By this time, the baleful corpse had already blended in among the humanoid cloud beasts and emerged from within. Qin Sang lagged behind, out of Mu Yifeng's line of sight, and quietly stowed the corpse away.
Catching up, he found Mu Yifeng hesitating at the tunnel entrance, reluctant to step forward.
Waves of chilling demonic energy continuously surged out from the depths. Shocking streaks of fresh blood marked the ground, while minced flesh and bone fragments lay scattered everywhere. Sounds of squabbling and chewing echoed from within, making it evident that many humanoid cloud beasts had not been lured out.
The eerie scene was hair-raising.
Mu Yifeng stood at the entrance, his expression shifting uncertainly, never quite daring to take that step.
Had he not already scouted ahead with his baleful corpse, suddenly seeing such a sight would have left Qin Sang's heart pounding with dread just like Mu Yifeng's. Back when he directed the baleful corpse into the tunnel, he had already prepared himself to sever their connection and abandon it.
"Be careful, Senior Brother Mu," Qin Sang said in a low voice.
Mu Yifeng's expression was grim to the extreme. He nodded to Qin Sang and slipped inside in concealment. Before Qin Sang had to wait long, Mu Yifeng suddenly sped back out and said in a heavy voice, "Let's go, quickly!"
Immediately after, another commotion erupted in the tunnel. Qin Sang had anticipated this and pushed his movement technique to keep up with Mu Yifeng. Once they regrouped with the others, Mu Yifeng urged everyone to hurry away, then produced a fragment of a leg bone.
"I didn't dare venture too deep. Not long after I stepped in, I startled those humanoid cloud beasts. Fellow Daoist Yin was already torn apart by them; I could only find a portion of his bones."
Qin Sang knew Mu Yifeng must have seen the chasm, but had ultimately lacked the nerve to descend into it. After all, no matter how precious a Qianyang crystal was, it was still merely a spiritual material; one's life was far more important.
Even Yin Xingge had met such an end; who knew what horrors lurked within that chasm?
Seeing the bone fragment, the cultivators were all aghast. None dared linger. Once they departed the rift valley, they were left with the distinct sensation of having narrowly escaped death.
Mu Yifeng said grimly, "With the anomaly in the mineral vein, we must report this matter to the Shadow Guard. Yuankong Town is closest to here. We might as well head straight there, and take the opportunity to rest and reorganize."
None raised any objection. After getting their bearings, they immediately flew off toward Yuankong Town.
***
Changyang Cultivation Market.
Situated along the indispensable path toward the Tianjing Secret Realm, this cultivation market was somewhat larger than Gubei Town and exceptionally prosperous, simply because major sects and merchant guilds had established their headquarters here.
Qin Sang exited an inn, wearing a black mask, and hurried toward a narrow alley.
After returning to Yuankong Town, Qin Sang and the others had handed over the mined Qianyang quartz to the Shadow Guard outpost and reported the anomaly in the mine cavern. Experts from the Shadow Guard representing Shaohua Mountain and Xuanlu Pass went into the cavern together to investigate.
Qin Sang did not wait for the results of the investigation. Once he received his merit points, he parted ways with Mu Yifeng and the others, traveling alone to Changyang Cultivation Market.
It was still more than half a month's journey from Changyang Cultivation Market to the Tianjing Secret Realm. He was in no rush to set out, spending two days in the market until he finally caught wind of a black market operating within it.
*Thump! Thump!*
Qin Sang turned into the alley, stopped before a small courtyard, and tapped on the wooden door several times in a specific rhythm.
The door opened, and a bearded burly man stepped out. His cultivation was not high, roughly around the tenth level of the Qi Refinement stage, but Qin Sang knew he was merely a doorkeeper.
The man who had sold Qin Sang the token had cautioned him that the black market had no shortage of experts overseeing things, so it was best not to act brazenly and rely on one's cultivation to seize items by force.
Qin Sang had not concealed his aura. The burly man's pupils contracted upon sensing Qin Sang's cultivation, yet he asked in a courteous, unbowed manner, "Does Senior have a token?"
"I do."
Qin Sang deliberately disguised his voice, making it raspy and coarse, as he drew a dark iron black ring from his mustard seed bag and handed it over.
The dark iron black ring did not even qualify as a low-grade magic tool; it contained only a special imprint to serve as a token. Even so, it had cost Qin Sang a medium-grade magic tool to acquire.
The burly man took the ring with both hands and examined it closely before saying respectfully, "The token is genuine. Senior, please come inside!"
The courtyard was modest, cluttered with sundries, looking just like an ordinary household's dwelling. The man led Qin Sang into a wing room that looked entirely different from the outside. It was exceptionally neat, furnished only with a wooden chair and table facing a wall.
Stepping into the room, Qin Sang sensed an indescribable strangeness. Scanning his surroundings, his gaze settled on the wall facing the table and chair. When his spiritual sense swept over it a moment ago, he had detected faint fluctuations—a spirit array was concealed there!
The burly man turned, gestured toward the chair, and said to Qin Sang, "Senior, please take a seat."
As he spoke, the burly man took Qin Sang's dark iron black ring, tapped it lightly against the wall, returned it to Qin Sang, and quietly exited.
After the ring touched the wall, the spirit array revealed itself entirely. The surface rippled like water, and after a brief fluctuation, an aged face materialized.
The face's expression quickly grew animated. Its eyes rolled over to look at Qin Sang, and it chuckled, "Ah, a friend introduced by Boss Jiang. Please do not take offense, Fellow Daoist. This old man is in a line of work where one stakes one's life, so such caution is out of sheer necessity."
"Understandable."
Qin Sang nodded. The "Boss Jiang" the face mentioned was precisely the person who had sold him the dark iron black ring.
He made no effort to memorize the face's features; it was bound to be an illusion, and no such person would exist in Changyang Cultivation Market.
"May I ask what Fellow Daoist wishes to sell? Or what do you wish to buy?"
The face did not waste words, getting straight to the point.
"Sell first, buy second," Qin Sang replied in a low voice. He brushed his mustard seed bag, and more than a dozen streaks of multicolored light flew out, landing on the desk before him with soft clatters.
As the lights dispersed, an array of magic tools was revealed.
A portion of these tools had been taken from Baiyun Shanren and Wu Yuesheng, while another part had been scavenged from demonic cultivators in the mine caverns.
The rest were Yin Xingge's relics.
Besides the spirit beast bag, the baleful corpse had also recovered several scattered magic tools, some ruined and some still intact.
Any magic tool prized by Yin Xingge possessed unique functions and was uncommon among cultivators. Qin Sang could hardly sell them openly in regular shops, so he had to resort to the black market. Moreover, he had an ulterior motive.
Upon seeing these magic tools, the face's eyes lit up, yet it did not ask a single question about their provenance. The spirit array conjured hands that picked up each tool to appraise them one by one. Afterward, it said, "Fellow Daoist's magic tools are all fine goods. How do you intend to sell them? Directly to this old man, or will you wait for the auction?"
Qin Sang said solemnly, "Selling directly to you would yield a much lower price, wouldn't it?"
The face chuckled dryly. "Fellow Daoist jests. While this old man dare not boast about anything else, my reputation is solid. If you sell them to me, you will have no lingering troubles whatsoever. Of course, Fellow Daoist may also trade them at the auction, but this old man can only guarantee that things will be absolutely safe during the auction itself."
Chapter 212