Dark Market in Chaos

Dark Market.

The Dark Market, which was usually brightly lit, felt somewhat oppressive today.

The illumination jade still glowed, its pale, ghastly light pouring down from the domed ceiling and revealing every stall and every face in the finest detail.

Yet the usual bustling shouts, haggling, and jostling crowds had all vanished.

One squad after another of rebel soldiers poured in through the entrance. Their steps were perfectly synchronized, and the clashing of their armor echoed through the enclosed underground space like muffled thunder rolling past.

In the Dark Market, a middle-aged man's legs were trembling uncontrollably. He was the medicinal-herb vendor—the middle-aged fellow with slightly long hair and an air of a wandering swordsman.

At that moment, he leaned against the wall behind his stall, one hand braced on the counter, his knuckles white. He no longer had the attention to spare for the bottles, jars, wooden boxes, and porcelain vials displayed before him.

His eyes remained fixed on the entrance, fixed on the rebels filing in one after another.

"If only I'd listened to that young brother and left sooner."

Regret filled the middle-aged man's face. A few days earlier, the wealthy customer who often bought the ingredients for the Jade Marrow Essence-Coalescing Pill had once again asked whether he knew of a way to leave.

He had still replied, "In a few days." A few days, a few days—he always said that. In truth, he operated through the Zhao Family's connections. Or rather, the Dark Market could not have flourished without the Zhao Family's influence.

The Zhao Family had approved the land for the Dark Market, established its rules, and half of the shady dealings conducted there ultimately flowed into the Zhao Family's storehouses. He had thought the Zhao Family could hold out.

He had thought that no matter how recklessly the rebels acted, they would still show the Zhao Family some respect.

But now, large numbers of rebels had entered the Dark Market. They acted as if they had stepped into their own backyard, taking whatever they pleased.

At one stall, they shoved the vendor aside and stuffed the porcelain bottles on the counter into their arms. At another, they kicked over a wooden chest, scattering the medicinal herbs across the floor, then trampled over them without even sparing them a glance.

Several members of the Zhao Family who had remained there went forward to negotiate. They wore the Zhao Family's uniforms and carried knives at their waists. Their leader even cupped his hands and began saying something about "an order from the Zhao Residence."

Before he could finish, a dark-faced fellow stepped out from among the rebels and brought his blade down. The man's head rolled two zhang away.

The other Zhao Family members had yet to react when flashes of saber light flickered. All of them collapsed into pools of blood.

With the Zhao Family's men dead, even an idiot knew something was wrong. The clamorous voices that had filled the place were suddenly muted, as if someone had pressed a button.

Several hundred people in the Dark Market fell utterly silent. Only the rebels' rummaging through chests and cabinets remained, along with the occasional low chuckle.

A middle-aged man arrived at the World-Aiding Hall. He wore a dark-gray short jacket, carried a short knife at his waist, and walked with steady steps, his aura restrained.

He knocked on Chen Chong's door. The door opened, but Su Hongyu emerged instead.

The middle-aged man looked puzzled. Su Hongyu explained, "Chen Chong seemed to be packing. I don't know where he went."

He paused, studied the other man's expression, then added, "I was checking the medicinal herbs in his room to see whether he took any with him."

The middle-aged man nodded and turned to leave. Watching him walk away, Su Hongyu could not help giving a bitter laugh. He really had come to inspect the medicinal herbs. As the clerk in charge of the accounts, if Chen Chong had taken a large quantity of herbs with him, Su Hongyu would have been the one to suffer.

If the accounts did not balance and something was missing from the storeroom, he, Su Hongyu, would be the first held responsible. Yet after checking everything, he found that Chen Chong had taken nothing.

The clothes in the wardrobe were still there, the herbs on the medicine cabinet were neatly arranged, and the pill furnace had been wiped spotless. Even the account book lay open on the table. The final page bore the words "Balance for This Month," with a check mark beneath them.

On the table where Chen Chong had often eaten with him, there were also two Jade Marrow Essence-Coalescing Pills.

The dark-gold pills rested in a coarse porcelain dish at the corner of the table, their luminous patterns slowly swirling. They looked as if they had been placed there casually, yet also as if they had been deliberately left behind.

Su Hongyu picked up the two pills, closed his fingers around them, and stood there for a long time.

Li Zhaoning's study.

The middle-aged man handed a letter to Li Zhaoning.

"Chen Chong isn't here. He has already left."

Li Zhaoning nodded to show that she understood. She accepted the letter, and the middle-aged man bowed before leaving. Once the door closed, she was alone in the study.

She sat behind the desk, the letter spread before her. Six characters were written on the envelope: "For Chen Chong's Eyes Only." The envelope had not been sealed. Inside was a token of the Li Family—a small bronze plaque.

Beside the bronze plaque lay a folded letter, only one page long.

Li Zhaoning picked up the bronze plaque, looked it over, and then set it on the table.

She picked up the letter and unfolded it. After a moment of silence, she folded it back up and tore it apart.

Her movements were slow and steady, as if she were tearing up a useless scrap of paper.

The scraps fell into the wastebasket beside the desk. Every now and then, a few turned over, revealing the writing on them.

"Things are growing chaotic."

"Leave."

"Especially."

"Wishing you peace."

There were very few words, but each had been written with tremendous force, the brush tip nearly piercing through the paper. Li Zhaoning watched the scraps fall into the wastebasket, then withdrew her gaze and continued studying the map before her. The red circle around the refugee district north of the city was still there, as was the mark for the city gate. Only now, several new red lines had appeared: the rebels' deployments, the locations where demon beasts had been sighted, and the official road leading south.

She drew a small cross on the map, placing it at the eastern gate of Dingshan County. Then she set down her brush, leaned back in her chair, and closed her eyes.

Outside the window, the autumn wind swept past, and the parasol leaves in the courtyard rustled softly.

A dark figure quietly departed from the city gate under the rebels' control.

The night was thick and heavy, and the moon was completely obscured by the clouds.

Torches were planted every few steps along the city wall. Their flames swayed in the wind, stretching the shadows of the rebels guarding the gate long across the stone.

But the dark figure flashed out from the shadows on the inner side of the wall, skimmed up along its surface, and slipped across the gaps between the torches.

The figure moved with extraordinary speed, like a night bird sweeping past, without alerting anyone.

The rebels guarding the city gate only felt a gust of wind pass beside them. They turned to look, but saw nothing.

The dark figure cleared the top of the wall, landed outside the city, and after a few leaps vanished into the night beyond.

No one noticed. Clearly, the figure's cultivation was quite profound.