Fishing Enforcement

With a suitable weapon in hand, Shen Qingzhou's main objective for this trip had been achieved.

He gripped the hilt, feeling the resonance between the blade and the sword qi within his body. As spiritual power flowed into it, his heart immediately settled.

Next, he needed to exchange his remaining spirit stones for cultivation resources—pills.

As for why he was not buying them from the sect: first, sect pills were outrageously expensive, nowhere near as cost-effective as those on the black market; second, the sect encouraged disciples to exchange contribution points for them. Any pill of slightly better quality could only be bought with contribution points, and he had no desire to earn them by doing those tasks.

He headed straight for a pill shop deep within the market called "Hundred Herbs Hall."

"Daoist, what would you like to buy?" the shop clerk asked enthusiastically as he came forward.

"Qi-Refining Powder." Shen Qingzhou got straight to the point.

"Certainly! Our Qi-Refining Powder has mild medicinal effects. One bottle costs fifty low-grade spirit stones." The clerk swiftly took out a jade bottle.

Shen Qingzhou accepted it and merely pulled out the stopper for a glance.

Trying to pull a fast one.

Expressionless, he pushed the jade bottle back.

"This..."

The clerk's smile instantly froze, cold sweat seeping from his forehead. How could he dare play tricks now? The man before him was clearly an expert.

Not daring to delay, he hurriedly brought out another jade bottle from deep behind the counter, its packaging far more exquisite. "Please calm your anger, Daoist. This is a superior-grade pill refined by our shop's chief alchemist. Its medicinal power is pure, but the price... is somewhat higher. Sixty low-grade spirit stones per bottle."

"Hmph."

Shen Qingzhou examined it again and nodded only after confirming there was no issue.

No merchant was honest without deceit; he had long been on guard.

If not for his insufficient strength, he would sooner or later find an excuse to smash this black shop and confiscate its goods.

"I'll take two bottles of this. And one bottle of Qi-Replenishing Pills."

After that round of shopping, one hundred and forty low-grade spirit stones flowed away like water.

Seeing the spirit stones in his storage pouch nearly emptied in an instant, even Shen Qingzhou, steady as he was, felt a pang of pain.

Half a month of painstaking talisman-drawing, and overnight he was back to utter poverty.

"A man cannot grow rich without windfalls, nor can a horse grow fat without night grass! Once you take up cultivation, there's no such thing as having too much money..."

Shen Qingzhou silently calculated how he should make money next.

Just then, Su Yu's languid voice rang directly in his mind, carrying a hint of teasing.

"Junior Brother, your disguise is too good. Not even the fish are biting."

Shen Qingzhou did not slow his pace as he replied inwardly, "They changed targets?"

He was quite interested in using bait to fish for rogue cultivators, but being someone else's bait was another matter entirely.

"Exactly."

She sounded thoroughly entertained by the spectacle.

"You don't look like much of a fat sheep. They found two others, fat and tender—and what's more, they jumped right into the pot themselves."

"Them?"

Fang Wuji and Liu Yinghan appeared in Shen Qingzhou's mind. What a coincidence.

Sure enough, geniuses could not hide their brilliance—and neither could "talents."

"Who else could it be besides those two great geniuses?"

Su Yu clicked her tongue, clearly amused.

"They'd barely sold their materials before someone had already probed their cultivation and background clean. Now, all those gazes that had been watching you are following the two of them instead."

"..."

Shen Qingzhou fell silent.

This really did seem like something Fang Wuji would do.

"Hehe, they're getting ready to leave the market. Hurry and follow them—there's a good show about to begin." Su Yu's voice rang out again.

"Just watch your Senior Sister's methods!"

"Received!"

At the western exit of Blackwind Market, Fang Wuji was excitedly counting the items in his storage pouch.

"Fifty-five low-grade spirit stones! Junior Sister Liu, we struck it rich this time! The Qi-Refining Powder is enough to cultivate us to the peak of the Qi Refining Second Layer! With the money left over, I can buy some excellent Fire Yang Herb seeds and cultivate them ourselves when we return to Cinnabar Glow Peak!"

His face glowed red with excitement. This trip down the mountain had made him forget all his previous frustrations.

How pleased with himself he was. Just as he had said, what future was there in grinding through tasks in the sect like some poor wretch? That was nothing but the fate of cattle and horses!

"Shut up."

Liu Yinghan stood beside him with a frown, her expression slightly off.

She looked back at the valley behind them.

"I keep feeling that something isn't right," she said quietly. "Ever since we left that materials stall, someone has been following us."

"Oh, you're overthinking it!"

Fang Wuji waved dismissively. "Blackwind Market is full of people from every walk of life. Isn't it normal to get a few extra looks? They can't possibly chase us out, can they? The market's rules aren't just for show."

"The rules only apply inside the market."

"Then let's leave quickly!"

Fang Wuji urged, "Hurry back to the sect. I don't want to stay in this damned place for another moment."

Though he spoke lightly, Liu Yinghan's reminder had planted a seed of doubt in his heart, and his footsteps unconsciously quickened.

Carrying such a considerable sum of wealth, he feared an accident as well.

Even so, the two of them were still too inexperienced.

Rather than immediately turning back to the relatively safe interior of the market, they clung to a fluke and stepped onto the mountain path leading back to the sect.

In their eyes, as long as they ran fast enough, they could leave those lurking dangers behind.

"Too quiet." She suddenly stopped.

Before Fang Wuji could ask, the chirping of insects all around them vanished completely. A thin mist rose from nowhere, carrying the damp, earthy stench of soil.

"This damned weather..." Fang Wuji's excitement was finally extinguished.

No matter how careless he was, he could tell that they had fallen into an encirclement.

In the blink of an eye, dense fog swallowed the path behind them, trapping them inside a white prison with visibility of less than three feet.

"It's an array!" Liu Yinghan's voice was icy as her sword came out with a clang. "We're surrounded!"

Fang Wuji's face went deathly pale. At last, he realized he had become prey. Not far away by the roadside, he saw a small gray flag planted in the ground, constantly drawing in the qi of earth and stone and turning it into thick fog.

"Forget the flag! There are people behind us!" Liu Yinghan shouted, her sword point aimed directly toward the direction from which they had come.

Rustling footsteps emerged from the fog, cutting off their retreat. Three figures slowly walked out, surrounding the pair in a triangular formation.

At the head was a burly, scar-faced man at the Qi Refining Third Layer, wielding a ghost-head saber. On either side stood a short, fat cultivator playing with an array disk and a black-clad man with a chilling aura.

Even their appearances perfectly fit rogue cultivators who robbed and killed!

"Three... three fellow Daoists, let's talk this over."

Fang Wuji's voice trembled as he forced himself to invoke his sect's name. "We are disciples of the Profound Heaven Sect. If you seek wealth..."

The scar-faced man licked his lips, amusement in his eyes. "Profound Heaven Sect? What an imposing name. Unfortunately, here in Azure Mountain, it can't protect your lives."

Naturally, they had heard of the Profound Heaven Sect, but they knew even better how cold and ruthless that sect was.

Its attitude toward Qi Refining disciples was purely one of raising venomous insects in a jar. It could not be bothered to interfere in matters of life and death, because the base of low-level disciples was simply too large. One batch died, and another batch rose to take its place.

"Why waste words with them? Kill them and split the goods!"

The black-clad man holding twin daggers urged impatiently.

Before his words had faded, he turned into a gust of black wind, carrying a foul-smelling blade gleam as he chopped straight at Fang Wuji's face!

Two Ghosts Strike the Door.

Fang Wuji was scared out of his wits, yet in that moment of mortal danger, his ferocity was roused. Crimson sparks surged from his palm as he struck at the blade gleam with Starfire Tiger Claw, attempting to meet attack with attack.

At the same time, a streak of cold sword light flashed within the dense fog!

Liu Yinghan, who had not uttered a single plea for mercy from beginning to end, had her blade covered in white frost. Wrapped in bone-piercing Frost-Congealing Water Essence, she struck later yet arrived first, meeting that domineering blade gleam head-on!

Clang!

Amid the clash of metal, chilling frost spread along the saber. The scar-faced man felt the arm gripping his weapon go numb, and his saber's momentum faltered.

The battle erupted in an instant!