The echo of Li-Wen's departure lingered in the Elder Hall like a heavy frost. The elders sat in stunned silence, their eyes darting nervously between the blood-stained armor of Boss Bear spilling gold onto the table and the pale, trembling figure of Second Elder Wu-Guang.
Wu-Guang's chest heaved as he forced himself back into his seat, his hands shaking with suppressed rage. His son, Wu-Tian, clutched his deadened right arm, his jaw locked so tight his teeth gritted painfully.
"Father..." Wu-Tian whispered, his voice trembling with a mixture of terror and humiliation. "My arm... the Ki pathways feel like they are completely locked in ice. Is he really a Third-Stage Ki-Refine cultivator? How could his physical body crush an iron mace?"
Wu-Guang's eyes flickered with a dark, predatory light. "Silence! He must have used a high-tier secret artifact or a hidden explosive talisman given to him by whatever mysterious expert purged his poison. A crippled waste of fifteen years cannot suddenly possess the physical strength of an ancient demonic beast! He is bluffing, Tian'er."
Wu-Guang leaned in closer to his son, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "The Family Assessment in three weeks allows no external artifacts or talismans. Only raw cultivation and clan martial arts are permitted on the ring. I will personally visit the Dark Market tonight and purchase a Tier-Two Flame Marrow Pill for you. It will not only heal your Triple-Burner meridian instantly, but it will also force your breakthrough into the Fifth Stage of Ki-Refine!"
Wu-Tian's eyes lit up with a vicious gleam. "The Fifth Stage?! With my family's Iron Leaf Technique at the Fifth Stage, I will snap every bone in his body on the assessment stage!"
"We will not leave anything to chance," Wu-Guang sneered quietly, glancing at the seated Clan Head Wu-Wen, who was calmly collecting the gold from the table. "He thinks he has saved his father, but he has only accelerated their doom."
Meanwhile, at the secluded rear of the estate, Li-Wen stood in the center of his modest bamboo yard. The morning sun was warm, but the air surrounding Li-Wen was crisp and clear.
He closed his eyes, conducting a deep internal inspection of his body. The single golden Celestial Rune carved onto his spinal column shone with a steady, divine brilliance, continuously refining his blood and bone marrow. However, Li-Wen's brows knitted slightly into a faint frown.
"My physical foundation has stabilized at the strength of a Thousand-Jin Iron Vessel," Li-Wen murmured to himself. "Yet, the mortal energy of this world is far too thin. The Third Stage of Ki-Refine is barely enough to manipulate basic internal channels. To carve the second Celestial Rune onto my spine—the Abyssal Bone Rune—I will need far higher quality resources than a simple Body-Cleansing Marrow Pill."
To a former God Emperor, standard mortal herbs were like eating dry grass. He needed spiritual herbs infused with natural elemental essence—specifically, a Seven-Leaf Ice Lotus or a Sun-Core Ginseng.
"My father's salary as Clan Head has been heavily drained by the Second Elder's faction," Li-Wen thought, looking at the pouch of gold he had taken from Boss Bear's men. "Thirty gold taels is enough for common folk to live comfortably for five years, but in the world of martial cultivation, it is barely enough to buy a single leaf of a century-old herb."
A subtle, knowing smile touched his lips. "It seems I must visit the city's hidden trade avenues."
Changing into a simple, unadorned black robe and tying his long hair back with a piece of dark silk, Li-Wen slipped quietly out through the rear gate of the Wu Estate, bypassing the guards entirely.
Azure Mist City was far larger than the quiet district surrounding the Wu family estate. As Li-Wen navigated through the sprawling network of thoroughfares, the crowd grew denser and noisier. High-ranking carriages drawn by low-tier spiritual beasts clattered over the cobblestones, while wandering cultivators with longswords strapped to their backs brushed past street vendors shouting their wares.
Li-Wen did not stop at the grand, glittering storefronts of the official merchant guilds. Instead, he wove through a maze of narrow, twisting alleys near the city's southern district, eventually stopping before a dreary, windowless stone building with a battered wooden sign depicting a headless crow.
This was the entrance to the Ghost Mist Alley—Azure Mist City's infamous black market, where high-level rogue cultivators, dark alchemists, and underground brokers traded illegal goods, rare treasures, and stolen herbs away from the eyes of the city warden.
As Li-Wen stepped through the heavy felt curtain into the dimly lit underground cavern, a damp, heavy atmosphere filled with the scent of old parchment, metallic blood, and potent medicinal aromas washed over him. Dozens of hooded figures sat behind small stone stalls lining the cavern walls, displaying bizarre monster cores, rusted ancient weapons, and sealed clay jars.
Several sharp, predatory gazes instantly locked onto Li-Wen. In a place where strength dictated survival, a solitary youth walking alone into the black market was usually seen as prime fat meat waiting to be slaughtered.
Li-Wen ignored the dangerous glances, his Divine Sense spreading outward like invisible threads, scanning every stall within a hundred paces.
"Low-grade iron ore... fake century-old ginseng... stale spirit grass..." Li-Wen shook his head mentally. Most of the goods here were useless junk exaggerated by desperate rogue cultivators.
Just as he was about to move deeper into the inner ring of the market, a subtle, cold vibration rippled through his Divine Sense.
Li-Wen paused, turning his eyes toward a quiet, neglected stall in the far corner. Sitting behind the stall was a shriveled old man wearing a frayed gray cloak, his eyes closed as if he were asleep. On his wooden mat lay a few cracked porcelain bottles and a strangely shaped, pitch-black root covered in dried, hardened mud.
To an ordinary cultivator, the root looked entirely dead—resembling nothing more than a piece of burnt firewood.
However, to a former God Emperor whose soul had witnessed the birth of cosmic realms, Li-Wen instantly recognized the subtle, hidden rhythm beneath that thick layer of mud.
The Earth-Vein Dragon Essence Root.
It was an extremely rare spiritual herb that grew deep beneath tectonic fault lines, absorbing the natural magnetic energy of the earth over three hundred years. Because it naturally sealed its own spiritual aura inside a thick, stone-like bark to protect itself from wild beasts, ninety-nine percent of mortal alchemists would mistake it for a dead piece of wood!
"This single root contains enough heavy earth energy to temper my bones and carve the second Celestial Rune in less than three days," Li-Wen thought, his expression remaining completely calm and unreadable as he walked over to the stall.
He stopped in front of the mat, pointing casually at a small porcelain bottle next to the dark root.
"How much for this Low-Grade Breathing Pill?" Li-Wen asked, his voice flat and indifferent.
The old man opened one cloudy, bloodshot eye, glancing at Li-Wen's plain black robes. "Five silver taels. Non-negotiable."
Li-Wen picked up the bottle, examined it briefly, and tossed it back down with a slight shake of his head. "Poor quality. The medicinal flame used to refine it was too hot, scorching thirty percent of the active ingredients."
The old man's cloudy eyes twitched slightly. He opened both eyes now, looking at Li-Wen with a flicker of genuine surprise. "You know alchemy, boy?"
"I know trash when I see it," Li-Wen replied smoothly. He then reached out and carelessly picked up the muddy, black root, weighing it in his hand. "This dead piece of Ironwood Root isn't worth much either, but the texture is hard enough. I need something to carve a small wooden pendant. I'll give you two silver taels for the wood and the bottle together."
The old man stared at the muddy root. He had dug it up from a deep cavern beneath the Blackstone Mountains two months ago, believing it to be a rare treasure. However, three different alchemists in the city had examined it and declared it completely dead wood with zero spiritual energy. He had been dragging it around for weeks trying to scam a novice.
"Two silver taels?" The old man narrowed his eyes, trying to gauge if the youth was playing a trick on him. But Li-Wen's face was a tranquil pond, his eyes containing only a casual, bored indifference.
"Three silver taels," the old man grunted, leaning back against the wall. "Take both and get out of my sight."
Li-Wen didn't haggle further. He reached into his sleeve, tossed three silver coins onto the mat, and picked up the Earth-Vein Dragon Essence Root along with the pill bottle, sliding them smoothly into his robe.
Just as Li-Wen turned to leave, a arrogant, booming voice rang out from the main corridor of the market, causing nearby shoppers to quickly scatter out of the way.
"Clear the path! Make way for Young Master Wu-Tian and Second Elder's head steward!"
Li-Wen stopped in his tracks, his eyes narrowing slightly under the shadow of his black hood.
Walking down the center of the underground street was a group of six tall men dressed in rich, silk robes embroidered with the silver crane emblem of the Wu family. At their center walked Wu-Tian, his right arm still heavily bandaged and bound to his chest, flanked by an imposing, scar-faced man at the peak of the Fifth Stage of Ki-Refine—Steward Chen, the Second Elder's primary enforcer.
"Young Master Tian, do not worry," Steward Chen said in a low, ruthless tone as they walked. "The Second Elder has already arranged a meeting with the Dark Market's pill master upstairs. The Tier-Two Flame Marrow Pill is already reserved for you. Once you break through to the Fifth Stage, that little bastard Li-Wen won't even survive a single strike on the assessment stage!"
Wu-Tian's face was twisted in a mixture of pain and bloodlust. "I want him dead, Steward Chen! I want to break his legs, rip out his meridians, and force his crippled father to watch!"
"It will be done exactly as you wish," Steward Chen chuckled darkly. "The Second Elder has already spoken to the clan elders. Once you defeat him, Master Wu-Wen will be stripped of his position, and you will become the young patriarch!"
Standing in the shadows near the stall, Li-Wen watched the group walk past without raising his aura by even a fraction. Underneath his dark hood, a cold, ruthless smile curved his lips.
"Buying a Tier-Two Flame Marrow Pill to force a breakthrough?" Li-Wen thought, his golden-tinged eyes tracking Wu-Tian's back as the group headed toward the upper private pavilions of the market. "Improper cultivation with volatile flame pills will only make your foundation even more hollow. You are merely fattening yourselves up for the slaughter."
Li-Wen tightened his grip on the Earth-Vein Dragon Essence Root hidden inside his sleeve.
"Enjoy your temporary dream, cousin," Li-Wen whispered into the cold darkness of the cavern. "In three weeks, I will shatter your foundation so thoroughly that not even the gods will be able to piece you back together."
Without another word, Li-Wen melted into the shadows of the crowd, heading back toward the estate to begin his second secret cultivation session.
See you in next chapter....