Chapter 68

Shen Duheng worked outside during the day and returned to his Dantian Small World at night to keep Shan Heyuan. His days were peaceful.

In the midst of these peaceful days, one day, a strange letter was delivered to their Spirit Plant garden by a Law Artifact.

The letter mentioned a small underground market nearby that operates on the 1st, 11th, and 21st of every month, and suggested they check it out if they were interested.

The signature was that of their neighbor.

Shen Duheng took the letter back to his Dantian Small World and showed it to Shan Heyuan.

After looking at it, Shan Heyuan was somewhat surprised. "It's better than I imagined. There's a small market, which means there's a settlement here, and there must be quite a lot of people."

Shen Duheng: "Let's go take a look."

Shan Heyuan: "Go, go, go! It's a good opportunity to observe how they cultivate, and what unique things they have here. I reckon the remnants have developed a new system; perhaps we can take a look."

Hearing Shan Heyuan's urging, Shen Duheng asked, "Would you like to take a look?"

Shan Heyuan was taken aback for a moment. "I haven't found a way to transform into Spirit Plant yet, so I can't leave for the time being."

Shen Duheng: "Temporarily attach your soul to the Law Artifact, and I'll take you out."

Shen Duheng opened his palm, revealing the earring in his hand. "Your soul can reside in this; I will protect you."

Shan Heyuan exclaimed with delight, "Sure! I know how to do this!"

He searched his memory and instantly found several minor Law Technique.

Shen Duheng's earring was Law Artifact, Shan Heyuan easily attached his soul to it.

After he finished, Shen Duheng put on the earring.

Shan Heyuan carefully observed the view. "This is the first time I've seen the roadside from this angle. It's amazing."

Shen Duheng: "I'll take you out to have a look."

Having been in Ridge Pine City for some time, this was the first time Shan Heyuan had seen the outside world.

He realized, "This place looks so familiar."

Shen Duheng: "Have you been here before?"

"No, it's not that, it just looks a bit like a picture of Mars." Shan Heyuan briefly explained Mars to Shen Duheng, "It may not actually look like it, but it gives me a strong feeling of resemblance."

Shen Duheng: "Your world is quite developed too."

Shan Heyuan then thought of Earth: "Yes."

It's not market day yet, Shan Heyuan is still alive, so he can't keep his soul attached to the earring for too long.

After playing for a while, he returned to his Dantian Small World.

Looking at the suddenly familiar scene before him, Shan Heyuan sighed deeply in his heart.

It seems he needs to hurry up and find a way to create a new body, otherwise being stuck in his Dantian Small World every day is like being in prison.

It was still a small prison cell.

However, creating a new body is not so easy.

The last time he was able to grow a new body was already a blessing from Heavenly Dao. This time, he is not dying for this world, so it is unlikely that Heavenly Dao will favor him again.

Transforming into Spirit Plant is not as simple as it seems.

The reason that great banyan tree could transform into Spirit Plant was because it still had a physical body that it could transform into.

Shan Heyuan's own body has been lost; only his nascent Nascent Soul remains, barely surviving under the protection of his Dantian Small World. He has no body parts that can be transformed into Spirit Plant.

Moreover, even if one could transform Nascent Soul into Spirit Plant, it would be difficult to achieve perfection using the method of that great banyan tree senior.

The banyan tree is merely a shell of its former self; the transformed Spirit Plant is far inferior to a natural Spirit Plant, and its branches don't even meet the standards expected of Spirit Plant of the same level.

Thinking of this, Shan Heyuan felt very melancholy.

He's studied every branch of the research, read all the relevant books, but he still has no clue.

I don't know when I'll be able to come up with a solution.

He was anxious, but he didn't show it on his face.

Showing it out won't help; it will only make Shen Duheng anxious along with him.

Just as Shan Heyuan was filled with anxiety, the first market day arrived.

Shan Heyuan urged Shen Duheng to set off early in the morning.

Shen Duheng followed his instructions, put the earring on his earlobe, disguised it, and then left home early in the morning.

Shen Duheng rode forward on his sword.

Along the way, there wasn't a single person in the empty ruins.

Looking around, Shan Heyuan could see, through the earring, was a stagnant river, withered earth, and fields littered with garbage.

There wasn't even a breeze in this dead place.

The sky was a hazy gray, and due to the lingering dust, visibility was low, or even nonexistent.

Shan Heyuan silently sensed the energy; indeed, there was no Spiritual Power in this place.

Shen Duheng has been able to cultivate using only Spirit Stone lately.

I wonder how the people here cultivate. Even if they practice physical cultivation, they can't completely isolate themselves from the Spiritual Power environment, right?

Shan Heyuan was very curious and couldn't wait to go to the market.

Shen Duheng traveled very fast on his sword, and the market was not far away. They arrived in a few minutes.

The market was underground, and it took a while to find the entrance.

Once they successfully found the entrance and pushed aside the covering to go inside, a cacophony of noise immediately erupted.

There were clearly quite a few people below.

Shan Heyuan was overjoyed and sent a telepathic message to Shen Duheng: "Quickly, let's go down and take a look."

Shen Duheng raised his hand and gently touched his earring. "No rush, look how interesting the surroundings are."

Upon hearing this, Shan Heyuan scanned the surroundings with his Divine Sense and quickly discovered a large number of rune arrays. "Huh? There are so many rune arrays here, and they're using Mid-Grade Spirit Stone Spirit Stone. They're quite wealthy."

It's not easy to afford Mid-Grade Spirit Stone in this world; for a long time, Shan Heyuan could only afford Low-Grade Spirit Stone.

Unexpectedly, there are many talisman arrays made of Mid-Grade Spirit Stone in this dead city.

Although the remnants chose Mid-Grade Spirit Stone because their Spiritual Power was relatively stable and long-lasting, everyone knew that the higher the grade of the Spirit Stone, the better. If you wanted to use Mid-Grade Spirit Stone, you had to be able to afford it.

Various thoughts raced through Shan Heyuan's mind, and his interest in the local area suddenly surged.

There must be a very profitable business involving Spirit Stone in this area, otherwise they couldn't be so wealthy.

Chapter 68

Shan Heyuan urged Shen Duheng to go down to the underground market via telepathy.

After showing him around briefly Shen Duheng led him down underground.

The underground market was much larger than they had imagined. As soon as they entered the underground area, before they even reached the main market area, they saw people setting up stalls on both sides of the road.

Shan Heyuan attached the earring to his ear and glanced around. He quickly discovered that the cultivators setting up stalls were not very powerful, probably only at the Qi Refining Realm.

What they sell are all spiritual items and magical Law Artifact.

These magical Law Artifact look relatively new; they don't seem to have been scavenged locally, so they must have come from elsewhere.

That's a bit strange.

I wonder where they got these goods?

Could it be that the forces within the city that perished still maintained connections with those in other cities?

It's not impossible.

After all, the major sects haven't completely sealed off these dead cities; if anyone wants to come in, they can still do so freely.

However, once cultivators enter, the lack of Spiritual Power and the Heavenly Dao Principle causes significant damage to their foundations, and this damage cannot be repaired once they leave. Therefore, entering this place is actually quite risky.

Shan Heyuan couldn't fathom why the cultivators outside had come in.

There's no Spiritual Power or treasures here, only some remnants of the past with relatively low cultivation levels. There's no benefit to coming here.

Unless they are in a situation like this, facing pursuit by enemies and forced to come here, very few people would come here on their own initiative.

Given this situation, why are there still so many goods from outside here?

Is there some special product here that makes outsiders willing to risk their lives to come here?

Interesting.