Listening Rain Pavilion.
A famous tavern in Yujing City, with an elegant and tranquil atmosphere.
Between its flying eaves and ornate brackets, it exuded an ancient charm.
Fang Heng walked along the covered corridor as a gentle breeze drifted past.
Yesterday, Shen Qiushui's personal maid had come bearing a message, arranging for them to meet today.
The quiet, secluded surroundings gave Fang Heng the illusion that he was sneaking around for a lovers' tryst.
Arriving before an antique private room, he pushed open the door and entered.
Shen Qiushui had long been waiting inside. She wore a pale blue gauze dress, its hem spreading lightly across the floor like flowing lakewater.
When she saw Fang Heng enter, she took graceful lotus steps, slowly rose, and offered him a curtsey.
Her movements were elegant and practiced, like a verdant lotus in full bloom.
"This commoner greets Your Highness."
"Miss Shen, you are far too courteous."
A warm smile hung on Fang Heng's face as he hurriedly waved his hand, showing not the slightest arrogance.
Though Shen Qiushui held no official position, everyone in Yujing knew that the Martial Prime Minister was utterly devoted to his daughter.
Offending the Martial Prime Minister's Estate's eldest young master or second young master might not necessarily lead to trouble.
But offending Shen Qiushui was like stabbing a hornet's nest.
"Your Highness, today is the day the City of Life and Death opens its gates."
Shen Qiushui slightly raised her head. Her lovely eyes shifted as she came straight to the point, speaking softly.
Fang Heng's eyes lit up at once.
He had been immensely curious about the City of Life and Death, that strange and unfathomable city.
"How do we get to the City of Life and Death?"
"Your Highness, the City of Life and Death is neither in the mortal realm nor in the Nine Netherworlds. It lies between them."
"It is said that after death, one's soul travels along the Yellow Springs Road and enters the Nine Netherworlds to be reincarnated."
"Later, some great power, moved by the longing of grieving relatives, built a city upon the Yellow Springs Road so that family members could see the deceased one last time."
"That city is the present City of Life and Death."
"The only way to enter the City of Life and Death is to walk the Yellow Springs Road, pass through the Gate of Ghosts."
Fang Heng raised a brow, his expression turning strange.
"This... do we have to turn ourselves into dead people?"
"Not at all!" A mischievous smile bloomed on Shen Qiushui's delicate face. "As long as one has a Fengdu Pass, even the living can walk the Yellow Springs Road."
As she spoke, Shen Qiushui flipped her jade-like hand.
A pitch-black token appeared in her slender palm.
The black token emitted a deep, cold aura.
On its front were engraved the words "Fengdu."
On its back were the words "Pass."
"This Fengdu Pass can guide the living onto the Yellow Springs Road, through the Gate of Ghosts, and into the City of Life and Death."
"Later, Your Highness will travel with me."
After explaining everything, Shen Qiushui activated the Fengdu Pass.
Seeing the token emit a ghostly glow, Fang Heng's gaze sharpened.
Shen Qiushui carried no small number of secrets.
Since she could activate the Fengdu Pass, she was clearly a cultivator as well.
Yet her cultivation system belonged neither to the Martial, Daoist, Buddhist paths nor to the Path of God Worship.
It seemed to be some exceedingly obscure ancient inheritance.
Shen Qiushui trusted him enough to reveal her secret right before him.
Naturally, Fang Heng would not get to the bottom of things and refuse to let go.
As the ghostly light on the Fengdu Pass grew brighter and brighter.
After the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, a winding path appeared out of thin air within the private room.
One end connected to the present world, while the other vanished into the void, its end nowhere in sight.
The little path was paved with bluestone slabs, their uneven surfaces marked by the erosion of countless years.
An air of deathly silence, deep cold, and ill omen filled the air.
It made one feel as though one had entered another world.
"Your Highness, this is the Yellow Springs Road. Follow me."
Shen Qiushui called softly, leading Fang Heng onto the Yellow Springs Road.
A few breaths later, the two of them vanished from the private room into thin air.
After walking only a few yards, Fang Heng saw the surrounding scenery abruptly change.
The antique private room disappeared, replaced by endless darkness.
Blacker than night, deeper than the abyss.
After another dozen or so yards, a massive checkpoint appeared before them.
Above its gates, the three words "Gate of Ghosts" were written in strokes like iron hooks and silver lines, dragons flying and snakes dancing.
"Your Highness, once we pass through the Gate of Ghosts, the Yellow Springs Roads from every region will converge."
"At that time, we will not only see other people, but yin souls and ghostly creatures as well."
"The City of Life and Death is a mixed bag of fish and dragons. It would be unwise to reveal our identities, so everyone wears masks."
As she spoke, Shen Qiushui took out two masks she had prepared beforehand.
Fang Heng accepted one. When his fingertips touched its surface, it felt icy cold; he had no idea what material it was made from.
The mask Shen Qiushui gave Fang Heng was Black Impermanence, while hers was White Impermanence.
Standing side by side, they truly looked like the Black and White Impermanence.
Fang Heng looked toward Shen Qiushui and swept out with his divine sense, discovering that the masks could also block divine-sense probing.
Clearly, they were treasures specially refined by the City of Life and Death to protect everyone's identities.
They stepped through the Gate of Ghosts.
In an instant, Fang Heng immediately sensed a tremendous change.
The void was filled with dense yin energy and death energy, making Fang Heng frown.
Apart from the Yellow Springs Road beneath their feet.
Looking around, they could see countless Yellow Springs Roads, packed densely together and converging here.
Like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea.
On some Yellow Springs Roads walked yin souls and ghostly creatures.
On others were cultivators like themselves, likewise headed for the City of Life and Death.
Just as Fang Heng was surveying the Yellow Springs Roads.
Shen Qiushui took the initiative to hold Fang Heng's right hand. It was soft and tender.
That bonelessly delicate touch made Fang Heng instinctively brush his thumb across it.
Noticing Fang Heng's little movement, Shen Qiushui's pretty face beneath the White Impermanence mask grew slightly hot, as radiant as peach blossoms in the second month.
"Your Highness, the yin souls and ghostly creatures on the Yellow Springs Road will attack the living."
"The Fengdu Pass can conceal the living aura around us. Later, we absolutely must not leave its protection."
Her soft words, carrying a faint tremor, sounded by Fang Heng's ear.
Fang Heng immediately noticed the halo cast by the Fengdu Pass, which possessed shielding and concealment effects.
But the halo of the pass was not large.
It was originally meant for one person. With the two of them walking side by side, it seemed rather cramped.
Shen Qiushui had no choice but to press tightly against Fang Heng so that she would not be exposed beyond it.
Her smooth hair brushed over his nose, carrying the faint, tranquil fragrance of a young woman.
Fang Heng lowered his head slightly and looked at the delicate girl close at hand.
Though he could not see her face, her shoulders were as if carved, her form as willowy as a weak branch bending in the wind. She possessed the frail temperament unique to a noble young lady, a Jiangnan maiden, and a scholarly beauty.
Such gentle, delicate loveliness, so pitiful and moving that even the sight of her stirred tenderness, made one unable to resist wanting to gather her into one's arms.
"Your Highness, let's walk faster. We still have a long way to go."
Shen Qiushui's voice trembled with nervousness.
A fragrant sweat glistened in her slender jade-like hand.
The two continued onward and soon encountered yin souls and ghostly creatures.
Most of these yin souls and ghostly creatures had merely been ordinary people in life. Fang Heng could scatter their souls and disperse their spirits with a single flick of his finger.
Yet among them were also yin souls and ghostly creatures of considerable strength.
Before death, these yin souls and ghostly creatures had been cultivators who had achieved success in cultivation.
Though the yin souls and ghostly creatures they became after death were not as powerful as they had been in life, they still far surpassed the ghosts of ordinary people.
Besides yin souls and ghostly creatures, the Yellow Springs Road also held.
Quite a few masked cultivators whom Fang Heng saw, all heading for the City of Life and Death just like them.
When the two sides saw each other, neither had any intention of approaching to converse. Instead, they widened the distance between them and watched each other warily.
After the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
A colossal city came into Fang Heng's view.
The City of Life and Death.
It stood beside the Yellow Springs Road, towering and magnificent.
If not for the deathly cold aura permeating the air, one would not be able to see any difference between the City of Life and Death and a city in the mortal realm.
Two guards from the City Lord's Estate stood watch at the city gate.
They did not inspect those entering the city, nor did they charge any fee. They were merely for show.
"In the past, entering the city required soul pearls as an entrance fee."
"But ever since the new city lord took office, the entrance fee has been abolished."
"I heard that after the entrance fee was abolished, the number of cultivators trading in the City of Life and Death increased tenfold over the years."
Shen Qiushui spoke in a soft, gentle voice.
Fang Heng smiled after hearing this.
"This new city lord is quite skilled at business."
The moment the two entered the City of Life and Death, they heard vendors crying out their wares.
"Big clearance sale! Big clearance sale! Second-realm ghostly creatures, only ten soul pearls, only..."
"Eastern Sea Dragon Species, two hundred soul pearls! The bloodline is absolutely pure, with considerable potential."
"Peerless female slave, of noble status! She is a Northern Barbarian noble matriarch, only fifty soul pearls!"
"Buying Profound Bone Pills, the more the better!"
"Trading strange objects, barter only."
The endless cries of hawkers opened Fang Heng's eyes.
Eastern Sea dragon pearls, Northern Barbarian matriarchs—there were even people selling strange objects.
Fang Heng glanced at the Northern Barbarian matriarch currently being sold. Her figure was fiery, carrying an exotic charm.
This stall had also drawn the largest crowd of onlookers.
Fang Heng swept his gaze over the scene, his eyes narrowing as he quickly found something.
He sensed destiny within a chess piece.
He truly had not come to the wrong place.
Fang Heng was very familiar with this black chess piece.
It was precisely one of Emperor Yuling's personal chess pieces.
He had not expected to find his target as soon as he arrived in the City of Life and Death.
"The City of Life and Death uses soul pearls for all transactions. It does not accept gold or silver."
"I still have quite a few soul pearls here..."
"Cough, cough—no need!"
"Surely there is a place in the City of Life and Death to exchange for soul pearls, right?"
Fang Heng quickly interrupted Shen Qiushui.
Hitching a ride was one thing.
If he also lived off Shen Qiushui, he would feel too embarrassed.
"Soul pearls can be exchanged at the bank."
"Moreover, the bank is run by the city lord, and its rates are considered fair."
"Besides exchanging soul pearls, the bank also sells Fengdu Passes."
As Shen Qiushui spoke, the two walked side by side until they arrived before a bank.
The bank occupied a vast area and was imposing and grand. The two pixiu beasts at its entrance emanated astonishing majesty.
Once inside, it was no different from a bank in the world of the living.
"Guest, what may I do for you?"
"I would like to exchange for soul pearls."
As he spoke, Fang Heng took out cultivation pills and other cultivation resources.
He exchanged them at the bank for five hundred soul pearls and also purchased a Fengdu Pass.
Looking at the crystalline, completely transparent soul pearls in his hand, like glass marbles.
Fang Heng sensed an extremely dense power of the soul within the soul pearls.
Soul pearls were pills refined from the souls of yin spirits and ghosts.
They nourished the divine soul.
Besides healing injuries, they could also advance one's cultivation.
Especially for Daoist cultivators in the Object Manipulation Realm.
As the name implied, the Object Manipulation Realm allowed one to control treasures from afar.
The main focus of cultivation in the Object Manipulation Realm was strengthening the divine soul.
Soul pearls were top-tier cultivation resources for the Object Manipulation Realm.
"Only because the City of Life and Death sits on the Yellow Springs Road are there enough yin spirits and ghosts to refine soul pearls."
Though he had not been in the City of Life and Death long, Fang Heng had seen through its foundation at a glance.
They hunted down yin spirits and ghosts along the Yellow Springs Road, refined them into soul pearls, and attracted cultivators here to trade.
That was the foundation upon which the City of Life and Death stood.
Carrying the soul pearls, he walked out of the bank.
He saw Shen Qiushui, wearing a White Impermanence mask, discussing something with a man wearing a Horse-Face mask.
After waiting a moment, Shen Qiushui finished her discussion and came over. A trace of apology colored her tone as she spoke softly.
"I previously arranged with some friends to attend a trade fair."
"I wanted to recommend you, but they were wary of you and refused."
"It's fine. Go ahead. I've already found my target in the market."
"This is my communication talisman. Contact me if anything comes up."
"Got it!"
Shen Qiushui let out a breath of relief. Only after giving Fang Heng another apologetic look did she leave for the trade fair.
After parting with Shen Qiushui, Fang Heng returned to the stall where he had seen the Emperor Yuling Chess Pieces earlier.
"How much for this chess piece?"
"Ten soul pearls!"
"Not worth it! Three at most!"
"Nine!"
After a round of haggling, Fang Heng bought the chess piece from the stall owner for five soul pearls.
The instant the chess piece landed in his hand, it absorbed the fortune within.
Fortune +20!
Not bad!
Fang Heng raised a brow, delight appearing on his face.
Afterward, he began wandering through the City of Life and Death.
He had assumed Emperor Yuling's chess pieces would be difficult to purchase.
But matters went far more smoothly than he had imagined.
Quite a few people in the City of Life and Death possessed Emperor Yuling Chess Pieces, which surprised Fang Heng greatly.
In less than half an hour, Fang Heng had acquired ten chess pieces.
His fortune had increased by 200 points out of thin air.
At the same time, explosive news spread through the City of Life and Death.
Some huge fool was buying Emperor Yuling Chess Pieces.
"Have you heard? Someone's buying Emperor Yuling Chess Pieces."
"Tsk, tsk. There's a lunatic out there. If the Great Yu Treasure Vault were so easy to find, would it be his turn?"
"They say the map to the Great Yu Treasure Vault is hidden in Emperor Yuling's imperial Go set."
"But after all these years, let alone a map, not even a clue has turned up!"
"Heh—what map?"
"It's obviously a trap meant for the remnants of Great Yu."
"Back then, Emperor Taizong of Great Qian used this rumor to swindle who knew how many Great Yu remnants."
"There's such a story? No wonder no one has found the Great Yu Treasure Vault all these years."
"Now that some fool is buying chess pieces, hurry and sell."
"Once you miss this village, there won't be another inn."
At first, Fang Heng had to seek out chess pieces himself.
But gradually, he was astonished to find people actually coming to him voluntarily to peddle Emperor Yuling Chess Pieces.
That immediately made Fang Heng change his strategy.
Drive down the price!
Since the situation had reversed, naturally he had to slash the price without mercy.
He haggled the price of each chess piece down from five soul pearls to two.
He also heard news about the Great Yu Treasure Vault from others.
Fang Heng did not care much about the Great Yu Treasure Vault.
It would be best if he found it, but if he did not, he would not force the matter.
But the fortune in the chess pieces was real enough.
Fang Heng simply paid a fee to set up a stall in the City of Life and Death, disguised himself as an old man, and began purchasing Emperor Yuling Chess Pieces.
In just half a day, he acquired forty-five chess pieces.
"I heard you're buying Emperor Yuling Chess Pieces?" A Rabbit Face mask lowered his voice.
"That's right!"
"Three soul pearls per chess piece."
"Do you buy chessboards too?"
"You have Emperor Yuling's chessboard?"
Fang Heng froze for a moment and looked at the other party in surprise.
He forcibly suppressed the joy rising in his heart.
"My master was obsessed with the Great Yu Treasure Vault back then and collected quite a few chess pieces and chessboards."
"How many chess pieces?"
"One hundred and fifty!"
Upon hearing the number one hundred and fifty, Fang Heng's brows beneath his mask could not help but rise.
A Go set contained three hundred and sixty-one pieces in total, yet Rabbit Face's master alone possessed nearly half of them.
That left Fang Heng stunned for quite a while.
"I'll take them all, chessboard and pieces included. How many soul pearls?" Fang Heng spoke in a somewhat aged voice.
"I don't want soul pearls!" Rabbit Face shook his head. "I only accept barter."
"A movement-art type wonder."
A movement-art type wonder?
Fang Heng furrowed his brow deeply, forming a pronounced crease between his brows.
There was no need to say how precious wonders were.
Rabbit Face had even specifically demanded a movement-art type wonder.
Movement-art type wonders were life-saving divine artifacts, worth even more than other kinds of wonders.
However, Fang Heng remembered that Evergreen Temple possessed a movement-art type wonder.
If he paid a sufficient price, it was not impossible to exchange for it from Evergreen Temple.
After hesitating briefly, Fang Heng nodded.
"Deal!"
"However, I didn't bring a movement-art type wonder. We'll trade next time."
"Fine!"
Rabbit Face nodded, then hurried away.
Before you continue