousands of years had no such reservations.

Although the Southern Pacification Army was Cloud Prefecture's foremost instrument of violence, tasked with guarding several southern prefectures, and could undoubtedly sweep aside every aristocratic family in Cloud Prefecture on strength alone—

—the Southern Pacification Army had been established for over a thousand years. Its internal factions stood thick as trees, and the local aristocratic clans of Cloud Prefecture held no small measure of influence within it.

Without the aid of the aristocratic clans, even the Marquis of Southern Pacification himself would find it difficult to fully control the Southern Pacification Army.

Though Great Xia was still ostensibly controlled by the imperial court, the rise of the sects was merely a matter of time. At such a critical juncture, the court would be even less willing to drive the aristocratic clans into the sects' camp. This only made those clans more brazen.

General Yu, one of the Southern Pacification Army's commanders, could not help but feel a headache coming on at the sight before him.

Yesterday, the Southern Pacification Army had received word from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau that the Ghost Market had appeared at the border between Cloud Prefecture and Qing Prefecture. As a commander, it was only routine for him to lead troops in sealing off the region and preventing the Ghost Market from spreading.

Yet who could have expected that in barely half a day, that Ghost Market would vanish without rhyme or reason? The ordinary people who had mistakenly entered it were all found atop a hill.

The moment that news spread, it was like poking a hornet's nest, drawing every aristocratic clan and sect throughout Cloud Prefecture.

There was no other reason. The name Ghost Market simply carried too much weight.

The Ghost Market had first appeared more than three thousand years ago, during the era of the spiritual energy tide. At first, word of it spread only within a small circle; it was a strange and wondrous ghost domain.

That was until one lucky man obtained a spiritual treasure from within and used it to become a Void-Refining True Lord. Only then did the Ghost Market become famous throughout the world.

Countless cultivators both rejoiced and feared the Ghost Market.

They rejoiced because many cultivators nearing the end of their lifespans had ventured inside, only to emerge with a hundred more years of life out of thin air. Some low-level cultivators had also gained countless strange treasures there and ultimately become overlords in their own right.

They feared it because no small number of cultivators had fallen within the Ghost Market, including even Spirit-Refining True Persons and Void-Refining True Lords.

Moreover, wherever the Ghost Market appeared, it would inevitably swallow vast numbers of local people. For ordinary people, entering it meant certain death.

Had that been all, the Ghost Market would have been no more than one of countless historical legends, and would never have caused such a great stir now.

What truly made the Ghost Market renowned once more after three thousand years was its appearance in Liang Prefecture half a month ago, where it swallowed more than a hundred civilians.

In the end, among those hundred-odd people, only one lucky Essence-Refining cultivator escaped calamity. Everyone else was left behind in the Ghost Market.

A legend from three thousand years ago had reappeared in the world. This news utterly detonated Great Xia's cultivation world.

Countless people began to speculate. Could the Ghost Market itself be some unique blessed grotto-heaven? Just how had it endured through the ages?

Yet compared to the reason for its survival, what people valued more was the wealth accumulated within the Ghost Market.

Had all the treasures and cultivation arts from the era of the spiritual energy tide also been passed down to this day, three thousand years later?

Did the Gambling Pavilion of legend, where one could gamble one's life for a longer lifespan, still exist?

Could the Six-Line Ghost Diviner, which could glimpse the karmic threads of the future and calculate all beneath heaven, see even a trace of the great tide to come?

Those things alone were enough to make countless people rush toward it like ducks to a pond.

And today, a large number of ordinary survivors had actually emerged from the Ghost Market. Once the news broke, it naturally drew the attention of these aristocratic clans.

In the eyes of the aristocratic clans, if even ordinary people could enter and leave the Ghost Market, then its rules must have changed. Perhaps they had a chance to seek profit from it.

As for why no aristocratic clans or sects from other prefectures had come, it was not because they lacked interest. Rather, all the clans and sects of Cloud Prefecture had long since joined forces to seal off the news.

Otherwise, there would have been several times more clans and sects here than there were now.

The aristocratic clans joined forces to pressure them, while several reclusive sects led by Lord Lao Temple stood calmly to one side, observing without revealing a thing.

Under the current circumstances, it was inconvenient for them to openly clash with the Great Xia court. Still, there was no harm in scooping up a little benefit from the sidelines.

The aristocratic clans likewise needed the sects' intimidation to force the court to reveal the truth. Though neither side had openly said anything, they were perfectly in tune.

Faced with such a situation, General Yu was beginning to buckle beneath the pressure from all sides.

Just then, an elegant crane cry suddenly rang out across the desolate mountains and wild ridges.

Everyone looked up to see an enormous immortal crane high beneath the endless clear sky, beating its wings as it sped toward them.

Its massive body seemed to encounter no wind resistance at all. Every gale in the high skies became strength that bore it onward, and in the blink of an eye, it had drawn near the wilderness.

"It's the Imperial Astronomical Bureau's Cloudflow Immortal Crane!"

"There are only two Cloudflow Immortal Cranes in the entire Imperial Astronomical Bureau, and both are kept in the imperial capital.

Which Seat Envoy is traveling that they need an immortal crane as a mount?"

Even General Yu was deeply puzzled.

The Ghost Market might be extraordinarily famous, but it should not warrant the personal arrival of one of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau's Seat Envoys.

Within the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, the hierarchy from highest to lowest consisted of the Director, the four Seat Envoys, and the Command Envoys stationed in the various prefectures.

The Seat Envoys not only held exalted status, but possessed the Imperial Astronomical Bureau's inheritance and thus stood among its strongest members. Moreover, the four Seat Envoys held the authority to inspect every prefecture.

Throughout the generations, the hands of the Seat Envoys had been stained with the blood of many aristocratic clans.

Thus, the mere mention of a Seat Envoy made every clan and sect present tense up.

Quite a few clans were already considering retreat, though someone still forced himself to say, "So what if a Seat Envoy has come? The Ghost Market's appearance in Cloud Prefecture is a matter of grave importance. As local clans of Cloud Prefecture, do we not even have the right to know?"

"Even a Seat Envoy cannot be so overbearing and unreasonable—"

Halfway through the sentence, his words caught in his throat.

For as the Cloudflow Immortal Crane flew closer, everyone present saw that the person upon its back was not any one of the four Seat Envoys, but a middle-aged man in a moon-white long robe, his bearing elegant and refined.

"D-Director!"

The Director of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau commanded Great Xia's Imperial Astronomical Bureau. Across all of Great Xia, he was second only to the Xia Emperor, his status even above that of the Crown Prince and the Left and Right Prime Ministers.

"Greetings, Director!"

"This student pays respects to the Director!"

Everyone knelt toward the Director atop the immortal crane. Even the most arrogant members of the aristocratic clans lowered their heads.

The several reclusive sects led by Mount Laojun also turned solemn and respectfully saluted the Director.

Yet the Director treated everything before him as though it were nothing. He drifted down from the immortal crane and entered the military camp.

Three hours later, the dust-covered Director stepped into the Golden Throne Hall and placed a memorial upon the Xia Emperor's desk.

"Tonight at midnight, the ancient Book Immortal sent word that the Ascension Daoist was suspected to have appeared in the Ghost Market.

"This official immediately hurried to Cloud Prefecture, only to learn that the Ghost Market had already fled, leaving behind two hundred and sixty-five survivors upon the barren mountains.

"One of them claimed that beneath the moon, he saw an immortal riding a tiger, walking upon the moonlight."