Stepping out of his room, Li Guanqi leaned against the railing beside the stairs and looked down.
A strange feeling welled in his heart as he watched the varied crowd below.
He had never imagined that anywhere in the world could exist where humans, demons, and ghosts coexisted.
Mingchuan... was truly a wondrous place.
The waiters in this tavern were all ghost cultivators. Just then, Li Guanqi noticed a ghost cultivator paying his bill, and instead of spirit stones, he handed over a pitch-black crystal roughly the size of a thumb.
Sending out a thread of divine sense, Li Guanqi sensed that the crystal contained exceptionally pure yin-nether power.
The ghost cultivator was no weakling. Sensing Li Guanqi's aura, he looked up and gave him a forced smile.
*Damn it, why is this guy staring at me... I didn't provoke him, did I?*
While the ghost cultivator's mind was racing with anxious thoughts, Li Guanqi had already walked downstairs.
Yet Li Guanqi did not approach him, simply walking straight out the door.
The moment Li Guanqi left, the atmosphere throughout the tavern became visibly livelier.
After all, what he had done at the city gates had long since spread. Many people had originally come seeking Pengluo, but once they caught sight of Li Guanqi, they dismissed that notion.
None of them were eager to die just yet...
Leaving the tavern, Li Guanqi strolled aimlessly along the street. Any cultivators walking toward him quickly moved aside to make way.
He bought a map of Mingchuan from a shop, and only then did he realize...
"Hiss... Isn't this Mingchuan a bit too huge?"
Indeed, strictly speaking, the area of Mingchuan depicted on the map was comparable to the entire Qingyun Continent.
Mingchuan City was merely the entryway; the true core lay even deeper inside.
Little wonder Mingchuan had become the prime destination for ghost cultivators and their various factions.
Taking in the bustling, prosperous street scene, Li Guanqi casually stepped into a shop.
The establishment was vast, spanning several stories, and lavishly decorated.
A massive plaque hung above the entrance, inscribed with:
*Mingchuan Wanbao Pavilion*
Beneath those large characters was a line of smaller text:
*A Three-Thousand-Year-Old Establishment, Foremost in the City.*
Seeing this, Li Guanqi could not help chuckling softly.
"This shop... is rather interesting!"
"Wanbao Pavilion—Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion—what a bold name to give themselves."
However, the hall was illuminated mostly by dim, eerie green candlelight, which made him somewhat uncomfortable.
Yet it made sense on second thought. This was Mingchuan, teeming with ghost cultivators, so they had to cater to the majority.
Most eye-catching of all was the oversized wooden board standing by the doorway.
Upon it was written:
*Please tidy your mortal remains before entering.*
Li Guanqi froze slightly and muttered, "Mortal remains? Is that a typo? Shouldn't it be personal appearance?"
Just then, a human maidservant in white walked up to him.
She dipped into a slight curtsy and gave a crisp, light chuckle.
"Honored guest, you did not read it wrong. It truly is mortal remains."
Li Guanqi asked curiously, "Why?"
The young woman wore a helpless smile and replied frankly, "This is Mingchuan, after all. We can't have people walking in with torn flesh dangling and blood splattered everywhere."
Li Guanqi pictured the scene in his mind...
"Mm... that makes sense."
Then, as if a thought suddenly struck him, Li Guanqi turned to the maidservant and asked under his breath, "The owner of this shop wouldn't happen to be a human cultivator, would they?"
A flicker of astonishment flashed through the girl's eyes. Though she said nothing, the answer was already obvious.
Li Guanqi smiled faintly and stepped into the shop.
The instant he crossed the threshold, he sensed that beneath the blue stone tiles of the floor lay countless closely packed black stones.
The chilling yet mild sensation felt rather uncomfortable to him, but the Yinming Profound Flame inside his body surged with exceptional vitality,
even threatening to break out of his body to devour all the power beneath his feet.
Moreover, he noticed that nearly all the ghost cultivators in the shop were slowly absorbing the energy from below.
Seeing his reaction, the maidservant softly explained, "Beneath the tiles lies a bed of Nether Stones. Guests visiting our shop are free to absorb from them as they please."
Li Guanqi praised, "Your boss certainly knows how to do business."
The maidservant smiled, seemingly enjoying hearing compliments about her employer.
Immediately after, however, Li Guanqi's voice sounded by her ear.
"Truly as much as I want?"
The maidservant clearly did not realize the gravity of the situation. After all, Li Guanqi was a human cultivator.
Under normal circumstances, absorbing it would be useless to him, and taking in too much would only harm his foundation.
"Rest assured, honored guest. Since our shop made the offer, we will set no restrictions."
Li Guanqi smiled. The power of the Yinming Profound Flame inside him instantly began to surge wildly.
Circulating his cultivation technique, he began drawing up the yin-nether power from below.
As the thin wisps of yin-nether power entered his body, Li Guanqi felt an invigorating wave of refreshment wash through him, though almost all of the energy was swallowed by the Yinming Profound Flame.
As more energy was absorbed, the original flame seed of the Yinming Profound Flame actually grew by a sliver.
This gave Li Guanqi a jolt of surprise. He had never imagined the power of a heavenly flame could be strengthened through such a method.
Delighted, he absorbed even more eagerly and asked the maidservant to show him around.
Before long, Li Guanqi noticed an issue: he could only draw up a tiny wisp of yin-nether energy at a time.
Probing downward with his divine sense, he discovered an array formation carved beneath the blue tiles that suppressed the power of the Nether Stones.
Li Guanqi curled his lip, but he did not push things too far.
After all, he was only here to browse. It would be rather poor form to dismantle someone's array.
Soon, two items on the counter caught his attention.
One was an entirely pitch-black, translucent bead about the size of a thumb.
The other was a black dharma robe sealed inside a display cabinet.
Seeing his interest, the maidservant introduced, "This is a Netherheart Bead, an exceptionally rare treasure unique to Mingchuan. It can only be obtained by slaying a rank-five nether beast, and even then, only by chance."
"It has the effect of calming the mind and soothing the spirit. Holding it in your mouth allows you to resist the suppression the Mingchuan mist exerts upon divine sense."
"If someone near you is on the verge of death, crushing it can seal and anchor their soul for a hundred years without dispersing."
Li Guanqi's eyes lit up.
*A fine treasure indeed...*
Even if he didn't use it on others, he could use it himself.
"How much is it?"
The maidservant hesitated briefly before holding up two fingers.
"Two thousand high-grade spirit stones."
Li Guanqi was taken aback. That was rather pricey...
Scraping together everything he had on him, he possessed around thirty thousand spirit stones, but he still found it expensive.
"Can you make it a bit cheaper?"
Suddenly, a grating voice rang out beside him.
"If you're poor, just—"
*BANG!*
Before anyone could react, Li Guanqi kicked the speaker flying.
The sheer force of the kick knocked the man unconscious on the spot. Then, before the terrified eyes of the onlookers, terrifying pitch-black flames abruptly erupted from within the airborne youth's body.
The flames engulfed him in an instant, reducing him to a cloud of ash that drifted into the air within the blink of an eye.
He didn't even reach the ground!
Looking thoroughly annoyed, Li Guanqi muttered, "Why are there always so many dumbasses..."
With that, he bought both the Netherheart Bead and the Nether Robe, handing over four thousand high-grade spirit stones in total.
Chapter 425