The Purple Mirror

Whether or not the four of them were reincarnated Immortal Lords, they certainly had a great fortuitous opportunity. It was best to avoid offending people like that whenever possible.

Tang Yuan considered for a few breaths, then cupped his fists in greeting. "Fellow Daoists, my surname is Tang. I'm thirty-two years old and at the Qi Refining First Layer. I come from the Mystic Spirit Continent. May I ask how to address you four?"

"Senior Tang, we're four siblings born of the same mother.

"Our surname is Li, and we come from a small village by Moon-Gazing Lake in Pingyang Commandery, on the Purple Mother Continent.

"I'm the eldest brother. You can call me Li Da.

"I'm twenty, my second brother is eighteen, my third brother is sixteen, and my fourth sister is nine. We're all at the early stage of Meridian Opening." One of them cupped his fists in greeting, an honest, guileless expression on his face.

"That ghost-face mask of yours is way too scary. One look and I can tell you're no good. You must be a Devil Cultivator..." Little Li Si muttered under her breath, only for Li Laoda to glare at her.

Tang Yuan smiled. "You can't judge a person by appearances...

"But I do come from what's called a devil sect. Even so, I, Tang, have never blood-refined mortals...

"Uh...

"You can just call me Brother Tang.

"If I want to see what's in the jade bottle, do I have to put thirty Spirit Stones here first?"

"What treasure is in that jade bottle that you have to put down thirty Spirit Stones just to get a look?

"Putting on airs and playing mysterious! Hurry up and let me see it!" Before the Li siblings could answer, Tang Yuan's fat senior brother from the same sect had already strode over, looking utterly fierce.

"You have to put down thirty Spirit Stones before you can look!

"If you try to force me, I'll shout for the market master." Li Laosan snatched up the jade bottle and held it to his chest, looking toward the pleasure boat on the lake.

"Senior Brother, calm down.

"Let's follow their rules first. After all, the market master has set up an array here," Tang Yuan said, reaching out to stop him.

"I don't have that many Spirit Stones. How about this? The three of us brothers can pool ours first.

"I want to see whether these four babes with such low cultivation are playing gods and ghosts and deliberately exaggerating." The fat Devil Cultivator frowned and glanced at the pleasure boat moored on the lake.

With no other choice, Tang Yuan and his two companions pooled thirty Spirit Stones and placed them on the stall table.

Seeing the Spirit Stones, Li Laosan held the jade bottle in one hand and pulled out the stopper with the other.

"Huh? It seems to be a mass of Spiritual Qi.

"From the look of it, its grade doesn't seem low.

"But is this mass of Spiritual Qi really worth thirty Spirit Stones?..." The fat Devil Cultivator looked at the contents of the bottle, his face full of doubt.

"Junior Brother Tang, I hear you like reading old books and classics back at the sect. See if you can tell what kind of Spiritual Qi this is."

Tang Yuan nodded and looked at the contents of the jade bottle.

"Wonderful!

"Pure!

"Lustrous!" Tang Yuan praised it with a look of utter delight, watching reluctantly as Li Laosan sealed the jade bottle and held it to his chest.

"Stop going on about how lustrous it is. What kind of Spiritual Qi is it?" The fat Devil Cultivator looked annoyed.

Tang Yuan frowned slightly. He really didn't recognize the Spiritual Qi in the bottle.

[This kind of Spiritual Qi vanished over a thousand years ago. It is called Great Kun Moonlight, an immortal-grade Spiritual Qi.] The Earth Flood Dragon's transmitted voice sounded in Tang Yuan's ear from the dark ladle he wore around his neck.

What?!

Great Kun Moonlight?!

Immortal-grade Spiritual Qi?!

[There's also a trace of an earthy smell in the jade bottle.

[Within the past three days, a cultivator with the earth attribute at or above the Qi Refinement Third Layer should have examined the Spiritual Qi with Divine Sense.

[And I can sense him watching this place from within ten zhang,] the Earth Flood Dragon warned.

"Damn, I hate cultivators with the lightning or earth attribute.

"In this market, by rights,

"apart from the market master, no one should have a cultivation level above the Qi Refinement Third Layer."

Tang Yuan pondered to himself and swept his Divine Sense over the area within twenty zhang, but found nothing unusual.

Could this earth-attribute cultivator have some kind of invisibility technique?

An invisibility Cultivation Method... I like that.

That's an essential divine art for peeping and spying, sneak attacks and escapes.

I already gave the Wall God Robe to my wife to wear. I was just hoping to find an invisibility Cultivation Method...

"I can't tell what this mass of Spiritual Qi is at the moment either, but its grade shouldn't be low." Tang Yuan made an effort to keep his face calm.

At the same time, he transmitted his voice to his fat and thin fellow disciples. "But I'd stake my life on it: this mass of Spiritual Qi should be above upper fifth grade. It's definitely worth more than three hundred Spirit Stones."

"Worth three hundred Spirit Stones? Ho ho, we've struck treasure today...

"You two watch for my signal and act. We'll finish this quickly!" the fat Devil Cultivator transmitted. He nudged the Spirit Stones on the table forward and said with a look of disdain:

"Fine, fine. What can I say? I just like helping the weak. Thirty Spirit Stones-I'll buy the Spiritual Qi in the jade bottle."

"Who said we were selling this mass of Spiritual Qi for only thirty Spirit Stones? One hundred Spirit Stones, and no bargaining!" Li Laosan backed away two steps, clutching the jade bottle.

"Little brat, how dare you make a fool of me!" the fat Devil Cultivator said in a low, scolding voice.

"Senior Brother, they really don't seem to have said how many Spirit Stones they were selling the Spiritual Qi for." Tang Yuan tried to smooth things over, glancing toward the pleasure boat on the lake.

The fat Devil Cultivator's eyes darted about. He took a blood-red bead the size of a chicken egg from his Storage Bag and tossed it to Li Laoda. "Fine, fine, fine. One hundred Spirit Stones it is.

"Take a look. Is this Qi Refinement-grade treasure bead of mine worth seventy Spirit Stones?"

Li Laoda gazed at the blood-red treasure bead in his hand, his face full of doubt. It made his hand tingle slightly, and specks of light shimmered across it.

He had no idea what the treasure bead was, much less whether it was worth seventy Spirit Stones.

Tang Yuan frowned slightly, and a trace of pity flashed across his face.

"Make your move!

"Explode!" the fat Devil Cultivator shouted fiercely under his breath, his left hand forming a hand seal.

Sizzle!

Bang!

With a very soft sound, the treasure bead in Li Laoda's hand burst apart.

A flash of red light passed, and Li Laoda, who had been strong and full of life just moments before, became a skeleton in an instant.

With a clatter, Li Laoda collapsed into a heap of broken bones on the ground.

"Big brother!" the three remaining Li siblings cried out in grief at once.

"Hand over the jade bottle, now!" The fat Devil Cultivator retrieved the Spirit Stones from the table from a distance and shouted in a harsh, low voice.

Whoosh, whoosh!

The fat and thin Devil Cultivators each stepped forward, a mass of red devil fire appearing in each of their hands!

"Senior Brother, as long as they hand over the jade bottle, spare the three of them.

"That way, we won't attract the market master and bring unnecessary trouble on ourselves." Tang Yuan sighed softly, without taking an attacking stance.

"Damned Devil Cultivators, die!" Grief-stricken, Li Laosan suddenly pulled a broken purple mirror from his robes and let out a low roar. "I beg you, Senior Purple Mirror, avenge my big brother!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, the purple mirror fired two beams of purple mystic light straight at the fat and thin Devil Cultivators.

Whoosh!

The instant the mystic light touched the thin Devil Cultivator, who was closer to the stall table, he was reduced to powder. Not even his soul remained.

"Fuck...

"Just what I'd expect from our Holy Cardamom Sect's way of doing things..." Tang Yuan, who had already retreated several steps, shouted angrily.

The fat Devil Cultivator had seized him and pulled him in front of himself, trying to block the purple mystic light.

I, Tang Yuan, still have a virtuous wife to cherish,

and five lovely children to raise.

I can't die! Tang Yuan thought in an instant as he watched the purple mystic light hurtle toward his face. He cried out urgently:

"Earth Flood Dragon, save me!

"Time Reversal!"

The small dark ladle hanging around Tang Yuan's neck stirred, sending a slight ripple through the surrounding space and time.

For a moment, everything in space and time stood still.

The purple mystic light, just about to touch the tip of Tang Yuan's nose, advanced no farther...